Customer Reviews

Backyard Sugarin'

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has an overarching philosophy - keep it simple and keep it cheap! The authors describe everything you need to know and stress not having to pay for anything you can get for free. This quest for free stuff that works well is one of the pleasures of hobby sugaring. Well written descriptions of all the processes. Lots of photos. Reading it makes you wish the sap would start flowing NOW! Highly recommended

This is the do-it-yourself book that got me started on that sweet rite of spring -- making my own maple syrup. The author's emphasis is on how to do it efficiently and very cheaply, using easy-to-find materials you can scrounge yourself. If you have the trees to tap, by all means get this book! (Hint: they don't have to be the sugar maple species. Try other maples as well. I get great syrup from box elders, which I considered "trash trees" until I learned they are in the maple family. Now I treasure them like gold.)

My own sugaring set-up is total simplicity: just some old refrigerator grates set on top of cinder blocks, heated with odd scraps of wood that fell from trees in our woods, or that others have thrown away at construction sites, etc. (Much better than having those go in the landfill!) The sap is boiled down in flat baking pans, then finished off on the stove inside. Except for the initial expense to buy some professional spiles for tapping (you can make those, too, but I'm a failure as a tinsmith) and the propane it takes to finish a batch, I have spent ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the 3-4 gallons of syrup we make each year. Not a bad return for a book that I cost me less than ten bucks!

I remember fondly the early Michigan spring from my childhood, helping my father collect sap. This more than anything fueled my desire to make my own syrup. This book, Rink Mann's "Backyard Sugarin'" is an excellent book to get you off without breaking your back or your bank account. The author has a delightful writing style that is thoroughly engrossing. The book is well illustrated, full of ideas and rock solid on exactly when, how and what to tap, and exactly how to process all that sap. I highly recomend this book. Even if you don't live in sugar country you will enjoy this book.

Tioga County is farming country and most farms in these parts used to have a sugar shack. Vermont might get better promotion and produce more, but there's nothing better than Grandma's flapjacks topped with homemade syrup from the farm. If you've a hankering for homemade and want to try making your own, then Backyard Sugarin': A Complete How-To Guide, by Rink Mann will show you how.

This book tells you how you can make maple syrup right in your own back yard without having to build a sap house or buy buckets, holding tanks, and other expensive paraphernalia. Think of it as sugar on a shoestring. The author goes over the basics of selecting your trees, homemade evaporators, the boiling down process and includes tips from small-time sugarers from across the country.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" about a barn cat who wanted more out of life and editor "Of A Predatory Heart" outdoor stories that will make you laugh and cry.

We have a 300+ year old sugar maple in our back yard. For the past few years we have tapped it each spring and boiled down the sap for the best maple syrup! This wonderful little "how-to guide" has given us a lot of pointers and info we were not aware of before. Easy to read and understand too. Just a nice little reference book.

It doesnt matter if never made maple syrup and you are a newbie like me, or you are a pro. These simple techniques will explain to you how and why make excellent maple syrup. Lots and lots of good advice from somebody that really knows the sugarin process in the backyard. This also means that you can make your own syrup without spending a fortune but buying simple little things or reusing everyday use things for the whole process.

Its more of a dialogue of your grandpa teaching you than a guide.

By far the best book for the novice maple syrup maker. If you have never been involved in making maple syrup, but want to try it, this book is for you. It has the true "Vermonter" attitude regarding "thrifty" production of syrup. It is for the indivuals (like us) who want to make it at home and in small amounts.

A great book for the beginner. Gives ideas of what to do and how to do
it in the cheapest way possible and end up with a yummy product.

this is a great book even if your not a beginner talks very plain and simple takes you from a to z you'll be sugarin in no time

Very easy and fun to read, Rink Minn as written and updated the step by step process of producing maple syrup. As a beginner I highly recommend this book to all who want to try their hand at surgar'n.