Nature Boy
Brandon Caraway, a 28-year-old throwback
to the 'back-to-the-land' concept of the '60s, grows just about everything he eats
BY LEE
CLEMENT PIPER
SALISBURY POST |
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 Brandon Caraway is something of a nature boy. You might know him from his job at
Godley's Garden Center and Nursery, where he dispenses plants, horticultural wisdom and
advice. I met him years ago when he came into my shop to present me with a few bottles of
his incredible homemade beer. I've also recently had the pleasure of sampling his culinary
skills, which are formidable.
Brandon is something of a 28-year-old throwback to an age where everything in your kitchen
and on your table came from just out the back door. Back in the '60s, the
'back-to-the-land' concept gained wide appeal as hippies set up small farms, communes and
co-ops. Unfortunately, the romance wore thin when many realized how much hard work was
involved, and the movement, for most, was short-lived.
But Brandon grew up with the old hippies in Tarpon Springs, Fla. They hunted and fished
for food, and when he was just 16, he started his own garden of fresh vegetables and
herbs.
'When you grow things, you are in control of what you eat,' he says. 'When you buy fresh
from the supermarket, they control you. You don't get the variety or the freshness. You
just have to pick from what they want to make available. Besides, nothing's as satisfying
as eating what you grow."
Brandon specializes in growing unusual and interesting varieties of plants. He bought a
house off Bringle Ferry Road last year, so his new garden there is just getting started,
but it boasts a rich, gray, loamy soil. His plants, though still young, are flourishing. I
found more varieties of obscure tomatoes than I could count, 8-ball zucchini, kohlrabi,
Swiss chard, passport hybrid melons, ambrosia cantaloupes, collards, eggplant, cucumbers
and more. He was busy harvesting the red Pontiac potatoes that he declares are
'foolproof,' scooping up dozens from a single plant.
After he went to horticulture school, he worked in Florida in 'interiorscape,'then
landscape design, and later as a nursery manager. He moved to Rowan County in 1992 to be
near his mother, Tanya Barga. He says he's learned a lot working at Godley's, and has come
to realize that sometimes customers need a little instruction. He's become something of a
teacher of organic gardening, and asked me to please put his recipe for organic gardening
'cocktail'in the paper so that he won't have to keep writing it down for customers.
His own garden would be bigger if there hadn't been such a drought lately, and if he
didn't have lingering back pain from a car accident last year. He has envisioned and
designed many more groupings to come. Still, his herb beds are as neat as a pin, and his
other great love, perennials, are getting a great start. (He finds most annuals
'gaudy.") Butterfly bush, bee balm, daylilies, yarrow and many others add color to
his yard. He's also propagating a dozen varieties of hens and chicks. 'I love
succulents,'he says with a laugh.
His reply, when asked about how he started cooking and gardening, is telling. 'I guess you
could call me an essence person,' he says. 'When I was little, sitting down at the table,
I always wanted to know, 'Where did this come from? How is it made?'"
He credits his mother for inspiring him to cook. 'It was her pies, all kids of fruit pies.
She'd let me help, and it was so easy that I thought, 'Man, this is great!"
After his parents split up, his new stepmother gave him the choice of either cooking or
washing dishes. 'Now that was an easy choice,' he laughs.
Growing up in Tarpon Springs, Greek cooking became a major influence. He's collected
several recipes for the Greek beef stew Stifado, and his Mediterranean Stewed Cabbage is
unusually good, too.
Brandon now has a lot of experience cooking cabbage since he had a bumper crop last
autumn. He learned to make his own sauerkraut from it out of necessity. He found it so
easy to do that he's become something of an apostle for canning your own. Some of his
other canning favorites are pickled okra, pickled onions, pesto and the whole tomatoes.
Although he says he only cooks a couple times a week, he hopes that will change when he
gets a new stove. He wants to learn all styles of Mediterranean cooking. His stepfather,
Roy Barrow, is teaching him some Italian. He'd like to bake more pastries and breads, and
is currently planning to cook a load of calamari - Greek style, of course. And he's
planning to make up some more of his many varieties of home brew when he can find the
time, and he wants to try his hand at growing the hops.
His 'nature boy' philosophy, he says, is simple: 'Gardening, cooking and brewing beer are
all basically the same. Pay attention. Follow directions. Keep everything clean.' |
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