Summer 2012, Tennessee Home & Farm

Home & Farm Tenne sse e

tnhomeandfarm.com Summer 2012

Party Planters Summer Celebration gives gardening techniques a quirky twist

Who Says You Can’t Fly? Discover adventure at ziplining destinations across the state

Berry Bliss

Sweeten your summer with Overnight French Toast and other berry delicious recipes

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Published for the family members of the Tennessee Farm Bureau

Home & Farm Ten n e ssee

An official publication of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation © 2012 TFBF Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation tnfarmbureau.org

Editor Pettus Read circulation manager Stacey Warner Board of directors President Lacy Upchurch, Vice President Danny Rochelle Directors at large Jeff Aiken, Charles Hancock, Catherine Via district directors Malcolm Burchfiel, James Haskew, Eric Mayberry, Dan Hancock, David Mitchell state fb women’s chairman Jane May Advisory directors Larry Arrington, Brandon Whitt Chief administrative officer Joe Pearson treasurer Wayne Harris Comptroller Tim Dodd

Managing Editor Jessy Yancey Content coordinator Blair Thomas Contributing Writers Lori Boyd, Melissa Burniston, Susan Hamilton, Nancy Henderson, Tiffany Howard, Anthony Kimbrough, Leslie LaChance, Jessica Mozo

Editor’s note

Welcoming Summer Coming off a mild winter and warm spring, we don’t really know what kind of temperatures to expect for summer. But for farmers, their livelihood – and our food supply – depends on the weather. From floods to tornadoes to frosts to droughts, a brief bout of severe weather can damage crops for an entire year. On page 12, we’ll introduce you to a West Tennessee farm family that can tell you firsthand just how unpredictable Mother Nature can be – and why they continue to persevere.

Anyone with a home garden knows the trials and tribulations of growing food on a small scale. Summer is prime time for gardening, so you’ll learn about planting fruits and vegetables with herbs and flowers; lessons the Garden of Hope project taught a group of inmates; and the Summer Celebration in Jackson, which isn’t your average garden show.

Whether you grow your own berries, visit a pick-your-own farm or farmers market, or brave the thorns like Pettus Read (page 5), check out our berry recipes on page 24 and even more at tnhomeandfarm.com.

Jessy Yancey, managing editor thaf@jnlcom.com

Creative services Director Christina Carden Senior Graphic Designers Laura Gallagher, Vikki Williams Creative services analyst Becca Ary Photography Director Jeffrey S. Otto Senior Photographers Jeff Adkins, Brian McCord Staff Photographers Todd Bennett, Antony Boshier Web creative director Allison Davis Web Content Manager John Hood

At a Glance/A sampling of destinations in this issue

Web project manager Noy Fongnaly Web Designer II Richard Stevens Web development lead Yamel Hall web developer i Nels Noseworthy

4/Finley

Proofreading Manager Raven Petty Ad Production Manager Katie Middendorf Ad Traffic Assistants Krystin Lemmon, Patricia Moisan

1/McEwen 3/Murfreesboro

6/Braden

5/Seymour

2/Delano

i.t. service technician Daniel Cantrell database manager/it support Chandra Bradshaw Color imaging technician Alison Hunter accounting Diana Guzman, Maria McFarland, Lisa Owens Integrated Media Manager Robin Robertson Chairman Greg Thurman

1/ Kick up your heels and enjoy some barbecue at the Irish Picnic in McEwen page 6 2/ Stop and smell the daylilies in Delano page 6

President/Publisher Bob Schwartzman Executive Vice President Ray Langen Sr. V.P./SALES Todd Potter sr. V.P./operations Casey Hester sr. v.p./Agribusiness Publishing Kim Newsom Holmberg v.p./sales Rhonda Graham V.P./Visual Content Mark Forester V.p./external communications Teree Caruthers v.p./content operations Natasha Lorens controller Chris Dudley

3/ Celebrate 35 years of Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro page 6 4 / Learn about weather from a Dyer County farmer’s perspective page 12 5 / Read about a Seymour couple’s eco-friendly farmhouse page 20 6 / Stop in for deep-fried Southern seafood in Braden page 29

Distribution DIRECTOR Gary Smith receptionist Linda Bishop Tennessee Home & Farm is produced for the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation by Journal Communications Inc., 725 Cool Springs Blvd., Suite 400, Franklin, TN 37067, (615) 771-0080.

All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent.

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Tennessee Home & Farm (USPS No. 022-305) Issued quarterly by the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, 147 Bear Creek Pike, Columbia, TN 38401, (931) 388-7872. Periodical permit paid at Columbia, TN, and additional entry offices.

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Table of Contents Features 8 / Party Planters

Jackson’s Summer Celebration puts a quirky twist on gardening techniques

12 / Weathering the Storms

Flooding presents an unpredictable challenge for Tennessee farmers

16 / Garden of Hope

Project for Rutherford County inmates teaches gardening skills, commitment

20 / Lean and Green

Seymour couple builds eco-friendly farmhouse

24 / Berry Bliss

Sweeten your summer with a bounty of farm-fresh berries

24

8 38

Departments 5 / Read All About It

Blackberries are worth the thorns

6 / Short Rows

Learn the history of June Dairy Month

28 / Country Classics

Sour Cream Enchiladas win at Moofest

29 / Restaurant Review

Braden Station serves a seafood buffet

30 / Gardening

Interplanting helps gardens grow

33 / Farmside Chat

Meet a city girl turned farmer

28

35 / To Good Health

Use a little common sense

37/ Member Benefits

When to regroup and change tactics

38 / Travel

Ziplining yields adventure across state

42/ Events & Festivals

Things to do, places to see

48 / View From the Back Porch Water forms summer memories

On the Cover Photo by Jeffrey S. Otto Overnight French Toast With Mixed Berries tnhomeandfarm.com

Home&Farm 3

tnhomeandfarm.com Tr avel

Home & Garden HOme & GarDen

Agriculture aGriculTure

Say Cheese!

Photo Contest Online

TN Living Tn livinG

Jimmy Ramsey

FOOD

Meredith Bustillo

You have until Aug. 1 to enter our annual photo contest online – and check out other entries – at tnhomeandfarm.com/photocontest. Come Aug. 2, you can vote for your favorites (among online entrants only) in the 3rd Annual Visit tnhomeandfarm.com to enter our annual photo contest. Online Readers’ Choice Contest. The overall winners (among online and mailed-in entrants are also eligible for special web-exclusive readers’ choice contest. entries) will be announced in the Winter 2012-13 issue of this magazine.

Online Library Read past issues and new online-only magazines Read past issues and new online-only magazines simply

Summer A COLLECTION OF REFRESHING SUMMER RECIPES

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vol. 1

From Our Readers Linden’s In Ice Is Nice Music Scene [In “Painting the Town,” Spring 2012] My husband and I were married in 1995 when I was working with Matt the art of great music wasn’t touched [Simonds, “Artistry in Ice,” Winter 2011] on. The Perry County towns of Linden at the Crowne Plaza. As a wedding gift, and Lobelville have embarked on a Matt offered to carve a bus in ice to unique joint venture bringing concerts surprise my husband, who owned a bus to the county every Saturday night all company at that time. It was beautifully summer long. The free outdoor shows displayed as you walked in the door of alternate from Linden to Lobelville our reception, and my husband was week to week. The music features a vast thrilled when he saw it. He still tells the array of musical styles including blues, story today of what a great surprise that jazz, country, ’50s pop and bluegrass. was and how beautiful the bus looked in Music on Main Street kicks off in ice. Thanks, Matt, for great memories!

Linden on the Perry County Courthouse Squarespellings on Saturday, May 26. For more Hilary information, contact the Perry County via tnhomeandfarm.com Chamber of Commerce at (931) 589-2453 or visit www.perrycountytn.org. missing recipes Hugh Waddell, via tnhomeandfarm.com What happened to the recipe archive?

There used to be a salad recipe that Raving About Roy included maple ginger walnuts for Growing up with so many cowboy garnish. I found it as recently as a heroes, Roy Rogers was at the top of my month ago, and now it’s gone. list [“Blazing a Happy Trail,” Spring 2012].

Jennifer Goode stevens One could not pry me away when they via Facebook would come on our black-and-white TV. Editor’s note: Don’t worry – we have big Eugene Wilson, via tnhomeandfarm.com plans for our recipes! Not all of them made it onto our new website yet, butto I remember Roy and Dale coming recipes are being added seasonally.

DuPont Elementary twice – we were so Stay tuned for a thrilled to get tobig seeannouncement them in person. about our recipes soon.

Sue Sykes, via tnhomeandfarm.com In the meantime, if you’re looking for a specific recipe, let met us know byI posting Though I never them, grew up on our Facebook page as Jennifer with Roy and Dale.

Many times in did, my or by e-mailing at thaf@jnlcom.com, childhood whenus I had to make a and we’ll send your way. decision, it wasit ‘what would Roy do?’ I love them as much today as I did then.

Correction Bettye Woods, via tnhomeandfarm.com We made an error in the Turkey Pot Pie recipe on page 27 of our Winter Correction 2011 issue. The recipe calls for 6 Reelfoot Lake State Park [“Get Out,” tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons Spring 2012] is located at 2595 State heavy cream. View the correct version Route 21 East in Tiptonville, and its of the recipe in its entirety at phone number is (731) 253-8003. tnhomeandfarm.com/turkey-pot-pie.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Visit us on YouTube at youtube.com/tnhomeandfarm Share with us on Flickr at flickr.com/groups/scenictn Sign up for for the the e-mail e-mailnewsletter newsletteratattnhomeandfarm.com/newsletter tnhomeandfarm.com

|Spring 2011 2012 4 Home&Farm |Summer

Questions, comments and story ideas can be sent to: Jessy Yancey, 725 Cool Springs Blvd., Suite 400, Franklin, TN 37067, or e-mail usatat email us thaf@jnlcom.com. tnfarmbureau.org

Read All About It

Blackberry Summer berries are worth battling thorns, snakes and chiggers

T

he humidity on this hot July day must have been around 125 percent as I struggled to get to a large blackberry on the backside of a half-dried-up thorny blackberry bush. That year’s drought had inflicted damage on anything that grew, and the wild blackberries on my farm were a testament to the fact that they also needed water. The crop that year was about as big as the end of my little finger, and the luck of finding a good-sized berry was rare. In fact, I saw a chigger and a seed tick fighting over one, and they both gave up because it was just too small. They settled for my ankles instead and committed insecticide death due to all the DEET I had sprayed on my body.

