For a variety of reasons, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sorry for the hiatus. Most recently I’ve been traveling about twice a week to promote The Month of Their Ripening, my book on NC heritage foods. I spoke to a group of some 65 agriculture students at the University of Mount Olive in eastern NC last week. These students go to school where one of the state’s best-known products is prepared and packaged—Mt. Olive pickles. Though there might be the faint scent of vinegar in the air, strawberries are in the fields around town right now. My route also took me past scuppernong vines on either side of the road as far as I could see. No leaves yet on the vines, but spring has definitely come to that greening campus among the snowy dogwoods.  

Near the end of my talk, one of the students questioned a comment in my chapter on goat’s milk. I had written about the prevalence of mechanized farming in relation to dairy cows, suggesting that goat’s milk by contrast was more likely to be gently produced and the milking done by hand. The student said that the phrase “mechanized farming” sounded scary and unfair. She told me that she and many of her classmates were headed to family farms after graduation, where the cows were actually treated quite well. She said it might be different elsewhere, but in North Carolina there are still many small, family-owned farms that treat their dairy cows like family. 

Of course, that is true, now that I think about it. In Orange County where I live, my friends Portia McKnight and Flo Hawley of Chapel Hill Creamery make outstanding cow’s milk cheeses bearing the names of local landmarks. Hillsborough’s Maple View Dairy still uses recyclable glass bottles, offers whole milk, an almost chewy buttermilk, and the most luscious ice cream. Their farm stand is a destination that draws families by the car load this time of year to sample cones and sundaes while rocking on the front porch and observing the grazing herd before them. Other small farms in the region contribute to the milk produced by Durham’s long-running Maola Milk and Ice Cream.

So, I stand corrected. If you live in the Piedmont and want to learn more about these operations, the annual Piedmont Farm Tour, co-sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and Weaver Street Market, is April 27 – 28 from 2 – 6 pm. For a fee of $30 per car you can visit more than 40 farms throughout Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Johnston, Orange, Person, and Wake Counties. 

In January, I was the guest author at a colorful and scrumptious Middle Eastern spread created in support of Greensboro’s Scuppernong Books by patrons David and Susan Gutterman. The bookstore is a major organizer for the Greensboro Bound Book Festival held in May, along with a teen writing camp offered during the summer. Besides celebrating the scuppernong, our state’s official fruit, the eponymous bookstore on Elm Street in downtown Greensboro also serves food and wine and provides a cozy community space—really more like a living room–where visiting writers can comfortably share their work. The bookstore’s creativity in programming is unparalleled. Check out the schedule for Greensboro Bound in May.

The feast in Greensboro for Scuppernong Books and Greensboro Bound Literary Festival 

In February, I was touched when I arrived at Main Street Books in Davidson. The proprietors had prepared apples, persimmons, and goat cheese (also topics in my book) for patrons to sample during the presentation. 

Soon I’ll be heading to far western North Carolina in Highlands for “The Month of Their Ripening Weekend” at Half-Mile Farm. I’ll be talking about spring foods—foraged and cultivated–while guests at the B and B sample dishes created from these ingredients, all crafted by the expert chefs at the Farm. 

Botanical illustrator Carol Misner, who contributed her work to the book, will be demonstrating her painting techniques in the Garden Room. Photographer Donna Campbell, whose portraits of the fishmongers and farmers are also featured in the book, will be around to answer questions. Breakfast is likely to feature ramps, goat cheese, and prosecco flavored with muddled figs.

Garden Room at Half Mile Farm, Highlands, NC

Just this past weekend I was in Columbia, North Carolina, on the Scuppernong River, visiting with fishmonger Willy Phillips at Full Circle Crab Company. He said a small number of soft-shell crabs are already coming in from South Carolina because ocean waters are warmer than usual. (It will be May before Willy starts harvesting peelers.) 

As for oysters, the peak season is winding down. While many new aquaculture operations around Pamlico and Beaufort were disrupted by Hurricane Michael, the new crop from Ocracoke, called Woccocan Oysters (so called after the native name for the island) have been delicious.  It may not be too late to get a sample at restaurants across the state where Locals Seafood, a North Carolina distributor, delivers. We sampled some on the half shell a couple weeks ago—fresh, chilled, salty and perfectly saltine-sized—at Transfer Company Food Hall, a new venue, market and gathering place at 500 East Davie Street in downtown Raleigh. Created as a collection of vendors in a space designed for multiple forms of finger food with various spaces for sharing, meeting, drinking, and feasting, Transfer Co. is housed in what was the Carolina Coach Garage. There you’ll find Locals Seafood Oyster Bar, Che Empanadas, Benchwarmer Bagels (go early on weekends—the line is out the door), and Asheville’s prizewinning Burial Beer Company, a small-batch specialist. More food vendors will be opening there soon.

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