Singer, Songwriter, Fiddle Teacher, Sarah Pirkle on the Junior Appalchian Musicians (JAM) program

S11:E40. 09/28/2024

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Singer, Songwriter, Fiddle Teacher, Sarah Pirkle on the Junior Appalchian Musicians (JAM) Program

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 on my latest radio broadcast and podcast.

Links:

Sarah Pirckle and Jeff Barbara Music: https://jeffandsarahmusic.com/

Junior Appalachian Musicians: https://jamkids.org/

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center: https://gsmheritagecenter.org/

Sarah Pirkle at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. Amy Campbell 2023.

Tomatoes - Tomato Jam Event - My Late Mother’s Tomato Pie Recipe

S11:E29. 7/20/2024

Tomatoes, Tomato Jam Event,and My Late Mother’s Tomato Pie Recipe

News about an event 7/20/2024 called the Tomato Jam at the Blount County Public Library, I (Amy) share with you my Late Mother (Janie Clayton’s Tomato Pie recipe) , Dee Dee Constantine shares a recipe for Tomato Succotash and Allan Benton shares his favorite way to enjoy a BLT. He has an opinion on the mayonaise he prefers.

Blount County Public Libray https://www.blounttn.gov/2025/Public-Library

Blount County 4-H https://blount.tennessee.edu/

UT Extension https://utextension.tennessee.edu/

Blount County Master Gardeners https://bcmgtn.wildapricot.org/

Blount County Beekeepers Association https://blountbees.wordpress.com/

Dee Dee Constantine https://www.instagram.com/Skilletsister/?hl=en

Darrell and Allan Benton (Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams) https://shop.bentonscountryham.com/

Emi sunshine https://www.theemisunshine.com/

Mom’s Easy Tomato Pie - From the recipe from Amy’s late Mother (Janie May Clayton)

Preheat oven to 350

  Ingredients:

• Pie shell, cooked and cooled.  For gluten-free, make pie shell out of almond flour
• 4 -5 medium Tomatoes, sliced.  Drained on paper towels
• 1 Cup Dukes Mayonnaise, or JFG , or Blue Plate mayonnaise
• ½ Cup fresh basil (coarsely chopped) optional
• 1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg

  Directions:

Lightly beat egg.  Add mayonnaise, blend in cheese.  Layer ½ of mixture over cooked and cooled pie shell.  Layer ½ of basil and tomatoes over mixture.  Layer remaining egg/mayonnaise/cheese mixture, basil and top with tomato

  Cook in a 350 degree preheated oven for 35 – 45 minutes.

Amy’s late Mother (Janie May Clayton) and her Tomato Pie Recipe.

Kermit Caughron Striped Stick Bean, Cades Cove, Tennessee

S11:E18 05/04/2024

Kermit Caughron Striped Stick Bean, Cades Cove, Tennessee

In this episode, we are setting the table with “Kermit’s Striped Stick Bean”. We visit with John and Rachel Davis, owners of J & R Farms in Blount County, Tennessee. John Davis’s great-grandmother is Lois Shuler Caughron, and her late husband is Kermit Caughron. The Caughron family has raised and saved an heirloom bean for generations named the “Striped Stick Bean”. This bean comes from the last remaining descendants of white settlers and residents of Cades Cove, Kermit, and Lois Caughron. When the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established, the residents of Cades Cove were made to move out of the area over a certain amount of years. These last remaining residents of Cades Cove are John and Rachel Davis’s ancestors. This family is very involved with a nonprofit organization called the Cades Cove Preservation Association, and a link is below to find out more about this organization and the repository of artifacts and pictures of the families of white settlers who formerly lived in Cades Cove. I (Amy) am actively gathering recordings and information on the original settlers of Cades Cove and Eastern Tennessee Mountains, Native American residents who long before white settlers came to the area of East Tennessee. I hope to be sharing podcasts and radio shows on the Native American perspective through the lens of food over the next months.

For his “Potluck Radio” series, Fred Sauceman recalls Tennessee memories of the Franklin Club and of Raymond Bautista owner of the former restaurant “Raymond’s Fine Foods” along with Raymond’s recipe for Cole Slaw. Raymond’s Fine Foods was inducted into the Tennessee Restaurant Hall of Fame.

