Also, this year, I'm downsizing a little bit. Last year was overwhelming. I was swimming in sap, and very stressed by having insufficient firewood. I know having too much sap is not a bad problem to have, but not if you have only around 1/3 of the firewood you need! I wound up pulling taps about a week before I should have, though most trees were still producing.
In addition to downsizing the number of taps, I have a lot of firewood stacked up. I hope it's at least a season and a half. I hope to increase that to keep a full extra year's worth of firewood on hand so I'll be able to handle it next time I have a monster season like last year.
Gabe O
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL evaporator halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same Mason 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals (too much sap!)
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gall
2025: 17 taps, 4-5 gall
All on buckets