Idaho 55 almost abandoned except for snow plows and a few travelers

The rewards, however, of seeing forests, farms, and streams covered with snow far outweighed our initial question of What are we thinking — traveling to McCall in a state we hardly know and in a car we’d only rented the day before?

A few of the abandoned structures — aging, dilapidated, empty — reassured us that we had done the right thing.  Where else and when else would we see such a contrast of abandoned buildings with fresh, untouched snow?

For more pictures of this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned, click here.

We’d love to have you follow our blog.  Just click on the button in the right column above.  And, oh, the places you’ll see right along with us!

Rusha and Bert

A UT fan checks out the antiques at Ramsey House Country Market

Fall for me just wouldn’t be the same without a trip to Ramsey House for the annual Country Market.  And since last fall came and went without the annual celebration, I was feeling a bit of withdrawal.  The Country Market celebrates so many things I love about East Tennessee: colorful fall flowers, homemade cobblers, homey crafts of spinning and quilting, and primitive antiques on burlap-covered tables.  It’s fall at its finest, and I was glad I had the morning to myself to meander the fields and talk to the people who make it happen.

Ramsey House, built in 1797.

The focus, of course, is on preservation.  Ramsey House was built in 1797 by Knoxville’s first builder, Thomas Hope, for Francis Alexander Ramsey, one of the founding trustees of Blount College, now the University of Tennessee.  With its signature red trim, this gray stone home boasts some of the prettiest exterior and interior decorative art in East Tennessee.  The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities purchased the house and the 101 acres upon which it stands in 1952.

Col. Ramsey (a.k.a. Jerry Griffey) welcomes guests to the Country Market.

It was fitting, of course, that Col. Ramsey (who closely resembles Jerry Griffey, owner of Gentry-Griffey Funeral Home) would greet guests to the property on this pleasant, but rather warm, first day of fall!

Log house to the right of the main house

I parked my car in the field and headed straight for the antiques and crafts booths set up in tents on the grassy expanse between the Visitor Center and Ramsey House hoping I’d see some familiar faces and a few new vendors, too!

Barbara McDonald who specializes in antique quilts had several quality pieces on display as well as bowls, pottery, and a child’s rope-tied bed.

Barbara McDonald — Dealer of antique quilts

I was drawn to this table of red and white mostly kitchen items displayed on a graphic antique quilt in Joe Wolfenbarger’s booth.  Joe owns both Gertie’s Commissary and Whistle Stop Antiques in Cumberland Gap, so we chatted about the influx of tourists to his area now that the leaves are getting ready for their big fall flourish.

Joe Wolfenbarger’s display of red and white items and antique quilt

Hugh and Barbara Webb have been painting and setting up at craft shows for almost 45 years now.

Barbara and Hugh Webb of Knoxville — artists and long-time exhibitors

I own several pins and driftwood pieces, but I couldn’t resist the almost stony face of this yellow tabby!

Barbara Webb’s hand-painted wooden cat

She’s known for drawings of old Knoxville homes as well as paintings of animals. But there was a surprise this time — tiny little birds Barbara fashioned from leftover building materials.

Little birds from The Webb’s Works

Albert and Sandra Davis of Clinton put out collections of thimbles and buttons.  But sometimes Albert just demonstrates how comfortable his old lawn chairs can be!

Ahhhhh. The joy of old lawn furniture!

Roger Farneth of Louisville brought his hand-carved canes and walking sticks as well as his best asset and the “brains of this outfit”:  his wife Madilyn.  Roger agreed to come out into the sunshine to hold his “food chain” walking stick bearing a snake coiled to attack!

Roger and Madilyn Farneth of Louisville brought hand-carved canes and walking sticks along with jams, jellies, noodles, peanut butter, pickles, and chow chow.

Under the name of Paw Paws Woodturnings, Joe White of Friendsville hand-turns bowls and vases of must-touch woods that I dearly love.  Black cloth contrasted the grains and colorations of the various types of wood.

