Ramp Seasoning
While I’ve been enjoying the sun of the last two days — walking down to the river by my house (accompanied by my two cats who stalk about like they think they are local bobcats), and especially enjoying the spectacular sunsets — my sister in Des Moines has been posting about the first major snow […]
Pickle Willie Cinnamon Cucumber Rings
by Joy Salyers On October 27th, I headed to Sophia, NC just outside Asheboro for the Resourceful Communities annual convening. I took along Program and Development Director Evan Hatch, and as we drove through the absolutely stunning fall foliage of the Uwharries region of the state, I tried to explain to him what a treat he was in […]
Making Do With Fall Apples
by Joy Salyers I took my children with me to the North Carolina Folklore Society meeting in Cullowhee, NC October 9 and 10. I was confident that we would encounter learning opportunities to rival a day of school. We drove first to the Musuem of the Cherokee Indian, where they got Jerry Wolfe’s autograph, sat […]
Lenten Fish Fries in 2015
by Joy Salyers North Carolina historian David Cecelski helped start NC Food, delighting readers for the blog’s first five years with his explorations of state foodways and his musings about food’s connections to place, family, and all that is good in life. In 2011, he noted in a food blog post that “It’s one of […]
Asparagus – Shoots and Roots
by Joy Salyers My friend (and amazing artist) Jessica Clark posted this pic on Facebook Tuesday. While she was rejoicing in it finally being the time of year when your nails are dirty for all the right reasons and things are sprouting, when I saw the beautiful asparagus spear, what I thought of was not […]
A Class Perspective on Daylight Saving Time
by Joy Salyers, NC Folk Executive Director How is your first work day on Daylight Saving Time winding down? If you are like some of my Facebook friends, it wasn’t an easy start. “Last time I was up before the sun it was to catch a flight for a fun weekend. Today is just to […]
North Carolina Blueberries
by Deborah Miller I didn’t actually GO blueberry picking with Joy Salyers and Elijah Gaddis, but I heard all about it and got to enjoy the bounty. Heck, I don’t even know where they went. But that Monday, I came into work to find a large container on my desk filled almost to overflowing. So […]
Dan Dunkel’s First Brunswick Stew
by Joy Salyers On May 19, my family and I headed up to Person County to the 125th anniversary of Berry’s Grove Baptist Church. Berry’s Grove is on Berry Road, in what is either Timberlake or Little River, depending on whether you’re trying to mail something there or drive to it. Being […]
Sometimes Community is Just a Piece of Cake
Here at NC Food we write about all aspects of our state’s traditional foodways. We tell potential bloggers to think of food as communication – what growing, preparing, and eating in certain ways says about a community’s traditions, history, and values. This week I saw an example of community values emerging through food in a […]
Oysters in the Parking Lot
One of the best perks of doing fieldwork for the North Carolina Folklife Institute is the amazing food you run into on the road. When I arrived in Brunswick County last night for a community meeting related to a folklife survey we’re doing, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, fieldworker Steve Kruger showed […]
Dropping in to Say Happy New Year
by Joy Salyers with help from Deborah Miller [Editors Note: We thought we’d revisit one of our favorite blog posts Dropping in to Say Happy New Year from December 31, 2012. We wanted to learn more about the tradition of dropping things to ring in the new year, especially some of those that take […]
Joy and Deborah’s Excellent Adventure to Person County
by Deborah Miller One of the things I already know I love about working here is when Joy starts a sentence with “We need to go …. ” Not one to need too much convincing, I can be ready to go in a split-second. And this time, she said “We need to go drive up […]