Recommended Reading

          Not much sugar cane is grown in South Dakota. Until enlisting in the Marines my horizons were pretty narrow.  First the Marines took me to California and then to Asia. On the way to Asia the ship we were on stopped for a few days in Hawaii. That is where I first saw fields of sugar cane and smelled the burnt sugar odor of cane processing. Much sugar cane is grown in Thailand and trucks piled 10 or 12 feet high with cane are a common sight on the roads. There's even a special cane truck made in Japan that has no doors on the cab. Still I knew little about its cultivation.

      When Natalie Baszile, editor of  WE ARE EACH OTHER'S HARVEST: CELERATING AFRICAN AMERICAN FARMERS, LAND AND LEGACY  wanted to write a novel about African American farmers she chose sugar cane farming in Louisiana as the location for Queen Sugar. With some familiarity with farming much of the story is familiar to me. However, I knew nothing about farming sugar cane, but now I do.

       The book began a bit slowly for me but trusting MJ, who gave me the book and recommended it, I persisted and am very glad that I did. The protagonist, a young African American widow who grew up in California relocated to Louisiana to operate an eight hundred acre sugar cane farm she inherited. She brings with her a daughter age 11, and joins extended family who never left the South.  Racial and family dynamics come together for an intriguing read.

    Yes, I'm very glad I read it...thanks, MJ!   😀

Takk for alt,

Al