Moultrie Scene January 2022 | Page 44

example , we ’ ll have people send us seeds . They ’ ll say , “ This is my grandmother ’ s okra variety .” Some people sent us turmeric , ginger … T : I didn ’ t know this was a thing , but when I started the YouTube channel , people told me , you gotta get a P . O . box so that we can send you things . It ’ s a fun surprise to go up there . We don ’ t check it every day , but we go once or twice a week , and you never know what ’ s gonna be in there ! There was a packet once of corn , cut off the cob . Folks have sent us canned vegetables , salsa , special pectin …
It ’ s lovely that this community is building organically out of what y ’ all are putting out there and sharing ! T : We have a video where we were talking about harvesting our popcorn . I mentioned that I wanted an antique corn sheller . Out of the blue this guy sends me an email and he ’ s like , hey , I ’ m cleaning out my grandpa ’ s barn and I ’ ve got four or five of these things , I ’ d be glad to send y ’ all one . B : And he just sent us a sheller ! T : He wouldn ’ t take my money . At least he let me pay the shipping for it . B : It ’ s been so nice , too , when we ’ ve all been so secluded form each other during COVID , to see this community explode and want to be so giving to strangers . I ’ ve been blown away by the acts of kindness . When Travis broke his back , people were sending us messages , checking on us , hundreds of messages from folks who have never even met us .
Wow . B : It was the sweetest thing , when we ’ ve all been going through a year so far away from each other , how a YouTube channel brought us this community we didn ’ t even know we had . T : Yep .
Okra and tomatoes served over white rice – a Southern classic !
Well , that ’ s beautiful to hear . Now , do y ’ all do any seed saving yourselves ? T : Here ’ s my rule on seed saving . I know a lot of people are paranoid that seeds were gonna go scarce , that we weren ’ t gonna have any due to the pandemic , but I ’ ve got quite a few contacts in the seed industry , and it was more a transportation issue than any actual shortage of seeds . So if it ’ s something I know I can get year to year , I ’ m not gonna put a lot of effort into saving it . B : It ’ s a storage issue . T : And time thing too . It takes a lot of time to properly save seeds . Try saving some tomato seeds . That ’ s a pain ! Now , I ’ ll save some corn seeds , those are easy ; maybe winter squash or pumpkin seeds if a viewer sends me an heirloom variety ; okra seeds , I ’ ll save a few of those . So if it ’ s something easy to save or something special , yes , I ’ ll save it . But something like a Kellogg ’ s Breakfast Tomato , which I can buy from twenty different places online tomorrow ? I ’ m not gonna worry about it .
So what are some of your favorite varieties to grow ? T : Let ’ s see … going off this year ’ s crops , my favorite was the Kellogg ’ s Breakfast Tomato . It ’ s a big yellow tomato , just absolutely delicious . I really like another yellow tomato called Lemon Boy . We grow a variety of kabocha squash called Speckled Hound , that one was really tasty , really productive . B : Even though it ’ s called a squash , it ’ s more like a beautiful little blue , orange , and green pumpkin . I made a pumpkin pie with it – and I thought that I hated pumpkin pie ! – but then I realized we had been missing out . T : As far as okra , the Jing Orange , which isn ’ t exactly orange , and the Ruiz heirloom okra that a viewer sent us . Potatoes-wise , we really like the Yukon Golds , they grow good for us . There ’ s a variety of sweet potato called the Georgia Jet that does well down here , surprising right ? ( laughs ) Broccoli , there ’ s a variety called Green Magic that we ’ ve grown every year … B : The most fun thing we ’ ve grown has been the popcorn , though .
44 MoultrieScene JANUARY 2022