TennesseeFarmTable.com

Corn, Corn Relish, and Corn Cob Jelly recipes with Rachel Abbott Davis of J and R Farms, TN, plus a beautiful audio essay on corn from author and gardener Kelly Smith Trimble.

Today, we are setting the table with slow food. Food that takes time to grow and time to prepare. Guests today are Sarah Bush from Slow Food TN Valley, Rachel McCroskey of Four Daughter’s Farm of Walland, TN - and Josh Lowans with his wife Meagan’s recipe for cornbread salad.

Sarah will tell us about the international organization called Slow Food and the TN Valley Chapter of this organization - and Rachel McCroskey, a young farmer, will let us know about her family farm called Four Daughters Farm and how they farm. And Josh Lowans is also a farmer, forager, and a man of the woods - he works for Salubrious Farms in Walland, TN, and he walks us through how to make cornbread salad - with these tomatoes in season right now - it is the best time of the year to enjoy cornbread salad.

I also had some news about the upcoming Appalachian Homecoming event on the first weekend of August, with many farmers and chefs discussing modern Appalachian cuisine and farming.

Today we visit with Tennessee farmers who practice regenerative agriculture and have news about Appalachian Homecoming. A three-day event celebrating and studying modern Appalachian cuisine and farming issues. Our guests include:

- Christopher Burger, Brenna Powers Wright, Carrie Garvey, and chef Robert Allen of Bluestem Hollow, Greenback, TN.

- Aliceson Bales of Bales Farm is located in Mosheim, TN. She and her family raise pasture-raised beef, chicken, and pork, and she shares her recipe for Beef Roast.

- Lois Shuler Caughron and her daughter Ruth Davis of Maryville, TN. Louis and her late husband Kermit Caughron were the last residents of Cades Cove, which was their home before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Louis and Ruth share memories of Kermit, his bees, his love for fruit, and saving cucumber seeds.

- And news about an upcoming event, “Appalachian Homecoming,” a 3-day event with ticket options. It is also part of the New Hope Children’s Advocacy Center’s annual fundraising event, “Bacon at the Bear, built around Allan Benton’s bacon. Christopher Burger will be a speaker during the educational component of Dancing Bear Lodge and Appalachian Bistro’s Appalachian Homecoming, which will take place August 4-6 at Dancing Bear Lodge and Appalachian Bistro, which is located in the Peaceful Side of the Smoky’s in Townsend, TN. And other speakers include Allan Benton of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams - James Beard award-winning chef and restaurateur Sean Brock who is behind McCrady’s, Husk, Audrey, The Continental Nashville, Joyland, and June restaurants. And many more speakers. That incredibly talented Wyatt Ellis, the 14-year-old musician and mandolinist, will perform on Friday night.

We are setting the table with Recipes for Cobblers, Jam, and Pie made from fruits of the season.

Guests include:

- Farmers Susan and John Keller have been farming in Blount County, TN, on their family farm in continuous operation since 1890. UT Extension awarded John Keller Tennessee Farmer of the Year in 2014. Susan Keller shares a recipe for Miss Lily’s Blackberry Cobbler. This recipe comes from her Grandmother (Lilian Bays Hitch).

- Dee Dee Constantine (happily retired former food writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel) sets us straight on all of the terminology used in the arena of cobblers. She examines culinary terms such as brown Betty, cobblers, buckles, crisps, grunts, and slumps.

- I (Amy Campbell) share a recipe for Blackberry Jam from that classic “Minnie Pearl Cooks” cookbook.

- And an encore Farm and Fun-Time Heirloom Recipe segment recorded during the Farm and Fun Time Program at Radio Bristol - from storyteller Toni Doman sharing memories and her Grandmother’s recipe for cherry pie.

Guests on this topic include Lois Shuler Caughron and her daughter Ruth Caughron Davis. Lois is known as the last woman out of the cove. Lois and her late husband, Kermit Caughron, were the last settlers to move from Cades Cove after establishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

- Aliceson Bales of Bales Farm, Mosheim, TN, with her recipe for Buttermilk chicken and how to make chicken broth.

- James Beard Award-winning food writer Ronni Lundy reads from the chapter Honest Fried Chicken from her 1991 book Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes and Honest Fried Chicken: The Heart and Soul of the Southern Country Kitchen.

- Roy Milner (Chief Fermentation Officer at Black Berry Farm Brewery) with a mini visit on the nature of his work. Roy will be a presenter during the Saturday educational portion of the Appalachian Homecoming.

Today we are setting the table with a visit with a tremendously talented 14-year-old musician who makes his home in East Tennessee, Wyatt Ellis. He sings in that high lonesome sound and plays in a style all his own, heavily influenced by the sounds of the father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, along with Peter Rowan and Bobby Osborne.

Wyatt has had quite a year in his 13th year, in 2022, with highlights including a full-circle Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour with his mentor Sierra Hull, receiving a scholarship to work with Bobby Osborne from the KY School of Bluegrass, kicking off the CMA fest with David Harvey at the Gibson Garage, playing mandolin at Peter Rowan’s induction to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, performing at Marty Stuart's Grand-reopening of the Ellis Theatre in Philadelphia MS. He also performed on the Grand ole Opry. All of this at the age of 13. Wyatt has recently played music with Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Bryan Sutton, and more in Winston-Salem, NC, to celebrate what would have been Doc Watson’s 100th Birthday. And he played on stage at Merlefest this past April.⁣

Wyatt made his own dream come true with the help of Dailey and Vincent - playing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 13. Sierra Hull has also been an enormous part of Wyatt’s road along learning this Appalachian music.

Our featured guest on the show today is Allan Benton of Madisonville, TN. Allan shares his story on how he learned what the word prosciutto meant and how he positioned his product to the world of fine dining. Allan's prosciutto goes toe to toe with some of the most expensive, well-known prosciuttos from all over the world.

From Radio Bristol's Farm and Fun Time show, recorded live from the Birthplace of Country Music, storyteller Tony Marr's heirloom recipe segment on Leftovers.

Today, we are setting the table with Family Farming. We visit with Mike and Tammy Zavels of Zavels Family Farms in Corryton, TN. This farming family is a very successful family farm in the eastern region of Tennessee. They will let us know how they got into farming, how the family has grown, and the diversity of farm products they produce. They also give some experienced advice to those contemplating a life of farming for a living.

In Fred Sauceman’s Pot Luck Radio Series, he features one of Tennessee’s oldest restaurants in continuous operation, “Sarzour’s” of Chattanooga.

Asian Southern Fusion - Jessica Carr, Owner of Girl’s Gotta Eat Good (Knoxville’s first Asian Bakery), and Vic Scott, co-owner of Seoul Brothers, Hong’s Kitchen, and Bubbles and Cream Knoxville about their upcoming event Knox AAPI Night Market, May 19th, 2023 at Highwire Brewing, South Knoxville. And the Knox AAPI Business Association that they have founded. Plus, they share family recipes for Gimbap and Pork Adobo! May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and we have a thriving community of AAPI businesses in Tennessee to spotlight!

A visit with Singer and Songwriter Sarah Pickle, a Tennessee Treasure, program director, and fiddle instructor with Smoky Mountain JAM, Junior Appalachian Musicians program. I also asked her how she wrote her song The Piney Rose and about her chicken and dumplings. Also, Jenn Bowen, Museum Educator at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend describes the upcoming “Kids take over the museum event” at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center on May 6, 2023 all on my latest radio broadcast and podcast.