Food life Magazine Fall 2015

FALL 2015 | FOODLIFEMAG.COM 1

WNC Goes

Whole Hog

PLUS recipes,restaurants

& more!

Follow theWNC BBQ Trail

Traveling LocavoreChattanooga Chow

Kitchen Conversationswith Tara Jensen

FALL 2015 FoodLifeMag.com

2 FOODLIFEMAG.COM | FALL 2015


FeaturesContents

8 HIS COURSE TO ‘QUEHow Elliott Moss went from cooking fried

chicken to opening Buxton Hall, one of the hottest BBQ joints in Asheville. by MAGGIE CRAMER

12 WHERE FOOD, HEALTH & LOCAL MATTER

Al Kirchner and the little market that matters in Brevard. by MAGGIE CRAMER

16 THE NEW AMERICAN FARMER

Graham and Wendy Brugh of Dry Ridge Farm offer a down to earth approach to livestock production. by JOSH O’CONNER

20 FARM TO FRONT DOORMother Earth Produce allows everyone

to live a local, sustainable food lifestyle regardless of busy schedule. by TIFFANY WELSH

22 PRODUCING LEADERS & GRASS FED BEEF

Warren Wilson College Farm is focused on work, service and academics. by NOAH RAPER ROBINS

featuresFALL 2015

photo by TIFFANY WELSH


ISSUE 05 FALL 2015

ON THE COVERBuxton Hall’s Pulled Whole Hog Barbecue plate with Spicy Collard Greens, Smoked Squash Casserole, and a Merita roll.photograph by TIM ROBISON


WNC Goes

Whole Hog

PLUS recipes,restaurants

& more!

Follow theWNC BBQ Trail

Traveling LocavoreChattanooga Chow

Kitchen Conversationswith Tara Jensen

FALL 2015 FoodLifeMag.com

STAY CONNECTEDvisit us at FoodLifeMag.com

facebook.com/foodlifemag

22

2618

the guideWNC BBQ TRAIL 14Stu Helm leads us on a delicious pork path around the WNC area.

CIDER FACTS 18Get the facts on an increasingly popular libation.

KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS 26 Tiffany Welsh sits down with Tara Jensen of Smoke Signals Bakery in Madison County.

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS 30 with Ashley English, local author of books on topics ranging from homesteading to entertaining.

TRAVELING LOCAVORE 33Tiffany Welsh takes a trip to Chattanooga and finds many tasty local treats.

SOW WHAT? 38 A guide to planting and harvesting in the Southern Appalachians.

recipesPIE DOUGH 29

SORGHUM GLAZED ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES 31

BACON WRAPPED JALAPEÑO POPPERS 41

BACON JAM 41

MAPLE BACON SHORTBREAD COOKIES 42



In this day of 24/7 grocery stores, most people don’t realize that fruits and vegetables aren’t the only things that have a season. Before refrigeration, pork was traditionally ready to eat in the fall, with the exception of bacon, smoked sausages, and ham, which needed to cure throughout the winter months. Why? Because, hogs would fill up on fall crops like apples and acorns, making the meat more delicious. All the mature animals would be harvested throughout the fall and early winter before they started to lose their mass from the lean winter months.

In honor of this old way of life, we decided to dedicate this fall issue of Food Life to pork. We talk with Elliott Moss, the king of whole hog cooking in WNC about his brand new restaurant Buxton Hall. We take a look at pig farming and how animals can be treated humanely and with respect, even when they are being raised for meat. We also put together a WNC BBQ map for those of you who love BBQ as much as we do!

And for those of you who don’t love pork, we have some vegetarian reading, too! We meet the owners of Mother Earth Produce, who are innovators in farm to table eating, we learn to bake a pie with Smoke Signals Bakery and we hear from Ashley English about getting back to our roots. Plus we take a look at eating local in Chattanooga!

Fall is my favorite time of year in the mountains. I love the cooler temperatures and the feeling that all my summer goodies have been put up for winter. But as a Foodie, I look forward to a whole new season of flavors most of all. Dig in y’all.

[email protected]

EDITOR’S LETTER


General Manager/PublisherPATRICIA MARTIN BETTS

EditorTIFFANY WELSH

Art DirectorCARRIE HARDER

Production/IT ManagerJEFF RUMINSKI

ContributorsMAGGIE CRAMERASHLEY ENGLISH

STU HELMTARA JENSEN

JOSH O’CONNERTIM ROBISON

NOAH RAPER ROBINS

Advertising ConsultantsPAMELA HARTPAM HENSLEYRICK JENKINS

ROBERTA LLOYDROSE LUNSFORD

CRYSTAL PRESSLEY

ProductionRACHEL HOEFT

RANDY WHITTINGTON

Distribution ManagerSAM HOWELL

A Publication of

IWANNA PUBLICATIONS22 GARFIELD STREET, SUITE 100

ASHEVILLE, NC 28803828.210.0340

Food Life, a publication of IWANNA, has accepted contributions which may not reflect the opinion of the publisher. No portion of Food Life may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.

ASHEVILLE CITY MARKET December 19Saturdays 8-1

ASHEVILLE CITY MARKET SOUTH October 28

Wednesdays 12-4

BLACK MOUNTAIN TAILGATE MARKETOctober 31

Saturdays 9-12

FRENCH BROAD FOOD CO-OP TAILGATE MARKETNovember 25

Wednesdays 2-6

HENDERSON COUNTY TAILGATE MARKETNovember 28, Saturdays 7-12

LEICESTER FARMERS MARKET December 12, Saturdays 9-2

MILLS RIVER FARMERS MARKET October 31, Saturdays 8-12

NORTH ASHEVILLE TAILGATE MARKET November 21, Saturdays 8-12

ORIGINAL WAYNESVILLE TAILGATE MARKET

October 31Wednesdays + Saturdays 8-12

WEAVERVILLE TAILGATE MARKET October 28, Wednesdays 2:30-6:30

WEST ASHEVILLE TAILGATE MARKET November 24, Tuesdays 3:30-6:30

For a complete list of the 90+ tailgates in the region, including their season closing dates, visit ASAP’s online

Local Food Guide at appalachiangrown.org.


F

photographs by TIM ROBISON photographs by TIM ROBISON

How Asheville chef

Elliott Moss went from cooking

fried chicken to Buxton Hall. by MAGGIE CRAMER

photos by TIM ROBISON

His Course to

FEATURE CHEF


FFOOD — BARBECUE IN PARTICULAR — certainly played a starring role in Elliott Moss’s upbringing. ‘Que was the cuisine of his hometown, Florence, SC, and his family cooked up whole-hogs for the holidays. But ask him why he started cooking at 17, and he won’t wax poetic about his now highly successful career being a calling since the crib.“My friend’s dad was the owner of a Chick-fil-A, so I got the job pretty easily,” he quips. Like most teenagers, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing. The gig was steady and the pay good, so he couldn’t complain, especially once he was promoted to a management role. Plus, it meant he wasn’t welding, which might have been expected of him—his dad and grandfather were both welders.“Most of the men in my family had really hard jobs,” he shares. Although welding wasn’t his thing, it wasn’t the difficulty that kept him out of the family trade. “I really enjoy hard work, and running a kitchen is hard work. I think a lot of people don’t understand how hard it is.” Fast food, he says, really gets a bad rap—written off as too easy, or amateur cooking. But he swears by it as the best culinary education he could have received. “I feel like people who start in fast food have a leg up on kids straight out of school, where they can’t teach you volume and how to order, organize, and clean.”He quickly discovered, though, fine dining folks don’t see drive-thrus that way. After eight years on the line, he was ready to move on—he just couldn’t get hired. Then, he caught a break.

