The Maple Dude - Maple Syrup, Social Media, and Albert the Amish Man - Episode #60

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What's up friends?
Welcome back to Rooter

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Wisconsin.
Appreciate you for clicking

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another episode.
Grateful to have you here.

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Today's episode is with the
Maple Dude, AKA Tim Sternischi.

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I hope I said that right.
I've been watching Tim stuff on

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social media for a while.
I make Maple syrup as a passion

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of mine and it's kind of a
little family project to that.

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My dad and I do.
And that's how it started for

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Tim and it's grown to a whole
lot more than that.

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You might have seen the Maple
Dude Maple syrup in grocery

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stores near you.
You might have seen him making

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funny videos on social media
with his daughter making fun of

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him and a whole lot more.
It's grown.

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It's awesome to see a Wisconsin
based Maple business doing

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really well.
He uses smoke Smoky Lake Maple

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equipment, which I'm really
partial to to Jim and Angela

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have been good friends for a
long time now and great to see

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what he he's grown his business
into.

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And we talked about how daunting
it must have been to decide that

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he was going to make Maple syrup
for a business.

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Because as someone who makes
Maple syrup and as someone who

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is slightly addicted to
entrepreneurship, I wouldn't

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consider doing it as a full time
job.

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It's always something goes
wrong.

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You make $0.10 an hour doing it.
It's, it's really laborious.

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And the cool thing about it is
the fruits worth the the reward

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at the end.
So we talked about his Maple

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business.
We talked about his path to

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entrepreneurship growing up on a
dairy farm in central Wisconsin

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and that being his connection to
Maple syrup.

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And we end up kind of getting
into a bunch of conversation

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about reconnecting with the
outdoors and how that

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importance, how important that
is and how tech is changing

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society and how we live and our
connection to food and a whole

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lot of really fun topics.
So hope you enjoy.

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As always, shout out to our
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Hopefully your New Year's
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alcohol.
And if it is, let Carouser help

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alcohol.
Also big shout out to Epic

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Mortgage.
Appreciate them coming on board.

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Epic mortgage care and community
is what they're all about.

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Looking to help you get into
your next home.

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Home buying process is wild
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your corner can be super
helpful.

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Epic mortgage can definitely do
that for you.

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And one final shout out coming
on board is Genuine Lynn, based

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out of the pier, but can make
all different types of

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promotional material and apparel
for your business.

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Genuine Lynn, actually a
colleague of mine and his wife

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run the business together and
just fantastic people doing an

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awesome job with apparel.
They make a bunch of apparel for

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their local high school and a
lot more.

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So check them out.
Genuine Lynn.

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They made a bunch of cool rooted
Wisconsin gear that you can get.

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All you got to do is hit me up
and we'll get you set up.

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Without further ado, though,
let's jump on in.

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Here's the Maple, dude.
so my go to lately is to start

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the episode.
I've been telling the story

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about how I used to do this,
like intro.

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Did you watch any of the
episodes of the podcast?

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Yeah, OK.
Did you see anywhere I used to

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look in the camera and do the
intro?

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Yeah.
Yeah.

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That would make people so
nervous, man, so nervous.

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And you're looking at that
camera or whatever.

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That's what I would do, but then
I would, I would start the

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episode and I would come to the
guest and every time they'd be

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just sweating bullets, man.
So I don't do it anymore.

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I record the intro separately
and then now we just kind of

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start talking and wherever it,
wherever it naturally starts,

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the episode is where we'll come
and go.

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But yeah, I don't know.
I'm, I'm excited to chat with

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you, man.
I've been watching your social

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stuff for a while.
Oh, really?

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Well.
Thanks.

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Yeah, I mean, I've been trying
doing that for quite a while.

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I mean, you know, I just, I
didn't even actually have any

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social media until I started to
use it for my business.

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So, you know, I just was
something that I played around

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with and you know, I've found
that I kind of liked it overall.

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I mean, I feel like I don't want
to spend too much time on social

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media myself though, but I have
fun making the content.

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So, you know, it's been a
learning curve like that, like

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you're being here today learning
about the podcast and everything

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that was.
It's stuff I'm interested in.

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People, was it a big part of
your business growing?

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I do believe that social media,
probably without that, I don't

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know if I'd be doing what I'm
doing for a living.

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You know what I'm saying?
In some regard, I feel like if

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you have a very small business
like like me, you know, it's a

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small business you how else in
today's world are you going to

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market yourself really?
I mean, you know, like radio or

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print or TV, you know, that's
kind of it's just not what The

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thing is now.
And it does give you an Ave. for

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anybody to, you know, put put
yourself out there and you know,

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get seen and stuff like that.
I mean, you can talk about I'm

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sometimes frustrated with the
amount, you know, of followers

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or subscribers I have where how
many actually see the content,

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you know, like what the the the
companies let go through

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without.
I think they want you to want me

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to pay to get a lot more, But
you know, that sometimes can be

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a little bit frustrating, but
you know, it's some do better

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than others.
And I mean, I, I feel like it's

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helped give my the Maple due to
brand.

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I mean, and that's kind of way I
came up with that name to start

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with was, you know, Tim's Maple
syrup.

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You know, like nobody's probably
going to really remember that.

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And there's a lot of Maple syrup
being made in Wisconsin.

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So I just was like originally
trying to think of, you know,

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something unique something.
And actually that was probably

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my I, I think, well, the reason
I came up with that name was it

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was back in the day, it was a
password that I was using for

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like online accounts.
And stuff like that.

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Yeah, I mean, there you go.
Everybody just hack in there and

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you won't get rich.
So that's how you came up with

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the name.
It was a password and that.

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Yeah, I mean, that's just kind
of yeah, like I called myself

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the Maple dude.
Or it was like a handle on see,

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like back in the day.
I grew up on a how I got into

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it.
I grew up on a really small

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dairy farm in Clark County,
Wisconsin.

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Clark County, Wisconsin is still
the biggest dairy farming county

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in the United States.
And I grew up in Clark County,

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Wisconsin, very rural area back
in that time, everybody.

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And this was the early 90s.
I'm I'm getting old.

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Me too.
Me too.

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I mean, every kid that I went to
school with almost we're dairy

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farming kids.
We grew up, you know, on the

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farm and these are all these
small dairy farms, which there

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aren't a whole lot of those
left.

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There's very, very few of those
left.

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Few out there, but not many.
And part of that whole culture

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was Maple syrup production as
part of a little thing offshoot

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of the farm.
You know, every farm had a

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woods, you know, a wood lot in
the back 40 or whatever.

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And that's kind of how I, you
know, learned about it because

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my dad and my grandpa, you know,
I, I just very primitive.

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Like very, very, very primitive.
You probably would have thought

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we were maybe making something
else out in the woods, you know,

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like cooking something illegal.
But I mean, it was nothing fancy

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about this setup.
But that's kind of how I learned

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how to do it.
And, you know, over the years,

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it just kind of evolved slowly
from that level.

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I mean, like I was playing
around with it at that level

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for, for a while until I, you
know, figured, you know, I

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wanted to do more with this.
And then I guess kind of getting

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back to my background to the
password thing.

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This was back in the day before
social media, before Facebook

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for, you know, like where you
can go on there now and see

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these groups, you know, and talk
Maple surf and stuff.

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There were these websites that
were kind of essentially message

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boards and that's kind of where
I started trying to learn more

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about it beyond what I knew.
But I mean, my dad, my grandpa

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taught me the basics.
So that's how I got started.

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And that was my, I think that
was like my, my handle on these

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old websites, you know, back in
at round, you know, around

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98992000, something like that.
Talk about invaluable though,

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because something a lot of
people don't know about Maple

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syrup is it's very hard to learn
the process from start to finish

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is a lot.
And I mean, at that time you're

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probably cone filtering with
your folks on the dairy farm.

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And like, how do you how do you
learn how to do it

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professionally without having
access to something like that?

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You know, it's super interesting
what you said, though.

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That's something I've never
thought about is, is the Maple

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syrup industry in Wisconsin.
But it makes so much sense.

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One of the guys that helps us
out on our operation does it

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because it reminds him of his
childhood on his farm.

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Oh yeah.
And man, I can think of more

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than a handful of people in my
head of Maples producers that I

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know that started on a farm.
I've never put that together.

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Oh yeah, I think it's it's a
very not everywhere.

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I mean, northern Wisconsin,
there's going to be less farms,

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you know, then kind of central
where I grew up.

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So maybe it's not entirely all
tied to it there, but definitely

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a large part of it was it's kind
of got a hassle, a dairy farming

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culture behind it, you know,
which is what I grew up in and.

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So what was that first set up?
The one out in the woods?

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What were you boiling on?
Yeah, I mean, it was like a oh

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gosh, like a four foot by 8 foot
tin pan.

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You know, this thing wasn't even
stainless steel sitting over a

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homemade, you know, actually
there was one out in the woods

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that was built into the ground.
Like there was kind of dirt

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piled up and like cinder blocks
in there and so you can just

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throw wood in underneath it.
There was one of those.

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And then we had some, you know,
very primitive, like, well,

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steel arches, you know, that
weren't anything fancy.

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They were made with like I beams
and, and stuff like that, you

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know, and I, and that's all that
my grandpa and dad wanted to do

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with it.
You know, it's just kind of

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let's make some for ourself and
the family members.

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And, you know, there really
wasn't any regulations in, in

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regards to that type of thing if
you know, but if you're.

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So that's how it.
Yeah, it was very primitive.

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You know, we didn't even have a
roof over our heads.

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It was out in the open.
I mean, if it was snowing or

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raining, we'd like get a big old
piece of like sheet metal and

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put it over the pan.
And it was pretty rough.

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One of my that's one of my
favorite questions to talk about

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with other folks that make Maple
because it's really fun to talk

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about the the new cool stuff
that we have, but I like keep

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hearing people's first set up
with it.

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Oh.
Yeah, we would.

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We throw, don't tell me we throw
tires in there in the like a

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freight train.
Yeah, one of my favorite stories

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from starting Maple Syrup.
We had a similar thing where I

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went and bought my first rig
from this guy in the middle of

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nowhere UP his name was Huey
LaRue.

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Really cool guy, super
interesting.

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And I brought it home and I put
it under a like a freestanding.

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It was pretty much like AI mean.
I I had an outdoor wood boiler.

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So it was, it was for my
firewood, but it had no walls

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and I can't remember if the
first or second year I did it.

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My, my, it was something my dad
and I were going to do together

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and he drove up and it was going
to be a terrible weekend of

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weather. 40 mile an hour winds
15° just cold as hell.

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And I had to work on Friday but
we had a shit load of SAP to

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boil so and at this we were on
like a 4 by 6 flat pan so 7

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gallons an hour like can't boil
anything off.

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00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,560
And I had to work on Friday.
And I'll never, ever forget

223
00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:12,920
coming home from work.
And my dad was a pretty old

224
00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:18,960
school, like, tough guy, cuddled
in his overalls next to the

225
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,520
Maple syrup evaporator.
And he gives me this look, like,

226
00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,880
what kind of hobby did you pick
up for us?

227
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:28,400
And we've come a long way since
then.

228
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:32,000
But I think it's that roots of
Maple that I think draw us all

229
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,040
in, man, thinking about those
first setups out that we had and

230
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:36,080
how we learned to do it, you
know?

231
00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,000
Oh.
Yeah, I mean, it's a yeah, it's

232
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,280
a lot of memories with it, you
know, I mean, just lot of

233
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:44,600
memories with that.
And again, you know, with my

234
00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,040
grandpa, who passed away many,
many years ago.

235
00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,560
But, you know, my dad still
alive and kicking and in the

236
00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,920
current operation, he still
tries to help how he can, you

237
00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:57,800
know.
So that's carried on to today.

238
00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,480
I think you made a, you made a
video about that this year.

239
00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,760
You you made a video about your
dad still helping.

240
00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:05,000
I can't remember what's his.
It was about his part of the

241
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:05,920
process.
What does he do on?

242
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,040
His labels, I mean, he gets up
there, if we're running the

243
00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,920
bottling machine, he'll, he'll
be at the end of the line

244
00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,800
putting on the labels and taping
the boxes, you know, and, and

245
00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,720
actually during the production
season, he will still like sit

246
00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:23,280
at the evaporator and as the
syrups, you know, coming out,

247
00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,200
being drawn off as it's
finished, he'll basically add

248
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,760
the filter aid and, you know,
and, and to the syrup and run it

249
00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:33,040
through the filter press.
OK yeah, so nice.

250
00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,040
He can still, he can do that for
me.

251
00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:36,240
That's awesome.
Yeah.

252
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,880
And, man, and in all honesty,
for me, every year when it rolls

253
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,360
around, I just think about not
doing it because it's so much

254
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:44,120
worse.
It's a lot of work.

255
00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,400
And every year I think about not
doing it.

256
00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,080
But what keeps me coming back is
just spending time with my dad.

257
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:51,480
That's it.
Yeah.

258
00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:57,000
Like I don't it's fun.
It's fun for a weekend that's.

