Farm to Table - Okra all kinds of ways

In the last few years the Slow Foods or Farm to Table or Local Foods movement has been growing strong.   It's great that people are focusing more on fresh healthy eating and I am all for it.

Mama Crowder, Nanny, Mama, Dad, Nishie, Sis -  my early cooking mentors - would be all for it too but they wouldn't think of it as a movement.  It's just how food has always been done.  Plant vegetables in your garden in your own backyard at the right time and harvest it at the right time.  That means the right time for the plant.   If you preserve your harvest by drying, freezing or canning you can eat fresh tasting food all year long.   Or you can just eat whatever is coming fresh out of the ground in whatever season it comes out of the ground. 

If it's meat or chicken or eggs you feed it and take care of it and then ... well that's a blog for another day.  But it's true reality.  Daddy has always said we need to understand where things come from.  That's one reason that he loves to host a hog killin'.  So people can be in touch with the reality of  bacon, tenderloin, livermush and sausage.

Some people say Anyone with respect for sausage and the law should watch neither being made.  I'm not sure Daddy buys that saying.  I think he thinks it more important to respect the truth.  In politics and in sausage.  It's not always good to just swallow whatever is put in front of you.  Better to know where it came from and how it got into it's present form.  

The Local Foods movement grew out of the realization that, when you buy vegetables and fruits and meats and such at a grocery store, sometimes these things are grown hundreds of miles and even continents away.  Sometimes they have been forced to grow in a season that isn't natural to them but using processes like ripening with gases.  Many times these things have lost their nutritional value not to mention their real taste.  So the movement is to either buy locally grown products or to grow it yourself.

Not that we don't still need grocery stores.  David and I love a grocery store.  Some of our first dates were going to a Fresh Market  and we still look forward to it.  They do a wonderful job of getting fresh quality products. Grocery stores are always going through transitions, much like when the old A&P lost its balance.   Recently in Shelby there has been grocery store upheaval so a lot of us are searching around for a replacement for the Yuppie Teeter that recently moved away.

Maybe we are a little too dependant on dashing into a grocery store for every thing.

Nanny [Alma Harrill Hunt] wrote in her memoirs about gardening and grocery stores.  She was born in 1888 and wrote this about what it was like to grocery shop at the turn of the 20th century:

"The nearest grocery store was at Lattimore which was about three miles.  I have walked up that old dirt road many times to the store to get groceries.  It was woods most all the way then, just three or four houses from our house to Lattimore.  One of the younger children would always go with me.

Sometimes we would take eggs, butter, and chickens, to trade for groceries.  About the only things we bought was sugar, coffee, and rice.  Sugar was five cents per pound, coffee was in the grain.  You had to parch it and then grind it.  When I heard Mama grinding coffee in the morning I knew it was time to get up.  We were all supposed to be at the table when breakfast was served.  We raised most of our food on the farm.  Wheat and corn for bread, cane to make molasses enough to last till the next fall.  Sweet potatoes, peas and beans.  Cabbage to eat in the summer and make kraut for the winter.  Back then we didn't know anything about canning.  There was no glass jars, but we dried fruit and blackberries.  Later Papa [Robert Lee Harill] made a cannery.  A furnace with a big tin tub.  He used quart sized tin cans with a small lid that had to be soldered when the fruit or vegetables were packed in and then cooked.  Neighbors would bring their fruit and vegetables for him to can.  He would solder the lid on and boil it for one cent per can.  Most times he didn't get anything...

..Mother [Julia Jane McSwain Harrill] always had a garden.  She liked to plant it herself.  She planted all kinds of vegetables and some flower seeds and there was catnip, horsehound mint and other herbs for medicine."

So the Local Foods movement is like a movement back to the future.  And I love it.

Mom and Dad still have a garden and I stick a few things in the ground around our house too.  But even if you don't have somewhere to plant or you don't have time or you just plain don't want to do the work; you can still eat locally grown foods.  One of the best things about this local food thing is that is has encouraged young people to create small farms and sell their products at the Farmer's Market.  They are all over the place these days but in Shelby I go usually on Wednesdays or Saturdays to the Uptown Shelby Foothills Farmer's Market.  It is fun and growing and has an increasingly large number of vendors and varieties of local products.



