THIS MONTH:
Carolina Country Adventures
(ISSN 0008-6746) (USPS 832800)
Michael Isom
As we’ve traditionally done each April, this month we’re exploring travel destinations around the state. For those of you feeling the call of the open road, our roundups of local farms, mountain cheesemakers and filming locations across NC should provide a worthy destination. (Just plan ahead so you don’t end up like our list of reader vacation fails on page 24). Also, electric co-ops and farmers in North Carolina are teaming up for success—read more on page 4.
Volume 54, No. 4
Published monthly by
3400 Sumner Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27616-2950 Warren Kessler Publications Director Scott Gates, CCC Editor Renee C. Gannon, CCC Senior Associate Editor Karen Olson House Contributing Editor
—Scott Gates, editor
Tara Verna Creative Director Jessica Armstrong Graphic Designer
From Our Readers Carolina Adven
Sara Brennan
Save Room for
Sonker
And don’t forg et the milk dip
By Matt Lardie
Look, there on the No, no it’s...sonke table! Is it a pie? Is it a cobb ler? r!
Rockford Genera
l Store
If your first reactio n the heck is a sonker is, “Well, what served with a “milk you aren’t alone. ?” don’t worry, sweet sauce meant dip,” a creamy, Sonker is a desser to be poured over that hails from t the top of the western North desser Carolina, with Sonker varies fromt. a provenance center hill to holler, around Surry Count ed from family to y (home of Mount way to learn family, and the easiest Airy, the setting more about sonker for The Andy Griffith to try some for Show’s fiction is al town of Maybe yourse Surry Sonker Trail, lf: Enter the rry). The closest thing a journey to eight different would be a cobble to a sonker locatio r, but that’s where County, all serving ns across Surry the agreement their ends, and even own takes on this iconic then there are some Anchored Bakery dessert. You can who would chafe try the sweet at potato sonker that description. at The Tilted Shelton Vineya One family’s sonker Ladder in Pilot rds serves an upscal might be made Mountain, served version of sonker with peaches and e piping hot in a at have a pie-like martini glass with crust floating atop restaurant, a perfect their vineyard milk dip alongs ide. Or ventur the filling, while way to end a e up to Mount Airy for meal, especially just down the a stop at Miss road when washed down another househ Angel’s Heavenly Pies, with old might make a glass of desser where her ‘zonka their sonker from sweet t wine. Rockfo (bring your own General Store rd potatoes or apples Long offers Island accent with a batter-like their sonkers to to match wits travelers explor topping that bakes with ing this tiny, histori into the filling. made from fresh Miss Angel) is corner Many sonkers c of Dobson; a fruit grown on are her own farm. was a spiced peach recent version sonker with fresh 34 | Decem vanilla ice cream. ber 2021
CC12-es.indd
34
11/9/21 2:10 PM
Herbal Observations I am writing you, as many likely will, about comments on page 24 in your March 2022 Carolina Gardens column: “Native Americans and early herbalists medicinally tinkered with the roots, but don’t follow in their amateur pharmaceutical footsteps: all parts of this plant can be toxic.” Please consider that the “amateurs” mentioned (Native Americans and early herbalists) spent centuries observing, experimenting with their tools at hand and knowingly risking death to develop the medicinals for their cultures. They passed on and shared their knowledge generously through oral and written methods. I think recognition and an apology is due. Our pharmacology, to this day, still includes many valuable
Joseph P. Brannan Executive Vice President & CEO Nelle Hotchkiss Senior Vice President & COO North Carolina’s electric cooperatives provide reliable, safe and affordable electric service to 1 million homes and businesses. The 26 electric cooperatives are each memberowned, not-for-profit and overseen by a board of directors elected by the membership.
Sam Dean
More Sonker, Please I’m sending this in regards to the wonderful article I read on the Sonker dessert that is around the Western North Carolina areas (“Save Room for Sonker,” December 2021, page 34). I would like to add one that was missed in your article that is also on that trail: Lorene’s Bakery in Dobson (facebook.com/LorenesBakeryCatering). [Owner/operator] Kristin Johnson makes it at her bakery and lots of other goodies. Call the bakery ahead of time to have one made. Peggy Cox, Tobaccoville A member of Tideland EMC
Keith Alexander Advertising Keith@carolinacountry.com
tures
contributions from these early efforts. A statement on the plant’s toxicity could have been simply stated. Thank you for your time and attention. Lynne Ross of Vale Editor’s note: Thank you for pointing that out, Lynne, and we apologize for the unintended tone of that wording. From our Carolina Gardens columnist, L.A. Jackson: “I’m sorry the term ‘amateur’ came out the way it did [interpreted as meaning ‘unskilled’]. Early herbal research was done mainly through observation as well as trial and error, particularly when it came to ingesting a strange plant or even rubbing it on the skin, compared to how modern pharmaceutical labs can now break down a plant into its simplest chemical compounds before even rudimentary clinical trials begin.” But as Lynne and L.A. put it, Indian pink is for show only: all parts of the plant can be toxic.
Why Do We Send You Carolina Country Magazine? Your cooperative sends you Carolina Country as a convenient, economical way to share with its members information about services, director elections, meetings and management decisions. The magazine also carries legal notices that otherwise would be published in other media at greater cost. Your co-op’s board of directors authorizes a subscription to Carolina Country on behalf of the membership at a cost of less than $5 per year. Subscriptions: Individual subscriptions, $12 per year. Schools, libraries, $6. Carolina Country is available on digital cartridge as a courtesy of volunteer services at the NC Department of Cultural Resources, Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Raleigh, NC 888-388-2460. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC, and additional mailing offices. Editorial offices: 3400 Sumner Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27616-2950. Carolina Country® is a registered trademark of the North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to Carolina Country, 3400 Sumner Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27616-2950. All content © Carolina Country unless otherwise indicated.
Contact us Phone:
919-875-3091
Mail:
3400 Sumner Blvd. Raleigh, NC 27616-2950
Web:
carolinacountry.com
Email:
editor@carolinacountry.com
Change of address: Please contact your electric co-op or go online to carolinacountry.com/address Experiencing a power outage? Please contact your electric co-op directly to ensure prompt service. Visit carolinacountry.com/co-ops to find yours online.
2 | April 2022
CC04_tv.indd 2
3/10/22 3:05 PM
