As we near Halloween and start thinking about witches, ghosts, and goblins, I thought it might be a good idea to offer some advice…or at least tell a story that provides a perspective on those otherworldly things we call “haints” in the Lowcountry. For a long time, I didn’t pay much attention to haints, even
Many people seek fame and fortune. They are thrilled when they see their names in lights. Think some “Jumbotron” video screen in Times Square, New York, flashing your image; you are starring in a blockbuster movie with a mega media star. For most folks, that’s never going to happen, but it’s fun to dream about…especially
Rice is such an amazing seed. It can be grown almost anywhere in the world, and there’s hardly a cuisine that doesn’t incorporate rice into its vision of food. Here in the Lowcountry, when we talk about rice, we’re usually referring to Carolina Gold rice (CGR), scientifically known as Oryza sativa. It gets its name
There are lots of ways to see the Lowcountry. You can bike and hike, boat and float, walk and gawk, ride with a guide, whatever suits your fancy. And you can fly. By flying, I don’t mean hopping in a jet and zooming off to some distant destination. I’m talking about low and slow in
One of the great joys in life is making an unexpected friend. And a life’s great sorrow comes with losing that friend, especially suddenly and without warning. Such a friend was Ben Joe Smith. Back in 2006, I acquired a tract of land in Grays, South Carolina, which was to becomeHoota Woods Plantation. Part of
People do some really stupid things, which includes trying to feed alligators. Life can get ugly when a human says, “Hold my beer,” and an apex predator sees the hand holding half a ham sandwich as lunch. In such situations, Bubba Human and Bubba Gator have one biological trait in common, namely a brain the
Oh Lawdy Lawdy, if’n y’all wanna kick up a fuss, start complainin’ that someone’s barbecue sauce isn’t as good as your momma’s, or your nana’s, or the one they serve at the Swamp Rat Café on Pocotaligo Street in your hometown. Sauce is a sanctified, near Eucharist, food embellishment in the South, and it has
Anyone who has spent a spring day in the South Carolina Lowcountry is likely to have encountered the evilest critter on the planet except for a cottonmouth moccasin and a cape buffalo with a bullet in its butt. I’m talkin’ ‘bout the sand gnat aka flying jaws. It’s a near invisible little beast that swarms