As I inflicted the pain of a blackberry bush thorn to my right arm, I suddenly remembered why I was there. Not because I enjoyed pain, getting a heat stroke or scratching chiggers, but because of my hunger for blackberry cobbler. There is nothing better than the aroma of blackberry cobbler coming from the kitchen to make you forget the pain of blackberry thorns.

Blackberry picking has been a long tradition of my family. Each year during the summer when I was growing up, at least one day would be set aside for blackberry picking. That day included the entire family and usually began early in the morning, right after the milking was completed.

We would gather up milk buckets, lard pails and just about any kind of container that had a handle. We’d load them into the family pickup and head out to the Versailles Knob on my grandfather’s farm, which happens to be where I live today. There you would find some of the most luscious berries and enough to give you a full day of all of the picking you could stand. tnhomeandfarm.com

Back then, berry picking also included the liberal use of kerosene, which is better known to many of us as coal oil. Coal oil rags tied around your ankles were supposed to keep the chiggers away. Sometimes it did, and sometimes it didn’t. When it didn’t, your ankles and waist usually paid the price.

Another fear of picking blackberries is snakes. I would make a lot of noise whenever I would approach the vines, just to let the snakes know that I was coming. It seemed that the bushes with the largest berries also had the most snakes using the vines as their summer retreat. Many times, I would move on to another location if a snake wanted the bush more than I did.

After loading all the buckets full of berries, we would head back to the house for another round of coal oil. This time it would be in the form of coal oil baths, which didn’t do much for your skin, but it did stop what chiggers got past your coal oil ankle bracelets.

Mother would wash the berries in cold water and begin to prepare them for canning, freezing and, best of all, making blackberry preserves. A meal ending of hot buttermilk biscuits with real butter and fresh homemade preserves is something that no real country boy would ever turn down.

She also saved enough berries for a cobbler to serve for the night’s supper on berry picking day.

I can still taste those cobblers she would serve.

I also remember rubbing my ankles together under my chair to take care of the itch from the chigger bites I received from the day’s activities. But as they say, “No pain, no gain.”

I hope your trip to the blackberry vines this year are fruitful and allow you to bring home a delicious dessert and some memories. Just leave the chiggers and snakes where they are.

About the Author Pettus L. Read is editor of the Tennessee Farm Bureau News and director of communications for the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation.

Read More About It Read has collected his favorite columns into a book titled Read All About It. Part of the proceeds of the book sales go to Tennessee 4-H and Tennessee FFA programs.

Buy a copy online at tnhomeandfarm.com/ store.

Home&Farm 5

Short Rows

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1/ Return to Musical Roots

2 / Luck of the Irish

3 / Fields of Daylilies

It started as a two-hour afternoon of banjo-pickin’ on the square. Today, the annual Uncle Dave Macon Days festival at Cannonsburgh Pioneer Village in Murfreesboro has grown into a threeday event complete with music and dancing competitions.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the July 13-15 music festival, which honors Uncle Dave Macon, a master banjo player, an early Grand Ole Opry superstar and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. It also celebrates those who strive to keep the music style alive.

The festival costs $5 for a one-day pass (Friday or Saturday) or $8 for a two-day pass. Admission is free on Sunday. To learn more, call 1-800-7167560 or visit tnhomeandfarm.com.

Tracing its roots back to 1854, the Irish Picnic at Saint Patrick’s School in McEwen is said to be the oldest continuously running festival in Tennessee, and it’s not by the luck of the Irish that it draws some 25,000 visitors each year.

The celebration, a fundraiser for the 158-year-old school, takes place July 27-28, 2012. Early visitors can enjoy their share of 4,200 chicken halves that will be prepared for lunch on Friday.

Live music and dancing begins at 6 p.m. in the outdoor bandstand. The festival continues Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., as some 21,000 pounds of barbecue pork slow cook over hickorybark coals. For more information about the picnic and the school, contact the parish office at (931) 582-3493.

The perfect perennials are on display at Delano Daylilies. Steve and Karen Newman manage the garden in Delano, which celebrates its 12th year open to the public this summer.

It began as the couple’s hobby, but today it’s a full-time job. In addition to growing and selling their flowers, they serve as an American Hemerocallis Society Display Garden. This means the garden must keep track of its annual visitors – about 1,200 to 1,500 of them come through the Newmans’ garden annually – as well as work to educate garden visitors about the perennial blooms, serve other gardeners with problems and questions, and remain active in local daylily clubs.

Read more online at tnhomeand farm.com/daylilies.

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4 / Got Milk?

TN FARM FRESH

Since the 1990s, we've seen our favorite celebrities wearing milk mustaches to promote the health benefits of milk. But June Dairy Month has been keeping the importance of dairy in the forefront of people's minds for much longer, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2012.

The promotion, designed to increase dairy demand during the summer months of peak production, started in 1937 as “National Milk Month” supported by the National Dairy Council and was dubbed “June Dairy Month” in 1939. It evolved into promoting the overall use of dairy foods in the mid-1950s.

Tennessee communities celebrate with parades and festivals, such as June Dairy Days Celebration in Greene Count and Athens' National MooFest Dairy Festival (see more on page 28).

Visit www.southeastdairy.org to learn more about June Dairy Month.

5/ A Notable Garden A little water, some sunshine and a letter of praise from First Lady Michelle Obama are helping grow the garden at All Saints’ Episcopal School.

God’s Bountiful Outdoor Garden grows fruits and vegetables ranging from cabbage to zucchini. At the end of last year, the First Lady sent a letter to All Saints students praising them on their hard work in the garden.

“As First Lady, I have no greater joy than learning about the remarkable students across our country that are working hard in school, dreaming big dreams and improving their communities,” Obama says in her letter.

The students use what they learn in the garden in science, art and math, as well as agriculture lessons. The produce is donated to Hamblen County’s Daily Bread, which gives meals to people who otherwise may not be able to eat.

Obama’s letter and signed photographs are now on display at the school in Morristown. tnhomeandfarm.com

TN FARM FRESH

Relishing Rhubarb Do you like rhubarb? My first time trying this plant was at Seven Springs Farm in Maynardville, and it was sweet, tart and delicious. This vegetable that is often used more like a fruit – strawberry rhubarb pie, anyone? – can be hard to find locally, but you can get it fresh from Union County farmers Donna and Rick Riddle.

These high school sweethearts went to college and both graduated from the University of Tennessee with agricultural degrees, though their areas of study were quite different – she studied ornamental horticulture and landscape design, while he took the animal science route. He followed college with service in the Air Force, during which they and their two children lived overseas and across the United States.

But in 2005, they returned to their old East Tennessee stomping grounds and bought a farm, which quickly diversified with more than 50 varieties of fruits and vegetables, as well as cattle.

Today, the Riddles grow specialty green bean varieties, peppers, onions, tomatoes, melons, corn and too many more to list. They also offer in-season pick-your-own blueberries, raspberries and muscadine grapes, but the bulk of their produce can be purchased at several area farmers markets.

“I really enjoy the customers,” Donna Riddle says. “I like being able to provide local produce for our community, and it’s always nice to teach the children about where food comes from.” Rick Riddle notes the benefits of farm life include setting your own schedule, working for yourself and never getting bored.

Seven Springs sells its fruits and vegetables at the Union County Farmers Market, New Harvest Farmers Market, and the FARM Markets in Knoxville and Oak Ridge. For more information on seasonal availability of rhubarb and the farm’s other produce, visit www.facebook.com/sevenspringsfarm or call (865) 803-0281.

– Tiffany Howard See More online

Find other Tennessee Farm Fresh members who offer locally grown products at www.tnfarmfresh.com.

Home&Farm 7

Party

Jackson’s Summer Celebration puts a quirky twist on gardening techniques

Planters

8 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

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Home & Garden

Story by jessica mozo Photography by jeff adkins

C

ome summer, there’s a buzz in the air among Jackson gardeners, and it tends to surround the annual University of Tennessee Summer Celebration Lawn and Garden Show and one big question: What will the theme be this year?

That’s because organizers Jason Reeves and Carol Reese don’t host an average gardening festival with seminars on typical topics. They like to spice things up a bit.

“We do crazy things to get people’s attention,” says Reeves, horticulturalist and research associate at the University of Tennessee’s West Tennessee Research and Education Center, where the Summer Celebration takes place each July. “It also gets the media’s attention, which turns into free advertising. I’m fortunate to have a great boss who lets us get very creative. Basically, we can do anything we want as long as it doesn’t cost money.”

In 2007, for example, celebration organizers collected nearly 300 thrown-away bicycles from local garbage dumps and hung them on cables above garden beds, creating the illusion of bicycles flying through the air. That year was the 100th anniversary of the West Tennessee Research and Education Center, and the theme was “Annual Vines Climbing to New Heights.”

“The locals are always curious about what the theme will be, but we keep it a bit of a secret each year,” says Reese, a UT extension horticulture specialist who leads a popular UT Gardens tour at the event and writes a weekly gardening column for the Jackson Sun. Another year, organizers collected July marks the 23rd year of the Summer Celebration Lawn and Garden Show. tnhomeandfarm.com

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Visitors to the Summer Celebration tour the gardens and attend workshops presented by UT experts.

If You Go ...

The 2012 Summer Celebration Lawn and Garden Show takes place Thursday, July 12 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center. It is located at 605 Airways Blvd. in Jackson. Admission is $5 for adults. Children 17 and under are free.

For more information, call (731) 424-1643.

10 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

more than 850 men’s neckties and hung them from bamboo structures at the Summer Celebration, with employees at the event wearing loose neckties. The theme that year was “All Tied Up in Gardening.”

In 2011, the celebration focused on all the possibilities for creating a garden around your mailbox, and the theme was “Come Check the Mail.”

“We created dozens of mailbox gardens with different plantings, and you could reach inside each mailbox and get a brochure about the plants used in that planting,” Reese says.

The mailbox gardens covered a wide range of tastes, “from the elegant to the redneck.”

“There were rural themes, whimsical gardens and even some mailboxes that were shot up,” Reese says with a laugh.

