Tapping trees for Syrup

[CrealCritter]

For several years I've been wanting to try my hand at making syrup. On my property i have maple, birch, walnut and sycamore trees. I also have access to the Shawnee natural forest since my property backs up to the Shawnee national forest.

I know its not sap season yet but it will be coming late winter early spring and I would like to get prepared over the winter so I'm ready to go when the sap starts rising.

Book learning is OK but do we have any syrup makers on SS? I sure would like to start a conversation and learn. I have zero experience but that's never stopped me before.

 

[baymule]

I don’t make syrup, but I believe you can make syrup from all those trees. You can also make syrup from hickory.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

No experience here, but from all descriptions, it does not look difficult to tap a tree. The difficulty lies in collecting and boiling down the sap. I wouldn't recommend that you do the whole process in the house! Too much moisture involved! But, many back yard operations start the boil down in the yard, and finish it off in the kitchen.

Depending on the variations in spring weather patterns, sap season can be very short, or even sporadic. Beginning of season produces the best sap.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I highly recommend that you DO NOT boil the sap down in the house. A friend did that and found that the steam creates a very sticky ceiling. He had to scrub the ceiling, then seal it with Kilz and then paint it.

I was told that the key to a good maple syrup is to warm it slowly and don't add cold sap to anything you are already boiling.

I will ask my maple syrup guy for any advise for someone starting out. I have it made, he gets the excess eggs, I get maple syrup. Right now, I have 8 pints in the cupboard to last until next March.

 

[CrealCritter]

I highly recommend that you DO NOT boil the sap down in the house. A friend did that and found that the steam creates a very sticky ceiling. He had to scrub the ceiling, then seal it with Kilz and then paint it.

I was told that the key to a good maple syrup is to warm it slowly and don't add cold sap to anything you are already boiling.

I will ask my maple syrup guy for any advise for someone starting out. I have it made, he gets the excess eggs, I get maple syrup. Right now, I have 8 pints in the cupboard to last until next March.

Thanks I did take a weekend class at the local community college, 6 years ago on making maple syrup, I don't recall how much it cost but it was very inexpensive, $20.00 maybe??? The instructor was a real jackass and wouldn't answer anyone's questions. The class was pretty much a big waste of my time. And raised more questions than I originally had before taking the class.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

He probably didn't answer any questions, b/c he was inexperienced. Kind of like all the You tube video tutorials, that mid way through, the poster states: "This is the first time I've actually done this, but... blah, blah, blah!"

 

[Beekissed]

He probably didn't answer any questions, b/c he was inexperienced. Kind of like all the You tube video tutorials, that mid way through, the poster states: "This is the first time I've actually done this, but... blah, blah, blah!"

I LOVE it when newbies make a how to vid on YT.... Then other newbs are thanking them in the comments and exclaiming how wonderful all that knowledge was, while experienced folks in the comments are telling them all the mistakes they are making.....but the fact remains, that newbs seems to like to learn from others just like themselves, for some reason. They completely ignore the words of wisdom from the more experienced folks and continue on...it's weird, but I guess they are making money from it all, so they don't really care if they spread misinformation.

 

[CrealCritter]

I LOVE it when newbies make a how to vid on YT.... Then other newbs are thanking them in the comments and exclaiming how wonderful all that knowledge was, while experienced folks in the comments are telling them all the mistakes they are making.....but the fact remains, that newbs seems to like to learn from others just like themselves, for some reason. They completely ignore the words of wisdom from the more experienced folks and continue on...it's weird, but I guess they are making money from it all, so they don't really care if they spread misinformation.

I agree with everything you said. One needs to be careful what info they gain on the Internet. Most all of the information is false to some degree or another.

 

[Mini Horses]

How do you make $$ from a U-tube video?

I know enough to be dangerous about that...watch a few now & then, more for entertainment than anything else. So, from kickback of some sort from the ads

 

[CrealCritter]

How do you make $$ from a U-tube video?

I know enough to be dangerous about that...watch a few now & then, more for entertainment than anything else. So, from kickback of some sort from the ads

I had a YouTube video up for a while of a how to play Have you ever seen the rain by CCR on the bass guitar. My original intent was to put a whole channel on CCR and show people how to play every CCR studio song that they ever released. This was my first video because there were several vidios that were way wrong on YouTube and I wanted to set the record straight (no phun intended).

I had a couple thousand views and maybe 50 or so comments. I made less than $1.00, until the YouTube police pulled it down sighting copyright infringement.

So here's a bit of a lesson for us... If your going to do a how to like I did, don't make it 100% correct and there will be no copyright infringement. I played that song 100% correct, note for note and even in the correct positioning on the neck of my bass, exactly as Stu Cook did on the studio recording. I guess that kind of stuff is not allowed on YouTube. Now I would have disputed the YouTube police had I not known it was 100% correct and I might have won. But I didn't even bother because I knew they were right to pull it down.

I also play the same kind of game with my boss and others at work... In my PPT slide decks, I purposely put in one silly error about the main topic I want to focus in on and discuss. They find the error and next thing you know, I have the answers or direction I was looking for and the person who finds the error, feels good about themselves. And the best part nobody is none the wiser

Life is just a game, I'm in it all the way.
It's just a game, so don't let yourself slip away.
It's such a shame, I heard somebody say.
Life is just a game, and all I can do is play