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Thread: Introduce yourselves....

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    20

    Default Introduce yourselves....

    We'll go first...Al brought it to our attention that there is no place to gather to introduce ourselves or talk about life beyond maple...*gasp* dare I say there is life beyond maple???? Anyway, we are Kim & Chris, part owners of The Maple Guys, Chris's hobby gone out of control. We're located in Lyndeborough, which is 15 miles southwest of Manchester, NH. We're going on 10 years of marriage this spring and we have two amazing kids, ages 3 and 18 months, who daddy is groomy to be fine little sugarers.

    As for the maple operation, we boil on an Algier 3x10 wood-fired evap w/blower, have 650 taps - with aspirations to reach 1500 taps someday. We sell our syrup, candy, cream, lollipops and equipment over the internet, and our maple products at three local stores. We've starting selling our equipment wholesale and creating a dealer network. Visitors to our sugarhouse are treated with "maple dogs" - Salens hot dogs from Buffalo (no others will do) cooked in maple sap (not in our flue pan...lol).

    I have to give Chris credit for the name "The Sugar Inn" because, as he always has maple-on-the-brain, he has said for a long time if he opens a tavern, that is what he would name it. Along with the name for our next dog, "Mapledog".....the list goes on! This post is pinned at the top - so who's next?
    Kim

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Belchertown Ma.
    Posts
    2,660

    Default

    Great new topic Kim and Chris, Well lets see, My wife Charlene and I have been at our present "mini farm" for just around 6 years, we have 3 kids the boys ar 6 and 10 and my daughter is just about 13(God Help Me)going into the teenage years yikes.. but she is a huge help when it comes to maple, she loves to gather.
    Our syrup operation started from 1 big tree in the back and escaleted to around 300, will it stop at that ... I doubt it
    I myself get into many hobbies and functions, besides Maple I love woodworking, we kayak when time is available and someone to go with down a good river. I coach my older sons soccer, I'm assistant cub master for his scout pack, and am now on the board of directors for Ma. Maple producers assoc. ... yes my plate is full!!
    But as many of you who know me, it doesn't slow me down at all, I have a wonderful family and great support, and they share in many interests with me, My wife is great!! I couldn't ask of a better friend and wife of 15+ years!
    Jim & Charlene Desjardins
    Belchertown MA.

    Had a good 13 year run, but circumstances ! and loss of tree use.. we are ending the Maple thing for now... maybe be back in a few years

    www.Desjardinsmaple.com

    facebook Jim Desjardins

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fairfield Vermont
    Posts
    430

    Default

    Boy now I'm in hot water! Another subject but Maple!!!!! I'm retired Navy and a Domestic Engineer. (Stay at home Dad) Have a beatuful wife Sue an two boys Warren 8 and Samuel 3.
    We have 23 acres in Fairfield Vt and enjoy anything outdoors. We tap 120 and have a Thrifyt 2x5.5 evaporator. We're tapped out and not getting any bigger. May improve the process a little thou!!
    Take care and have a great day!
    Al
    Algiers 24x66 evaporator
    180 taps (all buckets)
    New Holland 1720 Tractor
    Pumpkin Village Settlement
    and a big smile!
    A wife and 2 boys who make it all fun.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Franklin, VT
    Posts
    365

    Default

    Me and my wife Anne will be married 27 years this june! I have 3 girls. 16-19-22....I know what you mean by teen years Jim...LOL...When I first started out I had a 2x6 wood fired! My wife said it was kind of big for a hobby!! She was right, now we have a 3x10 oil fired with a preheater Algier. Tap around 600 with 450 on vacuum. Will get up to 1000 or so by the time we both retire from IBM within 2.5 years. ..I sell most of my syrup locally and at work. I do sell a lot in my brothers store in Franklin.. Where they make the maple cream pies Jim cant get enough of.. My sugar house is always open to visitors and the grill is ready to cook.....Happy sugaring to you all.....Mike

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    BECKLEY, WV (SUGARHOUSE DAWSON, WV)
    Posts
    6,621

    Default

    I live hundreds of miles south of most of you and well over a thousand miles south of some of you and on the bottom end of the maple belt in Beckley, WV. I have a beautiful wife(Janelle) of nearly 6 years and a wonderful son Braden who is 2.5. I started making syrup when I was 13 or 14 with about 20 or 25 taps and have made it most years since then. I am a Master Claims Associate for Nationwide insurance and my wife is a domestic engineer/housewife who sells Avon to help out with bills(hint, hint for any of your wives)

