A Time to… Blog Again (finally)!

I’m sure for all of you, life turns a corner and you realize whilst turning said corner, you actually are falling headlong down some chasm with no idea as to where you will land, if you will land, or if you’ll fall splat-flat on the canyon floor. You may just turn the corner and keep striding down the street but for this Farmer, the former more so than the latter has been my life since May. So many good things but it has been a whirlwind, a chasm fall, a wild time, whatever you wish to call it…

I want to fill all of ya’ll in on the fun, wild, crazy and exciting things that have happened since my last post… that last post being when the corn was knee high and now it is sky high and peaches are brimming on the trees and the tomatoes keep coming in and in and in… and the heat has settled down and we think, “man, has it ever been this hot?” because we’ve forgotten since last summer just how brutal a deep down summer in Dixie is. But the glorious cadence of the heat and our good soil is the aforementioned produce – Summer is here and I am thrilled! Yet, since the last post was truly last season, here are all things this Farmer has been up to…

I.                    Sip and Savor and Porch Living, both were released this Spring… I call them my fraternal twins since they do not resemble one another but they do have the same parent and were born on the same day. The release of a couple new books lead to a whirlwind tour across my fair state and into a couple of our neighbor states too. From Place on the Pointe in Albany, Georgia, to At Home in Tifton to The Mansion on Forsyth in Savannah to Williams Sanoma Lenox, Boxwoods and The Swan Coach House in ATL, to Springhouse at Lake Martin and all kinds of places in between, the month of May and spilling into June was a wild little book tour!

 

II.                  While on the subject of books, Wreaths for all Seasons will be out early fall, ya’ll! I just got the proof from my editor and it is lovely… My sister Maggie did a fabulous job with the photographs and we honestly have too much fun working together. And now that Maggie is expecting – yes, this Farmer is going to be an uncle – our fun times are now focused on a little bundle of joy due in January! William Napp Yelton (named for Zach’s Pappy “William” and our Granddaddy “Napp”)

III.                Continuing the subject of books and expecting, another upcoming cookbook was photographed – you guessed it! A Time to Cook! This ode to Southern cuisine will be out early 2013 and I feel as happy as an expectant parent – growing belly and all! You see, when you photograph a cookbook in a week, you HAVE to eat all that food in a week… wowza… it was a delicious week! So with a nephew and book due in January, I am about to pop!

The ultra talented and too much fun Helen Norman got to be my photographer for this book and we had an absolute blast cooking and photographing, touring farms and markets and eating way too much! Helen and I had worked together for my Porch Living book and the Southern Living story on the Farmhouse in Warner Robins, so this was our third venture. One of the true highlights was getting to photograph Mrs. Mary making biscuits – they came out of the oven absolutely gorgeous, got their glamour shot and were quickly devoured!!! All three pans of them!!!!

                       So, I can empathize with sister Maggie on expecting in January – a house to be built, a book to be released, new year and new fun!

IV.                My baby sister, Meredith, is leaving us in Kathleen for Georgia Southern!! Ahhh!!! When did they start letting babies go to Statesboro and live with three fun girls and have too much fun in the ‘Boro?) She and my baby cousin Sally Kathryn (aka Kasi) have a precious, dear friend who got married, and I had the privilege and honor of making her bouquet. Garden roses, light pink and deeper pink peonies, rosemary and fern all wrapped with a monogrammed ribbon made up Sami’s bouquet… it was the sweetest wedding and I loved having a peony or two and those fabulous roses leftover for my own little arrangement  to add spicy, sweet fragrance the house!

(Meredith's college digs)

V.                  The house! Ahhh! On that note… I sold my house in Kathleen and have moved out to our family land in Perry! Don’t worry, I kept a Kathleen PO Box because, well, I HAVE to HAVE a Kathleen address… some people have to have their certain zip codes… mine just happens to be 31047. I’ll start building my house soon and just cannot wait!!! I asked myself, “Self, where did all this stuff in this house come from?” I had to answer myself and say, “Well, you brought it in one bag at a time over the last few years.” Moving is terrible when you’re a hoarding designer like me, but there is something very cathartic too about organizing, purging, rearranging etc… this new house adventure will surely be an adventure for sure!

VI.                XXX… in the midst of all this, I had to go and turn 30… So far the XXX decade is off to a wild start but I’m excited for the changes – new home to be built, new books to come, a baby in family – this new decade is out the gate fast and headlong down the track! The Cashiers Designer Show House is coming up (opens August 18) too so the latter part of summer will be enjoyable up in the mountains. The fabulous and uber talented Maggie Griffin will be joining me again to make our porch at the Cashiers Designer Showhouse marvelous! Can’t wait to show ya’ll!

