Food & Beverage
The Milkman Still Delivers
Good food begins at the farm. But then what?
A conversation on sourcing local food to live better, and age well!
Story and photos by Gail Greco
“Sprinkle these overtop,” my new neighbor nudged handing me a canister of store-brand breadcrumbs for a mac-‘n-cheese casserole—a thank-you for taking her to Shipley Farms. (More on the legendary Vilas ranch later.)
How to kindly be dismissive of the breadcrumbs though, as I planned to serve them to our mountain birds instead. I had an idea: “Have I mentioned my trail of breadcrumbs?”
“Hansel ’n Gretel’s path the birds ate?”
“Yeah, the fairytale’s metaphor, leaving behind a trail of crumbs, but my path … well … sit a minute,” I motioned. “I’ll put the kettle on with a special tea from the charming Appalachian Apothekary and Tea Room (Foscoe). Sweetener?”
I placed a stylish bottle of local honey from Whole Hive Honey Company (available at J&M Produce, Boone and Provisions on Sugar, Banner Elk) by her teacup and an empty bottle popping with wild fall asters. She oohed and aahed: “Wow, honey jar is also gorgeous as a bud-vase, and you said Whole Hive also makes delicious-flavored lip balms and craft honey sodas. All this local honey might help with allergies, too.
“BTW,” she chuckled, “a little buzz from mead helps my allergies. Have you tried?”
“Yup. The centuries-old honey drink’s back and at our bars and wineries. Stardust Cellars samples their Wilkesboro-made mead weekly at Watauga County Farmers’ Market (WCFM) in Boone. I love the sweet kick from their muscadine-lime. Mead was poetically fermented in the Middle Ages ‘under the lunar moon’ when newlyweds drank it excessively to stimulate conception, calling this blissful time the honeymoon.”
The kettle’s whistle beckoned me back to the tea. “Milk?”
“Cream?”
“Too heavy for tea.”
“Well, you wrote the (tea) book,” she replied, “so …?”
Sooo, shaking thick cream atop a jug of milk, I explained, “It’s non-homogenized so a cleaner creamier whole milk. Taste…”
“Mmm. Nutty sweet. Who makes this?”
“The milkman.”
She shot me a cheesy grin: “And, I suppose he delivers it?”
“Actually, yes! Cheek Farmstead Creamery’s Rodney Cheek and sons Brandon and Trathen truck their Fleetwood dairy’s milk (not raw) to subscribed customers of the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture’s Food Hub (FH). Grass-fed cow’s milk is vat-pasteurized (low-heat, more easily digestible), retaining nutrients and flavor that ultra-pasteurized milks lack.”
A Farm-to-Drive-Thru Mission
Cheek’s mantra is Make milk as close to the way God made it as we can,a reason why the milkshakes at the family-owned Come Back Shack (Boone) have been touted as ‘udderly heavenly.’ Here, they—well—churn the other Cheek into soft-serve ice cream for shakes tasting “dairy-forward—clean, crisp, non-gummy,” describes Shack’s development officer, Elliot Coatney. After spending months integrating the mechanics of a commercial kitchen with the limitations of a small farm, Come Back’s farm-to-drive-thru mission succeeded with Cheek now delivering more than 100 gallons weekly.
Many of our fine restaurants source mindfully—Bistro Roca (Blowing Rock), and Coyote Kitchen and The Wildwood Community Market (Boone), among others. But a fast-food place with such conscience? Under their iconic rusted-tin awning, sure enough, Come Back Shack (just opening another on King Street) also attracts locavores with grass-fed meat from Apple Brandy Beef (Wilkes County) and burger buns from a Charlotte bakery.
Pastured beef is abundant in the High Country, and I had previously introduced my neighbor to Shipley Farms, so popular its beef and pork are cooked and served in App State’s dining rooms. You can buy right off their farm (family-owned since 1872) and considering her two little Papillons, my neighbor was impressed by Shipley’s Products for Pets!
Continuing on the Trail of Crumbs
Sipping tea, we dipped rosemary sourdough crackers (Land of Milk and Honey, Deep Gap) and Creeksong Farm’s (WCFM) sugar snap peas in hummus. While prepping peas, I unzipped strings so fresh, their crisp snap-snap, bum-dittied through my ear buds, echoing the plucking of banjo strings by the Kruger Brothers band (Wilkesboro) and their Indian Summer on Pandora.
