T
PREMIERE ISSUET
ISSUE
2017
DEFENDING SOUTHERN FOOD
Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Love Affair With Southern Fare THE SUPPER TABLE
$6.95
Celebrating A Cajun Heritage
THE LIAR’S CLUB
A Virginia Community Elevates Lying to an Art RANDOM JOURNEY
An Eye-Opening Visit to Charming Washington, Georgia
PREMIERE ISSUE
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17
50: DEFENDING SOUTHERN FOOD Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Love Affair With Southern Food
62: A BEAUTIFUL MESS Encouraging women farmers from a Tennessee farm
72: A NIGHT AT DOE’S
Great conversation over great steaks in the Mississippi Delta
STORIES 80: WHOLLY TRINITY
Preserving old seeds to bake better breads in Asheville
88: NEW FLAVORS OF BREAKFAST
Adding new tastes to our morning meal
CHAPTERS
EDITORIAL
TO DINE SOUTHERN
PG 8: EDITOR’S LETTER
PG 36: THE SOUTHERN TABLE
PG 14: MAKING A DIFFERENCE
PG 41: COME FOR SUPPER
PG 132: MAGEE’S SOUTHERN ACCENT
PG 44: ON OUR PL ATE
Our Southern food memories
Memories of a grandfather’s beloved cookie
Lending a helping hand in Alabama
Serving up authentic Cajun food in New Orleans
Chef Tom Ramsey’s Winter pork and potatoes
You’ve got to raise a little hell
PG 46: IN OUR GL ASS
Remembering the tastes of Summer
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127 SOUTHERN COMFORTS
A ROAD LESS TRAVELED
PG 18: SMALL BUT MIGHT Y
PG 118: WANDERING
An Alabama artist crafts the unexpected from recovered logs
PG 23: BY SOUTHERN HANDS You’ll want these finds made by locals
PG 28: PAGES
Cozy up with Deborah Malone and a good mystery
Big history in a small Georgia town
PG 127: SOMETHING ELSE
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PG 32: LOOK FOR
Tim Avalon makes it happen in Jackson
PG 130: SOUTH AND ABOUT What’s happening around the South
PG 134: WHERE WE WENT
Committed to the long grind in Virginia
PG 30: LISTEN UP
The Dexateens embrace an Alabama rock-n-roll collective
Miniature buildings await in Cullman, AL
SOUTHERN SNAPSHOTS PG 96: ALONG THE ROAD A Virginia town built on lies
PG 102: SOUTHERN C HARACTER The unforgettable Duck Man
PG 104: L AY OF THE L AND Readers share photos of their South
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STAFF Scott Speakes Publisher Genie Gaither Jones Editor-in-Chief Ellen Rogers Howle Managing Editor Rebecca Cashwell Design Director Lynae Bryant Visual Communication Artist Allen Ransom Digital Imaging Specialist Matthew Magee Editorial Ellen Rogers Howle Genie Gaither Jones Julia L. Haynes Elizabeth Tate Copy Writers Richard L. Jones Copy Editor Scott Speakes Photography Director Gordon Lynch Scott Speakes Lena Seaborn Photography advertising@okramagazine.com Advertising Panaprint, Inc. Printing Sappi Papers, Inc. Special Thanks
Published by Southbound Publishing, Inc. P O Box 4107 Cleveland, MS 38732
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EDITOR’S LETTER
Growing up in the South,
it seemed every important event was centered on the gathering of family and friends around food. At family reunions, we kids would circle like vultures as we waited impatiently for the adults to place food on the tables. Would our favorites be there? Did Aunt Rosa make her chicken and dumplings? Was that Aunt Jane’s coconut cake? Were those Aunt Sara’s green beans we loved so much? What was Aunt Grace taking out of her picnic basket? Was it fried chicken and chocolate pie? Where were Aunt Carolyn’s deviled eggs? Were those Aunt Julia’s yeast rolls next to Aunt Sue’s pear relish? And please let that be Grandmother’s pound cake sitting there on the table, crusty on the outside and tender on the inside. All those foods are burned into my memories, yet none are as dear as watching our grandmothers make biscuits. After all, a biscuit may be the most Southern of foods and no two cooks make them alike. And as one who lost the art of biscuit making for several years, let me tell you, there is a real art to making good ones. At Memaw’s, the big yellow Pyrex mixing bowl resided in the top kitchen cabinet. There was always self-rising flour and a sifter sitting in it. Memaw would pull it down, sift, make a well in the flour, add buttermilk and Crisco. Then she would fold it over and over with her hands until it was just the right texture. Next she would roll a small amount into a ball and press it slightly into a cast iron skillet, which, I think, made the perfect biscuit – slightly brown top, fluffy inside, and crisp on the bottom. All you had to do was add butter and syrup. I