Molasses — that dark, sweet liquid that tastes so good on a hot
biscuit — was once a staple on every farm in eastern North Carolina

Melvin Price and Lucy making molasses

My dad’s family made molasses and to him molasses on a sweet potato was a meal. He told me all about how they grew the cane and made the molasses. I can almost see it.

Melvin Price and his brother William Earl still make molasses like my dad did. It is magic.  Melvin pushes the stalks between two rollers and it is mashed until the liquid comes out into a pail.

Mind you, he can’t do it without Lucy, his mule. While Melvin is pushing the cane into the extractor, Lucy is walking in a circle around Melvin. She is actually the power behind this mechanism. Every once in awhile Lucy stops to chew on some of the cane – it is so good!  Then Melvin will cluck and Lucy starts up again.

Lucy, the grand mule

Each time Lucy and the pole come by, Melvin ducks – it’s just the natural thing to do.

When Melvin and Lucy get a bucket of the sweet juice, William Earl pours it into a big container with a fire under it. This cooks off some of the water.

He opens a faucet and allows a certain amount of this steamy liquid to pour into a flat copper cooking pan with divisions in it and he stirs and stirs and stirs. This whole process takes about 8 hours. When it is thick and syrupy, the golden nectar is ready.

William Earl Price stirs his molasses

Melvin and William Earl got about 15 gallons this day – it took all day. Molasses recipes are coming, I promise.

PS – Big thanks to North Carolina’s own, Molasses Creek, for providing the soundtrack to the video. The song’s called “Still Love Fridays.” They are a wonderful band!

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Vollis Simpson, called the
Junkyard Poet of Whirligigs and Windmills
by the New York Times

Vollis Simpson is a craftsman of brightly painted metal art –
giant creations he calls windmills and we call whirligigs.

Driving through eastern North Carolina looking for Lucama and Vollis Simpson's Whirligig Farm, you begin to wonder if you are lost. And then around the corner, there they are – colorful, folksy whirligigs erected atop tall poles, all spinning and creaking and shining in the sun. With reflector tape on the spinning blades, they shine in the moonlight too.

I met Mr. Simpson last summer. He was working in his shop – I was kinda hanging around and he invited me in. His workshop is stuffed … really stuffed with his metal creations, all made from objects he has collected. I saw a slight grin when he told me about the 85- foot whirligig he made for the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore; I think he used a toaster in that one.

Just this week we had fun mom and daughter guests Anna and Kate, who drove all the way from Philadelphia to see Vollis Simpson's art work and to stay at Big Mill B&B.  Kate wants one of his creations and I bet she gets one.

This is American Folk Art, sometimes called Outsider Art. Whatever the name, it is worth a trip to the small eastern North Carolina community of Lucama.  But go now, you might be able to sit and talk to Vollis Simpson, still working at 92.

And buy something. I did and my wonderful helicopter whirligig loves living on the farm at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast.

Try to go on a windy day or a windy night with a full moon.

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Want to make a special gift for the cook in your life?

And for not much money? Homemade vanilla extract is the perfect gift – everyone cooks. And at Big Mill B&B, vanilla is one of our favorites.

But not all vanilla beans are equal. If I can even find vanilla beans in eastern North Carolina, they are usually all dried up. But with some diligence good beans can be found. (See below) Vanilla beans come from a climbing orchid and each has its own special quality – some redolent of cherries, bourbon, cinnamon, even prunes.

The different beans have myriad flavors like Madagascar, Bourbon, Tonga (I almost took a boat delivery job to Tonga in my youth), Papua New Guinea, Mexico (I did go there in my youth), Tahiti, Indonesia, and Tahitensis & Planifolia Blend (the most typical vanilla.)

The more I read about vanilla beans, the more I am intrigued by them. Each bean is hand-picked and hand-pollinated. Now we know why they cost so much.

Recipe for Vanilla Extract

3 or 4 vanilla beans
1 cup vodka *(some recipes use bourbon, light rum or brandy)
Cute glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid

Using a very sharp knife, slit into each bean except for an inch at the end. If you cut too much the seeds will come out and cloud the vanilla. This isn't a problem, just doesn't look as pretty. You can strain through cheesecloth or a coffee filter if it bothers you.

