Deep Fried Kudzu

There’s a few store/sandwich kind of places around, and extra points if they host live music — Ike’s Amish Depot in Ethridge TN:

in the back:

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My favorite-favorite-favorite right now is Graves Grocery in Laceys Spring, Alabama — live music a couple of times a week I think (I’ve caught them on a couple of Wednesday mornings on my way to/from Huntsville).

The good works the owner, Pam, does — she’s incredible. Incredible. More about that especially under “community hub” in this older al.com article.

From the article:
Graves has hosted free movie nights where she projects a movie on the side of the building and invites folks to bring their lawn chairs. There have been quilting classes, pottery classes and Mom’s Heart Bible studies.

…and there are free Thursday suppers for the community.

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Simmons-Wright General Store from 1884 in Toomsuba, Mississippi feels like (especially the part upstairs with the new-old-stock shoes from decadesssss ago) it’s bordering on museum-worthy:

Here’s what the cafe is serving.

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Missing the Jefferson Country Store in Jefferson, Alabama — it closed last year and they really did have hoop cheese and rag bologna:

If you know of other (open!) spots like these…old general stores with sandwiches/cafes, maybe live music, community events…please email me your favorites! Would love to hear and add to the list. xoxo!

Thinking of older country stores that are going about today as restaurants, I’m first thinking of:

That’s the H.D. Gibbes & Sons store by day, steakhouse on paperplates at night in Learned, Mississippi. Check and cash only.

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and below, Taylor Grocery in Taylor, Mississippi:

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The Cohn Brothers Store in Lorman, Mississippi is known as the Old Country Store now, run by Mr D. We’ve been visiting here since it was still a store — this is from a 1999 visit:

and have been coming back now that Mr D runs it as a restaurant:

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The John E Hall Store in Cecil, Alabama houses a restaurant now:

Where are you thinking of? We have a fair amount of these, but not near enough.

Let’s talk more store/sandwich kind of places tomorrow. I’ve got a new-to-me one I really like with live music certain days…

Garden and Gun did an article last summer, Seven Southern Country Stores with Retro Appeal: These small-town mercantiles offer up an extra scoop of nostalgia along with sugar, milk, the occasional cast-iron skillet or pallet of lumber—and everything in between.

They list the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, VA; Fred’s General Mercantile in Beech Mountain NC; HUM Grocery in Rockville SC;  Pierce and Co General Store in Hallsboro NC; Studley General Store in Studley VA; Sunrise Grocery in Blairsville GA; T.B. Sutton General Store in Granville TN

The now-shuttered Causeyville General Store, from a 2005 visit

These are closed, but I’m also thinking of the Burnt Corn Store in Burnt Corn, AL; the Causeyville General Store in Causeyville MS; the Old Delina Store (which went out as a restaurant) in Cornersville TN…

So many other great places in this genre — let’s do that this week. Tuesday is going to be a few country stores surviving as retail or restaurant…

As always, all images unless otherwise noted copyright Deep Fried Kudzu. Like to use one elsewhere? Kindly contact me here.

Affiliate links are sometimes used. That means that if you purchase something via one of the links, it costs you nothing extra, but may generate a commission, offsetting the cost of DFK… e.g. as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Also: remember that Bookshop is fab because they’re giving orders to indie booksellers. Grateful for your support. xoxo!

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from a visit I took to LV’s home in 2009

LV Hull: Love Is a Sensation opens March 20 at the Mississippi Museum of Art

From the MMA’s site:
L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation is the first major museum exhibition devoted to the art and life of the self-proclaimed “Unusual Artist” Ms. L.V. Hull (1942–2008). Born in McAdams, Mississippi, Hull merged artmaking and the Southern art of “visiting” to craft a creative practice that allowed her to commune with her inner spirit, her Creator, her community, and visitors from around the state, region, and world. Using found objects and paint and glue from Walmart, Hull produced a vibrant, immersive, and evolving art environment at her home of 34 years in the small town of Kosciusko, Mississippi. She adorned every surface and corner of her house, front porch, and garden with carefully arranged assemblages of everyday objects and signs, often painted with her signature dot pattern. 

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Enjoy: Steve Plattner’s Across the South photographic series

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from a visit to the Cullman County, AL Fair in 2018

At Bitter Southerner: Life & Death at the County Fair

Through the gates, past the gator wrestler, real-life cowboys, and make-believe cowboys, the scent of warm dough beneath a fog of powdered sugar carries me up the midway. Kids squeal in the hand-painted and worn funhouses. Beta fish endure the hail of pingpong balls while carnies bark at families beneath awnings of stuffed animals. It’s where I’ve come each year to watch livestock auctions and sip lemonade — a deeply unserious place to try to be serious.

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At Christie’s now: The American Collector: Including Property of Mr. and Mrs. John D Rockefeller 3rd and Selections From The Collection of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter and the Carter pieces are well surpassing estimates.

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Ernest Tubb Record Store, from 2018

The changes to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville are at Garden & Gun

“(an entrepreneurial group) transforming the landmark into a rollicking four-story bar, restaurant, lounge, venue, and shop that honors Tubb’s legacy while providing a music destination for new (and vintage) generations. It’s open seven days a week from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. And, yes, the shop still sells records, too.”