A Series of Serendipitous Events

In 2005, Moss’s friends opened the bar/restaurant The Whig in Columbia and brought him on board, taking a chance that he could handle a formal kitchen. There, he started to connect to food and cooking in a different way, and began to feel fulfilled by his work.

“With food, you get gratification instantly,” he notes. “You can see

someone eating something you’ve just made and feel the sense if they like it or not.”

But he didn’t feel satisfied in Columbia. So, he headed to Philadelphia with $3,000 in his pocket. “I thought that was going to last me a few months, but it lasted two weeks,” he laughs.

He sauntered over to the restaurant across the street from his apartment to see if they were hiring. They offered him a job on the spot, promoting him to chef a couple weeks later. Its menu was a far cry from what he had been cooking: The eatery served up Italian fare in a predominately Muslim and Jewish neighborhood. That meant no pork, Moss’s favorite protein. He started experimenting and branching

out, working for the first time with local farmers and seafood suppliers.

Moss says he wouldn’t trade his time spent in Philly, sampling a wide array of ethnic foods and learning about cultural diets. But he missed home—he missed Southern food.

He and his then-fiancé, now wife, settled on Asheville to be closer to their families. And the guys who gave him his big break at the Whig decided to open the Admiral, granting Moss culinary carte blanche.

Where’s the BBQ?

That was 2007. Moss was excited by the opportunity the Admiral presented, but equally enthusiastic to be back around barbecue. “I was always hearing

FIND BUXTON HALL ONLINE AT BUXTONHALL.COM

“Everything I’m doing has a story from my childhood or is a dish I ate growing up.”


FEATURE CHEF

about North Carolina barbeque growing up,” he shares. But he soon found himself asking, “Where’s the ‘que?”

“When I moved to Columbia, I took barbecue for granted,” he says. “There were just a ton of barbecue joints around my hometown.”

Seeing only a handful in Asheville, and none doing it like they did in Florence, the seed was planted for him to bring a whole-hog, SC-style joint to town.

Moss admits that it took him a while to settle into the mountains, literally and figuratively. He stayed on at the Admiral until 2013, while Asheville started to “grow on him.” Then he bounced around, launching Ben’s Tune-Up and two pop-up restaurants: Punk Wok and the Thunderbird, both at MG Road, Chai Pani’s craft cocktail bar. There, he formed a partnership with owner Meherwan Irani that the two hope will go down in hog history.

“Asheville’s definitely my home now,” Moss says, no doubt owing, in part, to the fact that these days the smell of a whole hog cooking over a wood fire fills the air around the South Slope, where he and Irani opened their barbecue baby, Buxton Hall, in late August.

Now Serving: Nostalgia“Buxton Hall is 100 percent nostalgia,”

Moss describes. “Everything I’m doing has a story from my childhood or is a dish I ate growing up, including those

you can only find in the area of South Carolina where I’m from”—think chicken bog, catfish stew, and barbecue hash and rice.

Unfortunately, Moss notes that many of his favorite joints are changing the way they do things, from the traditional whole-hog, wood-fired method to quick-cooking cuts and gas flames. “I remember how the barbecue of my childhood used to taste, and it doesn’t taste the same anymore. It’s sad. I’m trying to help preserve that.”

Moss continues, “If I couldn’t cook with all wood, and if I had to compromise and just cook Boston butts, then I wouldn’t be doing Buxton Hall.” He’s working with local farmers to get pasture-raised pigs.

The fire’s the thing—a connection that, in a way, carries on his family’s welding roots.

“It’s something special that you can build a fire and watch it all night,” he says, adding, “that you can take a whole animal and respect it and cook it whole and have a product that comes out perfectly. It doesn’t get more gratifying than that.”

The fire burns 24 hours a day at Buxton Hall, which affords Moss and his team a unique opportunity: “There are a lot of coals and embers, a lot of energy,” he shares. “I’ve got to find a way to utilize that.” He envisions endless possibilities.

“I don’t want to put any rules on anything. Five years from now our dinner menu might seem a little strange for a barbecue restaurant.”

But today, the focus is on serving up great barbecue and creating a ‘cue culture. “I know we’ll always have barbecue, and hopefully it’ll be the best in town,” Moss says. Down the road, he’d love to see Asheville known as a whole-hog, wood-cooked barbecue town, with joints dotting the landscape just like Florence. In fact, he hopes some of his opening crew will start more smoky spots. “I’d just love it.”

MAGGIE CRAMER is an Asheville-based freelance writer, editor, and communications specialist. She can be reached at [email protected]



AL KIRCHNER CAME TO ASHEVILLE in the late-1980s to retire, not to start a career in the natural foods store business. But that plan didn’t last long.

He started mentoring countless local companies almost as soon as he arrived. “From a salt business to,” he trails off, “I can’t even remember them all!” And that’s how he got in the grocery game.

In demand as a consultant, in 1996, he helped Earth Fare open its second location. Not long after, he aided in the ap-pointment of Michael Ciancia-rulo as CEO, who stayed on with Earth Fare until 2008.

The two struck up a friendship and discovered they shared a philosophy about the grocery experience: that stores should be intimate, community-based marketplaces where quality, health, local—and, of course, food—matter. A business part-nership and dreams for Food Matters Market were born.

Going Where the Big Guys Don’tSeveral years ago, the duo began charting a course to

open Food Matters stores in areas that may not have access to healthy food options. Their target communities: those with populations between 15,000 and 30,000 people.

But as with his retirement scheme, Kirchner points out, with a laugh, he hasn’t entirely kept course: In 2012, he and Cianciarulo opened their first store in Brevard, a town of less than 8,000 people—they opened their second location in Hickory, population around 40,000, in June. The target re-mains the same, though, and they’re scheduled to open in Morganton in December, working toward more than a doz-en stores throughout the Southeast by 2018.

Good Things Come in Small PackagesAlthough setting up shop in smaller communities can

be risky business—particularly moving into a community even smaller than they originally en-visioned—so far, it’s working. “We became more success-ful in Brevard sooner than we thought we would,” Kirchner shares. The reason, he posits? “We get involved in the com-munity.” They partner with bike groups, arts organizations, Bre-vard College, and the list goes on.

They also partner with local farmers and food producers to deliver on their belief that local matters.

Food Matters Market seeks to change the grocery shopping experience. by MAGGIE CRAMER

WHERE FOOD, HEALTH & LOCAL MATTER

FEATURE FOOD MATTERS MARKET


“We work with farms in a five-county radius,” shares Sam Lee, Brevard store manager. “We stay in touch with our farm-ers and try to know in advance of bounti-ful yields that we can bring to our custom-ers quickly.” This summer, that meant ripe peaches and juicy blackberries.

“The farmers know we support them, and they know we’ll help them with ev-erything from over-production to certifi-cation or paperwork,” Lee adds. In fact, Brevard produce manager Jenny McCall recently helped regular suppliers Pitch Pine Farm secure a grant for a green-house, which the farmers hope will allow them to grow produce for Food Matters year-round.

“We call our customers ‘locavores,’” Kirchner explains, they want to know about and be connected to their food. That can happen more easily, he says, in a small store.

In addition to serving less-populated areas, each Food Matters Market has a small footprint, between 8,000 and 12,000 square feet.

“The intimacy of our stores differentiates us from others and is a key component of what we do,” Kirchner notes. “You come in and everything is close to you,” he says, meaning products and people. “Our team members are close, and they’re knowledgeable; you’re their friend in the store, not just a body.”

He adds, “By being an intimate store, it means that our staff and shoppers get to engage in a conversation about the qualities of our food, what our food does, and what our products do.”

