The air was crisp as helpers loaded the purple stalks of sugar cane onto trailers, brought them to the syrup house, and fed them through grinders to produce the sweet juice that would soon be boiled down into cane syrup. Smoke streamed steadily from the eaves of the syrup house as men kept the fires stoked, cooking the thin sweet cane juice, skimming off the refuse until the liquid became thick, golden brown heaven to be poured over pancakes and hot biscuits. Lannie Lee, patriarch of the 2010 Bulloch County Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year, was surrounded by helpers, friends and curious onlookers as he oversaw the production earlier this week of the latest batch of cane syrup produced on the family farm off Pretoria-Rushing Road.