can still smell those biscuits baking. Grandma’s biscuits were equally good but the process was somewhat different. In the corner of her kitchen sat a Hoosier cabinet, the kind with the flour bin and sifter built in. As a child, I stood mesmerized as she opened that small door and sifted a little flour into the waiting mixing bowl. Lard was added to the bowl and then worked into the flour with her hands. I would get the buttermilk out of the refrigerator and pour it in while she skillfully worked it into the flour and lard mixture. She would mix it just until combined then pinch off small portions of dough and roll them into balls then pat them into her blackened aluminum baking pan, crowding them. When they came out of the oven, they had risen to a rounded top, were soft on the inside and crusty on the bottom – just like Memaw’s – yet as different as they could possibly be. But we loved them equally. If we could make biscuits like either grandmother, we wouldn’t need a recipe each time. Sadly, we just don’t make them often enough. The way we cook today is very different from how our grandmothers, even our mothers, cooked, yet we don’t want to lose those ways. We love our Southern foods. Sometimes we don’t like to admit it, as so much of it is cooked in ways and with ingredients we are told are bad for us, but when we have the opportunity to indulge in good Southern cooking it’s like going home. The memories come flooding back and life is good. We, never want to lose that feeling – or those memories.
Scott Speakes // Publisher
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PREMIERE ISSUE 2017
Genie Gaither Jones // Editor-in-Chief
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CONTRIBUTORS
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MATHEW JAY MAGEE is from Magee! Magee, Mississippi that is. A natural storyteller, musician and photographer, his newly found interest in gardening has led to the creation of The Mississippi Sound Garden – a raised vegetable bed that responds to all kinds of sounds and musical shenanigans! He currently resides in Ridgeland, Mississippi with three furry critters and a darling, loving wife.
PREMIERE ISSUE 2017
RICHARD GRANT is an author, journalist, and television host. He currently writes for Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Garden and Gun, and several other publications. He grew up in London, England, and now lives in Jackson, Mississippi. His latest book Dispatches From Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta has been the #1 best-selling book in Mississippi for the last eight months. In Dispatches From Pluto, Grant finally puts down some roots. He and his girlfriend move from New York City to a remote farmhouse near Pluto, Mississippi, and immerse themselves in the rich, troubling, often bizarre culture of the Mississippi Delta. “His empathetic manner, reportorial talent and eye for the unexpected detail make this a chigger-trip trip that entertains as much as it informs,” said the New York Times.
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RORY DOYLE works as a university photojournalist and freelance photographer based in Cleveland, Mississippi. Doyle’s client and publication list includes: The Wall Street Journal, Getty Images, U.S. News, The Atlantic, CNN, Forbes, Reebok, Men’s Journal, The Marshall Project, Bitter Southerner, Teach for America, Spartan Race and more. With a passion for travel, he has also had assignments in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Poland, Russia and more.
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TOM RAMSEY Tom is a chef, sommelier, writer and reluctant goatherd. He lives in a temperamental old house in Jackson, Mississippi with his wife Kitty, some kids, a bunch of cats and three very naughty goats. He’s terrible about answering his phone but he’ll return your emails. info@tomramsey.com
MARK PETKO 14 years a Southerner, having traded “yinz” for “y’all”, yet still not used to the summer heat. Lately, can’t get enough of Honey Crisp apple slices with peanut butter. Don’t feel right unless I get a good 6-7 hours of daily snuggle-time with the wife. Bored with hipster beards. I spend a good amount of effort avoiding crowds. Therefore, brunch is for suckers. Real men eat breakfast at 7am and dinner out is usually 5pm, with the elderly. I like to read books that will soon be movies and compare what I imagined versus someone else’s vision. I’m a photographer by choice and sometimes I like to write.
