It’s hard to believe that 2022 is almost in the books! Sharing a few moments with y’all from our hardware life from this year in the form of pictorial memories and a few of my photo favorites.
We welcomed Cookie into our home in January. She was found abandoned at a local car wash, very thin and wet. The top pictures depict her thin size when she was found/first came home. On December 26th, 2022 she weighed in at the vet at 21 pounds…. She is definitely living the good life now. Beautiful blooms in January 2022 January snow 2022 Hardware show in Orlando, back in person! Richard & Steve Foster The freight elevator from a unique perspective, top down view … yes, it still works and we use it frequently Afternoon Sun gleams in from the front windows Spring Feature… thanks for sharing y’all Friday morning friends 😊, a diverse group who gather together as they can on Friday mornings, to discuss business, and have a bit fun too. Graduation 2022! Very proud of our son who has gained not only his high school diploma but his two year degree at WCC. Spring Storm clouds New Bern boats all aglow at night. Richard & I took a few days away to celebrate our anniversary in New Bern. What a beautiful town! Cutie pie Joy enjoying life August morning Fogs… did you keep count??? A photo collection of the fire at Smithey’s across the street. Very thankful for our amazing community of firefighters, police, who kept the fire/area under control. September morning sunrise Wet return for the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in 2022 A very popular new t-shirt available at WCH this Fall. Thank y’all! Amazing fall colors this year The first annual Spooktacular was a tremendous success! So many people came out for this event this year. We hope to make it bigger and better next year! November brings leaves 🍁 falling everywhere Lighting up the night with Christmas lights… Light Up Downtown North Wilkesboro Our view has dramatically changed with our neighbor gone, capturing this beautiful sunset after the time change in November Mistletoe spotted in the height of a tree. My parents neighborhood has a ton of trees with mistletoe everywhere. December… the festive month with Christmas trees and more!
As the book closes on 2022, I’m personally noting the ebb and flow of the year is often marked with highs and lows. The perspective and reflection of 2022 should be the focus on the blessings in life.
Wishing you and your family a blessed 2023. We await the new chapters in 2023 to see what blessings will mark the highlights of each of the 12 new chapters. Happy New Year to all!
Do you celebrate New Year’s with a traditional meal each year??? Pork chops, black eyed peas, cheese grits, cabbage and cornbread was on our menu for 2022 .
December 21st, Winter Solstice… no snow today but the cold temperatures are coming by the end of this week! Brrr 🥶
Today marks the first day of the winter season. Soup and stew season has already begun at our house and is a regular feature in our weekly menu.
There is simply nothing better than a hot bowl of soup and a melted, gooey grilled cheese to take the winter chill off after a long day at the hardware store.
Christmas is almost here… a wonderful time of the year!
During the Christmas season, I love to curl up on the couch and enjoy my favorite Christmas classic movies. This past weekend I stumbled upon a recipe from one of my favorite vintage movies, It Happened on 5th Avenue(1947).
Thankful for TCM and my small collection of Christmas classics that I have on DVD
Richard & I have watched this movie countless number of times, but as our conversation took a turn about the stew featured in the movie, I decided to do a quick internet search to find out more about the intriguing dish. Slumgullion Stew, an Irish stew, mentioned in the 5th Avenue movie, was easy enough to find a few different variations of the recipe. I settled on my favorite and then decided to give it a try and see if it will make the cut on our menu board for our family favorites.
It looks like I’ll be adding Slumgullion Stew to our menu board favorites soon!
One of the central characters in the movie, Mike, enters the room and instantly smells the fragrance of Slumgullion Stew cooking in the kitchen, which transports him to a memory of a better time in his life. This stew scene will ultimately mark the beginning of change for him.
Upon further reflection, many of those old, classic black and white movies have the theme of transformation for the main character in the movie. An iconic example is, It’s a Wonderful Life(1946). The central actor, George Bailey is transformed into a more appreciative person by the end of the movie.