Kirchner remembers going on grocery runs as a young boy in his hometown of Alma, Wisconsin—today, home to only 700 folks. “You’d see two or three guys in the store standing around talking, solving all the local problems three or four times,” he recalls. That’s the scene he hopes is being recreat-ed daily in Food Matters markets.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT FOODMATTERSMARKET.COM

Fully StockedAlthough the stores are diminutive, Kirchner, Cianciaru-

lo, and team make sure each has it all: organic and local produce, dairy, meat, supplements, healthy home products, and everything in between. And, each store houses a deli, serving up fresh sandwiches, soups, and salads. The small profile means lower operating costs so that product prices are comparable to other grocers.

In Brevard, Food Matters works directly with a handful of farmers, including Pitch Pine, Mother Clucker’s, Queen’s Produce and Berry Farm, and Brasstown Beef; in Hickory, they stock product from about a dozen. When it comes to local food producers and entrepreneurs, they work with more than 25 vendors, who provide everything from pimen-to cheese to goat milk gelato.

But Kirchner stresses that at Food Matters, it’s about much more than what’s for sale. “It isn’t just a box on a shelf. It’s the intimacy and connectivity that goes with that box or that product.”

photos by TIM ROBISON


1. Moe's Original Bar B Que72 Weaverville Rd, Wood�n(828) 505-3542 • moesoriginalbbq.com

2. Luella’s Bar-B-Que501 Merrimon Ave, Asheville(828) 505-7427 • luellasbbq.comMon-Thurs: 11am-9pm; Fri & Sat: 11am-10pm; Sun: 12pm-9pm

3. Bon�re Barbecue1056 Patton Ave, Asheville(828) 255-0020 • bon�reavl.comSun-Thurs: 11am-11pm; Fri & Sat: 11am-12am

4. 12 Bones Smokehouse5 Riverside Dr, Asheville(828) 253-4499 • 12bones.comMon-Fri: 11am-4pm

5. Buxton Hall BBQ32 Banks Ave, Asheville(828) 232-7216 • buxtonhall.comTues-Sun: 11:30am-3pm; 5:30pm-10pm

6. Creekside Taphouse8 Beverly Rd, Asheville(828) 575-2880 • creeksidetaphouse.comMon-Thurs: 11:30am-1am; Fri & Sat: 11:30am-2am; Sun: 12pm-12am

7. Little Pigs BBQ384 McDowell St, Asheville(828) 254-4253 • littlepigsbbq.netMon-Sat: 10:30am-8pm

8. Moe's Original BBQ4 Sweeten Creek Rd, Asheville(828) 505-3542 • moesoriginalbbq.com

9. Webo's BBQSuite C8, 800 Fairview Rd, Asheville(828) 298-1035 • webosbbq.comTues-Fri: 11am-6pm

10. Okie Dokies Smokehouse2375 US-70, Swannanoa(828) 686-0050 • okiedokiesbbq.comMon-Sat: 11am-8pm

11. Phil's Bar-B-Que Pit701 NC-9, Black Mountain(828) 669-3606 • philsbarbquepit.comSun-Thurs: 11am-8pm; Fri & Sat: 11am-9pm

12. Butts On The Creek1584 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley(828) 926-7885Tues-Sat: 11:30am-9pm; Sun: 11:30am-8pm

13. Haywood Smokehouse79 Elysinia Ave, Waynesville(828) 456-7275haywoodsmokehouse.com

14. Fat Buddies Ribs & Barbecue193 Waynesville Plaza, Waynesville(828) 456-6368fatbuddiesribsandbbq.comMon-Sat: 11am- 9pm

15. Dickey's Barbecue Pit66 New Clyde Hwy, Canton(828) 492-1112 • dickeys.comMon-Sun: 11am-9pm

16. Okie Dokies Smokehouse801 Smoky Park Highway, Candler828-633-0777 • okiedokiesbbq.comMon-Sat:11am-7pm

17. Dickey's Barbecue Pit1636 Hendersonville Rd #125, Asheville(828) 277-5221 • dickeys.comMon-Sun: 11am-9pm

18. 12 Bones Smokehouse3578 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden (828) 687-1395 • 12bones.comTues-Sat: 11am-4pm; 4pm-6pm: TAKE OUT ONLY

19. Dickey's Barbecue Pit235 St John Rd, Fletcher(828) 303-2190 • dickeys.comMon-Sun: 11am-9pm

20. Circle B Ranch BBQ655 Airport Rd, Fletcher(828) 687-2323Tues-Sat: 11am -8pm

21. Hawg Wild Barbeque91 Pisgah Hwy, Pisgah Forest(828) 877-4404hawgwildbar-b-que.comTues-Sun: 11am-8pm

22. Bad Wolf BBQ & Country Kitchen6577 Brevard Rd, Etowah(828) 891-9329

23. J-Bobs Smokin Pit6577 Brevard Rd, Etowah(828) 595-9770 • jbobssmokinpit.comTues-Sat: 11am-8pm; Sun: 9:30am-2pm

24. Moe's Original BBQ114 N Main St, Hendersonville(828) 505-3542 • moesoriginalbbq.com

25. Flat Rock Wood Room1501 Greenville Hwy, Hendersonville(828) 435-1391• �atrockwoodroom.com

26. Hubba Hubba Smokehouse2724 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock(828) 694-3551hubbahubbasmokehouse.comTues & Wed: 11am-3pm; Thurs: 11am - 5:30pm; Fri & Sat: 11am-7pm

27. Green River Barbeque131 US-176, Saluda(828) 749-9892 • greenriverbbq.comMon: 11am-8pm; Tues-Sat: 11am-9pm; Sun: 12pm-8pm

Hi Folks! It's me, Stu Helm, The Food Fan! Y'know what? I've eaten a lot of BBQ since I've moved to Western North Carolina, but when Food Life Mag sent me this list of BBQ joints and asked me to design one of my maps for them, I realized how much BBQ I haven't eaten since I moved here ten years ago! Good lord. Of the 27 venues on the list, I've only eaten at five! Food panic. Must. Try. Them. AWWWLLLLL!!! To help people like you and me -- obsessive Food Fans -- I've made my map into a check-list too. I’ll see you in Etowah! And Candler... and Black Mountain... and Pisgah Forest... I'll be the short guy with a greasy map in his pudgy fist. Groan.

how much ‘que can you do?


25

40

40

40

240

23

276

276

276

64

64

64

74

74

CantonMaggie Valley

Waynesville

LakeJunaluska

Candler

Swannanoa

Weaverville

MontreatWoodfin

Fletcher

BiltmoreForest

BlackMountain

Etowah

Pisgah Forest

Brevard

Flat Rock

Hendersonville

Saluda

Asheville

191

9

280

Mills River

176

13

14

15

20

27

24

25

26

22

23

21

19

17

16

12

10 11

18

and Checklist

Try ‘emall!

50 minsfrom avl

20-25 minsfrom avl

45 - 55mins

from avl

40 minsfrom avl

20 minsfrom avl

MAP & DESIGN BY STU HELM

1. Moe's Original BBQ2. Luella’s Bar-B-Que3. Bonfire Barbecue4. 12 Bones Smokehouse5. Buxton Hall BBQ6. Creekside Taphouse7. Little Pigs BBQ8. Moe's Original Bar B Que9. Webo's BBQ10. Okie Dokies Smokehouse11. Phil's Bar-B-Que Pit12. Butts On The Creek13. Haywood Smokehouse14. Fat Buddies Ribs & Barbecue15. Dickey's Barbecue Pit16. Okie Dokies Smokehouse17. Dickey's Barbecue Pit18. 12 Bones Smokehouse19. Dickey's Barbecue Pit20. Circle B Ranch BBQ21. Hawg Wild Barbeque22. Bad Wolf BBQ & Country Kitchen23. J-Bobs Smokin Pit24. Moe's Original BBQ25. Flat Rock Wood Room26. Hubba Hubba Smokehouse27. Green River Barbeque

1

2

3 4

56

7

8

9

25

25

26

26

Weaverville

Asheville

Woodfin

240

240

74

74

70

74

FrenchBroadRiver

25


TThe New American Farmer: Root and Wallow

by JOSH O’CONNER

THOUGH THEY AREN’T NATIVE to Madison County, both Graham and Wendy Brugh do hail from North Car-olina. After working for other farms for several years, they realized they want-ed to purchase some land and farm for themselves. The cooler weather brought them to the western part of North Carolina, where they settled on 43-acres of rolling hillside in Mars Hill. Through their shared passion for work-ing outdoors and farming, they estab-lished Dry Ridge Farm.