Put beans into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Cover with the vodka. Shake.

Store in a cool, dark place for at least a month – longer is better. Shake the jar every once in awhile. This wonderful elixir will last for years. As you use it up, just add more vodka, and give the bottle a shake or two.

* This cute little Absolut Vodka bottle has 200 ml of vodka, just short of a cup. Bend the beans to fit in the bottle. The next size of Absolut Vodka is 375 ml (almost 2 cups) and the beans will fit in the bottle easily.

I used three beans for the smaller bottle and six beans for this larger bottle, just remember to use  3 beans per cup of vodka. It isn't necessary to use the high quality of vodka like Absolut, but I really like the bottle!

Just a thought – Commercial vanilla extract often has a sweetener added to take away the bitter aftertaste.  You can add simple syrup (sugar water) if you want.

Bon appetit.

PS — In case you're wondering where to buy vanilla beans …

Penzey's sells good vanilla beans and during the holidays you can sometimes find beans at discount places like Trader Joe's, BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco. In fact, yesterday I found them at a Costco in Atlanta - 10 beans for $11.99. 

Also – The blog Heavenly Homemakers has struck a deal with Olive Nation to get seven beans for $9.99 with a 10% discount and free shipping on beans. You can go to Heavenly Homemakers for the code to get your discount and free shipping. And, San Francisco-based Vanilla Saffron Imports has a pound of vanilla beans for $19.95. Ordering online makes the shopping easy. 

For a lesson on all things vanilla, check out this page at Arizona Vanilla Company.  Fun place, plus they also sell Vanilla beans. 

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It’s magic — those tiny lights that twinkle in the wine bottles in the rooms at our own North Carolina Bed and Breakfast, Big Mill Inn-the perfect romantic getaway.

The idea is really simple: just drill a hole in a glass bottle and push the lights in. Guests ask me all the time, "How do you do it?"  Now is the perfect time to learn and these glowing wine bottles make great gifts.

First you need an empty bottle; wine bottles are good because they are free. The best ones are light green, usually Chardonnay, or blue, usually Riesling, but not always. The dark green bottles used for red wines like Merlot just don’t illuminate well.

You can either drink the wine or beg your friends to give you their empties. I have been saving wine bottles for years and now I have quite a stash.

Supplies and Equipment you will need:

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I saw my first Brown Bag Cookie Mold in the early eighties in a tiny shop in Virginia Highlands, a small Yuppie neighborhood in Atlanta, where I was living.

This love affair has never ended. I have St. Nicholas from the 1983 collection, which was the first year they were made. The Brown Bag name comes from the philosophy that small, ordinary things can be wonderful works of arts.

With these clay molds you can make gorgeous cookies, cast beeswax ornaments and hand cast paper. From what I have read it seems the originator of these clay molds now only creates one a year and she donates the proceeds of the sales to charity.  For 2007 the mold is a gingerbread house and any monies will go to Habitat for Humanity.

I have about 20 of these Brown Bag Cookie molds, some made by hand, and I cherish each one of them. Many of the molds are now collected and you can find them on EBay and other sites on the internet; they are no longer sold in stores.

If you buy beeswax directly from the beekeeper, it is cheaper, but it can be dirty, so you will have to clean it.  I used to keep bees; I even had bees in my early Innkeeping days here at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast. I had a great teacher, my cousin Bobby who was blind. I was his "eyes" when he checked the hives. I ordered my first colony of bees from Sears & Roebuck and they came by mail in a small screen box. My rural mail carrier was a wreck. En route wild errant bees had attached to the outside trying to join my bees.

Beekeeping is really a science, and without Bobby around, I couln’t protect my bees from all the dangers. But I still find them fascinating. Did you know that all the bees in a hive are women? There is even a book Beekeeping For Dummies. There are many good websites and books out there now, so if you want a fascinating hobby, you won’t be bored.

My bees knew me and could tell when I was upset or nervous; the pitch of the hum in the hive went up an octave. Bees have taken a bad rap. They are not naturally aggressive like wasps, hornets and yellow jackets. Please don’t kill them; we really need all the bees here on the farm at Big Mill. They are one of the reasons our blueberries are so prolific!