Joe White hand-turns bowls of wood that beg to be touched!

Craftspeople set up a bit closer to Ramsey House eagerly shared their love of what they make from what they find.

One of the outbuildings on the Ramsey House property

Gloria Felter of Oak Ridge had come upon a stash of scraps last January and set about to make a Log Cabin lap quilt with a tiny inset piece featuring — would you believe? — Elvis!

Gloria Felter uses a hoop for the hand-quilting process.

Linda Avery and Lalena Stewart take pride in making authentic quilts under the name Tennessee Quiltworks.  They’ll be back for the October 20th Second Annual Quilt Show right here at Ramsey House —  a sight to behold, they said, since so many quilts hang gracefully on clothes lines for viewing on the grounds. (Put that one on your calendar!)

Lalena Stewart and Linda Avery of Tennessee Quiltworks

Nancy, a spinner since 2007, gave a demonstration using the vermillion piece she was spinning of cotswold and mohair. Nancy is an advocate for Pick Tennessee Products, noting that the wool comes from sheep in Tennessee.

Spinning cotswold and mohair to make yarn for a shawl.

A drying rack of lovely yarns hanging in the sunshine.

Right behind her was Mark who researches and faithfully replicates powder horns with turned wood tops.  It’s not easy, I gathered. Mark described how he heats up the irregularly shaped horn and molds it on a wooden form prior to fitting it with the top.  Many, many steps, but worth it when you see the beauty of true craftmanship.

Mark holds powder horns that he shapes using heat and a wooden cone.

Inside the Visitor Center were appraisers offering their services for a mere $5.00 donation.  Darryl Mackley, who owns Mackley and Company in Knoxville, and Selma Burgin stood ready to evaluate jewelry.

Darryl Mackley and Selma Burgin, jewelry appraisers

Joe Rosson, News-Sentinel columnist who answers readers’ questions each week, was on hand to appraise antiques.  We talked a bit about the state of antique collecting and wondered if the next generation feels as strongly as we do about keeping family pieces in the family.  We didn’t have any answers, but we did do some head shaking and even more wondering!

Joe Rosson, columnist and appraiser, waits for his next customer.

Autographing her books was Dr. Lin Stepp, who writes modern fiction set in the Smoky Mountains with each book set in a different locale: The Foster Girls — Wear’s Valley; Tell Me About Orchard Hollow — Townsend; For Six Good Reasons — Greenbrier, and Delia’s Place — Gatlinburg. Her book covers feature paintings by celebrated artist, Jim Gray, and Dolly Parton has given her stamp of approval to someone she says “believes in all the things that I do.”

Delia’s Place, a modern-day novel set in Gatlinburg, by Lin Stepp.

Lin’s husband J. L. has a book coming out Spring 2013 outlining easy hikes anyone can enjoy:  The Afternoon Hiker: A Guide to Casual Miles in the Great Smoky Mountains. Click here to read more about their publications. Click here for Lin’s books on Amazon.

J. L. and Lin Stepp autograph books outside the Visitor’s Center.

In another area, flowers and farm goods beckoned.  Carefully arranged mums, cuttings of Sweet Annie, paper-wrapped bouquets of dried lavender, and white and orange pumpkins artfully positioned on hay bales added a fall touch to the Ramsey House booth.

Pumpkins, cornshocks, and mums for a lovely fall setting.

Sylvia looks over the osage orange for sale in the Ramsey House booth.

Stuart and Martha of Strong Stock Farm brought their signature grass-fed beef to their artfully arranged booth flanked by white-blooming hydrangeas and fall foliage.

Stuart and Martha talked to me about where they market their grass-fed beef.

In the children’s booth, little Kendall waited patiently for Mickey, the volunteer tattoo artist, to peel off the stencil and reveal a much-anticipated glittery heart.

Kendall waits for step two of her glitter tattoo!

And in the background, I heard the bluegrass stains of an old-time string band, Boogertown Gap.