Speaking of such unseasonably warm weather, my husband and I recently ambled out to The Old Store at Grassy Creek—a treasury of local pottery, jewelry, and fresh eats. We grabbed house-made sandwiches and pie to munch lunch on their picturesque porch and then rode out to nearby Fishel Organics (at WCFM weekly).
Farmers Sanford Fishel, Leticia Gonzalez and Artemio Guerrero helped me choose pumpkins to puree with heirloom shelling beans by Mountain Roots (Lansing) and garlic from Lively Up Farm (Banner Elk, WCFM) for that hummus dip.
I bake a mean granola thanks to maple syrups from Waterfall Farms, seasonally sold at Molley Chomper cidery (Lansing), and The Sugar Shack of Boone (Stick Boy Bakery and West Jefferson farmers’ market). But my baking prowess is limited, so I should’ve bought scones from The Hive Bakery (WCFM) instead of serving mine. An expert baker, my neighbor surprised me, “Tender, fluffy, Gail.” I sheepishly admitted my success was baking with wholegrain flour (packaged with flour-sack cloth and stitched closed) from Two Stones Farm Flour + Mill (Greeneville, TN, available at Stick Boy and FH).
Tea-time morphed into dinner time …
… so, we cleansed palates with fennel slices (Mountainwise Farm, Zionville) and poured wine. Jeff Collins, owner of Peabody’s Wine and Beer Merchants (Boone), suggested The Scholar, created by App State’s fermentation department with Grandfather Winery (Banner Elk). Peabody’s sells Appalachian-made cheeses and crunchy NC small-batch snacks, the envy of charcuterie boards everywhere!
We tossed a scramble of leafy greens and then added pecans grown by Little Creek Market (Walstonburg) from Corbett’s Produce (Deep Gap), a farm store brimming with variety: bake-off biscuits, seafood from NC waters and Carolina Gold’s extra-virgin sunflower oil (Harrellsville). Topping the salad were apples from Brushy Mountain Orchard (Moravian Falls, WCFM)—leaves/twigs attached sans the wax that grocery warehouses add as preservative.
I whisked a dressing with olive oil from Fresh Press Farms’ olives, harvested and cold-pressed in Colquitt, Georgia. “Local?” my friend challenged. “The benchmark is 100 miles, but up to 500 (says App State’s agriculture department) when something isn’t produced locally.” In a decorative metal pour-spout decanter, it’s at Harris Teeter and Publix.
Farmacy, not big pharma
The breadcrumbs trail had gone cold, until I opened a container from my freezer.
“So, naturally you bought those breadcrumbs locally, too?”
“Not exactly. I made them.”
“I never thought to make my own.”
“Me neither until I read package labels: preservatives, sugars, corn syrup, saturated fats.My homemade recipe: Cube unseeded local fresh-baked bread (crusts optional) and harden overnight; add to processor (with dried seasonings, if desired); freeze.”
Even though tiny bits, breadcrumbs symbolize how all food can be preventive medicine, a philosophy practiced abundantly at Be Natural, a boutique grocery carrying local dairy, eggs, meats, produce, and an impressive hands-on-help wellness department! Owners Dave and Catherine Reczek tout farmers as, “infusing their products so lovingly, so wholly and naturally, that they’re the true Wonders of the World.”
And the NC-based supermarket Earth Fare (Boone) also sources responsibly and local including Springhouse Farm’s (Vilas) produce and owner Amy Fiedler’s bundled flower bouquets, a sensual medicine for sure!
Finishing dinner prep, my friend scattered the homemade breadcrumbs over the mac-‘n-cheese then hit the trash with hers, hoisting me a thumbs-up. “Not good for birds, either, who shouldn’t eat any bread; maybe you didn’t know that?” she winked, dropping her own trail of crumbs now, saying she was off to make vanilla extract.
So, sit a minute; I’ll put the kettle on … Maybe you’ve got some breadcrumbs to drop up my way, too?
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From the CML Kitchen…
By Meagan Goheen
Roasted Butternut Squash with Kale, and Chorizo
INGREDIENTS
1 small butternut squash peeled and cubed
2 TBSP olive oil
9 oz chorizo
4-5 cups chopped kale
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cumin
½ cup Cotija cheese
¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds
Directions:
- In a large pan, brown chorizo over medium high heat and set aside.
- To the same pan add the olive oil, garlic and cubed butternut squash. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin. Cook for 15- 20 minutes, tossing as needed.
- Add chopped kale and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
- Top with Cotija cheese and pumpkin seeds.