Each fall since 2013 Cinder Ridge Farm in Surry County has opened its doors to showcase the timeless role of horse power in making a prized regional specialty: sorghum molasses. A staple in settler pantries, this full-flavored sweetener commands a pretty penny to this day. The process starts as long purplish stalks catch and crack between deeply grooved metal cylinders, rolling together as Meg walks. Her rig triangulates between a precisely angled log anchored to the top of the press, her singletree hitched to the log in back, and a “tie branch” controlling Meg’s head in front to hold her on a circular path. With Meg’s every step juice spurts from the press, collects in a galvanized tub and then flows by gravity to a vat set over a gentle wood fire. Tended for hours in an open-air stone cook house, the juice slowly thickens enough to merit new status as molasses. Meanwhile Meg, 25 years old and reliable still, went back to the barn – her work well done yet again.