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Transcription: [00:18:47]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So you've been cooking syrup since 1940, probably every year?

[00:18:51]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
That's right, since 1940. One thing that should get put in on that I always tell them that I have some good chewin' cane and you have all the cane that chew that want to chew.

[00:19:02]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
When you invite your neighbors over, is that right?

{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
That's right. Always on Thanksgiving Day I cook the way and the night. Probably six or seven boilings that day.
[00:19:10]

[00:19:11]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Mm-hm [[affirmative]]. When did you start inviting your neighbors in on Thanksgiving? You've been cooking it since 1940, but when did you invite your neighbors in?

[00:19:17]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Oh, its been I'd say ten or twelve years ago that I started inviting the neighbors in on Thanksgiving Day like that. I always tell them that we'll, I'll be cooking unless some of the immediate family was to happen to die on Thanksgiving Day. If any of you all happen to be coming to South Georgia Thanksgiving, you'll look us up, drop by, and get a drink of South Georgia cane juice!

[00:19:40]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
[[Chuckling]] How 'bout you, Mr. Paford, when did you start making cane syrup?

[00:19:44]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
Well, I never had made it up for my own self, I always helped Mr. Bryan with his, Grady, uh in preparations of syrup making it over at his home. I started I suppose about 10 years ago. He's learnt me what I know about making syrup. I learned it under Grady.

[00:20:02]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So you started about 10 years ago?


[00:20:03]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
Something like 10 years ago. Well, we were neighbors at the time, there in uh, I would come over, you know? This was about the time that he was talking about, that he wasn't inviting people into his home. Well, I was probably one of the first ones that would ever come into his home and everything and I tried to learn the trade from him.


[00:20:23]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Is that right? Well, you did a good job.

[00:20:25]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Think you forgot one thing, best I remember I let him have a little seed cane one time and he cooked some that one year

{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
[[Crosstalk]] That's right.

[00:20:32]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
for hisself.

[00:20:33]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
And then he got to likin' the process, huh? So he came over and started helping you?


[00:20:38]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I - uh, yeah, he generally comes 'round during Thanksgiving while I'm cooking
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
I see.

[00:20:44]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
That's the day that I don't cook myself. I stand around and talk and let the boys do the cooking that day.

[00:20:48]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
[[Chuckling]] Your family.

[00:20:50]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I have 5 boys and they can all cook shrimp.

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
That's good, that's real good. You're continuing the tradition in your family, that's good.

[00:20:56]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Hope to, right on.

[00:20:58]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Tell me, now did you always grind your- your cane with the kind of mill that you're using out there now?

[00:21:04]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
No, we have an old timey mule mill. We used to, before we got a hold of this mill. We used to use the old mule mill with a mule.

[00:21:12]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
And then we finally used it with a tractor. And then we finally got the power mill, we used it with the bale.

[00:21:18]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So what do the old mule mill look like when you were using that?

[00:21:21]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Well, this one had the old sweep, the mule go 'round and 'round. The old mule get tired, you had to go down to the backside, hit him to get him started again.

[00:21:29]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Is that dangerous?

[00:21:31]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Uh, well, uh it weren't too dangerous unless you had a wild mule. Sometimes the old wild mule he might kick you.

[00:21:38]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
[[Laughing]] So the- the mule mill had then a sweep on it? That's what you call it?
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"} That's right- a

[00:21:43]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Kind of like a big long, big long board?

[00:21:45]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Yeah, you had to go in the swamp and hunt you a tree that's crooked just right, what you call a "sweep".

[00:21:51]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Probably be a 25 feet or 30 feet long.

[00:21:53]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Fold it down on the top of the mill.

[00:21:56]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
One end would be elevated up in the air, the other down towards the ground where you can hitch a mule to that lower end.

[00:22:03]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
And then would you, the mule would just be trained then, he'd be able to walk 'round and 'round?

[00:22:08]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Well you'd have, you'd have what they call a lead pole. Lay it on to your sweep

[00:22:12]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
and rope tied to his bridle where'd he go 'round and 'round in a circle

[00:22:17]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Mm-hm [[affirmative]]. So when the old, when did the mule give out? When did you switch to the tractor?

[00:22:21]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Uh, well, uh I wouldn't say, but I'd imagine its been 12 or 14 years ago when we switched to the tractor.

[00:22:29]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Is that right, so up to about 12 or 14 years ago you were, used a mule?

[00:22:32]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Used a the old mule

[00:22:33]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Is that right?

[00:22:34]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I kept the old mule for 5 or 6 years after we quit using her. Finally done away with the old mule.


[00:22:40]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Uh-huh [[affirmative]].

[00:22:41]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
Most, most of the cane grinding that goes on back down in our state, in Georgia,

[00:22:47]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
is still done with mules. There's very few power-driven mills that's around. More or less the power-driven mill is where a man grows as much as Mr. Bryan does.

[00:22:58]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
Uh, if he just got a small amount, most of the time he's still got the mule-drawn mill.


[00:23:03]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
I see.

{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
I've got the mule-drawn mill and a kettle myself.

[00:23:07]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Do you have a mule to- to run it?

[00:23:09]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
I don't have my mule anymore.

[00:23:10]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So, so most of them have the mule mill but they still run it with a tractor?

[00:23:14]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
That's right. Uh, well, uh Grady's old mill, I'm sure he hooked his tractor to his

[00:23:21]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
That's right.

{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
before he ever went to the power mill that he's got now.

[00:23:24]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
This is, the power mill, uh don't know Grady, what was it 75 years old?