259
00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,600
What I see a lot of with the
hobbyists is, and I mean, I'm

260
00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,760
not saying I feel a whole lot
that you get towards like about

261
00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,640
the third or fourth week you
start, it starts becoming a

262
00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,280
little bit of a drag because
it's, you know, unless it's

263
00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,440
frozen all day long.
This is every day, you know, all

264
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,520
day.
Some, I mean, not all day, but

265
00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,160
sometimes if we have a really
big, super big SAP run, you

266
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,280
know, some of those times when
it doesn't freeze at night and

267
00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:24,560
it runs all night long, those
are the ones that kill you

268
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,600
because you're there all day.
And, you know, we go late into

269
00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,520
the night to keep up with it.
And, you know, that's even with

270
00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,520
more efficient equipment and
stuff, too.

271
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,560
So yeah, it's a lot of work for
sure.

272
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,200
People, I don't think realize
how much work it is.

273
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,480
Oh, man.
Well, yeah, even now when I get

274
00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,160
to the fourth or fifth weekend,
it's time to button it up.

275
00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:47,520
We're pulling these bags down
like I need a break.

276
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,680
You know, yeah, I hear that a
lot from guys, Like they've had

277
00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,360
enough, you know, it's not even
over with, but they're done.

278
00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,760
Yeah, we did that this year.
I think we pulled probably a

279
00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,160
week too early this year.
We could have had one more boil,

280
00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:04,920
but it just gets to the point
where it's, and that's my

281
00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,960
ongoing joke people because like
I'll sell them a jar or

282
00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,800
something and then people will
say, well, you must make good

283
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,080
money doing this.
I said $0.10 an hour if I'm

284
00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,280
lucky.
Like I'm definitely not doing it

285
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,400
for the money.
You're not doing it for the

286
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:20,720
hourly rate that you received.
For sure.

287
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,160
No, I'm doing it for my next my
next pan I'm going to need or

288
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:25,440
whatever.
It is right?

289
00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:30,000
Which is that's another thing.
It looks you use some Smokey

290
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,840
Lake equipment, right?
Yeah, yeah, I, I do.

291
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,040
I sell their equipment too.
Nice, yeah.

292
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:39,680
So.
They've they, I quickly moved to

293
00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,920
their stuff from that first
setup I bought and man, Jim and

294
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,320
Angela make some good stuff,
dude.

295
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,720
They know what they're.
Yeah, very high quality.

296
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,720
I, you know, I'd say for your,
if you're a hobbyist, that's the

297
00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,240
way to go, you know, and it's a
Wisconsin company here too, so.

298
00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:55,360
Yeah.
What is it?

299
00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,640
What like how many taps do you
do now?

300
00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:58,960
And what is your setup look
like?

301
00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,360
Like I'd love to see it.
Yeah.

302
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,160
I mean, if you're ever in that
area, you know, or traveling

303
00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:05,280
through, you definitely come see
it.

304
00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,960
I mean, you know, on the grand
scheme of things, from a

305
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,880
hobbyist standpoint, you're
going to say, wow, it's really

306
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,839
big.
But from the standpoint of like

307
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:19,240
if you compare to operation, say
in Vermont, Vermont is the #1

308
00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:25,440
Maple syrup state, you know,
it's not by any means huge level

309
00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,079
on those regards.
You know, we're boiling down

310
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:34,880
around from like 13 to 14,000
taps in in that range.

311
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,200
But you know, you can go and
talk about really, I mean, in

312
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,240
Wisconsin there's some pretty
large operations larger, but

313
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,360
like if you go into the
Northeast lake, Vermont and

314
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:49,320
stuff, I mean there's you know,
50-60 thousand tap and up

315
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,520
operations.
But yeah, so that's what what

316
00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:53,800
we're doing.
And you.

317
00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,120
Know so then what are you
running for evaporators like how

318
00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:59,320
many do you how much pan space
do you have to be even boil that

319
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:03,520
off.
We have a, it's a 3 1/2 foot

320
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,880
wide by 14 foot long unit and
it's natural gas so we don't

321
00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,120
burn wood anymore.
So that actually does help with

322
00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:11,720
the labour, you know, a lot less
work.

323
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,120
Oh yeah.
But we do that and then we also

324
00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:17,720
do the, of course you have to,
when you start talking about

325
00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,160
those amounts, you got to do a
reverse osmosis.

326
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,640
So that's what we use as reverse
osmosis machine, you know, and

327
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:28,200
that we're taking like 80% of
the water out of the SAP before,

328
00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,960
over 80% actually before it
starts getting boiled down by

329
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:36,320
that evaporator.
So that's a huge time and, you

330
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,600
know, fuel savings to do
something like that.

331
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,680
Yeah, we haven't dipped into the
RO yet, haven't done that.

332
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:48,360
What you find with with the
switch from wood to gas, is it

333
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,000
it like is it's not crazy
expensive with using that much

334
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,040
natural gas?
No, natural gas was pretty

335
00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,560
affordable the last several
years that I've had this unit.

336
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,240
You know, it wasn't bad.
I mean, I think it got to be

337
00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,600
when we were still doing wood
fired and I was buying the

338
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,520
firewood because it was just so
hard to make it ourselves and

339
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,520
have time and.
You must need so much boiling.

340
00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,600
Yeah, to where I don't think I
could have.

341
00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:19,280
I think this was cheaper than
buying the firewood.

342
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,440
Yeah.
OK, So what did you sell?

343
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,280
All your old wood evaporators.
Yeah, I've sold that back then

344
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,120
and and went to this unit.
So if you're 3 feet by 14 feet,

345
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,480
you've got to be pretty much
that thing starts at the

346
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,440
beginning of season and you
don't turn it off.

347
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,640
Yeah.
I mean, it's not overly huge for

348
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,640
what we're doing, but it gets
the job done.

349
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,480
I mean, it's probably can do
with the reverse osmosis we're

350
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,760
doing basically, you know, like
a 55 gallon drum.

351
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,200
Well, one of those an hour we
can fill.

352
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:54,680
OK.
Yeah.

353
00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:57,120
OK.
So.

354
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,840
That's, that's amazing to me,
man.

355
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,160
That's amazing because I can
get, I can get probably 25

356
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,040
gallons an hour.
Well.

357
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,040
I'm saying 2055 gallons an hour
of syrup.

358
00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:11,760
Oh yeah, yeah.
OK, that makes a lot more sense.

359
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,280
I was going to say, yeah, that's
wild.

360
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,320
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like a 55 gallon drum of Maple

361
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,000
syrup will fill that in roughly
an hour.

362
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,000
That makes a lot more.
Sense close to an hour.

363
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,680
Man, so how how long has it been
a business for you?

364
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:34,360
Well, I would say over the
course of 20 plus years from a

365
00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:39,400
very small hobby sideline where
I'm selling a few, you know,

366
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:45,120
bottles here and there to a part
time business to now I do it

367
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:50,120
full time, which has been in
January.

368
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,400
I made the leap to do that.
I want to say I think it's three

369
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:57,760
or four years ago, I can't quite
remember, but yeah, if it's 3 or

370
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,800
4.
But yeah, at that time I went to

371
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:03,480
be like, I'm just going to do
this full time.

372
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:10,200
So yeah, it's been, you know,
quite a, a gradual growing over

373
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,880
those years, you know, as a
sideline side business side

374
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,800
hustle to doing it full time.
OK.

375
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:23,520
And to take it full time, you
like you almost have to be

376
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:27,400
obsessed with efficiency, right
to to take this full time.

377
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,560
I mean, yeah, you want to be
efficient.

378
00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:37,480
You definitely.
It's kind of like at the level,

379
00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,480
you know, where I am at with a
small business like this.

380
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,320
It's I do have like I've got
like seasonal help during the

381
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,040
season.
I have several, two or three

382
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:53,200
other guys that'll help go to
the different woods that we tap,

383
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,000
haul the SAP in.
I got to give a shout out to one

384
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:57,960
guy.
He'll never see this.

385
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,320
He's an Amish man.
His name is Albert Borntraeger,

386
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:06,120
but he is 70 years old and he's
been working with me probably

387
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:10,360
about 5 or 6 years.
And this guy, you wouldn't

388
00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:13,920
believe the way this man works
at 7 years old.

389
00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,400
No kidding.
He's like 30 year old guy.

390
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:22,280
I mean, he's he's incredible.
He treats it like it's his own

391
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:24,040
business.
I'm not kidding.

392
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,200
I mean, he cares about it that
much and helping me out and we

393
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,360
get in the trees, tapping,
getting the line set up in the

394
00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,240
woods and just all that type of
thing.

395
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,720
Great guy, couldn't do without
him.

396
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:38,160
And then, you know, a couple
other guys, Bobby and Oleg, and

397
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,880
these are older guys, retired
guys that help with it.

398
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:47,760
And then my dad helps a bit and
let's see my my son Jack when he

399
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,520
just graduated high school last
year.

400
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,960
So now he's working full time,
but in the winter time, he's

401
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:54,760
Maple season.
He's going to be freed up a

402
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:56,560
little bit to help out a little
bit more too.

403
00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,000
So and then you know, I've had
part time employees in the shop,

404
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,680
in the world headquarters, the
store I.

405
00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:03,840
Love how you call it the world
headquarters too.

406
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,520
It's so funny.
So it's pretty lean, man.

407
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:07,240
It's pretty.
Yeah.

408
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,720
I mean, you know, it's like
you're at that level where you

409
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,680
know, labor is a big expense.
So you you kind of got to juggle

410
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:18,160
a lot yourself and sometimes
I'll be honest, it can feel a

411
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,600
little bit overwhelming.
You know for sure even, you

412
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,840
know, even outside of the the
Maple production season in March

413
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,240
and April, you know, just
getting the orders filled and,

414
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,640
you know, getting getting that
done and getting your doing the

415
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,720
marketing of it.
You know, with the social media,

416
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,840
that's a whole nother.
That's another job almost, you

417
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,440
know, so there's a lot of
different things to make a

418
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:47,920
little a living in bat business,
because I would say it's very

419
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,320
rare for a person to actually
make a living doing that them as

420
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,080
the only thing.
Yeah, super rare. 100% yeah,

421
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,680
back to because of that $0.10 an
hour thing.

422
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,480
Yeah, that's why I asked about
efficiency, because you, like

423
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,240
you have in order to be able to
actually make money and live off

424
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,520
of it, you have to like do all
the things you just said.

425
00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:14,880
And that kind of leads me into
another question.

426
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,320
And it's actually two sides of
things that I wanted to talk

427
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,480
with you about. 1 was like
getting like you're in a bunch

428
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,600
of grocery stores and stuff,
which is awesome.

429
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:29,640
Like how did you learn and
develop all those relationships

430
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,080
to get that distribution?
Let's start there.

431
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,480
I mean, it was just kind of so I
live in Marshfield, you know,

432
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,160
pretty much right in the center
of Wisconsin.

433
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,080
We had a festival foods or still
do have a festival foods in the

434
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,760
store in town there.
And I remember I think that was

435
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,840
like the very first store I
approached and I just kind of

436
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:52,760
went in there and went to the
customer service desk.

437
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,640
Hey, you know, talk, can I talk
to somebody about this?

438
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:03,800
Typically in store level, when
it's, you know, more of a

439
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,680
corporate structure, they can't
make that type of decision.

440
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:11,600
So I mean, I just got in touch
then with somebody who was able

441
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,840
to make a decision.
They gave it a chance, started

442
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:18,320
bringing it into that store
alone, a couple different sizes

443
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:22,840
of Maple syrup.
And then from there, after a

444
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,040
while, I don't know, I know I
can't remember how long that

445
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:26,880
goes.
That was probably like 10 years

446
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:28,640
ago, you know, or something like
that.

447
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:36,000
But from there I had a contact
within Festival Foods, within

448
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:40,120
the the company.
And then the guy was, you know,

449
00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:41,560
list.
I had an ear that he would

450
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,520
listen to me.
And they expanded it to like 15

451
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,280
stores.
And at that time when they went

452
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,000
to 15 stores, I had to
distribute it myself, you know,

453
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:56,440
and oddly enough, most of the
those 15 stores were over here

454
00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:02,080
in the Green Bay.
Appleton, Mina, fine, all in

455
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,720
this area over here, the Eastern
Wisconsin Festival Foods and

456
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,320
that's where they went with it.
And so once a month I had to

457
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,560
contact each store, get their
order and then I and then the

458
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:18,080
receiving at all these stores I
think closes at like 1 or

459
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,920
something like that.
So I had to, you know, load it

460
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,880
all up, you know, get that order
together, run over here and hit

461
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,280
all 15 of these locations before
12 or 1, you know, whenever that

462
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,960
was.
So, and I did that for a few

463
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,520
years.
I mean, that was, I'm glad I

464
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,400
don't do it anymore.
You know, I was fine letting

465
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,760
that go right now.
So then since then festival took

466
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,360
it to all their stores in the
state, which is like 40 some or

467
00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:46,160
whatever.
But now I have a distributor

468
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:50,200
that does that.
So they pick it up for me at the

469
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,520
at my location and then they
take it along with other

470
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,440
products that they distribute.
So.

471
00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,320
So that took a ton off your
plate, yeah.

472
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,760
I wouldn't want to go back to
doing that way, no.