There will be the first fundraiser for Battlefield Farms called Gospel in the Gardens featuring the UT Gospel Choir This Benefit concert is to support Battlefield Farms which is a local non-profit organization with the mission of ending food insecurity in East Knoxville by partnering with community members to make fresh food accessable. Other live performances will be featured and food trucks will be available. This event takes place Saturday, May 4th at 6:00 PM at Payne Avenue Baptist Church at 2724 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Knoxville TN 37914. They ask that you bring your lawn chairs. More infoormation from this link: https://www.facebook.com/battlefieldfarmandgardens/

Links:

Rachel and John Davis of J&R Farms, Maryville, TN: https://www.jandrfarmstn.com/

Cades Cove Preservation Association: http://www.cadescovepreservation.com/kermitcaughron.html

Bluestem Hollow Market Day Market and Farm Party https://www.facebook.com/bluestemhollow/

Ben Cohen and Family, Owners of Small House Farm offer for sale a limited amount of Kermit’s Striped Stick Bean seed. They have been saving and sharing this seed and the story behind it. Find out more by visiting their website: https://www.smallhousefarm.com/product/kermit-bean/

Emi Sunshine sang our theme song when she was 9 years old: https://theemisunshine.com/

Kermit Caughron at home in Cades Cove, inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo: Ruth Caughron Davis., Cades Cove Preservation Association: http://www.cadescovepreservation.com/kermitcaughron.html

Striped stick bean that has been passed down by the family of Kermit Caughron. Photo: Amy Campbell.

Striped stick bean that has been passed down by the family of Kermit Caughron.

Tennessee Chicken Recipes and Roy Milner, Blackberry Farm Brewery

S10:E25. 06/24/2023

Setting the table on this episode with chicken. 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. A three-day celebration of Modern Appalachian Cuisine with guest chefs including Sean Brock, demonstrations, and authentic Appalachian prepared dishes, with music including that 14-year-old super talent Wyatt Ellis from Maryville, TN, also community and educational presentations. Allan Benton will also be there. And this all happens along with the annual event Bacon at the Bear benefitting New Hope Children’s advocacy - that event takes place at Dancing Bear Lodge and Appalachian Bistro on Saturday evening.

LINKS:

• Appalachian Homecoming, August 4-6, 2023): https://dancingbearlodge.com/event/appalachian-homecoming-2023/
• Bacon at the Bear: https://dancingbearlodge.com/event/8th-bacon-at-the-bear-2023/
• Cades Cove Preservation Association (Lois Caughron and Mrs. Davis are very involved with this organization): http://www.cadescovepreservation.com/
• Aliceson Bales, Bales Farm: https://balesfarmstn.com/
• Ronni Lundy: http://www.ronnilundy.com/
• Emi Sunshine (She musically arranged and sang the Tennessee Farm Table theme song when she was 9 years old!) https://theemisunshine.com/

Roy Milner (Chief Fermentation Officer at Black Berry Farm Brewery) with a visit on the nature of his work at the brewery. Roy will be a presenter during the Saturday educational portion of the Appalachian Homecoming, August 4-6, 2023 at Dancing Bear Lodge and Appalachian Bistro, Townsend, TN.

Little Mountain Flower Farm, Maryville, Tennessee

S9:E18. 05/14/2022

Little Mountain Flower Farm, Maryville, Tennessee.

In this episode, we are setting the table with pretty flowers. Or, as many of us here in Tennessee pronounce it, purty flares. No, it’s not about the eating. It’s about the joy and beauty flowers add to this life. That little touch of grace to the table, the home, or that person in need or celebrating a special event. 

Amy’s guest is Susie Kawar, owner and operator of Little Mountain Flower Farm, located in Maryville, TN. A design-centered floral farm and studio. Susie grows her flowers and puts together farm-fresh floral arrangements by hand in her floral studio right on her family’s farm. 

She, her husband, and her children grow these flowers with sustainable, regenerative growing practices. In addition, they have a sweet yellow dog named Paris that found them when they lived in Paris, Tennessee. This is an inspirational story of a person who has teamed her creative skills with a firm knowledge base in agriculture and has made a living for herself and her family doing something that she loves to do that brings joy to others. She will also share one of her go-to recipes for a refreshing tabouli salad.

Also, in Fred Sauceman’s Pot Luck Radio series, he features one of Tennessee’s oldest restaurants, Nicks of Kingsport, Tennessee. 

Links:
Little Mountain Flower Farm: https://www.littlemountainflowerfarm.com/
Fred Sauceman: https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman
Nick’s, Kingsport, TN: https://nicksrestaurantandcatering.com/

Susie Kawar, Owner of Little Mountian Flower Farm, Maryville TN https://www.littlemountainflowerfarm.com/ . Photo: Amy Campbell. 2022.

This is Susie and her family’s dog, Paris. Paris found them when they lived in Paris, Tennessee. She was in horrible condition when they first found her, and Susie and Michael gave her the medical attention she needed and a good home.

Susie in her hoop house with some of her flowers.

Susie holding one of the little yellow flowers she grew.

Broasted chicken from Nick’s of Kingsport, Tennessee. Photo: Fred Sauceman. https://nicksrestaurantandcatering.com/