Many of our Christmas favorites we have on DVD
Regardless if you love those old movies or not, I’ve decided to share my version of Slumgullion Stew with y’all today. I believe the original intention with the recipe/movie version is to use what you have. I did conclude that one unique feature of the stew is black eyed peas and pasta from my research.
A full crockpot of Slumgullion
There are different versions of Slumgullion are out there when you check the internet, but I’m sharing my take on the original movie stew pictured on the big screen.
Recipe for Slumgullion Stew
⁃ 1 to 2 lbs. of stew beef (cooked)
I used my leftovers from earlier in week
⁃ 2 cans of black eyed peas
⁃ Cubed carrots (add as many as you like)
⁃ Potato chunks (I added approximately 3-4 red potatoes)
⁃ 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
⁃ 1 32 oz. Beef broth
⁃ 1 beef bullion cube with 1 cup water
⁃ Salt and pepper to taste
⁃ 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
⁃ 1 bay leaf
⁃ Pasta (macaroni noodles would be the traditional favorite)
⁃ Add all ingredients into a large crock pot for simmer on low for 8 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add pasta hour before serving.
Slumgullion, holds an earthy flavor profile
Special note: The recipe I found online added cabbage, and chopped red peppers. I opted to leave them out. The consistency of my final stew was soup like, which is what I intended since I added the pasta into the recipe. For a thicker stew like consistency add a flour roux.
Lastly, sharing my Classic Christmas Movies Favorites… in no particular order
1. White Christmas (1954)
2. It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
3. Going My Way (1944)
4. Shop Around the Corner (1940)
5. Bishop’s Wife (1948)
6. Holiday Inn (1942)
7. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
8. Remember the Night (1940)
9. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
10. Holiday Affair (1949)
11. The Thin Man (1934)
Wishing everyone a fantastic holiday season and hoping that you will enjoy the most wonderful time of the year whether it is spent trying new recipes, establishing new Christmas traditions, gathering with friends and family, or even watching a few new classic Christmas movies .
He is the gentleman who built the current building that houses our hardware store in 2022. Mr. Eller placed his business, as you may have guessed, in our current building on the corner of 10th Street and D Street in North Wilkesboro.
Wilkes County Hardware in November 2022
To our best known facts, the building dates back to 1905. Mr. EE Eller was a premier poultry & produce dealer in North Wilkesboro. EE Eller Produce Co. was one of the largest turkey, and chicken wholesalers. EE Eller was a major processing center for local farmers to bring turkeys/chickens into North Wilkesboro. Ironically, it was probably one of the first poultry processing plants in our town.
An artist rendering of Wilkes Hardware from several years ago
Farmers would literally herd their turkeys from down the mountains in Ashe, Watauga, and Alleghany Counties in order to collect the cash proceeds from their labor filled task.
Eller’s staff would process/sell their flock. Could you imagine the sight that it must have been??? All of the sudden the flock of turkeys appeared on the roads in Wilkes!!!! Men guiding them with corn along the way, flocks of turkeys gobbling, wobbling with wings flying everywhere!!!! I would imagine that the sight of this was pretty common in the early 1900’s in rural Wilkes County. I bet the turkeys never suspected any “fowl play” on their journey. The old newspaper article did say that one of the largest turkey drives that ever was processed by Mr. Eller was 1,500 turkeys in one drive!!!
Signage like this one marked the path for local farmers to EE Eller’s Produce House. Thanks to Jerry Dameron for sharing this photo collection with me.
Once a flock of turkeys arrived at EE Eller Produce, they were processed/ dressed for shipped via train. Our local train station was just down the street from our current store location. The train destinations were mostly in Northern states after leaving the North Wilkesboro station. According to local oral history, it is estimated that Mr. Eller processed at his height of business, 1 million chickens and turkeys!!!! Guess that was all “gravy” for him after that!!!!
I have written about the history of our store before but, new facts have come to light! Let’s “de-feather” this poultry truth!
To those loyal readers of my blog, this will be new information for you. All the “plucky” truth, as we know it… A few months back, we were lucky to have a few family members of Mr. Eller to drop in for a quick visit. Up high on the wall held 4 pictures of what we had thought were the past 4 owners of the building, but it was ultimately revealed that the charcoal drawing on the far left was not Mr. EE Eller.
