Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins

The other day we visited the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins in Homosassa. Built in 1851 by the first Florida US Senator, David Levy Yulee, with the labor of 69 slaves, the mill ruin sits on the banks of the Homosassa River near the former antebellum home and 5000 acre Margarita Plantation of Yulee.

The mill was hewn from Florida limestone, brick, and wood. The machinery for the mill was brought in by ship around Cape Florida from New York and included a steam engine used to process the sugar and large kettles to boil the juices.

The sugar cane was processed by crushing through these huge metal rollers which squeezed the juice from the canes. Sugar cane is a true perennial grass and grows 6 to 19 feet tall. The tough fibrous stalks are full of the sugars.

Part of the steam boiler brought from New York.

Remains of several kettles where the cane juice was boiled.

A couple of sugar cane stalks I got at my local produce market to show you. The dried sugar cane stalks are beautiful.

Today sugar cane is the largest crop in the world and is grown in 90 countries. Approximately 1.6 billion tons are grown, the top producer being Brazil where much of the juice is fermented to produce ethanol used as a substitute for gasoline. The remaining parts of the cane called bagasse a biomass which can be burned by steam to produce electricity. Half of all sugar cane is still harvested by hand. After six to seven months of growing the fields are set on fire where the leaves are burned away and later the cane is cut down with a machete. A skilled worker can cut up to 1100 pounds of cane in an hour. A simple trip to the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins and reading about sugar cane production, ethanol, and bagassee has made me realize I have much to learn about world cultures and economies. This post is part of the Mud Colony what's happening in the studio. Not really pottery related, but definitely inspirational. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Seagrass Resort

Yesterday we went to get some fish and also drove to another section of Homosassa to see if the new restaurant was open at the Seagrass Resort; they were. We checked out their menu and walked along their deck. We could just imagine driving our boat up to their dock, getting out and having a drink at the tiki bar. That is when the weather warms back up. One day it was 85 during the day and the next day it was 27 at night. This time of year the weather fluctuates quite a bit.

One of Gary's friends from California called us the other day. Gary told him we got a yacht  He asked how long is it. Gary said 12 feet. Gary has our aluminum boat all sanded, primed, and painted on the inside. He just has to paint the outside. We can't decide what color to paint the outside. Do we paint it camouflage, aqua, pale green, what do you think? Gary also has the motor rebuilt. We got a new fuel tank; our boat will run all day long on 3 gallons of fuel unlike many boats which use a lot of fuel. I see lots of waterway exploring coming up in our future. We need to get some life jackets, a horn, etc. Since the sun is so intense here in Florida, we want to rig up some type of sunshade. But we're pretty close to getting our boat in the water.
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Meanwhile my bisque firing went along just fine and I've already glazed all the work which is firing. See the leaf plates on the top shelf; I thinned out the copper carbonate, I may have the mix just about right. I know I said I wouldn't use the copper any longer, but maybe these will turn out great looking, isn't that just the way when you are ready to give up, things turn around. Can't wait to see how those plates turn out. For this bisque cone 05 was just bending. My kiln over fires when I program it to fire at 04. I'm wondering if there's such a thing as a cone fire to 05.5? Does anyone know if I can program my kiln like that. I'd like it a little hotter but not over cone 04. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Florida Stone Crab Season

It's stone crab season in Florida and other areas as well. I got one pound of floaters from Shelly's Seafood in Homosassa. Floaters are crab which are molting to the next size. There is less meat in the claw but they are also less expensive to purchase. Only one leg is harvested from the crab and they are returned to the gulf to grow another leg which they do quite readily much like a lizard can grow a new tail. Gary is allergic to crab so I had to eat them all myself dipping them in a little melted butter. Ha.

In other news the gopher tortoise is enlarging it's den for the winter season. The tortoise pushes his head up and pushes out the sandy soil.

The tortoise are also coming out later in the day when it finally warms up. I imagine they are fattening up in preparation for their winter slumber. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.