(big 3-0 celebration)

VII.              Summertime fruits and flowers – hydrangeas, sunflowers, watermelon, radishes, strawberries at Lane’s (and trifle too!) the Cordele farmer’s market billowing with plums, peaches and potatoes and boiled peanuts – summertime in Georgia is here! Pairing sunflowers and hydrangeas together just might be an all time fave… nothing says summer like that duo!

I hope your lives are not as crazy as mine but if they are, I hope they are full of fulfillment and joy. Without the joy of loving these fast times, it would be difficult to get through them – it’s all about the joy of the journey. All things this Farmer has been up to are truly steps on a journey and I’m thrilled to share some of them with ya’ll! Happy summer!

Deep Greens and Blues are the Colors I Choose…

That line from James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” fits me to a tee! The song has my name in it and mentions my favorite colors – deep greens and blues. Aqua, cerulean, jade, emerald, sea, turquoise, cobalt, navy, robin’s egg, grass, spring…  the shades and tints go on infinitum.



Mixing the green with its parental blue is a natural choice for any setting. I tend to collect linens, dinnerware, stemware and other tablescape items in these various shades for mixing and matching. These colors are seasonally delightful throughout the year, especially this time of year with hydrangeas blooming in batches of French blue, bluish lavender, and lapis.

 

Dear friends were moving from here to another town and Mother’s Day was here too; so, I combined a going away dinner and Mother’s Day supper - all set with deep greens and blues.

 

A tonal taupe damask tablecloth set the neutral mood for the tablescape. A bowl full of Nikko Blue hydrangeas mounded from a lavender-blue bowl. I used dishes in the same shades mixed with traditional Blue Willow to create the shades of blue I love. Linens from The Plantation Shop on Amelia Island boast the blues I was using. I like to pick up linens on my travels since they are easy to pack and bring home and The Plantation Shop is just one of favorite haunts in general. From antiques to dinnerware to lamps and books – the store has it all.

 

Antiqued mirror chargers denoted each place setting and melded with the large mirror dominating one wall in my dining room. When mixing and matching tablescapes, I like to use continual elements to give a note of balance. Linens, flatware, chargers, and goblets in this case add continuity to the tableau and the “every other” place settings add rhythm. Plus, when I do not have a complete set of this, that or the other, then a mix is just too much fun.

As for the greens, my stalwarts of the house are my antique French mutton leg dining chairs. The original green velvet is luscious and is neutral to my décor – I use them all over the house on either side of my entry chest, in my study, and to pull up at seating areas. My antique Depression glass goblets are another neutral green for my home. They go with just about any setting I have and I love that particular shade of glass green. Leaves from the hydrangeas poke from the fluffy blue blossoms too, nodding to nature’s neutral as well.

 

We all sat at the set table and reveled in the glories that are our mothers, told many a fun story, and toasted to our friends’  new adventure in another town. Grilled squash, chicken and steak shish kebobs, roasted onions with Brussels sprouts and okra, wilted green salad, pineapple blueberry upside down cake – a feast for my friends and family. I even used a Blue Willow bowl for my salt mix to flavor the grilled items. Sea salt, cracked black pepper, Nature’s Seasoning, and some white pepper too bring out the best of the grilled meats and veggies. I nor my family are never too stuffed for dessert and the upside down cake with berries and pineapple…. Strawberries and blueberries reduced with sugar and vanilla and then some pineapple and brown sugar – what a combo! The perfect blue ending to a charming evening.

Downton Abbey a la Old South

If I had the opportunity to host Lord and Lady Grantham and their daughters and of course the Dowager Countess too, I would hope they could feel right as rain and completely at ease in the Butler’s Pantry at the ASO Decorators Showhouse.

Whatever would I do without the amazing talent and charm of Mrs. Maggie Griffin?! I am quite the lucky man to have TWO Maggie’s – a sister and a BFF! Growing up together in Hawkinsville, we share a reverence for classic style and tastes such as chinoiserie, blue and white china, fun color and a gorgeous table setting. Besides, it is just too much fun to work with someone so talented – I love learning from her and she tolerates working with me! Ha! I needed a helping hand for this showhouse and thankfully Mrs. Griffin answered the call!

The home itself is reminiscent of the fine homes dotting the Atlanta landscape and those English manor homes such as Highclere Castle, where Downton is filmed. A Philip T. Shutze design, the home boasts fabulous Georgian architecture, balance and scale, deliciously proportioned moldings and built-ins, and now, thanks to Design Galleria , a modern kitchen (that this Farmer would give his eye-teeth for) and baths. Open through May 13, 2012, the showhouse is worth traipsing to Atlanta and soaking in the multifaceted design schemes throughout the home.

