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.

John Coykendall Saving Seeds and Stories

S11:E6. 02/10/2024

Saving Seeds and Stories with John Coykendall

Seed Saving & Stories with our seed-saving pal John Coykendall of Knoxville, TN. John tells us how he became a seed saver, some of the varieties he has saved, where to find old-time heirloom seed like the ones he saves, and shares plus some cute stories. John and I (Amy) worked together in the garden at Blackberry Farm together in 2007, where I learned from John the importance of this heirloom seed.

Dogwood Arts House & Garden Show: https://www.dogwoodarts.com/houseandgardenshow

Many of the varieties that John has saved and referenced in the podcast can be purchased at http://www.seedsavers.org/

John Coykendall on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.coykendall.3

John Coykendall documentary: https://www.lpb.org/programs/deeply-rooted-john-coykendalls-journey-to-save-our-seeds-and-stories

John Coykendall book: https://lsupress.org/books/detail/preserving-our-roots/

Fred Sauceman “Pot Luck Radio”: https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman

Emi Sunshine (Sings our theme song): https://theemisunshine.com/

More heirloom seed sources:

Seed Savers Exchange : https://www.seedsavers.org/

Southern Exposure Seed: https://www.southernexposure.com/

Sow True Seed: https://sowtrueseed.com/

Rare Seeds: https://www.rareseeds.com/

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Rare Seed: https://www.rareseeds.com/

Photo ID: John Coykendall with Amy Campbell at the Blount County Public Library Seed Swap, January 2023. Photo: Amy Campbell.

Seed Swap, Seed Library, and Master Gardener Deena Trimble on winter sowing.⁣

S10:E3. 01/21/2023.

Seed Swap, Seed Library, and Master Gardener Deena Trimble on winter sowing.⁣

In honor of the upcoming National Seed Swap Day, January 28, 2014, we are setting the table with swapping seeds. It is that time of the year when we plan our gardens, order our seeds, and, if we are lucky, attend a local seed swap to swap seeds and stories with our neighbors. Today, we visit with Sheila Pennycuff, a Librarian at the Blount County Public Library located in Maryville, TN, and the woman who took an old wooden card catalog and turned it into a seed library. This seed library is located inside the Blount County Public Library. It is an essential service to the community where patrons check out seeds and contribute seeds back to the seed library.⁣

We also hear details of the seed and plant swap on Saturday, January 21, 2013, from 10:00 A.M.-12:00 Noon at the Blount County Public Library.⁣

Deena Trimble speaks on Seed saving, seed sharing, and winter sowing using plastic jugs with lids. She recommends getting friendly with someone who uses a CPAP machine and has clean water jugs to give away.

Links: Seed and Plant Swap info: https://www.blounttn.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=18140&month=1&year=2023&day=21&calType=0

Seed Library information: https://www.blounttn.org/1464/Seed-Library

The Blount County Public Library Seed Library, painted by me (Amy Campbell).

Deena Trimble helps with the seed library and speaks on the topics of her love of seed saving and sharing and winter sowing in this podcast.

One of Deena’s jugs of peas that she sowed in winter.

More of Deena’s jugs of plants that she sowed in winter.

Deena’s numbering system to keep track of what plant is in what jug.

Seed Saver John Coykendall on Cushaw Squash

Season 8, Episode 37. October 9, 2021.

Seed Saver John Coykendall on Cushaw Squash

In this episode my featured guest is Knoxville Native, seed saver, artist and farmer John Coykendall. John will let us know the origins, qualities,, and culinary uses of Cushaw squash. I (Amy Campbell) share a recipe from John's book for baked cushaw, courtesy of Mrs. Cornelia Weldon, mother of Sarah Weldon Hackenburg who took many of the photos for John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seed and Stories. Fred Sauceman, Food historian, Writer, and Professor of Appalachian Studies at ETSU shares a segment on the Native American origins of Cushaw squash.

