I don't have the metal spiles (spigots you hammer into the tree) or the hangy-buckets or the lids for the hangy-buckets and I refuse to buy stuff for every darn thing I feel like doing. So I decided to go DIY.
I figured that old-time Vermont farmers miles from the general store wouldn't travel for or maybe even have money for store-bought spiles and likely made their own. So I looked around for a hammerable tube. Aha--I DO have backyard bamboo! I cut a stem a bit over 1/4 inch wide. I cut one section about 6 inches long between joints, reamed it out manually with a narrow drill bit, and blew out the papery lining.
The bamboo was a bit thicker than my drill bit, so I whittled a very slight taper on one end. 
I drilled a hole about 1 and 1/2 inch into the tree, on the sunniest north side and slanting upward into the tree to aid drippage. I wanted to use my old-timey hand-crank drill but the bit I wanted wouldn't fit, so I used the cordless drill. IMMEDIATELY the hole began to drip!
I hammered in my bamboo spile and it worked--sap began dripping from the end at the rate of 1 drop per second. Instead of the hangy-bucket, I repurposed a section of old broken garden hose, trimmed its ends, washed and rinsed it, and fed it into a washed vinegar jug. Dug the jug into the ground a bit to keep it from tipping. The sap was dripping into the jug successfully. Here's hoping I'll get enough to boil down into syrup to surprise my husband!
