'Grazing Along The Crooked Road'

Authors Take A Trip Down Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail With Cookbook

“Grazing Along the Crooked Road” is a unique blend of tradition and culture from Southwest Virginia.
The cookbook combines local stories, recipes and a love of music to give the reader a true taste of life in the south.
Recipes include everything from “Homemade Biscuits” to the much-involved “Old Time Apple Butter,” which requires “A bunch of friends (a WHOLE bunch of friends)”; “Leather Britches” (a green bean dish); and much more.
Beware, though. Some recipes – “Barbecued Groundhog,” for example – may not be to everyone’s liking.
The cookbook features home remedies, such as applying honey to scraped skin.
Local reminiscences abound, and stories of local places, various musicians, bands and dancers season the pot. Included are places such as White’s Mill and musical groups like “Lost and Found Band.”
“Music,” said Betty Skeens, co-author of “Grazing Along the Crooked Road,” “is the heart and soul of Southwest Virginia.”
It is perhaps because of this that she was captivated from the start by the idea of writing this particular book. “The Crooked Road” refers to Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.
Skeens grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, near Mabry Hill, Va., where, she says, “storytelling was common and music was a part of life, although I personally could never carry a tune.”
The concept of the cookbook came to her when she was working on another project, and the notion so stirred her imagination that it kept her awake nights.
“I knew I would need, or want, someone to travel with me,” Skeens said, admitting the idea “seemed like a daunting task – meeting people, interviewing, writing the stories, and collecting and editing the recipes.”
She called her friend Libby Bondurant about it. Neither of the women had written a book before. However, Bondurant had 32 years of experience as a court clerk, so Skeens knew her “to be a good organizer who loves to travel.”
Bondurant was also enthralled at the prospect of compiling the book together. So began the journey of “Grazing Along the Crooked Road.”
It took around 15 months to conduct the interviews and collect recipes.
Although both authors contend that they are too close to the stories to choose favorites at this time, Bondurant, when pressed, said her favorite could be her Aunt Callie’s spoon bread recipe and the accompanying story, because her aunt and uncle were so close to her.
Similarly, Skeens said the story of Uncle Irvie’s barn in Floyd County (“Life by the Side of the Road”) is personal for her, as he was her great-uncle, and the barn was built by her great-grandfather.
“ ‘The Big Meeting Days of the Primitive Baptist Church’ was written from personal experience as well,” she said. “I grew up attending those, particularly the Laurel Fork Big August Meeting.”
Her mother was the twin who walked miles with her sister in their best clothing to get there as teenagers in the story “Big Meetings in the Blue Ridge.”
Bondurant lamented that they did not interview someone who raised tobacco long ago. Those were the days, she said, “when they had to wire the tobacco, put it in the log barns, use wood to cure it, stay at the barn all night to make sure the temperature was right and tie it up to take to the market to sell. This process is not used today and there are not a lot of people raising tobacco anymore. This was a money crop in Franklin County when I was growing up.”
Skeens added that, due to lack of space, they were also unable to use a story about the old grist mills of Floyd County.
“They were an important part of each community all through the mountains for many years,” she said. “The miller often worked hand in hand with local moonshiners which adds a bit of flavor to the mix.”
Sometimes, hidden storage rooms were even built into the mills.
To gather stories and recipes, the authors called tourism directors, libraries, historical societies, chambers of commerce and county extension agents. The two handed out fliers and talked to anyone and everyone they could.
One person would sometimes direct them to someone else who had their own stories to tell. They attended festivals, musical events, local diners and other eateries.
“Striking up a conversation became a hobby,” the authors said.
Bondurant commented on the most difficult part of writing the book: “I did the recipes and sometimes they were sent to me without the main ingredient, the temperature left out or length of time to cook something. The person had prepared it so long they weren’t aware they had left something out.”
To solve this problem, Bondurant tried to contact the person in question. Failing that, she would consult a cookbook to find a recipe that would properly complete the one that had been submitted.
Skeens, on the other hand, felt it was difficult to keep so many stories “interesting and fresh.”
She was forced to edit some of the stories, but she always endeavored to “keep the flavor of the author intact. It was also very important to me that each person’s story be true to the way it was told, their words and the way they expressed themselves.”
She researched each county to familiarize herself with its history and then lay awake at night thinking about that county, because she was so keen on providing an accurate account.
As for the most rewarding part of writing the cookbook, Skeens said it was “learning to trust God to lead us in the right direction” – which, she asserted, “He always did.”
She now tells people, “If God is interested in [something as insignificant as] a cookbook, He is interested in whatever you are doing in your daily life!”
The authors agree that one of the best things about writing “Grazing Along the Crooked Road’ is the people they met and the relationships they forged along the way.
“Libby and I both feel so thankful and blessed that the places we wrote about have shown so much enthusiasm for our project,” Skeens said.

WHERE TO FIND THE COOKBOOK
The book is $24.95 and may be found at several local stores:
In Abingdon: Abingdon Visitors Center, The Cave House, White’s Mill, William King Regional Arts Center and Zazzy’s.
In Bristol, Va: Mountain Music Museum.
In Damascus: In the Country.
The book is also available from the Crooked Road Organization at www.crookedroad.org.

LEE and J.J. MACFADDEN are twins and freelance writers. They can be e-mailed at features@bristolnews.com.