473
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,360
Especially to 15 stores.
That's, yeah.

474
00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:07,360
I mean, let alone I remember one
time when I made the jump from

475
00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:11,960
the 15 to the 40, whatever, we
didn't get a distributor lined

476
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,120
up in time and I had to do all
40 some myself.

477
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:18,800
One time was on the road 2
nights steaming motels.

478
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:24,600
That's amazing.
I figured that had to be a leap

479
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:29,200
man because for growing from
the, you know, where you did to

480
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,280
where you are.
Yeah, that seemed like in my

481
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,000
mind, thinking about the
business lens of it, that had to

482
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,800
be one of the bigger jumps to
make.

483
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:44,280
And then I think the next
consideration that comes into my

484
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:48,280
mind is like, have you had a,
I'm trying to think of the last

485
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,680
three or four years, Have you
had a lean year yet where it was

486
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,520
a bad run?
The last few have been pretty

487
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,800
good.
I'm trying to, I'm thinking way

488
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,040
back and all this one sticks
out.

489
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:04,800
My mind was 2012 and that's a
long time ago now.

490
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,000
But I remember that was a season
where we didn't, there was

491
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,280
really almost nothing.
It was, it got to be March and

492
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,560
it warmed up to like 80°.
And I mean, there was it was

493
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,520
like over in three days.
That was luckily that happened

494
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,040
then when it wasn't something I
relied on for.

495
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,920
It was just, you know, very much
hobby level at that point.

496
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:30,180
And so I remember that it was
very, very, very almost non

497
00:28:30,180 --> 00:28:32,040
existent that year.
Since then.

498
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,360
They're they've been pretty
decent since then.

499
00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:41,080
I mean, always, you know, and
part of that reason why that can

500
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,320
hang it kind of happen is
because of some of the

501
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,560
advancements in the technology
with Maple production, the

502
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,520
vacuum, the vacuum tubing
essentially, you know, you're,

503
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,880
you know, you're creating the
conditions for SAP, the flow are

504
00:28:55,880 --> 00:29:00,640
officially, you know, if the
trees don't want to run, you'll

505
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,880
get it from vacuum, you know,
where they don't want to run on

506
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,280
the old fashioned dripping
method, you know, So that's why

507
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,880
that's helped that too, you
know, being able to have that

508
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:16,320
type of system to overcome
problems maybe with, you know,

509
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,120
it won't totally overcome it,
but it will definitely,

510
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,720
definitely give you a lot more
than you would otherwise. 100%,

511
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:25,880
yeah.
I've heard a lot about it.

512
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,320
I have.
I've never even looked at a

513
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:32,120
vacuum set up.
What, like that has to be one of

514
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:33,840
the.
Just thinking through how it

515
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,080
would work.
Airtightness has to be a crucial

516
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,200
Yeah, right.
So squirrel chews a hole in your

517
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,640
line, something like that.
That's got to be headaches.

518
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:44,840
Oh, it's terrible.
I mean, yeah, I mean, that's

519
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,640
what we're doing right now.
And this winter start to this

520
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,120
winter has been kind of cold.
I mean, it's we've been the last

521
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,480
couple weeks going out into
these sugar bushes, you know,

522
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,880
and fixing up lines and all that
type of damage.

523
00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,640
I mean, it's kind of crazy when
you think about it.

524
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,160
You're put in this network,
couple of lines all over in the

525
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,480
woods that you use for four
weeks out of the year in a place

526
00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:08,920
where nothing but stuff is going
to fall on it, you know, and

527
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:13,840
critters are going to eat it.
But so yeah, it's it's a lot of

528
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:19,280
maintenance, but during that
time it's a huge ton of Labor

529
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,560
savings and way more increased
production.

530
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,600
So, you know, that's the trade
off.

531
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,560
Yeah, yeah.
And then what are you doing?

532
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,880
You're, you're vacuuming that to
big holding tanks and then you

533
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,640
just probably drive around with
a truck that you can transport

534
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,760
hundreds of gallons.
That's pretty much it, yeah.

535
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,880
It's fascinating, man.
I love how everybody does it a

536
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:42,880
little differently.
And you probably still find that

537
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,920
even like have you, you've
probably gone and like saw some

538
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,840
other big old facilities, right?
And there's probably intricacies

539
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,600
that even at that level, people
do it in different ways, right?

540
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:54,360
Oh yeah, I think there's
everybody's got their own

541
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,240
practices and methods and stuff
like that.

542
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:02,200
You know, definitely seen some.
You don't really see him during

543
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,640
the season too much because
you're busy, you know, yourself.

544
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:09,600
But you know, I visited some
different places in the past and

545
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,360
you know, I think it's like you
kind of went back to what you're

546
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:15,960
saying, affordable, being
efficient.

547
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:23,840
I wouldn't say that I am the
most techno.

548
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,080
I guess what I'm trying to say
is I haven't spent money on

549
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:35,280
every latest new thing.
I've been like kind of selective

550
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:39,360
on what I think I really need
versus do I really have to have

551
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,560
that?
Because you can spend a ton of

552
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:45,920
money on that hobby and or
business.

553
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,680
You can just spend you can you
spend money endlessly on it.

554
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,080
It's incredible how much money
you can spend to make Maple

555
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:52,760
syrup.
Stainless as high.

556
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,200
Yeah.
And I feel like I've been able

557
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,280
to, that's what I've done to a
degree is kind of spending on

558
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,520
stuff that I really need, but
not maybe so much stuff that I

559
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,320
don't and still be able to get
the job done, you know, so I'm

560
00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,520
not super in debt over this
whole operation.

561
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,160
Yeah, I think of more of
efficiency, like the equipment

562
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,160
is great, but there's always the
next best thing.

563
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,120
There's always this next great
thing that comes on.

564
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:24,480
I think of efficiency in process
because there's always something

565
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:31,640
that you can do to increase your
yields, make your boiling faster

566
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,280
in process.
I think so.

567
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,840
Like one thing I did this year
is I started making my warming

568
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,960
pan run lower, like I ran my
level lower in my warming pants.

569
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,360
So it warmed up hotter faster
when it and it didn't kill the

570
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,840
boil as much.
A little thing like that can

571
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:49,960
make a big difference.
That could be a couple gallons

572
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,320
an hour, right?
Like that's what I think of of

573
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,120
efficiency and that's what kind
of keeps me coming back to it

574
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:57,400
because I love.
Solving a problem.

575
00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,640
Try to do it better.
Yeah, I love solving a problem,

576
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:07,920
you know, so I don't know what
what area like where have you

577
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:12,080
seen your hurdles in scaling to
where you have what's been the

578
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,880
biggest like, oh shit, this is a
lot more work than putting in a

579
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,840
couple 100 taps.
Is it that tubing or is it

580
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:21,960
something else?
To the what's the most work?

581
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:23,920
What?
Was the biggest hurdle that you

582
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,280
ran into that maybe you didn't
expect when you when you scaled

583
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:31,240
to where you are now compared to
that couple 100 taps in solid to

584
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:36,440
your neighbors?
I mean, I would say honestly

585
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:40,880
going back to the distribution
of the product, I would say that

586
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:44,960
is actually was probably the
biggest hurdle or the hardest

587
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:49,120
one.
I found that since then.

588
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,600
I mean, we did get, we do have
distribution into the Meijer

589
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:56,680
stores too in Wisconsin and in
Chicago area and in the UP.

590
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:04,360
But it since then it's been,
it's hard to find the right

591
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,480
person to talk to in these
bigger companies when you're a

592
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,360
small guy.
That's what honestly, I would

593
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:14,600
say that to anybody who wants
to, you know, maybe has ideas of

594
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,159
wanting to do something like
this, that is the hard part.

595
00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:20,480
That's what I saw as the hard
part if you wanted to get your

596
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:24,840
product distributed to a bigger
level there.

597
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,600
I feel like there's a lot more
competition in this tiny little

598
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,400
niche industry of Maple
production then there used to

599
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,400
be.
It had a big growth in the last

600
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,199
like 10 years, 10-15 years or
so.

601
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,920
Maybe that 15 is a little far
back, but it did really have a

602
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,280
lot of growth of people getting
into it.

603
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:48,920
And there's a lot of people out
there trying to sell it, you

604
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:50,199
know, this, that or the other
thing.

605
00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:53,159
And some people are on the level
of going to the farmers market.

606
00:34:53,159 --> 00:34:55,719
So you know, this and that.
And I, I did that too back then.

607
00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:01,880
But yeah, I mean, going to
another level, if that's what

608
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:03,800
you want to do, is get to
distribution in the stores.

609
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,800
I found that very hard to get
people to call you back for sure

610
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:10,200
to even want to talk to you.
Yeah, I can't even imagine.

611
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,200
The funniest part about that, I
think, is I don't even know if

612
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,240
you know you did it, but when
you were explaining it, you said

613
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:21,320
if anybody wants to try this,
like there have to be days when

614
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,280
you wake up in the heart of
Maple season and you just think,

615
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,640
why did I bite this off?
Oh, yes, I definitely think

616
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:31,480
that.
Yeah, for sure, for sure, yeah.

617
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,680
It's just one of those things,
man, that like, you know,

618
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,080
there's the adage like the if
something, if there's something

619
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,520
that can go wrong, it will.
It just seems like that's Maple

620
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:43,480
syrup.
Like you, you got to be able to

621
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,240
ride the wave and and go with it
because there's always going to

622
00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:50,000
be something that you didn't
even think of that's going to

623
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,280
potentially wreck your day.
Oh yeah.

624
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:53,920
There's one this year.
Go ahead.

625
00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:56,160
Well, I was just trying to think
of a funny little story.

626
00:35:56,160 --> 00:36:00,200
This is back like one of the
first years when I got into the

627
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:02,120
world headquarters.
That's my current building, like

628
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,280
you said.
And we, we were bottling glass

629
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:09,600
quarts of Maple syrup and I
didn't even have good like

630
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,720
storage racks or anything back
then.

631
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,160
I think I maybe robbed one out
of my garage.

632
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,200
You know, those plastic ones
with the, the plastic poles and

633
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,720
the different.
I I decided it was a good idea

634
00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:21,880
to put a whole bunch on that.
Oh no.

635
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,080
Nice.
And then left the room, came

636
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:30,040
back, and I think we had like,
about 2 or 300 bottles just

637
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:32,080
collapse and fall over the
floor.

638
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,240
And it was glass and Maple syrup
everywhere.

639
00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,080
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was like one of those days.

640
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:39,920
What the heck am I doing?
But yeah.

641
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,760
Boy, the liquid gold you walk
into when you're looking at that

642
00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:48,120
is that that's enough to make a
guy quit right there.

643
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,440
So man, this year we had one.
I still don't know what

644
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,240
happened.
It was our last, our last filter

645
00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:58,840
of the year and somehow it ended
up with these little like

646
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,160
probably and it wasn't many, it
was maybe two dozen, three dozen

647
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,920
jars, something like that.
So it's not a ton, but our last

648
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:07,880
boil of the year ended up with
like these little floating

649
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,040
goobers in it.
And I just have no idea.

650
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,080
It has me perplexed.
Like I we take a lot of pride in

651
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:20,360
clean, good tasting product.
I don't know if it was, maybe

652
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,040
the brand of jars didn't seal on
the top or something.

653
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,440
After you filtered it.
Well after I filtered it looked

654
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,800
crystal clear and it wasn't
nighter like it didn't happen in

655
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:32,920
a week or.
Two, maybe it's mold.

656
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,680
It's got to be a type of mold,
yeah, but I don't know why or

657
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:38,240
how.
Possibly not quite hot enough

658
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:40,440
going into the bottle.
That's about the only one of the

659
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,760
main things.
Yeah, maybe.

660
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,960
Yeah, maybe it was, well, you
know, 170 going into the.

661
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:48,400
Bottle that might be a little
low.

662
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:51,080
Yeah, well, that would be way
low if it was a little.

663
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:52,760
Low.
Because I I wasn't there to

664
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,680
oversee the operation this.
Plan.

665
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,920
It's probably just some
bacterial mold growth or

666
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,280
something like that.
Yeah, little low going into the

667
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:05,320
bottle could be I don't know,
but that's every year there's

668
00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:08,600
something in and for the like
the starting hobbyist, I think

669
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,520
most of the time it's filtering
right like.

670
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:13,240
That's the hard part.
Yeah, if you can't, if you can't

671
00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:16,360
dial in your filtering, you're
not destined for.

672
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,320
Yeah, that's that's a big
headache.

673
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:21,520
It can really be a big headache.
So are you still?

674
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,880
Did I hear you earlier?
You're still like even at that

675
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:24,920
scale.
You're running through just a

676
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:26,840
big old filter press.
Yeah, OK.

677
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,320
Yeah, just a bigger one.
All right, more plates.

678
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:30,320
Electric.
Yep.

679
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:34,000
Yeah, actually air pump on it
and and pneumatic pump.

680
00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:36,880
OK, Yeah, OK.
So yeah.

681
00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,720
Man, and that, that's one of
the, that's one of the most fun

682
00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:42,320
things I was excited to talk
with you about.