 David and KC were in town for the Lattimore Wedding (blogpost September 10, 2012) and we all visited the Farmer's Market in uptown Shelby. It's as much a social event seeing old friends as it is buying the fresh vegetables and other local products like goat's milk soap and herbs and even Peace Avenue Clothing!

On this trip David and KC ran into Anna and had a good time catching up. We had bought a big basket full of fresh okra and Anna taught us a new way to cook it.



We bought the huge basket of fresh okra because David has been cooking up some things in Texas with his friends.  Teague, who is originally from Lousiana, had taught him to make Gumbo and David wanted to make some for us on this trip home.  I loved how he explained what ingredients he needed.  "Oh you can put most anything in there - any kind of veggies and meat."  He works like all intuitive cooks work once they get the framework of a dish.  Needless to say it was a delicious Gumbo.  We found some great veggies - okra, peppers, onions, squash and some local italian sausage at the farmers market.  David added shrimp and some secret spices, KC helped with the prep and Rhett showed up to offer a few tips.  Wish I had written down the ingredients and spices but it was too much fun watching them to pay close attention to detail this time.


After David used all of the okra he wanted for the Gumbo we still had a good bit left so we decided to try our hand at one of Jay's favorite things - Pickled Okra.  We googled some recipes and then things got rather competitive.  Shocking.  We now have six pint jars of okra with initials to prove who packed and spiced them.  KC went so far as to label her's as "KC Masterpiece".  We made a pledge not to open these pickles until KC and David come back to North Carolina in mid October.  Let the games begin.



 


Even after we pickled the okra, we still had a good bit left so I decided to dry some of it and make some of those cute Okra Christmas ornaments that look like Santa Claus or  Angels.  Not sure how that's going to work out, but I'll show the results if there are any to show.







The Uptown Shelby Association helps promote the Farmer's Market and recently they joined forces along with a lot of local farmers and restaurants to put on a really fun event - Seeds to Silverware.  Some very creative and vibrant people came together to create the event and they had it rocking uptown last weekend.  Fantastic food grown in local farms, prepared by a variety of local chefs and shared with about 100 supporters made for a super fun evening.  Susan and Thomas came from Hickory to enjoy the night with us and everybody had a big time.

Christie, Meghan and a bunch of other creative and energetic people did an amazing job with the event that they named Seeds to Silverware.  A long table was set up in the street on the beautiful Courtsquare with much attention to detail.  Place settings included a place card envelope with lettuce seeds inside for everyone to take home and start their own salad garden.



Organizers paid close attention to detail with the decorations and the flow of the evening. Flow in every sense of the word.   After first courses were served the skies opened up and rain flowed for a short time.   But it was such a night charged with positive energy that few let the rain get in the way.  We just carried on enjoying the good time and the amazing food.  A big hats off to all the local farmers and chefs and others that worked together to make it a wonderful celebration of the talent in our local food and business community.

But back to okra.  Mama Crowder used to grow Okra and I remember going with her to the garden to cut it from the tall stalks. It was prickly and sticky and she always wore a long sleeved shirt and hat in the okra patch. It's way easier to buy this at the Farmer's Market.  Especially when you want a huge basket full.

 I wanted a huge basketfull because I love okra.  So did my friend Julia.  I always think of Julia when Okra is in season.  Julia was David's cousin and Thomas' sister and I had the pleasure of staying with her in Charlotte for a time. She had some wonderful friends who loved her and when she was diagnosed with cancer they rallied around her with support.  These friends were intelligent, well-read people, who also loved to have a good time.  Once they had T-Shirts printed for Julia and her friends and family.  The T-shirts picture some happy Okra with the clever caption, "I'm Okray, You're Okray!" 

Seems like you can do about anything with Okra.  Put it in Gumbo, put it in Cowboy Soup, pickle it, fry it, make Christmas ornaments with it.  Even use it as a fun way to encourage a friend. 


