Come and celebrate Sage at the First Annual Sage Festival in Windsor, North Carolina. The festivities kick off on Friday night, May 31st with a street dance downtown on Granville Street. There will be three bands, farm equipment displays and vendors and lots of stuff about sage.

Bertie County and the surrounding counties in eastern North Carolina grow 15,000 acres of Clary Sage. This sage is in the Salvia family; I remember my mother calling the red salvia that is so popular “scarlet sage.” Clary Sage is a beautiful plant that grows upright and blooms with vibrant, mostly purple flowers.

Avoca Farms in Merry Hill is one of the sponsors for the Sage Festival. Avoca Farms is named for Avoca Plantation that was located where the farms are now. Bertie County had its share of plantations including Avoca, Scotch Hall and Hope Plantation.

At Avoca, the sage is distilled, extracting a waxy material that is used in many products including expensive perfumes, to make fragrances linger longer. Sage has many uses, including medicinal.

If you are tempted to stop and pick a bouquet – don’t. Not because someone will arrest you, but because the sage flowers really don’t smell good.

Lewis Hoggard of the Windsor Bertie Chamber of Commerce said you can watch folks stop and pick a flower or two, and guaranteed about 100 yards down the road, they pitch them out. Glad they compost!

On Saturday, the folks from Avoca will host an “in-field” Sage Harvest demonstration — at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. I will be there with several cameras. Hope to see you all there.

Sage Festival, Windsor, NC, Friday, May 31st, 4 p.m. thru 11 p.m; Saturday, June 1st, 9 a.m. thru 2 p.m.

Details - Windsor Chamber of Commerce, 252-794-4277

Distances from:

124 miles east of Raleigh, NC
91 miles south of Norfolk, VA
41 miles east of Greenville, NC
17 miles north of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC

Thanks to Joan Daniels for these gorgeous photos.

Map from Big Mill B&B to Sage Festival (17 miles)

View Sage Festival in a larger map  

Click to leave a comment »

The mighty Roanoke River is heaven for the Rock Fish Fisherman

(Rock fish – Striper in the Roanoke River – photo courtesy Mitchell Blake)

Beginning in March, 2013, the entire Roanoke River basin is open for Rock Fish fishing or Stripers with some rules, of course. The minimum limit is 18 inches and only one river bass above 27 inches can be kept, in the creel, as they say.

After April 1, there are certain other rules concerning what hooks you can use for the Upper Roanoke. This is serious fishing, no doubt – a guide is a good idea. And the fishing will be great through June.

Captain Mitch Blake (below) at FishIBX is one of the best. IBX is the Inner Banks. Many of his fishing folks stay at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast, so I hear all the good fish stories and see the photos. The access areas are really close to the inn.

(Captain Mitch & Dalton with their Rockfish catch – photo courtesy Mitchell Blake)

My favorite story is from a fellow who stayed here and wrote a great review for Big Mill B&B. He called and told me he was so sorry but he misspelled Striper and confessed that in his review he said he had ridden up and down the Roanoke River looking for strippers. He certainly didn’t find any strippers that day.

Rock Fish Stew Recipe – Gardner’s Creek Version

Years ago, Carolyn Roberson at Roberson’s Marina on Gardner’s Creek gave me this recipe. She told me that you can make it with most any fish you have, even shrimp or crabmeat. In eastern North Carolina, we eat what we catch. Carolyn also added a layer of corn meal dumplings to her stew.

•     1 quart water, approximately
•     3 bunches green onions tops and bottoms, chopped (reserve 1 cup tops)
•     2 large sweet onions, peeled and sliced
•     4 hot red peppers about an inch in length, crushed (like Thai hot)
•     1 pound bacon, fried & crumbled, reserve drippings; set bacon aside
•     ½ pound skinned fat back, cut into cubes and fried, reserve drippings
•     5 baking potatoes, peeled and diced
•     5 cups rock fish, cut into bite-size pieces (approximately 3 pounds)
•     10 boiled eggs, peeled and diced
•     Salt and Pepper to taste

Put water, chopped green onions, sliced onions, red peppers, bacon drippings, fatback and drippings in a large stew pot. Cook uncovered over medium heat until onions dissolve, about 30 minutes.

