I'm a little late this year, but I finally got around to tapping the Red Maples in our yard. (Sugar Maples would be better, but any maple will do. You gotta play the hand you're dealt.)
A walk through any modern sugarbush will turn up a lot of short pieces of tubing and a few plastic taps laying around on the ground. Pick up litter and do yourself a favor at the same time - take a hike and collect a few. A piece of tubing on a tap draining into a five-gallon bucket is a good setup for someone only making a quart or three. A lid on the bucket with a hole just large enough for the tube will keep bugs out.
Evaporating it on the woodstove we heat with adds humidity to the dry winter air and makes the place smell nice. We have to watch it carefully towards the end, though - there's a fine line between maple syrup and a burned mess.
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