Recipe for Cast Beeswax Ornaments
(Download the Brown Bag Idea Book for more projects)

• Brown Bag Cookie Molds
• 1 pound beeswax (this will yield about 6-8 ornaments)
• Small amount of thin wire (like in a twist tie)
• 1 yard very thin ribbon
• A small amount of vegetable oil, 1 Tablespoon or thereabouts
• Small paint brush to apply the vegetable oil to the molds
• Old double boiler and ladle (or 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup if using microwave*)
• Wooden spoon or paint paddle for stirring

Chill the cookie molds at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator.

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler over medium to low heat, checking often to make sure the water does not boil out.  Remove the mold from the refrigerator and brush or rub a wee amount of vegetable oil onto the inside of the mold. Place the mold on a flat surface covered with some protective covering of waxed paper. This allows you to reuse any spilled wax. The mold MUST be flat and level.

Using a lipped ladle, gently pour beeswax into the mold. At this time you can tell if the mold is level. If not, correct this.  

The wax will immediately pull away from the mold and dry quickly. When it is cloudy, insert a twisted piece of very thin wire into the back of the mold at the top. This will be your hanger. If you forget you can heat the wire and do this later. Or you can use ribbon. You do not have to wash the molds between pourings; but you may have to add more oil.

To remove from the mold, turn it over and rap gently on a table. Do this before the ornament is completely cold. If you have any "over pour" you can trim off the edges using a heated knife blade. If you make a bad pour, don’t fret. Just put the wax back in the pot and reheat. This is true if you break an ornament…they are very fragile.

Now for the cleanup: Call the National Guard. But DON"T let any of this wax get into your drains…or you will rue the day. Actually, a hair dryer and paper towels work well.

The Rocking Horse design is from 1984, the second year of production for Hill Design’s Brown Bag Cookie Molds. Gingerbread Man and the Cherub are from 1992. These delicate ornaments are translucent and the tree lights glow through each one. The beeswax aroma lingers and is not lost through the years.

I store these treasures flat, with sheets of waxed paper between each one. They must be kept in a cool place.

I still have my hive, my bee suit and my pith helmet!   Chloë

*You can use the microwave to make these ornaments, but I prefer the stovetop because it allows me to keep the wax at a steady temperature.

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Now that the holiday season is approaching, I have to try to shed the Bah Humbug attitude. The best way for me to do that is to make something pretty or make a gift for someone. My mother and I used to cook and bake fudge, brownies and cookies and we made all our decorations mostly from things we had available. We dipped sweet gum balls in the handy five-gallon buckets of silver roof paint. Wonder if it was toxic?

I just love the dehydrated orange and grapefruit slices; they look like stained glass when hung on a Christmas tree. The apples are also great for stringing garlands and for wreaths. Funny, but I have noticed that men love to eat these dehydrated apples; women walk right by them. And no one can deny loving that wonderful, fresh citrus smell.  

Commercial dehydrated fruit is often sulfured to aid in preservation and to retain color. I don’t use any sulphur.

To make these yummy dried fruits you will need a dehydrator**, a knife and some fruit, either oranges, grapefruit or apples.

Recipe for Dehydrated Oranges

Ingredients

12-15 oranges (it just isn’t worth it to do fewer).  Any type of orange is fine. I usually look for the juice oranges because they are cheaper.

Using a sharp bread knife, slice the oranges crosswise and thin. Remove any seeds after you have sliced the orange. You will get 7-8 slices per orange. 

Place the orange pieces in a single layer on the dehydrating trays. Trays can be stacked on top of each other up to about 12 trays. Since the dehydrating process generates heat, it is a good idea to place the machine somewhere you might like to have the warmth. Do not leave the dehydrator unattended.  

Turn on the dehydrator to a medium setting. As the oranges begin to dehydrate, they will shrink so you can move them closer together, making room for new fruit. It could take all day for the oranges to be transparent and completely dry. If they are especially juicy, it might take longer.

Store in an airtight container until you are ready to display.

During the hot months, this fruit often attracts moths. Around April, I put my orange slices in the freezer and they will keep until the next season.  

–>  So, what are some of your favorite childhood Christmas memories?  Click on the "comments" link below and share your best recollections.  I’d love to hear from you.

 ** You can buy a dehydrator at stores like Wal-Mart or online for under $100. Cabelas sells the same one I use.

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