Add potatoes to the pot. Layer the fish on top of potatoes. Do not stir. Carolyn put a layer of corn meal dumplings on top of the potatoes. For Dumpling recipe, click here.

Cook until potatoes are tender and fish is flaky, about 20-30 minutes. You might want to shake the pot, but do not stir.

When pot contents are done, remove from heat. Combine boiled eggs, bacon, reserved green onion tops, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over contents of pot. Let stand, covered, for 30 minutes. When serving, gently spoon out in sections because the stew will be in layers.

The amount of water to add to the pot is a matter of judgment. Make sure the water does not boil out because the stew will burn. Also, gently shake the pot from time to time to make sure it is not sticking. But do not stir!

If you have a hankering to catch a striper or river bass — rock fish, as we locals call them — give Captain Mitch a call: 252-495-1803. If you have a hankering to eat some Fish Stew made from the Rock Fish of the Roanoke River, then check out the Cypess Grill in Jamesville, NC.

Roanoke River Access Areas

View Larger Map

Click to leave a comment »

The Message of Easter – a free outdoor drama near Williamston, NC

For thirty four years, the folks of Piney Grove Baptist Church in the Farm Life Community near Williamston, NC, have been performing  this 90-minute outdoor drama of the life and death of Jesus Christ.

We love outdoor dramas here in North Carolina.  These home town folks put on a big city drama. Every year they give their time and talents to bring this message to all who will listen.

Often, big buses pull in and some nights they perform to several thousand. If you plan to go, remember the bleachers are hard and they might even get cold as the night wears on. So take a cushion, a blanket and it never hurts to have a flashlight.

It is more than amazing what this small community has done – all hometown folks, and many of them are my cousins. “Pilot” was my first boyfriend – he was three and I was two. Billy’s wife Betty Jo says she is tired of hearing that story!

(A special thanks to Piney Grove Church for use of photographs)

For information call:  252-792-1342

PERFORMANCE DATES in 2013:  March 22 (in Spanish) March 23 & 24; March 27-31 (27 is also for hearing impaired)

DISTANCES FROM:

110 miles east of Raleigh, NC
114 miles south of Norfolk, VA
54 miles north of New Bern, NC
87 miles west of Manteo, NC (Outer Banks)
8 miles south of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC

View Larger Map

Click to read comment »

You can smell the vinegar & red pepper before you enter
the door of the Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina

Photo by Chloe Tuttle*

Since 1947, Pete Jones and family have been serving this tasty eastern North Carolina style barbecue (always pork) to locals and folks who are willing to travel long distances. They cook whole hogs, over oak. To BBQ enthusiasts, this is essential.

Photo by Chloe Tuttle*

Tap, tap, tap . . . that is the sound of the Skylight Inn. You can see the meat as it is being chopped, right there in front of you . . . tap, tap, tap.

As I stood there trying to see what was on the menu, a local fellow leaned in and said to me, “If you want something other than Barbecue, you have to come on Thursdays . . . they have chicken on Thursday.”

Photo by Chloe Tuttle*

The menu let me know that today I could get a small barbecue or a large barbecue. That was fine with me. I had driven to Ayden to eat barbecue. Lots of folks come to Ayden for the barbecue – George W. Bush, Daisy Duke, Ronald Reagan. According to the N.C Barbecue Society, the North Carolina Barbecue Trail starts in Ayden at the Skylight Inn.

In 2003, they received the James Beard award, have had stories written about them in the Saveur Magazine and the Roadfood series by Jan & Michael Stern.

Saveur Magazine calls it “North Carolina’s finest pulled pork.” And Southern Living lists the Skylight Inn as one of the “South’s 20 Best BBQ Joints.”

Yum, that is the taste of the Skylight Inn Barbecue – ’tis great roadfood. And, that same cute fellow who leaned in to tell me the menu, bought me lunch.

