I love the pecan trees that my parents planted in 1922 -
and honey roasted pecans are just the best.

This year I picked up 6 bushels of pecans. Hurricane Sandy knocked them off the trees for me. I had the pecans cracked at Martin Supply and then I picked them out.  I usually sell some of my pecans, but this year I decided to keep them all for the Bed and Breakfast and friends.

These honey roasted nuts are crispy, sweet and a bit salty  – perfect for snacking and parties. And this recipe is so easy!

Honey Roasted Pecan Recipe

• 3 cups shelled pecans
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt plus extra for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spray a heavy, rimmed cookie sheet with cooking oil spray. Place pecans on cookie sheet in a single layer.

Bake pecans for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and put nuts in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add 3 Tablespoons honey and stir to coat pecans. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir again.

Spray cookie sheet again and put nuts on the sheet in single layer. Bake at 220-250 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring one time.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with a wee bit of salt. Separate any nuts that have clumped. Cool and store in air tight container. Nuts will keep fresh for at least a week.

Yield: 3 cups

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In another life, I had sheep in my yard. Remember the sixties?
Chloe, Maggie Belle & Yorick (photo by Peter Galuszka)

I didn’t have a lawn mower and I really did believe that the sheep would groom my yard. I needed the fleeces – I was working on my master’s degree in fibers – spinning and natural dyeing. 

I lived on the south side of the Pamlico River and keeping my sheep in the yard was difficult. Neighbors said they didn’t mind Maggie Belle and Yorick, but my guinea hens had to stay home. I had bees too.

I learned to spin wool, dye the yard with nuts and berries that I found and then I would weave my yarns into cloth.

The Martin County Arts Council is hosting a Fiber Arts Show at the Flatiron Building in Williamston; I will be spinnng for the opening on January 10. It has been a while since I did any spinning and this will be fun! I am happy to be spinning again and now I want to resurrect my bee hive.

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Politics resurrect memories.
There was another election:  Richard Nixon in the 60s.

Pat Nixon, Ginny Tuttle (Chloe’s Mother-in-Law) & Richard Nixon in Atlanta during the Eisenhower campaign of the 50s

Back then, I had decided that if Nixon was re-elected, I was moving to Africa. Remember, this was the sixties.  I can’t remember where in Africa — either Ivory Coast or Liberia. Made sense to me at the time.

T.S. Applegate, physics professor, built a 96′ steel four-masted barkentine in a corn field in Lynchburg, Virginia. He then hauled it by truck to Belhaven, North Carolina and tied it to a dock.

I was working in Belhaven teaching weaving and spinning at a small art gallery, EEII’s Little Korners of the World, owned by a fabulous woman Effie Raye Bateman. So it was no problem for me to meet Mr. Applegate. He was an unusual man and so was his boat the W.J. Eckert.

The W.J. Eckert had barrels for hatches, fine for Mr. Applegate to descend, but he was really short. I had a rough go getting my legs to work in that narrow barrel opening.

We made our plans to sail – I had all my shots and so did Jackson, We arrived at the dock in Belhaven. I guess I wasn’t really ready to move to Africa — Nixon or no Nixon. So I bailed and Jackson sailed without me. Did I mention there were no through-the-hull fittings? That means no bathroom. We were expected to hang over the side of the boat.

Off I go back to our house in the woods on the Pamlico River. In just a few hours, Jackson showed up. Turns out, the boat sailed out into the Pamlico Sound and it would not come about. In other words, it was not maneuverable. Captain Jack comes from a long line of watermen, and that just wasn’t acceptable. So he flagged down a shrimper and came home.

Last I heard of the boat it was dismasted and hauled into Bermuda.

Isn’t it a miracle we made it through our youth alive?

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“Miss Sadie” James ran the Big Mill gristmill
for as long as I can remember.

(Sadie James & Chloe Ann sitting out front of Miss Sadie’s country store. Photo by Joy Greyer)

In the 1940′s prior to when she and her husband, Columbus, bought it, it had been a water-powered sawmill. It was converted to a grist mill, the stones to grind the corn were shipped over from England.

Sometime later in the night, the dam was blown up. After that there was a long pulley attached to a tractor that powered the mill. It was a fascinating place where you could get the best ground corn meal ever.

I rode my bicycle there every day. Sometimes I played in the creek behind the mill, but more often I just talked to Miss Sadie. Often nephews Barney or Monk went with me – at times we rode a mule or drove an old pickup truck before we were legal.

Miss Sadie also had a small country store and sold things like penny candy and small Coca Cola in a bottle – she kept her drinks in one of those box-type coolers.

She lived in the store too. And she had a big gun…folks tried to rob her several times; but they were foiled.

Kristie, Chloe Ann and Miss Sadie in Miss Sadie’s store

Other folks thought she was odd, but not to me. She had one light bulb and no running water. She cooked on top of a pot belly stove, she wore her dead husband’s shoes. Fine with me.

Ben Roberson bought the mill and moved it to his farm. He and his wife Mary resurected a great mill. It has all the parts, but it is different – still wonderful.

The mill had such fascinating parts.

(New photo, guess you can tell by the WD-40)

Ben’s Mill on Holly Springs Church Road in Williamston -
made from gears and parts of Miss Sadie’s Big Mill

(photos by Chloe Tuttle)

P.S. thanks to all the Chloe’s Blog readers who told me that I can’t spell “Dam.” Too funny.

