Tom---Way back when I was a kid---about 1956 or so, my dad had 50 acres of land where the "homestead" was, but it was all white pine and scrub---no good hardwood. And if ya heat with wood, ya need good maple and oak. My uncle Jack Anderson had a beautifull maple woodlot, about 5 acres, just down the road from us. Every spring, dad would tap that woodlot, and half the maple syrup went to uncle Jack, and every fall dad would cut enough hardwood to heat our house and uncle Jacks house for the winter. Talk about the barter system----anyways, I can remember every spring, wading snow up to my short little ass, after school and on the weekends, emptying sap buckets into a 45 gallon drum on a stoneboat, pulled behind one of my uncles horses.---Nice memories, but if I had to wade thru snow like that now, they'd be calling in the air ambulance to rescue an old fat man with a heart attack!!!