Americans are experiencing a renaissance of do-it-yourself agriculture and food processing; people are gardening, keeping orchards, poultry and other livestock, planting vineyards, brewing their own beverages and preserving foods in increasing numbers, even in densely populated areas. Naturally, many people would like to make their own maple syrup as well! The good news is, all you really need in order to acquire maple sap is some simple, inexpensive and easily accessible pieces of equipment (a drill, some spiles, and some lidded pails) and a couple of mature maple trees. The bad news is that unless you are prepared to make a sizeable investment in a sugar shack, a professional-grade evaporator, or—for those of us who attempt the broiling-pan-on-grill method (don’t do it!)—an embarrassing amount of propane, you can’t make that sap into syrup. What is the backyard sugaring enthusiast to do? THE SOLUTION: Vermont Evaporator Company, LLC, located in Central Vermont, is focused on manufacturing small, home-scale sap evaporation units for the backyard sugaring enthusiast that are easy to use and available at a price point well below any products on the market today. As an initial offering, VEC has developed the Sapling, a wood-fired model made from a retrofitted 55 gallon drum and a graded stainless steel evaporating tray priced that are accessibly priced. VEC is currently developing the Seedling, an even more modestly priced graded tray designed to work with standard-sized backyard grills. In the future, VEC plans to offer propane and hybrid (wood/propane) models. In addition, while the Sapling already comes with grates to convert the unit into a grill on the off-season, VEC is also developing a smoker attachment to further enhance the unit’s versatility. Finally, VEC plans to grow into selling accessories for the amateur such as hand drills, spiles, lidded buckets, sap storage containers, fire brick and seasoning oil.