Anna's Roasted Okra

Even after Gumbo and Drying Okra for Santas and Pickling Okra we had plenty of Farmer's Market Fresh Okra to try Anna's suggestion - Roasting it.  I had never considered roasting okra but it is really good. 

You roast okra like any other vegetable.  Roasting any vegetable is great because it is fast, easy, and healthy.  Libby does a pretty roasted vegetable dish with chopped squash, zucchini and other things  arranged in rows so that all the same colors are together.  Rhett does the best roasted potatoes with onions and peppers.  But roasted okra was a new one for me. 

Grow, or better yet Buy, some fresh okra. Wash and put in baking dish in one layer. Sprinkle a little Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper and turn to coat the okra. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Great as a side dish or an appetizer. A new way to love okra.  Thanks Anna!

Change and Courage - Crowder Peas and Mama's Salsa

"Seasons change and so do I..."  I woke up this morning with that line from a favorite Guess Who song stuck in my head.  It's not that I have heard it any time recently but I guess it just came in with the change in the weather - from hot, sticky August swelter to cool breezes and crispy blue and white September skies.

The subject of change has been in the air in more ways than one recently. 

My Aunt Ruth Crowder McSwain called the other day and we had a nice talk.  Aunt Ruth is not really my aunt - she's my great aunt.  And a great one she is.  Aunt Ruth is my mother's aunt but she is only one year older than mama.  You see Aunt Ruth's father, William Albert Crowder, had ten children.  William Albert Crowder  married Mary Etta Boggs in 1896 and they had several children before she died in 1911.  One of those children was my grandfather, Plato Dixon Crowder - my mother's father. Plato married Nettie Nevada Spangler and in 1926 my mother, Ruby, was born.

Stay with me here.

After Mary Etta died, Will Crowder married Sara Frances Jones better known as Fannie.  Will and Fannie had several more children and one of those children was Ruth, born in 1925.

That makes William Albert (Will) Crowder my mother's grandfather and Ruth's father.  Which means that, even though Ruth is only one year older than Mama, she is Mama's Aunt.

And even tho she is technically my GREAT Aunt Ruth, we all call her Aunt Ruth.  But she really is great.  All of the Crowders were interested in education and a lot of that family became teachers.  Aunt Ruth was a teacher who became a counselor and a very entertaining motivational speaker.  She even co-wrote a book titled, "Guarding Your Own Mental Health in a Fast Paced World".  I have heard her speak on several occasions and she is fun, entertaining, loving and her message is clear.

Once I heard her speak and she started out by saying.  "Look to the person on your left."  Everyone turned their heads left and she said "They look like a pretty nice person don't they?"  Everyone kind of smiled and a few murmurs were heard then Aunt Ruth said,  "Now look to the person on your right".  All heads turned to the right as Aunt Ruth suggested that most likely they looked okay too. 

Then Aunt Ruth drew up to her full tall self, gained the attention of everyone in the room and said, "Statistics show that one out of every three people have some level of mental illness.  If it's not the person on your left or your right, then it must be YOU." 

After the laughter died down, Aunt Ruth presented her message of truth and humor and how we all need to learn how to wade through life's challenges and live a life of celebration.

Aunt Ruth is always a lot of fun.  She can take most any situation, no matter how terrifying or sad or unjust, and turn it into a funny life lesson.

So I was glad to get a phone call from her the other day.  No surprise we chatted mostly about sports, but really about personal development through sports.  After a bit I asked Aunt Ruth how she was doing, knowing that in her late 80's she has seen plenty of life's joys and sorrows.  She said, "I'm doing okay.  You know you just have to get used to change.  Change is gonna come so get used to it.  It's the best way."

Changes this season include David IV beginning his second year at Cowboy Stadium and Jay beginning his first year as a graduate student in the Gardner Webb MBA program..  David is moving around into different departments and learning the ropes of management from various angles.  Jay has moved from a player to a graduate assistant on the GWU basketball team.  As parents, our main goal is to teach our children to become independent of us.  They will no doubt meet challenges and struggle at times along the way but we are having to learn to let them learn from their own experience.  As Thomas always says, "Every generation has to learn that the stove is hot."  But, so far so good and we are grateful and excited to watch both boys spread their wings in their own directions.

