The Congaree Milling Company

The other day on my drive to the mill, I saw some fantastic people picking up trash on South Beltline.
I almost pulled over to shake their hands and and to ask if I could buy them lunch! These fine humans were volunteering for the .
They are having their Wine for Water event this Thursday and a silent auction, so go there and bid all your spending money on this here grits basket I donated or something else!
I didn't do a post for Earth Day, but for me the destruction of the natural world for crass profit is a perinal preoccupation.
This isn't a purely idealistic stance: without surface water to drink, as a civilization you have precisely s*it.
We won't outthink or science our way out of our need to have the life support system that is our environment.
Do the right thing. Get a ticket. Bid on something!

All grits worth eating start their life as a vegan food. This bowl of grits here is served with some vegan butter and some salt.
Not only is this vegan, but it's delicous and really good for you!
If you want to give a dish line this a try, go see our friends at for their Sunday brunch.
It's an accepting bar environment in the heart if the Rosewood community. Please give them a visit!

Your run-of-the-mill cornbread (see what I did there?)
Cooking can be a contentious activity on social media. As for myself, I like to think I'll try new things, but when it comes to cornbread, I have some favorite ingredients and methods.
First, I always use buttermilk if I have it (do yourself a favor and buy some several days before Thanksgiving, lol).
Second, I like cast iron: smoking hot on the stove then into a preheated oven. Plenty of oil in the bottom of the skillet.
A looser than expected batter works well.
I've used butter, lard, even vegan butter. All of them work.
I'll use any good cornmeal or corn flour. To some people, the coarse cornmeal is the only kind because of the grainy texture.
Corn color is irrelevant.
In the end, I say find what you like and do what you please.
Just

Guinea Hog fried pork chop, cabbage collards, Blue Quick Grits, pea sprouts.

We do a little market down at HG every Thursday.
Come see us and sometimes this sunset.

The cereal killer https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2024/01/06/the-cereal-killer
Very proud to play a small part in helping Stephanie write this insightful and impactful article.

The cereal killer The case of the killer corn

Hey, y'all, we're at Curiosity Coffee Bar tonight for one of their Holiday markets. Come pick up something, or just to hang and be yourself. A relaxing and convivial way to shop!

https://teamfeed.feedingamerica.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=15245
I can't lie, doing this the way I chose (yes my choice) is...not easy.
Despite my ruminations, doubt, and persistent danger of financial catastrophe, I can acknowledge that what I have might seem wondrous and lavish beyond imagination to some others. A gilded cage of alabaster.
This is hardly some transcendent galaxy brain stuff. I've got a warm bed, a hot shower, and a truck that can't be killed. That's a short list of the great things in my life. Life seems bad often, but damn it's good.
It seems to me that our greatest responsibility as humans (color it with whatever religion you like if you must) is to provide for those who cannot. This is base-level human decency. The bedrock of the progress of civilization and humanity. FOR THE COMMON GOOD.
As of late (the past few decades) a strain of philosophical thought has arisen in popularity that purports the virtue of self-interest. I won't tell you self-interest is wholly bad. You definitely need some of that. You are not a messiah. No need for you to take the wickedness of the world on your shoulders. However, when one's self interest isn't tempered by the acknowledgement that we have to live with each other, the technical term for you as a person is "bad." You are interconnected with those both close and far, no matter what Libertarian fantasies you engage in. You almost certainly rely on a vast network of humans, no matter how atomized you are or feel you may be.
A few prominent public figures bouyed by this misconception that wealth=good come to mind.
Those who know me will know that entrepreneurship isn't a great match for me. I've got a soft heart (barfights engaged in by my old drunken self notwithstanding, my apologies to all). I'm honest. Most entrepreneurs I've worked for are deeply flawed in the opposite way, even though they have some undeniably admirable qualities.
A cultish following has arisen around the rich businessperson (man) persona. Success should be celebrated right? (Spoiler: maybe not always.)
If a person is rich, their shrewdness, or often their cruelty, surely indicates an intelligence that powered their ascent. Superficially this makes sense.
I'm here today to throw this idea in the garbage. This idea has equated wealth directly with virtue. It gave us the batsh*t crazy idea that businesspeople are a perfect fit for public office. I'm not saying they can't be good public servants, I'm just saying that it should be put in context.
If you are successful in business, finance, money, whatever, and that is your persona, the only knowledge that can be gleaned from that is that you have swollen opinion of your self interest. I don't think I need to waste any more words today explaining why a representative of the public shouldn't have their own fortunes foremost on their minds.
So after all this diatribe, I'll get to the core idea of my pontificating.
It's time we stop confusing cruelty with intelligence (I'm looking at you, older generations especially). It's a mistake we all can make. Cruelty often seems shrewd and it certainly is concise. A cruel person isn't likely to get suckered by a scam, right? They're nobody's fool.
But here's the truth about wealth: the majority of it is inherited. In the race of wealth, nothing beats starting inches away from the finish line.
And here's my truth about shrewdness: a smart person can have a heart. If you would starve the masses because you have a problem with a few people who don't work hard enough (in your opinion) or they engage in some activity that puts them outside your mercy, you aren't shrewd, you're cruel. If dozens of helpless children don't deserve help becuse one lazy drunk gets a handout, that isn't virtuous.
Being cruel is the exact opposite of being a good person. Let's stop idolizing cruelty.
Please give if you can, Feeding America is a highly rated charity helping feed hungry people.
Thanks to Ryan Holiday at the Daily Stoic for doing this drive.
I gave $25 this morning.

