Sweet cucumber pickles are as southern as iced tea Not just any pickles either – they must be homemade and preferably homegrown. It is alright if someone gives you the cucumbers, or you pick them up fresh from your local Farmers Market. We all have a family recipe that has been passed down and it… Click here to get Chloe’s Sweet Cucumber Pickle Recipe
Chloe Tuttle
Big Mill B&B’s Watermelon Punch Refreshing libation for sultry summer days Southerners love watermelon. If you want a real treat, make watermelon punch. And don’t wait for the party – serve it up for just the two of you – for romance or just for good friends. (Photo credit: Chloe Tuttle) Watermelon Punch Recipe for… Read more
Our Evening Primrose, wildflower and beautiful King’s cure-all, is often considered a weed Evening Primrose photo by Chloe Tuttle But here at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Evening Primrose is glorified, photographed, written about and touted as entertainer – watching it bloom is a great way to spend an evening in the garden. Take a… Read more
Spiderwort – Big Mill’s “Canary in the coal mine” This wonderful blue flower that grows in my eastern North Carolina garden is Spiderwort (Tradescantia), pronounced trad-ess-KANT-ee-uh. Each day in spring and early summer I am greeted with the vibrant blue of these odd beauties. Then about noon, they close. My mother loved these flowers –… Read more
“Miss Sadie” James ran the Big Mill gristmill for as long as I can remember. 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… Read more
These wonderful fried peach pies used to be served in every southern kitchen. 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… Click to learn how to make these Southern Peach Jacks
You can smell the vinegar & red pepper before you enter the door of the Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina 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… Read more
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… Read more
I LOVE cranberries and I try to use them any way I can – I even float them in my kitchen sink on Christmas Day. I knew that Cranberry Liqueur just had to be wonderful – and it is. This liqueur is my original recipe and it is a gorgeous, clear-red libation. Homemade Cranberry Liqueur… Click to learn more about Chloe’s Cranberry Liqueur
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. 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? Big weddings… Read more
