I was thinking about this a lot this week Chris. I think that is the only way to not get yourself in a bind.
I was talking to a guy at work about it, and he does it himself on a small scale, just a few trees and he just stops when it tastes about right him so it may not even be true syrup but he has fun doing it with his gf kids, and in reality that's what matters right?
Back to my point. He has about 7 acres and he buys up to town land that is over 100 acres that he knows (his and the town's lot) has lots of SUGAR maples. He said as long as I come get it, I can tap there next year if I want. I may take him up on it and getting too big too fast was my concern. But if you keep it balanced as you go, you should be safe. So I am thinking of maybe 2 times the trees next year, and get an RO and I can still keep my current setup. Then the next year get a "Real" pan and then I can add more trees. I don't want to go from 20 "OK" taps to 100+ really good taps and drown in sap lol.