There are many people in my thoughts who have met with tough changes recently - mostly health related.  Health challenges make most other challenges seem pretty small. 

Dad, at age 89, decided to have cataract surgery.  This was a big decision which he struggled with but decided to forge ahead.  I think that took a lot of courage and it was inspiring to me  that he was still adapting to change and looking to the future.  The surgery was done in stages and was quite the process but when it was all said and done his vision is now 20-30.   That's probably better than mine.  He can read with just readers now and that's almost a miracle.

My best friend-boy college pal, Gardner, and his sweet wife, Beth, woke up at 2:00 am the other day with Gardner in cardiac arrest.  Talk about an abrupt change.  One minute all is well and the next EMS is trying to bring you back to life.  Thankfully Gardner is recuperating due to what must have been excellent care by medical personnel, Gardner's will to live, a total devotion by Beth, and a host of old and new friends who came out of the woodwork to let them know how much they are loved.  Some changes are terrifying but awesome at the same time.  Gardner has always been a connector but even he was surprised at the expressions of love from all around.  I have no doubt that Gardner and Beth and all of us who love them will come through this changed for the better.

Another person has inspired me and many others with courage in the face of change.

David Wilson is our friend and yet another  cousin.  This one on the Spangler side.  Mama Crowder, my grandmother - Nettie Nevada Spangler Crowder -  had several siblings and one of those was Aunt Laura. In Lattimore tradition, we all refer to her as Aunt Laura but she would have been my great aunt.  Anyway, Aunt Laura Spangler married Clarence Wilson and they had children Ed and Faye.  We all called Ed - Ed.  Ed Wilson is David Wilson's grandfather.  So that makes David Wilson and me second cousins once removed.  I'm not sure what we were removed from but according to Libby that's what we are.

We all have fond memories of Uncle Ab and Aunt Mittie Spangler's and also Ed Wilson's Food Booths at the Cleveland County Fair in the 60s.  Mama Crowder, Granddaddy, Ab, Mittie,  Libby,  Ed, Hazel, Sam and many others would serve the hungry crowds at the fair.  Ed would oversee the operation from his perch in the middle of Wilson's booth. Country ham biscuits were actually made from scratch by Mama Crowder and others and they were the best ever.

In recent years, I would see David Wilson most mornings at the Y working out on a stairmaster.  Then I began to see him struggling to walk into the Y.  Then walking in with a cane.  David had been diagnosed with ALS better known as Lou Gherig's Disease.  Throughout his struggles he has been amazing.  And so have his friends and family.

 Last night was the 3rd annual "Pass the Gift" fundraiser. Like most of us, David loves music. Unlike a lot of us, he could actually play music. So could his brother, Jimmy, and a lot of their friends.  So it isn't a surprise that the full name of the fundraiser is  "The David Wilson Rockin' and Rollin' Pass the Gift Fundraiser". The music that David loves is played live by people who love him.

There are many amazing things about this fundraiser. Three years ago David's friends wanted to do something to encourage David and his family and to help David with medical costs.  A bunch of friends put together a very successful event.  The next year they wanted to do it again.  This is where David's strength and self-less-ness came through. David asked them to do the fundraiser but to find someone else who had met with a medical challenge and to do the event for their benefit.  So this is the third year but each year another person who is in need benefits.  Passing the Gift for sure.

David was at the event last night with a couple hundred other people. Some knew each other and many did not but the compassion and the spirit of giving was there for everyone.  Since David now has difficulty speaking, his daughter Gracie, did a great job reading things he wanted to say to thank and encourage the crowd.  Grace in every sense of the word.

Last night, I mentioned to David how much I enjoy reading his facebook posts.  Sometimes people dis facebook, but I think  it's awesome that Facebook allows us to be connected and allows everyone to have a voice.  Especially people with an attitude like David.  He has written many interesting posts.

Here is what he wrote recently about life changes. 

