Chris: Very well said, you are fortunate to have such business savory people to bounce ideas off and get sound advice. Sound like that son of yours has a bright future ahead of him!
Darren: I don't think I could be happy anywhere else, probably my down fall. My sister left the state for greener pastures and is doing very well for herself, but I would spiritually die where she lives. The marble industry was the big employer here back in the 20's, 30's and into the 40's but is just about dead now. The town I live in never really recovered, the holes and cranes are all over the place. When I was a kid we used to climb up into a huge gantry crane and ride it back and forth, should have got my but kicked good for that one.
I have most of the equipment needed to clearing the land. I bought a chipper to chip up all the brush and limbs. The chips will be applied over the garden space. The Back To Eden gardening method uses wood chips as a heavy mulch. Which in turns creates compost, compost tea and retains and regulates soil moisture along with protecting from soil erosion. I don't have a sawmill yet, new ones are to expensive for me at the moment, my son is chomping at the bit to start building our own, I do have some old cars sitting around that are starting to look like a sawmill LOL. At the moment all my efforts are going into rebuilding a dump truck. It was one of those purchases where half way into it you realize it might have been a better idea to keep looking. But I'm stuck with it now, it will be a good truck when I'm done, but it's holding me up right now.
Darren: I don't think I could be happy anywhere else, probably my down fall. My sister left the state for greener pastures and is doing very well for herself, but I would spiritually die where she lives. The marble industry was the big employer here back in the 20's, 30's and into the 40's but is just about dead now. The town I live in never really recovered, the holes and cranes are all over the place. When I was a kid we used to climb up into a huge gantry crane and ride it back and forth, should have got my but kicked good for that one.
I have most of the equipment needed to clearing the land. I bought a chipper to chip up all the brush and limbs. The chips will be applied over the garden space. The Back To Eden gardening method uses wood chips as a heavy mulch. Which in turns creates compost, compost tea and retains and regulates soil moisture along with protecting from soil erosion. I don't have a sawmill yet, new ones are to expensive for me at the moment, my son is chomping at the bit to start building our own, I do have some old cars sitting around that are starting to look like a sawmill LOL. At the moment all my efforts are going into rebuilding a dump truck. It was one of those purchases where half way into it you realize it might have been a better idea to keep looking. But I'm stuck with it now, it will be a good truck when I'm done, but it's holding me up right now.
QuoteGranted you need to reduce 40 pints of sap to get it, but that doesn't have to be an expensive operation.Unfortunately in order to be Vermont Certified you have to have some very expensive infrastructure in place. Although expensive is a relative term, it would be expensive for me and I will have to ease into it slowly over time. Most everyone today uses plastic hose and vacuum pumps. when I do it I want to do it the old fashion way with buckets a wood fired evaporator and turn the operation into a destination for tourist and locals who want to see what Sugaring in Vermont used to be like. I might even use horses to pull the collection tank, but that one is to be determined at a later date, at least an antique tractor.