A Blueberry Picking Sunday

Don’t know what other folks do for Father’s Day but my boys and I took off after lunch to pick blueberries. We had enjoyed a great Blueberry Crumb Cake at the Athens Farmers Market that Manny at the Harry’s Pig Shop booth had made and thought we had better stock up on some since they are at the height of the season right now. With the rains that we had last week and the warm sunny weather now, well everything from tomatoes to blueberries are in abundance. It’s going to get hot, real hot before you know it and things start drying up quickly. Better get on it and sons Ashley, Daniel and I picked enough in one and a half hours to last the winter. We will be making blueberry jam today and will probably get 50 or 60 quarts put up and that is not counting what we froze for baking. Every Epting Events brunch will be getting a jar for months to come.

I used a recipe that was Martha Lumpkin’s, written in 1850 which basically says put one cup of sugar to two cups of stewed berries and cook until thick. I do not like to use pectin or sure gel in my jams and jellies, I just like strong thick fruit jam that has not been diluted with too much sugar and water. You really get the flavor of the berries as so much of the water is cooked out by the time it is thick enough to seal in mason jars. Take some Sweet Dairy Farms fresh salted butter and put it on one of Renisha’s (pastry chef for Epting Events) double sized buttermilk biscuits; then put in a teaspoon of Martha Lumpkin’s Blueberry Jam (Atlanta, formally known as Marthasville which was named for young Martha) – well, that’s the cat’s meow. At the rate we are going with this we might make Christmas presents for everyone and all of you can come on by Harry’s for brunch on Sunday and try the Blueberry Jam. I think you’ll love it.

As for anyone that is reading these blogs please let me know the kind of things that you would like to hear about. It has been fun rambling on about some of my daily activities while roaming about the state. Need to tell you about planning a wedding for next June at the Walker Farm. I’ll be rambling about my rambles tomorrow. Most Sincerely, LEE

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Hill Dinner

Just thought this picture said a lot about Life on The Hill.  Friend Jim Fiscus called the other night and said that Kimberly had made a fresh Hill Egg Kale Quiche and had a few vegetables from the garden. I had my first tomato, fresh beans and broccoli – oh yea! – first ever fingerling potatoes. Kimberly also had a bunch of rainbow beets that she had grown. She just boiled, salted with flake sea salt and buttered them. Sorry the picture doesn’t show them sliced with their rings of red, pink and white.

We put these things together and I think you will admit it looked like a pretty good supper – worth a picture. Nothing better than setting around the table with friends, a nice glass of wine and real food – food that you have grown and prepared. It certainly taste better fresh from the garden. Only one thing lacking as far as I can see – someone else to clean up. Oh well, can’t have everything!

Hope you have a good week and by the way we are still bringing into Harry’s those fresh squash blossoms which Manny is stuffing with locally raised Berkshire pork sausage from Greendale Farms and Tinks’s Grass Fed Beef  and Israeli couscous then panko battering and frying. Getting about 50 blooms each morning and selling out quickly. Come on by Harry’s and try them. ……LEE

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Just look at this Country Ham

Talk about some good eating – just look at this Country Ham hanging in the fireplace in my Kitchen. Longtime friends Penny and Smith Wilson came Sunday night to Supper on The Hill with a true gift of love. You see, Smith has his old family smoke house restored out at his place on the Morton Road and just loves to put it to good use. We are alike in that way, if you have it – it should be used and if you can so authentically in the old time way then even better. I want you to look at these hams that he smoked and tell me that the Eptings are not going to be eating high on the hog.  I can smell the county ham and red eye gravy cooking just writing this blog.

I’ll probably take the hock to Janice for some NOT so vegetarian collard greens that she’ll be cooking for somebody’s wedding reception real soon – then again I might just be selfish and save it for home. At any rate I’ll just be slicing these hams real thin.  Next  I’ll  trim and in a big iron skillet fry up the fat first, drop the lean meat in the hot grease for about 60 seconds and  pour in a half cup strong coffee for the gravy. Put this on a big cat head biscuit and you have got some fine eat ‘in! Personally I always like to have a few extra biscuits for fresh butter and homemade jelly. One of my “Other Mothers”, Lib Cavett never set a table that she didn’t have out a jar of jam or jelly. That’s another story and with the wild berries coming in as we speak I’ll get busy and let you know how the blueberry jam comes out.  …LEE

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What do you do on Sunday afternoon for fun and excitement?

What do you do on Sunday afternoon for fun and excitement? Could suggest a trip to the J and J flea market. Headed out there with friend and neighbor Jim Fiscus yesterday to pick up a couple of Eggplants and Peppers for the garden but as usual spent an extra hour and came back with some interesting “stuff” , some of which I probably really don’t need. Did find Mr. Rakestraw in his booth of knives and Iron pots and purchased three carving sets that will look great on our Tenderloin Stations. Now why I have been using commercial knives all these years when an antique carving set would have been far more in keeping with our look, I do not know. Never too late to learn I guess.

Antique carving sets

Now I also found a gentleman with a box of Coke Cola bottles, the old green ones the we use to pick up along the side of the road and return for 2 cents which gave us spending money for the week. That was before Lady Bird Johnson convinced us to stop littering the sides of the roads. Back when I was a kid every town had a coke bottler and the name of the town was printed on the bottom of each bottle. I remember my grandfather Russell “Russie” Daniel would greet every customer that would come into the farm machinery business with “Howdy, Howdy, Howdy, let’s have a Coke.” Lots of times he would play a game to see who got the bottle from the town the furthest away – that person got to pay for the Cokes. Well, all this information came flooding back and I decided I “needed” these bottles. I gave Jim the $15 and asked him to pick them up while I brought the car around. Too my surprise Jim talked the man out of 6 more that he had in his truck so now I have a fine collection of Georgia bottles that are going to look great on the Bar at someone’s wedding or party. I put them on an old bottle rack last night for supper and we all put a quarter in the pot and each pulled a bottle off the rack – My brother Danny won! Russie would have been proud.

Coke bottle tree

Oh yea, while at the market we ate two green bananas and found a nice young lady that was selling the best fresh roasted peanuts that I’ve eaten in a month of Sundays. We did finally get around to buying our Eggplants from my good friend C.L. Morehead and he even gave us a couple of bell pepper plants. By the way, he has some beautiful hot pepper plants that are full of little green peppers that will turn red and yellow and produce till frost. I’ll be picking mine for the Hot Vinegar Sauce at Harry’s. Suggest you pick up several for the Patio. You can’t go wrong for $4 and as far as that goes you can’t go wrong with stopping by the J and J on any Saturday or Sunday. It’s an education and a great family and friends outing. It’s Just Plain Fun!  …. LEE

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