We are not nearly as organized as planned: The sugar shack/house will not be completed until late spring (it is being built in stages in a workshop on the island, but the construction here cannot start until the ground is agreeable). Since there is no building, we have no place to set up all the massive and complex maple sugaring equipment. Since there is no sugar house, we couldn't put up the lines (hoses) for the trees (well, we could, but they would go nowhere). Heavy sigh.
To actually get started, we have bought a small "hobbyist" style evaporator, which boils the tree sap, and are setting it up in a temporary shelter in the location of the future sugar house. We're planning on manually tapping some trees in the old fashioned way, putting spiles in trees and hanging buckets from hooks on the spiles. Then we will gather the sap daily and boil it in the evaporator. This method takes a long time, and you're basically outside all day, putting wood in the stove below the evaporator pans. At least with this basic setup, we'll be able to get our feet wet with the process and get some first-hand experience with how the process works.
We will still be making syrup and maple candies and other maple sweets, but on a much smaller scale than anticipated with our own syrup, although we may very well buy a large barrel from another local producer so that we can still do a good volume of the further-refined products (maple fudge, maple butter, maple brittle, maple candies, etc). Also, we're restricted as to where we can sell the products, as we do not yet have a Federal Registration number. This means we're restricted to selling only in Ontario until later on this year.
This is all a learning experience and I'm trying to be positive. Perhaps when I get the maple candy machine and maple cream machine, as well as all the related packaging materials and labels, I'll feel better.
Right now, it's cold here and is expected to be this way for a couple of weeks, at least. This gives us time to get the evaporator and buckets organized. We will be tapping for sap when the daytime temperatures are above zero Celsius and night time temperatures are still below zero. Then, we'll be busy!
We're told that even though making maple syrup is hard work, requiring long hours every day for five or six weeks, it's supposed to be fun, too. We'll keep you posted.
Here's what our small, temporary evaporator looks like, not quite set up yet, along with a temporary shelter that we'll cover with a tarp and rig up with a solar panel, small inverter, and LED lights so that we can work into the evenings and be out of the elements, at least a little bit:
