The Butter Bean … a new farm venture

  One of my strong remembrances about growing up was eating hand-picked, hand-shelled, home-cooked butter beans. In those days, there were no efficient mechanical harvesters so their fine delicacy reputation was bred into their preparation ... much like a blackberry pie tasting it's best when the berries are hand-picked - by the one doing the eat'in! Southern brand recognition and family tradition goes a long way so imagine my personal delight when I learned that again in my…

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Harvest time …

  Once peanuts are dug from the ground, they are  left in the field to dry before being combined (peanuts separated from the dug plant), graded, and prepared for market. Optimal conditions are when the peanuts sun-dry for a few days on top of the ground. This reduces the need and duration of mechanical drying with forced hot air ($$ propane $$). A sun drenched field also creates dust storms which farmers had to endure before there were…

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The Carolina’s battle that changed the course of the Revolutionary War …

Each year, Revolutionary War re-enactors  march from Abingdon, Virginia and Elkin, NC to commemorate the march of the frontier patriots over the Appalachian Mountains to defeat the Loyalist army at the Battle of King's Mountain (S.C.).  A portrayal and interpretation site is at the Bright's Cemetery on the Unimin Quarry property in Avery County (near Spruce Pine, NC) where almost 400 school children are bused annually to witness the tribute to Captain Robert Sevier who was mortally wounded in…

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