OSOME Field Trips

So, earlier this week, I got a call from Sue, who had a brilliant idea:

Field Trips.

Up first, the Magevney House Kitchen Garden Tour, which is this Saturday, June 11.

Sue's words: "Once a year, people! Don't miss this! They are keeping this a big secret for some reason--I couldn't find anything about the hours. Called the number on the Pink Palace website and got the program director's voice mail. Finally, I called garden designer Suzy Askew, who heads up the volunteers, and left her a message. She called back right away and said it was from 9-12 on Saturday, June 11 only. And, she said it was fine to take photos. I emailed Slow Food Memphis to ask them to send this info to their email subscribers. Maybe it will help to get the word out. I've seen it once and I can't recommend it enough if you are interested in growing food in Memphis or in Memphis' early history. These dedicated volunteers have spent years recreating an authentic garden, using the same varieties that would have been grown in the 1830's in this area."

Go here for a fantastic Edible Memphis article about the Magevney House garden, which features 19th century garden varieties of asparagus, kale, peas, potatoes, St. John's Wort, onions, collards, sesame, potatoes, lettuce, eggplant, rosehips, and more, plus 17 varieties of antique fruit trees.

Sue plans to get to the garden at 9 a.m. Saturday and stay for 2 hours, if anyone would like to carpool. I'm also going to aim for 9 a.m., but can't stay there that long. She says there is a shady arbor to sit in and peruse the garden, and she recommends packing your own drink.

Second Field Trip: Gardens Oy Vey in Arlington, TN.

From Sue: "Nursery and three acres of woodland paradise on what was once a kudzu-covered gulley. They carry lots of native plants and the Southern Shield fern, which is one of the best ferns to grow in the South according to Felder Rushing. They are open on Fri., Sat., and Sun. through June or we could make an appointment. Hopefully, Diane would be there to chat with. She is an absolute gardening guru. They are way out in Arlington. Here's a link to Diane and Wolfgang's article about organic lawn care."

Third Field Trip: UT Summer Celebration Lawn and Garden Show in Jackson, TN.
Thursday, July 9, 10:00 a.m. - 7 p.m. $5.00 admission.

Sue: "This is a must-do and an all-day event. We could carpool and leave at 8:30. Lots of unusual stuff for sale from volunteers. Workshops all day long. Plantings all over the place, whimsical and eye-popping displays. Who knew there were such creative people in Jackson! They sell food, but we went into downtown Jackson and ate at an old restaurant there. Also good to take snacks to keep the brain fueled since they are sharing LOTS of info and handouts. I learned tons (especially the benefits of organic Garden-Tone fertilizer). (Also, the nurseries in Jackson are worth a visit sometime. Some of the Jackson people and presenters even write for Fine Gardening!!!)"

Go here to see Sue's photos from last year.

Family And Friends, Close To Home And Far Away

Here's one more glance at last week's meal -- a plateful of early June veggies! Dinner last week was just spectacular. Six days later, and I am still basking in the warmth that comes from hanging out with friends, old, new, tight and loose-knit. I love my family, but don't get to see any of them often enough -- hence my "Memphis family." And aren't we a creative bunch? I think there were two teachers, four writers, five musicians, and four or five artists (with plenty of cross-pollination) at our last OSOME meal.

I also love that the rhubarb in Amy's wonderful tart was grown by her sister in Seattle, and mailed cross-country. And that my friend Lorette -- with plenty of help from Sue, Lori Aime, Tara, Libby, et al -- is growing most of the veggies I'm eating this summer. And that recipes come with stories attached, family lore that is as integral as the teaspoons of herbs and a warm oven.

Since last Thursday, I've had two bands crash land at the Landis Street house -- Saturday night, old friends the Goodnight Loving spent the night along with their dog Jerry (he and Cassius made fast friends).

