Last week we played hooky one day to spend some time in one of the most idyllic settings in Arkansas, P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm.

The kids were excited because they had heard me talk all about the farm after I went to Bean 2 Blog out there last spring.

It was a very busy day on the farm because P. Allen Smith and his talented team of producers, assistants, designers, photographers, publicists and camera folk were all working on many projects at once.

Photo shoots, recipe segments, gardening pieces, radio recordings and dinner plans were happening all over the farm. As soon as one project would wrap up, another would be starting somewhere else and still another getting ready to be up next.

There was so much was going on that it kind of made my head spin, but I also felt really honored to get to be there for it.

My entire family got to be a part of some photo shoots for P. Allen Smith’s eMagazine. For one shoot, we played lawn games in a side yard surrounded by gorgeous pink roses. (How long has it been since you played croquet?)

Next we had an ice cream party underneath the 350 year old oak in front of the house. Our kids got to eat as much ice cream and cookies as they wanted at ten in the morning.

Simon was all, Oh, you need me to eat another cookie? No problem, sir!

In between set ups, we got to tour the gardens and see all the farm animals. Oh, the chickens! P. Allen Smith really does have the most beautiful chickens in the world.

Then we were served lunch on the lawn before Taido and the kids headed home and I got to stay.

After lunch, I made three salad recipes from this blog. I made the first one inside the house with Mary Ellen, who was my contact for the day and a familiar face after meeting her last year at Bean 2 Blog.

I was timid at first about actually using the amazing kitchen, but soon, I was digging around in drawers and cabinets, finding what I needed to make the Crunchy Church Picnic Salad. I got in my little corner and chopped my veggies as different people came and went. At one point I even traipsed down the road to the vegetable garden to get the basil for my salad. As I walked the little farm lane, I thought, I could get used to this!

The other two recipes (Sesame Kale Salad and Barbeque Chicken Salad) were filmed as I put them together with Allen in the summer kitchen, a little bit of paradise for this foodie.

The summer kitchen is out behind the main house and I tried hard not to covet, but you enter through sliding French doors to a view of shelves filled with bright orange Le Creuset pots and cookware. Oh my heart.

I loved being in this space and getting to visit with the people who are behind all the content that P. Allen Smith produces. They are an incredibly gifted group of individuals, as was everyone I met during my time at the farm.

After the TV segments, we did a radio interview. That’s a lot of talking and being in front of people for this introvert, friends. But Allen, for whom this was just a normal day at the office, was very at ease and helped me find my way through the taping.

I left feeling a little anxious about how it would all turn out, so it made me happy when the photographer who took most of our pictures, Mark Fonville, sent me the photo above of our family in this beautiful setting.

We felt very grateful to be asked to be even a small part of the swirling motion of activity that happens out at Moss Mountain Farm.

Be sure and subscribe to the eMagazine, so you won’t miss the Chinos with P. Allen Smith!

And stay tuned for more farm adventures with P. Allen Smith, because I am heading back out to the farm on Tuesday for Bean 2 Blog 2013 to learn more about farming and soybeans!

The post Chinos to Moss Mountain Farm appeared first on Alison Chino.

In the world of modern day technology, I find that it is a rare treat to be engaged by someone who holds my attention with nothing but an exceptional ability to wield the English language.

Last week I had the remarkable privilege of meeting not just one, but two such souls.

P. Allen Smith and Jim Carroll are modern day storytellers.

With his elegant Tennessee drawl, P. Allen Smith told us the story of Moss Mountain Farm.  He finished building the Greek Revival farm cottage just four years ago, yet the house calls out to you from beyond almost two centuries.

The painstaking detail it required of P. Allen Smith to give the house this kind of history was so fascinating to me.  As he talked about the architecture, the design and the furniture, he amazed us with the many threads of old story that I would have completely missed had I simply walked through the home on my own.

Of course, I would have still fallen in love with the rambling porches, the kitchen and the children’s room, but I wouldn’t have understood which details were nods to Monticello or what the paintings were adding to the story of the South.

I’m sure I could have read somewhere about all those components, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable as hearing P. Allen Smith tell about it.  His phrasing is eloquent and gracious.  In the garden someone asked him if he has trouble with armadillos, and he answered,

Yes, they are insidious little creatures. Possums on the half shell is what we call them around here.

Finding myself to be tongue tied a good portion of the time, I appreciate all the more a perfectly appointed phrase.

Our other storyteller for the day was equally able to turn a head with an expression.

Jim Carroll, a farmer from Brinkley, Arkansas (to whom I later discovered that my sister is distantly related by marriage), told us stories from his many years as a fourth generation Arkansas farmer.

One of my favorite moments was while he was telling us about a dishonest employee on the farm.

He paused and said,

Now y’all don’t know me, but that kinda stuff just burns my butt up.

Now look back and read that with your best Arkansas accent and draw the words out a little to get the full effect.

I caught Jim during most of our breaks to hear more.  He and his wife, Rhonda, are the kind of people with whom you immediately feel at home.  You just want to walk through their back door, pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit down at their kitchen table and say, Tell me more.

Jim told us all that he wished we would come and visit his farm. Don’t even think I won’t be planning a trip there to take him up on the offer.  I have about 10 boys I would like to bring along with me to soak up just a little of the character that the Carrolls are oozing from their pores.

So much of what was enchanting about both Allen and Jim is not just that they possess all this rich history, but that they are willing to share it with those who will pull up a chair and listen.

Both men are using their unique talents and captivating verbiage to benefit the state of Arkansas.

P. Allen Smith could easily live anywhere in the world, but he has chosen to stay in Arkansas because of his roots.  Even our day at the farm for Bean 2 Blog was a way for Allen to promote our home state.

Jim Carroll regularly misses costly days on his farm to volunteer on farm boards that are working to make farming a viable career option for the next generation. This man who in the first years of his life rarely traveled out of state has now been to China and Russia in order to explore how the soybean industry in the US can continue to expand to feed the world.

Jim was amazed that when he went to China he saw that all the protein you need in a day could be made with a handful of soybeans and some water.  He was so intrigued by the process of homemade soy milk that when he got back he found his wife Rhonda a machine so they could make their own soy milk from beans right off his farm.

I am super grateful that I got to listen in on so many stories last week and I’m super excited about how the stories will continue to unfold.

The post Once Upon A Farm appeared first on Alison Chino.

P. Allen Smith and the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board treated several Arkansas bloggers to a dreamy day of doing a few of my most favorite things:

walking, eating and storytelling.

I’m still soaking it all in.

I met lots of new friends, tasted new recipes, learned all about soybeans and filled my heart with farm stories.

I have a lot to share about this incredible day, so stay tuned!

Credits:

photos

aerial view of farm: P. Allen Smith website

Jerusalem, P. Allen Smith, me and Jim Carroll: Jerusalem Greer @ Jolly Goode Gal

bathtub: Stephanie McCratic @ Evolved Mommy

sleeping porch: Cara Wilkerson off the Bean2Blog Pinterest Board

Jerusalem and me: @Jerusalem Greer (instagram)

The post Soaking it all in at Moss Mountain Farm appeared first on Alison Chino.