The Shine in Caroline Is Kinda Hard to Find

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain. - Billie Holiday


Well, we had a week of sun now we are back to the rain.  Rain all week in the forecast.  I'm not complaining, I'm just moldy.  I got some collard and cabbage plants in the garden and planted some carrot seeds.  The cabbage and collards are puny.  I don't know what is about those plants, but they all start out puny and look like they are going to die, then come back to make strong plants.  

I also seeded some more cabbage and collards, some rockly, some cauliflower and some lettuce.  I haven't seeded the bok choy yet but I did get some volunteers from the spring.  I actually got to cook a head!  I got a packet of microgreens, but I have to build a frame for them.  It's getting harder to find scrap wood around here cause we have so many projects.

I've pulled up all the old corn and saved some seeds for next year.  I'm not sure how hybridized they are, but I am going to give it a shot.  My okra is coming in like gangbusters and I am on my third harvest of cow peas.  I am sick of looking at them.  I'm giving them away now mostly.  The cukes and green beans are done, as is the soy.  Next year I think I will do all black soy.  It seems to do better.

The garden toms are done and the potted toms are almost done.  I'll pull them up this week to make way for some greens.  I got a really good harvest this year and dried some, canned some and made some sauce.

I've bottled my strawberry wine and it seems to have lost some of it's flavor from the time I last tasted it.  It still smells like strawberry, but the taste is too delicate.  It has no finish.  The blackberry is still aging.  I got some pears from one of my aunties yesterday.  They are not ripe, but the squirrels are at them, so I got some while I could.  I still have three on my tree.  Amazing.

The chickens have started cranking up production after a summer of about nothing.  I get an egg every other day from each hen.  The chicklets are almost ready to be adults.  I will have to get rid of the rooster soon.  The chickitas are half pints.  They are still peeping but have been on their own quite some time.  There is one rooster in this bunch.  The other three are hens, so I beat the odds, finally.

So, I am off to plant seeds between the rain drops.

bak bak

Kentucky Day 6

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." -- Tom Paine,

We started the day at Blue Licks Battlefield, which was a revolutionary war site.

It was very amazing to me that, given Kentucky had the most brother against brother fighting in the "Former Unpleasantness", I could never find a single war of northern aggression site.  I saw signs for some, but never found them.

Anyway, the Blue Licks Battlefield was the farthest north that we went in this trip.  The drive was pretty, but when we got there, the Pioneer Museum was closed for renovation.  Bummer.  We did walk around the site and we drove down to the river road.

We drove back through Georgetown since Jim stayed there for a couple of years.  The house he lived in was torn down, but the houses and dorm he remodeled were still there.  

On the way back, we also came across a covered bridge and got some pics:

One of the things that had puzzled me throughout the whole trip is the tobacco.  We saw fields of it, but I never saw a single tobacco barn.  Jim said that we have passed scores of them.  Oh no we didn't!

I was looking for this:

Kentucky tobacco barns look like this:

They are huge.  The wagon full of tobacco drives right into the barn and the whole plant is hung up to dry.  And they are still being used.  We saw a pile of sticks in the one I photographed, ready to be loaded with tobacco.

Also, on the way back we went through the town of Oddville.  They didn't have any boundary signs, probably because people steal them.

We also passed, finally, a war between the states sign.  It just had to be a last stand.

Finally, on our last afternoon, we went to an antique tractor show in Paris Municipal Park.  I saw my dream tractor:

What I learned:

Tobacco in Kentucky is different than tobacco in North Carolina

Alice Chalmers made the coolest tractor ever

It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there

There's no place like home, Auntie Em.

bak bak

Kentucky Day 5

The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.
Geoffrey Chaucer


Thursday:

After a breakfast at the cabin, we headed off to the wineries.  We toured three.  First we went to Acres of Land.  They had a tasting but no tour  Their wines were good but not great so we didn't buy any.  The view from the bistro was, however, fantastic.

Then we went to Jean Farris.  Their wines were excellent but the atmosphere in the bistro/tasting area was a little fru fru for our taste.  The wines were also pretty expensive.   We did talk to a couple of women from California who were visiting the area as well.  We ended up with two wines from Jean Farris.  Their table red, which smelled of bourbon and was really good and one of their specialty whites.

Lastly we went to Talon.  That's what I'm talking about.  Their visitors center was in an old farmhouse. Like over 100 years old.  The floors creaked and the entrance was through the back door.  The somalier appeared to be like 14 and there was one other person in the tasting room.  Obviously an admirer of the somalier.  When we showed up, he kinda faded away.  There was a storm kicking up while we were there so we stayed a while and talked.  Very pleasant.  And their wines were phenomenal, and very reasonably priced.  We came back with a case.  I especially liked their coyote red and their blackberry.  It was all very casual and laid back.  Our kind of place.

storm coming in at Talon

In the afternoon, we went to Berea.  This is Kentucky's premier art colony.  They have an artisan's village in one area and an art college in another.  We went through several of the artisan shops.  One was a jewelry smith.  Gastineau Studio.  He obviously hadn't had many visitors that morning.  We couldn't get out of the shop.  Jim kept trying to talk about the jewelry making but the proprietor, once he found out I was a vegetarian, wanted to talk about food.  He discussed tofu, tempe, the atkins diet, middle eastern food and on.  For about 1/2 an hour.  We hit a few more shops and I found some gifts for everyone at home, including a really neat stick for my daughter's fiance (long back story).

