Friday, October 9, 2009

Community Concern

The trees are turning just in time for the Autumn Gold Festival. Jack and I took a walk to his lower garden, and for the first time I saw hazelnuts still in their flowers. What beautiful little bouquets they are! Pale green eyelet frills, edged in dusty rust, enfold the nuts containing the precious edible morsels of nutmeat. Unfortunately, the squirrels get to most of them before we even know the nuts are there.

Jack planted corn three different times this year. Because we haven’t had our first frost, we’re still eating fresh-roasted corn. Jack mostly eats it raw, unless we cook it and bring it to him. Jack eats all his vegetables raw because he has things he’d rather do with him time than cook. I think all of his preferred activities, with the exception of writing, occur outdoors, and he’d have to be inside to cook.

Jack says that Coker Creek (the hamlet, not the creek)used to be awash in corn. He even wrote a story about how important corn was in Coker Creek back when it was the main source of food for livestock and bread, and families lived off their land. This story is where I learned about grated bread (similar to corn pudding).

Unfortunately, Jack’s corn growing and our nature walks will be severely curtailed next year because the department of transportation is going to tear out the bridge over Coker Creek that separates Jack’s home and kitchen garden from the lower garden he works with his brother Charles. By the time the bridge is replaced, I’m afraid Jack will have lost a good source of his income. The lower garden is where he raises his coveted sweet potatoes. People travel from all over the county to purchase Jack’s potatoes. I guess I’ll have to get better at marketing Jack’s book to replace his loss.

We’re going to have a reading corner at the Autumn Gold Festival where Jack will read from, autograph, and sell his book. The one time Jack went to a school and read from his work, the children were enthralled. Jack, who tends to be extremely shy, surprised himself with how much he enjoyed the endeavor. The Ruritans will receive a portion of the sales price for each book in Frank’s memory, just as the school received a donation for each book we sold there. We’re hoping the Autumn Gold Festival will become an annual marketing tool for us.

Coker Creek Village is a fabulous retreat center on the banks of Coker Creek, and is the site of the Gold Festival. Sadly, the funeral for a daughter of the owner of the facility is being held on the eve of this year’s festival. The community is banding together to provide food for the bereaved mother to serve her relations visiting from out-of-town. I’m honored to be bringing turnip greens from Mamie’s garden and maque chou made with corn and banana peppers grown by Jack and tomatoes grown by Mamie and Richard.

That’s what I call community concern.