Musicians from Boogertown Gap

By this time, I had worked up an appetite for either the beans and cornbread or the bar-b-que served by Janet Oakes, Charlotte Brown, and Miriam Anderson, three Ramsey House board members.  I chose the bar-b-que smoked by John Wallace whose wife Connie is also on the board.

Janet Oakes, Charlotte Brown, and Miriam Anderson serve bar-b-que for lunch.

Smoked and pulled bar-b-que by John Wallace was my choice for lunch!

You’d think that would be enough, but not so.  Two men had piled the goodness of dough and the richness of peaches into a black kettle that sat simmering over hot coals for almost half a day.  When I got there, they scooped out the steaming goodness into a cup, topped it with homemade ice cream, and watched me smile!

Dessert was a big scoop of peach cobbler right from the black cast iron pot!

Full and oh-so-happy, I joined Dr. Charles Faulkner for my last act of the day — a tour of Ramsey House!

Dr. Faulkner chats with another visitor about the architecture of Ramsey House.

Fall festivals in East Tennessee showcase the very best in area crafts, food, and the heritage of a land we love.  But you don’t have to wait until next year’s Country Market to visit Ramsey House.  It’s open year round Wednesday through Saturday.

Hoping Ramsey House has a Country Market every year!

You can have that Country Market experience every time you walk across the grounds or peer into the rooms or sit a spell on a bench and just imagine what life was like back then.

It was good then . . . and it’s still good now.

Lovely view of Ramsey House with begonias in bloom.

Ramsey House

2614 Thorngrove Pike

Knoxville, TN 37914

865.546.0745

info@ramseyhouse.org

Leave me a comment about a fall festival you’ve attended or you’ve got on your to-do list. Or just let me know what your favorite part of a country market is for you!  Thanks for reading!

It’s the people swapping stories and socializing that make the Market Square Farmers’ Market so cool.

I was long overdue for a visit to one of the area’s best farmers’ markets — or so I’ve heard it’s the best — right downtown in Knoxville’s Market Square.  I marked off this Saturday for my inaugural visit just to see what all the talk was about and to bring home some veggies from the Market Square Farmer’s Market!

My husband and I dined at Pete’s first thing — French toast, eggs over easy, sausage, and piping hot black coffee.  Love this little diner.

But we could have had a biscuit and coffee at any number of places, even at the Cruze Farm Milk Bar set up on Union Avenue.  It’s all good, or at least looked to be.

Folks having breakfast at the Cruze Farm Milk Bar — a make-shift tent set-up right beside the truck.

It didn’t take me long to realize that our Farmers’ Markets have definitely kicked it up a notch.  What I saw that morning were white tents, for the most part; uniquely designed backdrops announcing names, locations and websites (Yes, they now have websites!) of area farms and businesses; ID tags for veggies and fruits with varietal names of produce locally grown; business cards with Facebook pages and Twitter names!

Not like the old days of open truck beds with turned-up baskets spilling the pickin’s of the day.  No sirree.  This market is first class all the way.

Adam Colvin of Colvin Family Farm told me to check out their Facebook page. And he’s not the only farmer Facebooking! “My pleasure,” I said. Who wouldn’t like to see these pop-in-your-mouth summertime ‘maters from Bledsoe County?

One customer, Donna Redwine, told me that she and her husband come every Saturday — and bring the dog.  It’s just the greatest way to end the week.  We love it here, she said.  And so did others, judging from the shoppers, casual coffee drinkers, and big-time talkers.  Dogs do too!

Some folks admit to sampling everything first, then making a return visit to buy their favorites. Like this shopper/sampler at Sherie’s Garden Salsa.

Even Elvis showed up, charming the breakfast crowd at Cafe 4!

It really was a great experience all around.  The produce was at its most colorful, the baked goods at their freshest, and the farmers, vendors, and creative crafters –ready to share information with anyone willing to listen.

Here’s what makes Market Square Farmers’ Market so good.

Mountain Meadows Farm won my prize for picture-perfect red peppers — you had to touch ‘em!