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GROWL BROS. Justin & Chris are both from Atlanta, and based there, near the oldest mountains in the world, the Appalachians, where they hike and ride as much as possible. But they’ve been influenced by exploring New Zealand, skiing the Canadian Rockies, shooting photographs in India, talking to a Georgia taxidermist they found on Craigslist, and enjoying a slice of brisket that smoked all night in a rural Texas pit before arriving on their plates. They like grit and grace, the hills over yonder, merriment right here, and being married—though not to each other, except in a business sense. They make photographs—portraits, product shots, adventure and documentary narratives—that make people smile and wonder. http://www.growlbros.com https://www.instagram.com/growlbros/
C CASHWELL FINE ART
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SE C O N D
HEL PIN G
okramagazine.com SHOW US YOUR SOUTH In every issue of okra. we feature images from ACROSS THE SOUTH, submitted by OUR READERS of what the South means to them. Our editors select the photographs we feel best showcase our DIVERSE SOUTHERN CULTURE. If your photograph is chosen we will send you a REAL SOUTHERN CULTURE t-shirt. So go to our website and submit your images. Just tell us WHO YOU ARE and WHERE IT IS so we can GIVE YOU CREDIT. submissions@okramagazine.com
SHOW US YOUR SOUTH submit your photo to submissions @ okramagazine.com
RECIPE SWAP WITH CHEF TOM RAMSEY My Grandmother used to hold polite little parties at her house where recipes and gossip were freely exchanged, mid-day. They were called “Recipe Swap Socials.” The “recipe” portion of the party had a specific format and the “social” part was well, more free-form. Each gathering would have a new theme – “One Pot Meals” or “Casseroles” or “Gelatin Salads.” The hostess would prepare a couple of items in accordance with the theme and the ladies would exchange recipe cards with each guest bringing enough printed cards to distribute their recipe with each and every guest. The ladies would arrive with one recipe and leave with ten or more. And of course, there was always some punch on hand. The internet may have its flaws with fake news and way too many selfies and pictures of cats, but it does allow for our communities to reach beyond their former geographical limits. Let’s use this technology to make our worlds a little more delicious. We’ll post a theme and a recipe each month and you, our readers can submit your recipes, along with pictures, in the comments. We’ll pick our favorites and give the recipes a test-run. If they live up to their promise, we’ll hold them out as our favorites and perhaps even feature one of them in the print publication. Feel free to consume a good punch while reading and interacting. www.okramagazine.com Photo submitted by Ceci Snyder, Deer Island Paddle, Mississippi Gulf Coast
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MAKING A DIFFERENCE
“
I grew up in Bermuda where people are friendly and everybody helps each other. It just makes sense to me to do the same when you see people who need help.
“
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PREMIERE ISSUE 2017
Inspiring theWorld ONE L AWN AT A TIME Written by Julia L. Haynes / Photography by Lena Seaborn It’s been said that generosity of spirit is most often found in the greatest of leaders.
black for 50 lawns cut. “It’s sort of based on the karate belt system of achievement.”
Rodney Smith, Jr. embodies this spirit. “I want to show our children (our future) that they
Once they have attained the black t-shirt, they help Smith with teaching and leading
too will receive a sense of accomplishment, self-esteem, moral values and find a purpose
the others.
in themselves. No matter how small or tall, young or old, or what cultural background they come from, they are capable of whatever they put their minds to.” Back-up to last fall when Smith, 27, drove past a home where an elderly man was
Briggs & Stratton® heard about Smith and came calling. They have been instrumental in helping to keep them supplied with lawn equipment. A short video was even produced for their You.Powered. series and garnered a lot of attention.
struggling to cut his lawn. The sight haunted
Smith graduated in May 2016 from University
him. “It came to me, that I should do some-
of Alabama A&M in Huntsville with a degree in
thing about it. I’m young. I’m able.” So in
computer sciences but realized before graduation
September 2015, he decided to cut lawns
that he would be pursuing his masters. “I feel I’ve
for the elderly, single mothers, disabled and
found my calling and I started back in September
veterans free of charge. “I was in school and
to get my masters in Social Work.”
cutting lawns between classes and on week-
Asked what the recipients of his generous spirit
ends, so I set a personal goal to cut 100 lawns
think about all of this, “They can’t believe it. Peo-
by winter.” But by November he had already
ple cry. Some of them have citations because they
cut 100 lawns and in December Raising Men
can’t care for their lawns, then they get ripped off
Lawn Care Service was born.
by companies charging them $200 or more to cut
As the founder of RMLCS, Smith is passion-
their lawns. They can’t afford that. They need
ate about giving back. “I grew up in Bermuda
medicines and food. It feels good to see how much
where people are friendly and everybody helps
we help them.”
each other. It just makes sense to me to do the
This past Fall, Rodney and his team of young
same when you see people who need help.”
men extended their helping hands to the homeless.
With his friend, Terrence Stroy, they enlist the
They began handing out blankets, sleeping bags,
help of young people who need something to
tents, gloves and scarves to the homeless. Over
do. “We have 40 boys and 5 girls aged 7-17,
the Christmas holidays so many donations came
who cut lawns with us.” Smith acknowledg-
in they were able to deliver gifts, bottled water and
es that when some of the kids first start, they
meals to the homeless in the Huntsville area.
aren’t thrilled with the hard work. “But when
Raising Men Lawn Care performs a free service,
they see how grateful the people are whose
but the cost to purchase gas, oil, parts and pro-
lawns we’ve just cut, their whole attitude
vide general maintenance can add up. You can
changes. They WANT to get back out there
donate to help on their GoFundMe page. They
and do more. It just makes you feel good.”
travel across the Huntsville metro area, but will
Smith speculates that during the summer
also cover North Alabama as needed. There are
the group cuts, on average, 100 lawns a month. “We rotate the kids so they don’t get
6 other chapters in as many states and in Bermuda to help support, also. The word is
burned out. I mean, they’re still kids and need to have fun.” Don’t let those words fool
spreading. “They see the video and want to get involved. My hope is that one day we
you though, Smith makes sure there is fun to be had along with hard work while on the
would have chapters in every state and maybe even around the world.” Rodney Smith Jr:
job– random water gun battles top the list. There are also donut drops to the local fire-
dreamer, doer and yes, a great leader.
men and police officers to show support. Besides the good feeling that comes from helping others, the youngsters are rewarded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBLboDZXUyQ
with t-shirts to mark their achievements. Starting with white, they move up to orange
https://www.gofundme.com/264pw7g
when they reach 10 lawns, then on to green for 20, blue for 30, red for 40 and finally
https://www.facebook.com/raisingmenlawncarehsv/
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with a
SOUTHERN
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CHAPTER 1
SOUTHERN COMFORTS 17
SOUTHERN COMFORTS
This page: A section of cypress log is cleaned and polished to showcase its beauty for a decorative piece. Opposite page: Flournoy, flanked by 2 of her beloved dogs, carries a 4-tiered pedestal from her workshop in preparation for a show
H O M E
SMALL BUT MIGHTY Written by Julia L. Haynes / Photography by Gordon Lynch
Air is thick in the Deep South during late summer making it hard to breathe in the best of circumstances. It’s especially thick today at ninety-seven degrees, even in the shade of this tree-lined street. Opening the wide cypress gate to admit me to the yard of her home I am struck by the thought that this woman doesn’t look like she could handle the logs she uses for building, especially in this heat. Slight of frame with long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, she is jovial and friendly, but there’s an easy confidence about her that lets you know not much gets in her way, even the heat of summer. She may be small, but she is mighty. Lisa Flournoy builds furniture – furniture made from reclaimed cypress logs pulled from the swamp. Following her to the workshop, three small dogs run ahead of us with the same easy confidence of their owner. Layer upon layer of boards lean against the outside walls of the building – their varied weathered hues the only indication of where they were pulled from. Materials are strewn everywhere. It’s easy to see this is a busy place. Inside, on a shelf under a bank of windows that runs along the back of the workshop, are multiple pieces ready to pack up for a show – sections of cypress logs polished to a lovely matte patina, some turned into mirrors, birdhouses of all sizes, a bookcase, a table waiting for assembly. On the workbench pieces of cypress wood planks of differing tones wait to dry, destined for a kitchen island. It’s obvious Flournoy is passionate about what she does. “I get up really early every day and spend almost all day out here working. The light is always good inside the shop and I just love being out here.” Located only three short blocks from the small historic downtown of Prattville, Alabama, the workshop began life as a bait and tackle shop behind the circa 1860 house Flournoy is currently restoring. Its location was ideally suited for the people fishing the nearby Autauga Creek that runs through the town. “It’s a work in progress.” She apologizes indicating her house. “It was the worst house on the block. My older brother and I spent months leveling the floors throughout.” However it’s easy to see how beautiful it will be when she is finished.