“We had an uptown section, a trailer park section, a redneck section and even a no-maintenance section with silk flowers that had funny names, like Dollar Store Dilly and Wally World Wonder,” Reeves adds.

The Summer Celebration Lawn and

Garden Show is now in its 23rd year and averages between 2,000 and 3,000 spectators at each annual event.

“Our visitors have a wide range of skill sets, from the novice gardener to the seasoned expert, but they all have one thing in common – a desire to make their own lawn and landscape beautiful,” says Ginger Trice Rowsey, information specialist for the UT Institute of Agriculture. “And with so many wonderful garden displays, plants for sale and knowledgeable plant people on hand, everyone walks away with fresh ideas for their own garden.”

The Summer Celebration draws visitors from Nashville, Memphis, Mississippi and Arkansas. There are indoor and outdoor tours on the 600-acre property, some of which give participants the opportunity to ride on a wagon through fields of golden sunflowers.

Attendees can also sit in on workshops presented by UT experts.

“The grounds are beautiful – there is so much color,” Reese says. “The purpose of the day is to show people how many great plants tnfarmbureau.org

do well in our climate. People tend to do the same old boring things, but we show them how to express themselves creatively in the garden.”

The 2012 Summer Celebration happens from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 12. Food vendors will be onsite, including lunch prepared by local 4-H members.

“It always feels like a real celebration,” Reese says. “Gardeners are a special bunch – very optimistic and nurturing. The Summer Celebration is a meeting of the minds that creates lots of excitement. At the end of the day, we’re all smiles.”

By the way, if you are wondering what this year’s theme will be, the organizers have revealed that it’s “Hydrangeas for Southern Gardens,” but their lips are sealed on the details. You’ll just have to attend the event to see what they have in store. tnhomeandfarm.com

Home&Farm 11

Weathering

12 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

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Agriculture

the Storms Flooding presents an unpredictable challenge for Tennessee farmers

Story by jessica mozo

W

hen severe weather strikes – be it flooding, tornadoes or even drought – the vast majority of Americans don’t have to worry that it will affect their jobs or cause them to take a pay cut. But for farmers, weather is critical in determining if a farm operation involving row crops has a successful year – or is a complete loss.

“A farmer can do all the customary practices such as utilizing fertilizers, planting the right variety at the right plant population per acre, controlling weeds and insects, and applying fungicides to control crop diseases,

but most years the most limiting factor associated with a successful crop and good crop yields is water,” says Timothy Campbell, director of the University of Tennessee Extension for Dyer County. “From the time farmers place a seed in the ground, they rely on their faith that weather will provide adequate rainfall for producing a normal crop.

If Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, they can come up short for the year.”

Farmers also hope Mother Nature won’t be too generous with rainfall, which has happened in recent years.

“Flooding can affect their bottom

Photos by Brian McCord

The 2011 flood damaged the farm of Luke, Jerry, George and Jeremiah Hollingsworth.

tnhomeandfarm.com

Home&Farm 13

line by delaying planting, which affects the overall yield potential of a crop,” Campbell says. “If they have already planted and it floods and they lose that crop, they have lost their investment in seed costs, fuel and time in preparation for and the actual planting of the crop. Generally farm profit margins are very low, and when you take into account the investments in equipment, buildings, houses, seed, chemicals and fertilizer, any devastating event such as flooding can have a tremendous impact on a farming operation.”

Jeremiah Hollingsworth of Dyer County knows all too well how weather can destroy hopes for a profitable year. On April 11, 2011, he and his wife, Tevvy, returned home from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville with their recovering newborn Scarlett, who had been born without a heartbeat after delivery complications. Days later, their 3,900acre farm was hit by a 500-year flood.

“We deal with floodwaters on a

yearly basis, but the magnitude of this one was far worse than we had ever seen,” says Hollingsworth, who raises corn, cotton and soybeans with his father Jerry, uncle George and cousin Luke. “When we found out the levee was not going to hold, we were under mandatory evacuation. We watched the river reports constantly, and they were right on the money.”

His family prepared as best they could by packing up their equipment and belongings from six houses and two sheds on the farm with the help of several volunteers.

“We are very grateful for our community,” Hollingsworth says. “We had 60 people helping us one day.”

Five days after they evacuated, their entire farm was under water from the Mississippi River. The 15 miles of levee that normally protected their land had 24 breaks in it. Members of the Dyer County Levee and Drainage Board made the difficult decision to breach the levee, flooding farmland in an effort to save homes. Some of

those making the decision did so knowing their own land would be under water as a result.

“If they hadn’t breached the levee, the whole thing probably would have been destroyed,” Campbell says.

Floodwaters remained up for six weeks, preventing farmers from planting, depositing sand in their fields and creating big holes in the soil.

“We’re still working on getting things back the way they were,” Hollingsworth says. “Nobody wants to lose a house to a flood, but in a farming community, it tends to be even worse.”

Two of the family’s six houses were completely lost. Two were repaired, and the family hasn’t decided what to do with the two remaining homes, both badly damaged. One of the repaired houses belongs to Jeremiah’s grandmother, Marie.

“She didn’t have flood insurance because her house had been paid for for forever,” he says. She told us the only time she had ever been run out

“My dad says if it wasn’t a gamble, it wouldn’t be farming.”

Photo Courtesy of the Hollingsworth Family

Jeremiah Hollingsworth

14 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

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by floodwaters was back in 1937.”

The U.S. Corps of Engineers will bear some of the cost of repairing the levee, but slow-moving federal funding has prompted some farmers to repair parts of the levee at their own expense.

“These farmers are hoping to be reimbursed later, but they are trying to get ready for this year’s crop, so they can’t wait,” Campbell explains.

The May 2010 flood that damaged much of Nashville was hard on Dyer County as well, but not nearly as much as the one in April 2011.

“The Cumberland River winds all the way over to the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, and by the time it came down the Mississippi, we had time to get the water off us,” Hollingsworth says, adding that he’s very thankful the two floods didn’t happen in the same year.

It’s easy to see why farmers often have a love-hate relationship with rain.

“It is stressful because you want rainfall, but 99 percent of the time it’s not the perfect amount,” Hollingsworth says. “My dad says if it wasn’t a gamble, it wouldn’t be farming.”

As a backup for bad farming years, Hollingsworth sells crop insurance.

“It’s been a tough year. Some days I’m on the tractor and on the phone at the same time,” he says. “There are hardships all the time, but I love the freedom of farming. And I love getting my hands in the dirt.”

Fortunately, farmers tend to be an optimistic bunch. Hollingsworth’s daughter Scarlett celebrated her first birthday in March and is growing normally, learning to walk and “getting into everything.” Meanwhile, he’s hoping his 6-year-old son, John, will take up farming one day.

“I think that’s every parent’s wish if they are involved in agriculture,” Hollingsworth says. “I’ve got him showing cattle already. I’m hoping farming keeps him occupied and out of trouble when he’s old enough to get into it. It sure did for me.” tnhomeandfarm.com

Home&Farm 15

David Vaughan was one of the original three Rutherford County inmates to join the Garden of Hope program.

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Tennessee Living

Garden of Hope

Project for Rutherford County inmates teaches gardening skills, commitment Story by blair thomas Photography by brian mccord

D

avid Keith bends over and palms the eggplant dangling below the fat green leaves.

“This one’s about ready to be picked,” he says. “I’ve been most looking forward to the eggplant.

I don’t think I’ve ever tasted one.”

Keith is out at 7 a.m. working in his garden, just like he has been every day for the past four months. He was one of three inmates at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center who planted the Garden of Hope in March 2011. They dug up and tilled the land, planted the seeds, hauled five-gallon buckets to water the plants and pulled countless weeds. Now, in August, eight inmates are part of the program.

The gardeners work three hours each morning working to grow food that is then used for meals in the detention center’s kitchen and donated to local food banks and homeless shelters. tnhomeandfarm.com

Keith crouches down in front of a tomato vine. Running his fingers over the leaves, he frowns. “See these spots here?” he asks, pointing. “This tomato plant has caught something.”

Before March, Keith knew nothing about gardening, but now he can easily pick out a diseased tomato plant.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve learned out here,” Keith says.

“And only half of it has anything to do with growing vegetables.”

None of the inmates had gardening experience. “We’ve had a landscaper, a guy who poured concrete, a mechanic, a bricker,” says Arthal Minter, Garden of Hope project coordinator. “We didn’t need gardeners. We needed men willing to put backbreaking work into this. And they all bring their different skill sets to help in this garden.”

Garden of Hope was started by a partnership between the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and Middle

Tennessee State University. They were awarded a grant from the Agriculture in the Classroom program, in conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, to help foster the project.

Inmates have to apply to be in the program, and they have to commit not only to working in the garden daily, but also completing classes on gardening and plant diseases.

“Half of the program is classroom work,” Minter says. “It’s the most important part. The guys have to read gardening books, learn about what the plants need to be healthy.

It isn’t just about spending time outside; they’re learning skills they can use once they leave this place.”

MTSU horticulture professor Dr. Nate Phillips spends one morning each week in the garden with the inmates checking the plants’ progress and answering any questions they have from their classes.

Home&Farm 17

By the Numbers 3

weeks the workers spent digging up the land outside of the Rutherford County Detention Center by hand with a hoe and a shovel in order to plant their garden. They begin preparing for the garden in March 2011.

8

average number of workers in the gardening program on a regular basis. The program started in March 2011 with just three members. All eight inmates in the 2011 program have now left the detention center and moved on.

$1,700

grant the program received from the Agriculture in the Classroom program, in conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

The project continues to be funded through grants from MTSU.

2-3

five-gallon buckets of tomatoes picked from the garden every day during the summer months.

7

days a week the inmates work in the garden. “We spend two to three hours, sometimes longer in the garden every day. Watering, weeding, mulching, checking for diseases,” Minter says. “This is their responsibility, and they have committed to it.”

tnhomeandfarm.com

The inmates who worked in the 2011 garden paved the way for a new group this year.

“They want to succeed at this – to see the fruits of all of their hard work,” Phillips says. “It’s extremely rewarding for them to see the product of months and months of work.”

Phillips joins Keith next to the sick tomato plant in the garden, fingering the same leaves. “What do you think it is?” he asks the inmates who gathered around the plant.

“Looks like blight,” Keith says.

“Could be. It could also be Septoria.

