Anastasia Oxendine

There is a specific kind of magic that happens between May and October. It’s the season where the quiet planning of winter meets the frantic, joyful abundance of a Carolina summer. On our homestead, the kitchen transformation begins—the counters disappear under baskets of tomatoes, the scent of wild garlic fills the air, and the canner bubbles in the background. This year, I am taking you behind the scenes of our entire process with my new series: From Soil to Shelf. I won’t just be...

If you’ve ever raised a backyard flock, you know the "Spring Surge." One day you’re buying eggs at the store, and the next, your counters are overflowing with more than you can eat, sell, or give away. Before the era of the electric refrigerator, homesteaders didn't let that abundance go to waste. They turned to waterglassing —a traditional preservation technique that can keep eggs fresh on the shelf for 12 months or more. An "Old-School" Heritage Skill Waterglassing isn't a new trend; it was...

It’s Not a Dumpling: The Soul of Chicken and Pastry If you walk into a kitchen in southeastern North Carolina and call the steaming pot on the stove "chicken and dumplings," you might get a polite but firm correction. To the outside world, the distinction might seem small, but to those of us raised on these red-clay lands, the difference is everything. Dumplings  are often thick, leavened "drops" of dough balls that sit on top of a stew like fluffy clouds. They are lovely, but they aren't...