S11:E18 05/04/2024

Kermit Caughron Striped Stick Bean, Cades Cove, Tennessee

In this episode, we are setting the table with “Kermit’s Striped Stick Bean”. We visit with John and Rachel Davis, owners of J & R Farms in Blount County, Tennessee. John Davis’s great-grandmother is Lois Shuler Caughron, and her late husband is Kermit Caughron. The Caughron family has raised and saved an heirloom bean for generations named the “Striped Stick Bean”. This bean comes from the last remaining descendants of white settlers and residents of Cades Cove, Kermit, and Lois Caughron. When the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established, the residents of Cades Cove were made to move out of the area over a certain amount of years. These last remaining residents of Cades Cove are John and Rachel Davis’s ancestors. This family is very involved with a nonprofit organization called the Cades Cove Preservation Association, and a link is below to find out more about this organization and the repository of artifacts and pictures of the families of white settlers who formerly lived in Cades Cove. I (Amy) am actively gathering recordings and information on the original settlers of Cades Cove and Eastern Tennessee Mountains, Native American residents who long before white settlers came to the area of East Tennessee. I hope to be sharing podcasts and radio shows on the Native American perspective through the lens of food over the next months.

For his “Potluck Radio” series, Fred Sauceman recalls Tennessee memories of the Franklin Club and of Raymond Bautista owner of the former restaurant “Raymond’s Fine Foods” along with Raymond’s recipe for Cole Slaw. Raymond’s Fine Foods was inducted into the Tennessee Restaurant Hall of Fame.

There will be the first fundraiser for Battlefield Farms called Gospel in the Gardens featuring the UT Gospel Choir This Benefit concert is to support Battlefield Farms which is a local non-profit organization with the mission of ending food insecurity in East Knoxville by partnering with community members to make fresh food accessable. Other live performances will be featured and food trucks will be available. This event takes place Saturday, May 4th at 6:00 PM at Payne Avenue Baptist Church at 2724 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Knoxville TN 37914. They ask that you bring your lawn chairs. More infoormation from this link: https://www.facebook.com/battlefieldfarmandgardens/

Links:

Rachel and John Davis of J&R Farms, Maryville, TN: https://www.jandrfarmstn.com/

Cades Cove Preservation Association: http://www.cadescovepreservation.com/kermitcaughron.html

Bluestem Hollow Market Day Market and Farm Party https://www.facebook.com/bluestemhollow/

Ben Cohen and Family, Owners of Small House Farm offer for sale a limited amount of Kermit’s Striped Stick Bean seed. They have been saving and sharing this seed and the story behind it. Find out more by visiting their website: https://www.smallhousefarm.com/product/kermit-bean/

Emi Sunshine sang our theme song when she was 9 years old: https://theemisunshine.com/