+ Reply to Thread
Page 8 of 8 FirstFirst 12345678
Results 71 to 80 of 80

Thread: What got you started? Would like to hear others stories.

  1. #71
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Chatham NH
    Posts
    1,309

    Default

    I guess I was "born" into it, great grandfather sugared had 300 acres mostly pasture And tapped all the Trees on the Edge of the fields, lived upstairs in his farmhouse when I was Growing up, when my Dad took over he bought A new rig and put 2,000 on tubing , I was only 7 maybe 8 and that Arch would get so hot that the doors were Red, I couldn't hardly walk past the front without singeing my hair but my 85 year old great grandfather would watch that sap boil all day about 5' away on the stool. Needless to say I had to be there with my Dad & Great grandfather that was the place to be. Well Dad bit off more than he could chew with the Dairy & the farm is long gone, but I always wanted to start my own operation and after 5+ years of sugaring with friends I Finally started taping my own last year, 20 years since the last steam came out of my Great Grandfather's shack. I'm sure he was smiling somewhere.

  2. #72
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Plainfield New Hampshire
    Posts
    308

    Default

    Got started when three of us were bored during mud season and started with fifty taps on buckets built a small sugar house and then I retired and built a large sugar house on my land and now ended up with four hundred plus taps on gravity feed and buckets and more each year on pipe line and loving it its a full time job no fancy stuff yet as far as RO or vacume and we dont sell it we divide it up and have a great time a lot of work but fun and pass it on to son and grandsons etc. That is what its all about
    10x21 sugar house
    400 taps
    227 gravity pipeline
    Rest Buckets

  3. #73
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    charlton ma
    Posts
    77

    Default

    While building my log cabin in the woods of Maine when I was 23 I took a walk to my closest neighbor Yukon Jim. He was making syrup and it tasted real good,I had not had syrup just about ever. I tapped the trees around my cabin and tried boiling while building. didn't go so well. Made enough to fill a 20 oz mug root beer bottle.Fasts forward 3 years. I spent almost 2 years in the hospital and at home taking care of my dieing wife almost every day. After she'd past or maybe a little before that I figured that life was to short to be working a 9 to 5 job that I didn't. So with almost know maple knowledge at all I decided to try and make a full time living out of playing around in the woods. I am glad to say that I am almost their and things are going very well. I should be up to 2300 taps this year and selling all syrup retail. To top things off the new wife loves it too!

  4. #74
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    New Brunswick, Canada
    Posts
    242

    Default

    Last winter, my son and daughter asked how "they" make maple syrup one morning over pancakes. Once we finished the explanation the kids looked out the window and asked if the maples in our yard had syrup in them....My wife and I looked at each other and we agreed to tap the trees around our house and that of the "outlaws" in the spring, 6 buckets and 4 coffee cans. The kids were in charge of checking them every day, I was in charge of carrying and boiling on a turkey fryer. We only collected for a few weeks with only two real days where the sap ran....season last year was horrible, ~ 10 gal of sap (40L) gathered and 0.42 gal (1.6L) of syrup made. Kids went through it in about a month.

    Next year will be a bit different..... I hope

  5. #75
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Loretto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Growing up I had heard stories that my grandfather and his brothers sugared when they were younger. Sadly I never really talked to him about it in any detail before he passed away. Last year on the way back to the firehall after a call ( I volunteer as a firefighter as a primary hobby) I got talking to one of the other firefighters about sugaring. She is also a neighbour and her grandfather sugared back in the day as well. The next day I made the trip to the local supply store and bought a starter kit. I tapped 8 trees, collected 355L of sap and made 7L of syrup. This year I am moving indoors to the neighbours sugar shack, using a 2 x 3 flat pan made by my brother. I will be tapping 60 trees (told the wife 50) and hoping to have a lot of fun! On a sentimental note, while doing some thinning in the bush I came across some tap holes in some wood I was splitting that would have been from 60+ years ago when my grandfather sugared. I have cut lots of firewood in the bush before but never seen any old tap holes before. It was pretty neat that the first year I sugared I found remnants from the last time the bush was sugared.
    2014
    8 buckets
    Hotel buffet pan on outdoor block arch
    2015
    60 buckets
    Moving indoor to 2 x 3 homemade divided flat pan (thanks to a very talented brother)
    2016
    100 buckets
    2017
    125 buckets, new arch and 9x12 sugar shack
    Gator HPX 4x4 sap hauler
    Completely hooked after 1 year!

  6. #76
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Live: Rideau Lakes. Tap: Beckwith. Ontario.
    Posts
    113

    Default

    Great topic. Not sure how I missed it last year.