 

I channeled my inner Anglophile and ardently embraced my Southern heritage and filled the Butler’s Pantry, which the family who once resided in this home would use as a family dining room or casual dinners, with collections of collections that we Southerners share an affinity for. Blue and white Canton-ware, blanc de chine and creamware and white Limoge china with gold rims yet complemented with blue plaid linens, stacks of cookbooks from every Junior League and Lady’s Sunday School Circle throughout the last century, French chairs with their luscious original blue velvet, a divine Oushak rug, and oils depicting the finest of England’s bucolic farm land in gold frames. A nineteenth century lantern from Foxglove Antiques and Galleries commands from the ceiling with all its verdi gris glory and newly framed pages from an antique book of ornithology depicts eggs now set in birch frames.

David Austen garden roses scent the room with a floral/citrus/spicy scent and opened to saucer-sized blossoms down the table. Hydrangeas and terra cotta jardinières from one of my favorite haunts, Boxwoods, spill from planters and tureens and bring the garden indoors. Black, nearly lacquered, Chinese Chippendale chairs anchor the host and hostess ends of the magnificent Italian farm table from Beckett Antiques. I love the contrast of the rich patina that glows from this table and the black chairs anchoring either end – all connected with blue velvet!

Anyone from upstairs or downstairs I hope would relish the opportunity to sit at our table in the Butler’s Pantry. Whether Lady Mary or Daisy was joining this Farmer for supper, I would surely show some true Southern hospitality in this room – or in any Southern home, at any Southern table for that matter. This space just happens to be that fun mix of English, Continental and Southern flair for this fantastic showhouse. Come one, come all!

PS… one of the great perks of working with Southern Living is meeting wonderful photographers at the photoshoots. Enjoy these pics from the darling Emily Jenkins Followill I met at one our shoots– she’s a delight and she captured the room perfectly! Another Southerner herself, this gal knows how to capture the feel of a room. Thank you my dear!

Happy Birthday Aunt Kat!

My mother and her sisters are “Irish Triplets.”  From April of 1957 to April of 1959, my grandmother, Mimi, had three daughters in said time span. My family has had this bizarre timing of doubling birthdays, these three gals’ birthdays are of no exception.

Mema (my great-grandmother), Mimi (my grandmother) and Mama (my mama) – all three generations– have the same birthday. Mama’s older sister and younger sister missed each other’s birthdays by two days, but to some avail, the younger sis was born on our dear Aunt Sally’s birthday, Mimi’s sister-in-law. Maggie and Granddaddy share the same birthday and my cousin Gray and I are only three days difference on the calendar. Anniversaries of no exception either, for Mimi and Granddaddy, my parents, and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gerry all were married on the same date – different years of course.

So, birthdays are a fun monthly soiree for this clan. Rarely do we celebrate one. Yet, this latest birthday dinner I hosted was for one, since geography and schedules impeded us from gathering all three of the aunts with April 17^th and 19^th birthdays. I had the honor of hosting Aunt Kathy’s birthday dinner this year. As a multi-faceted and talented dame, she deserved a fabulous tablescape.

Since she actually owns a dinnerware company, I thought a stray from her deliciously beautiful dinnerware a fun vein to explore. I use her dinnerware daily, and I have used it in photo-shoots for magazines, my books, my blog and in clients homes. Most recently I stocked a whole cabinet full in my room at the ASO Decorators Show House Atlanta. I figured Aunt Kathy would not mind my veering from her line for a fun tablescape.

Color – marvelous colors – in the tints, tones and hues of jewels, flowers, and ceramics with metallic shades - all meld together on my table for a fun scene. Spring is in high fling here in my corner of Dixie and the colors of this season are found in the flowers abounding. Snapdragons  in particular are spectacular this time of year and the pops of coral, salmon, fuchsia, magenta and deep lilac – all set against the newness of the greens that have bravely and boldly told Winter to scram. These blossoms from my garden set in vintage bottles were the perfect floral accouterments for the dinnerware I chose for this evening, Nathalie Lete’s line for Anthropologie. The colors on these plates are delightful, charming and whimsical, as are the creatures featured on each. 

Mama helped me set the table and lent me her favorite stemware for the party. Shades of cobalt, chartreuse green, lavender, terra cotta and canary are held above frosted stems and these heavy glasses have graced many a tableau for my family. They even disappeared for a couple years and magically turned up in Aunt Kathy’s barn fairly lately. Perfectly apropos to use them for their reemergence at this event I felt! Decades old pea green linens, mother of pearl chargers and flatware all danced atop my table and a heard of cerulean Fu dogs gave an always fun nod to chinoiserie.  My black chiavari chairs further embraced the Chinese Chippendale/chinoiserie bend I relish. Besides, an element of black always adds drama and grace for any setting. 

We eat with our eyes first. Why not set a beautiful table and present your food elegantly. As for the latter, Mediterranean pork loin stuffed with goat cheese, spinach and wrapped in bacon with a wilted green salad, garlic biscuits with honey butter, snap beans with Vidalias, tomato and zucchini casserole and some birthday pie –  coconut cream and chocolate ganache. Pie Shop ATL... need I say more. Susie gilded the lily with her famous whipped cream piled high and garnished with toasted coconut and shaved chocolate respectively. When Susie, Mimi and I get in the kitchen, you know something good’s on the way!

