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.

 

[Denim Deb]

Just a little tip for making maple syrup, make sure the trees you're tapping are actually maple! I was talking w/someone a few years ago that tried to make syrup, and had no luck. I looked at the trees. They weren't maple-they were sweet gum.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I think it is easier for beginners to use buckets to collect the sap. I have heard some interesting tales from our maple syrup supplier (friend of DH's) about working with bags and tubes. It seems you loose a lot of sap when a deer is chased through your tubing by the neighbors dog.

 

[Mini Horses]

I need a channel and video....and product...for millions? I'm in!! Tomorrow I take DGD to school. Guess what the topic will be? Yeah, she's a techy.

 

[Mini Horses]

We discussed what it meant, how to do, how it works etc. to set up...that was the easy part. I dropped her at school. I thought. Well, not going to be a millionaire from that. Hey, what's an old lady got to say?

I went on to work and that was over.

Did meet up with a lady, by chance, when at work who also makes goat soaps, goes to fairs, etc. to sell. Much like what I was doing 3-4 yrs ago. It's more my style. I am certain I will need "something" to do that includes off-farm time & actual humans, when I retire.

 

[CrealCritter]

Just a little tip for making maple syrup, make sure the trees you're tapping are actually maple! I was talking w/someone a few years ago that tried to make syrup, and had no luck. I looked at the trees. They weren't maple-they were sweet gum.

You made me laugh and spit out my drink. Now my shirt and little phone are all wet.

 

[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]

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

 

[Britesea]

Just be forewarned that if YouTube decides whatever you are talking about is not part of their agenda, you will be "de-monetized". It's happened to most of the channels that talk about prepping, guns, wildcrafting... that sort of thing. It got so bad that now there's another host for videos called "Patreon"-- instead of ads and such to pay for it, you subscribe to different channels you are interested in watching for a certain amount of money per month. Some as little as $1 a month and going up to $100 a month