Farmer preserves family tradition, makes a living
Back
James Crafton, 93, holds a crushed piece of sugar cane. He grows cane to make syrup every year for his family and friends.
Photo by Quandra Collins
There's an old saying that James Crafton likes: "Time has a way of changing things."
But for the 93-year-old Evans farmer, who has been growing sweet potatoes, peas, tomatoes, corn and turnips for more than 50 years, time in many ways has been preserved.
"I was born on the farm," said Crafton, a native of McCormick, S.C., who said he prefers more traditional-style farming instead of commercialized farming. "I don't know nothing else."
One tradition Crafton still holds onto is making sugar cane syrup the old fashion way. Just in time for the holiday season, Crafton said he plans to have 10 gallons of "ribbon cane" syrup ready to serve to his family and friends.
"I'm going to make the syrup by using a sugar cane grinding machine," he said. "I'm doing it the old mule type way. Children don't understand how much work goes into making syrup."
Irby holds a jar of sugar cane juice that Crafton produced to make cane syrup. The two need to fill three 55-gallon drums with the sugar cane juice to make the 10 gallons of ribbon cane syrup that Crafton makes each year for family and friends.
Photo by Quandra Collins
In preparation, Crafton gathers several pieces of sugar cane from a large pile, placing the cane through a grinding machine one at a time. His friend, Ellis Irby, from Augusta, holds an empty honey jar beneath the machine as it extracts a brown colored sweet juice. Once the juice has filled three 55-gallon drums, Crafton said it is placed in a large stainless steal pan to cook. And after several hours of cooking, he said, the syrup is skimmed from its impurities. The olive-brown juice is then transformed into a golden brown syrup.
Despite the number of times Crafton has made sugar cane, he contends he's no connoisseur.
"I'm still learning," he said. "I can never learn it all."
But his friend, Skip Baker, 65, a novice Evans farmer, disagreed.
Crafton crushes the sugar cane while his friend Ellis Irby collects a jar of the juice that will be used to make syrup. Crafton has been helping out with this process since he was a little boy. It has become a family tradition, as well as a way to make a living. Crafton said that many people do not understand the time that goes into making the syrup.
Photo by Quandra Collins
"He's been showing me how to farm on his land for the past five years," he said, adding that he and Crafton usually give most of their crops away.
And since he was a little boy, Crafton said making syrup has always been both a family tradition and a way to make a living.
"I do this to keep living," he said. "Farming is the best way of life because everything we have comes from the farm."