    I boil on a 2x8 Leader drop flue inferno arch with stainless hood and preheater and have about 425 taps. I make my syrup in Greenbrier county which is 25 to 30 miles from where I live, so I can only boil a couple of days each week. Besides maple, I hunt a little but mostly enjoy spending time with my wife and son. I used to hunt, fish and golf all the time, but those days are past. I tap trees in three different areas and none of the trees are on my property. I have always made syrup and had my equipment set up on my dad's property, but now he is selling and moving, so I am trying to locate property and build my own customized sugarhouse close to where he lives. Won't have any trees on the property I hope to buy and build on, but it is a touch more centrally located.
    Brandon

    CDL dealer for All of West Virginia & Virginia
    3x10 CDL Deluxe oil fired
    Kubota M7040 4x4 Tractor w/ 1153 Loader hauling sap
    2,400+ taps on 3/16 CDL natural vacuum on 9 properties
    24x56 sugarhouse
    CDL 1,000 2 post RO


    WEBSITE: http://danielsmaple.com

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Whately, Ma.
    Posts
    2,965

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    I have been making Maple Syrup for 30 years. I started out as a kid with my neighbor. I started with an open pan on a outside fireplace. As time went on I have grown from 5 gallons per year to 300. I'm now married to my wonderful wife,Wendy and have two children. Allison 8 and Ben 3. I now boil on a 3X12 Leader raised flue with Revolution pans on a inferno arch. I have increased this year to about 700 taps with all but 10 on vacuum.

  7. #7
    Guest

    Default

    I started out sugaring when I was 12or 13 @ a farm up the road;3x10 w/1100 taps; moved north and worked @ a sugarhouse w/5x12 w/2200 taps ;I now work for@ a friend's sugar house w/ a 6x16 w/7500-12,000 taps (depends on help)> I have my own 3x10 but no sugarhouse yet,to much o.t. last 4 yrs.,not enough time! I have been blessed w/a wonderful wife for 10 yrs. and an energetic 7 yr. old girl that my wife homeschools. We live in a small farming town on the Vermont border. We own 33 acres, will have about 300 of our own taps and I'll scrounge up some more. I've been sugaring for over 32 yrs. now and my friend doesn't want me to build my sugarhouse because I do all his boiling when I can! Let me see... been working @ a 62 megewatt hydroelectric station for 21 yrs. ... love the Lord,my family, my job, my life ... that sums it up I guess.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    colrain,ma
    Posts
    218

    Default

    Sorry, last one was me, knocked off line and didn't log in.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Protorsville VT
    Posts
    363

    Default

    Great idea. My real name is Scott and I have been married 11 years. I have a 10 year old son who enjoys hanging out in the sugarhouse mostly for the taste testing and a 6 year old daughter who is learning from her big brother about taste testing. I work at a hospital in the engineering dept. as an HVAC/R tech. My wife only works a couple of days a week out of the home and the rest of her time is spent with the kids homeschooling and taking care of things on the home front. We started over twenty years ago with sixty or so buckets and an old 2.5 X 8 and now we will have 1500 all on vacuum on a 2.5 X 8 grimm inferno arch and raised flue back pan with a homemade preheater hood. Since our small years in the back of my fathers garage we have built our own sugarhouse, added a one thousand foot, two inch diameter schedule forty main line that is main carrier for the vacuum. We went to an RO a few years ago due to time issues not to mention the cost of a bigger rig. After the RO we needed a little quicker method of filter so we bought a syrofilter from Lapierre. This year we acquired a UV filter. Next year it will be something else but not sure what yet, too much more out there :wink:. Good luck all.
    Scott W.
    2.5x8 Grimm raised flue
    Leader inferno arch 90 gph
    Vacuum, RO, Syrofilter
    1500 taps
    UV filter
    Can am 400 HO

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    43

    Default

    Real name is Jim, and my wife of six years is Peggy, (the real drive behind our maple makin'). We have two wonderful boys, ages 5, Steven and 2, Walt, both of which are a great help around the sugarhouse. We fire with a 4x14 Small Bros rig, with an Algier same side reverse flow pan. We use a Marcland auto drawoff. We have downsized abit in the last 2 years, going from 2400 taps to just 300 last year, and we're still working on the number for this year. We own all our own trees but one bush that belongs to my mother. I've been making syrup since I was old enough to do anything of value. My father and grandfather used to run 1200+ buckets, and boiled on a grim 3x10 dropflue english tin pans. Peggys grandfather and father also made syrup, but they used a really big flatpan set up on a block arch.
    We also raise chickens and turkeys. We sell butcher chickens and thanksgiving turkeys. We have our own flock of breeders, including Blue Slate and Burbon Red turkeys, as well as Barred Rock and Rhode Island Red chickens. We gather and incubate the eggs in two GQF incubators, and have a GQF hatcher as well. We also raise and train Black and Tan coonhounds, and are thinking of expanding into retrievers or pointers, not sure what breeds though.
    I am also a stay at home dad, and my wife works at a factory in Westfield PA. That about sums it all up.

    peggjam
    "Hope it helps, can't hurt".

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