7 – S Farms teamed up with Log Yard Dogs, bringing cedar planks for cooking salmon on the grill, baskets of shallots, and a mountain of yellow grape tomatoes that wouldn’t fit into the picture!

Mushrooms — more than I knew existed — were in the next booth over!

Who knew mushrooms could be downright artsy?

One farmer asked me if I thought he should photograph his produce and sell the pictures. I said, “Why not?” With this color and composition, just add a simple white mat and black frame. East Tennessee art, for sure.

“Or,” I said, “look at these fabulous peppers! Naturally beautiful!” I think I’ve talked him into this photography thing. Look for pics AND peppers when you go.

Bob Due of Terraced Garden Farms told me all about how his soil — about 12″ of magnificent loam — produces these All Blue potatoes and Rose Finn Apple fingerlings. Another vendor down the way confirmed: “Bob has the BEST root vegetables, but you need to try his butternut squash, too!”

For fabulous color, my favorite booth was this one: Jim Smith’s chilies from Rushy Springs Farm in Talbott. Look for his website at the end of this blog for his Kickstarter project.

A basket of sunny yellow Trinidad Seasoning peppers from Rushy Springs Farm. Where’s that Southern Living cameraman when I need him?

My vote for prettiest booth goes to Spring Creek Farm for its artful arrangement of produce — and Shelby’s pretty smile, too!

Couldn’t resist a close-up of Spring Creek’s picture-perfect squash — or are these gourds? I should have asked!

This booth offered just what it says: hand-poured coffee — one cup at a time! Cute cups, huh?

Log Yard Dogs piled a table high with sunflowers more than a foot in diameter!

This man drove more than 2 hours from McMinnville to set up his booth and design this bouquet– that I eventually took home!

Anthony Carter brought his Junk-a-New Birdhouses made of recycled materials. Loved this one with the old horseshoe hung upside down for good luck!

Elizabeth Ethridge of A Thrifty Girl winds strips of fabric into rosettes for pinning on a blazer, gluing onto a mirror, or clamping into your hair! Clever! (Her Etsy site is listed below.)

Shyan Strunk of Soy 2 Joy candles told me their best-selling fragrances are Butt Naked and Monkey Farts, but I thought French Vanilla would be just fine at my house!

Sheila sold me two flavors of Ms. Cock-a-Doodle’s Gourmet Chicken Salad: Tarragon and Curry Cranberry Pecan. Their new store in North Knoxville has just opened, so you don’t have to wait ’til Saturday for great chicken salad!

Breads and pastries, too, were in abundance from cinnamon buns to cupcakes to hand-made multi-grain loaves.  Perhaps my favorite booth — not for their showiness or for their vast array of offerings — was this simple one from Red Hen Breads.

This mother of two bakes her squshy soft rolls of milled wheat berries, flax seed, honey, free-range eggs, and yeast in a commercial kitchen owned by another vendor on Fridays and then brings them to market.  During the week, she home-schools her sons who help her in their booth near Krutch Park.

Selling baked goods from Little Red Hen Breads of Knoxville.

And I guess that’s what I love about this Knoxville Market.  It’s families working to bring us their most creative, very best products.  And it’s friends helping friends find a place to bake or set up a booth or just talk about their products.  The market has become a family unto itself — both to those who work there and for those of us who visit whenever we can.

Hope you get to any one of the Farmers’ Markets before they close.  You’ll be glad you did!

The Market Square Farmers’ Market

Wednesdays from 11 AM to 2 PM

Saturdays from 9 AM to 2 PM

May through November on historic Market Square

Website: http://marketsquarefarmersmarket.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mktsqfarmersmkt

Mentioned in this blog:

A Thrifty Girl

Elizabeth Ethridge

Website: athriftygirl.etsy.com

Colvin Family Farm

1045 JB Swafford Road, Spring City, TN 37381 (1-866-865-8329).

Email: Customer Support@ColvinFamilyFarm.com

Website: http://www.colvinfamilyfarm.com/index.html

Cruze Farm

3200 Frazier Road, Knoxville, TN

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CruzeFarm

Junk-A-New Birdhouses

Anthony Carter, 10770 Carpenter Run Lane, Knoxville, TN 37932 (865.230.1630).

