By Ben Street, Lomax Farmer in Training and grower of some very fine onions.
The geographical location of “Down East” North Carolina is a baffling concept, one that continues to elude me. This past Labor Day weekend, Aaron Newton, farm coordinator at the Elma C. Lomax Incubator Farm, his wife, Jennifer, owner and manager of Concord’s local grocery, the Peachtree Market, and myself, farmer-in-training at the Lomax farm and all-around farming rockstar, set off from Lomax in their fresh-from-the-mechanic’s Volvo station wagon on an excursion to the fabled “Down East,” Kinston, NC specifically, as invitees to the third-season premiere party of Vivian Howard’s PBS television program, A Chef’s Life.
Vivian and crew visited Lomax back in May to film an episode revolving around her cooking a fundraising dinner for the farm, of which my first attempt at growing onions was the featured ingredient! I can honestly tell you that I have no recollection of what blabber I regurgitated while on camera, but I’m hoping I was as confident and charming as I am in my own mind. The dinner was a roaring success, and my onions came out deliciously, if I do say so myself.
The four-hour trek went smoothly, and making such great time, we were even able to make a few pit-stops to CFSA headquarters in Pittsboro, the Chatham Marketplace, and drive-by the Central Carolina Community College’s on-campus sustainable farm. Super neat. Then back in the car, refueled with energy-chunks, yogurt-covered pretzels, dark chocolate and kombucha, to the home of Vivian Howard and her restaurant of renown, Chef and the Farmer.
Kinston met us with open streets and closed establishments, not too surprising on a Saturday afternoon in small-town North Carolina. We managed to find a bite to eat at the Olympian Greek restaurant thanks to the guidance of Christopher, owner of Christopher’s Cafe in downtown Kinston. He caught us eyeballing his joint. Then it was off to the hotel to check in and get pretty for the evening’s festivities.
We were met in the lobby by Joe and Dani Rowland, farmers at Rowland’s Row and former Lomax farmers, as well as mentors of mine. Being farmers, we had to shirk our Saturday farmers-markets in order to attend this event. However, also being farmers, we were happy for the opportunity to have a little respite from the long season!
Not thirty minutes later, we met back in the lobby, dressed to the nines in our farm-formal attire (a term affectionately coined by our own Aaron Newton) and greeted by the final two members of our Concord group, Gina Guthrie, owner of Bocca Felice, a farm-to-table catering service, and Julie Holland, active member in the Concord local-food movement and A Chef’s LIfe super-fan. Then we rolled out in force to join in the fête du jour.
The evening air was still and humid, as I imagine many evenings are in Kinston, being so near the shore. We met our hostess, Holley Pearce, personal assistant to Vivian Howard, at the BuyLocal Gallery and Wine Bar. On display were original paintings by Ben Knight, Vivian’s husband, and Alex Matisse, a ceramicist from Asheville. After a couple drinks and some socializing, we were off to make our reservations at the critically acclaimed Chef and the Farmer.
The decor of the restaurant was rustic and cozy, with ambient lighting and wrought with reclaimed wood that contrasted nicely to the colorful and energetic paintings of Ben Knight adorning the walls. The seven of us sat at a long, rough-hewn wooden table and were greeted promptly by the staff, many of whom we recognized and recognized us from the dinner in Concord. Then came the food. It’s really all a blur.
We tried all the appetizers: ham wrapped peaches, flash-fried collard chips, fried okra with ranch ice-cream (what!?), shrimp and grits and wood grilled pizza.
I knew that if I kept eating at this rate, I wasn’t going to have any room for my entree! But alas, out came a ribeye the size of Gina’s head, cooked to perfection and garnished with roasted potatoes and a tangy green puree of I-can’t-even-remember-what. Then finally, after deciding that I was too full myself for dessert, here it came regardless. Of course, I had to indulge. The tres leches cake was something special, let me tell you. The evening was filled with great food, good laughs, and even some pitching of possible business ventures to Vivian as she made her rounds amongst the guests. I think I can say with confidence that we all left dinner that night a little delirious with full-bellies.
Some of us said our goodnights, but the rest of us made our way to Holley and her boyfriend Eliot’s new house not a mile from the restaurant for the after-party. We tried some of the offerings in the way of local spirits, and more good conversation ensued. After contemplating locking Dani in this creepy little cellar they had in their house, we decided it best to call it a night and retire to our hotel rooms to get some well deserved rest, much needed for the day to follow. Joe, Dani and I did make a pitstop at the Red Room in town to listen to the first set of Paper Crowns, a bluesy, folksy duet from Asheville. Check them out!
First on the agenda the next day was brunch at Brother’s Farm, the principal farm that supplies food for Chef and the Farmer, hosted by the farmer himself, Warren Brothers. The biscuits were made fresh from scratch by friend of the family Lilly, served with local sausages, eggs and jams. This was followed by a tour of Brothers Farm with Warren, where he showed us his pigs, laying hens, geese and vegetable production. I couldn’t believe how sandy the soil was! We discussed his tow-behind transplanter for some time, then made our way back to our cars for meandering ride back to the hotel. We’ll blame Aaron for the questionable route back.
We boarded our bus for the party at four o’clock. It was humid again, and had started raining. I was dressed in my finest Canadian tuxedo. Denim on denim, baby. The bus was stocked with Mother Earth Brewing beer, who brews right there in Kinston. The first two episodes of this season played on the screens in the bus. Very well done Vivian and crew! The party was held at Broadslab Distillery in Benson, NC. We had pork belly, butternut squash soup shooters and grilled watermelon, all supremely scrumptious. The rain fell steadily, and we huddled under the tents. There were snowcones featuring Broadslab’s moonshine, beer by Mother Earth and wine for the ladies. Pulled-pork barbecue was for dinner, with coleslaw and potato salad. The pork was taking longer to cook in the rain than expected, but it wasn’t a problem. We just decided to bust into the cake in attempts to spoil our dinners. We met a very interesting group from the Biltmore Estate who regaled to us misty-eyed farm-folk tales of tenured farmers in colonial houses on thousands of acres of land. A folk band picked their instruments under an awning, kids splashed in the puddles, Vivian made a riveting speech, we took some shots of flavored moonshine, and made our way back to the bus. We were on the brink of sending a search party for Warren, when he caught sight of him, ball-capped and barefoot, sandals dangling by his side.
It’s been a hard season for me trying to start my farm business while working a nine-to-five in the city. The reality of this dream I’ve been working towards for going on three years really hit home. It’s easy for anyone trying to make a go at farming to question the many reasons why this is what they want to do in this life, but this trip reinforced for me one of these reasons why I want to farm: to share experiences and grow in this group of like-minded individuals that have welcomed me with open-arms into their community. That’s one reason I want to be a farmer, so I can build this community. We headed back to our home of Concord, west and only three degrees north of “Down East,” refreshed and eager to get back to work. I’d call it a success.