683
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,560
Like I knew there had to be days
where it's just like, holy cow

684
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,640
did I get myself into.
For sure.

685
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,000
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I mean, back at the

686
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,760
smaller level, yeah, lots I
could say as we've gotten bigger

687
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,960
and more efficient and better
equipment, it's gotten a little

688
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,080
better.
But like back in the original

689
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,800
days, yeah, there's a lot of
that getting stuck with four

690
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:06,320
Wheelers and, you know, tractors
and all kinds of stuff like

691
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,840
that, you know, just just, I
mean, even burning pans.

692
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:14,680
And that happened in the
transition to, you know, at the

693
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,640
building I'm in now versus I had
a small shack after I was

694
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:21,600
actually out in the open, but we
burned a whole evaporator pan up

695
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:24,480
in there once.
So yeah, yeah, all that happens.

696
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,160
The whole you burn, the whole
thing torched.

697
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,280
It the front one, Yeah.
Yeah, the syrup one, yeah.

698
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,320
Yeah, I, I scorched mine.
This would have been two or

699
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,760
three years ago enough I can
still use it, but it twisted a

700
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,040
little bit and there's a little
bit of stuff that I couldn't

701
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,360
clean out and it just, it
happens at the snap of a face.

702
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,040
Oh, it happens real fast.
Yeah, yeah.

703
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,520
Boy, you got to love it though.
You got to love it to wake up in

704
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:54,800
the morning like you.
You still find joy in it.

705
00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:58,200
Yeah, I do.
I mean, I still even this like

706
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,560
past week, you know, we've been
out in the woods working on this

707
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:02,960
is a little cold, I'll be
honest.

708
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:04,600
I mean, one of those days, my
feet.

709
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,120
My feet are the first thing that
starts bothering me.

710
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,240
I can go out there almost
without gloves on, I don't know

711
00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:12,920
why, and work in cold weather
and doesn't really bother me

712
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:16,080
that much on my feet.
And then I just kept going and

713
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:18,160
powered through that till I
couldn't feel them anymore.

714
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:19,720
And then I just, you know, kept
working.

715
00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:24,040
But yeah, I mean, the feet, you
know, the cold.

716
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:27,000
I don't love the cold as much as
I I'm going to say I ever loved

717
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:28,200
it.
I don't.

718
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,400
I like it less and less each
year, like getting out there and

719
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,560
trying to, you know, maintain
all this stuff in December and

720
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,600
January.
That part, yeah, I'm getting a

721
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,800
little wimpier.
Yeah, for sure.

722
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,160
What was your what was your
career up to before you decided

723
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:44,040
to do it?
What you do?

724
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:49,280
So basically, I've kind of had
an interesting path.

725
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:54,200
I've basically done a lot of
different things in order to not

726
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,040
really have to ever work for
anybody.

727
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:01,360
That's kind of what I've done.
So like I said, I grew up on a

728
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:06,440
dairy farm, small dairy farm,
and, you know, worked with my

729
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,240
dad, helped my dad and that as
long as I have two brothers and

730
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:13,760
a sister and my sister and I
were older and then there was a

731
00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:15,800
gap.
So my sister and I were more

732
00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:21,200
farm kids before the dairy farm,
you know, my dad got out of that

733
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:22,640
like a lot of the smaller ones
did.

734
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:28,080
But before that happened, I
actually liked it enough to want

735
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:33,360
to give it a try myself.
So I rented it from my dad and

736
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,440
dairy farmed and milk cows and
everything for two years, for

737
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:42,480
about two years.
And at that time, I, it, it

738
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:44,880
helped me determine I didn't
want to do that for the rest of

739
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:49,400
my life because that's a whole
different lifestyle, especially

740
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:53,200
at a small level, like there
used to be so many of them.

741
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,760
You, it's your life.
You are tied to it.

742
00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:00,280
You, you know, that is your
life.

743
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:05,000
And it's take a special person
in this day and age to want to

744
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:09,160
do that as their life.
You know, I realized I wanted

745
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,600
more time away and wanted to,
you know, do different things

746
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:17,320
and, and, and stuff like that.
But so, yeah, I did that for a

747
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:22,480
couple couple years, but that
was way back in 2000 when we got

748
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:25,320
rid of the dairy herd then.
And then, I mean, we still have

749
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,160
the farm out there, the the
land.

750
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:29,520
What I did after that, though,
was kind of interesting.

751
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,840
Went from a very high
maintenance animal, the the

752
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:36,080
Holstein dairy cow to a very low
maintenance.

753
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,280
I thought it would be
interesting to raise bison.

754
00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:43,800
Yeah.
So I bought, it was like, you

755
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:46,400
know, we got rid of the dairy
cows, but we got this land in

756
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:50,480
this past year.
I thought, why don't we try some

757
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:55,280
bison Buffalo.
So I bought like 7 bison from a

758
00:42:55,320 --> 00:43:00,240
a guy that had a bison farm and
I had bison on the farm for

759
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:07,520
nearly 20 years.
Yeah, it grew to about 40 some

760
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:09,680
animals.
And basically what I did with

761
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:14,080
that was I just sold the meat.
You know, we had them processed

762
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:19,160
and sold the sold the bison meat
to people and they're very, very

763
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,120
almost hands off like the one we
had to do.

764
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,480
We had to put a bunch of time in
the building fence.

765
00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:27,960
At the beginning, I was a little
bit worried about that.

766
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:30,600
I thought, you know, I heard all
these stories, if you got to

767
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:34,320
build a really tall fence for
them, well, the stuff close up

768
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:36,160
to the farm buildings is very,
very tall.

769
00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:41,120
But then we realized that this
isn't not that bad way out to

770
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:44,520
the farther reaches.
It's literally like a normal

771
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,720
barbed wire fence.
And as long as they have stuff

772
00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:51,040
to eat and they're fine with it,
they're not going to try to get

773
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,720
out.
But so, yeah, that we, I had

774
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:57,600
that for a long time.
Like I said, very easy to take

775
00:43:57,600 --> 00:43:59,080
care of.
They pretty much just grazed.

776
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:01,480
That's all they did.
Good Hardy winter creatures.

777
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:05,000
Too they they never went inside.
I mean, they just would sit out

778
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,800
the coldest night of the winter.
They're they're they, they had

779
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:14,000
never been inside in a inside a
building and, you know, fed them

780
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:18,240
round bales in the in the winter
time round as A and didn't even

781
00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:20,960
we used to mess around with
feeding them or giving them

782
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,080
water.
It was such a pain in the butt

783
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:25,800
because the water would always
freeze up and stuff like that.

784
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:31,440
We found out they got by just
eating snow and I mean, they're

785
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:37,280
that much on domesticated that
they still can live, you know,

786
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:40,320
survive that way.
But yeah, I had that for a long

787
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:45,240
time, about 20 years.
Got rid of them and sold them in

788
00:44:45,240 --> 00:44:47,840
2000 to focus more on the Maple
syrup business.

789
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:53,360
But during that time I had a
small business where I did

790
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:59,800
mobile auto body repair.
So I had an equipment trailer

791
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:02,480
and stuff like this and I went
to mainly work with car

792
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:07,920
dealerships and I did auto body
repair on lighter stuff on their

793
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,000
inventory and stuff that they
wanted to recondition and sell.

794
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:15,280
And I did that for quite a while
until I was able to jump from

795
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:18,160
that to where to to the Maple
dude.

796
00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:24,800
So yeah, I had, I actually had,
I should mention this, for a few

797
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:29,960
years back in the day, I was
partners in a with, with my

798
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:36,080
sister and brother and we owned
a couple 24/7 gyms too.

799
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,960
Nice.
Yeah, it's a whole bunch of

800
00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:41,160
stuff.
I love it.

801
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:43,520
Yeah, entrepreneurship runs
through your veins.

802
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:45,960
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, there's something to be

803
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:47,760
said about not wanting to work
for somebody, though.

804
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,320
Like we've all, yeah, everybody
can understand that.

805
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,040
Whether no matter which path you
take, there's days where it's

806
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:54,840
just like I'm going to be my
boss.

807
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:58,840
Yeah, and that's been kind of me
for my whole life, so.

808
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:05,560
Yeah, yeah, I've I had AI never
knew the the mobile like the

809
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:09,040
mobile auto body people existed.
I didn't know I.

810
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:10,720
Was busy kind of familiar with
it, yeah.

811
00:46:10,720 --> 00:46:13,680
I am now the last car I bought.
I drove it home from the

812
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,120
dealership the day I bought it
and it, it's got like a lift

813
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:17,960
gate.
Yeah.

814
00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:20,280
And I lifted the gate and I
drove in my garage, but it was

815
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,000
too high.
So I got these two big scuffs.

816
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,400
So I called the I called the
local dealership here and I was

817
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:27,320
like, hey, I did this.
I'm an idiot.

818
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:29,080
Like, is there any way I can fix
this?

819
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:30,320
They're like, oh, yeah, we got a
guy.

820
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,680
He's actually out in the back of
the lot right now come and see

821
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:34,600
him.
And he was exactly that.

822
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,640
He had his van full of tools and
he was just, he was taking care

823
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,720
of the little minor dense sting
scratches.

824
00:46:41,160 --> 00:46:44,440
And I, I was like, hey, man, you
think you can fix this up?

825
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,760
Like, here's what I did.
He's like, yeah, yeah.

826
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,480
I can't even remember what he
charged me it for, how good he

827
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:51,120
made it look.
It definitely wasn't enough.

828
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:53,440
I feel like it was like 100 and
150 bucks and he's like.

829
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:55,520
It sounds all right.
Yeah.

830
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:57,040
And he's like, yeah, come on
back in an hour.

831
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:00,200
Came back, car was fixed, and I
was.

832
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:02,680
That's the happiest I've ever
spent spending 100 bucks, Yeah.

833
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:05,600
Yeah, I know.
That's I did that for a long

834
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:08,280
time.
Man, that, that had to put a lot

835
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:11,760
of smiles on people's faces.
Like friends of yours, Like oh

836
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:12,960
Tim could.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

837
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:15,600
I still get that to this day.
It's like, can you fix this?

838
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:16,920
And I'm like, I don't do it
anymore.

839
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:22,600
I don't do that anymore, sorry.
Yeah, you got enough headaches

840
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:24,400
and you're too.
Busy with what I'm doing so.

841
00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:27,760
That's cool.
What What do you think draws you

842
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:28,880
to entrepreneurship?
What?

843
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,960
What is your resistance to not
want it to work for somebody

844
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:37,480
else?
I mean, I like to, I think

845
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:43,520
probably my farm background, you
know, so I grew up, you know, a

846
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:47,320
farm is a farm and it's a small
business, you know, and you're

847
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,520
working for yourself.
So I think that probably really

848
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:57,840
instilled that into me.
But also I also think that for

849
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:06,360
me, I don't care so much about
money rather than experience

850
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:10,080
like enjoying what I'm doing.
I definitely, otherwise I

851
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:11,640
wouldn't have done all this
stuff that I've done.

852
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:17,480
I made the decisions I've made
if I were trying to make a lot

853
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:19,760
of money.
I've enjoyed.

854
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:25,040
I've always been more about
like, like enjoying what I'm

855
00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:29,360
doing and, you know, experience
and things like that.

856
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:34,040
The experience of it, you know,
and it being able to set my own

857
00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:38,840
schedule, you know, not really
having to, you know, go by

858
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:43,840
someone else's schedule.
And that's probably just, that's

859
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:48,040
probably how that started was
the growing up on the farm type

860
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:51,200
thing.
But and then just innately in

861
00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:56,280
me, I just feel like I enjoy,
want to like what I'm doing more

862
00:48:56,280 --> 00:49:00,280
than anything else, you know?
It's really important, man.

863
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:02,760
It's really important.
I have a real tough time

864
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:07,840
punching a clock too.
There's like, my living hell is

865
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:12,480
the last like 30 minutes of a
clock punch job when everybody's

866
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:15,680
checked out but they're like
waiting for the clock to strike

867
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:17,040
the number when everyone can
leave.

868
00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,200
Talk about a waste of breath.
Yeah.

869
00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:26,440
You pity me of my living hell
and I had one of those and it

870
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:31,120
was brutal, man.
So there's a lot of things that

871
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:34,960
can drive you in that direction,
but I don't know.

872
00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:37,040
I have.
I have one buddy, a real

873
00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:39,760
fascinating conversation with.
He said something almost the

874
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,360
same way you did it about, I
can't remember exactly how he

875
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:45,840
put it, but it was something
along the lines of I've done a

876
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:48,200
lot of work to make sure that I
never had to work for somebody.

877
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:49,960
Else love that that Yeah, it's a
great saying.

878
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:54,080
And I had a long conversation
with him about it and a lot with

879
00:49:54,080 --> 00:50:01,560
him, it came down to 2 things.
It was 1 he didn't like.

880
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:03,440
He doesn't like to answer to
somebody.

881
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:07,800
He doesn't like to, you know, he
yeah, he like, he likes to make

882
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,360
the decision and then that's
what's going to happen.

883
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,640
And he doesn't want somebody
where where he doesn't have that

884
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:18,560
control of the decision.
And the second part was that he

885
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:22,360
hadn't thought about as much was
he was obsessed.