Then we toured the college.  That was really cool.  It was set up many years back as a way to educate poor persons who couldn't get an education anywhere else.  It evolved into a liberal arts college.  The tuition is free, if you work in one of the many craft shops.  They make furniture, weave cloth, throw pottery and make brooms to subsidize the college so the students can go for nothing.  Our guide, Jordan, was very personable.  He said he could be a tour guide for the rest of his life.  One interesting note.  I asked him where he was from and he said a little town near Asheville, and I probably had never heard of it.  Burnsville. 

Well I proceeded to tell him that I was a descendant of Ottway Burns, the town's founder, and how he was a privateer and a notable statesman and where he was buried and all.  He was amazed.  So I hijacked the tour for a little while.  Always willing to trot out the family history.

We ate dinner at Cheapside in Lexington again, as the food was so good.  When we got home, they had let the cows out into the front pasture so I got pictures.  The cows were so much more interesting than the horses.

What I learned:

Tempe is easier to make than Tofu

The Chambourcin grape is Kentucky's own local grape and it makes a very good red wine

Ale 8 is a very good soft drink, but regional

bak bak

Kentucky Day 4

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy. -- Benjamin Franklin

Wednesday:

We started the day by finishing the Bourbon tour.  

We stopped off at Four Roses in the morning.  It was at the end of a winding road.  Surrounded by horse farms.  Four Roses had an interesting history.  They were bought by Segrems many years ago and the quality of the whiskey went to the bottom shelf.  Then about 5 years ago it was bought out by a family owned operation and the quality went way up.  I will tell you that their small batch was my favorite of all I tasted.

Quick explanation:

Single Barrel:  Bourbon from one barrel.  Can be variable.
Small Batch:  Bourbon blended from less than 100 barrels.  More consistent
Blended:  Very consistent, blended from many barrels.

Also, apparently, in the first year, 5% of the Bourbon is lost to evaporation and 3% every year after that.  This is called the angel's share.  So from a very old barrel, you could lose as much as 1/3 of the contents.  Each barrel holds about 52 gallons.

Four Roses did a good job of explaining each step of the process with yellow signs.

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Then on to Wild Turkey.  It was surrounded by horse farms.  At the end of a winding road.  Nothing too special here.  They had the most expensive, and extensive, gift shop of all the distilleries we saw.  They did have a honey liquor based in Bourbon that was different.

Jim rides the turkey

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Our last stop was Woodford Reserve.  It was NOT at the end of a winding road, but it was surrounded by very expensive horse farms.

Woodford was very high class.  Their warehouses were made of stone.  They distilled the old fashioned way in huge copper vats.  The same kind as are used for Scotch distillation.  Their tour was 5 bucks, but it was really extensive.  Their blended bourbon was my favorite.

this is only the upper half of the vat!!

distilling the old way

Tagged barrel

track for rolling barrels to the warehouses

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That it was it for the bourbon.  I did come back with a keepsake from each distillery we visited, as well as with a bottle of 4 Roses small batch and a personalized bottle of Woodford Reserve.

Bourbon country fondly *hic* remembered

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We made our way back to Lexington.  I got a shot of one of the stone hedges.  Apparently, if you are a horse farmer you either have to have a stone hedge or a black wooden fence.  I wonder if it is legislated?

We went back through Lexington and found a restaurant downtown for lunch.  It had the BEST black bean salsa I have ever eaten.  I think they had mole in it.  Most of the people in the restaurant looked like locals, so we knew it was good.

Then we hit Altech Brewery.  Makers of Kentucky Ale, Kentucky Light Ale and Kentucky bourbon barrel ale.  We got a tour, but not a tasting.  Apparently, the week before we were there, they had been granted regional status, from microbrewery status, and this disallowed tasting.  I don't know why that would be.  Anyhoo, the bourbon barrel ale was phenomenal.  Apparently, they buy the bourbon barrels from Woodford, ship them quickly and fill the barrels with ale within 12 hours.  There is up to 5% bourbon still in the wood of the barrel and it comes out in the beer.  I fell in love.  But, their straight ale is even better.  Unfortunately, they don't ship to NC.  Yet.  They are trying to get national shipping status.  So far they only ship to 6 states.  We brought back as much as we could, but it is gone now.  

Sob.

antique bottler

antique capper

In the evening we went to Willie's Locally Known to listen to a bit of bluegrass.  We had some really good fried green tomatoes.  And the band was fun.

Then home and to slumber.

bak bak