Email: junkanewbirdhouse@yahoo.com

Website: http://www.junkanewbirdhouses.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Junk-A-New-Birdhouses/110598519011039

Little Red Hen Breads

Knoxville, TN

Email: redhenbreads@gmail.com

Mountain Meadows Farm

Anderson County near Norris, TN

Website: http://www.mountainmeadowsfarmtn.com/

Ms. Cock-A-Doodles

1008 E. Woodland Ave., Knoxville, TN 37917 (865.525.9384). Also in Knoxville Visitor’s Center, 301 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902

Website: http://www.mscockadoodles.com/#!home/mainPage

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/mscockadoodles

Rushy Springs Farm

230 S. Rushy Springs Road, Talbott, TN 37877 (865.674.7004). http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rushysprings/rushy-springs-farm-world-class-chile-sauces

Sherie’s Garden Salsa

Website: http://sheriesgardensalsa.com/

Soy 2 Joy Candles & Gifts

Email: Soy2Joy@comcast.net.

Website: Soy2Joy.com

Spring Creek Farm

668 Red Cut Road, Pioneer, TN 37847 (865.406.1398).

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/springcreek.farm.7

Terraced Gardens Farm

Bob Due, Owner, New Tazewell, TN (865.789.5285)

Email: rototiller2@yahoo.com

Website: http://www.terraced-gardens-farm.com/

Dennis Fox pours out our harvest at The Fruit and Berry Patch

Sometimes the serendipitous adventures are best — well, at least it was last Sunday as my husband Bert and I took a leisurely ride through Halls (North Knoxville) just looking at all the new developments and changes out that way. 

Have you ever been to The Fruit and Berry Patch? I asked. 

Can’t say that I have, he answered — and that’s when we took the country road up to the farm of Dr. Dennis Fox.

Owner Dennis Fox tells us what’s in season and where the best pickin’s can be found!

Former botany professor at UT, Dr. Fox is an affable, knowledgeable, committed-to-sharing farmer who’s here almost seven days a week at this heavenly pick-your-own site. He spends quality time with city slickers like us, telling us what’s ripe and where to find not-yet-picked-over bushes.  We saw a young man holding a bucket ready to hit the fields of blueberries, but we were pretty sure we couldn’t stand the 100-degree heat that afternoon just for a few berries!

A visitor ready for berry-picking

So, we looked around the place. 

We spotted fresh honey (and there’s lots more to come since Dr. Fox has recently bought all the honey one local beekeeper can harvest).

And preserves and apple butter made locally from his fruit. 

Gallons of apple cider.

And fried pies, too.  Peach, fresh apple, blueberry, strawberry — some made from old family recipes, some new. (Strawberry’s my choice, but Bert ALWAYS picks apple desserts in any form!)

A cooler of home-made fried pies!

The place has a sense of humor, too, in a country sort of way.

But really, we had no intention of picking.  That is, until Dr. Fox showed us a map of the farm, how close the blueberries were to the shop, and the location of the “berriest” bushes that hadn’t been over-picked!  It’s been a tough summer for blueberries — we just haven’t had any rain to speak of, he told us.  But you can still find them, if you look.

Then he handed us a bucket.  How could we resist?

Bert reaches high to find the best berries.

So, with no hat, sunscreen, or appropriate clothing, we were off on our berry pickin’ adventure.

I did my share of picking — and loving the quiet!

We met up with this family — and listened to them one row over as we all picked in the silence of the fields. Look for the big, fat blue ones, the mother told her child.  And I could just imagine little pickers intent on learning the craft by grabbing not only blue but also green berries, twigs, leaves and all — anything to fill a bucket!  Happens, I suppose!

