Garden & Gun December/January 2020

EDITOR’S LETTER Heavy Hitter A VINTAGE SLEDGEHAMMER GOES FROM RUST HEAP TO WALL HANGER DAVID DIBENEDETTO Senior Vice President & Editor in Chief The sledgehammer’s head before restoration. One of my favorite places in the South is an uninhabited barrier island off the coast of South Carolina where I’ve left tracks in the sand since I was a kid. In grade school I lost my first bull redfish in the surf there (and broke down in tears on my knees as the waves washed around me), and I encountered my first rattlesnake that wasn’t behind glass, coiled perfectly between clumps of sea oats on a brisk November morning. These days I love watching my kids’ enthusiasm as we beach the jon boat and they run wild on the vast and…

Ten Years of Made in the South Honoring our first Hall of Famer We asked you to choose your favorite Made in the South honoree of the past ten years, and the votes are in. The first inductee into the Made in the South Awards Hall of Fame is Jerry Talton Decoys in Stella, North Carolina, which won the Outdoors category in 2016. Talton carves his decoys in the traditional North Carolina Core Sound style, influenced by the region’s working rigs of the past. Since Talton’s win, he’s hardly had time to put down his bowl adze and spoon gouge, with orders coming from across the country and even internationally. To see Talton and his work in person, check out the Core Sound Decoy Festival (December 7–8), on Harkers Island,…

CONTRIBUTORS JUDGES Meet the Tenth Annual Made in the South Awards To see the Made in the South Awards winners, turn to page 120. Erin and Ben Napier CRAFTS Thanks to Erin and Ben Napier, Laurel, Mississippi, is enjoying a boom of sorts. There, the couple founded Laurel Mercantile Co., on Front Street, to design and sell heirloom-quality goods such as kitchenware, comforters, and coffee mugs; and Scotsman Co., where Ben handcrafts one-of-a-kind home furnishings. In 2017, their HGTV series, Home Town, premiered, giving the Napiers the chance to restore historic houses throughout Laurel. “Southerners take the modest things they have and make them beautiful,” Erin says. Dara Caponigro HOME “A human touch in a home is so important, especially in our technological society,” says Dara Caponigro, the creative director…

LETTERS “Could you prepare us for the Good Dog story by giving, say, a one-to-five-tear-jerk emoji rating?” BATTLE OVER THE EVERGLADES Thank you for “Wild Hope” (October/ November 2019). The problems of pollution, fertilizer runoff, loss of flora and fauna, and their effect on Florida are very real, and time is of the essence. Kudos for raising the issue and providing impetus to the stakeholders—Floridians, environmentalists, fishermen, tourists, Big Sugar, farmers, Corps of Engineers, and politicians—to restore the Everglades. Tim Saewert Placida, Florida I was extremely disappointed in “Wild Hope” unfairly targeting sugarcane farmers, who have done more for Everglades restoration than any other private entity. Since 1994, Florida’s sugarcane farmers have achieved a 56 percent average reduction in phosphorus, more than double the 25 percent required by law. Farmers…

Social Chatter GARDENANDGUN.COM AND BEYOND WE ASKED... What’s your go-to bourbon, and what’s your splurge? In a Talk of the South newsletter, we called for bourbon opinions. Top picks: Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace, Blanton’s, Pappy, Angel’s Envy, and a few surprises. Old Charter. “Everybody who is anybody” drank that when I was growing up in the Mississippi Delta. Splurge: Angel’s Envy. Marilyn Brookes I drink Woodford Reserve every day, including special occasions. A slice of heaven in a busy world. Scott Griffin Shop the middle shelf. Not the bottom’s plastic bottles, not the top. For all times: Old Forester. John Scull Everyday: Rebel Yell. Special: Maker’s Mark julep. John Zebelean III Once the drinking lamp is lit, I pour Buffalo Trace. After the second, I go to Elijah…

INTERVIEW Home Again ON HER FOOD NETWORK SHOW, THE IRREPRESSIBLE KARDEA BROWN CELEBRATES HER GULLAH ROOTS By Latria Graham Styling by Lily Sykora; hair by Domanique Keegan; makeup by Valisha Wigfall PHOTOGRAPHS BY SULLY SULLIVAN In April 2015, Kardea Brown left behind her job in social services for a life cooking in front of the camera. She’d recently impressed Food Network executives after a boyfriend signed her up to audition for a pilot, but the suits wanted her to hone her cooking skills. So the South Carolina native and longtime Atlanta resident returned to the South from New Jersey to begin the New Gullah Supper Club, centering events around the food she grew up eating at her grandmother’s house on Wadmalaw Island. Food Network kept in touch, booking her to…