And Tuesday, the New Zealand group Bachelorette, who played at Minglewood Hall with Bonnie Prince Billy, stayed over. A Portlander, an Australian, and three NZers in this tiny house -- we were connected through a former Memphian who works for Drag City, but, as it so often turns out, we discovered we had about 10 random friends in common, connecting us from halfway around the world. It's always so wonderful to discover friends in faraway places -- and good to know that, should I ever make it to NZ, I'll have plenty of free places to stay! Anyways, the NZers kept cracking me up, because they pronounced "awesome" as "osome." I took 'em to Dejavu for a Creole soul food lunch, and when they all declared the food as "osome," I had to laugh and explain that while former Louisianan Gary Williams is my favorite chef in town, they'd have to stick around 'til Thursday to get a truly OSOME meal.

Farms

Justin's last post, plus a recent drive through Tipton County, and a wedding notice in the newspaper, all got me thinking about Oak Hill, my mother's family's farm.

Oak Hill is a Tennessee Century Farm. It's also, according to my recollection, the oldest home in the state that's still lived in by the same family. It was established as a plantation in Keeling in 1832, although a Maclin (my mother's family name) didn't actually move there until 15 years later. By the time I was born, much of the land had been parceled off (mainly during the Depression) and the plantation had been converted into a dairy farm. The old house still stands, and I remember playing in its earthen cellar during a family reunion in the mid-1970s. Back then, my mother's great cousins, Lancelot and Helen Maclin, lived in the big house, and their children and grandchildren resided in another newer house down the hill. The last time I drove out there -- October 2008 -- it looked like my cousin Steve ( one of the grandchildren, who got married a weekend or two ago) had moved into the old house with his kids.

My mother had never spent time at Oak Hill -- she was raised all over Louisiana, and on Pedernales, an island in Venezuela, before she was parceled off to boarding school in Vicksburg, MS -- but the farm was writ large in our family lore. My grandmother, Alice Minor Maclin, had spent the summers there along with her siblings and cousins. Oak Hill -- we always called it "the farm" -- served as a makeshift summer camp during the Depression and the wars, and the cousin-children would be bussed in from Texas and Louisiana to stay there so that their mothers could more easily hold down the fort at home. Because our part of the family was so mobile (even my great-grandmother, Beatrice Maclin, didn't emigrate from England until the early 1900s), the Oak Hill branch of the Maclin family, which had resided in one TN county for the better part of the last 150 years, perfectly illustrated our idea of home. Five years ago, my brother even named his daughter Maclin.

Farm-wise, I don't know much about the Maclin crops. I remember the dairy cows, grazing between the tombstones in the old family cemetery, and a feist dog named Foo-Fi that I wanted to take home with me when I was about 7 or 8, when we stopped at Oak Hill for a few days on our move from suburban Chicago to Lafayette, LA. What I do know, however, is that I love, however distant, having some connection to the land.

Interestingly, through my mother's side of the family, I am related to all kinds of Memphis folk: Through my cousin Tempe Walker Chancellor, I am related (by marriage) to photographer Perry Walker, the Malco theater family, and my friends Adam and Jason Hoenberg and Katherine Greenwood. I'm also, according to this abstract, related to the Broadnax jewelry family via Imogene Maclin, a cousin who was born 9 days after the Battle of Shiloh and who lived to be 101. I also have a great uncle, Jack Findley, who emigrated from St. Andrews in Scotland (by way of India) to marry a Maclin girl and ultimately build most of the country club golf courses in Louisiana, including, I believe, the Tallulah Golf and Country Club and this course in Bogalusa.

And last fall, after that trek out to Oak Hill (supplanted by a trip to the original Gus' Fried Chicken in Mason), my friends Jay and Chanda from Portland OR and I stopped off at the Big S Lounge for a beer. There were two guys sitting on barstools who wanted to know who we were and where we'd been, and it turned out one of 'em was from Keeling. His last name, of course, was Maclin.

Writing About Cooking, Writing About Eating

I will write for food!

Here's the evidence:

Farmers Markets
Teach-A Pizza
Crawfish Celebration
King Cake Tradition
Tennessee Peaches Blues
The Lenten Tradition
Cold Comfort
Vietnamese Feast For the New Year
Super Bowl Food
All from the Commercial Appeal...