Nearly four years later, their farm offers a down to earth approach to livestock production that emphasizes both meat quality and a humane expe-rience for the animals. All of the live-stock on the farm are pasture-raised with the intent of providing the an-imals with access to a more natural setting. The farm focuses on meats and currently offers pork, lamb, chick-en, beef, and egg products to its cus-

tomers. The animals here are raised without the use of routine antibiotics, added hormones, or steroids.

As Wendy says, “We farm because we enjoy it and we enjoy having the animals out on pasture.” She also points out that while pasture-raised livestock does offer some additional value to consumers, the farm’s focus is on creating a humane environment for its animals. “We raise all our animals on pasture so that they are able to exhibit their natural behaviors and so that they have an opportunity to root and wallow. We raise them on pasture because I can’t imagine having an animal live its entire life in a ten foot square cage indoors.”

One element that sets Dry Ridge Farm apart from many other pas-ture-raised livestock farms is the fact that the Brughs utilize a “birth to finish” method of livestock production. Rath-er than purchasing juvenile animals,

FEATURE DRY RIDGE FARM


photos by TIFFANY WELSH

the farm maintains its own specially curated breeding stock. Ultimately, the Brughs are able to control most aspects of the animal rearing process in a manner, which reflects their stan-dards and values. Breeds are selected as a function of their production per-formance and their parenting abilities. Wendy highlights that: “There aren’t many farms that have animals born on their farms that are raised all the way through to market meat and sales.”

Hereford pigs are the Brughs’ go to breed for pork. The Livestock Con-versancy estimates that there are less than 2,000 Hereford pigs in the United States today. The Hereford is char-acterized by its red body color and white trim (giving it an appearance remarkably similar to Hereford cattle). Dry Ridge Farm’s entire herd of hogs are registered Herefords. Focusing on a specific breed allows the farm to achieve a quality and consistency

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT DRYRIDGEFARM.ORG

in their products that can be passed along to consumers.

Prior to reaching a customer’s table, Dry Ridge Farm works with Well Jen-kins Fresh Meats in Johnson City, Ten-nessee to process their pork and lamb into market ready products. Foothills Pilot Plant in Marion, North Carolina prepares the farm’s chicken products. In addition to selling standard cuts of meats, Dry Ridge Farm also offers some additional value-added prod-ucts such as cured meats, chorizo, sau-sages, etc. Customers can purchase meats by the pound or cut and the farm also offers meat CSA subscrip-tions from September through De-cember.

In the coming months, the Brughs will be transitioning away from lamb and more toward beef. This change will aid in streamlining the farm’s op-erations and in the focus on rotational grazing, which cows are well suited to-

ward. Rotational grazing is an import-ant part of regenerating the pasture-land. While the Brughs look at farming as a labor of love, they also see this as an opportunity to preserve farmland for future generations – protecting the open spaces and bucolic setting from the threat of development.

Dry Ridge Farms products can be sampled in the cuisines of Chestnut, Curate, Sovereign Remedies, Sweet Monkey Bakery, and Home Grown. Customers can also find the farm’s meats at the West Asheville Tailgate Market, the River Arts District Market, Asheville City Market, and the TD Sat-urday Market in Greenville, SC.

Josh O’Conner is an urban/land use planner with a passion for food and urban agriculture.


CIDER DRINKERS ARE UNDER

35

38%OF

THECIDERFACTS

NORTHCAROLINA

60%

GA 13%

FL 13%

SC 4%

TN 4%

AL 4%

SOUTHEAST REGION

MIDATLANTIC

25%

MIDWEST23%

NORTHWEST

18%

NORTHEAST12%

WEST 10%

S.WEST 6%

S.EAST 5%

CIDERPRODUCERS

BY US REGION

5050%

DRINKERS7030

%DRINKERS

VS.

16LBS OF

APPLES

TO MAKE1GALLON OF CIDER

NUMBER OF NEW CIDER PRODUCERS

BEFO

RE 19

85

1986

-199

0

1991

-199

5

1996

-200

0

2001

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2005

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2011

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BRITAIN PRODUCES MORE CIDER THAN ANY OTHER NATION - USING

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OF ALL THE APPLES GROWN IN UK

CIDERY IN THE US

18811ST

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MOSTCIDERIES 60NY

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©IWANNA, USA LLC 2015 • DESIGNED BY CARRIE HARDER


©IWANNA, USA LLC 2015 • DESIGNED BY CARRIE HARDER


WWHEN ANDREA & GRAHAM DUVALL moved to Asheville from Atlanta four years ago, they weren’t planning to start a business. Andrea had a cor-porate sales job and Graham was a horticulturalist. They worked hard and sometimes long hours. They knew what it was like to be too busy to make it to the farmer’s market for fresh food. Both assumed with the abundance of farms in Asheville, that there must be someone who was de-livering fresh produce. After a search on Google, they were only able to find one other produce delivery business, South Mountain Veggies, based out of Maryland.

In early 2012, the Duvalls reached out to Tony Brusco, owner of South Mountain Veggies, for some advice on starting a delivery business of their own and, beyond their expectations, Tony agreed to be their mentor. They cashed in 401K plans, rented ware-house space, bought a delivery van and started making farm connections. And the rest, as they say, is history.

For those familiar with the CSA

concept, this may seem like nothing more than a door to door CSA - but it is much more than that. When you order from Mother Earth you have the option to order a standard bin or to customize your bin. They publish a weekly menu of what types of sea-sonal fruits and vegetables will be stocked in the standard bin. Custom-ers can also choose to customize their bin with more of one thing and less of another or even to add products like eggs, dairy, breads, jam and more. In addition, there is no commitment. You can choose a regular weekly delivery, every other week, once a month or just the occasional delivery when you can’t make it to market. And it’s avail-able year-round. Plus, door to door delivery is free.

The beauty of working with Mother Earth Produce is that you still get to support local and regional farmers, even if your schedule or location won’t allow you to participate in a CSA or

visit a farmer’s market. According to their website, the Mother Earth vision is to allow each person in the commu-nity the option of living a local, sus-tainable food lifestyle regardless of busy schedules.

Today they are serving 350 custom-ers per week in Asheville, Greenville and Spartanburg. But Andrea says they are really just hitting their stride now. They have plans to expand, both in number of customers and in areas served. In preparation for expansion, they participated in the first round of Scale Up WNC hosted by Advantage West earlier this year. Scale Up WNC is targeted at established small busi-nesses who have been in operation at least two years and are ready for expansion. Andrea describes the pro-gram as “awesome”. Being a part of this program really helped them by providing networking opportunities with other business owners, it gave them the means to go for a second

FEATURE MOTHER EARTH PRODUCE

Delivering DeliciousMother Earth Produce allows everyone to live a local, sustainable food lifestyle, regardless of busy schedules.by TIFFANY WELSH

THE MOTHER EARTH PRODUCE team ready for daily deliveries.


FOR MORE INFORMATION, LOOK FOR THEIR AD ON PAGE 25

photos by TIFFANY WELSH

delivery van and really prepared them for public speaking, which turned out to be very timely. During the program, they had no idea they would be select-ed to compete in a big-time business competition just a few months later.

