1. No matter how many times I try my tater cakes never taste as good as Granny’s. I’m always tickled when I stop by to see her after work and she’s got some on the stove.
2. We’ve already started thinking about this year’s garden. We’ve talked about what we want to do different and what we want to do the same. I’m excited to see Sow True Seed is offering a different variety of greasy back beans. They’re calling them North Carolina Long Greasy Pole Bean. Sow True Seed always tries to track down the history of their heirloom seeds, but they’re not having much luck with these greasy beans. The part I’m excited about is they’re guessing the beans are the same ones they sold several years back under the name WNC Market Greasy Beans. WNC Market beans were hands down the best greasy beans we’ve ever grown. Our garden didn’t really do that well last year, most of the issues were Mother Nature not cooperating when we needed her to. We’re planning on dressing all the gardens with a layer of chicken litter in the coming weeks to beef up the soil and hopefully that will help this be a better growing season.
3. The girls got another feather in their cap recently. They are among the many talented artists featured in the North Carolina Millennial Traditional Artists Directory. You can find them on page 75.
4. The Deer Hunter turned me on to The Deslondes. I’m not sure they’re still making music, but they have some great videos on Youtube, you can see my favorite here.
5. I swear every time I come up the porch steps I notice more rocks on my porch. If you know of any jobs requiring the technical skill of finding rocks in creeks I have two girls who would be perfect for the position.
Tipper
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Oh, the memories those tater cakes bring to mind ! I can just see my sweet Mama making them on the
old wood stove. Lord, my daddy loved tater cakes. Everyone in the family loved them, how we gathered
around the old kitchen table, what tales were told there. Thankful for the memories that live on.
Congratulations girls, so glad you are carrying on the traditional music from our mountains !
I call them tater biscuits and I love them. A plateful with bechamel sauce (it’s just white gravy) over it is some opulent eating. When I get down to the weight I need be I’ll make me some for sure.
Tipper,
When Lauralea was just a little thing, she went with Daddy Rock huntin’. Most of the time they’d go across the Nantahala on the Swinging Bridge below the quarry. They went into 3 Caves that the Indians lived in and found many Stones. (You can see those Caves when the leaves are down, just above the Railroad.) Daddy would bring home all kinds of Rocks and put them in Fruit Jars. He liked to look at them. He had several one gallon and half gallon Fruit Jars just brimming full, until Mama laid the Law down. She needed those Fruit Jars to put stuff in that she had canned. He’d bring home Rocks and put them in Jars from his pants pockets. Me nor my brothers cared anything for Rocks. …Ken
O I love tater cakes. We all do in my family. I fry mine in a iron skillet to. Our favorite kind of beans is Greasy back Bean. Thats the best bean every. A woman that was at our church, she would always fix a pot of them at our church diners. I also love her biscuits. God rest her soul. Tipper when you talk like this, it always gets us in the mood for gardening. The girls jewelry is just beautiful.
My husband makes potato cakes out of leftover mashed potatoes and fries them in an iron skillet. He uses canola oil, but I think the real secret is the iron skillet because the potato cakes are so crispy. He makes them the way my Mama did. They are good for breakfast.
Congratulations to the Pressley Girls for their latest achievement!
I’m with Ann, I think I need Granny’s recipe for Tater Cakes. Alex and I ate Granny’s tater chips last night for our Daddy-Daughter Supper. I get a lot of praise for making those!
Your girls stack rocks. Alex always has a pocket full of sticks and dried acorns and Buckeyes. She might be raised Off, but there is a whole lot of Hills in my girl.
Congratulations girls. Keep on Keepin on. Time to get a bus and hit the road so the rest of the country can hear your music.
It’s been years since I had potato cakes. Maybe I will try making some in the air fryer to avoid eating all that grease they soak up when they are fried.
The seed catalogs are keeping me sane as I plan my garden and dream about playing in the dirt. Watch about overusing that chicken litter. I’ve burned up more than a few plants I intended to fertilize.
The girls have arrived! They earned those feathers.
Never heard of The Deslondes but I plan to listen on You Tube.
I have a grandson who has been a rock hunter from the time he started walking. We used to take the old truck down to the creek, pack a picnic and wade the water looking for rocks. I can not part with any of the unique finds when I stumble upon them in sewing machine cabinets or utensil drawers.
I sympathize about the potato cakes – one thing I’ve never been able to make, which will sound crazy, is a decent pancake. Even though I was able to make them when I was little!
Let me know if you would like some Candy Roaster seeds, Tipper. I have something like 2,000 of them from last year’s garden, and I’m still eating the squash. Your roasting method for butternuts is working out fine for the candy roasters, and I’ve started to cut up and add potatoes at the same time. I found that if I get the pan in the over before I go out to do all the goat water buckets, I come in to find perfectly cooked squash and potatoes!
By the way, I meant 2,000 SEEDS, not 2,000 squash! HA!
Do we have Grannie’s potato cakes recipe?
I agree that the Deslondes make mellow music. Thanks to the Deer Hunter.
Enjoy those piles of rocks, Tipper! Before you know it, those rock hunters will be putting rocks on their own porches. Sigh.
Congratulations to Chitter and Chatter for their inclusion in the folkarts directory! And a porchful of rocks is a good thing, Tipper.
I love tater cakes to. You make me want some.
Congratulations girls! A feather in your caps for sure. A cardinal feather would be fitting of you could find one. (Wonder where that expression came from?)
Guess there is no chance the girls have found Multiplying Rocks? They would be related to those sneaky rocks that come up out of the ground under your sleeping bag at night. Then there is that other bunch that come out of the ground in the garden after rain. Then rocks, gotta watch out for’em.
Just yesterday I noticed a little island has appeared in my creek and it’s covered with little rocks. I was thinking I should tell the girls but maybe not, it sounds like they may have plenty. Chitter is certainly making some beautiful jewelry from those Stamey Creek rocks!
A BIG congratulations on the girls being added to the North Carolina Millennial Traditional Artists Directory!
The Deer Hunter is right, that’s some nice soulful music!
Tipper, it took me a while to figure out why things I fried were not as crispy as they used to. In fact it was my friend Larry who told me it was because of the kind of oil I was using. I no longer buy the hydrogenated oil because it’s so unhealthy. Consequently no crispy fried chicken!