Even though we had a lot of our Sorghum cane ruined this year by deer running through our field and bedding down in it, we got some good syrup made and I'm happy with the results.
Sorghum has historically been known as "poor man's sugar". We seriously take for granted the easily purchased cheap sugar in white granular form that you find at the store. White sugar crystals or cubed sugar was only reserved for the tables of the rich and wealthy in America just 100 years ago and beyond. Farmers, pioneers and homesteaders instead grew Sorghum or other types of cane sugar to satisfy their sweet tooth.
In northern climates, you had a larger industry of syrup production from trees like the maple. But in the south and much of middle America, people grew cane sugar. Aside from bee keeping which can be dated back to the ancient Egyptians, these were how much of the world got its sugar.
Here are some of the pictures of our harvest this year. The whole family helps out!
This is Joshua (
Into the bucket the precious juice flows. We fill the bucket and then pour it into the Evaporator where it will cook and make that fantastic syrup!
Look at all that beautiful cane sugar! The juice itself is very tasty if you want to drink it. And healthy too! It's very high in Iron!
All this seed needs to be saved. We stack the cane up and then the boys will come by with clippers and cut off the stalks of the seeds tops and drop them into a container. The seeds will later be stripped off and sold on our website.
Look at all those seeds. We will have enough to plant next year and sell a lot of them on our website to customers.
HOMESTEAD PUMPKINS
No only do we have a lot of sorghum seeds and a good amount of syrup, but we also harvested a LOT of our pumpkins this fall. It was literally a mountain on top of our table and we have these stashed all over the house right now. Jaimie is canning them little by little and we are giving some away to friends and family.
They are great for cooking and for keeping in jars. We use them for soups, dinner meals, breads and of course they make amazing pumpkin pie. Pumpkins are great for being used in either sweet or savory dishes.
Is that you back there, honey? This picture was taken after just coming in with the last of the pumpkin harvest. She and I and the boys were tired. These things are heavy!
SEEDS AVAILABLE
If you would like to try some of our homestead seeds, you can purchase them on our website using Steem! Paypal or a credit card works too. Especially if you have children, give the sorghum seeds a try. They will love chewing on the sweet cane in the fall. They should grow in most of the U.S. except for some of the northern states.
UPCOMING POSTS: THE STAINLESS STEEL DISTILLER
Stay tuned!
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