Recipes below, please keep scrolling

Links: Link to find John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seed and Stories: https://www.abebooks.com/Preserving-Roots-Journey-Save-Seeds-Stories/31015307272/bd

Contact John Coykendall: If you would like to contact John Coykendall, please write an email to me, and I can provide you with his contact information. I just don’t want to put it on this website for security reasons. Please use this link: https://www.tennesseefarmtable.com/contact-us

Fred Sauceman: https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman

Emi Sunshine (Sings our theme song): http://theemisunshine.com/

Cushaw Recipes:

Baked Cushaw:

This recipe with you for baked cushaw, this recipe comes from John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s book and it is courtesy of Mrs. Cornelia Weldon who is the mother of Sarah Weldon Hackenburg who took many of the photos for John Coykendall and Christina Melton’s Book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seed and Stories

Here are the tools you will need:

• A vegetable peeler.
• A 3 quart shallow baking dish.

Here are the ingredients that you will need:

• 1 Medium Cushaw
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• Peel your cushaw. Cut it into quarters and scoop out the seeds. Cute the flesh into pieces and boil until tender. If you do not want to peel the cushaw, follow John Coykendall’s direction of softening up the flesh for cooking. Cut the cushaw in half. Scoop out the seed. Place each side down on a baking pan in the oven. Fill the pan with as much water as you can. Bake at 200 until the squash collapses. Scoop out the softened flesh. Some people blend it in a blender to make it smooth, or you can mash it with a potato masher to keep it a little chunky.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mash cooked cushaw and mix with remaining ingredients. Place in a 3-quart shallow baking dish and bake one hour. Serve warm.

Recipe for Cushaw Custard shared from Fred Sauceman

Prepare the cushaw: Peel your cushaw. Cut it into quarters and scoop out the seeds. Cute the flesh into pieces and boil until tender.

If you do not want to peel the cushaw, follow John Coykendall’s direction of softening up the flesh for cooking. Cut the cushaw in half. Scoop out the seed. Place each side down on a baking pan in the oven. Fill the pan with as much water as you can. Bake at 200 until the squash collapses. Scoop out the softened flesh. Some people blend it in a blender to make it smooth, or you can mash it with a potato masher to keep it a little chunky.

• 1 cup and a half of cooked cushaw
• 2 eggs
• 2Tb flour
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1 c milk

Mix and place in unbaked pie shell

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean

John Coykendall photographed in the backyard of his home in October of 2021. Credit: Amy Campbell

John Coykendall, Seed Saver, and Cades Cove Memories

Season 8, Episode 32. 08/28/2021.

John Coykendall, Seed Saver, and Cades Cove Memories

Guests include: John Coykendall, Seed Saver Lois Shular Caughron and Ruth Caughron Davis Cades Cove Preservation Association Annual Homecoming Event

Setting the table with old-time, heirloom seed, and seed saving stories with seed saver John Coykendall, and memories of Cades Cove from Lois Shular Caughron and her daughter Ruth Caughron Davis. Lois and Ruth share memories of Kermit Caughron who was known as the bee man and was always giving people his “bean seed”. His home and garden sat near the Cades Cove loop until 1999. Visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park touring Cades Cove often met Kermit. Kermit often shared his honey, and bean seed from his garden with visitors to the park. Kermit’s widow Louis Shular Caughron is known as the last woman out of the cove. She was the last of resident of Cades Cove after the establishment of the park took the land and homes of the residents of Cades Cove.

And I, (Amy) also share news of an event taking place Saturday, August 28th, from 10:00 - 5:00 P.M. at the Cades Cove Preservation Association in Maryville, “The Annual Cades Cove Homecoming”.

Links:

• Cades Cove Homecoming event and Cades Cove Preservation Association: http://www.cadescovepreservation.com/
• John Coykendall book: https://lsupress.org/books/detail/preserving-our-roots/
• Seed Saver Exchange where John saves and shares his seed: https://www.seedsavers.org/

John Coykendall signs his book Preserving Our Roots: My Journey to Save Seeds and Stories. (Photo Amy Campbell)