we do not currently do this but years ago we did. Home made , fresh maple syrup on pancakes or french toast , with a side of sausage , bacon or ham served out side near a hardwood fire let this Yankee say " Now thems vittles "
Happy tappin !! johnny

Yup, one of my favorite things to do. I made 22 quarts in 2009. Last year, it thawed and got abnormally warm in mid-March, and there was a really short sap flow (at least, compared to previous years) -- only got 4 quarts made.

It's a LOT of boiling -- not hard work, but time consuming. However, I wouldn't trade those crisp March evenings outdoors under the stars, tending the fire and the sap, for anything.

Besides, that stuff is NOT cheap to buy -- going rate here in Michigan is about $15 to $20 a quart.

Also, they say that the typical sugar content is about 1 1/2%, and that it takes about 40 quarts of sap to make a quart of syrup. I think I get a considerably better yield than that -- about 28 or 30 to 1. I am tapping silver maples growing free of any other tree competition in the middle of a fertilized lawn, so I think that probably helps them -- optimal growing conditions.

I only make about 6 qts. in a good year - enough for personal use and gifts. We boil indoors unattended (until the crucial final hour!) on a woodstove which is always going anyway. You're right about last year, myself and all of New England were down about 40%.

Well, I finish it indoors, the last say 20 minutes of boiling. Anything more than that, and my walls drip. I have an older house, and there isn't an exhaust fan over the stove, so any steam just goes into the air.

The first year I tried this indoors, I literally did have dripping walls. It was not pretty.