Chloe Tuttle

It’s late summer and figs are ripe… so gorgeous and luscious, they hardly look real. Each one is a work of art. After I take many photos of these just-picked figs, I make Chloe’s Fig Preserves. One of my favorite ways to eat these preserves is with warm, creamy brie. This dish makes a great presentation… Read more

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… Read more

Just settle into the hammock or in a swing on the farm at Big Mill and wait …. but not for very long. Yes, you’ll have to wind down and be still and quiet – but you will be well-rewarded. Soon, right before your eyes, the birds start singing and hop out of their hiding… Read more

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… Read more

Everywhere you look, it’s planting time in eastern North Carolina Nephew Monk Gurkin above in 1959. Monk and Aunt Chloe (that’s me) had our own garden that year. We raised tomatoes to sell to local restaurants – and for our tomato sandwiches. Note the hog pen in back. Seems we all dig in the dirt… Read more

The North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission has issued a challenge to Bloggers who blog about food – create an original sweet potato recipe. First thing I had to do was learn how to spell “potato.” … amazes me that it has no “e.” My dad grew lots of sweet potatoes here on the farm at… Read more

Oh, so sad for Windsor and Eastern North Carolina – Bunn’s is closed as of July 28, 2023 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… Read more

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 our outgoing president Frank Salvo of White Gate Inn (in Asheville), standing in for… Read more

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 Bourbon Pecan Pie is on everyone’s list.  Every year a company from Georgia comes to Martin Supply… Read more