Mountain tradition, not yet lost
Ashe County is rich with traditions and values. Like other counties
in the High Country, time has a way of impacting lives, evolving and
changing with experiences and struggles.
Hunting, trapping and
farming have been a part of Ashe citizens since the county was founded
more than 200 years ago, including traditional crops and cattle
operations. But the fine mountain art of making molasses is struggling
to survive.
Chad and Janie Poe are one family that is hoping to
pass it along for at least another generation. Chad's regular business
is his construction company, Poe Dirt Work, but he's also got part-time
interest in a farm passed to him through family which yields potatoes
and a few other varying interests, like heirloom corn, peppers and
Christmas trees and wreaths that can be sold at local farmers' markets.
"We
have never done the molasses before," Chad said. "I had done it when I
was a kid, helped some other people do it. But as far as actually making
it, I had never made it."
That changed earlier this fall, and some of his work may actually find its way to tables this winter via Christmas presents.
Poe
received a grant from the Rural Advancement Foundation
International-USA to construct a building and cooking area for making
molasses and maple syrup. Production of maple syrup will commence about
February, and his initial batch of molasses happened a couple of months
ago in October.
"We got through and we sold out before they were ever made,"Janie said. "It ended up being really good."
For
Chad and Janie, the production isn't intended to be a large-scale
commercial venture. And they fully understand why others don't jump in
to start an operation. Start-up costs from scratch would be thousands of
dollars.
"I was more interested in the maple syrup, and talked
to some people about it," Chad said." I talked to a man up in the coal
country of West Virginia. We sell some stuff in Abingdon (Va.) at the
farmers' market. He had done it, and I got interested in it. And then
the molasses, I just wanted to do it.
"There's a lot of work in
it, but it's not that bad. It's not as bad a work as I thought it might
be. There's not a lot of money in it, but its something to do. But the
maple syrup business, I don't know about that. It would be more of the
moneymaker. It costs a lot to get into the maple syrup. I've got a grant
from RAFI that helped me do that. It costs a lot of money to get into
it if you didn't have the set-up, compared to what money you would make.
It'd take you several years to come out on it."
Chad said he
had good help in his venture, with assistance from Cliff Dillard and
Dave Sexton. He also got sorghum from Barry Goodman.
"It was
like an heirloom seed," Chad said. "It's an old-time seed, handed down
from years. You don't go to the store and buy that. It's more true to
the old-timey molasses."
The Poes said they hope to do more
molasses in 2012, and will probably tap about 100 trees for maple syrup
this coming year, adding to it in the future.
For them, it's a
way to make use of a farm once worked by Chad's great-grandfather, to
try new things, fill in the winter gap before construction season
arrives in April, and hopefully pass along a mountain tradition.
"It's
not a big money maker, but I like messing with stuff like that," Chad
said. "We'll do more than we did this year. We're looking forward to
it."
From Ashe Mountain Times by Alan Wooten