Family fun – berry pickin’ on a Sunday afternoon

But we were off in search of big fat blue ones, ourselves.  The berries we found were beautiful — or so we thought — until one man passed by and said, I know everyone thinks they’ve found just the right spot, but really, if you go down to the end of that row (and he pointed left and down), you’ll find some bushes that are just loaded. He was right.

That’s the fun of picking!  You hunt for the bushes with the best berries — down the lane, around the corner, up and down.  Even when your bucket is full. Just a few more, you say to yourself! It’s the hunt as much as it is the harvest!

In search of bountiful blueberry bushes

We were quite fortunate that young man came along, because the journey to find the best blueberries had a side benefit: we were squarely in front of the neighboring blackberry patch — and that’s a whole ‘nother story.  We hadn’t even thought of blackberries, yet here they were: huge blackberries ripe for the pickin’.  Well, mostly.  Lots more red ones this trip — waiting to turn black after summer storms like the ones we’ve had this week.  (Maybe if you go now, you can get the ones we left behind!)

More red than black — but that’s what makes the search so interesting!

Life lessons abound, I suppose, through experiences like this, and my English teacher mind couldn’t help but find symbolism in the simple act of picking blackberries: the search for something desirable, the joy of finding it– even if the find is based on happenstance and spare at best. Then the reach –careful, of course, to avoid tangles or an encounter with a stinging creature. And the fun of bounty hunting — God’s perfect (and sometimes imperfect) berries in an idyllic farm in Halls on a hot afternoon! Simple summer pleasures, for sure.

Rows of blackberry bushes with beautiful blue sky behind – Does it get any better than this?

We brought back our bucketfuls for Dr. Fox to weigh.

Weighing the pickin’s

And then plunked down extra money for bottled water and a fried pie — rewards for a job well done! 

If you want to go, call ahead first and listen to Dr. Fox’s daily message.  At this writing, here are the latest announcements:  1) Blueberries, blackberries, and peaches are ready to pick, but 2) The Fruit and Berry Patch will close if the temperature hits 94 degrees.  (Good plan!)

My advice? Go early — and that’s not just to beat the heat.  After all, it’s the other pickers you’re really racing against! Here’s the number to call:  865-922-3779.

So, what did we do with all those gorgeous blackberries?  Make a cobbler, of course!

Foundry’s Blackberry Cobbler from Summer Suppers

Here’s an easy recipe from the Knox Heritage Summer Suppers cookbook for Foundry’s Blackberry Cobbler.  If you’re not familiar with the Summer Supper program that offers Southern meals in great settings — like farms, historic homes, etc. — just click here for more information.  We love these events! 

Here’s Cynthia Moxley’s blog, The Blue Streak, on one we just attended:    Four Centuries, Four Visionaries, Four Blocks. A great progressive dinner in four different downtown locations!

And now for the recipe for this cobbler that was served at Strong Stock Farm in 2009.

Foundry’s Blackberry Cobbler

1/2 cup butter

3 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

24 oz. blackberries

Melt butter in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar, flour, and baking powder.  Add milk and lightly whisk.  Pour batter on top of melted butter in baking dish.  On medium heat, cook blackberries and remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar until mixture begins to boil.  Add blackberry mixture to top of batter and bake at 350 degrees until batter browns.  Cool and top with vanilla ice cream.

It’s worth it!

If you want to go to The Fruit and Berry Patch (Please do!), here’s what we suggest:

• Call ahead to see what’s available and in what abundance: 865-922-3779.
• Dress appropriately — cool clothing, sunscreen, hat.
• You don’t have to bring your own container unless you’re planning to pick a lot.  Buckets and cardboard trays are available.
• Be prepared to buy something else — the apple cider, fried pies, honey, and preserves are hard to resist!

Enjoy the day!

The Fruit and Berry Patch

Owners: Dennis and Judie Fox

Co-owners: Jeff and Sandy Fox

4407 McCloud Road

Knoxville, TN 37938

865.92.BERRY

www.thefruitandberrypatch.com