Spring has officially broken across Little Elk Creek, and the holler is alive with the sound of tilling engines, rattling mason jars, and the sweet smell of wild mushrooms frying in bacon grease.
Down here, spring isn’t just a change in the weather. It is a full-blown race against Mother Nature. We are eating fresh from the early patch, working the dirt for the main crop, and clearing out the pantry shelves to make room for the bounty that is headed our way.
Grab a glass of sweet tea, pull up a rocker, and see what we’re cooking, planting, and prepping for down on Little Elk Creek.
🍳 From the Skillet: Eating Fresh from the Woods and Fields
Before the tomatoes and peppers ever think about blooming, the holler kitchen is already running full steam. We are finally putting away the heavy winter stews and eating the first wild, fresh things the earth has to give.
- Killed Lettuce & Green Onions: We’ve been pulling fresh leaf lettuce and wild green onions. There ain’t nothin’ better than frying up a skillet of thick-cut bacon and pouring that screaming hot grease right over the top to wilt the greens down.
- Polk Salad: The young polk weeds are popping up green along the fencerows. Now, you can’t be lazy with polk—you’ve gotta boil it down and drain it at least three times to wash the poison out. But once you fry those greens up in bacon fat with a little onion, it’s better than any spinach you ever bought at a store.
- Wild Mushroom Fry: The damp, warm spring mornings brought out a beautiful mess of wild mushrooms under the old poplar trees. We brought a basketful home, dusted ’em in cornmeal, and fried ’em up crispy in a cast-iron skillet.
🌱 In the Dirt: The Little Elk Creek Holler
We finally hit that safe zone where Old Man Winter won’t sneak back down the mountain to bite our tender plants. The garden patch is fully laid out, and the rows are looking straight and clean.
- The Big Planting: Tomatoes, bell peppers, and sweet banana peppers are all tucked into their dirt beds. We buried the tomato stems extra deep this year to ensure they build strong roots.
- The Pole Bean Trellis: We cut fresh hickory saplings out of the woods to build the trellises for our Kentucky Wonder pole beans. There is nothing like a heavy-yielding Kentucky Wonder for long, meaty pods that hold up perfectly in the jar.
🏺 In the Pantry: Gearing Up for Canning & Preservation Season
If you wait until the garden is overflowing to get your canning supplies ready, you’re in a world of trouble. The kitchen table is currently covered in glass and rings as we get organized for the long summer hustle.
- Jar Inspection: We are dragging every single Mason, Ball, and Kerr jar out of the cellar. Every rim gets checked with a finger to ensure there are no nicks or cracks that will ruin a seal.
- Stocking the Essentials: Store shelves empty out fast when the beans come in. We’ve already secured three boxes of new flat lids, two big bags of pickling salt, and several gallons of white vinegar.
- Pressure Canner Test-Run: The old Presto pressure canner got a thorough scrub down. We checked the rubber gasket for dry rot and verified the steam gauge is registering properly because nobody wants an explosion on the stove.
💡 A Piece of Mountain Advice
Don’t let the spring rush wear you out. Take a minute in the evening to sit on the porch and listen to the peepers down by the creek. The hard work is just beginning, but there ain’t a better feeling in the world than knowing you can feed your family right out of the dirt beneath your feet.