Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:46 am
Brandon,
Everything has pretty much been covered, but I though I'll throw my 2 cents in.
I have been "sugarin" for about 3 years now. I tap 10 trees and make just enough syrup for the family for the entire year. Because I have to work during the week, I collect sap all week after work (about a five gallon bucket full per day on average). I store it in a 40 gallon plastic trash can which I keep out in the woods in the shade and in the snow. Then on the weekends, I boil either Saturday or Sunday. In my 2 x 2 ft. pan, it usually takes me 7 or 8 hours to boil 25 to 30 gallons of sap from start to finish.
I tend the fire all day, and in the mean time I can do chores around the house and out in the yard. I am lucky to live on a mountain in the Berkshires of Mass., because even though the calender says it is the end of March, there is still solid snow pack and the trees think it is late Feb. or early March. So, I can do spring chores but boil sap at the same time.
It's definitely labor intensive. But, the pay-off is worth the time and labor. I make anywhere from a gallon and a half to 2 gallons each spring. I'll attach a picture of the backyard evaporator I have rigged up. Not pretty, but it gets the job done.
Good luck if you decide to go for it.
Blair in Savoy, MA
Everything has pretty much been covered, but I though I'll throw my 2 cents in.
I have been "sugarin" for about 3 years now. I tap 10 trees and make just enough syrup for the family for the entire year. Because I have to work during the week, I collect sap all week after work (about a five gallon bucket full per day on average). I store it in a 40 gallon plastic trash can which I keep out in the woods in the shade and in the snow. Then on the weekends, I boil either Saturday or Sunday. In my 2 x 2 ft. pan, it usually takes me 7 or 8 hours to boil 25 to 30 gallons of sap from start to finish.
I tend the fire all day, and in the mean time I can do chores around the house and out in the yard. I am lucky to live on a mountain in the Berkshires of Mass., because even though the calender says it is the end of March, there is still solid snow pack and the trees think it is late Feb. or early March. So, I can do spring chores but boil sap at the same time.
It's definitely labor intensive. But, the pay-off is worth the time and labor. I make anywhere from a gallon and a half to 2 gallons each spring. I'll attach a picture of the backyard evaporator I have rigged up. Not pretty, but it gets the job done.
Good luck if you decide to go for it.
Blair in Savoy, MA