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Saving Seeds and Stories with John Coykendall. Master Gardener at Blackberry Farm at Tennessee Farm Table with lots of mention of great seed sources

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It’s so good to be back! I’ll be posting more regularly this year — had a lot going on in ’25 (it was great!) and am looking forward to being able to share on DFK more now. Missed y’all! xoxo!

A friend and I did a demo on pumpkin floral arrangements for our nighttime garden club — I showed four pumpkin ideas and the first was just the easiest ever — the mini pumpkin towers are super cute with some spanish moss between:

My friend showed her arrangements with succulents and a little moss, tucked in with Aleene’s glue:

This pumpkin is hollowed out and had a vase inside with a fresh flower arrangement:

This is how great the pumpkins look with dried flowers:

Because these succulents still have thier roots, after one is done with the arrangement, they can be put back in growing medium:

The favorite one I demo’d was this one for kitchen or dining table for placecards — it has a dried blood orange atop with cinnamon stick, rosemary, parsley, nutmeg, and a kale base:

We took all those apples we picked at Steele Orchard, and after giving some to the chickens (Zelda, Ruth, Reba, Dolly, and Loretta) and one or two to Cornpone (our guinea pig), we took as many as would fit in the slow cooker to make apple butter. They cooked all day — overnight too — so that sounds like a lot of work but the active part was minimal.

Though I’ve made jam/jelly/preserves and pickles, this was my first time to make apple butter. Not really sure where to start with a recipe, I used this one (she had me at no peeling) except I cooked the apples another 12 or so hours on low,.

Yeah. They turned out so caramelized and dark and gorgeous, and there were still some apple chunks. This. Was. So. Good.

Canned them up — a few for fall gifting…

So happy with these!

Apple picking at Steele Orchard in Cullman, Alabama — started with apple cider slushee and an apple fried pie

It’s actually so easy — a gentle tug with the long-handled basket on the apple you like, and they drop in

Getting ready for Rosh Hashanah! Here are some little projects from previous years that went really well. This year a new try for me is making apple butter with the apples picked this past weekend at Steele Orchard in Cullman, Alabama.

Round challah (my favorite do-anything-with bread recipe is this one)

Here’s how to make these great pomegranate rolls

Sculpey apple magnets

L’Shanah Tovah banner

Other ideas I’ve done:

Decorated caramel apples (just follow most any recipe for caramel apples, and decoate as you like as a group activity — sweet to write the new year date in chocolate)

A birthday cake for the world (did this when the boys were little and was super sweet)

If you celebrate, sending you sweetest wishes. If this isn’t your holiday, it’s still a great time to look up recipes for honey cake, apple desserts, and lots more fun. xoxo!

I’ve been thinking about literary home museums lately: I’ve had the chance to visit several from this list of Southern states/authors (which isn’t at all meant to be complete, only a good sampling) just over the past couple of years. One early experience that I’m grateful for was a middle school trip to Ivy Green, Helen Keller’s home, as it gave me an appreciation for the everyday lives and environments that shaped the authors we read.

Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, from a visit last year

Alabama

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum – Montgomery, AL

Helen Keller Birthplace, Ivy Green – Tuscumbia, AL

Mississippi

Rowan Oak, William Faulkner Home – Oxford, MS

Eudora Welty House and Garden – Jackson, MS

Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center – Columbus, MS

Tennessee

Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center – Henning, TN

Georgia

Margaret Mitchell House – Atlanta, GA

Flannery O’Connor, Andalusia Farm – Milledgeville, GA

North Carolina

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site – Flat Rock, NC

Thomas Wolfe Memorial, Old Kentucky Home – Asheville, NC

Florida

Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum – Key West, FL

Louisiana

The Tennessee Williams House – New Orleans, LA

Texas

O. Henry House Museum – Austin, TX

What’s been your favorite exhibit so far this year? For me, it has to be the Chris Antemann: An Occasional Craving show at the Dixon in Memphis.

From the website:

In 2011, American ceramic artist Chris Antemann formed what would become a fruitful partnership with the centuries-old Meissen porcelain manufactory that continues today. With a profound respect for the innovation and artistry of Meissen porcelain, Antemann re-envisions the concept of porcelain figural groupings with a wink of her twenty-first-century eye. Chris’ colorful, imaginative, and often cheeky ceramic sculptures parody the dynamics between men and women, much as they did in the eighteenth century. And while viewers of rococo porcelain figural groupings would have been cognizant of the coded innuendos that abound in the art of that era, Antemann is much more explicit in her representations (and parodies) of human sexuality.

Chris Antemann: An Occasional Craving presents a variety of Antemann’s works, from her early MEISSEN collaborations to more complex dramatic table-top centerpieces produced in her studio in Joseph, OR. Inspired by the Dixon’s own Warda Stevens Stout Collection of Eighteenth-Century German Porcelain, by the vitality of our beautiful gardens, and by the Berthe Morisot painting in our collection, Peasant Girl among Tulips, Antemann is creating a pair of tulipieres specifically for the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Visitors to the exhibition will be charmed by her sculptures, which walk a fine line between lighthearted and profound, and come away with a deeper understanding of the nuances of historic German porcelain.

Learn more about Chris Antemann at chrisantemann.com and ferrincontemporary.com.