886
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:28,480
Obsessed is a strong word.
He found enjoyment in the the

887
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:30,640
knowledge gained of something
new.

888
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,760
So like, I guess you could go
back almost to the obsessed with

889
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:38,680
efficiency thing from earlier,
but just like knowing that every

890
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:41,080
part of the process, and I guess
it's kind of a control thing

891
00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:43,040
too.
Is this back to like if there's

892
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:46,640
something, if I see something
here, I can make it change, I

893
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,760
can fix it, I can make it to
something that I think is

894
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:51,080
better.
And does it always go well?

895
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:55,200
No, but as long as satisfaction
comes with it, who the hell

896
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:57,000
cares?
Because you're not going to boss

897
00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:58,840
Bob and saying, hey, this is
broken.

898
00:50:58,920 --> 00:50:59,720
Right.
Yeah.

899
00:50:59,720 --> 00:51:02,840
It's all, you know, you made the
decision and now you got to, you

900
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:04,160
know, deal with the
consequences.

901
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:06,600
But you know, it's yours.
Does that resonate with you?

902
00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:08,720
Yeah, definitely.
What you all just said right

903
00:51:08,720 --> 00:51:12,760
there kind of almost sounds like
what I think, you know, I mean

904
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:16,960
it, it, it is.
It's very much the way that I

905
00:51:17,240 --> 00:51:21,400
would think you know, and the
reasons why I do what I do so.

906
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:25,000
Yeah.
How do you, I think maybe one of

907
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:30,120
the harder parts in that and I
think I saw a video, this is a

908
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:33,240
couple months ago, maybe two
months ago, you were given a

909
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:35,320
tour of some buildings.
You sell, you sell some.

910
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:37,000
Buildings too, right?
Yeah.

911
00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:39,400
So what's the tell me about
those first?

912
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:41,160
Yeah, I should.
I didn't bring that.

913
00:51:41,240 --> 00:51:45,320
It's kind of a little bit of a
offshoot of of my Maple business

914
00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:49,800
I got into over where I live, or
I live in Marshfield, but that's

915
00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:53,440
like 15 miles east of where I
grew up.

916
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:57,920
But I go out to my my shop and
everything that that's back on

917
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:02,840
the family farm property, the
world headquarters on the family

918
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:08,080
farm and very, very big Amish
population out in that area,

919
00:52:08,720 --> 00:52:14,200
very big Amish population.
And I just, like I said, I have

920
00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:17,840
one guy, Albert, that works with
me and I've just gotten to know

921
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:22,680
some of those people.
And I ended up kind of linking

922
00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:26,840
up with a builder who builds
cabins and sheds.

923
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:33,160
And I've essentially taken on
the role of the salesman for his

924
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:35,720
company, for his cabin building
company.

925
00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:41,360
And so, yeah, I make videos, you
know, to show them and show how

926
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:45,320
it's done or show what people
can get and buy and the

927
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:48,200
features.
And so, yeah, I I sell solemn

928
00:52:48,200 --> 00:52:54,080
quote people show them kind of
like a salesman for Amish cabins

929
00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:55,880
is what I do in that regard to.
So, yeah.

930
00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:58,720
And it's another thing I've
thrown into my hat and, you

931
00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:01,200
know, everything I do, they're
nice cabins.

932
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:02,840
I mean, I would like to buy one
one day.

933
00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:05,560
They're great for like putting
on a, you know, an up north

934
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:09,360
property or a vacation home
somewhere or even some people

935
00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:13,440
who have looking to downsize and
just want something small or

936
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:15,280
live in them.
I mean, it's, it's a little

937
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:19,160
house is what it is.
And with really super great

938
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:21,160
quality.
Yeah, the craftsmanship is

939
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:22,080
awesome.
Yeah.

940
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:25,800
I was completely unaware of the
Amish cabins until I have a

941
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:28,600
buddy who put a couple of them
up down in the Driftless area.

942
00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:30,960
And I love trout fishing.
So I stayed in his, I stayed in

943
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,960
his Amish cabins a couple times.
It's like, dude, I need one of

944
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:35,800
these.
This is this is got to be in my

945
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:39,400
future plans somewhere.
I kind of figured it was that

946
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:41,640
and then hearing you tell the
story about the Amish guy who

947
00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:43,560
helps you out.
I was like, OK, this is starting

948
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,920
to come to life.
But that leads me to my ultimate

949
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:49,120
question.
Although I could talk about how

950
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:51,840
cool Amish cabins are all day
long because they do such a good

951
00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:53,920
job.
Actually, one, one story about

952
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:55,160
that before we let the Amish
thing go.

953
00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:59,200
That buddy, he was on our last
trout trip.

954
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:03,800
He was going to have an Amish
garage put up across the road

955
00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:06,760
from his Amish cabin.
And I got to go along for the

956
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:09,320
experience.
I got to go along to talk to the

957
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:13,040
Amish and do the do the down
payment and the plans and stuff.

958
00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:16,840
And it is everything that I
would have expected to be the

959
00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:20,600
most wonderful, informal thing
that I've ever seen.

960
00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:23,880
Dude, we, they're drawing up
plans on a chest freezer.

961
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:28,880
He cuts some, he cuts some, the
check and they're talking about

962
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:32,360
like what?
Like if you talk to like a

963
00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:36,680
whatever, quote UN quote, normal
home builder, like these

964
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:39,760
conversations are going to take
6 days and seven people are

965
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:43,680
going to have to sign off on it.
And this dude is writing in

966
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:46,200
pencil on his chest freezer.
He's like, Oh yeah, you want it

967
00:54:46,200 --> 00:54:47,640
this length, This length.
Yep.

968
00:54:47,720 --> 00:54:50,440
My buddy cuts him the check and
we leave.

969
00:54:51,240 --> 00:54:54,520
And the best experience, I was
like, so this is it.

970
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:56,160
Was it.
Is this how you built your Amish

971
00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:58,160
cabin too?
And he's like, yeah, this is

972
00:54:58,160 --> 00:55:00,920
the, the, the process.
This is how you do it makes me

973
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,000
want an Amish cabin even more.
And it was awesome.

974
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:08,480
But my main question back to
where I was getting at with this

975
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:15,480
is now how do you determine?
Like I, so I'm cut from a

976
00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:18,840
similar cloth where like I'm
entrepreneurial in mindset.

977
00:55:19,360 --> 00:55:21,080
I see opportunity and
everything.

978
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:26,480
How do you determine which ones
you say yes to and which ones

979
00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:28,600
you don't?
Is it back to the enjoyment

980
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:31,440
thing you were talking about
earlier, or how do you decide

981
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:36,720
where to put your energy?
That I think I have a hard time

982
00:55:36,720 --> 00:55:40,240
with because kind of the way
that I grew up and was raised,

983
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:44,560
you want to help everyone out,
you know?

984
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:47,640
So I have a hard time saying no
to people.

985
00:55:48,240 --> 00:55:51,200
And that's something that I've
had to work on and probably

986
00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:54,400
still need to, you know, just
like, OK, you're putting too

987
00:55:54,400 --> 00:55:56,440
much on your plate.
You know, you're you're you're

988
00:55:56,440 --> 00:56:00,440
doing too much.
So, yeah, I mean, that's been

989
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:04,680
difficult for me over the years,
is doing too much or trying to

990
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:06,960
take too much on.
And I've kind of gotten to the

991
00:56:06,960 --> 00:56:10,160
point where, you know, I'm at
this point in life, I'm trying

992
00:56:10,160 --> 00:56:13,600
to, you know, eliminate a little
bit, get better with that.

993
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:17,680
Yeah.
I mean, I guess it would be.

994
00:56:17,720 --> 00:56:21,080
I wouldn't want to do something
I don't enjoy.

995
00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:26,560
I mean, like, right now I am.
I have a hard time finding time

996
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:31,840
for my hobbies outside of my
work, you know, And I wish I'd

997
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:37,040
had more time for that.
So that's something I think in

998
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:41,800
the going forward here, I'd like
to try to figure out a way to

999
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:46,000
spend more time doing some other
things besides working, you

1000
00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:46,560
know?
Yeah.

1001
00:56:47,240 --> 00:56:49,480
Isn't it weird how that comes
with entrepreneurship?

1002
00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:52,120
It is.
It's a very much probably

1003
00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:55,000
everybody that is an
entrepreneur would say the same

1004
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:58,000
thing.
It's weird though, because you

1005
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:01,720
do it with these delusions of
grandeur of being like, OK, I'm

1006
00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:04,800
going to set my own schedule.
I'm going to, I'm going to be

1007
00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:09,200
able to do this, this and this.
Well, I'll tell you what, I I

1008
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:12,080
got way more time away when I
was a nine to five.

1009
00:57:12,680 --> 00:57:14,960
Yeah, Yes, that's it.
That's true.

1010
00:57:14,960 --> 00:57:17,440
Like.
And I don't know, it's, it's,

1011
00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:22,240
it's weird to think about, but I
think it's, at least when you do

1012
00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:26,040
it, the way you're talking and
describing, if you do something

1013
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:29,920
you're passionate about, it
makes it less, you don't need to

1014
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:32,160
get away as bad, right?
You know what I mean?

1015
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:33,960
What are those?
What are your?

1016
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:35,440
What are your passions that you
wish you did?

1017
00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:38,440
With my hobbies outside of yeah,
for most people the Maple syrup

1018
00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:40,760
is a hobby, but for me it's it's
my job.

1019
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:46,520
I guess like I, I like traveling
a little bit.

1020
00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:47,920
You know, I'd like to do more of
that.

1021
00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:51,000
You know, one of the things I'd,
I'd love to do this is something

1022
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:56,240
I want to do is eventually
drive, road trip all the way to

1023
00:57:56,240 --> 00:58:00,920
the Arctic Ocean up at the, you
know, I think it's barrel or

1024
00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:05,080
whichever dead horse Alaska.
Yeah, Like I want to go.

1025
00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:06,960
I would love to do that.
Go all the way up there.

1026
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:10,600
You can do it, you know you want
to do it during the winter, But

1027
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:13,960
that'd be something I'd like to,
I like kind of trips like that.

1028
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:15,560
So that'd be something I'd like
to do.

1029
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:22,840
And then I have a really crazy,
stupid addiction to 1980s and

1030
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:25,560
1990s, three Wheelers and four
Wheelers.

1031
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:29,040
Nice.
Yeah, I I love those machines.

1032
00:58:29,040 --> 00:58:34,760
I grew up around riding them and
to guys my age.

1033
00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:39,080
And if, if you were a country
kid, I would say a lot of people

1034
00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:43,640
that was a big thing back then.
You know, that, that culture and

1035
00:58:43,640 --> 00:58:48,360
that, that whole little niche
sport of, of riding ATVs.

1036
00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:53,400
And I just, I have a, a big
addiction to collecting them and

1037
00:58:53,960 --> 00:58:55,480
not getting to ride them a whole
lot.

1038
00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:58,880
But you know, there, there,
there's a whole little thing

1039
00:58:58,880 --> 00:59:00,480
behind that, you know, like
people, some people collect

1040
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:04,040
cars, you know, and into the,
you know, muscle cars or

1041
00:59:04,040 --> 00:59:06,920
whatever, or people are in the
motorcycles or whatever.

1042
00:59:06,920 --> 00:59:10,040
There's a whole community that
are, is into these, you know,

1043
00:59:10,040 --> 00:59:13,080
they're called vintage now.
You know, ATV is, you know, 2

1044
00:59:13,080 --> 00:59:17,880
strokes and that type of thing.
And I like working on them.

1045
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:20,640
I like doing stuff like that,
but just don't, I don't have

1046
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:22,520
enough time to do it.
I, I would like to do more of

1047
00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:24,600
that and be able to ride them.
Me and my son like to go trail

1048
00:59:24,600 --> 00:59:26,560
riding a little bit, you know,
and stuff like that.

1049
00:59:26,560 --> 00:59:30,520
But take them out on the trails.
We're always the most popular

1050
00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:33,160
people when we go out there
because everybody's like, whoa,

1051
00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:36,960
my uncle had one of those or my
dad had that when he was, you

1052
00:59:36,960 --> 00:59:39,280
know, because this is all stuff
from the 80s mostly.

1053
00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:41,480
I flipped one of those 3 rulers
one time.

1054
00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:43,320
I broke my arm.
The death machines.

1055
00:59:44,200 --> 00:59:50,080
My brother died on that.
Yeah, man, that's cool.

1056
00:59:50,160 --> 00:59:51,800
Yeah.
You ever get in the outdoor

1057
00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:54,000
boys, that first hobby?
You know, the Outdoor Boys on

1058
00:59:54,000 --> 00:59:55,160
YouTube?
You ever seen that?

1059
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:59,640
Oh, he stopped making videos.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes,

1060
00:59:59,640 --> 01:00:00,280
a couple.
He yeah.

1061
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:01,960
It was a guy who quit a little
while back.

1062
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:04,800
Yeah, he did the wild excursions
across the Alaska.

