Last Updated on August 16, 2019 by Michelle
If you entertain thoughts of being a backyard sugar maker, then this book, The Sugarmaker’s Companion, may be perfect for you. If you’d love to snag your own copy for free, along with a jar of my favorite maple product that we make on our farm (Maple Sugar!), then the giveaway below is definitely for you! So keep reading!
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Spring is a golden time (literally) on our farm, with the sugar maples in bloom. It’s a great time to share this amazing giveaway with you. Scroll to the end for all the details on this amazing giveaway, valued at $50!
I was ecstatic when I first opened my envelope from Chelsea Green Publishing with this beautiful book inside. It’s truly one I would eagerly pull down off of any bookshelf and longingly flip through.
But my love affair dwindled as I noticed pictures of giant evaporators, in huge sugar making facilities, chapter titles like “Expanding Your Business Through Buying Sap and Leasing Taps,” and full-page charts with titles like “Comparison of Proposed Standard Maple Grades and Nomenclature with Existing Maple Grades and Nomenclature in Canada and the United States.”
Without any yummy cast-iron-baked, real-food dessert recipes or quaint pictures of kids and parents hanging out around a giant pot of boiling sap in their backyard, I’ll admit I wasn’t quickly hooked.
In fact, if I had been perusing in a book store, while I probably would have quickly put this book back on the shelf as quickly as I took it down, assuming it was just for big-time sugar-making operations, but not a DIY backyard operation like ours.
But I am so thankful Chelsea Green mailed me my own copy of this fantastic book. After I let it sit on our coffee table for a few weeks, admiring the pretty cover and nothing more, I picked it back up one evening. And boy am I glad I did. Oh the things Michael Farrell started to teach me, little by little, one sidebar, one helpful caption, and one informative picture at a time!
I still haven’t read the chapter on buying and leasing taps (doubt I ever will) or even tried to understand the chart that is comparing, well, to be honest, I don’t even know what it’s comparing… But I learned fascinating facts and identification techniques for maple trees in all seasons, lots of detailed reasons why you should put your sap through a reverse osmosis filter (see this post for more about that), and even the best products that even a backyard syrup maker can make for profit. (Michael Farrell has even downloaded some helpful worksheets on that topic on the publisher’s website, and the book tells you how to access those.)
In short, my copy of The Sugarmaker’s Companion is already becoming quite marked up and dog-eared and it is definitely no longer just a coffee table decoration. If you’d like a chance to win your own free copy, please take a second to enter the giveaway below.
If you need more prompting, I put together this list for you…
5 Reasons You Might Want a Copy of This Sweet Read
- You’ll become an expert on lots of interesting facts about all maples that are suitable for tapping. (p 34-46)
- You’ll find out exactly what’s in maple sap and what people of Eurasia do with Birch sap (you’ll wanna try this!). (p. 218)
- You’ll learn when it is the absolute best time to identify sugar bushes and how. (p 150)
- You’ll discover what you can make with your maple sap that has been shown to be the best money maker of all maple products. (p 199)
- You’ll enjoy some great suggestions on what to do if your homemade maple cream separates. (p. 202)
On the other hand, if you’re just starting out with backyard maple syrup making, this book may be over-the-top, big-sugarhouse intimidating to you. If so, keep an eye out for my book, Sweet Maple, coming to your local bookstores Fall 2019. (Well, if they’re good bookstores, she says with a wink.) Oh, and pictures of yummy cast-iron-baked? Real-food dessert recipes? And quaint pictures of a family hanging out around a giant pot of boiling sap? They’ll all be in there.
Feel free to PIN this page, or just glance over here, for all the latest updates on Sweet Maple.
If you’re not sure you’d know what to do with the amazing jar of maple sugar, you should check out my last post, which lists 10 reasons it’s the best sweetener you could ever use and includes lots of great ideas and recipes. (Warning: cravings and a deep longing for this free jar of maple sugar may ensue.)
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Join a fb group of maple enthusiasts by clicking the box above. Then snag your first free eBook by clicking the eBook image below. Yep, I have a free eBook for you that might help your family live a little more simply and use a little less refined sugar.
–> Download Maple Goodness here .Your family will truly love the Best Ever Maple Scone recipe in this free eBook. <–
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Then type your email address in the box below, or click here for the second totally free ebook. This 33-page eBook, A Sweet Taste, includes lots more inspiration to find little ways to live a more simple lifestyle and it includes even more amazing recipes using all-natural maple syrup. You’ll find A Sweet Taste, along with lots of other inspiring, helpful resources, in my Resource Library, which you’ll receive a password to when you sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter, right here.
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