Mother Earth Produce was one of 30 semifinalists chosen to compete in the Miller Lite Tap the Future small-busi-ness competition. Now in it’s third year, the contest drew over 1,000 ap-plications. Being a part of the Scale Up program allowed them to really dig in and look at what was working for their business and where they needed to improve. Obviously, their analysis and planning paid off. Andrea and Graham took home the $20,000 cash prize at the regional competition in Atlanta this past July. Winning the regional competition also earned them a place at the finals in September against five other companies. Although they didn’t win at the finals, when I spoke to Graham he was very enthusiastic about the learning experience they

were afforded by the contest. Both Andrea and Graham are some

of the most gracious people I have had the pleasure to talk with. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of the wonderful things that will come from Mother Earth Produce. The food

may not have brought them to WNC, but now they are here to stay. In An-drea’s words, “The quality of life here is great. We live in a paradise.”


Warren Wilson College FarmProducing Leaders & Grass-Fed Beef

IN THE HEART OF the Swannanoa River Valley between Black Moun-tain and Asheville, Warren Wilson

College Farm is a mixed crop and livestock operation producing high quality agricultural products while also helping to meet the college’s three-pronged goals of work, service and academics. The farm continues an ag-ricultural tradition that dates back to 1894 with Warren Wilson’s forerunner institution, the Asheville Farm School.

All students at Warren Wilson must participate in the college’s work pro-gram to graduate, typically working 480 hours per year on one of the work crews that support the college’s opera-tions; this work is on top of academics and other pursuits. Under the super-

vision of two full-time farm managers, the farm is run by a crew of roughly 25-30 students and operates 365 days a year. Both farm managers are Warren Wilson College alumni; Assistant Man-ager Virginia Hamilton (class of 2013) has been in her role nearly two years, and Asher Wright (a 2008 graduate) has just returned to campus to assume the position of head Farm Manager.

For the managers, the work is re-warding and fun, and much more than a full-time job. I caught up with Vir-ginia in the first few weeks of the fall semester, when things are especially busy – as she puts it: “As managers, we have a different time scale to most – we’re plotting out what needs to get done day-to-day, but also need

to think about 6 months out, 2 years ahead, for the goals we have then and the bigger picture. It’s all a web.”

Students on the farm crew com-mit to the stringent standards of the overall college work program as well as the particular duties of farm labor and operations. Not many students are put off by these requirements, ac-cording to Virginia: “we have a lot of students join the farm crew, and not many leave.” Students are responsi-ble for a broad array of work, from op-erating machinery to harvesting crops, all of which instills a sense of collective responsibility and inspires a familial feel to the crew. Many students also couple their farm crew experience with academic study in a related ma-

FEATURE WARREN WILSON COLLEGE FARM

by NOAH RAPER ROBINS photos by TIFFANY WELSH


Warren Wilson College FarmProducing Leaders & Grass-Fed Beef

jor (sustainable agriculture is a popu-lar choice). The college’s materials on the work program emphasize the val-ue of labor: cultivation of skills vital to future work in any number of careers, including the ability to collaborate, communicate, take initiative and think analytically. Above all, Warren Wilson and the farm managers point to the strength of their program for student leadership development and the hon-ing of a strong work ethic.

For the farm crew in particular, that strong work ethic is needed: the crew tend 275 acres divided among 25 fields of bottomland and sloping pas-ture along the Swannanoa, surround-ing the Warren Wilson campus. While inherently educational, the farm is very

much a working operation, raising beef cattle, hogs and chickens along with an array of mixed crops. The farm practices sustainable agriculture, a much-used term in farming circles, but one with many different meanings. The Warren Wilson farm defines sus-tainable quite poetically: as “farming in a style that is environmentally sound and economically viable, provides valuable and satisfying work to us, and is based on the humane and careful husbandry of our cattle and swine.”

And the farm truly practices what it preaches. The farm’s herd of Black Angus cattle graze on permanent pas-tures from March to November, and the farm produces grains such as corn, wheat, barley and oats, rotated with

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WARREN-WILSON.EDU


an alfalfa-based hay mix. By plowing the alfalfa down for the subsequent corn crop, the farm produces high grain yields and is able to avoid using pesticides or herbicides in crop pro-duction. Crop fields are planted with wide riparian buffers, pastures under-go intensive grazing management, and a program of farm scale com-posting returns nutrients back to the soil. These sustainable practices have garnered attention and recognition;

the Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District have named the farm a “River Friendly Farmer” for its efforts to exclude livestock from us-ing streams as their water source. In 2002, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association named Warren Wilson its non-profit “Steward of the Year,” rec-ognizing both the college farm and garden operations for their sustain-able practices.

While ensuring the long-term health

of the farm’s land, these practices also result in high-quality products for the farm’s consumers. All animals to be sold for meat are born on the farm and raised without the use of antibiotics or hormones. The farm’s beef is 100% grassfed, meaning healthier beef with higher levels of Omega-3 fatty ac-ids, antioxidants and other benefits. These products are available through-out the year direct from Warren Wilson at the college bookstore; the farm also sells bulk meat packages twice year-ly at the spring and fall meat sales. And tying in with the holistic nature of Warren Wilson’s mission, the college’s dining hall serves the farm’s beef, pork and chicken at several featured meals each week. Virginia also shared that the farm has plans for construction of an inspected kitchen onsite that will allow processing and production of more value-added products such as pancetta, salami, and other specialty meats; while expanding the range of the farm’s product offerings, it will also give students exposure to what Virgin-ia dubs “the art of charcuterie.”

Warren Wilson College farm wel-comes visitors, but stresses that tours are only available on a pre-arranged basis and visitors may not enter fields, pens and pastures. The farm main-tains active social media accounts to share photos, news, and updates, and stay tuned: the farm frequently hosts plow days and other special events to feature the practices and products that make the farm such a unique part of western North Carolina’s agricultur-al landscape.

For more information, visit the War-ren Wilson College farm website at https://inside.warren-wilson.edu/~-farm/index.php or find Warren Wilson College farm on Instagram and Face-book.

Noah Raper Robins, a native of Madison County, grew up on a farm and is passionate about all things local, particularly food and drink.

FEATURE WARREN WILSON COLLEGE FARM



THE GUIDE KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS

TARA JENSEN

IT WAS A COOL, RAINY MORNING when I made my way to the tiny community of Walnut, just outside of Marshall, to meet with Tara Jensen, owner of Smoke Signals Bakery. I have long been a follower of Tara’s on social media but never imagined her bakery to be tucked away in such a beautiful little cove in Madison county. I was greeted at the door with a smile and a warm piece of apple pie, so I knew right away we were going to get along fabulously.

Let me start off by saying, this pie is delicious.

Thanks, the apples are still kind of green. I was brought up in the kitchen beside my mom, so I got to learn the domestic stuff. She is an excellent baker and she’s always baking cakes. But she’s very precise and we’re two very different kinds of women. When she watches me bake, she’s like “Oh my god, you’re not measuring anything.” And whenever I make a pie

for my parents, it ends up being terrible and it’s hilarious because she says, “you should’ve measured…” There is a confidence behind what you’re doing where you just throw things in there. But inevitably when I bake for my parents it’s very humbling, they are the ultimate critics.

My dad loves baked goods and so

I always use him as a sounding board. But a lot of times he’s much too lenient. He’ll eat anything.

I am personally that way. If I didn’t make it, it is excellent.

Pie is a little more forgiving if you just throw things in. Cakes and cookies and some of the more difficult pastries and bread can be really exact, where everything just falls apart if you don’t measure. Pie filling is kind of a free for all.

Yes, it’s like the soup of the pastry world. Just put it all in there and keep your fingers crossed.

Where are you from originally?

