With this ever-evolving society, tradition and simplicity are usually thrown to the waste side. But Freddie Stewart, a shrimper from Bon Secour, has found a sweeter way of life. After four years of preparation and growing, he has successfully harvested sugar cane and is making syrup the old fashioned way.

Freddie, who was reared in a farming family, developed his grandfather’s livelihood of growing sugar cane and syrup making as a hobby after a trip to Homosassa, Florida. He was intrigued by the process, and the vast land full of sugar cane.

“People don’t know where food comes from anymore,” Stewart said of the shrinking number of farmers. “Farming, fishing and shrimping was all there was to do when I was a kid.”

His grandson Eli, whose eyes widen with excitement every time the mill’s tractor starts up, is learning about the life of an agriculturalist. 

His son Jason is a fellow shrimper, and with the combination of his interest in tractors and Freddie’s ambition to make syrup, it was a perfect match.

To begin their mission, they found a partially restored 1949-B John Deere tractor, and Jason completed the restoration. Then they located a mill from the Bruhn family of Elberta, who happen to be Freddie’s in-laws. 

“You need wet ground to grow sugar cane,” Jason said, and that was exactly what they had. To date they have four rows of cane 150 feet long planted on their land. This winter was the first time they’ve tried to do a harvest, and Freddie says they got a late start. “Usually you harvest cane in the late fall, around November.

“We plan to plant another 10 or 12 more rows,” he said of his growing possible business. He hasn’t decided if he’s going to sell it or not, but it is an option. “We shrimp till we get tired of it, and then do this for fun,” he said.

Jason agreed. “Sometimes you have to find something fun to do,” he said.

  As of now, a day’s work will produce some three quarts of syrup. The father and son entrepreneurs hope to build equipment that will produce a couple of gallons in one cooking. 

Jason, who owns five antique tractors

which he restores, has teamed up with his father to create an antique tractor club.

“We took names at the Heritage Harbor Days, and now the list is gone,” he said. They plan to have the club functioning soon, and hope to have a tractor show by fall.

This year’s cane harvest is actually a test run for the projected show. “We want to have an exhibition with the mill during the tractor show,” Freddie said.

Common folk and celebrities alike are already lining up to get a glance at the Stewarts in action, and get a taste of the cane syrup. Country music star John Anderson visited Freddie to get shrimp, and tried to bargain for sugar cane. “He said that he grew up chewing on cane, and just had to have some. I wouldn‘t let him pay me for it,” Freddie said.

If you’re interested in joining the tractor club call Jason Stewart at 251-978-8870.