Spiles
There always seems to be new innovations out that say they are going to increase production and save the industry thousands of dollars. This blog post is dedicated to Alan at globurban.com. He sent an amazing list of all the different maple syrup festivals that are going to be happening around Ontario, thanks Alan.
Alan had great question about spiles and pointed me into the direction of the University of Vermont website. Apparently there has been a new innovation called to check valve spout. It works like this if the vacuum system is turned on than a little ball that’s inside of the spiles is pulled away from the tree allowing the sap to come out. When the vacuum system is turned off the little ball rolls in front of the opening and blocks bacteria from getting back to the hole. Alan’s concerns seem to be that you’d put excess pressure on the tree by not letting the natural bacteria seal the hole thus taking more sap than the tree is able to lose. Read the full story here.
We will see if this spile will even work this year. I suspect if you are going to try new product that says it’s going to take more sap from the tree then a producer would tend to under tap.. Most of the syrup produces that I’ve talked to basically baby their bush, if there is something that has the potential to take more sap out of the tree I’m sure it would be tried in moderation. I’m sure it was the same when they came out with a vacuum system. If it works for these innovators than I am sure it is going to catch on.
There’s also been a number of innovations that tried to solve this bacteria problem. Leader Evaporators, which is the company that is selling these new spiles, already has something on their website to try to combat the problem of bacteria.
“designed to be an inexpensive bacteria free throw-away fitting to put in the tree for maple sugar makers looking for maximum production every year. This rugged extension features a female cup which will accept almost every 19/64 and 5/16 diameter spout on the market”
So will this new little device work, who’s to say? There is also another type of this spile that we are looking into for our bush, it is a stainless steel spile. Here’s a video of Bill Smith and Keith Brown discussing it.
To Market
Well today was a pretty full day of trying to get maple syrup sales going. I have been working on creating online shopping cart in order to sell my syrup off the website. I’ve got something together the only problem is shipping, I don’t really know exactly how to charge for shipping, still working out the bugs.
I did however get a chance to go into the post office and I found out exactly how much one liter of maple syrup weighs.
I’ve also been trying to get in contact with all the different farmers markets that are around Toronto. I contacted an Anne Freeman at Dufferin and Grove Park. She was very helpful even though she they already had a maple syrup producer that was selling product. She said that she would pass my name along to some of the other Farmers markets.
I found man named Chad at the Trinity Bellwoods open market. He was an incredible wealth of knowledge explains me about how to get involved in these farmer markets and what it was like selling maple syrup in a downtown area. (insadently he is the one that sells his syrup at Dufferin) It is nice to know is that my prices are pretty much dead on with his.
That’s the nice thing about the maple syrup industry, most producers are happy to help each other out which is fabulous for a newcomer like me, thanks again Chad!
Stay tuned for an update on Mike in the Bush. I had a nice long chat with him today but we won’t get any real news until about Friday a very special visitor is coming to take a look at our operation.
More info on the Famers markets in Toronto.
Hello All
My name is Mike Garside. I am the bush operations guy in this adventure. Dave wants me to start a Blog about what I am doing in the syrup trade. I first should give a little info on myself. I spent 7 or 8 years working for the second biggest Maple syrup producer in Ontario, Doug Thompson’s Maple Products. I tapped trees, cleaned tanks and pans, added mainlines, spur lines, tap lines, repaired squirrel damage check the bush for leaks, worked on the steam system, vacuum system, filtered syrup and I even changed a motor in the old bush truck. During my time there I saw a lot of things that can come up in the bush, so I have a pretty good idea what we will be up against. In my career I have a back ground in electrical and work for a company called Brookfield Renewable Power which owns and operates hydro electric generation stations. I am part of the Maintenance team that keeps the power flowing.
I will start giving Dave so material to post when I get a chance. They maybe few and far between, as I am in the middle of a big project at work, and a million little projects at home. I also only have dial up and that is not going to work for anyone so if you’re interested in what I have to tell stay tuned.
lets get selling
So I’m all ready to start selling my maple syrup through Craig’s list. I must say that I am pretty happy about how it’s going so far. I can’t decide whether I should sell it all directly myself or whether I should find a health food store or grocery store in the area that would like to purchase it. There is still the online way of doing it but again I have a limited supply.
I’ve also noticed that there is maple syrup in this area that is certified organic. I don’t really know how to go about getting my maple syrup certified organic but I can say it was probably made more “organically” than any other type of syrup in the area (wood fired).
I have uploaded a picture of all of the stuff I brought back from St. Joseph Island. I also finished up the labels that I’m going to put on the maple syrup to drive people to the website so they can see exactly where this maple syrup comes from. I think this is a real selling feature to the product.
Things to Think about
Well there are so many questions to be asking when putting together a new Sugarbush. Right now I’m having a bit of trouble trying to find the right size bottles to sell Maple syrup in.
The 250 mL bottle seemed to be the most popular but as it turns out I only have one left. This means that I’m most likely going to have to break up some of my great big 4 L jugs into 250 mL. Fortunately I have all the equipment I need to do this. I have also found a comprehensive manual which gives the process of hot packing in detail.
In and I’ve been thinking about is what we are going to name the new Sugarbush. I was thinking about keeping the same name as the URL that I have now, sap to syrup I still want to get some feedback and not necessarily do with that in 100%.
Most likely will come up with a short list and then maybe have a poll to see which one wins.
Mike has a good priceless together of all the equipment that were going to need. It’s pretty good starting point and I think that we can cover a pretty comfortably.
The start of something beautiful
Well it looks like I’m going to be expanding my maple syrup career. I was up north on St. Joseph Island and I got to talking with a very good friend of mine Mike Garside. Mike is on the far end of the island at a beautiful hunting camp in the middle of the woods. his grandfather and father both used to work in the Sugarbush that is on the property. Mike and I started chatting and thought maybe we should revisit the Bush and bring it back to life.
Mike and I go back a long way our first adventure together and commerce was our firewood business. My father had logged are old property and the logger had left all the tops of the trees in the back of the Bush. After leaving all these tops four a year Mike and I collected an old truck, wood splitter, a chainsaw and a hell of a lot of work. It was one of the better working relationships I’ve had in my life.
We had a chance to walk the Sugarbush and made a rough estimate of about 800 taps in full Bush. In the first year though I don’t believe we will try to put in all the taps for now we would be content with 400. Some of the old equipment is still there like a beautiful stainless steel boiling pans. It also helps that there’s power out there and a cornucopia of odds and ends that you’d don’t know you need until you need them.
Well are on our way for another adventure that’s for sure. At least now I’m going to have something to talk about on a regular basis on my blog. It’s incredible how much I’ve been lacking in the last little while I apologize to anyone who has come here hoping to find new content.
I plan to be investing a little bit more time and effort into this website I know I always say that by this time I’m going to as I want to begin selling our beautiful woodfired maple syrup online.
Stay tuned for some more updates and check out my broken bone.
The scaphoid is broken
