Went up to Pennsylvania this weekend to help my father-in-law with processing maple syrup. I like to go up a couple of times a winter if I can, it's a fun weekend, I wish I could do it more. Here are some pics from his operation. This is the sugar camp that my FIL built. Originally it was for his father, who in his 80s would sit by the fire and drink the sugar water. This is a pic of his wood supply for the camp, in addition to any chunks and uglies he comes across. There's two rows here, he'll go through at least one per season. Here's the ridiculously large firebox underneath the sugar water. It boils off on two tanks, a larger one set back from the fire, and then a smaller one directly over the fire. Here's the smaller tank that we usually try to boil around 200 degrees. We collect the sugar water by putting it in this tank on the back of the tractor. He has around 150 trees tapped on his 20 acre farm. Here's me and the kids taking the buckets down and collecting the sugar water. It was running pretty heavy on Saturday with highs in the 50s. You could hear the water dripping into the buckets. Apparently the water is good straight from the tree! Typically you need about 40-50 gallons of sugar water to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. This is shaping up to be a good year so we'll see how much we get total. Better than the syrup of course is the time with family, and just sitting by the fire and shooting the bull in the sugar camp.
I do the sugaring thing as well, on a slightly more primitive level. The whole family loves it, and I enjoy the time with my kids in the woods! We only put out 56 taps this year, we usually do 75 to 100 and had planned on doing 125-150 this season but it was a really late start this year. We've still made out really well, almost 9 gallons of finished product and more to come in the next several days!
Red Oak, What's up with your beautiful daughters in t-shirts and you bundled? You're obviously all enjoying each other and the great outdoors. That's what it's all about. Love the pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Yep. I've only ever lost one or two spiles in all the years doing it this way. Occasionally the caps break on the jugs, but that's pretty rare. Works really well.
VERY cool!! What's the purpose of the baffles inside this tank? I always see those like that and have always wondered what the purpose of them is?
Great pics from both Scotty Overkill and red oak . My wife is from Nova Scotia and we usually buy a gallon when we go up, lasts us a year or so. She uses it in recipes and I have it on my breakfast foods. You can never go back to grocery store syrup after having the real thing.
Well, my daughter in the Redskins shirt is actually my son. His hair's getting a bit out of control! And both of my children apparently have a disorder where they do not feel cold. Earlier this winter they were competing to see who could lie down in the snow longer in their underwear. Lucky we don't have neighbors!
Great pics Scotty Overkill! Looks like you've got a good setup there! FIL a few years back had 250 taps but as he gets older the number goes down.
The tank is divided so that more dense syrup is pushed to one side. In my father in law's it enters from the larger pan on the right. The dividers have open spaces so each section is level. The less dense syrup would be on the right, the more dense on the left. Obviously then you would draw the finished product from the left. You can find pans without the dividers but I have been told it's less efficient, because the entire pan needs to be finished before you take the syrup off. This is probably a pretty bad explanation, I'm sure some people on here can explain it better.
Great pics oak and scotty! Thanks for sharing. I wish we had more sugar maples around here. I'd love to try my hand at tapping and making syrup.