"Thinkin' about how every change in life is good and bad.  Plurality.  People, relationships, careers, wars, death, sickness, wealth, poverty.  I've spent a lot of my worrying on fear of change.  Fighting inevitability.  The fight is only in your head.  Roll with the changes.  The secret to happiness is a REO Speedwagon song."  

And maybe sometimes a Guess Who song  "Seasons Change and so do I.  We need not wonder why".

Crowder Peas and  Mama's Salsa

The end of summer always brings crowder peas and the last good tomatoes.  Recently we have frozen a lot of crowder peas and also eaten some straight from the garden.  Mama makes homemade salsa to go with crowder peas and cornbread and that is a complete meal in itself.  Life's joy is in the simple things.

 

Cousin Mike stopped by the day Dad was overseeing picking and shelling crowder peas from the Lattimore Garden.  It was a good day to be under the big shade tree in the back yard.

 

It's amazing how many peas appear from one shell. Here they have been shelled, washed a ton of times, blanched until they get to be the "right color" then cooled. I blogged the full directions, such as they are, on the September 10, 2010 post.

 

After putting all the peas that Mama wanted in her freezor, Dad let me bring the rest to my house to finish up.  I feel a little like the squirrel that puts up nuts for the winter. 

 

Mama's salsa starts with a recipe from Barbara White McKay and then Mama tweaks it to her own liking.  She is careful to chop things neatly and uniformly.

 

This salsa is healthy and wonderful and, typical Mama, it is colorful and beautiful too.  She always serves it in a pretty bowl.

Tomato Salsa

4 small tomatoes, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped fine
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, minced, seeded (we don't seed these completely so it has a kick)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice (sometimes I think she uses lemon juice)
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 ounce can tomato sauce

Combine everything together, cover and refrigerate.  Keeps well in the fridge.  Enjoy!



 

A Lattimore Wedding

 

Weddings behind us and weddings ahead of us.  This has been an active wedding season and there are still more family weddings to look forward to in the coming months.   

 

What has been great is to see how each wedding turns out to be right for each couple.  This past weekend, Jackson and Mary Beth's wedding in Lattimore was absolutely right for them.  And for all of us who love them. And all of us who love Lattimore.

 

There were many things that I wanted to say to my nephew and his bride at the rehearsal dinner but every time I practiced, I cried and blubbered and honestly that doesn't make for a great toast.  So I did what any red blooded Lattimoron would do.  I found a short toast that summed up my feelings and posted it on Facebook...

 

"Here's to the groom with bride so fair.  Here's to the bride with groom so rare." 

 

There are so many parallels between Jackson and Mary Beth that it is amazing.  Both grew up in loving and nurturing families. Both grew up in small towns - Mary Beth in Lancaster, SC and Jackson in Lattimore. NC.  Both are smart, active, talented, driven, and just plain cute.  Both play tennis and play it well.  I had a chance to play doubles with Mary Beth a few times and she is a competitor.  Our battle cry was simply "POW!"  Jackson plays tennis and also coaches at Shelby High and this past year we all were excited when SHS brought home the 2A State Championship.. 

 

   Jackson and Mary Beth went to NC State at the same time but never met each other there.  At State, Jackson wrote and recorded a song about then NC State quarterback Phillip Rivers.  Mary Beth who loves all things Rivers and who also worked at the campus radio station loved Jackson's song and played the recording on the air.  Still they did not meet.  

 

After college, Mary Beth took a job at Gardner Webb University in the compliance department and Jackson came home to teach at Shelby High School.  Finally they got to know each other. 

 Living in Lattimore.

 

Jackson proposed on New Year's Day on the railroad track in front of his grandparents house in Lattimore.  He is renovating the wonderful old house across the tracks from The Depot. 

 

So it just made sense to have their rehearsal dinner at the Depot.  After the rehearsal dinner Square Dancing right there in the middle of town broke out with Cindy calling "dive for the oyster and dig for the clam!"   And it made sense to have the wedding at the lovely and sweet Lattimore Church followed by a reception at the Hunt's Cabin.  With two bands AND a DJ.   Here's why all of that made such sense.

 

 

The Depot is now a restaurant but it's history runs through Jackson's blood on both sides of the family.