1063
01:00:04,800 --> 01:00:07,600
He would build those little
houses and in the snow and

1064
01:00:07,600 --> 01:00:09,600
stuff.
That's what I I think of because

1065
01:00:09,600 --> 01:00:12,040
he would always have his he'd
always have his video going.

1066
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:15,680
Driving on this two lane Rd.
just straight north of Alaska.

1067
01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:18,320
We beaten down snow.
Something about that's

1068
01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:19,360
attractive to me.
I want to.

1069
01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:21,760
I like remote places, me
checking them out.

1070
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:25,200
Me too.
That's man.

1071
01:00:25,200 --> 01:00:27,640
I've said that a lot in my life.
That's where I feel most alive.

1072
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:31,520
That's that's what initially
drew me to Maple syrup actually

1073
01:00:31,720 --> 01:00:36,040
is what initially drew it to me
was another excuse to get

1074
01:00:36,040 --> 01:00:40,680
outside in the wilderness.
And the deeper I go outside it's

1075
01:00:40,680 --> 01:00:43,880
weird but it's the more I feel
like it's where I should be.

1076
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:45,520
Yeah.
I don't know.

1077
01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:49,720
Yeah, I love that, that whole,
that whole feeling.

1078
01:00:49,720 --> 01:00:52,080
And just like you're, you've
been somewhere going somewhere

1079
01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:55,800
that not many people have.
You know, I like that.

1080
01:00:56,400 --> 01:00:59,400
I like just those types of
things.

1081
01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:03,520
You know, like most recently
here, I, it became a kind of a

1082
01:01:03,520 --> 01:01:07,320
popular thing on social media,
the 50th anniversary of the

1083
01:01:07,320 --> 01:01:10,080
wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
But I've been obsessed with that

1084
01:01:10,080 --> 01:01:13,040
since I was a kid.
You know, I, I love the Edmund

1085
01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:14,280
Fitzgerald, you know,
everything.

1086
01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:17,320
I always like learning about it,
reading about it and stuff like

1087
01:01:17,320 --> 01:01:19,320
that.
So yeah, always those types of

1088
01:01:19,320 --> 01:01:21,800
things I have always had an
interest in.

1089
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:27,480
Yeah, Yeah, man, I don't know.
There's a, there's a feeling

1090
01:01:27,480 --> 01:01:29,200
unmatched.
And you know, what kind of comes

1091
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:32,720
along with that might be
relevant to this conversation is

1092
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:38,800
I think, at least for me, being
like, like I said, cut from a

1093
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:41,560
similar cloth.
I'm always thinking of how I can

1094
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:47,080
be an entrepreneur in a
different way or like do

1095
01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:49,200
something else that can sustain
my life.

1096
01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:56,160
For some reason that completely
shuts off when I'm in the

1097
01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:59,800
wilderness, like that little ear
thing in my mind.

1098
01:02:00,960 --> 01:02:03,280
And maybe, you know, I've never
really thought about it before,

1099
01:02:03,280 --> 01:02:06,160
but maybe that's part of the
reason I love it so much is that

1100
01:02:07,240 --> 01:02:09,880
it does shut off.
And it's like, I don't feel this

1101
01:02:10,320 --> 01:02:13,640
incessant need to make progress
anymore.

1102
01:02:14,240 --> 01:02:18,360
I just comfortable with being
there, you know what I mean?

1103
01:02:18,440 --> 01:02:22,320
Oh, totally.
I mean, I think kind of what you

1104
01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:26,240
described, maybe I'm a little
bit different tangent with what

1105
01:02:26,240 --> 01:02:31,600
I'm going to say here is, yeah,
I feel like we've gotten away

1106
01:02:31,600 --> 01:02:35,040
from that so much society so
much.

1107
01:02:35,440 --> 01:02:40,200
And I totally understand that
because of this thing, I'm able

1108
01:02:40,200 --> 01:02:42,640
to really help me make a living
and all that stuff.

1109
01:02:42,640 --> 01:02:47,520
But I I think we need to get off
our phones more.

1110
01:02:48,880 --> 01:02:54,040
I mean it in get back in the
nature and get back into, you

1111
01:02:54,040 --> 01:03:02,000
know, just experiencing life in
front of us instead of through a

1112
01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:05,000
screen.
And, you know, I'm going to

1113
01:03:05,000 --> 01:03:07,320
sound like an old guy now saying
stuff like this.

1114
01:03:07,320 --> 01:03:13,240
But I mean, you know, I grew up
and, you know, graduated high

1115
01:03:13,240 --> 01:03:17,320
school and became a young man
before even at Internet

1116
01:03:17,320 --> 01:03:21,960
essentially, you know, like my
whole life brain was kind of

1117
01:03:21,960 --> 01:03:26,000
formed in that era.
And I just sees it's so

1118
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:30,440
different now, like the way the
world is now with like with my

1119
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:32,840
kids who really never known
anything.

1120
01:03:32,960 --> 01:03:37,720
But, you know, having all this
media and all the time.

1121
01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:42,280
And it's good for, you know,
information and stuff.

1122
01:03:42,280 --> 01:03:50,040
But I feel like, you know, we've
gotten to where we need to limit

1123
01:03:50,040 --> 01:03:55,960
it, you know, and, and like
one-on-one, you know, talk with

1124
01:03:55,960 --> 01:04:00,600
people, experience life with
people and just, you know, get

1125
01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:02,760
out in nature, get out, do what
you enjoy.

1126
01:04:03,440 --> 01:04:08,480
You know, that's, I feel like
we've lost a lot of that.

1127
01:04:08,800 --> 01:04:12,280
You know, that's the type of
thing is not not as common

1128
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:15,440
anymore.
And I feel like we just need to

1129
01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:20,680
live in the present, in the
moment more and and not through

1130
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:25,520
a device, you know?
Yeah, yeah, I think about that a

1131
01:04:25,520 --> 01:04:27,080
lot, man.
I think about a lot.

1132
01:04:27,080 --> 01:04:31,560
And it's probably even more so
now I do with the rise of AI and

1133
01:04:31,560 --> 01:04:35,560
I like combined with that, I
think about it a lot how it's

1134
01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:40,520
changing how our brains work.
Like the A, a good example is I

1135
01:04:40,520 --> 01:04:43,640
was talking about with my wife
about this the other day where

1136
01:04:44,600 --> 01:04:47,640
one of my, I call it one of my
dad's superpowers is that like

1137
01:04:47,640 --> 01:04:52,960
he can drive somewhere and just
like know the road names and

1138
01:04:52,960 --> 01:04:54,960
where to turn and landmarks and
stuff.

1139
01:04:55,560 --> 01:04:58,440
And my brain just doesn't work
like that because I've always

1140
01:04:58,440 --> 01:05:01,800
all I do is put it in Google
Maps and then it takes me there.

1141
01:05:01,800 --> 01:05:08,480
I follow the blue arrow and like
that at scale happens too,

1142
01:05:08,480 --> 01:05:11,720
right?
Like I'm sure we can our recall

1143
01:05:11,720 --> 01:05:16,360
is worse as a society because of
Google and like our problem

1144
01:05:16,360 --> 01:05:19,240
solving and creativity is going
to become worse because of AI

1145
01:05:19,240 --> 01:05:21,240
because it's it can do things
for us.

1146
01:05:21,240 --> 01:05:22,720
Yeah.
So it's any it's like any it's

1147
01:05:22,720 --> 01:05:25,040
like a muscle man.
If you don't work it, you're

1148
01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:27,920
you're going to adapt and do
things in a different way.

1149
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:31,920
And I think about that a lot.
I mean, we have a four year old

1150
01:05:31,920 --> 01:05:38,040
right now.
And I think that that like it's

1151
01:05:38,040 --> 01:05:39,840
like warp speed development,
right?

1152
01:05:39,840 --> 01:05:42,200
Like you get to see these things
in front of your eyes, right.

1153
01:05:42,640 --> 01:05:47,960
And I like, I can see him if we
go, if we do is we, we try to

1154
01:05:47,960 --> 01:05:51,440
limit screen time a ton.
Like he watches little Bear from

1155
01:05:51,440 --> 01:05:53,200
the 90s once in a while, that's
about it.

1156
01:05:54,280 --> 01:05:58,360
And I get to see him develop
into this like curious little

1157
01:05:58,360 --> 01:06:02,560
problem solver that's like
engaging with the world around

1158
01:06:02,560 --> 01:06:05,360
him.
And then it's not to disparage

1159
01:06:05,360 --> 01:06:07,280
other parents because I know how
it is.

1160
01:06:07,280 --> 01:06:11,400
And it's, it's completely fine.
Like my way isn't the way, you

1161
01:06:11,400 --> 01:06:12,600
know, it's just how I'm doing
it, right?

1162
01:06:13,120 --> 01:06:20,640
But I see like kids on tablets
and like you remove the tablet

1163
01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:24,280
and it's like a paradigm shift
of like they're in the third

1164
01:06:24,280 --> 01:06:30,600
dimension, you know, And I don't
know, man, it's, it's certainly

1165
01:06:30,600 --> 01:06:37,000
important to find whatever
balance is there with that

1166
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:39,280
because it's not going away.
We need it.

1167
01:06:39,480 --> 01:06:42,160
And once I thought, I actually
think about it the opposite way.

1168
01:06:42,160 --> 01:06:47,200
I think about the opposite way
sometimes of like, OK, Fast

1169
01:06:47,200 --> 01:06:50,200
forward five years from now on,
my little dude's going to be not

1170
01:06:50,200 --> 01:06:53,600
as adept on navigating a little
tablet because he doesn't use

1171
01:06:53,600 --> 01:06:55,920
one.
And maybe that becomes relevant

1172
01:06:55,920 --> 01:06:58,360
in his job and he's behind
because of that.

1173
01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:01,720
So it's like, you know, 6 in one
hand, half dozen in the other.

1174
01:07:01,920 --> 01:07:03,840
I don't think you'd have to
worry about that too much.

1175
01:07:03,840 --> 01:07:05,640
I think they'd pick that up
pretty quick.

1176
01:07:06,240 --> 01:07:09,440
I mean, yeah, no, I get what
totally get what you're saying,

1177
01:07:09,520 --> 01:07:11,840
though.
It's, it's, yeah.

1178
01:07:11,840 --> 01:07:14,360
I mean, like, I, I go to the gym
and work out three or four

1179
01:07:14,360 --> 01:07:18,200
nights a week and I go in there
old school.

1180
01:07:18,400 --> 01:07:21,720
I don't take a phone, I don't
take any music, nothing.

1181
01:07:21,960 --> 01:07:24,200
I'm just sitting there working
out, listening to the weights

1182
01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:26,640
and this, that the, you know,
the clanging and all that.

1183
01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:31,280
But it's like everybody in there
is on a device or, you know,

1184
01:07:31,280 --> 01:07:33,760
it's like, man, you just, you're
just making my workout take

1185
01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:36,560
longer because between your
sets, you're sitting there like

1186
01:07:36,560 --> 01:07:39,640
this all the time and, and it's
taking you twice as long.

1187
01:07:39,680 --> 01:07:42,160
You know what I'm saying?
You know, just get in there and

1188
01:07:42,160 --> 01:07:43,240
get out.
That's what I do.

1189
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:47,240
But yeah, everybody is looking
down, looking at something, and

1190
01:07:47,240 --> 01:07:53,760
it's just like, I don't know
that I still feel like that's

1191
01:07:53,760 --> 01:07:56,080
too much.
And I, I wish it wasn't that

1192
01:07:56,080 --> 01:07:57,560
way.
Yeah, yeah.

1193
01:07:57,840 --> 01:08:01,040
Yeah, it's a really interesting
thing, man.

1194
01:08:01,040 --> 01:08:04,600
There's no silver bullet answer,
but I think, and you know what's

1195
01:08:04,600 --> 01:08:09,800
weird is I would venture to
guess that the the majority of

1196
01:08:09,800 --> 01:08:12,480
people agree with the sentiment.
I do too.

1197
01:08:13,160 --> 01:08:17,279
But there's this like, I don't
know if it's in there's

1198
01:08:17,279 --> 01:08:20,359
certainly an addictive quality
to social media and technology

1199
01:08:20,359 --> 01:08:25,560
in general, but it's almost like
it's like cake or anything else,

1200
01:08:25,560 --> 01:08:28,279
man.
It's like, you know, it's not

1201
01:08:28,279 --> 01:08:31,600
good, but you just do it anyway,
right?

1202
01:08:31,760 --> 01:08:35,040
You know, if you don't make the
conscious decision not to.

1203
01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:44,840
And I don't know man, with with
AI, how that could change how we

1204
01:08:46,240 --> 01:08:50,279
function as a society is really,
I don't know if concerning is

1205
01:08:50,279 --> 01:08:53,319
the way it is concerning to me,
but it's uncomfortable, no

1206
01:08:53,319 --> 01:08:55,640
doubt.
Yeah, for sure.

1207
01:08:55,720 --> 01:09:02,920
I mean AI, you know, you see
stuff that's AI generated and I,

1208
01:09:02,920 --> 01:09:05,479
I mean, I don't know how much
stuff, how this is accurate, but

1209
01:09:05,479 --> 01:09:08,359
it's like it's got all these
people liking it and all these

1210
01:09:08,359 --> 01:09:10,040
people commenting on it and
stuff like that.

