New Guy Here

[highlandcattle]

We bought this property about 20 years ago. Needed it for our livestock and didn't get around to sugaring for awhile. Have about a 15 acre sugarbush. Started with a friend and a few taps and some milk jugs,plastic buckets. The guys rigged an old evaporator together and took turns boiling because they worked different hours. Outside in horrible weather. They had both sugared growing up. Our friend decided he would rather watch. Or sleep or not do much. So...I was just as bad at instigating this entire matter. We went on tours,we found oh my,dealers with places chock full of all sorts of shiny neat stuff. I didn't know what anything was, but it looked real neat. We boiled on an old box stove with restaurant pans. Ugh. We bought a half pint. Cute, fun,too small. We have maples,lots of maples, more taps,buckets,hydrometers,scoops,thermometers, more buckets,containers...everyone loved the syrup, couldn't make enough. OK, back to addictive evil dealer "friend" more shiny stuff,don't look at prices just blindly grab stuff...dealers know weakness of addicts... A used 2'x4'. More taps,more buckets more stuff... Back to evil dealer to sell syrup and "socialize" at syrup buying day..yeah OK, got carried away listening to salesman showing us a beautiful 2'x8' with all sorts of neat things,so much stainless steel...the check I wrote kind of just happened...too many buckets,not enough time. Pipeline,vacuum. Releasers, filter presses,tanks. Extend the sap house. So now we're retired and pretty much have the hang of this and down sized to a Mason 2'x4', but Ron found more trees, so ....its better to admit you're an addict and not fight it, much healthier for all concerned. You'll be OK, but broke...

[Ken18621]

Thanks for the warm welcome (and laughs) everyone. It is nice to see the comrodary and information sharing that goes on here. To be honest, my new hobby surly would have been a big failure without the knowledge posted from the fine folks on these boards. So a humble thank you is in order.

With that said, today I finished my fourth boil ...In total I have 7 pints so far with about 40 hours boiling, $100 in propane, plus my start up cost......gave away half of it already... lol. But there is a special kind of pride that I feel when they tell me how great the syrup tasted, especially when my buddy told me " Your syrup tastes just like maple syrup". I replied "Well, that's what I was shooting for".

[Galena]

....But there is a special kind of pride that I feel when they tell me how great the syrup tasted, especially when my buddy told me " Your syrup tastes just like maple syrup". I replied "Well, that's what I was shooting for".

BWAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA!!! You just made my evening :-) And yes we are a diverse and happy bunch of maple-addicted misfits here, for the glorious 2-3 months that this site and our taps run hot. Feel free to ask questions and of course, enjoy the madness!