Molasses

My father-in-law, Ted Carroll, told stories. He grew up on a barely-making-it farm in Missouri during The Depression. One of those stories was how his dad made him take the sorghum to the mill to get pressed into “molasses.”* He was supposed to wait around for it to be pressed, so they could get “their molasses” (he had the option of taking an equivalent amount, already made). That ain’t what he did. This story is a tribute and memorial to Ted. What happens in my story, though, might be little bit different than what actually took place…

Molasses is constructed from archival photography taken by the photographers for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the 1930’s – the likes of Dorothea Lange.

*True molasses is made from sugar cane, but the locals called sorghum syrup “molasses” anyway. It’s more mellow than real molasses, and tastes much better (IMHO).