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Thread: Introduce yourselves....

  1. #1091
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Near Wilton, NH
    Posts
    6

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    Hi All,

    Second year at this. My daughters friend has a descent sized operation, so my daughter (9) wanted to try it at our house. did my best in mid february last year to find the maple trees, found about 8 and only tapped 1 oak! full disclosure, i found 3, had my daughters friends dad come out and point out the others...its not as easy as you would think with no leaves! anyhow, first batch completely on the stove, got about 3 qt's. finished last season on the fire pit and finishing on the stove. daughter had a blast(i did almost all of the work!). this year, i scoped out the trees in the fall, have about 10-12. bought a drum kit for this year, so it should be better than last, hoping for a lot more sap since i tapped late last year. i'll probably still finish it on the stove until i get better at it. figured i'd say hi.

  2. #1092
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Western NY
    Posts
    293

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    Welcome to site. Its a great hobby to share with the family, enjoy!

  3. #1093
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
    Posts
    11,544

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    Welcome Target. That is great family fun. Back in the 70's and 80's we tapped between 6 and 9 taps, just for family use. We had just 1 large sugar maple in the yard, but we also had 3 large Box Elders (also known as Ash Leaf Maples). We put 3 taps in the large sugar maple (just over 3' diameter, and the rest were in the box elders. We then processed it all in the house. The only heat we had until 1984 (in our 1880's house) was a large woodstove in the living room. We kept 2 large pots steaming (but not usually boiling) on the woodstove and kept a window open for the steam to escape in both the living room and one in the kitchen. Then we finished it on the gas stove. We did that about 5 or 6 times from 1976-1990. My 4 kids loved doing it and always wanted to go collect the sap to add to the pots. I bought the woods my current sugarhouse is on in 1978, but just fro hunting. Then during winter break in 1984 when my oldest son was 17, he and 2 friends did about 25 taps on that woods, and camped out for the week of winter break (my son and one of his friends are Eagle Scouts). They boiled the sap on open fires and each of the 3 families got about 3 qts of golden nector (however somewhat smoky tasting).
    Maple is great fun for the family, be sure to keep it fun for your daughter.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

  4. #1094
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Near Wilton, NH
    Posts
    6

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    thanks guys. the evaporator shows up tomorrow. i know it is a cheap barrel kit one, but still better than the electric stove! i already have the fire bricks ready for it and going to do the initial burn off tomorrow afternoon. im hoping to get at least a gallon this year, mostly for personal use, my kids go through more than that in a year! my goal is 2 gallons, but 1 would be an improvement. i have a bunch of wood to burn already. some split, some not. unfortunately my axe was left outside, and is now under the snow somewhere! haha!

  5. #1095
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Southeast Missouri
    Posts
    29

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    Good Afternoon from Southeast Missouri!

    (Duplicate!)

    John
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by JayTee; 02-28-2018 at 01:58 PM.

  6. #1096
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Southeast Missouri
    Posts
    29

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    Greetings from Southeast Missouri!

    Monday two weeks ago our local TV Station had a Public Service Segment from the MO Department of Conservation. They talked about tapping Maple Trees for syrup and the time was from Mid-February to Mid-March. Self, I thought to myself, that sounds interesting. Ordered a set of 10 plastic taps and 2' Drop Lines from Amazon, which came Thursday, 2/16.

    Got eight up and connected to 1 gallon jugs that night. Worked a 12H Day Friday, came home that evening and emptied about a gallon and a half. Worked a 24H Saturday (below freezing at night and above freezing during the day), came home to several of the jugs full to bulging (I had tight connections and no air vents); another had so much pressure that air was hissing out around the drop tube. Got 14 gallons from that day. Warmed up into the 60's and 70's and my Maples have started budding out. Season's over! Reduced over my Coleman Stove outside; moved inside for final reduction. Got some 44 oz of syrup that has an excellent taste. Everybody wants to try it and thinks we should have a pancake breakfast! I feel like 'The Little Red hen'.

    Maple01.jpg

    Then moved over to Paper Birch; five trees tapped. First 6 gallons has been reduced to a couple of quarts that probably got over cooked; it's pretty dark. Yesterday, over a very low flame (Med-Low), I've reduced a second 5-1/2 gallons down to a couple of quarts of very light amber color over most of the day. Added another five gallons to that today which is reducing nicely and will add a final four gallons tomorrow. Decided to pull my taps today after all the reading that tells me that it won't be table syrup. May have some new smoking glaze though . . .

    Tapped five Black Walnuts Saturday that have just barely started to drip - got about a quart and a half last night. Hoping to do better with them than I did my VERY short Maple Season.

    BlackWalnut01.jpg

    John

  7. #1097
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Lempster,NH
    Posts
    37

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    Hello everyone, My name is Aaron and my wife's name is Sarah. I have been posting on here a bit lately. Been a lurking member for a couple years. We purchased a 6.5 acre pc of land for our hunting camp almost 2 years ago. After purchasing, we select cut some hardwoods off our property and kept all our sugar maples. We had intentions of starting out last winter, but a work injury put a halt to that. I nearly lost my left index and middle fingers. I never got back to work until March and that was in a limited capacity. Built our hunting camp in 2 weeks last summer with my father. Then spent the rest of summer and fall enjoying the camp and dreaming of everything we would be doing in the future up there. Tapped our first trees up there February 24th, 2018. Grant it, it is only 4 taps, but we have begun. We are building a block arch this weekend and will be batch boiling on weekends. The future plans are to move up to the camp permanently, build a small Sugar Shack and gravity feed sap to the shack. Our land is perfect with a downhill run to the proposed shack site. Look forward to learning a lot this year and catching the Sugar bug.

  8. #1098
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ye Olde Wood
    Posts
    1

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    Greetings, I'm just trying to get a hold of someone here of the administratory ilk to help recover an older account I have on this site. I sent a message via the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page, but more than a week has passed and I haven't received any response. Is there someone I can send a PM to in order to resolve my issue? Thanks in advance.

  9. #1099
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Alcona County, Michigan
    Posts
    1,134

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bushwhacked View Post
    Greetings, I'm just trying to get a hold of someone here of the administratory ilk to help recover an older account I have on this site. I sent a message via the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page, but more than a week has passed and I haven't received any response. Is there someone I can send a PM to in order to resolve my issue? Thanks in advance.
    I suggest PMing maple flats. If he can't do it, he can put you in touch with whoever can.
    CE
    44° 41′ 3″ N

    2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
    2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
    2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
    2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
    2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
    An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
    An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.

  10. #1100
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Buckland MA
    Posts
    3

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    Hello Traders,

    New member from Western Ma. We (wife Ciara and 7 yo son Liam) have an old dairy farm in the hills of Western Ma. The farm sits at 1200-1600' elevation so it can be kind of cool and sometimes windy. Last winter was our first season tapping and we put out 700 taps on 3/16". Maybe 70% on high gravity. We had a great season. This year we bumped it up to 820 taps and added a double Guzzler with a Smart Sap Sucker controller. We had hoped the Guzzler would help a bunch but we can't seem to stay ahead of the squirrel chews and push offs. We have had it as high as 23" at the end of 3000' of 1" mainline but typically it is only 15-18" and often less than 5 if I have not been out in the woods every day. We love spending time in the woods though and are thrilled to have the opportunity to do it. For the near future we will continue to sell sap to a neighbor but eventually we would like to boil some part of it ourselves.

    We have learned almost everything we know about maple from the members on this site and we are very grateful for all the experience you all share.

    Jack
    Snow Mountain Farm
    Buckland, Ma

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