So, as he researched this "maple syrup" idea of our son's, going small and simple wasn't even a consideration.
I said, "Let's just tap about 20 trees this year, for ourselves, to see what it's like. And, we'll plan some field trips to maple producers this maple season."
"Nah. Why waste our resources? We've got a thousand maple trees out back, so let's just do it.... for real!," was Don's response, with that excited, challenge-seeking glint in his eyes. ('Tis the story of my life!!)
For the sake of our children's learning, and for folks who want "educational tours" of our farm, my husband set up 3 different sap collection methods:
1. bucket collection - both plastic and metal (8 trees, for now) 
2. high-vac gravity-flow collection (about 50 trees) *note the blue tubing
And...........
3. vacuum pump system (300+ trees)
* an elaborate maze of blue and black tubing connected to a pump which empties into a large tank
First, Don attempted to build a "releaser" for the vacuum pump system, himself, but after much trial and error, and many learning opportunities for him and our sons, they discovered that the materials, time and effort to build it correctly, would cost almost as much as buying the completed, brand new releaser from a local maple equipment dealer. So, last weekend, he, Will, and Nate made the 3-hour, round-trip journey to make the purchase.
You can't actually suck sap from a tree, as the term "vacuum" implies. However, with a vacuum pump system, you can significantly lower the air pressure outside of the trees, inducing the sap to flow more freely. This can nearly double the amount of sap you will collect from your trees!
Once in place, he fired it up, and much to our delight, we added about 80+ gallons of sap to our tank in just 2 hours! I am so glad for our little "dress rehearsal" last weekend, because now we know we'll get the maximum productivity out of the majority of our trees when it warms up for real!
It is so cool when the releaser dumps a barrel-full of sap into the tank! The first time it released, our whole family cheered. Here's a brief video:
Once the tank is holding around 200 gallons, we pump it into a storage tote and transport it to the evaporator located in our barn...
For the record, Don (and the kids, whenever possible) have visited and spoken with several veteran maple producers in New York, Vermont and Pennsylvania over the past 4 months - some small producers of less than 200 taps, some with 80,000 taps!
Do we have the most efficient and sophisticated syrup collection and production system? Nope. But, what we have we've acquired without debt, Praise God!
So, over the next few years we'll upgrade and streamline our maple operation as finances allow. Don thrives on finding more efficient ways to do things, and that gives him and our sons many great learning opportunities. As homeschoolers, we love that part! I'll be sure to share what we're doing as we grow.
We watch the weather carefully these days. Looks like the next warm up will be around March 12th. Hopefully, we'll get a good, long sap run next time! We're ready for it.
We hope to have our product page ready by early-May, so bookmark our website, Friends!
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