I'm supporting Feeding America! To feed America’s hungry through food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger

We have cooking up some grits-related dishes tomorrow at !
Of course we will have piles of freshly stone-ground grits you can cook at home.

We're cooking up some Southern delights (our style) tomorrow starting at 1 p.m.
You should get yourself some before the game traffic ramps up. If you're going to the game stop by and get some. We have a real Chef now!

Thanks to all involved in last weekend's Labor Day celebrations. We enjoyed sharing our with you all!

Come see us tomorrow for the Richland County Ag+Art tour! We'll have shrimp and grits, stone-ground products for sale, and local artisans. I got my hair cut and I mowed the grass. We ain't getting any prettier, so don't miss it! Saturday only!
+art

I'm at the Richland County Public Library for their first farmer's market of the season! We've got and , amongst many others.
Come nourish your body AND your brain!

Still playing with , also known as cou cou. Served here with .
I used blue cornmeal for the cou cou.

Obligatory cornbread muffin pic. Drizzled with honey. More to.come.
honey

Dinner. Notice the blue corn cornbread.
Merits of my photography and my old phone aside, it was great.

The Old Waterwheel site at Oconee State Park pics..
A very cool spot with the old masonry left from the mill race and the millhouse.

Only the freshest. Every Thursdsy at the The Hunter Gatherer.

It's farm day at Hazlewood Farm in Blackstock SC!
Come see us!

A sandwich was more more than a sandwich when you bought it at Chris's place.
You were one of the good guys. We are less without you. Farewell, Sir.

Lots of cornbread pics! I made this batch with Yellow Corn Flour. It was really good. Also a very forgiving recipe. I only used about 1.5 tablespoons of baking powder in this batch.
I had a few things like a bag of corn flour and a bit extra buttermilk to empty out so I put in a smidge extra of those. Whipped up some pinkeye purple hull peas cooked in a carmelized onion bullion paste with a half pint of water or so. I'm going to get an active link in the bio this time, I promise!

After hundreds of skillets of cornbread, I've decided to always use buttermilk. I also discovered that even corn flour works great, although you may have to cook it a bit longer.

An amazing historic ruins in Plantersville with a troubling past.

I'm zeroing in on my favorite shrimp and grits recipe. My favorite of all the varieties I've made is a creamy tomato sauce with bacon (as a garnish for pescatarians) or tasso ham for the family. This was made with some smoked roma tomatoes. They're worth the trouble, imo. Served over simple buttered Coarse White Grits.

There is much to be said for an anthropological approach to food, and I have a deep respect for the legitimacy of traditional foodways. Obviously, food has a deep meaning for the cultures that make them.
But this post isn't about that. This is about having fun with the interconnections in our world, and celebrating the potential flavors and possibilities from the mixing of cultures via food. Also (as always) using what was on hand.
This here is a spinach cou-cou with a squid curry. The curry was a Jamican style, except all we had was Indian curry powder (a top-notch one made by Will Green).
Think of this dish as a twist on shrimp and grits except with squid. Also kinda like grits and greens. The substantial amount of coconut milk was reminiscent of Thai curry. At the end of the day, it's really just a dolled up cornmeal mush with some spicy seafood stew on top. I'm almost certain you won't find this dish anywhere in the wild, but I wouldn't mind being proved wrong.
Squid courtesy of The Shrimp Guy.
-cou -cou -coo

Come buy some art, listen to some live music, maybe enjoy a little nosh and pick up a bag of grits. Saturday, June 11, 10 am.
Live music by 48 Fables and some surprise guests!
We'll have some interesting, creative people to hang out with. Some may hate prepositions at the end of sentences. You won't know unless you ask.
+art