My plan 2022/23

[maple flats]

I began selling in year one and never looked back. In year 1 I started with 27 taps and quickly got up to 79 taps. I only sold syrup at work (at the time I drove school bus after selling my business and not being ready to really retire). I only made just under 11 gal and sold all but 3 gal, all in smaller sizes. By year 2 I'd added over 100 more taps, gone to gravity tubing, built a 16x24 sugarhouse and sold my "half pint" evaporator and bought a used 2x6. From then on, until 2018 I added more taps every year and sold most of what I made, I never went for the bulk sales concept, the only bulk I ever sold was B grade and later on an occasional very dark, but that stopped too as I started making bourbon barrel aged maple syrup, a real winner.
Don't be afraid to sell your syrup, if it's good enough to give to friends it's certainly good enough to sell. Besides, if you sell it, keep all receipts, they can then be claimed.

[buckeye gold]

I sold from the bigging as well. I have sold for 14 years and now when I am slowing up everything is paid for and I am just going to make for personal needs and give away. I will not be selling anymore. Part of this is because the FDA kept calling and asking questions and wanting to inspect my shack and records, so I just told them I was out of business and shutting down. I was ready anyway, but that pushed me over the edge. I am glad I sold enough to have everything paid for and made some profit.

[Swingpure]

I likely will sell some next year by word of mouth. I will still give an amount away to close friends and family.

I am getting a little concerned about my pan and base stack being built in time despite being still five months away. I will try and get a certain degree of confidence next week, and may have to start considering plan B for them. I am still hopeful the original plan will happen. Getting a plan B base stack is the most concerning.

[Andy VT]

I likely will sell some next year by word of mouth. I will still give an amount away to close friends and family.

Yes, me too. Selling actually has been a struggle for me too. My operation is so small I can't quite call it an operation. I could totally afford to give it all away. I decided to sell this year mainly because I ended up thinking it added to the fun both for us and for the "customers" to sort of pretend its a business. But close family and friends and perhaps the closest neighbors and brand new neighbors will always get some for free.

I will always waffle on how much to sell and how much to give, and to whom! Sounds like you have a lot of friends too. That's a good thing.

[Swingpure]

I have started to resplit firewood and have started to stack it around the evaporator. In the picture, some pieces look too large, but many are wrist size or smaller. I have that much more wood to resplit and stack and around the back and partially on the other side, all under cover of the roof. As we get closer to snow, I will cover the wood with poly.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/082x...IaYa2uKHXqTJew

Saturday I pick up two 55 gallon drums from U-line. This coming month I will be marking a few more trees, running some 3/16 lines, making about 85 drops.

I am assured by the person making my pan, float box and base stack that they will be finished prior to the start of the season. I had hoped to have the base stack before the snow flies, so I did not have to go up on the roof during winter, but that will not happen.

[Pdiamond]

Gary, it is okay to have a few pieces of wood larger than wrist size. You can put that on top of the the other wood once it is going well.

[Swingpure]

Picked up my two 55 gallon drums from Uline today.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c8p...HovoaihttKyEJA

Tomorrow or Monday, I will finish re splitting the firewood and stack it around the perimeter of the evaporator. During the start of the boiling season it will act, at least initially as a wind and snow break.

Yesterday I marked some trees. I am changing the location of one of my collection barrels, so I may string some 3/16 line to the new location.

[Swingpure]

I basically surrounded my evaporated today with about 5 face cords of wood. It will be barely enough wood if I run all of the sap through the RO. I may have around 150 taps this year, which is a little less than 50% more than last year. I will have to have another few face cords stashed away somewhere, accessible in the spring. I do have more room on the maple deck, but it will not be under cover of the roof.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0ceS...oeeTev1yIIhauA

[Pdiamond]

You could always stack some more on what you have up there by the looks of the picture.

[Andy VT]

The setup I grew up next to was pretty cool I think. Maybe it was the norm back in the day. It was a wood-fired, no RO, 1800 taps on buckets operation when I was a kid (it was 1980's just before upgrading to tubing and RO... basically a 1960 operation that I got to experience in 1983). The sugarhouse was essentially 3 sided, with the finishing-pan end being the open end. That end had wood stacked up in several rows all the way to the ceiling. So the firewood formed the 4th wall until the very end of the season.
You essentially have a zero-sided sugarhouse. You could actually have 4 walls with your wood stacks if you go higher! Maybe you could even put some windows in! Guess you'll want to make sure the stack is very very stable though if you go high...…… a tipover on guests could definitely be unfortunate....