We ate, we ate some more, and then we ate pie. Pies (plural of pie singular) to be exact. Ha! What a way to celebrate Aunt Kathy!

Gentlemen Prefer… Strawberry Blondes!

So strawberry season is upon us. These sweet treats have been zipping up I-75 from Florida for a while now and Middle Georgia’s very own crop is coming! Places such as Lane’s  has a strawberry patch and, well, if by chance one finds themselves pickin’ in the patch, one might as well stay for ice cream!

Sip and Savor is out ya’ll!!  Book signings and some touring is about to commence so I wanted to combine my favorite spring berry and spring berry drink with an excerpt from the book. Some of these photos are in the book but there were just so many lovely shots we couldn’t include them all. My sister Maggie photographed this book and we had a ball! Working with siblings can be quite fun and she has photographed my wreath book due out this fall!

Here’s my Strawberry Blonde recipe and whipped cream too. Since spring is upon us, let us enjoy the fruits of the season!

Strawberry Blonde

What a perfect name for a lovely drink! Taking the fiery redness of strawberries and blending it with the calming color of cream, one will find the most beautiful pink drink to serve your friends and family. When strawberry season is at its peak, this drink is fabulously delicious. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and you have strawberries and cream in a drink!

They say gentlemen prefer blondes… well, this gentlemen will take this Strawberry Blonde any day!

2 cups of strawberries, tops removed
1 cup of milk (I use 2%)
3 cups of heavy whipping cream (for drink and garnish respectively)
¼ cup of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of good vanilla

Blend strawberries, milk, 1 ½ cups of cream, sugar, and vanilla together until fluffy and smooth. Add ice to the blender for slush.

The Farmer’s Whipped Vanilla Bean Crème Fraiche… Whipped Cream, Ya’ll

So whipping cream is delicious. It, like butter, just amazes me how many things can come from milk. It’s life’s first beverage. It’s a must on every trip to the grocery store. It’s milk! If you haven’t hooked onto organic milk and cream yet, you are missing out! The lactose free milk is about the best glass of anything you’ll ever drink! I digress…

Whipped cream is simply divine. The science of physically changing a liquid into a solid is astounding, but what is so amazing to me is the taste. With a scant bit of sugar, some good vanilla, and the inside of a vanilla bean pod, you can have the best of dessert toppings in a matter of minutes.

I inherited my great, great Aunt Irene’s “whipper,” a wiry paddle that takes the strongest of arms a long time to whip up a batch of this heavenly topping. Want a workout? Trust me, you’ll burn off the calories you’ll consume by whipping cream by hand. Use an electric mixer for time and bicep’s sake. It’s a fun tool to have though and I treasure it and my memories of her. I can only imagine how many times Aunt Irene or her cook Ida Mae whipped cream with that “whipper.” They deserve sainthood for such a feat… Ida Mae more so I’m sure!!!

There is a bit of art to whipping cream. Here are a few of this Farmer’s tips and my recipe… master this and you’ll have so many friends and family wanting a finger licking taste, you’ll have to give out numbers!

• ALWAYS use a metal (copper or stainless steel) or glass bowl. Ceramic is fine too. Plastic won’t cut it.
• ALWAYS use cold cream and GOOD vanilla beans and vanilla extract. This is one delicacy you’ll truly taste the vanilla and you want the best.
• I use my vanilla sugar (vanilla bean pod infused sugar) for that added richness and depth of flavor.
• Whip, mix, whisk until the cream forms soft peaks and just looks right… It shouldn’t be runny in the least after mixing and can be stored in the fridge for a few days. It will get runny on a hot piece of pie, but that’s perfectly apropos!

The Farmer’s Whipped Vanilla Bean Crème Fraiche

• 2 cups of heavy whipping cream or crème fraiche… Whipping cream is more of a liquid and crème fraiche can be more solid. Use more sugar if using crème fraiche and a scant less for whipping cream since it is slightly sweeter.
• Tablespoon of good vanilla
• Scant teaspoon of scraped vanilla bean pod’s inside. We eat with our eyes first, so seeing those vanilla bean specks is a visual appetizer of the glory divine to come.
• Scant tablespoon of vanilla sugar. Cook’s note – I don’t like heavily sweetened whipped cream. I love the taste of whipped cream by itself…the sugar just sweetens the pot, literally! Add more sugar if you prefer, but, trust me, the actual taste of whipped cream on its own is delicious!
• Beat until it begins to form soft peaks that can stand on their own and no longer runny!
• Serve with just about anything and it will be delicious I’m sure! Enjoy!