1211
01:09:10,040 --> 01:09:13,880
And it's like, that's AI people,
you know, like you're going to

1212
01:09:14,680 --> 01:09:18,040
at least like something follow
something real or it's original.

1213
01:09:18,040 --> 01:09:21,520
It's a creator, you know, it's a
real person that that is scary,

1214
01:09:21,520 --> 01:09:25,399
you know, it's just like this
is, you know, creating all this

1215
01:09:25,399 --> 01:09:28,200
fake accounts and people are
following that.

1216
01:09:28,200 --> 01:09:29,840
And I, you know, I don't get
that.

1217
01:09:29,840 --> 01:09:35,920
I just, I don't understand why
you would want to, you know, but

1218
01:09:35,920 --> 01:09:37,359
you're talking on a larger
level.

1219
01:09:37,399 --> 01:09:41,120
AI literally like changing
society, replacing jobs and

1220
01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:44,720
yeah, all that, you know?
Yeah, changing how how our

1221
01:09:44,720 --> 01:09:47,120
brain.
Works oh, for sure how our brain

1222
01:09:47,120 --> 01:09:51,439
works and yeah, I mean, I've
heard people talk about it, you

1223
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:54,440
know, and it's it's kind of you
hear all these different

1224
01:09:54,440 --> 01:09:57,240
predictions and you know the way
things are going to be it's it's

1225
01:09:57,240 --> 01:10:01,160
scary will it all come true?
I don't know, but it's, it's a

1226
01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:07,080
lot there that unknown and it's
coming at you so fast.

1227
01:10:07,240 --> 01:10:10,320
Yeah, everybody, it's all coming
at us all very, very fast.

1228
01:10:10,320 --> 01:10:12,080
Oh yeah, you guys are not going
to tap a tree.

1229
01:10:12,080 --> 01:10:15,800
Yeah, no, I think, I think I'm
safe for a while.

1230
01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:20,560
For a little bit, yeah, it's at.
Least I'll be gone before from

1231
01:10:20,560 --> 01:10:22,640
the Earth before that happens.
Yeah, man.

1232
01:10:22,880 --> 01:10:24,840
And that's what gives me some
comfort in it.

1233
01:10:25,720 --> 01:10:27,920
It's funny.
It's kind of, it's kind of

1234
01:10:27,920 --> 01:10:31,360
morbid, but like, I don't even
care for me, you know, like

1235
01:10:32,040 --> 01:10:36,200
whatever, I'm almost 40, like
life's going to happen to me

1236
01:10:36,200 --> 01:10:38,600
now.
But I think about what's going

1237
01:10:38,600 --> 01:10:40,560
to happen to him.
You know, he's 4.

1238
01:10:40,560 --> 01:10:46,000
You know what, what's what's he
going to develop into and, and

1239
01:10:46,000 --> 01:10:50,120
what's, you know, what's the
world going to be like?

1240
01:10:50,120 --> 01:10:53,640
And are we still going to have
people that yearn for that

1241
01:10:53,640 --> 01:10:55,640
connection to nature?
Because I think it's really

1242
01:10:55,640 --> 01:10:58,160
important.
And actually that's kind of a

1243
01:10:58,160 --> 01:11:00,880
fun thing we could talk about
today too, because not only have

1244
01:11:00,880 --> 01:11:03,760
we become removed from that,
we're removed from how we get

1245
01:11:03,760 --> 01:11:06,560
our food.
Like we're removed.

1246
01:11:07,800 --> 01:11:09,800
It doesn't happen much anymore,
thank goodness.

1247
01:11:09,800 --> 01:11:14,400
But like, I've had a handful of
conversations in my life with

1248
01:11:14,400 --> 01:11:15,880
people.
Like, I'm an avid hunter.

1249
01:11:15,880 --> 01:11:18,680
I like hunting a lot.
And I've had conversations with

1250
01:11:18,680 --> 01:11:23,040
people that aren't vegans or
vegetarians that don't support

1251
01:11:23,040 --> 01:11:26,400
hunting.
OK, and I'm like, well, that's a

1252
01:11:26,400 --> 01:11:30,520
really wild stance to take.
And it's almost always because

1253
01:11:30,520 --> 01:11:33,680
of the the connection.
They're comfortable with it, but

1254
01:11:33,680 --> 01:11:35,960
it's because they don't have to
see it, you know?

1255
01:11:36,880 --> 01:11:43,480
Well, I mean, I want to be
careful with my words here

1256
01:11:43,480 --> 01:11:46,320
because we need to we need to
make food too.

1257
01:11:46,360 --> 01:11:54,800
But if you have a being that is
a a chicken in a 6 by 6 cage

1258
01:11:54,800 --> 01:11:57,720
that lives its life in there
until it's eaten, and a deer

1259
01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:01,040
that lives its life out on the
landscape that I harvest with

1260
01:12:01,040 --> 01:12:05,240
the best intentions that I can
ethically, which one of those

1261
01:12:05,240 --> 01:12:09,880
lives lived a better life?
And that's a hard question for

1262
01:12:09,880 --> 01:12:11,920
that vegan or vegetarian to
answer.

1263
01:12:11,920 --> 01:12:14,640
Or the non vegan, not the meat
eater that doesn't hunt to

1264
01:12:14,640 --> 01:12:16,360
answer.
OK, you know what I mean.

1265
01:12:16,360 --> 01:12:19,880
Yeah, for sure.
So I don't know we and I think

1266
01:12:19,880 --> 01:12:24,680
that that circles into Maple
syrup because how many people

1267
01:12:25,040 --> 01:12:30,280
like it's not take for granted
because they don't know, but

1268
01:12:30,280 --> 01:12:34,840
like how many people don't know
the hours of Labor that went

1269
01:12:34,840 --> 01:12:36,440
into that jar of thing.
Right.

1270
01:12:36,760 --> 01:12:40,640
I don't, you know, most people
don't, especially when you get

1271
01:12:40,640 --> 01:12:43,720
out of the upper Midwest, around
the Great Lakes region here

1272
01:12:43,720 --> 01:12:45,760
where it's produced or up in the
Northeast.

1273
01:12:45,760 --> 01:12:50,680
I mean, a lot of people wouldn't
have a clue, you know, and

1274
01:12:50,680 --> 01:12:53,000
again, you know, it's a it's a
small industry, it's a niche

1275
01:12:53,000 --> 01:12:55,280
product.
So that even makes it more so

1276
01:12:55,560 --> 01:13:00,240
kind of you know, I know, and I
mean, hopefully I'm hoping that

1277
01:13:00,240 --> 01:13:04,120
out a little bit with, you know,
we do have our website, so we,

1278
01:13:04,400 --> 01:13:07,280
you know, get website sales and
I noticed that the orders, a lot

1279
01:13:07,280 --> 01:13:10,440
of them will go to, you know,
different all over the country

1280
01:13:10,440 --> 01:13:12,040
really, you know, different
places.

1281
01:13:12,040 --> 01:13:19,000
So you know where it where it's
a non local product, it's easier

1282
01:13:19,520 --> 01:13:24,720
in my opinion to sell it because
I mean, obviously you just don't

1283
01:13:24,720 --> 01:13:27,040
have as much competition.
Yeah, yeah.

1284
01:13:27,440 --> 01:13:29,200
Yeah.
And yeah, because you're

1285
01:13:29,200 --> 01:13:31,600
certainly right from earlier you
talked about like the

1286
01:13:31,600 --> 01:13:33,920
exponential growth of the Maple
industry.

1287
01:13:34,720 --> 01:13:39,840
Even when I started, man, that
was but not all that longer when

1288
01:13:39,840 --> 01:13:42,000
not as long as you.
It was probably like 9 years ago

1289
01:13:42,320 --> 01:13:46,280
I started making Maple syrup,
something like that, that it was

1290
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:50,000
kind of a weird thing to do.
That not a lot of people.

1291
01:13:50,000 --> 01:13:54,200
Knew about it and now at pretty
much everywhere I can go, it's

1292
01:13:54,200 --> 01:13:57,240
become a talking point for me.
Like I'll try to weave in Maple

1293
01:13:57,240 --> 01:14:00,200
syrup if I'm in a group
conversation and somebody will

1294
01:14:00,200 --> 01:14:03,240
have a brother that does it.
My brother does that or my

1295
01:14:03,520 --> 01:14:05,000
uncle.
Yeah, it is.

1296
01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:07,480
It's very much that way now,
especially, you know, in

1297
01:14:07,480 --> 01:14:12,960
Wisconsin, Like I said, it's a
pretty common, fairly common

1298
01:14:12,960 --> 01:14:16,440
hobby, you know, at all levels
from a few trees up to, you

1299
01:14:16,440 --> 01:14:17,560
know, much bigger.
Yeah.

1300
01:14:19,000 --> 01:14:22,680
You know, that's kind of a cool
thing, scaling how you have.

1301
01:14:23,400 --> 01:14:25,360
I know you said your dad still
does it with you, and it seems

1302
01:14:25,360 --> 01:14:27,040
like you have your family around
a lot.

1303
01:14:28,320 --> 01:14:30,400
Do you still get as much of that
as you would like?

1304
01:14:30,400 --> 01:14:37,080
Like that communal togetherness
of what Maple syrup is like?

1305
01:14:37,080 --> 01:14:40,400
Everybody, it's a very
connecting thing.

1306
01:14:40,440 --> 01:14:43,600
Like everybody chips in, we're
dumping buckets, we're boiling.

1307
01:14:44,080 --> 01:14:47,360
It's a, it's actually kind of
what you were just getting at a

1308
01:14:47,360 --> 01:14:49,640
little while ago about it.
It really connects people, I

1309
01:14:49,640 --> 01:14:51,920
think.
Do you still get that as much as

1310
01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:55,040
you would?
Like the way we are now, not as

1311
01:14:55,040 --> 01:14:56,840
much.
I mean, I'll be honest, it's

1312
01:14:56,840 --> 01:15:02,880
more go, go, go and try to, you
know, keep ahead of it from

1313
01:15:02,880 --> 01:15:05,840
where it was when it was just
the buckets on the trees and

1314
01:15:05,840 --> 01:15:07,440
hanging out with grandpa and
dad.

1315
01:15:07,440 --> 01:15:10,480
Not it's, it's not that way, but
you get a little bit of it with

1316
01:15:10,680 --> 01:15:14,920
my dad still there and doing as
much as he can, my son when he

1317
01:15:14,920 --> 01:15:19,080
can.
But it's not very leisurely

1318
01:15:19,080 --> 01:15:23,320
paced anymore.
You know, it's, it's more, you

1319
01:15:23,320 --> 01:15:27,080
know, this is the go time we got
to take advantage of it.

1320
01:15:27,360 --> 01:15:29,880
You know, we got to get every
bit we can, you know, 'cause

1321
01:15:29,880 --> 01:15:33,960
it's season only lasts
sometimes, sometimes less than

1322
01:15:33,960 --> 01:15:37,840
four weeks, you know, 353 to
five weeks probably on average

1323
01:15:37,840 --> 01:15:39,760
more or less, probably a little
bit over a month.

1324
01:15:40,160 --> 01:15:45,080
So yeah, no, it's not that way
anymore for us.

1325
01:15:45,080 --> 01:15:51,240
But you know, it's still a
family run operation for the

1326
01:15:51,240 --> 01:15:54,960
most part, and, you know, a
small, small business with a

1327
01:15:55,160 --> 01:15:57,960
long history.
Yeah, the mindsets.

1328
01:15:58,000 --> 01:15:59,240
Just changed a little bit,
right?

1329
01:15:59,520 --> 01:16:03,760
Yeah, yeah.
And I, I think you, you'd be

1330
01:16:03,760 --> 01:16:06,280
tough to get away from that
because it kind of comes with

1331
01:16:06,280 --> 01:16:07,600
it.
There's just more riding on it.

1332
01:16:07,720 --> 01:16:11,360
It becomes more, there's more
pressure on it.

1333
01:16:12,240 --> 01:16:14,680
One more, one more thing I, I
want to talk about.

1334
01:16:15,160 --> 01:16:18,320
Have you, have you like thought
about, or is it crossed your

1335
01:16:18,320 --> 01:16:21,640
mind to make it exponential?
Or do you do this already?

1336
01:16:21,640 --> 01:16:27,200
Like does anybody come and look
at your Maple operation to just

1337
01:16:27,280 --> 01:16:30,760
just because they're interested
about how Maple syrup is made or

1338
01:16:30,760 --> 01:16:32,720
do you curate that experience?
Yeah.

1339
01:16:32,760 --> 01:16:36,400
I mean we, we do.
I mean, it's kind of a thing

1340
01:16:36,400 --> 01:16:39,640
where during the season we are
right on Hwy. 10.

1341
01:16:40,760 --> 01:16:43,320
So if you know, you look us up,
we're right on Hwy. 10, which is

1342
01:16:43,800 --> 01:16:45,880
pretty well travelled Hwy.
US Hwy. 10.