P.S. We don’t care if Rick Perry doesn’t like eastern North Carolina barbecue. Bet he is sorry he made that barbecue remark!

*You are welcome to use these Skylight Inn photos, just let me know and give me, Chloe’s Blog and Big Mill Bed & Breakfast credit. Thanks!

Click to read comment »

In summer, folks flock to farmer’s markets to get all those fresh fruits and vegetables. In small towns we grow our own and go to roadside stands.

And in very small towns, we count on the farmer who sits by the road in the back of his pickup truck loaded with things from his large garden – and if we are very lucky, there are watermelons from Rocky Hock.

Folks around here want watermelons from Rocky Hock, NC, an area near the Albemarle Sound, where we say the watermelons and cantaloupes just taste better. By the way, the Albemarle Sound area also produced author Inglis Fletcher.

So — if you see a man sitting in the parking lot of the ABC store or even the Piggly Wiggly parking lot – stop and buy something from him. They move around, and I have to go from parking lot to parking lot to find them. But it is worth it !

For Big Mill B&B, I buy three watermelons every time I see a watermelon truck. We serve our guests watermelon, we eat watermelon and we make watermelon punch. What are some of your favorite things to do with watermelon?

Bon appetite!

Click to leave a comment »

For great pork barbecue in eastern North Carolina,
Bunn’s Barbecue in Windsor has to be on your short list.

Driving up, you might wonder if this really is a restaurant.  There’s a Texaco pump out front – that’s because before 1938, Bunn’s was a service station. Inside, old signs hang on the walls, but the minute you enter, that wonderful aroma of vinegar, pork and red pepper greets you. You are in the right place.

A few years back, several of my friends sashayed up to the food bar and asked for a menu; they were told, “Don’t have one.”  When asked what they served the waitress — very matter-of-fact – responded, “Barbecue on a bun, barbecue on a plate.”

A menu is on the wall and they certainly have added some good eastern North Carolina  foods. You can get hot dogs, Brunswick stew and barbecue any day, and sweet tea, of course.  On Tuesdays, they serve barbecue chicken; on Thursday, the house special is chicken and pastry.

My favorite food at Bunn’s – the Cornbread Sandwich. That’s a barbecue and slaw sandwich served between two pieces of corn bread.

Open since 1938, this Windsor, North Carolina landmark is a place you just don’t want to miss. The Russell family has owned Bunn’s since 1969. High water has flooded Bunn’s seven times since 1999, twice with six feet of water.

Jan and Michael Stern, who wrote Road Food for Gourmet magazine and are now on NPR’s Splendid Table, with a Road Food column added it to their list of great Mom and Pop restaurants in the USA. I agree.

I am on a mission to photograph every Mom and Pop “Road Food” restaurant in eastern North Carolina. Do you have any suggestions?

(all photos by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast)

Click to read comments »

Martin Supply in eastern North Carolina is just as it has always been. And they buy and sell pecans. Farmsteads throughout the south have pecan groves. And all the southern cooks like Paula Deen have great pecan recipes, and Pecan Pie is on everyone’s list. 

Every year a company from Georgia comes to Martin Supply in Williamston to buy pecans. Folks from all over the neighboring counties motor over to sell their pecans. The small pecans called “seedlings” are from a tree that grew from a seed and not from a graft. Stewarts are the large, prized pecans, like we have on the farm here at Big Mill B&B.

My B&B guests love Martin Supply and mingling with the farmers who hang out at the store. You can buy a flannel shirt, seeds, hoop cheese, a Radio Flyer wagon, a squirrel trap, honey, shot gun shells, fertilizer and all that farm stuff and pecans, of course.  They sell the gadget to pick up the pecans. It is a nostalgic old store just like small town stores used to be.

I remember many types of gadgets my folks used to crack our pecans. D.J. made me an electric cracking machine that walloped one pecan at a time. It was very interesting but loud and rather messy. Then we had one machine that used a giant rubber band. These ingenious pecan cracking machines are fascinating.  One even is called a Kinetic Kracker.

