Jackson’s and Lacey’s Maple Syrup

Jackson told us this winter that he really wanted to try his hand at making maple syrup. He got his own firewood and stacked it in his firewood crates, a friend sold him his maple set up and he tapped about 35 trees just down the road from us! Lacey is enjoying being his sidekick!

This is the set up he started out with. He boiled his first batch and then decided this wasn’t as efficient as he wanted it to be. I would over hear him talk to Lacey about how he could change this or that to make it better and faster.

He then got a pan to hold extra sap with a valve that would slowly allow the sap to drip into the pan as it boiled down. He also lined the stove part with fire bricks to help hold the heat in the fire box and then put ash around the bricks. He also found a bigger pan instead of the two smaller pans that he started out with.

I am so proud of him! He reminds me so much of Farmer Sean always trying to make things better and more efficient! He has since made this setup even better by putting more bricks under the holding pan so it is way more stable!

This is his first maple syrup he made!! He even finishes it outside in the second stove with the one pan on the top.

This is the 2rd batch he boiled down and finished! We are totally enjoying it! I’ve bought some off of him to use in our granola and yogurt! Fresh syrup just taste so much better! I am sure that it is because I am a bit bias but I use it in my coffee every morning without fail and it just makes it taste so good!

I cant wait to see how much he ends up with!