 

Jackson's great grandfather, R. L. Hunt and grandfather, Jack Hunt (holding ice cream cone), are standing in front of what is now The Depot in Lattimore.  When this picture was taken  (probably in the late 1920's) it was the Hunt and Hewitt General Store.  Dr. Hunt and Mr. Hewitt owned and operated the store.  Dr. R. L. Hunt's dental office was upstairs.  He met Jackson's great grandmother, Alma Harrill Hunt, when she worked in the Lattimore Post Office.  At that time the Post Office was across the street from Dr. Hunt's dental office.  He could look out of his second story office window and see Alma walking to work.

 

This same building later was home to Martin Milling Company owned by Jackson's other grandparents - J. W. and Donnis Martin.   J. W. and Donnis owned and operated Martin's and lived across the railroad track in the gingerbread house with a wrap around porch.  JW Martin was also a barber and so naturally Martin's was the center of the universe in Lattimore for many years.  Cindy put together a great show for Jackson and Mary Beth's rehearsal dinner.  It included a video of  JW giving Jackson his very first haircut and another of Jackson, John and Jim playing "checkout" at Martin's.  The checkout counter is rolling and Jackson is on top of it rolling on roller skates with John and Jim marching along.  There are stories galore about the goings on at Martin's.

 

 

The parallel train tracks finally crossed and Cindy illustrated that at the rehearsal dinner.

 

 

Jackson and Mary Beth conducting their own train. 

 

 

 

The little boy holding the ice cream cone in the previous picture has been married to Ruby for over 65 years.  Both Ruby and Jack grew up in Lattimore.  Here they are talking with David who flew in from Dallas for the festivities.

 

 

 

This old safe in the Depot was part of the Bank in Lattimore.  The bank, post office, dental office and general store were all in one building.  Later on it became Martin Milling Company.  The safe is now a private dining area where Hayes found a place with good cell reception.   Hayes is originally from Winston Salem, NC and works mostly online with a high tech company from California.  A long way from the ways of Lattimore.  Not that I was eavesdropping but I think his conversation included, "They aren't serving wine and I think they expect us to Square Dance."  Not to worry.  He fit right in in no time.

 

David and Jay give KC a kiss in front of the old safe at the Depot. 

 

After the wedding everyone headed to the Hunt's Cabin for dinner by Harry and the Elves. Music included Jackson playing with past and present bands and also with Ty as a crowd pleasing DJ.  

 

 Jackson and Mary Beth shared their first dance as newlyweds.

 

 

 

We managed to get some pics just after the sun went down at the Hunt Cabin.

 

I wasn't able to corral everyone in the family for a group picture but did get what some refer to as "the five original sisters".

 

 

 

How many grooms play saxophone at their own wedding reception? 

 

 Jackson, like his father's side of the family, is a very talented musician.  Fortunately his Aunt Sally and Uncle David didn't warp him too much while babysitting back in the late 80s.  However, an Easter bonnet parade, naptime in a chest of drawers, something about a microwave oven -  and Jackson - will always have a special place in our hearts.

 

(my thanks to whoever posted this pic of Jackson on facebook.  I loved it and really wanted to include it here)

 

There was a bit of rain at the reception but it didn't seem to matter much.  Alot of us danced like nobody was watching.  In case you were watching, some of those moves were straight out of Selina's Fit Chicks Zumba class. 

 

David and KC took a few turns on the dance floor.  Many of us managed to Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide and - of course - We Wobbled.

 

Hunter, Stu, Heidi, Will and Penny paused for a pic.

 

Paul, Melia, Amy, Brycen, Paul, Kai and Libby didn't really pause but I took the pic anyway!

 

 

It was a beautiful wedding weekend.  The rehearsal dinner was old tyme Lattimore.  The wedding at Lattimore Church was full of wonderful music and full of faith and family.  Mary Beth's Uncle and Grandfather performed the very personal and touching ceremony.  And the pastoral setting of the cabin in Lattimore was the perfect place to wind up the festivities.

 

Looks like Jackson and Mary Beth have started out on the right track.