Atip of the Hat to All

[buckeye gold]

My wife helped me finish putting up the last run of 3/16th tubing this afternoon and as we did we talked about my Maple journey. It dawned on me how much I owe to so many of you on both of the Maple forums. I have rarely seen an industry as willing to share as this one. I can only imagine how many blunders I have avoided because of all the wonderful tips, advice and transfer of knowledge from you all. I thought I had some Maple knowledge when I started this journey 10 years ago,but was wrong. From when I was a kid helping my dad tap and gather for a friend to cook and from watching my cousins operation. However, I now know I may have known how to start the bus, but I knew little about driving it. Every time I moved forward I gleaned knowledge from these communities. From how to buy a new rig to now setting up my first tubing, ya'll have helped me avert some real disasters. I have seen some contentious times on the forums, but mostly just great people willing to help. My last plea is that we all can keep in focus the mission of making Maple better.

[maple flats]

The open sharing for the improvement of our maple experience is also what I like most. There are very few businesses (or hobbies) where ideas are shared as much as this one.
This also seems to be the most open to exchange of methods and ideas between the biggest and the beginner alike.