It’s often mistaken for late blight because the spots look the same,” Phillips explains. “But see how the tomatoes don’t have any spots? And it hasn’t been too damp lately, which is a factor for late blight. So I’m leaning toward Septoria.”

He promises to bring a copper spray to treat the plants the following week, which should cure the plant.

Disease treatments and other gardening supplies have been hard to get for the program, Minter says.

“I borrow sometimes from friends and neighbors, often I find myself buying things because I know how

bad we need them, and we don’t have the funding to get the supplies,” she says. “We were very lucky earlier this year to have a tiller donated to us.”

When the group first started digging up the land in March 2011, they only had shovels and a few rakes. For three weeks, the inmates turned the ground by hand with a shovel and a hoe, and carried buckets full of dirt across the field to a dump site. Plants were watered by hauling five-gallon buckets of water across a field because they didn’t have hoses.

“We’ve spent all these hours working out here, but we’re making something,” Keith says. “We sowed the ground and laid the foundation for these plants. It kind of reminds me of being here in this lockup. We’re out here working and teaching ourselves not only a skill but a discipline and a routine that we can take with us when we leave. And that’s the most important part, because it makes us think ahead to when we’re leaving, and what we’re going to do with our lives from there.”

Home&Farm 19

Home & Garden

Lean &

Green Seymour couple builds eco-friendly farmhouse

Story by Nancy Henderson Photography by Brian Mccord

J

ennifer Loveday places a pot of water on her new electricity-saving induction cooktop and touches a digital pad to turn on the burner. Within seconds, the liquid starts to boil.

“This is the really cool part,” she says, placing her fingertips directly on the stove eye, near the vessel. “It will only heat the part that the pot’s on.”

The innovative kitchen appliance, which uses a magnetic field to cook much more quickly and safely than

20 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

its traditional counterpart, is one of the “green” features Jennifer Loveday and her husband, Andy, added when they built their 2,400-square-foot dream home in 2011 on 21 acres of former dairy farmland at the foot of Chilhowhee Mountain in Seymour.

Married in 2009, Jennifer Loveday, 26, an eighth-grade English teacher in Sevier County, and Andy Loveday, 28, warehouse manager for Foothills Farmers Co-op in nearby Maryville,

were looking for creative ways to save on monthly household expenses.

“We wanted a home that would last, something our children could inherit and be proud of,” says Jennifer Loveday, who is expecting in July. “So we tried to think about resources that would endure, products that are going to be timeless.”

Despite the fact that they’d never even seen another eco-friendly farmhouse, the couple researched tnfarmbureau.org

Tennessee Living

Tips for Eco-Friendly Building Andy and Jennifer Loveday offer advice for homeowners who want to go green: • Choose products that will pinch pennies in the long run. “Balance the benefits with the cost on the front end,” Jennifer Loveday says. “We struggled with whether or not to do the 2-inchby-6-inch framing because the difference seemed a little extreme. But it will definitely pay off in the future.”

• Do your research. Attend home shows, surf the Internet and study the pros and cons. “Don’t do it just because somebody tells you it’s green,” Jennifer Loveday says.

• Talk to other people who’ve done it. Geothermal systems are more common in commercial settings, so business owners often make good advisors.

• Know your contractor. If you opt for a geothermal heating system, make sure you and your contractor understand the complex installation process, which requires excavation, plumbing and electrical work. “Be clear on who’s doing what,” Andy Loveday warns.

• Curb your impulses. “The newest, ‘greatest’ thing is not always the best,” Andy Loveday says.

the possibilities and chose several features that fit their practical, budget-conscious goals. The home’s sage-green “siding” is actually ultra-strong fiber cement board that insulates like brick, resists fire, and won’t mold or mildew.

Under the roof decking, sheets of aluminum-covered plywood serve as solar panels that deflect heat in summer and capture it in winter.

And the 2-inch-by-6-inch exterior framing allows for extra, energytnhomeandfarm.com

conserving insulation.

“It’s very expensive to build an eco-friendly home,” Jennifer Loveday admits. “So we had to pick and choose what we were going to do.”

The most significant green investment, by far, is the $28,000 geothermal heating and air conditioning system, which relies on energy exchange between the air in the house and the 50-degree ground outside. (A traditional system costs $5,000-$7,000.) After much soul-

searching, the Lovedays agreed the steep outlay was worth it. In addition to receiving a 30 percent federal tax credit this year, they are already saving about $100 a month on their electric bill. They expect to break even on the geothermal pumps within a decade.

But the best part of going green, according to Andy Loveday, is “being diligent and picking out a plan that would cater to us now and 60 years down the road.”

Home&Farm 21

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*Offers subject to change without notice. **HughesNet is available anywhere in the contiguous U.S. with a clear view of the Southern sky. Service and hardware sold separately. 24-month commitment required. Early termination fees apply. Visit legal.HughesNet.com for details. Minimum term required. Monthly service and termination fees apply. Usage is subject to a Fair Access Policy. Actual speeds may vary. Speed and uninterrupted use of service are not guaranteed.

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If you have been a victim of identity theft, call (877) 329-3911. *You must be an active member of the Tennessee Farm Bureau for a minimum of 60 days to be eligible. Membership eligibility and offer subject to change without notice.

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Don’t have a membership card? Visit our website to reprint your card or to check for participating pharmacies and drug pricing. *This card is not an insurance benefit and will not offer additional savings on pharmacy discounts offered through insurance plans.

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24 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

tnfarmbureau.org

Food

Berry Bliss

Sweeten your summer with a bounty of farm-fresh berries

Story & recipes by Mary carter Photography by jeff adkins & Jeffrey s. otto

I

t’s hard to ignore all of the pick-your-own and farm-stand fresh berries this time of year. They seem to shout, “Look at me!

I’m beautiful! Take me home!” Tennessee strawberries burst onto the scene in National Strawberry Month in May and are followed eagerly by our succulent blackberries, plump blueberries, and sweet ruby red (and black and gold) raspberries. The berry love affair has several months to blossom. Our ample growing season yields rich opportunities for fresh-picked goodness and culinary creativity.

Berries pack a nutritional punch, too. All four of these berry varieties are high in fiber and rich in disease-fighting vitamin C. When visiting a berry patch, pick the ripest berries. If you have to tug at them, they are not ready. Berries don’t ripen after picking like some fruits. Eat them, bake with them, freeze them or make preserves with them quickly. They set the terms on readiness and flirt briefly with our taste buds.

Strawberries These heart-shaped gems should not have any pale green or white tops or tips. Buy them red. Eat them red.

Strawberries are porous and absorb water like a sponge. Gently rinse them just before eating. Refrigerate them until that quick rinse. tnhomeandfarm.com

Blackberries Blackberries ripen in June through August all across the state. Ripe blackberries are so full of juice that they look like they’re ready to pop. It is true that chiggers will eat your ankles as eagerly as you eat the blackberries when picking. Ardent devotees endure this test.

Raspberries Candy-sweet raspberries also ripen in that mid-summer window. Be certain to inspect any pre-picked batches. The bottom berries are easily crushed and tend to mold.

Blueberries When picking them, you should be able to gently run your hand under these bouncy berries and catch them in a basket. They ripen in early summer until fall.

Hungry for More?

Find more berry delicious recipes, including Lamb Chops With Berry Mint Sauce, online at tnhomeandfarm.com/ berries.

Freezing Berries If freezing berries, rinse them carefully in a colander. Place them on paper towels and drain well. Next, place them in a single layer on a jellyroll pan, and put the pan in the freezer. When hardened, they can be placed in freezer bags or plastic containers for about three months. Thawed berries can still be very nice in sauces and in baking.

They do tend to weep. Maybe that’s because they miss the sweetness of summer.

Home&Farm 25

Food

Overnight French Toast Casserole With Mixed Berries

Wilted Spinach, Blackberry and Goat Cheese Salad

1 pound soft bread (about 2/3 standard loaf)

4 cups fresh, washed baby spinach

1 cup sugar, divided 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

2 cups ripe blackberries, washed and set on paper towels to drain

8 large eggs, beaten

4 ounces fresh goat cheese

2 cups half-and-half

½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped

1 cup sliced strawberries

Warm Balsamic Dressing:

1 cup blueberries or blackberries

Maple syrup and whipped cream for garnish

In a large bowl, combine 2/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, eggs and half-and-half. Whisk together until well blended.

Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. Tear the bread into large pieces and place evenly into the pan.

Pour the egg mixture over the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, sprinkle remaining cinnamon and sugar evenly over the top of the mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until puffy and golden.

Cut into eight squares. Top each piece with ½ cup berries, warm maple syrup and whipped cream.

Serves 8.

/ cup best quality olive oil

13

¼ cup balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons honey ½ teaspoon ground cumin ¹⁄ 8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper Salt and pepper to taste Divide the spinach, berries and cheese onto four plates. Combine all dressing ingredients in a glass jar and stir.

Microwave for about 1 minute. Place the lid on the jar and shake well.

Pour warm dressing evenly over the salads. (The spinach wilts when covered in the warm vinaigrette.)

Sprinkle with walnuts. Serve immediately.

This recipe is a good chance to use up a mixture of leftover breads – that last lonely piece or two in the bag.

26 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

tnfarmbureau.org

Grilled Chicken Thighs With Blueberry Salsa 10-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs ½ cup favorite vinaigrette dressing

Raspberry Lime Tart Crust: 2 cups graham crackers or gingersnaps, crushed fine ½ cup butter, melted

Salsa:

¼ cup sugar

2 cups blueberries, washed and coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

/ cup green onions, chopped

Filling:

13

½ red pepper, chopped fine 1 jalapeño pepper, minced ½ cup chopped cilantro / cup lime juice

13

/ cup olive oil

13

Salt and pepper to taste Rinse chicken and place in a zip-close bag. Add dressing and marinate for 1-2 hours in refrigerator.

Meanwhile, combine all salsa ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Refrigerate.

Grill chicken until well done. Top with bueberry salsa. Serves 4-6.

This salsa also pairs well with other grilled meats, especially pork or lamb.

tnhomeandfarm.com

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 8 ounces plain Greek yogurt ½ cup sugar Zest and juice of one lime 2 cups fresh raspberries, rinsed and set aside on paper towels Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine crust ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. When well mixed, press into an 8-inch springform pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges become golden. Set aside to cool.