I grew up in Maine. I went to college in Maine and then I moved to Vermont the day I graduated college. I ended up doing a baking trek around the country in my twenties. I moved to Asheville in 2005, but that was just a pit stop on my baking tour, then I came back here in

Smoke Signals

by TIFFANY WELSHPhotos by TARA JENSEN & LYDIA SEE


FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT SMOKESIGNALSBAKING.COM

2010 and I’ve been here since then. Or maybe it was actually 2008, I’m horrible with dates.

How did you get started in the baking business?

I started baking in college. I went into this little bakery, the Morning Glory Bakery in Bar Harbor, Maine and there were all these awesome women, covered in tattoos listening to Patti Smith and I just thought, “I want to hang out here. I just have to be a part of this and I don’t care what happens.” So I started off as a counter girl there, then graduated to doing stuff in the back.

It is so peaceful out here.

I feel very lucky everyday for sure. I feel very much in the steward role, because I’m one of many bakers who have been in this space and I’m sure there will be others after me, but this is my incarnation. I feel very fortunate to be here for sure. Originally this land was purchased by Jen Lapidus in the late 1990s. She lived in the house and worked here as Natural Bridge Bakery. Now she runs Carolina Ground Flour Mill. She had trained with Alan Scott, so he came and built the oven. This was her original oven. When she was getting ready to pass the torch, she called Alan and said, “Do you know anyone who would be interested in coming here?” Dave Bauer (of Farm and Sparrow Bakery) happened to be by his side, so Dave came down here thinking he would try it out for 6 months. Now he obviously has Farm and Sparrow in a permanent location, he also has All Souls Pizza and other new projects in the works.

Is this the first time you have worked with a wood fired oven?

Prior to starting Smoke Signals, I

worked at Farm and Sparrow bakery when they occupied this building. I got in contact with Dave from Vermont. I was doing production baking, high volume baking and I was looking for a little bit more intimate setting. So I moved to Asheville and I would drive here from Asheville everyday to bake. Baking for Dave at Farm and Sparrow was my first experience with the wood fired oven. I did the pastry and some of the bread production there and I was there for about 3 and a half years. That was sort of my last stop, b u t it was also the most

important stop in terms of

realizing t h a t

baking could be a way of life and not just a job. I’ve always loved working in bakeries, but they were high volume production level. When I came down here and it was more of a science experiment or an art project, we were organizing our lives around the bakery. It was a very different, craft level, slower approach than I was used to and I thought, this is really good and I haven’t seen this anywhere else.

Everytime you share a picture of the fire going, it raises my temperature.

It gets hot in the summer, but in the winter it’s really cozy. Every time you fire the oven it’s different. There is such a different range of feelings. It’s definitely a living tool. Even though it’s very old it’s still very much alive.

So what made you decide to start your own bakery business?

I always paralleled my day life as a baker, with an art career at night. I had varying levels of success with both things, but when I turned 30 I had a life question mark, the way a lot of people do, and I thought I’m going to go with baking, because that’s practical. It’s the trade I’ve learned and I realized there was only so much I could learn from others before I internalized it and had to do it for myself. When Farm and Sparrow moved to Candler, this was just empty. It was like somebody was baking and just left one day. So I came back a couple of years later and with the help of Jen, I took it over and have been here since.

You do a lot of workshops, pizza, bread, pies…what made you

decide to start doing that?

I started doing the workshops at the end of September last year. I really wanted to share this space. Alan Scott, who built the oven, was very influential in the world of wood fired baking. Part of his philosophy around

the oven was that it wasn’t just to make money for a baker, but it was a tool that was supposed to bring the community together. You can go to a bakery and purchase things, but rarely can you go to a bakery and bake. I wanted to open up the door to allow other people that experience. I wanted to expose what it’s like being a baker for the day. If you’ve learned something and you can turn around and reach your hand out and teach someone that it’s so crucial.If we’re eating great pie along the way, that’s even better!

I was looking at your workshops this morning and I really want to come to the Apple Pie workshop in October. Is this the pie recipe you’re going to make?

I started off with Apple Pie. I thought,


THE GUIDE KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS

I want to teach a workshop. I love pastry, I love pie crust, this will be really manageable. Then I went down the wormhole of pie crust recipes and apples, as I was putting the materials together. I thought this is the most simple slash complex thing I’ve tried to do - this Apple Pie. I love sourcing apples from different orchards - so it’s fun as the season goes on, with the different apples. We usually have 5 or 6 different kinds and we’ll talk about the different flavors and we get to eat them and really get to know the apples. That’s kind of one of the magical parts.

It’s a quintessential fall pie. I think everybody loves an apple pie.

There’s just something really nice about it. You can’t put your finger on

it. There’s a Danish word that I learned recently, “hygge” - it is the feeling of warmth and camaraderie. It’s like eating something delicious with friends in candlelight. That feeling to me is so important to me, especially as we take this turn from summer into fall. Winter is stressful for a lot of people here in the mountains, so to have those glowing moments of friendship and food to keep you going are really important.

So what’s your favorite pie then? Apple?

There are so many choices. I think sweet potato pie is my favorite.

I love sweet potatoes! I always say I would eat them every single day.

Yes, they are the best. I roast them in

the oven until the skins get kind of black and smoky and I’ll leave a little log in the back, so the smoke kind of penetrates the flesh of the sweet potato and they get really caramelized…just so many delicious sugars already present in the sweet potato. It’s also a very forgiving filling. I have a soft spot for sweet potatoes. Isn’t it the state vegetable? And now I’m thinking, too - I grew up in Maine, where potatoes are the big thing and now I’m here and I like the sweet potato. It might just be I like the ground tubers.

I have a serious question, speaking of pie - butter or lard?

BUTTER! Maybe because that’s what I’ve learned and what I’m comfortable with. Also for teaching, I find it to be accessible. I think we have access to some really flavorful, great butter. So flavor versus flakiness. But I always encourage people to figure out what works for them and what they like.

So, I’ve not seen you at the tailgate market this year. Is there somewhere else to buy your bread?

I may go back to market in the fall season. It’s undecided at this point.You can get the bread every

Wednesday here in Madison County - Laurel River Store, Bluff Mountain Outfitters and Madison Natural Foods. I am there by noon and it tends to go that day.

hygge [HU-gah; Danish] nounthe feeling of warmth and camaraderie


2 ½ C pastry flour (or all purpose)1 ¼ C of cold, cubed butter½ C of very cold water1 tsp salt1 Tbsp of sugar

Egg wash:2 egg yolks & 2 Tbsp heavy creamLarge, coarse sugar

THE NIGHT BEFORE cube butter into pea size pieces. Place in the freezer. Weigh out flour, toss in salt and sugar and place in fridge. Weigh out water and also place in the fridge to chill.

THE FOLLOWING DAY get out flour, water and butter. The butter will be quite cold, if not frozen. Gently break apart any large clumps that have formed and add the cold butter to flour. Toss together. Drizzle in water a tablespoon at a time. Mix together either by hand or in a food processor. As the dough comes together it will be quite shaggy. Add more water to the mixture as needed, going slowly. Combine until there are no dry spots and you can still see visible pieces of butter. Divide the dough into two pieces. Gently press each into a disk. Wrap and let chill for 45 minutes. Remove from refrigeration, roll to 1/4 inch thick, place in your pie tin and fill with your favorite fresh ingredients.

Pie Dough RecipeCourtesy of TARA JENSEN of SMOKE SIGNALS BAKERY


IN THE SUMMER OF 2006, a few weeks after I turned 30, I took a friend and myself on an epic trip to the Unit-ed Kingdom. After 4 days in London, we took a bus to Glasgow for an over-night stay before boarding a train and heading to the Scottish western high-lands. At each stop en route to our destination of the tiny coastal village of Mallaig, I noticed the station signs were written in both English and Gael-ic. As we journeyed westward, passing meandering creeks, heather heaths, craggy mountain balds and vast, glori-ous lochs, the train pulled into a rather non-descript station. I lifted my eyes from the book I was reading, looked up at the station sign, and had the most acute, profound sensation of having been there before. The train closed its doors and rumbled on, and I returned to my book.