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I remember eating fried peach jacks whenever I went to Dinner on the Ground at a small country church in eastern North Carolina. Dinner on the Ground all over the south celebrated the end of revival – they called it Homecoming. Like peach jacks, these celebrations are a fading tradition.

A great southern treat, these jacks are made from cooked dried peaches in a crust that is fried in lard. Someone has to do it now that Paula Deen is in trouble. Well, you can fry these in canola oil if you choose, but I just wanted to recreate the goodies of my youth.

So I gathered up my stuff and visited friend Nancy and we fried up peach jacks. A Southern Plate cookbook author even cooked these up on the Today Show.

Southern Peach Jack Recipe

Peach Filling (Make filling the day before you plan to make the jacks)

• 1 6-ounce package of dried peaches*
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups water (Add water if it cooks out before peaches are soft)
• 1 cup sugar

Simmer peaches and water in a small saucepan for 45 minutes to an hour until peaches are soft. Be careful, they tend to stick. Add water if needed. Add the sugar and cook 15 minutes more, stirring often. Remove from heat and refrigerate overnight. You will have 2 1/2 cups peaches.

Dough

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup milk
• Extra flour for dusting cutting board and rolling pin.

Frying

• 1/2 – 1 cup lard for frying

Or you can use canned biscuits. Friend Nancy uses canned biscuits and her peach jacks are fabulous.

Stir together the flour and salt. Using two forks, cut in the shortening. Add milk and stir. Separate into 8 to 10 portions. Using the extra flour and a rolling pin, roll each dough piece into a 6″ round. Roll dough as thin as you can without tearing dough.

If you are using canned biscuits, roll each biscuit on a floured surface or waxed paper. Roll as thin as possible; each round should be about 6 inches across.

Put 2 Tablespoons cooked peaches in the center of the rolled dough. Fold the edges over to make a half circle. Crimp edges with a fork. Trim off excess dough.

Melt lard in a medium-size frying pan. Grease should be quite hot before you fry jacks. Fry jacks until they are golden in color. Turn and brown the other side. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels. Continue until all jacks are cooked.

The sweet, tangy taste of Peach Jacks is a treat. They are good cold but, oh, so good when they are hot.  Yum!

Yield: 6-8 jacks

* Use dried fruit . . . in the south, we used dried peaches, apples or cherries. Fresh fruit just doesn’t have the zing.

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It’s Christmas on the farm at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast
and what a pretty time to be in the country(Photo of Emily & Claire Fowler and Viola Music Video
by Guy Livesay of Livesay Photography)

We have lighted trees, even under the grapevine. Guests can see a tree from every room.

This year we decorated the whole Pack House Barn with a live tree in the breezeway, candles in all the windows, greenery in the Radio Flyer and glittering lights everywhere.

On Sunday, Big Mill B&B was part of the annual Williamston Woman’s Club Christmas Tour of Homes — the “Ramble,” as they call it. All the rooms in the Pack House were thrown in suite (don’t you just love that old phrase – small town newpapers used that expression in years past to let you know the whole place was open for viewing).

(photo of Chloe Tuttle by Lucia Claire Peele)

We had a great turnout – a hundred and fifty folks attended. Decorations were done by the Salt Box Flowers & Antiques in downtown Williamston.

Violists Emily & Claire Fowler played beautiful Christmas music by the roaring fire – it was a wonderful day at Big Mill. Be sure to click below to view the video of Emily and Claire’s music at Big Mill Inn. It is sure to put you in the holiday spirit.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year and Season’s Greetings to all our friends and guests, and those who will become friends and guests in the New Year.

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Getting married on the farm, surrounded by nature has a calming effect.
What a great way to start your new life together, away from the crowd.

Photo of Francis & Laura Jo by Guy Livesay

I have friends who love their motorcycles, old trucks and all their grown-up “toys.” So why not be married beside your Harley or in your vintage Corvette?

The Kiss – photo by Guy Livesay

Photo of Liz & Josh by Guy Livesay

Big weddings can be stressful, but Elopements are fun. And we wouldn’t do this if it weren’t fun. Just a quiet, private ceremony with no stress.

It has to be easy, it has to be special, it has to be romantic … an elopement on the farm at Big Mill will be a time to remember.

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Big Mill B&B has been chosen Inn of the Year by North Carolina Bed & Breakfast and Inns.  We are waving flags and tooting horns. This is a great honor – we are thrilled.

At the celebration dinner at King’s Daughter Inn (in Durham) our outgoing president Frank Salvo of White Gate Inn (in Asheville), standing in for Ms. Paula Deen, presented the Inn of the Year award to Chloe Tuttle, innkeeper and owner of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC.

The President’s Award went to Rachel Reid of Andon-Reid Inn (in Waynesville, NC).  It’s pretty obvious — we had a good time at the festivities.

North Carolina Bed & Breakfast & Inns is a great organization and it just celebrated its 25th anniversary. If you see the NCBBI logo beside an inn’s name, you know this inn has been inspected and is held to the highest standards. Big Mill Bed and Breakfast is proud to belong to this wonderful group.

(Photos by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill B&B)

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