Many of y’all know this was the Wall of Fame inside our hardware store… check the wall the next time you shop with us, it maybe a “feather” shorter than before Who really knows who this guy could be??? The truth is that we did not find any visible clues inside the frame or even on the back of this old charcoal drawing
Further reading and research has revealed that Mr. Eller moved from the corner of 10th and D Street building to Forester Avenue in 1941 to a larger location. Wilkes Hardware moved into the 10th Street location sometime later on, I haven’t been able to determine a definite date yet but we know it was sometime in the 1940’s.
It was fascinating to “pluck out” the facts about the origins of this historic building we currently reside in each day. As time allows, I’ll continue to research more about the history of Wilkes Hardware and even Mr. Eller. For now, I think we have “gobbled up” a few new fascinating facts about our historic past.
Hope I “beaked” your interest a bit in our history but just “winging it” and wishing y’all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
The colors of Fall is distinctively different from any other season of the year. The Fall season is truly a mosaic of colors of the rainbow… green, gold, red, orange, & brown set against the bright blue sky.
Fall is… the joy of watching the trees turn colors over time
Our natural world which we have grown accustomed to during the summer, suddenly changes into a magical world of autumnal colors, happening almost overnight it seems. I’m sharing my favorite, everyday hardware life Fall photos with y’all today to celebrate the season of Fall using the caption of Fall is…
Fall is … Gorgeous sunrise and sunsets with beautiful golden hues showering the skies Fall is… Picturesque views Fall is… Enjoying the view from your own front window Fall is…Trees showering with colors… red, yellow, and orange Fall is… Leaves crunching at your feet as you walk Did someone say leaves??? 🍁🍁🍁🍁Time to rake! 🍁🍁🍁🍁My nephew used to say when the leaves fell in the fall, they were just making friends on the ground 🍁🍁🍁Fall is… Finding pumpkins of all shapes & sizes Fall is… Making all of your favorite apple recipes Fall is… Brushy Mountain Apple Festival! Always the first Saturday in October Fall is.. the beginning of festival & holiday season! We are so excited to be a small part of the new family friendly festival which will be hosted on Saturday October 29 4-8 pm Fall is… Thanksgiving! Do I need to say more?? Yum! Fall is… Getting ready for cooler nights by the fire pit Wilkes County Hardware has got y’all covered for Fall logo gear. Stay warm with these sweatshirts or find a new long sleeve logo t-shirt to layer with for those cooler weather days of Fall🍁🍁🍁Fall is … S’mores time Fall is… Making your favorite soups, stews and comfort foods Fall is… The perfect time to make a pan of cornbread Fall is…Bringing the smells of fall inside as the weather cools down Wilkes County Hardware has in stock Acorn Spice, Mum, and Apple Cider hand soaps to keep your favorite Fall scents inside your home. Fall is… A great time to add some warm wood tones into your home decor Fall is…A busy time for animals preparing for the upcoming winter season Deer spray, & granular repellents are available at Wilkes County Hardware. For our bird lovers, we have new suet feeders & suet nuggets! And of course, we have excellent choices for keeping the birds coming back to your feeders for the entire Fall season! No additives or fillers. Fall is… Spotting the busy & maybe a bit of mischievous activity of critters along the Greenway Fall is.. Stopping to just enjoy the scenery Fall is… seeing the same places evolve into a new seasonal phase from the lush green trees to the barren & bare trees of late autumn. Fall is… seeing the same places evolve into a new seasonal phase from the lush green trees to the barren & bare trees of late autumn.Fall is… seeing the same places evolve into a new seasonal phase from the lush green trees to the barren & bare trees of late autumn.Fall is… Finding those spooky, foggy morning memories Fall is… Preparing for the first frost Fall is.. Predicting the first fire of the season in the old wood stove inside our hardware store Fall is… A Mosaic to be enjoyed by us all. Fall is… simply enjoying your surroundings everyday. 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
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The Hardware Life - A wife's journey into the hardware business 