Months later, settled in for the night at home in Asheville, I was watching the film version of the Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code. I found myself completely captivated by the notion of unknown genealogies and hidden ancestral lineages. As the film concluded and the credits began roll-ing, I remembered a book of my own family’s history that my uncle Bob-by had prepared several years earli-er and gifted to the entire extended family at a summer reunion. I’d never read it, but had held onto it nonethe-less. I pulled it out from my file cab-inet, began flipping through its pag-es, and nearly jumped off the couch upon discovering that relatives on my grandmother’s side were from the ex-act Scottish town in which I’d so viv-idly experienced déjà vu on the train months prior.

Ancestral roots weave an invisible yet abiding thread, I’ve come to be-lieve. They carry us through our days without our necessarily being overly

aware of them. While you might have never met your Uncle Sam, turns out you share his laugh, or so you’ve been told. Your olive-hued eyes are the ex-act shade of those belonging to your great-grandmother Ida. Your great-great Aunt Louise shared your fond-ness for math. And, for me, my body somehow knew or sensed or believed in a version of genetic memory per-haps, that I belonged, once upon a time, to a certain terrain in Scotland. I felt it in my body with conviction, al-

though I’d never before set foot on that soil, let alone that continent.

All of this talk about roots and ances-tors and genealogies turns my thoughts to root vegetables. Autumn heralds a return of these tuberous vegetables to farmer’s markets and gardens after the high heat and humidity of summer have moved on. Reaching deep down into the soil, they pull up a host of miner-als, vitamins, and other phyto-nutrients. They handle colder weather, reduced sunlight hours, and limited moisture with ease. Essentially, they’re survivors. They preserve and forge ahead with growth in environments that would do asunder tender-fleshed plants.

Our ancestors shared this trait. That’s precisely why you are here today, read-ing this article. Their resilience and ability to carry on despite life’s hurtles brought about your existence. In honor of the return of autumn, and our mutu-al family histories of fortitude, and the bounty of root vegetables the southern Appalachians support, I’m sharing my recipe for Sorghum-Glazed Roasted Root Vegetables. Carrots, beets, ruta-baga, and turnips are bathed in olive oil, sorghum, rosemary, salt and pep-per and roasted to tender, sweet per-fection. Much like our families, what doesn’t take us down only helps in making us stronger. The right blend of seasonings and time in a hot oven makes these robust and sturdy vegeta-bles truly shine.

Ashley English is a local author of seven books (and currently working on her eighth and ninth) on the topics of homesteading, cooking and entertaining. You can follow her life’s journey on her blog at smallmeasure.com

photograph by TIM ROBISON

Reaching deep down into the soil, they pull up a host of minerals, vitamins, and other

phyto-nutrients.


Putting Down Roots by ASHLEY ENGLISH


A sweetener indigenous to the southern U.S., sorghum was what everyone reached for until the sugar cane barons pushed it out of common use. A type of grass, the sticky liquid is thick like honey while offering not quite as strong of a flavor as molasses. It’s the perfect partner for roasted root vegetables, as you’ll soon discover here. Yield: 6-8 servings

Sorghum-Glazed Roasted Root Vegetables

1 pound carrots, peeled and chopped

1 pound beets, peeled and chopped

1 ½ pounds rutabaga, peeled and chopped

1 ½ pounds turnips, chopped

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon minced rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

Several grinds fresh black pepper

½ cup sorghum*

*If you’re unable to find sorghum, molasses can be substituted; reduce the amount to 1/3 cup.

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a 9”x13” baking pan. Set aside.

2 Place all of the vegetables, olive oil, rosemary, salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl.

Using either clean hands or a serving spoon, toss until the oil evenly coats all of the vegetable pieces.

3 Spread the vegetables evenly in the baking dish. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes. Remove

the pan from oven, stir the sorghum evenly into the vegetables, and continue baking an addi-tional 25-30 minutes, until the vegetables have softened and are slightly browned.

4 Cool at least 15-20 minutes. When ready to serve, transfer to a serving bowl.

From “Handmade Gatherings: Recipes & Crafts for Seasonal Celebrations & Potluck Recipes” by Ashley English, Roost Books.

VISIT ASHLEY ENGLISH AT SMALLMEASURE.COM

Photo by JEN ALTMAN



ASK ANYONE what they think

of when they hear “Chattanooga” and

they are likely to answer “trains”.

Chattanooga has a long history with

the railroad, which began well before

Chattanooga Choo Choo became a gold

record in the 1940s. Once dubbed the

“Gateway of the South”, Chattanooga

was a central connector to some of

America’s biggest cities, even before

the Civil War. It’s clear that the city

has kept close to their roots, taking

care to preserve their long relationship

with the rails. But there is more to this

town than trains. They are frequently

listed amongst Asheville and Austin

as one of the hippest cities in the U.S.

and they have a growing local food

scene. With about 600 restaurants

listed online, I know I will enjoy eating

my way through this town.

by TIFFANY WELSH

CHATTANOOGA

TRAVELING LOCAVORE THE GUIDE


10 AM I am a bit late finding breakfast this Sunday morning, but it’s not for lack of trying.

My first choice, Aretha Frankenstein’s, which has wonderful reviews, is clearly not a secret. What they are, however, is tiny. There are about 20 seats total and a 2-hour wait for breakfast, so I pass for somewhere that will get me served before noon. I try a second and third choice, but both are closed on Sundays, something I discover is not uncommon with restaurants here. I fi-nally end up at Milk and Honey on the Northside, which appears to be where the cool kids hang out. The line is out the door on my arrival and it takes a while to make my way to the front. They are a combination breakfast, cof-fee and ice cream place. The menu is not expansive, but I’m starving, so everything looks good to me and the

prices are reasonable. I end up with the TN Ham and Apple, which is just what it sounds like - Benton’s Country Ham, Granny Smith apple, Cheddar cheese and honey mustard served on a sourdough roll with a side of fresh fruit. The food turns out to be deli-cious.

11 AM After breakfast, I head over to the Chattanooga Market. Frommers named this Mar-

ket as one of the Top 10 Public Mar-kets in America. Their website claims they have 50 farms and 130 artisans at the market. I can’t wait to check it out. The Market is located in an old industrial building on the Southside. I can see the place is packed elbow to elbow! There are food trucks at the front and the rear of the building, of-fering a selection of freshly prepared

food, including one gentleman who is smoking possum in front of an eager crowd. There seem to be less than the 50 farms that are advertised. The farm-ers who are here have the same assort-ments of vegetables that we’d find at home, including the first produce of fall. I do notice that many of the ven-dors have traveled in from Georgia, which is just a few miles away. They do have a tremendous number of artisans with everything from pillowcases to jewelry. This seems like it would be a great place to do some gift shopping!

1 PM After all that shopping, I decide to head over to the Blue Plate for lunch. They are located right on the

riverfront across from the Aquarium, where there is plenty of people watch-ing available. Despite being located in one of the busiest areas of town, there


is no wait to get seated. The interior is very modern - stainless steel every-where. Since I’m still thinking about my missed breakfast experience, I go for the Chicken and Pancake (pan-cake mix provided by Aretha Fran-kenstein’s). It’s served with a side of loaded hash browns, which I swear are covered in a homemade nacho cheese sauce. I practically lick the plate clean. Everything is fantastic here! I especial-ly enjoy the small details - the waitress refills your drink from cute little glass jars instead of the old plastic pitch-er you see at every other restaurant. Once again, the prices are reasonable and the place is family friendly.

