Taste Carolina Wine Festival

The same organizers with the Annual North Carolina Wine Festival at Tanglewood Park are pleased to announce the return of another popular wine festival in the Triad area. The 8th Annual Taste Carolina Wine Festival has been an April event in the past, but at the request of the wineries has become an annual fall event. This is the perfect time for a wine festival, now that harvest is over and the weather is cooler. It's also another great opportunity to meet winemakers, vineyard owners, and taste and compare offerings from 17 North Carolina wineries, all in one place and on one day. The current lineup of the 17 wineries that have committed to be present and provide samplings are: Autumn Creek Vineyards, Cellar 4201 Vineyards, Chateau Laurinda, Duplin Winery, Grove Winery, Lumina Winery, Native Vines Winery, Raintree Cellars, Rocky River Vineyards, Shadow Springs Vineyards, Slightly Askew Winery, Southern Charm Winery, Stonefield Cellars, Stony Mountain Vineyards, Thistle Meadow Winery, Weathervane Winery and Woodmill Winery. There will be music throughout the day from The Fairlanes, and Caleb Caudle & The Bayonets. There will also be a wide variety of crafters and displays. Receive a commemorative tasting glass when you come through the gate and get ready to sip and swirl from all 17 wineries. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate. For more information visit http://www.tastecarolinanow.com/

Crawfish Day

Crawfish lovers need to mark their calendars for Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 10 a.m. for the annual Crawfish Day at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market in Colfax. The sale will be held in the Farmers Area No. 2, which is on the left after entering the market. Live crawfish will be on sale for $5 per pound, with a 5-pound minimum purchase and a 40-pound maximum purchase per person. Cooked crawfish will be on sale for $6 per pound. “This is always one of the most eagerly anticipated events at the market,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “Growers expect to have more than 1,000 pounds of North Carolina crawfish available for sale, but shoppers are still encouraged to come early to ensure availability.” Crawfish Day is sponsored by the N.C. Crawfish Growers Association. In 2009, N.C. growers raised more than 10,000 pounds of crawfish in ponds from the Piedmont to the coast.

Rain, Colfax Farmer's Market, Friends and The Budget

On Friday night, we were lucky enough to get almost an inch of rain. We decided during the rain storm that we need to pull the irrigation hose out of Buffalo Creek so it wouldn't get snagged by floating debris if the creek rose and pull our pump downstream. Luckily, it wasn't lightening; but, we got drenched to the skin. Today was a nice day. The grass looked like it had grown an inch or more overnight and the dust had settled. We had a guinea pig pickup in the morning and then around lunchtime we went to the Farmer's Market in Colfax, North Carolina. We walked around looking at all the fruits, vegetables and flowers and bought some dried fruits, sesame sticks, etc. to make trail mix. There was a good crowd at the Farmer's Market. We had some company later in the evening from our friends Liz and John of Papa John's Farm. We gave them contact information on how to get a Premise ID and how to order Scrapies tags and tattoo equipment for their goats. They are working with some youth who will be showing their goats in the Stokes County Fair next month. The Budget newspaper arrived in the mail today from Sugarcreek, Ohio. It is the equivalent of "The Amish Internet". The Budget has served the Sugarcreek area and Amish Mennonite communities though out the United States since 1890 as a series of letters swapped among Amish families. The Amish are a Christian organization with about 227,000 members nationwide. The paper is printed on Wednesdays and the August 26 edition contained 66 pages. My favorite part of The Budget is reading the Amish and Mennonite's blogs (Scribes Letters) about their life and what is happening in their communities. Many of these writers have been writing for over ten years in this newspaper. They chronicle the fabric of their daily lives by writing by hand on tablets and mailing them into the newspaper. They cover the weather, food preparation, baptismals, deaths, marriages, births, reunions, church services, illnesses, schools and their children and grandchildren. Also, most of the writers tell their ages, where they have lived, how many children they have and what they do for a living. Very interesting! You can pick out a favorite scribe and follow them for years and feel like you are a part of their life. There are both male and female scribes of all ages from the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Honduras, Israel, Nicaragua and Ethiopia. The Budget can be reached at 330.852.4634 if you would like to order your own copy. They have 20,000 subscribers across the US and Canada. The Budget also has a bare bones web site with only local news briefs.