Without them, we don't eat: a few thoughts on labor.
These are loud days. Two farmers offer perspective.
Roy and his daughter Rebecca run their 1100-acre Jones Farm in north Alabama. Their main crop? Fruit, with some vegetables, grown on 15 acres. During prime season, they need a dozen workers, sometimes more.
Jersey cow, Bear Creek Farm, Williamson County, Tenn.
October 27, 2024
Know Your Burger: a true farm-to-table story
Meet your local butcher, farmer, processor and cow in this special Food as a Verb presentation.
Our story spotlights a wholesome, intentional relationship between farmers, processors, butchers, animals and restaurant owners. In life and death, these relationships are built on respect. They benefit all involved.
Alco Cox, Robin Fazio, wheat threshing, contributed photo (Robin Fazio)
October 13, 2024
"Ain't No Power in Paint"
Memories and wisdom from a long-ago wheat threshing.
Today's feature is written by Dr. Robin Fazio, long-time farmer, educator and founder of Baylor School's gardening program and Mechanics' Club.This is a story of authenticity and confidence, not shiny bluster.
It's completely free. Food as a Verb is devoted to telling the stories of local food, farmers, chefs and restaurants in SE Tennessee.
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Boyd Buchanan, Chattanooga, Tenn.
October 6, 2024
The Ground Beneath Us: Boyd Buchanan Teaches Agriculture for the 21st century
"It's my favorite part of school."
It is a mid-morning Monday on the 65-acre Boyd Buchanan campus and a dozen students in Melissa Owens's Agriscience class are planting yellow onion sets, moving zinnia transplants to the greenhouse, checking on - really, cuddling - the lop-eared bunny, tilling new beds, making plans for a fall flower sale.
Hamilton County's agrarian crisis: only 1,274 acres of cropland remain.
Hamilton County's lost 5,000 acres of farmland since 2001. And you can't farm without land and money. Where are our county leaders?
What do you need to know in order to farm?That's the question being asked by Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers and Crabtree Farms, who are planning to offer free, farmer-led workshops on sustainable-ag topics next year.
Welcome to Sprodeo: a love letter to Chattanooga coffee
What happens when Chattanooga's best baristas compete?
On Thursday evening, as Smash Boyz served last-call burgers from the grill and folks downed their second or third drink - Coors in a can, peach LaCroix, 16 oz. Liquid Death - while kicked back on folding chairs inside a Red Bank garage, Tyler Sowrey stepped out from behind the silver-sexy Slayer espresso machine and carried forward two cortados - half steamed milk, half espresso - poured into small, snow-white cups.
There was a time you couldn't get a good slice + beer in this town. Dorris Shober changed that.
We are strolling through Flying Turtle Farm, the 68 acres in Cloudland, Georgia, where Dorris Shober and husband John care for pigs, Brangus cattle, a spiral garden, vegetables and flowers - like celosia and zinnias, which Dorris gently talks about like they're dear friends - when this one question almost jumps out of my mouth.
Amanda and Erik Niel, Little Coyote, St. Elmo, Tennessee
September 8, 2024
Tall boys, $9 burgers and life-changing hospitality:
An honest conversation with Erik and Amanda Niel
Since 2005, Erik and Amanda Niel have been exquisitely intentional about taking care of Chattanoogans, building their restaurant careers here on this very premise."We've made them feel comfortable," Amanda said. "If you're really good at it, people have an emotional connection."
Fixing the broken parts: nuns, lavender, a mountain garden.
"I would rather be here than anywhere else."
Claire Sims found the garden all the way from Wetumpka, Alabama, some 200 miles away. She grew up in a very strict church, whose beliefs – women can't preach in the pulpit or speak with authority – pushed her even farther away.
Former Food City, East 23rd St., Chattanooga, Tennessee
July 28, 2024
What happens to a neighborhood without a grocery and pharmacy?
Highland Park is a food-medicine desert.
It's a strange, dizzying time for Highland Park and the 37404 zip code that stretches down Dodds Ave., across the foot of Missionary Ridge, onto the lively Main Street.
Rouge, Erik Zilen, Niedlov's Bakery & Cafe, Main St., Chatt., Tenn.
July 21, 2024
The best damn loaf: the journey to bake Chattanooga's first local bread.
Welcome to Rouge, the city's first truly local bread.
Thursday morning, as he slid eight loaves, each stenciled and scored like artwork, into the Niedlov's Bakery & Cafe ovens, Erik Zilen – a little flour here, a lot of vision there – reached the end of a long journey.
Jess Revels, Mac's Kitchen & Bar, Rossville, Georgia
July 14, 2024
A tough industry, a tougher woman: Rossville's own spitfire pastry chef.
The story of Jess Revels and the women who shaped her life.
Eighteen-hour days and back again the next morning. Your back aches, brain feels like mush and you can't remember the last time you slept eight hours, had sex or watched Netflix – just one episode – all the way through.
One spectacularly strong woman and her Seahorse Snacks.
In the fall of 2017, Stacy Martin was living in Atlanta – she'd soon move to Chattanooga – when she got the news: her mom was diagnosed with stage IV uterine cancer.
Chattanooga's Unofficial Ambassador and the 1000-star review.
You can take the boy out of the NYC deli, but you can't take the NYC deli out of the boy.
It's good to say thanks, good to let people know how much they mean to you. Gratitude fills the heart like a big red balloon. Softens the mind like an afternoon breeze.
Once, Nate Carter begins, a man bought a birdcage. Inside, it was full of birds, but the birds were all locked up in this cage.That's why he bought it.
A story of top secret grain, Japanese cattle and the preciousness of life.
From their 400-acre Chili Pepper Ranch in Apison, Tenn., Jim and Amy Jo Osborn sell cuts of beef from over 200 head of cattle to hundreds of customers from Seattle to Miami to LA, all of whom ordered more than 60,000 pounds of meat last year.
A miracle swarms in Red Bank: how the biggest smallest thing changed our lives.
Oh, Pooh Bear. You were so right.
Not long ago, we went to one acre of Red Bank land for a routine afternoon interview with Carmen Joyce, a local beekeeper and owner of Nooga Honey Pot.What we found instead felt like a miracle.
Aubie Smith's strawberries and the many sweet reasons we buy them.
Folks start lining up early. It's easy to see why.
People begin arriving by 8.30 am. By mid-morning, there are two, three dozen cars and trucks in line. Tags from North Carolina, Florida, Georgia.They're here for one reason: Aubie Smith's strawberries.