Daniel Pratt, a Northern industrialist who moved to the South, to take advantage of the booming cotton business, founded Prattville in 1839. After settling in Alabama, Pratt purchased over 1,800 acres along the Autauga Creek to build his cotton gin manufacturing operation. Originally from New Hampshire, he modeled the new town after the villages of his home state with the cotton gin anchoring one end of the downtown main street. Today, Prattville is a small yet beautiful historic gem for those looking to escape the capital city of Montgomery and for those from the nearby Maxwell Air Force Base. It’s a far cry from the swamp where most of Flournoy building materials come from. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Flournoy’s family relocated to Prattville from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1962 where her father was a cartographer. She was three. The family hunted, fished and mostly lived off the land. “We were almost survivalists, but not quite.” Flournoy says. “If we wanted or needed something we just built it.“ With three brothers, there was a lot of competition, but they were also very close. She is especially close to her younger brother, Jim, owner and operator of Old River Sawmill. The two of them work together often. Jim Flournoy finds and retrieves old logs from swamps and rivers. Most of the cypress logs he reclaims from the swamps are from North Florida. He pulls only old logs that were most likely lost when they floated away from piles of logs being moved down the river in the 18th and 19th century. These found their way to the swamps. When the water level is low he searches the swamp for the good logs, marks them, and then patiently waits for the water to rise so he can pull them out. Flournoy often accompanies her brother into the swamp to help with the retrieval. “It’s dangerous work and he’s diving into the swamp, so someone has to look out for alligators, snakes and swamp people with guns. The swamp people are the most dangerous thing, though.” she says. “They really don’t want you there.” Continued >
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Flournoy never imagined she would be building furniture for a living. After moving to Orlando, Florida to enter the corporate world, she found herself in an apartment without ample storage, after having lived in a house for so many years. Suddenly she had to think about finding multi-functional furniture. Unable to find furniture she liked, she started making her own. Friends liked it and she began making a little here and there. After a drunk driver left her with a broken neck Flournoy felt she had to leave the corporate life. “After a couple of years, I just couldn’t take being boxed in anymore. And being the only girl, I felt the responsibility of taking care of my mother, who had been in the accident with me. She was hurt far worse than me.” So Flournoy returned to Prattville in 2009. It wasn’t easy when she first moved back. “There’s not a lot of work in small towns”, and she took whatever jobs she could just to make ends meet. But she found herself repeatedly helping her brother, Jim, at the sawmill. “When I first started going out there, I kept seeing this big pile of scrap that he would burn. It was what was cut off the logs and he couldn’t use it so he was just burning it. I asked if I could have some of it and that’s what I started using to create some small furniture and décor pieces.”
“I TRY TO BUILD THINGS I CAN HANDLE BY MYSELF.” She has been building furniture for about 15 years but only in the past six years has it grown to support her. While she still utilizes some of that scrap, she also uses cypress boards that the sawmill produces as well as timber from old homes or rivers that she and her brother reclaim. But cypress is her favorite. “It’s light, so I can move it around easily. I try to build things that I can handle by myself. And the colors from the North Florida swamp are so much prettier than the wood pulled from our swamps around here,” she explains. “The minerals in the mud and water give the wood beautiful color – blues, green, reds. Our swamps tend to give it a pinkish hue – more watered down.” She likes to say that her job has required her to be a chemist, scientist and artist, but with a dash of fairy dust. One of their biggest projects was the dismantling of the historic wooden Eagle & Phenix Dam on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia. Begun in 2012, the project took over two years to complete. The dam, started in 1828, was added to several times over the years until 1885. It was built of heart pine beams and logs with a lot of wrought iron. Lisa is especially proud of the wall in her house she covered with some of those same heart pine boards and oversized wrought iron hinges salvaged from the project. Now she is traveling to Atlanta, Georgia once a month for the Scott Antique Market, where she sells her ready-made pieces. This show has been good to her. “I get a lot of work from it. “ she says. “I sell a lot of the pieces I bring to the show, but most of my work these days is custom.” It seems her customers love the cypress as much as she does. She supplies picture frames and mirrors and other small items to a florist in Prattville, limbs to a taxidermist in Auburn, and currently there is paneling being supplied for a new restaurant in the Atlanta area. People are taking notice. Her newest acquisition is an old RV that allows her to stay on the show grounds. “I love my RV. It’s like being in a home and I can bring the dogs with me, “she laughs. “And I can take a nap if I get too tired.” Somehow, I don’t think anyone is going to find her napping. She is enjoying her busy life.
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PREMIERE ISSUE 2017
Left Top: Daniel Pratt founded his cotton gin mill in 1840 along the Autauga Creek Left Bottom: Flournoy used salvaged boards and hardware from the Eagle & Phenix Dam demolition project to cover the walls in her 1860’s home Right page: Flournoy working with cypress and other reclaimed woods in the workshop behind her home