[00:23:27]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I'd say at least 75, if not 100, I wouldn't know for sure.

[00:23:31]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
This power mill that you have right over here?

[00:23:33]
{SPEAKER name="Carl Paford"}
That's just still the most modern type of grinding.

[00:23:36]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
It's a small mill of its type.

[00:23:39]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Uh-huh [[affirmative]]. And its a grinding mill, it's specially built for grinding cane?

[00:23:43]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan and Carl Paford"}
That's right.

[00:23:44]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Good.

[00:23:45]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
We don't just grind cane in my house, we milk a cow. Oldest family I know of in our neighborhood still milks a cow.

[00:23:54]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
We grow all kinds of vegetables, just about anything named to eat, we grow it.

[00:24:00]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
This year I paid $35 a pounds for turnip seed. So if you buy turnips in the store,

[00:24:05]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
you can think well that man paid for them- grow them

[00:24:08]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
[[Chuckling]] Uh, tell me a little bit now about your, about the kettle that you use. That's your kettle that we have over here, isn't it?

[00:24:15]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Uh, well, this kettle I have here is one I borrowed, I tried to buy it, the man, he wouldn't sell it. I have one at home just like it. I just didn't want to take it out of my furnace, the reason I borrowed this one.

[00:24:24]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So what's the kettle like? What's it made out of and what's special about it for cooking syrup?

{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
It's made out of cast iron.

[00:24:32]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
The man that this kettle belong to told me that he didn't use it for nothing but cook Brunswick stew.

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Hmm. [[affirmative]]

[00:24:38]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
He works a lot of hands, and have a cookout one and while, he's had to use it for nothing but Brunswick stew.

[00:24:44]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So you could use that- that kettle for cooking other things if you wanted to, you just use it for- for syrup?

[00:24:49]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Yeah, we have, in ours, we've dried lard out in it.

[00:24:52]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Is that right?

{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
When we kill several hogs, we can dry out a lot of lard in it at one time.

[00:24:57]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Now what about the furnace? How does the furnace have to be built? What's special about that?

[00:25:01]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Well, uh, I build mine out of brick. They didn't build this'n out of brick here.


[00:25:07]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Mhm. [[affirmative]]

{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
[...?] They said pang! and the whole state cracked wide open.

[00:25:13]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Is that right? I didn't know that. [[Laughing]]

[00:25:16]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
You go down and look at it.

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
It's all cracked, huh? [[Laughing]]

[00:25:18]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
They done put a strap 'round it to hold it all together now. [[Laughing]]

[00:25:21]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
We needed you up here to show us how to build it!

[00:25:24]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I told Gary when he came down, I said now don't build that furnace out of cement now it won't stand the heat.

[00:25:29]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I said make him use motor mix.

[00:25:32]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Yeah, well, well we learned from it.

[00:25:34]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
My furnace, the fire box where you put the fire is about a quarter way 'round from the chimney.

[00:25:40]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
This one, they got it right straight out in front of the chimney. 'Course I thought that did a good job yesterday. I was well pleased with the syrup we cooked on it yesterday.

[00:25:47]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
It was good syrup, for those of you who got a chance to taste it. It was real good syrup.

[00:25:52]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
What about the tools you use, now what do you, what do you call them?

[00:25:55]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Well, I made the skimmer, its made out of some galvanized tin and a little cypress pole.

[00:26:01]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I got a zinc bucket, made the dipper, put it on a little cypress pole, how to dip the syrup out.

[00:26:08]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
We made all of it we could by hand.

[00:26:13]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So you made the tools mostly by hand and the skimmer is the one you use to dip the- the syrup, right?

[00:26:18]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
That's right, and I don't know who the man were build it, but he didn't know what he was doing.

[00:26:23]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
The rim I had to put on top of the kettle when I got here, he had it built in the furnace under the kettle!

[00:26:28]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
So they had to go make me another rim. [[Laughing]]

[00:26:31]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
We learned a lot about making cane syrup.

[00:26:33]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
So I told a lot of people talking with him, held us up a long time, I told a lot of people, I said you know that they still make mistakes in Washington once in a while too. [[Chuckling]]

[00:26:43]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Now, tell me how you go about making cane syrup? You told me one day that- what the secret to good cane syrup is.

[00:26:48]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Well, the secret to cookin' good cane syrup that knowing what kind of fertilizer the top of land you grow your cane on.

[00:26:57]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
If you put a high grade of potash it'll make salty syrup. If you want a lowest grade potash fertilizer you can get.

[00:27:02]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
I use a 4-9-3. We call it down home, bacco bets special. That's what we grow tobacco plants with.

[00:27:10]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
So that's what you put your, put around your cane? When do you plant your cane? And what kind do you, do you use?

[00:27:15]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Just as soon as the frost has gone, we'll plant cane at latter part of February, early March.

[00:27:22]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Well, it takes it a month to 6 weeks to come up. We fertilize it, most of the time after it gets up.

[00:27:30]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
Long time ago, I used to use cotton seed or cotton seed meal. They got so high, you couldn't afford it. So now we just use a little bit of fertilizer.

[00:27:37]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Mm-hmm. [[affirmative]] What kind of cane is it, that you- that you grow?

[00:27:40]
{SPEAKER name="Grady Bryan"}
We have two kinds of cane, one is what we call a green [?] cane that we cook syrup out of. I have some red [?] cane that's a lot softer, makes a bigger stalk, we keep just for chewing. That's what I invite the neighbors in to chew.

Transcription Notes:
grady bryan, carl paford