Sunday, October 12, 2008

It's Fall, Do You Know Where Your Sugar Is?

If you live in the north, the answer could be.... CROSWELL, MICHIGAN!
I live in a small town about 4 miles from Lake Huron (hold your right hand up, palm up: just by your thumb knuckle is me!). Small towns have always fascinated me. One of the big factories in town is a (you guessed it!) SUGAR factory. Formerly known (ok, still is known as around here) as Pioneer Sugar, the Michigan Sugar Plant in Croswell, MI is up and running at full steam.

For those of you not in the know of sugar, in the north sugar is produced by sugar beets, not sugar cane. Giant brown potato looking things. Grown locally and then trucked to Croswell and dropped off to produce sugar.

With all that you'd think I lived in the sweetest smelling town in Michigan. Not so much. The odor is ODD. Very odd. Hard to describe, but it's not good. Worse on the days when the cloud cover is low.

So now you've had your sugar lesson for the week - you can go back to scouring the internet for other useless trivia and knowledge. And yes, I am trying to keep pre-occupied so the week goes fast!! Can't you tell?

6 comments:

Little Patch of Heaven said...

Hey, my brother is one of the largest sugar beet growers in western Nebraska. How amazing. I hope your trip goes well.

Nichole said...

We live in a town known as the Pumpkin Capital. The smell of pumpkins this time of year is very putrid! I bet beets are the same way. Are you all packed?

findingourdaughter said...

No wonder you are SO SWEET!
Hugs and love,
Angie

Anonymous said...

I feel for you, Sister!!! Sugar beets STINK!!!!

Anonymous said...

They use beet sugar in Russia, so you should feel right home!

I always found an odd taste to the Russian deserts, I think its the sugar.

Unknown said...

I live in a very small town too. Population 11,000 and that's rounding up. We will be staying at the Vladivostok Hotel from the 20th until Nov. 5th and then moving to the Vlad Motor Inn.Hope to see you along the way!