Combine cheese, yogurt, sugar, lime juice and zest in a medium-sized bowl. Mix until very smooth. With a spatula, spread evenly over crust. Carefully place berries on top. Chill 2-4 hours or until ready to serve.

Serves 6-8.

Home&Farm 27

Country Classics

Cream of the Crop Sour Cream Enchiladas win Best Dairy Recipe

W Hungry for More?

Each issue of Tennessee Home & Farm highlights recipes like those featured in Country Classics Volume II. Copies of the cookbook are available for $17 each, including shipping and handling, from county Farm Bureau offices, or by calling the Tennessee Farm Bureau home office at (931) 388-7872, ext. 2217.

hen Tara Guider won Best Dairy Recipe at the 2011 MooFest Dairy Contest, she’d never been to the National MooFest Dairy Festival before.

“The funny thing is, I’d always heard about MooFest but I’d just never gone,” says Guider, who lives in Etowah. “When I read about the contest online and entered, I didn’t expect to win the thing.”

The annual National MooFest in Athens aims to increase the public’s awareness about the huge role the dairy industry plays in the country’s past, present and future. Along with live music, a petting zoo and many other family-friendly activities, MooFest also includes a homemade ice cream contest and a dairy recipe contest.

Guider submitted several recipes to the contest judges, but it was her Sour Cream Enchiladas – a recipe passed down from her mother – that advanced her to the second round of the competition.

She made the recipe at home and delivered it to the judges, but she wouldn’t find out until the festival how she placed in the contest.

“I wasn’t too nervous because it’s a recipe

I make fairly often,” Guider says. “But it was definitely a shock to hear I’d won.”

Guider says she enjoys cooking, but it is really her husband who is the cook in her family’s house.

“He’s not too adventurous in the kitchen,” Guider says, “but as long as he has the recipe, he’s willing to give it a try.”

The 2012 MooFest is May 19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown Athens. To learn more, visit www.nationalmoofest.com. If you miss out on MooFest, find out about tours of Mayfield Dairy Farms by calling 1-800-MAYFIELD. – Blair Thomas

Sour Cream Enchiladas 1 pound ground beef 1 packet (1.25 ounces) taco seasoning 1 can (10.75 ounces) cream of chicken soup 1 can (10.75 ounces) cream of mushroom soup 8 ounces sour cream 1 small can (4.5 ounces) green chilies ½ cup diced onion 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided 10 large flour tortillas

Jeffrey S. Otto

1 small can (4.6 ounces) sliced black olives

28 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

Brown ground beef and drain. Add taco seasoning to beef as directed on package (add water as needed).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together soups, sour cream and chilies. Pour enough of this mixture (about half) to cover bottom of 9x13inch glass baking dish.

To make the enchiladas, place a large spoonful of ground beef mixture on a tortilla, and sprinkle some onion and shredded cheese on top. Roll as in a burrito, and put in baking dish seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas, laying them side by side in the dish.

Pour remaining soup mixture over the enchiladas and top with sliced olives and remaining shredded cheese. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until bubbly. tnfarmbureau.org

Restaurant Review

Photos by Brian McCord

Better Batter Stop in for deep-fried Southern seafood at Braden Station

B

raden, Tenn., may be a sleepy little whistle-stop of a town most days, but on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, Braden’s railroad crossing on Highway 59 is a high-traffic area. That’s because the friendly staff at Braden Station, a seafood restaurant by the tracks, is busy serving up a delicious downhome buffet and plate dinners to patrons who drive from miles around to sample the Louisiana Gulf Coast oysters and house-made desserts.

Diners come for the food and linger to enjoy the eclectic décor of the restaurant’s historic building, a 1908 storefront which once housed the bank, post office and general store operated by the C.T. McCraw Company, a regional cotton merchant.

Braden Station’s ample buffet features familiar coastal favorites – catfish, shrimp and clams, all deep-fried in homemade batters.

The oysters, a house specialty, are fresh from the Gulf, fried in a light flour batter with a hint of black pepper to give them some sass.

Dinner includes traditional side dishes like macaroni and cheese, fried okra, greens and white beans with generous chunks of ham.

There are hushpuppies too, of course, along with a jalapeño hushpuppy option for bolder palates. On Thursdays and for the monthly Sunday brunch, the buffet includes frogs’ tnhomeandfarm.com

legs, another local favorite. To satisfy the sweet tooth, patrons can help themselves to fruit cobblers such as apple or peach, or a sinfully rich chocolate cobbler, all made more decadent by a quick trip to the soft-serve ice cream machine.

George and JoAnne Jensen bought the C.T. McCraw building in 2002. Along with their daughter, Kim, and her husband, Terry Graves, they renovated the structure and opened the restaurant with Graves at the helm in the kitchen and the rest of the family “just doing whatever needed to be done,” JoAnne Jensen says. Why a seafood restaurant? “My son-inlaw is from Louisiana,” George Jensen explains, “and I knew he could really cook some fish.”

The McCraw building boasts a highceilinged, spacious storefront, and the Jensens have retained many of the original architectural features, including a working freight elevator, the first one installed in Fayette County. The store’s original shelving is now filled with vintage toys, china and farm tools, most of which came from the Jensens’ own home. Though the big room seats 150 and is always bustling, the space still feels homey.

It’s no wonder folks like to stop over at Braden Station for dinner and just stay a while.

– Leslie LaChance

The Dish on Braden Station In each issue, we feature one of Tennessee’s tasty eateries, and you can find a collection of our favorite restaurants in the Food section of tnhomeandfarm.com.

As always, please call ahead before traveling long distances.

Braden Station is located in the Old General Store, C.T. McCraw Building, 189 Highway 59, in Braden, about 40 miles northeast of Memphis.

The restaurant is open Thursday and Friday from 5-9 p.m., Saturday from 4-9 p.m. and for buffet only on the second Sunday of the month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For information, call (901) 594-5959.

Home&Farm 29

Gardening

Beauty and Benefit Learn about interplanting flowers, fruits and veggies

I

About the Author Dr. Sue Hamilton is director of the UT Gardens and an associate professor on the faculty of the University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences. The UT Gardens are a project of the UT Institute of Agriculture, with locations in Knoxville and Jackson: http://utgardens. tennessee.edu.

n my home landscape, you won’t find a dedicated vegetable garden, herb garden or cut flower garden. My entire landscape is a demonstration of interplanting different types of plants and the beauty and utility you can gain from such a gardening technique.

I have a blueberry bush planted next to an antique rose, which in the summer is also paired with fragrant basil surrounded by nonstop blooming low-growing petunias. This palette makes a colorful, showy statement in my garden, and I love picking the blueberries.

Where the street curb and my front yard intersect, I grow a selection of ornamental hot peppers that produces oodles of showy yellow, red and orange peppers all summer. They complement a nearby perennial clump of goldflowering rudbeckia (also known as black-eyed susans), and together they make a striking contrast to the red tomato planted nearby. It’s not just aesthetics. Interplanting flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruits creates some benefits that enhance the overall success of my garden.

Vegetables don’t always have the showiest flowers. To make sure the bees and butterflies

find your veggies, interplant flowers with high nectar concentrations such as mint, sweet peas, cosmos, zinnias, larkspurs and marigolds. Flowers that are blue, yellow or white are the most attractive to pollinators.

Second, interplanting allows for fewer pest problems. A diverse garden creates a complex environment that helps attract beneficial insects and natural enemies to insect pests.

Lady beetles are a fascinating example. They eat insect pests in both their immature and adult stages. Lesser known insects such as lacewings, syrphid flies and parasitic wasps eat other insects when they are immature, and then benefit the garden by acting as pollinators as adults. Parsley, dill, coriander (cilantro) and flowers from the aster family are especially good for attracting beneficial insects.

Be careful about planting vegetables that belong to the same family together, as they make for an easy target for plant-specific pests.

For example, don’t pair up tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant. The Colorado potato beetle finds all of these delicious. Plant tomatoes and corn away from one another

Photos by Antony Boshier

30 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

tnfarmbureau.org

because the tomato fruitworm is also known as a corn earworm. And squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and melons share the same enemy: the pickleworm.

Also, fewer diseases occur when the garden contains a mixture of plants.

The same goes for weeds, as mixed plantings capture a greater share of available resources than sole crops, leaving fewer resources for weeds.

Interplanting typically provides greater soil coverage while shading and crowding out unwanted weeds.

Companion gardening takes advantage of every inch of garden real estate. A handy method for anyone, interplanting is especially popular with those who have limited space.

Instead of planting in rows with wide open spaces, select plants that can grow in between and around each other without competing or crowding.

Make sure the plants thrive in the same conditions with similar light, water and soil preferences.

Creating a balance between flowering plants and those valued for their foliage or fruits will add interest to your garden. No rule says all veggies or all herbs or all flowers need to be planted together. Monocultures dull the senses. I jazz things up by blending different plants. Watch for the opportunity to let color make a statement in your garden. I like to pair my flowering plants to complement my fruiting plants.

Interplanting a variety of plants is how the original cottage garden style evolved. Sectioning off gardens for specific types of plants was a luxury of the rich and leisured. You can apply the principles outlined here to container gardening as well. A patio tomato always looks better combined with some flowers and herbs.

Visit the Gardening section of tnhomeandfarm.com to learn more about companion gardening and interplanting methods.

A tomato plant with marigolds; flowers grow with vegetables in a raised bed. tnhomeandfarm.com

Home&Farm 31

Farmside Chat

Meet Whitney Tilley This former city girl embraces the farm life

What is it like to raise your kids on the farm when you don’t come from a farming background?

I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I did go to my grandparents’ farm on weekends. I was the city kid with the pet goat! Agriculture wasn’t something that was a part of my everyday life, but I couldn’t picture my life anywhere else now that I’m married to Travis. I consider raising our kids on the farm to be the biggest blessing and gift we can give them. They are well-rounded – they know to get things you have to work for them; they understand life, sickness and the processes of their food and meat. We teach them that God gave us these animals for a reason, and we’re to treat them well while we have them.

How do you share your farm story with others?

I definitely think we have to be proactive.