1343
01:16:45,880 --> 01:16:48,200
So we'll just get a lot of
people stop.

1344
01:16:48,600 --> 01:16:51,240
I wouldn't say we get people
that stop in during the season.

1345
01:16:51,240 --> 01:16:54,440
They see the steam rising from
the stacks and they kind of want

1346
01:16:54,440 --> 01:16:59,680
to take a look around.
And you know that the last year

1347
01:16:59,680 --> 01:17:03,320
we did not did not do this, just
it was hard to put it together

1348
01:17:03,320 --> 01:17:06,080
and we just had to postpone it.
Hopefully we can do it this

1349
01:17:06,440 --> 01:17:10,920
March, But prior to that we had
had something called Maple

1350
01:17:10,920 --> 01:17:15,600
Madness and it was just a one
day, you know, open house where

1351
01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:19,400
people could come in and check
out the operation and see how it

1352
01:17:19,400 --> 01:17:23,040
was going.
And my son even took people that

1353
01:17:23,040 --> 01:17:26,120
wanted to, to like one of the
sugar bushes and show them the,

1354
01:17:26,600 --> 01:17:29,040
the, the set up, you know, and
how all that works.

1355
01:17:29,040 --> 01:17:32,840
And it was just a little.
We actually, it was kind of

1356
01:17:32,840 --> 01:17:34,760
nice.
We had some other local vendors

1357
01:17:34,760 --> 01:17:38,680
in there selling their stuff,
you know, like candles and you

1358
01:17:38,680 --> 01:17:42,760
know, pottery type stuff and
things of that nature.

1359
01:17:43,040 --> 01:17:47,840
And we had free samples of foods
that included Maple syrup as a

1360
01:17:47,880 --> 01:17:49,720
ingredient.
You're a Maple as an ingredient,

1361
01:17:49,720 --> 01:17:51,160
Maple sugar, Maple syrup,
whatever.

1362
01:17:52,160 --> 01:17:56,680
So we do do that.
You know, one thing that's kind

1363
01:17:56,680 --> 01:18:01,600
of cool with being on out there
in the public, I guess you know

1364
01:18:01,960 --> 01:18:06,360
it with my business putting out
the content and stuff is had

1365
01:18:06,360 --> 01:18:08,200
given me opportunities like
this.

1366
01:18:08,520 --> 01:18:11,760
You know, today that what we
have, and I've also, you know,

1367
01:18:11,760 --> 01:18:15,560
had opportunities to go talk to
like 4H groups and be a guest

1368
01:18:15,560 --> 01:18:19,640
reader at elementary schools and
you know, different things like

1369
01:18:19,640 --> 01:18:22,280
that.
Talk to you know, business

1370
01:18:22,280 --> 01:18:24,880
groups or whatever more in my
local area.

1371
01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:30,120
I'm actually one time I went to
Kentucky, to the Kentucky Maple

1372
01:18:30,360 --> 01:18:33,320
last year, the Kentucky Maple
Syrup Producers Association

1373
01:18:33,320 --> 01:18:36,200
annual meeting and I was, I was
the keynote speaker.

1374
01:18:36,200 --> 01:18:37,080
Really.
Yeah.

1375
01:18:37,200 --> 01:18:38,640
So that's.
Awesome man.

1376
01:18:38,880 --> 01:18:41,680
Yeah, You don't think of
Kentucky as a huge, it's not a

1377
01:18:41,680 --> 01:18:45,560
huge state, but it's not.
But they do have a little Maple

1378
01:18:45,560 --> 01:18:48,600
syrup industry going on there.
But it's given me those

1379
01:18:48,600 --> 01:18:50,720
opportunities, which is cool.
And like I said, that kind of

1380
01:18:50,720 --> 01:18:54,240
goes back to the like,
experience and stuff, you know,

1381
01:18:54,240 --> 01:18:58,480
like I was excited to come over
here and do this because, yeah,

1382
01:18:58,480 --> 01:19:01,080
I've done my, you know, like
these Facebook lives, YouTube

1383
01:19:01,080 --> 01:19:03,520
lives or whatever.
But I've never like been to a

1384
01:19:03,520 --> 01:19:05,400
real like, podcast like this
before.

1385
01:19:05,400 --> 01:19:09,000
So I was excited to always try
something new, something

1386
01:19:09,000 --> 01:19:10,960
different and, you know, learn
about it.

1387
01:19:11,160 --> 01:19:15,560
And so that's, that's been, you
know, a cool thing is I've got

1388
01:19:16,160 --> 01:19:21,040
opportunities to do things like
that, you know, talk to other

1389
01:19:21,040 --> 01:19:26,240
people, teach them about it.
You know, I've had videos I

1390
01:19:26,240 --> 01:19:29,000
don't do the bit the YouTube
contents a little bit.

1391
01:19:29,240 --> 01:19:34,120
It started out really Maple
related where I was just showing

1392
01:19:34,120 --> 01:19:36,480
how to put up tubing and how to
do this and that.

1393
01:19:36,800 --> 01:19:40,200
And those were some pretty well
viewed videos for that.

1394
01:19:40,200 --> 01:19:43,640
I know a lot of people learned
how to put up Maple tubing from

1395
01:19:43,840 --> 01:19:45,440
some of my videos back in the
day.

1396
01:19:45,440 --> 01:19:49,600
And they still still I get
people contacting me asking me

1397
01:19:49,600 --> 01:19:51,880
questions about it, you know,
because of that, you know, like

1398
01:19:52,120 --> 01:19:54,960
advice or whatever.
And that's kind of cool, you

1399
01:19:54,960 --> 01:19:57,560
know, to see that people enjoyed
what you did.

1400
01:19:57,840 --> 01:19:58,960
Absolutely.
Yeah.

1401
01:19:59,200 --> 01:20:00,880
So you get to share it
frequently.

1402
01:20:00,880 --> 01:20:02,080
Yeah.
With the world.

1403
01:20:02,080 --> 01:20:04,840
Yeah.
And I think that's like, that's

1404
01:20:04,840 --> 01:20:07,160
just as valuable.
And it's so hard.

1405
01:20:07,600 --> 01:20:11,320
Like I always, that's something
that's just crossed my mind

1406
01:20:11,320 --> 01:20:13,880
since I started doing it because
like I always have buddies that

1407
01:20:13,880 --> 01:20:15,840
are like, let me know when
you're boiling.

1408
01:20:15,880 --> 01:20:17,840
They want to help you all.
Yeah, they want to see.

1409
01:20:17,840 --> 01:20:21,600
They want to see what happens.
So I know there's like AI know

1410
01:20:21,600 --> 01:20:25,120
there's a draw for it there, but
I think a lot of it just stems

1411
01:20:25,120 --> 01:20:28,440
back to like it's, it's a month
of chaos.

1412
01:20:28,640 --> 01:20:31,400
Like how are you going to try to
add more chaos into the chaos?

1413
01:20:31,400 --> 01:20:34,200
And that's what's tough, that's
what's that's why this last

1414
01:20:34,200 --> 01:20:36,600
year, that open all event thing
that we had been trying to

1415
01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:39,480
establish as a yearly thing, it
didn't happen because we just

1416
01:20:40,160 --> 01:20:42,600
felt like, oh man, we couldn't
take it on this year.

1417
01:20:42,600 --> 01:20:45,000
You know, it's just like got too
far behind, didn't plan ahead

1418
01:20:45,000 --> 01:20:47,720
enough.
Would have been nice too, but

1419
01:20:48,440 --> 01:20:51,040
hopefully we can start getting
ahead of the curve this year and

1420
01:20:51,040 --> 01:20:52,320
have it again.
Yeah.

1421
01:20:52,320 --> 01:20:54,640
But I mean, I'll put the word
out there for that, you know?

1422
01:20:54,640 --> 01:20:57,000
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that'd be cool.

1423
01:20:57,000 --> 01:21:01,000
Like I see the, you know,
whatever it is, the apple

1424
01:21:01,000 --> 01:21:02,760
orchards.
There's a lot of apple orchards

1425
01:21:02,760 --> 01:21:05,160
here around Green Bay that very
exponentially.

1426
01:21:05,160 --> 01:21:09,040
They do a little corn maze and
they make cider doughnuts and

1427
01:21:09,040 --> 01:21:10,520
just all this little stuff
together.

1428
01:21:10,840 --> 01:21:14,360
Maple could certainly do that,
but it takes an apple all summer

1429
01:21:14,360 --> 01:21:18,560
to grow, you know, it takes it
takes one overnight for that SAP

1430
01:21:18,560 --> 01:21:21,200
to drop out of the tree, and
then it's running over if you

1431
01:21:21,200 --> 01:21:22,720
don't have enough storage,
Right?

1432
01:21:22,720 --> 01:21:26,040
So you better get it boiled,
man.

1433
01:21:26,720 --> 01:21:28,840
Well, it's cool.
I appreciate you coming on and

1434
01:21:28,840 --> 01:21:30,560
sharing your story, man.
Yeah.

1435
01:21:30,560 --> 01:21:33,040
Thanks for having me, really
enjoyed it.

1436
01:21:33,040 --> 01:21:35,080
I do have to say one thing.
Yeah, what's up to?

1437
01:21:35,520 --> 01:21:36,880
I can't.
I didn't mention my daughter

1438
01:21:36,880 --> 01:21:38,600
Haley.
I got to give Haley a shout out.

1439
01:21:38,680 --> 01:21:40,720
You know, I said Jack, so I got
to say Haley.

1440
01:21:41,200 --> 01:21:44,040
And she always does a great job
with the little, the videos that

1441
01:21:44,040 --> 01:21:46,080
she does with me.
She's probably she's better than

1442
01:21:46,080 --> 01:21:49,400
I am.
Didn't I think, didn't I see one

1443
01:21:49,400 --> 01:21:55,680
that the God, didn't she make a
video about joking about how she

1444
01:21:55,680 --> 01:21:58,600
knew something about social
media and you didn't want to do

1445
01:21:58,600 --> 01:22:00,400
it, but she was like, no, this
is the right thing to do.

1446
01:22:00,400 --> 01:22:02,960
I can't remember.
Yeah, probably, yeah.

1447
01:22:03,440 --> 01:22:07,320
Yeah, I think that's got to be,
man.

1448
01:22:07,680 --> 01:22:10,080
You want to talk about living
the dream?

1449
01:22:10,200 --> 01:22:13,120
What does the dream mean?
And enjoying what you do.

1450
01:22:13,840 --> 01:22:16,040
I think that's what it is.
That is it dude.

1451
01:22:16,320 --> 01:22:18,000
That is.
I think so.

1452
01:22:18,120 --> 01:22:19,880
It's.
Kind of weird calling you dude

1453
01:22:19,880 --> 01:22:24,120
because you are the dude, but it
is man.

1454
01:22:24,120 --> 01:22:30,760
Like that's what life is about
whether whether it's around a 2

1455
01:22:30,760 --> 01:22:36,560
by 4 flat pan that 20 God, we
used this flat pan was a death

1456
01:22:36,560 --> 01:22:37,600
trap.
We used to use it.

1457
01:22:37,600 --> 01:22:39,960
I just had a flashback of it.
Like me and my dad.

1458
01:22:40,480 --> 01:22:45,960
We we boiled in batches and we
would lift this thing off 1

1459
01:22:45,960 --> 01:22:47,840
wrong move and one of us is
torch.

1460
01:22:47,840 --> 01:22:49,640
They did the same thing, like,
yeah.

1461
01:22:49,920 --> 01:22:58,880
Whether it's that or what you do
that thing, that thing of like

1462
01:22:58,880 --> 01:23:04,040
your daughter joking about, you
know, this is the video we

1463
01:23:04,040 --> 01:23:06,960
should make, Dad.
It never would have came to life

1464
01:23:06,960 --> 01:23:09,640
without Maple, you know, without
the thing.

1465
01:23:10,600 --> 01:23:14,400
And I don't know, man, but I do
know that you're right.

1466
01:23:14,400 --> 01:23:17,080
That's what we need more of.
Yeah, I know that.

1467
01:23:17,080 --> 01:23:18,440
Exactly.
Exactly.

1468
01:23:18,520 --> 01:23:21,960
Yeah, so you had to get give her
a shout out too.

1469
01:23:22,240 --> 01:23:24,360
Yeah, yeah.
I I couldn't not do it.

1470
01:23:25,920 --> 01:23:28,000
Yeah, well, I wish you the best
of luck.

1471
01:23:28,040 --> 01:23:33,400
I, I, there's, there's probably,
if there's 365 days in a year,

1472
01:23:33,440 --> 01:23:36,760
there's probably 180 of them
that I envy what you're doing

1473
01:23:36,760 --> 01:23:39,160
and there's probably 180 of them
that I'd be.

1474
01:23:39,160 --> 01:23:41,480
So no way in hell would I bite
that off.

1475
01:23:42,680 --> 01:23:44,400
For sure.
Good luck man, Thank.

1476
01:23:44,400 --> 01:23:45,840
You well, thanks for having me
in today.

1477
01:23:45,840 --> 01:23:49,440
Really enjoyed it and I mean
anytime.

1478
01:23:50,080 --> 01:23:50,400
Cool.