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Zydeco Moon Farm 
Photos and illustrations by Pat Johns ©2010 - present
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When you walk through the fields of Zydeco Moon Farm in nearby Grassy Creek NC with owners Sally Thiel and Joe Martin you don't see tomatoes, you see Cherokee Purples and Brandywines. Squashes? No, here they are patty-pans, 8-knob zucchinis and golden zucchinis. Beets? No way. Those are golden beets and candy-striped beets. And it's more than appearance they are talking about. These heirloom organically-grown vegetables don't just look different. These varieties have subtle taste differences lost in today's supermarket offerings labeled "squash", "tomatoes", "potatoes" and "cauliflower." 
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Joe and Sally moved here from Louisiana, leaving or partially-leaving careers behind to develop their farm of certified organic produce. They participated in classes offered by local agriculture organizations and after 4 years they have 5 acres producing unique varieties of asparagus, sugar snap and snow peas, all varieties of lettuce, beets, spinach, leeks, heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, summer and winter squashes and fingerling potatoes. 
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They sell their freshly-picked vegetables at the local farmers' markets and to local restaurants and inns. In fact, Joe is currently the president of the Watauga County Farmers' Market, a group which, in their 37th year, is offering Watauga County residents and visitors the largest and best selection of local produce in the history of the market. Sally and Joe have added a hoop house and a greenhouse allowing them to extend the growing season which thereby enables those of us who buy from them to eat local more months of the year. |
On a tour through the farm you see what growing organically is about. Most of us know that organic growers can apply only approved pesticides and fertilizers to their plants but many of their "pest management" techniques would be recognized by our grandparents and great grandparents. The beautiful sunflowers and other flowering plants are there to attract or repel pests. Crop rotation is a proven process which enriches the soil for future crops. All of these processes which have been common-sense techniques for farming for centuries are required for organic certification and must be continuously documented by farmers like Joe and Sally. 
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After planning and planting farming becomes somewhat of a continual adjustment and reaction to weather (dry or wet, hot or cold), widespread conditions such as blights and very local conditions such as deer, rabbits and other animals. One Saturday at the farmers' market, Sally and Joe had no lettuce when all of the other farmers did because a woodchuck had eaten the lettuces that would have been ready for market that week. The week before, however, they had plenty of lettuce when another farmer had none when his crops had been destroyed by a very local hail storm. 
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Zydeco Moon CabinsSally and Joe built 2 rental cabins on their property to rent to vacationers. Their website (see link below) says it best: "Our cabins are genuine log homes -- your home away from home. Each cabin has a bedroom with a queen size bed and a loft. The Blue Moon has 2 singles in the loft and Harvest Moon has a double. There is also a queen size sleeper sofa in the great room. So they will sleep three strangers, or six people who know and like each other -- a lot!" 
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Now, about that name Zydeco Moon. Certainly the reference to Zydeco music refers to the Creole folk music of their Louisiana roots but perhaps there is more to this name. According to Wikipedia.com the root of the word zydeco is a vegetable: "In the mid-1950s, the popularity of Clifton Chenier brought zydeco to the fringes of the American mainstream. He signed with Specialty Records, the same label that first recorded Little Richard and Sam Cooke for wide audiences. Chenier, considered the architect of contemporary zydeco, became the music's first major star, with early hits like "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés" (The Snap Beans Ain't Salty — a reference to the singer being too poor to afford salt pork to season the beans). The term "zydeco" was a corruption of les haricots (French for the beans), and the name for the music was born." ~ Wikipedia.com (see link below) |
 
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Zydeco Moon has a frequently-updated website and participates in local farm tours. You can contact them at the following: Sally Thiel & Joe Martin 
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Some interesting links related to this story . . .
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