    I owe my interest and knowledge (or lack there of!) to my parents. The two hippies from the city bought a 2.5 acre lot in country in the mid 70's, built a house and a family and wanted to do everything they could "naturally". They knew nothing about making syrup but had a copy of, I believe, Harrowsmith magazine that had an article on backyard maple. They scrounged up a few old galvanized buckets, brace and bit, and taps from a local farmer and made their first maple syrup on a Coleman stove. Dad made syrup every year from 76/77-98. We were hit by the 98' Ice Storm that took a huge toll on the property. Between that and a busy life we took a decade off....
    Fast forward to 2009. I decided to give it a try on my own. Dad was kind of on the fence but within a day of seeing his trees tapped for the first time in 10 years he was all in. We still boil on a temporary block arch and are obviously amateur at best, but every year we add something new. Last year was a new 2x4 pan. This year will be a 5gal Mini Filter Tank / bottle filler unit. We only aim to make 5-10gal per season. Keeps our family in syrup and enough to give away too.
    I now have a soon to be 4 year old son. He's grown up his whole life making syrup with his dad and his grandpa. He loves the time out in the bush and is quick to tell anyone that will listen exactly (according to him) the whole process from tapping to bottling.
    It's also a time to see all the neighbours that you haven't seen all winter. Pretty much impossible not to drop in to check out what we're doing it you're walking or driving by. Plus we always have some form of "hospitality" to offer!

    Anyway, That is how I got started and why I'll keep at it! It may seem weird to some, but my family is truly better off by making syrup. The time spent with family and friends is irreplaceable.

  7. #77
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    New Brunswick
    Posts
    4

    Default

    This is my first post I have been watching from the sidelines for a couple years and decided it was time to join up. I got my start early our first shack was built in 1973 my grandfather and 2 of his brother in laws tapped 35 trees and boiled it down on a fawcett cook stove. things continued on like that over the years with the numbers going up to 100 trees and a variety of stoves used. I was born in 1976 and as long as i can remember there was a maple syrup operation. In 1992 we purchased a new small brothers 2x8 evaporator and increased our numbers to 200 cans by that time the original crew were getting up there in years with one passing away in 2000 we kind of lost our momentum we tapped in the spring of 2000 and made sugar to put on the tables at our wedding reception and didn't tap again until 2011 when I took over the operation with my wife and kids we are up to 500 taps 200 cans the rest on gravity pipeline. A big improvement from 25 Javex jugs in 1973 one of our original crew is still around not able to do much at the age of 96 we don't expect much work from him he shows up from time to time to sit by the evaporator and tell me what I'm doing wrong. I can't imagine all the mistakes i would have made without the guidance of the 3 of them over the years. As much as technology is changing the game and new methods are being developed there is still a lot to be learned from the older guys

  8. #78
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    NE PA
    Posts
    71

    Default

    I'm in the process of building a small 2x3 arch. You can check it out over in the homemade forum. I got started making syrup with my father in the late 70s. He boiled on and off until the early 90s. We used a 4x6 flat pan that was built by my great grandfather on a block arch and a 2x3 or 2x4 flat pan on a tank arch for semi finishing. He probably put out around 100-150 taps. I remember long days of boiling in the cold creek bottom below our house. I haven't boiled in 20 years and have never done it on my own. I'm looking forward to boiling with my two kids and some friends. Just waiting for the weather to break so we can be started. Thanks to everyone for all the great info here!

  9. #79
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Mound, MN
    Posts
    46

    Default

    I had been complaining for many growing seasons in MN (which are short to begin with) that I have so many mature maples on my property that I can't grow a 'real' garden because no square inch of dirt got full sun. Then one week my local co-op grocery had a sale on organic maple syrup. It was so good. It was like a light bulb - why work so HARD to grow stuff when i can let the TREES do the work for me. I spent months learning what i could in advance, mostly from this website. Last year was my first season with 9 taps producing 2 gallons of lightest syrup i have ever seen let alone tasted. I got my neighbors on board and I hope to double production this year. Now i only grow tomatoes and my friends and family never miss brunch with my backyard maple syrup, wild vine grape jelly, and homemade bloody mary mix.
    Last edited by Islander; 03-03-2015 at 05:56 AM.
    JC

    44° 55' 23" N

    2x6 smoky lake divided pan custom arch ‘The fire truck’

  10. #80
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Lisbon, NH
    Posts
    385

    Default

    Grew up in my parents restaurant in central NH. One year when I was about 10 dad tapped a couple of trees and boiled it on the stove top in the house (dumb), I remember there being sticky stuff all over every surface in the kitchen. Never did it again but then 28 years later looking for some wisdom to impart on my kids and to share a memory I've always cherished we decided to tap a big red maple in the front yard. We boiled it on the back deck with a turkey fryer and then moved to the stove to finish (lesson learned). The whole family got bit by the bug and the second year we upsized and invited friends and family. When Dad saw the "right way" he was bit by the bug too, He is now the chief wood feeder. Now, a few years in and we're going to tap about 100 and hopefully make 20 gallons. We give it all away to family and friends. Nothing better than relatives you only see a couple of times a year coming to visit and dropping hints about their running out of syrup Makes it all worth it.
    Pete Nightingale
    Lisbon, NH

    3 Teenage sap haulers & Plenty of friends and family to restock the beer fridge
    2012 1 tap and a pot
    2013 10 taps, oil tank evap, 2 gallons of slightly too thin syrup
    2014 48 taps improved oil tank evap 3.5 gallons, ouch??
    2015 88 taps 78 5/16" and 10 3/16" nat vac 40"x 48" Homemade Arch 13.25 Gallons
    2016 100 taps 65 on 3/16 & 35 buckets 17 gallons + unknown amount of maple / Jack Daniels testers

+ Reply to Thread
Page 8 of 8 FirstFirst 12345678

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts