For years, we’ve wanted to set up a real cane syrup operation, and make our own syrup and homemade sugar from homegrown sugarcane.
This year, we got it together!
Hurricane Isaias blew through our farm without causing any real damage. It was looking a little sketchy there for a bit, but a last minute turn kept us from the worst of the storm.
Thank you, Bishop Rivituso, for the prayers in the Gulf!
Archbishop Rivituso praying against the storm in the Bay of Mobile.
Though it didn’t damage any structures on our homestead, the storm did blow over a lot of our sugar cane patch.
And then a cold front came through. The overnight lows have been in the 40s and 50s since the storm.
Cold weather and getting knocked over will keep the cane from growing any more this year. And frost will be here before we know it. A hard frost will ruin sugarcane – you have to cut it before then.
Last year we had a lot of cane. We sold some and also planted a larger patch with the rest of our harvest.
But we didn’t get to make syrup. And that is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.
The Dream
For years I have dreamed of making cane syrup and sugar at home.
Properly.
Without having to chop canes into little pieces and try to boil the sugar out of them. Which we did a couple of times!
Over the last few years, I’ve assisted at multiple “cane boils,” helping locals like Ben White and Marcus Stewart with their syrup-making, and also visiting Danny and Wanda at the Deep South Homestead and helping them out. I learned a lot along the way.
But still, I wanted our own setup. I like the old-fashioned method of making syrup, with a horse-turned mill and a wood-fired kettle. But it really takes some work (and money) to make it happen.
Two years ago I bought an old cane mill but didn’t have a chance to set it up in time for the 2025 sugar cane harvest.
We took it all apart, cleaned up it, and… got busy with other things.
Fortunately, we did plant a bigger cane patch, just in case we could get it together. Despite severe drought, we managed to get some decent cane, even though it’s about 1/4 of the harvest we should have had.
But this year just HAD to be the year. No more waiting to get things together!
A couple of weeks ago I traded 22 fruit trees for a boiling pot.
And I asked my son CJ to put the mill back together and fix it up, which he did, replaced bad bolts and fitting everything together.
Then my sons and I sunk posts, built a platform, mounted the mill to it, bolted a tree trunk on top and – voila – we were ready to grind cane!
In our latest video, you can see how we set up the mill and made syrup (and even raw brown sugar) from our homegrown cane, using 1800’s technology:
The syrup and the sugar both taste amazing. I think you’ll enjoy seeing how it all came together in this short little video.
There are easier ways to make sugar but this method is really a lot of fun.