2 PM Since I am now stuffed, I de-cide to take a walk across the river on the Walnut Street Bridge. The

bridge is about ½ mile long and by

now it’s about 200 degrees outside, so I quickly have second thoughts. But once I’m up in the air, it is surprising-ly shady under the steel beams. This bridge sits nearly 100 feet above the water and the views are spectacular. It’s pedestrian only, so there are plenty of people walking, jogging and bicycling here. It doesn’t take nearly as long as I expect to reach the other side, where I’m greeted by Coolidge Park.

Coolidge Park is the greenest space I have seen since arriving. It sits right on the North Shore of the Tennessee River and has a recreational fountain (think Splashville), a 120-year-old working carousel and lots of trees and grass, plus a fantastic view of the river. There are plenty of people here en-joying the fountain - both locals and tourists alike. I cannot leave the park

without a ride on the carousel, which I am amazed to find only costs $1!

4 PM After all this time in the sun and facing the hot walk back to the South Shore, I decide I need

to rejuvenate myself with ice cream. Conveniently, Clumpies Ice Cream is located right at the park’s edge (I’m sure this is by design). Clumpies has been around since 1999. They hand-craft all of their ice cream and sorbet in house. In total, they serve around 20 flavors, including Firecracker, which is made with pop rocks. Once again, the line is all the way out the door, but I’m not in a rush because they have super air conditioning, plus the wait gives me time to decide what flavor I will order. Even after much delibera-tion, I’m still surprised when I’m asked to place my order. In a panic, I go


recipe?

with mint chocolate chunk. Down thehatch it goes, brain freeze be damned. Boy, this stuff is good - so good, in fact, I’m a little sad I only ordered one scoop.

On my walk back, I take my time to enjoy the city. Chattanooga seems to be dedicated to the arts. They have a large art museum and public art dis-plays on nearly every block. They also seem to be working hard to accom-modate bicycle transportation. In fact, they offer bicycles for rent at more than 30 locations throughout the city. The self-serve stations offer rentals for one hour, one day, or annual member-ships. I only witness a few people us-ing the bike rentals, but it still seems like a great way to supplement public transportation.

7 PM For dinner, I decide to try out Lupi’s Pizza Pies. They’ve been voted the best pizza in Chattanoo-

ga for six years running. They make their own dough, sauce and cheese, and offer about 30 toppings - mostly sourced from local farms. They have a large bottled beer selection, about 40 varieties, although very few are craft brews. Since I’m a garlic lover, I know I’m getting their roasted garlic on my pie. Fair warning - make sure everyone in your party is eating the garlic. They literally put 5-6 cloves of garlic on each slice of pizza. It was wonderful, but I’m pretty sure I still have garlic breath. Once again, the place was packed with a line out the door. You also have to find your own table, which can be a challenge. The staff recommends hav-

ing a second person with you to scout and hold your table. The decor was funky and fun. Overall, it was a great way to end the night.

After dinner, I couldn’t help stopping by the Moonpie store. As a southern girl, I grew up enjoying the sweet Moonpie as a special treat. I never knew they originated in Chattanooga 100 years ago. I’m stuffed, so I don’t know how I could possibly enjoy this

pie...well, maybe just one little bite...



DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV

2” apart / ¼” deep

12” apart / 1½” deep

10” apart / 1” deep

4” apart / ½” deep



2 years

6-10 years*

50-55 days

2 years

70-80 days

70-80 days

85-95 days

85-95 days

85-95 days

90-100 days

75-80 days

75-80 days

95-120 days

2 years

2 years

95-125 days

75-85 days

50-60 days








15-18 ft apart / 12-18” deep*


2 ft apart / ¾ inches deeper than transplant soil

4-5 ft apart / plant same depth as nursery

*seedlings


Compiled from research provided by the University of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, ASAP, and the Farmer’s Almanac, this guide includes suggested dates for several crops. Note: The Southern Appalachians are diverse, and growing seasons vary. The months above are approximate.

by ADALEE ELKINS

KEY Harvest Days to maturity

Winter Spring Summer Fall

How to plant space between plants / planting depth

Plant seeds Plant transplants, shoots, or roots

Recommended planting dates

A Guide to Planting & Harvesting in the Southern Appalachians


U-PICKF A R M S

Apples

Long Branch Environmental Education Center (Leicester)

828-683-3662 • longbrancheec.org

Orchard at Altapass (Spruce Pine)

828-765-9531 • altapassorchard.org

Skytop Orchard (Flat Rock)

828-692-7930 • skytoporchard.com

Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard (Hendersonville)

828-685-9083 • steppapples.com

Grandad’s Apples (Hendersonville)

828-685-1685 • grandadsapples.com

Coston Farm (Hendersonville)

828-685-8352 • costonfarm.com

For additional u-pick farm listings, pickup an ASAP Local Food Guide or visit appalachiangrown.org

Pick apples fresh from the tree at

one of these local u-pick

farms:

North Carolina ranks seventh in the nation

for apple production and Henderson County

produces 65% of all apples in the state.

A short trip south of Asheville leads to

many orchards and farms that you

may visit for free - and most will let

you pick your own apples!

IN SEASON: August - November


EVERYTHING’S BETTER WITH

B A C O N recipes & photos by TIFFANY WELSH


FOR EACH PEPPER:1 piece uncooked bacon2 Tbsp of your favorite cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Wash peppers and cut lengthwise. Remove seeds. Spread cheese inside. Put pepper pieces back together and wrap entire pepper with 1 piece uncooked bacon. In a cast iron skillet, cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, just to begin to cook bacon. Move entire skillet to oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until peppers are blistered and bacon is cooked through.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers

Bacon Jam MAKES 2 HALF PINTS

ingredients1 lb Bacon, chopped1 medium Yellow Onion, finely chopped4 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped1 tsp Chili Powder½ tsp Paprika½ C Bourbon (or black Coffee)½ C Maple Syrup¼ C Apple Cider Vinegar½ C Brown Sugar

Cook bacon over medium heat and set aside to drain on paper towels. Reserve 2 Tbsp of bacon grease in pan. Add chopped onion to grease and cook over medium heat until caramelized, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add bourbon and

maple syrup. Mixture should begin to simmer. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring

occasionally. Add brown sugar and vinegar. Lower temperature and cook for an

additional 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. If mixture begins to get too thick, add about ½ C

of hot water. Add bacon pieces to mix. Cook for 3-5 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn’t get too stiff (otherwise you will end up with bacon candy).

Remove from heat and immediately transfer to half pint jars. Refrigerate until ready to use.


Maple Bacon Shortbread Cookies

MAKES ABOUT 22 COOKIES

ingredients7 pieces of Bacon, cooked1/2 C Butter, room temperature1/4 C Pure Maple Syrup3 Tbsp Sugar1/4 tsp Kosher Salt2 Tbsp Cornstarch1 1/4 C All Purpose Flour2/3 C Dark Chocolate Chips

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Chop 5 pieces of bacon into small pieces (about 1/8-1/4 inch). In a small bowl, combine flour, salt and cornstarch and set aside. Place butter, maple syrup and sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to slow and add in flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Stir in chopped bacon pieces by hand. Turn out dough between two sheets of wax paper. Using a rolling pin, spread dough into a semi-rectangular shape and 1/4 inch thick. Place flattened dough into freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove dough from freezer and cut into squares about 1 1/2 inches in size. Place squares onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until edges are stiff to touch. Remove to cooking rack.

Crumble remaining 2 pieces of bacon into very small bits and set aside for garnish.

While cookies are cooling, place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power for two minutes, stopping to stir occasionally. Dip baked cookies halfway in chocolate and place back on parchment paper to dry. Sprinkle wet chocolate with bacon bits. Move cookies to refrigerator to set chocolate. Store in sealed container in refrigerator up to 3 days.

THE GUIDE LAST BITE



Documents

Food life Magazine Fall 2015