It’s easy for farmers to get weighed down with circumstances they can’t control and forget to show how happy they are to be farmers. You have to decide that’s your passion and it will come out in any conversation. Our daughter Charli is in a gifted program and on one of her field trips I shared with her teacher how our farm operation worked. She later sent me a note and asked if she could come out to the farm. People listen and want to hear that farmers care and that their food is being produced by somebody who has the same values as they do. tnhomeandfarm.com

The Tennessee Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers program has been a big part of your life. Is it important to have supportive organizations for young farmers like yourself?

Young farmers from Tennessee Young Farmers and Ranchers have been our closest friends. It’s helped me out tremendously by just listening to some of the issues that haven’t come up in mine and Travis’ conversations, as well as some things we haven’t had the opportunity to learn – it’s a good way for us to get our information. The support it provides is priceless, and it feels good to know other people struggle with the same issues you do and hear what they’ve done to overcome them.

– Melissa Burniston

See More online

Learn more about the well-being and care of animals by visiting www.conversations oncare.com.

Jeff Adkins

A

city-girl-turned-farm-wife, 35-year-old Whitney Tilley has a fresh perspective on what it means to be a farmer.

“I feel like farming is a calling,” Tilley says.

“You don’t do it to get rich or because it’s fun all the time, but to be happy and content – there’s no other option. As soon as Travis and I got married I knew it was what fit my life and it excites me still.”

The Tilleys farm beef cattle and hay in the Midway community of Roane County with their four children, Charli, 13, Cole, 10, Stella, 8, and Silas, 6.

Home&Farm 33

To Good Health

A Little Common Sense Sometimes time-tested tools work just as well as new technology

A

s she worked her way in, out and around us, I didn’t pay much attention.

I was doing my job, which at that time meant waiting in the Indianapolis airport. She was doing her job, which at that time meant pushing a custodial cart through a very clean airport.

But then, something she did pulled my attention from everything weird – peculiar stuff and peculiar people in airports – that I had been watching. She stopped, looked at a spot on the floor, reached into her cart and pulled out a long wooden stick with a tennis ball stuck on the end. She used the tennis ball to erase a blackened scuff mark on the floor and returned the stick-and-ball contraption to its cart like she was holstering a pistol.

I halfway expected her to blow away an imaginary puff of gun smoke as she put the tool back in its place.

OK, I recognize we’ve probably all cleaned up a heel mark with the sole of our shoe or have seen chairs with tennis balls fastened to their legs to prevent marks. But that afternoon, when I later observed the stickand-ball instrument was standard issue for every cleaning cart, it struck me as a bit odd, even ironic. Here we were, in a modern airport from where technology would take people from one side of the country to the next in a matter of hours, from where people sat chatting on phones and computers with people in other countries, and from where a scanner would see right through my suit and Fruit of the Looms to anything and everything concealed, and yet the handiest cleaning instrument was a handmade stick and ball.

I know, too, that a fancy machine with tnhomeandfarm.com

swirling pad probably roars through that airport at night to hit spots missed by the stick-and-ball crew, and no one wants to do away with that powerful machine. Nor would any of us trade all the modern miracles that science and medicine have brought to make and keep us healthier. So I’m not suggesting we put aside an antiseptic for a hurt toe and instead use a potato poultice (Mom, I really can’t believe we did that, but it worked). Still, it is refreshing to know common sense still has a place somewhere in our lives.

Yet when it comes to health care and how we pay for it, we don’t always bring a full dose of common sense to the equation. Maybe it’s because we spend so much time debating ‘who’ should pay for it. Regardless, we do not spend enough time getting our minds around ‘how much’ health care and services cost. Common sense would require we bring a simple fact to the discussion: When the cost of services and care you receive from doctors, hospitals and other providers increases, the cost you pay in insurance premiums will increase. The principle is little different than the one we experience when we drive our cars; when the cost of gasoline goes up, you pay more to drive the same miles you drove yesterday.

At TRH Health Plans, the vast majority of every dollar we collect in premium goes directly to pay claims for our members.

The Affordable Care Act requires at least 80 (sometimes 85) percent of every premium dollar collected by an insurer be paid in claims.

This factual information may not make paying your next premium any easier, but it’s the simple truth, not much more complicated than a stick-and-ball scuff remover.

About the Author Anthony Kimbrough is vice president of marketing and government relations for TRH Health Plans. His e-mail is akimbrough@trh.com.

For more information about TRH Health Plans, call (877) 874-8323 or visit www.trh.com.

Home&Farm 35

I care beca use I wou ldn’t feed anythin g less tha n the safe st food s to my fa mily and to yours.

Go to www.conversationsoncare.com and join one of the ongoing conversations on animal care.

Member Benefits

Stubborn Son Sometimes you have to regroup and change tactics

W

e all face challenges in life. One of mine came from my youngest son, Jack. As an infant, he cried continually, which drove my wife and me close to the level of sleep deprivation that has now been classified as torture for terrorists. As a toddler, he went through the house like a bulldozer. My mom often asked, “How’s Jack?” with a concerned tone in her voice. My dad said to me, “You better keep a close eye on that boy,” after Jack had grabbed the tractor key and tried to fire it up on his own.

When Jack was about six years old, a children’s program was scheduled at church.

My wife decided to give Jack a chance to exercise a little independence and gave him the opportunity to decide whether or not he would participate. Of course you know what he decided: to sit this one out in favor of more important things, such as riding four-wheelers, playing with the dogs and shooting BB guns.

As luck would have it, shortly thereafter the word came down from the dear lady directing the church program that indeed Jack’s help would be needed. Some other boys had also elected not to participate, which left some vacant parts that needed to be filled. My wife immediately began to gently persuade her boy to change his mind, to no avail. It’s then that I got “the look” that most husbands know very well. Without words, she was telling me “it’s your fault that he’s like this,” and I clearly understood. Being a man of extensive experience in these matters, I quietly eased out to leave Jack at the mercy of the persuasive powers of his mom.

After a while, I assumed that enough time had passed for my safe return. I quickly learned that the negotiations had escalated, but the boy was holding his ground. Things were growing tense, and you could have cut the frustration in the air with a knife. I admired the little fellow for his mental toughness; a lesser boy would have caved much sooner. His mother

tnhomeandfarm.com

is a formidable opponent, of which I have firsthand knowledge. Secretly, I was rooting for the boy to prevail, but I had the big money bet on his mother.

When he had a moment that seemed like an awkward pause in his deliberation, I was sure that he was about to give in, but instead the boy came hard with his final rebuttal when he said, “Mom, I just don’t feel like the Lord is calling me to be in the program.”

My wife gave me “the look” again. “What are we going to do with him?” she asked, throwing her hands up in the air and walking out of the room. It was clear from my perspective that it was game over. The 6-year-old had won that round. After all, what can you say to “the Lord’s not calling me?”

As you might expect, this required some regrouping and a change in tactical maneuvers. Eventually, Jack gave in and participated in the program after the nice lady at our church persuaded him to help.

You see, Jack has a tender heart too.

We are doing some regrouping of our own here at the Tennessee Farm Bureau. With the increased use of member benefits, we are working toward making business easier to do than ever before. If you have a question about any of the benefits associated with your Farm Bureau membership you can give us a call at (877) 363-9100. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (CST) and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. (CST) on Saturday. Here’s the best part – you get to speak to a person! If you need information at other times, go online to www.tnfarmbureau.org/memberbenefits.

Remember, you have benefits that range from ID theft consultation and restoration services to discounts on hotel rooms, home security systems, rental cars and many more.

On a side note, if you have a boy like Jack, our call center can’t help you there. You are on your own. Do the best you can – that’s what I still do.

About the Author Bryan Wright is the associate director of organization/member benefits for TFBF. His email is bwright@ tfbf.com.

To learn more about member benefits, visit www.tnfarmbureau.org/ memberbenefits or call the member benefits hotline toll free at 1-877-363-9100.

Home&Farm 37

Travel

Michael Peterson, a zipline guide for 23 years, has worked at Adventureworks since 2008.

38 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

tnfarmbureau.org

Travel

Who Says You Can’t Fly? Ziplining destinations across the state provide an adventure in Tennessee’s backyard

Story by Blair thomas Photography by antony boshier

S

“

o I just step off the edge?”

“Yep.” “You’re sure?”

My ziplining guide, Michael Peterson, grabs the strap hanging from my helmet and pulls it tight – for the third time in the last 10 minutes he’s spent calming my nerves – before clipping the pulley attached to my harness to the steel cable and making sure it is secure. He smiles down at me.

“You’re ready to fly.”

Standing on a wooden platform built about seven feet off the ground on the edge of a ravine, my eyes follow the cable secured to the tree behind me until it disappears into the old growth forest. I can’t see the end, but I can see the ground – many, many feet below me.

“Here goes nothing.” I clutch the rope connecting my harness to the zipline and take a step. And I’m flying.

The trees are a blur as I pass them, my legs kicking, my arms stretched out in either direction. I can hear Peterson cheering me on, but his voice is lost behind me as I zip across the 100-yard cable. Soon I only hear myself squealing as I zoom down the zipline.

The end is approaching so I prepare for my landing. The ziplines at Adventureworks in Kingston Springs don’t use hand brakes on the cables. Instead, the lines are designed to tnhomeandfarm.com

slant higher toward their end, and I have to stop myself by putting my feet down and slowing my momentum.

“Imagine you’re landing on a moving treadmill,” the guide’s words from earlier echo in my mind. The ground approaches, and I find myself sprawled on my back on the forest floor, my torso still attached to the zipline by my harness. It was less than graceful, but I’m too exhilarated to care.

“I told you that you’d love it!” Peterson announces as he lands on both feet and unhooks his harness in one fluid motion.

Show off.

Of course, Peterson has 23 years of experience as a ziplining guide, and he’s been at Adventureworks in Kingston Springs, just 30 minutes west of Nashville, since the park installed ziplines in 2008.

Adventureworks first opened as a teambuilding activity center in 1987. Jennifer Halverson and Brian Davis now own the park, which still offers teamwork programs but also caters to providing fun adventures for families and other groups.

The land naturally lent itself to ziplining, Davis says. “The topography in this area is ideal,” he notes. “The bend of the Harpeth River cuts through these hills and creates these incredible ravines.”

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Zipline guides regularly check the steel cables and make adjustments or replace frayed lines.

Changes in barometric pressure caused by seasonal temperature and climate changes, changes in the trees, and wear and tear of the cables are all factors that affect the feel of your ride across a zipline.

