Cousin's Day....

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL holiday weekend!! I know that I personally ate WAY WAY WAY toooooo much!!! It was sooo nice to have hubby home for the week of Thanksgiving! I am missing him already! He will be back in time for Christmas as well - and that is going to be awesome!

But I have to tell you - in addition to a yummy Thanksgiving meal that my mom made - we had a wonderful weekend as well!

On Saturday we went to "Cousin's Day" at my cousins farm in South Ga (near Pearson for those of you that know Georgia!)


At the farm they grow tobacco (of course), peanuts (of course) and they "use to" grow sugar cane back in the day! Well they have decided to bring back a small crop of Sugar Cane and host a "Cousins Day" where all the cousins (both old and young) could come out to the farm and have an honest to goodness cane grinding and syrup boil!!!!!

So on Saturday - we headed to the farm!!!! And it was such an AWESOME day.....

First of all - you have to see these two photos I got of my hubby "on the farm" !!! I think that they turned out really hubba hubba!!!

Now that you checked him out - I will give you a quick play by play of the making of Cane Syrup!!!

First you have to grind the cane! Back in the day they use to use a mule to run the grinder but now they use the tractor!

Once you get about 60 gallons of cane juice you put in the boiler and start the fire! (Once again - back in the day they had to keep stoking the fire as it was a wood fire - now it is done by gas.) One interesting thing - this boiler pictured below was actually casted at the steel mill in Savannah, GA, which is just up the road from me!!

As the can juice starts to boil - all the impurities start bubbling up to the top - so when it gets to be a certain thickness you have to skim the gunk off the top and strain it out! Here is my cousin David (who owns the farm) straining the stuff off the top!

Once the skimming is done - well you just have to let it boil! The juice has to boil for about 4 hours in order to become syrup. So while it is boiling - we of course take part in some Eating.....

And then of course we have to take part in some singing!!! Picture below is my grandmother's (who past a way a few months ago) sister and brother along with their spouses and then my cousin Patty (who is David's wife) playing the piano. My Aunts and Uncle grew up singing good ole gospel songs in the family church! And let me tell you - if you ever want to hear some old time gospel singing just head on over to our family church - you will be in for a REAL treat!!

Once we were done signing and eating - it was time to check on the syrup! Yep - it was ready to be dipped up! Notice the yummy golden brown color!!!

Once they dip it up it has to be strained into the pot! Which all the male cousins where clamoring to help out with!


Then it is mixed with some corn syrup to make sure it doesn't candy - and then low and behold! You have Cane Syrup!!!

Which we all got to take home a bottle of the syrup that was made that day!

Now that was what I call a fun filled family day! It is what the holidays truly are all about! Spending time with family and those you love!

Hope you have enjoyed my cane grinding and boiling explanations! I have some star orders I need to get out - and I need to get busy working on my Christmas presents!

Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Until Next Time!

Cya~


Lori McDonald, Designer

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