Pecan Cracking machine at Martin Supply Farm Store

But in the past few years I have gone to Martin Supply uptown in Williamston and let them crack all the pecans with their ingenious pecan cracker. I even sent guests to watch this marvel.

The pecans are poured into the top of the machine and they slowly move through it, sending the cracked nuts out the hopper and some of the shells fall out the bottom. When you get the cracked nuts you have to scratch around, separating the broken shells from the pecans. There is an art to all of this, mind you. It can’t be rushed.

And after you gather up your pecans and shells, one needs to lay out the pecans on newspaper to dry a bit. Then you pick through them, removing all the shells. We recycle these shells by spreading them in the yard; the birds love it. Big Mill is eco-friendly – we just won the “Most Green Conscious“ award on Lanier Bed & Breakfast Travel Guide.

Tom Skinner choosing garden seeds-you can buy just a few seeds.

I too will buy some seeds in spring so that I can fill my pantry with canned goods, just like my folks did. I am well supplied with organic pecans for the breads we make here at the Bed & Breakfast.  Moses usually likes to help with picking up the pecans; this year it was cold so she wasn’t much help.

The grand old trees on the right (above) are the pecan trees that shade Big Mill B&B

I don’t know who planted all these wonderful trees in eastern North Carolina, but I thank them. I am saddened when I see these grand old groves cut down. My folks planted at least seven pecan trees in our yard in 1922 here at Big Mill. Three were cut down years ago, but four spreading pecan trees remain, with wonderful shade in summer and sweet, paper-shell pecans in the fall.

I would love it if you would share your pecan recipes with me.

Click to leave a comment »

Cracklins:  Pork fat and skins that are deep fried
in rendered lard until they are crunchy.
(From the Eastern North Carolina lingo dictionary)

Cooking Up Cracklins

Cracklins used to be common fare on southern tables. Sometimes you have to go back to your roots and eat the food of your heritage. My folks and the neighboring farm families had hog killings in the winter and they made cracklins/cracklings. So in cold weather we ate cracklin bread. Rest assured we don't eat like this all the time.

Cracklin Corn Pone Bread Recipe (eggless corn bread popular in the South)

• 1 cup pork cracklins
• 2 cups fine ground corn meal (I use House-Autry)
• 2 Tablespoons self rising flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch of sugar (optional)
• 1 cups warm water (add more if needed)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the pone pan with some really sturdy grease like Crisco or lard.

Chop cracklins. If you don't like brown flecks in the bread, then grind the cracklins.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the cracklins, corn meal, flour, salt and sugar. Add the water slowly, stirring until the mixture is the consistency of pancake batter.

Pour into pone pan, filling to the top. Bake until edges are brown and bread is crusty, 35-45 minutes. As soon as the bread is cool enough to handle, pop the pones out of the pan. Serve immediately while bread is hot.

Yield: 16 pones.

This bread is made in a cast iron corn pone pan

The corn meal is also important. When I was growing up I rode my bicycle down our dirt road to the Big Mill to get a paper bag full of fresh ground corn meal; usually from our own corn. Miss Sadie James made the best meal; I can't find any meal of that quality now. My dad Ops taught me how to take the raw meal in your hand, squeeze it and it should clump together like clay. If not, then it was ground too fast and the stone heated the meal too much.

Cracklin bread ready to eat

If you really want to try eating cracklins and you aren't planning to attend any hog killings, you can buy them in some grocery stores like Piggly Wiggly. Buy the cracklins without skins, your teeth will thank you.

I did find a Cracklin' Bread Recipe in the White Trash Cookbook, but don't think cracklins are just for us down home folks anymore. Emeril Lagasse has a recipe on how to make Cracklins and a Cracklin Bread recipe!

To see Cracklins being made, join us at the Martin County Farm Heritage Fair in Williamston, N.C. at the Senator Bob Martin Agriculture Center on December 5th, 2009, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you attend, look for me – I will be spinning wool, taking photos and eating cracklins. And I will be hoping my jams win another first prize!

Click to read comments »