Introduce yourselves....

[TrapperX]

Hello all, I am Mike out of Lowell, MI.
I tapped 5 trees last year late in March but was able to make 6 quarts of dark syrup.
With the warm up in Dec I tapped 2 trees and made a pint of Golden syrup that was super sweet and butterscotch flavor.
I have been addicted to trapping for 30+ years and I can say I am already addicted to Maple syrup tapping

[Bog hobo]

Happy late winter all,

My name is John on a hill above the Delaware River in Bucks County, PA. Only my second year sugaring but I haven't stopped thinking about it since the end of last season.

2015 10 taps and sap sacks, 2.5 gallons finished 2 pan Block arch

[WVa]

Hello all,
I'm Keith Shirley, I live near Mt Alto West Virginia, a retired union carpenter. I spend most of my time on small family farm, raising a few chickens for eggs, a couple pigs for pork, Two very spoiled Mountain Feist squirrel dogs, a pond full of fish, a garden for veggies, a small patch of field corn for the critters, a little sugar cane to make Sorghum, and a lot of grass to mow, mow, mow. In the fall along with the sorghum we make a little apple cider and a kettle or 2 of apple butter. And have a fall hay ride for friends and family.
I ride a Honda Valkyrie motorcycle and my wife and I try to take a couple 4-5 day bike trips a year, along with a few overnight rides. I Piddle at blacksmithing, Target shoot a little, hunt a little, fish some, weekly mow at the farm, at my home, at my Moms, and the local cemetery roughly 5 to 6 acres, and twice a year brush hog the parts of the farm that are cleared, roughly 15 acres. This past November I realized that I didn't have enough to do, so I bought a Norwood HD36 Sawmill.
Last year was my first year tapping trees, so I built a 12 x 16 Sugar Shack / Blacksmith shop with a 10 x 16 shed. Bought a 22"X32"X8" SS sink, some 3x3 angle, some 1/8" sheet metal from scrap yard along with fire brick and what not and built a wood stove to fit the pan.
I taped 50 trees using line into milk jugs and soon realized that they were not big enough to hold a day's sap. I, along with my son and other gray beard friends and neighbors manage to make 8 gallon of syrup during the season. We tried to cook off around 50 gallon of sap each cooking. We came close, but never did get 1 gallon in a day.
Last week for 2 days we tapped into 5 gallon buckets, before the weather turned to below freezing 24-7. We collected 75-80 gallon of sap, sat around watching sap boil, eating fresh sausage and bacon, pork BBQ and chili, telling lies, having a good time and still manage to cook off 7 quarts of syrup.
The weather has finally stated to change and we hope to start the process all over again soon. The snow is turning to slush and mud which will make gathering the sap a little messy. My sap line, if that is what you call it is about 3/4 mile. I use a Polaris ranger side by side, which holds 18 five gallon buckets, so one trip does it.
I give 80% of the syrup, cider, apple butter, and sorghum away. That's what it is all about, getting together having a good time, a little work, a lot of BS ing, enjoying the life we have.

[littleTapper]

Welcome folks! I'm still a newbie, but love this place. Good people and lots of knowledge to glean. Enjoy!

[Cedar Eater]

Welcome to all the noobs. Last year was my first year here and my first year sugaring. There are lots of friendly and helpful people here who know a lot of stuff. Enjoy.

[Sarah_R]

Hi everyone! My name is Sarah, and my husband and I will be making our first syrup this spring
We have quite a number of trees on our rural property of 14 acres, so we're hoping to have some fun.
Already have some ideas on how we can do better next year!
Can't wait to chat with other hobbyists and see what everyone has to say.

[KV Sappers]

Warm Welcome Sarah. Having fun is what tapping trees is all about. Enjoy yourselves.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Hey all, new to the site but been a lurker for quite a while. Lots of good info on here. We have 400 taps in Peru all on gravity which we have been doing for 6 years or so and make between 20-30 gallons. We just got ourselves involved in a 5500 tap operation north of us that we hope to take over some day. We have about 300 man hours in since November fixing lines/taps/drops.....you name it on that operation. Should have both all tapped in this weekend. Can't wait, love sugar season.

[pianoman]

Hello my name is Lynn Rushing. We own/operate Bizzell Bluff Farm. We have been tapping sugar maple trees for 3 years. This year we have over 100 taps. Our farm is in the western part of Kentucky. Our season is from the middle part of January to about the 2nd week in March. I like making the syrup. I sell all I make. 😁

[DMF]

I guess I should have posted here before asking all my questions in other forums/threads here on the site!

Rich Julian. I live in Warren, Massachusetts with my wife and daughter. This is our first year sugaring. We have a small farm called Deer Meadow Farm on the south side-easterly end of Mark's Mountain. We own a little over 66 acres, 42 of it is wooded. We have a 3 acre area with mature sugar maples that we just started managing last year. Our plan is to thin out the competing trees and expand the sugar bush. We bought a 2 x 4 arch and pan set-up from Randy Worthen in Spofford, NH. We had our fist boil this past weekend (3/5-3/6) and made 7 1/2 pints of syrup. We are hooked...