Adventureworks is open through every season. They zip in winter coats, and even in the snow. The park also offers Moonlight Zip Tours every full moon weekend, when guests can complete the zipline course in the dark with glowsticks.

Watch a video of our writer’s ziplining experience at tnhome andfarm.com/zipline.

Home&Farm 39

Tennessee’s Largest and Best County Fair

Mountain Vista

Wilson County

LUXURY RENTALS

F A I R

August 17-25, 2012

One of Gatlinburg’s newest condo rentals. All units are beautifully decorated two bedroom, two bath, with a whirlpool in master bedroom, full kitchen and gas fireplace in living room. Each unit is also equipped with wireless Internet, DVD, VCR, cable and laundry. Also available are the conference center, exercise room, swimming pool and hot tub. Only a five minute walk to food, shopping and entertainment. We also offer handicap units. Let our experienced and friendly staff help you with your next Smoky Mountain Getaway.

215 Woliss Ln. • Gatlinburg, TN Toll-free: (866) 430-7550 www.mvlr.com

40 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

Photo by Randall Coe

lebanon, tennessee

Please visit our website at www.wilsoncountyfair.net or call (615) 443-2626.

tnfarmbureau.org

Peterson helps young visitors strap on their helmets. Adventureworks has nine ziplines, the longest of which is roughly 200 yards.

But you don’t have to have a large forest of 80-foot ravines to set up a zipline. In fact, many farms across the state are adding ziplines to their agritourism attractions.

RiverView Mounds Century Farm in Clarksville has two ziplines – one 600 feet long and the other about 400 – which range between 15 and 30 feet off the ground. They offer ziplining to families who visit during the farm’s spring and fall festivals.

Brothers Chris and Steve Rinehart and Chris’ wife, Scarlett MulliganRinehart, have been running the farm since the brothers inherited it in 2006. On a field trip to a pumpkin farm in Portland, Chris Rinehart and his wife realized what they wanted to do with RiverView Mounds’ 400 acres.

“We’d never even considered agritourism, even though it makes so much sense to us now,” MulliganRinehart says. “I just remember sitting on that Portland farm and my husband and I looking at each other and both saying, ‘We have to do this.’ “ A few years later, the husband and wife had the same experience while getting ready to take off down a zipline in Mammoth Cave, Ky. “We’re standing there, all harnessed in and getting ready to zip, and I turned and looked at Chris and just like that time on our son’s field trip, we both just instantly knew this was it,” Mulligan-Rinehart recalls. “This is what we needed on the farm.”

Mulligan-Rinehart, who is also the president of Tennessee’s Agritourism Association, had been looking for a tnhomeandfarm.com

way to entertain the teens who visit RiverView Mounds with their families.

“I’d watched so many teenagers come to our farm with their families” she says. “And they were texting or sulking, their lips curled up, just determined not to have a good time. I wanted a way to engage that group.”

They didn’t waste any time. On the car ride back to Tennessee from their ziplining trip, Mulligan-Rinehart was on her smartphone researching who in the area could set up safe ziplines.

By fall 2011, they had zips.

“Every farm is going to be putting these in soon,” she says.

Ziplining is a great attraction for any farm or community because

pretty much anyone can do it.

“I always joke that if you can put on a pair of pants, you can zipline, because putting on the harness is the hardest part,” Peterson says. “The oldest person I’ve had on a tour was 96. It doesn’t matter your age or who you are, you’re going to enjoy this.

It’s still running through your mind, even the next day. That sense of youthfulness stays with you.”

It’s true. By the end of the day, I’m begging him to run through the course just one more time.

“What happened to the girl who was afraid to walk off the ledge?” he asks. I just shrug and leap off the platform. And I’m flying.

2/Clarksville 1/Kingston Springs

3/Sevierville 4/Gatlinburg 5/Ducktown

Zips in Tennessee Here are a few spots across the state that offer ziplining: 1/ Adventureworks, Kingston Springs (615) 297-2250 www.adventureworks.com 2/ RiverView Mounds Farm, Clarksville (931) 624-1095 www.riverviewmoundsfarm.com

3 / Foxfire Mountain, Sevierville (865) 453-1998 www.foxfiremountain.com 4 / Smoky Mountain Ziplines, Gatlinburg (865) 429-9004 www.smokymountainziplines.com 5 / Ocoee Canopy Tour, Ducktown (888) 723-8663 www.ocoeecanopytour.com Home&Farm 41

Events & Festivals

The Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration, which celebrates 74 years in 2012, takes place Aug. 22 through Sept. 1 in Shelbyville.

Tennessee Events & Festivals

fireworks, 5K and 10K runs and a children’s village. CONTACT: 423-756-2211, riverbendfestival.com

15th Annual Kids Fishing Rodeo –

This listing includes a selection of events of statewide interest scheduled in June, July and August as provided to Tennessee Home & Farm by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. To include your local events in our listing, please contact them at www.tnvacation.com. Due to space constraints, we are unable to include all of the events provided or accept unsolicited events. However, you can find more information and events at the department’s website as well as in the Travel section at tnhomeandfarm.com.

Events are subject to date change or cancellation; please call the contact listed before traveling long distances to attend.

June 9, Dale Hollow

June

Bonnaroo Music Festival –

International Folkfest –

A 100-acre village brings together the best performers in rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, Americana, hip-hop, electronica and more. CONTACT: 931-728-7635, bonnaroo.com

With dance groups from around the world, the International Folkfest promises to be a week of excitement and education. Throughout the week, international groups will perform for area schools, youth and senior citizen organizations and for civic clubs.

CONTACT: mboro-international-folkfest.org

Jimmy Martin Memorial Bluegrass Festival – June 1-2, Sneedville

This festival will feature the best bluegrass performers, food and crafts. CONTACT: overhomesneedville.com

Germantown Charity Horse Show – June 5-9, Memphis

An exciting all-breed event with more than 800 horses including hunter/jumpers, American Saddlebreds, Roaster and Hackney ponies and Tennessee Walking Horses. CONTACT: 901-543-5310, gchs.org

42 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

June 7-10, Manchester

CMA Music Festival – June 7-10, Nashville

Country music’s biggest party brings country fans and artists together for four days and nights of live music. CONTACT: 800-CMA-FEST, cmafest.com

Riverbend Festival –

June 8-16, Chattanooga

Multiple stages of diverse music, plus

This annual free event is open to youth under the age of 15 and coincides with National Fishing and Boating Week.

CONTACT: Andrew Currie, 931-243-2443, www.fws.gov/dalehollow

City of Clarksville & TWRA Fishing Rodeo – June 9, Clarksville

A free fishing event for children ages 16 and under. No license is required to participate.

CONTACT: 931-645-7476, cityofclarksville.com

June 10-17, Murfreesboro

Fruits of the Backyard – June 12, Middle Tennessee Research and Education Center, Spring Hill This annual program, designed to address issues facing both homeowners and producers, features presentations, educational displays and trade show

tnfarmbureau.org

vendors providing insight into the production of fruits and vegetables, maintenance of lawn grasses and ornamentals, and control of harmful insects and weeds as well as many other areas associated with backyard production and recreational gardening.

Begins at 8:30 a.m. CONTACT: 931-486-2129, middletennessee.tennessee.edu

Secret City Festival –

June 15-16, Oak Ridge

This 10th annual citywide celebration commemorates the 67th anniversary ending of WWII and features the largest multi-battle WWII reenactment in the South, as well as tours of Manhattan Project sites, children’s festival, arts and crafts and exhibitors.

CONTACT: 865-425-3610, secretcityfestival.com

forage, and burley and dark-fired tobacco production. Begins at 7 a.m. CONTACT: 615382-3130, highlandrim.tennessee.edu

26th Annual Trash & Treasures Community-Wide Yard Sale –

June 29-30, Cross Plains

Held at Main Street and Hwy. 25 from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., this yard sale is a fundraiser for the Cross Plains Heritage Commission for a museum in the “Doctor’s House.” Booths throughout the 233-year-old town, 35 miles north of Nashville, offer all sorts of treasures and cast-offs. CONTACT: 615-654-2256

Clarksville Independence Day Celebration – June 30, Clarksville

Join us for an early independence celebration with fireworks and a special performance by the American Wind Symphony Orchestra on their custom barge. CONTACT: 931-645-7476, cityofclarksville.com

40th Anniversary Walking Horse Show – June 30, Henderson

Fun for the whole family with more than 20 classes. Held at the Chester County Fairgrounds and sponsored by the Lions Club. CONTACT: Neal Smith, 731-989-4684

Smoky Mountain Tunes & Tales –

June 15-Aug. 11, Gatlinburg

This 7th annual celebration features storytellers, musicians and cloggers at different locations along the parkway.

CONTACT: 865-436-0500, gatlinburg.com

Bell Buckle RC & Moon Pie Festival – June 16, Bell Buckle

Celebrate a Southern tradition with music, cloggers, games, crafts and cutting the world’s largest Moon Pie. CONTACT: 931-389-9663, bellbucklechamber.com

The Big BBQ Bash – June 16, Maryville

The event is an amateur barbecue cook-off and fundraiser for Helen Ross McNabb Center. Prize money totaling $6,000 will be awarded including a trophy and bragging rights for the top three teams in each category.

CONTACT: 865-329-9120, blountbbqbash.com

Go Banana’s Day/The Zoo’s 75th Birthday Celebration – June 16, Chattanooga

Celebrate the Chattanooga Zoo’s 75th birthday as we combine the celebration with our already existing Go Banana’s Day. The celebration includes a day of positively primate family fun, crafts, games, and of course banana Moon Pie cake to celebrate.

CONTACT: 423-697-1322, chattzoo.org

Porter Flea Modern Handmade Market – June 16, Nashville

Held at Marathon Music Works in Nashville from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., this flea market features modern handmade goods from carefully selected local and regional artisans and designers, several local food trucks, and live DJs. CONTACT: porterflea.com

Tobacco, Beef & More –

June 28, Highland Rim Research & Education Center, Springfield

The Mid-South’s beef and tobacco producers will want to attend this free educational event that features the state’s leading experts on topics such as animal health, Events are subject to date change or cancellation. Please call ahead.

Home&Farm 43

Buy from a local farmer and

Enjoy the Best

that Tennessee has to offer!

