Bushel and Peck

Let's talk about the food at our wedding! Choosing a caterer was one of the hardest things we did during wedding planning... mostly because catering is insanely expensive. Upwards of $9,000 was not an uncommon quote for our 150 guest estimate. I love food and wanted to feed our guests well, but that wasn't going to cut it for us!

The first thing we did when planning our catering was decide what kind of food we wanted to serve, and we wanted to serve it. There are tons of choices across tons of price ranges. We wanted to serve barbeque at our rehearsal dinner for a more low-key vibe, and then wanted to up the ante just a bit for our reception. We decided to go buffet-style as it is much cheaper than a plated meal. Overall, we were looking for the right balance of style and price.

From there, we looked at the list of preferred caterers that our venue provided us with. We could have gone off the list, but would have incurred extra fees. Therefore, our first order of business was contacting each and every caterer (about 11) on the list for quotes.

With everything else, the "feel" of the catering service was important to us - we wanted vendors that complemented us and our day - but our primary concern quickly became price after receiving our first few quotes.

I created a spreadsheet with information on each catering service, including contact and phone number, overall price, price per guest, number of entrees, number of sides, etc. Moving everything from the PDFs that we received to a place where everything could be easily compared was key.

We had a few front runners, but ultimately decided to go with Old North State Catering. We actually went ahead and booked them before making it to a tasting because Hurricane Florence came through and changed dates. Crazy, I know, but it was on high recommendation from our venue and others!

The staff was incredibly friendly and kind, and truly wanted to tailor the meal to fit our day. They seemed to fit in perfectly with the very family-oriented style we had going. One thing that really impressed me upon talking to the owner was that they take a month off every year to feed others for charity.

We planned out our tentative menu, which included chicken, pork, 2 appetizers, 2 sides, salad, rolls, water, sweet and unsweet tea, plates and utensils, and late night chocolate chip cookies. I was able to attend a tasting in January and they graciously allowed both my parents and one of my sisters to go with me. Harrison wasn't able to make it as it was on a weeknight.

The tasting was phenomenal, and was more like a meal than a tasting! We got plates of food from a predetermined menu, most of which was on our tentative menu. Everything was wonderful and I was able to solidify some choices and change my mind on a few, as well. Finalizing our menu was truly difficult!



We ended up with the following:

Appetizers

Dinner

...and sometimes it's both at the same time.

Farming and boat ownership have a bit in common: things always need to be fixed. One second things will be running smoothly, and the next... complete chaos.

This past Thursday night, I headed out to the farm after work to ride in the combine with Harrison because corn harvest was officially ready to begin! We ate our harvest supper of salami sandwiches, cut one load of corn, and started unloading it, expecting to be in the field way past dark.

We were there way past dark, but not for the reasons we originally thought. Our auger broke just as we were almost done emptying the combine. With no way to get the corn from the combine to the grain bin, we were done cutting for the night.

Harrison started tinkering with the auger and I started scooping corn. Then the chicken house alarm called. Harrison and his dad went to fix the problem there, while I stayed behind to shovel corn.

Three 55-gallon drums later, I headed up to the chicken houses to see what was going on. Without going into much detail, the issue had turned into a bigger issue and we had some work on our hands there.

When all was said and done (and scooped and cleaned), we went to bed exhausted and I reflected on the absurdity of it all:

• Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

• You know what they say about best laid plans.

• It is possible for one girl to move half a ton of corn by herself.

• Don't wear socks and crocs to the farm.

• Never assume you're just going for a ride in the combine.

Let's talk about corn!


Corn is a crop that pretty much everyone has seen growing in fields as they drive by. Lots of people wonder, and you may have too, "Why is it turning brown? Why didn't they harvest it before it dried out?" The answer is pretty simple: the corn you see drying out isn't sweet corn! In fact, the only way you'll see this kind of corn in the grocery store is ground into corn meal or grits.

Sweet corn has too much sugar in it to dry properly. It is best for eating (Have you ever eaten an ear pulled straight off the stalk, no cooking required? I would highly recommend it if you get the chance!) and canning.

Field corn (or dent corn, as some midwesterners call it) is what we're focusing on here! In Iredell County (and other areas with dairy farms or even cow-calf operations), we typically see two things done with field corn: chopping and combining.

I'll write a post on silage in the near future, but let's focus on corn for grain right now.

Corn in North Carolina is planted between March and May. We planted the majority of our corn in mid-April. Corn typically matures in 120 days, then it's a waiting game for the moisture percentage to be low enough to harvest it. Moisture is greatly influenced by weather conditions. It has been pretty hot in Iredell County lately, around 90 degrees every day. Last week our corn was testing around 30%. Yesterday it was 18%. We have combined a few loads for some customers who want deer corn, but are largely waiting for it to be around 16%... which could be today!

Moisture is a very important consideration for corn harvest. Some people have dryers in their grain bins- they can harvest their corn at a higher moisture percentage. However, it costs money to run propane dryers, so that cuts into profit margin. An ideal time to have had dryers in Eastern North Carolina would have been two weeks ago, when we were waiting on Hurricane Dorian to come through. Our friends down east were running hard to get their corn in bins in anticipation of up to 12 inches of rain. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but there's a chance that some corn was brought in at a higher moisture content than is ideal.

Too high moisture can lead to spoilage and rotting, price dockage at mills, and even fire and spontaneous combustion.

Corn is planted on rows that are spaced 30 inches apart. The corn header on our combine has fingers that go between the rows to guide the stalks into the header. The ears are stripped off the stalks and go through the combine, which takes the kernels off and cleans out the big chunks of material that isn't grain. The grain is stored in the "hopper" in the back of the combine, then offloaded via auger to a grain cart, truck, or bin.

(Image courtesy of AgriExpo)

Things look a little different around here! For a while I was writing as Positively Taylor, a brand that I developed as an extension of myself, and one that is still close to my heart and hard to transition away from. But, I've had quite a few new seasons here lately, so I figured my personal brand and blog deserved one, too. So, without further adieu...

Welcome to Grace & Grain Bins!