(931) 388-7872 ext. 2763 Visit www.tnfarmfresh.com for a listing of local farmers.

44 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

tnfarmbureau.org

Sizzling summer recipes

July

Summer Celebration –

July 12, Jackson

Lancaster Independence Day Parade – July 1, Lancaster

Take part in the celebration of “One Nation Under God” as patriots from all over Middle Tennessee come to participate in this year’s 8th annual Independence Day parade beginning at 5 p.m. Stay for Bluegrass on the Greens, BBQ, apple pie and homemade ice cream. Bring your lawn chairs and be a part of small town U.S.A. celebrating in a big way. CONTACT: 615-683-6131, lancasterparade.org

Midnight Independence Day Parade – July 3-4, Gatlinburg

The First July Fourth Parade of the Nation kicks off at midnight July 3. Floats, balloons and marching bands pay tribute to our country.

CONTACT: 865-436-4178, gatlinburg.com

25th Annual Independence Day Parade – July 4, Farragut

Enjoy bands, floats, animals, antique cars and more in the patriotic celebration along Kingston Pike. CONTACT: 865-966-7057, townoffarragut.org

Music City July 4th Spectacular – July 4, Nashville

This annual event is Nashville’s largest oneday party and features live music, family activities, food and one of the nation’s best fireworks displays. CONTACT: 800-657-6910, visitmusiccity.com

Lauderdale County Tomato Festival – July 6-7, Ripley The 28th annual festival pays honor to area tomato growers. Events include a 5K run to games, rides, petting zoo, tomato contest and a variety of food. CONTACT: 731-6359541, lauderdalecountytn.org

Smithville’s Fiddler’s Jamboree & Crafts Festival, Smithville –

July 6-7

Features various state and national championships, jam sessions and juried craft exhibitors. 615-597-4163, smithvillejamboree.com

The 2012 Summer Celebration takes place at the UT West Tennessee Research and Education Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Admission is $5. For details, turn to page 8 of this publication. CONTACT: 731-424-1643, west.tennessee.edu

35th Annual Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival – July 13-15, Murfreesboro

This festival honors the memory of Uncle Dave Macon, one of the first Grand Ole Opry superstars, and features music, arts and crafts, food, storytelling and competitions.

For more details, turn to page 6 of this publication. CONTACT: 800-716-7560, uncledavemacondays.com

Fourth of July food

World Bell Festival – July 14, Oak Ridge

Visit the only North American site selected to participate in this international bell ringing celebration, which will also feature hand bell choirs, bell competitions, bottle bands and international food and music. CONTACT: 800-887-3429, oakridgevisitor.com

Grainger County Tomato Festival – July 26-29, Rutledge

Food, fun crafts and fresh Grainger County tomatoes and produce for sale. CONTACT: graingercountytomatofestival.com

Milan No-Till Field Day –

July 26, Milan

The nation’s largest field day devoted to no-tillage crop production techniques for increasing production, reducing expenses, improving marketing skills or increasing the efficiency of crop production operations.

Begins at 7 a.m. CONTACT: 731-686-7362, milan.tennessee.edu

Q n’ Brew at the Zoo –

July 28, Chattanooga

From garden to grill

Looking for something fun and different to do during this hot summer heat? Look no further as you are invited to join the Chattanooga Zoo at our first-ever BBQ tasting and contest.

Chattanoogans old and young alike can come and taste the best BBQ the city has to offer while also enjoying the zoo. Kids 6 and under are free. CONTACT: 423-697-1322, chattzoo.org

45th Annual Murfreesboro Antiques Show and Sale –

July 20-22, Murfreesboro

Antique show and sale highlighting over 70 exhibitors from across the United States.

CONTACT: 770-928-0052, murfreesboroantiqueshow.com

Events are subject to date change or cancellation. Please call ahead.

Home&Farm 45

46 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

tnfarmbureau.org

August

Highway 127 Corridor Sale – Aug. 2-5, Jamestown

The world’s longest yard sale stretches for 675 miles along Hwy. 127.

CONTACT: 800-327-3945, 127sale.com

Rock-A-Billy Festival – August 9-11, Jackson

The world’s largest gathering of Rock-A-Billy artists and musicians, featuring the pioneers of Rock-A-Billy music as well as new artists.

CONTACT: 731-427-6262, rockabillyhall.org

Pooch Pool Party –

Bill Jones

Aug. 2-4, Gatlinburg

Square Dancing, the official Folk Dance of Tennessee. Square dancers from around the state will gather for three days of dancing, shopping, and renewing friendships.

Spectators are welcome at no charge.

CONTACT: tnsquaredance.org

Darren Shelton

Tennessee State Square & Round Dance Convention –

It’s Time to Enter the 17th Annual Tennessee Farm Bureau Photo Contest Pull out your camera and start snapping! Submit your best photos in our annual contest, and you could be named the grand-prize winner.

To enter, fill out the form below and mail your prints to us. Or, visit tnhomeandfarm.com to upload your digital photos and enter online.

Winners will be announced in the winter issue of Tennessee Home & Farm. First-place winners in each of three categories will be awarded $100 cash prizes; the grand-prize winner receives $200. Entries must be postmarked (or submitted online) by Aug. 1.

Aug. 11, Clarksville

Bring your dogs to take a dip in the pool!

Register to win door prizes. CONTACT: 931645-7476, cityofclarksville.com

74th Annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration – Aug. 22-Sept. 1, Shelbyville

The world championship show of Tennessee’s native breed of show horse.

Division champions will be crowned with the World Grand Champion Tennessee Walking Horse being named.

CONTACT: 931-684-5915, twhnc.com

8th Annual Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival – Aug. 31-Sept. 2, Gatlinburg This outdoor, family event is a juried art festival with cash prizes for best in show and Appalachian music.

CONTACT: 800-588-1817, gatlinburg.com

Elvis Week –

Aug. 10-18, Memphis

The 35th anniversary of the celebration of Elvis Presley’s music, movies and life. the event also includes a candlelight vigil. CONTACT: 800-238-2000, elvis.com

Name_ ___________________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________ City ___________________________ State ________ Zip _________ Phone ____________________________________________________ County of FB Membership __________________________________ Farm Bureau Membership # _ _______________________________ Located in the address label of this magazine above your name. For example: #123456789#

Category: ❒ Tennessee

❒ Home

❒ Farm

Mail entry to:

Tennessee Farm Bureau Photo Contest P.O. Box 313, Columbia, TN 38402-0313 OFFICIAL RULES: Only original photos or high-quality reprints will be accepted via mailed entries. Color or black-and-white photos are acceptable in any size. Attach this entry form to the back of the photo (copies may be made of entry form if more than one is needed). No digital media storage devices will be accepted via the mailed entry option. To submit a digital photo, visit tnhomeandfarm.com and click on the photo contest entry form. Digital files must be high resolution – minimum of 5x7 inches at 300 dpi. To avoid legal entanglements, make sure permission has been given for use of photos. Online entrants are automatically entered in a web-only readers’ choice contest, which has no monetary prize.

We offer three categories: Tennessee, Home and Farm. Only one entry per category per person.

Only Tennessee Farm Bureau members with a valid membership number are eligible to enter.

Employees of Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farmers Insurance Cos., county Farm Bureaus or their families are not eligible to win. This is an amateur photo contest. Professional photographers are not eligible. Entries must be postmarked by Aug. 1, 2012. Photos will not be returned and will become property of Tennessee Farm Bureau and Journal. Images may be used in TFBF publications with photo credit given. For additional information, call Tennessee Farm Bureau, (931) 388-7872, Misty McNeese, ext. 2211. For questions about the online entry form, call Jessy Yancey at (800) 333-8842, ext. 217, or e-mail thaf@jnlcom.com.

Events are subject to date change or cancellation. Please call ahead.

Home&Farm 47

View From the Back Porch

Water World Beaches, creeks and sprinklers form summer memories About the Author Freelance writer Lori Boyd also works part time as a registered nurse. She lives in Murfreesboro with her husband and their three children, who eagerly await the summer months and many opportunities for getting wet.

48 Home&Farm |Summer 2012

I

remember as a child spending summer days floating down the river that runs in front of my aunt and uncle’s home. Starting upriver, we would mount our rafts and then let the current carry us for hours back down to the familiar red wooden pier. Sometimes a watermelon would be eaten along the way or a stray dog would swim out to share a raft with a lucky cousin. When the heat of the sun pan-fried our inflatable parade, we would slip off our floats into the cool, refreshing tea-colored water. After some swimming and splashing, it was back to the rafts, as the water carried us closer to home.

I love the water. I love that it represents life, and that it so often provides relief and rejuvenation. I love that it manifests itself in diverse forms, but its powerful nature remains the same. I love that it takes me back to my childhood and now plays a recurring role on the summer stage for my own children.

Consider the ocean. The East Coast comes to my mind, as our family shares some of July with other beachcombers every year. As far back as I can remember, I’ve spent time at the beach during the summer months, and it always feels as if I’m visiting an old friend – one of those friends whom you leave feeling like a better person. The ocean seems to energize the spirit and recharge the heart.

Jumping waves, swim racing to shore, hunting for sharks’ teeth, diving for conch shells – each

salty activity cathartic in its own way.

Imagine a creek. I think of Big Hickory Creek, which runs along the property line behind the home of my in-laws. Many of our summer days have been spent skipping stones across that creek, wading into its chilly waters, collecting rocks along the bank or riding a tube over the small-scale rapids. It’s a happy place, and we always leave feeling refreshed. Someday we’ll borrow one of my nephews’ kayaks and go on a real adventure downstream.

Picture a sprinkler. We have the one with 20 holes along the top that sends shots of water into the air while moving back and forth, creating waves of rain in our own backyard.

Sometimes it’s dragged under the trampoline sending a spray of water up onto slippery jumpers or strategically placed near the slide on our swing set to create a water slide of sorts. Hours can be spent jumping in and out of that moving wall of water, which can be a waterfall, the secret entrance to another world or maybe just be a sprinkler. Whatever it is on any given day, it’s always a reprieve from the hot summer sun.

Whether it be the salty waves of the ocean, the rippling rapids of a creek, the rhythmic motion of a sprinkler, a favorite fishing hole, a metal washtub in the grass or any other means of getting wet, water is an endless source from which precious summer memories can flow. tnfarmbureau.org