From the Office and Backyard to the Road, Boat, or Plane–Backstories and
Side Stories While on Assignment. Updates on Personal Projects, Too.

Archive for the ‘Lowcountry S.C./Charleston’ Category

12.28

2007

First, the waddling armadillo

Driving down through Colleton County on the way to Ehrhardt, SC, an armadillo popped up on the side of the road. It was Hwy. 641, a two-laner. Then at a field of winter collards, the greens rows ended at the parking lot of Rizers’ Pork and Produce. Philip Rizer sells pork, bacon, pork skins and fresh vegetables there, and tells us that since last summer, every Saturday night they’ve stayed open late for “Steak Night.” At first, the dinner was drawing up to 75 to 85 people a week for 16-ounce grilled steaks and pork chops, fried onions, lemon pie and iced tea. Then late August came around, along with the start of the hunting seasons, college football. Crowds dropped to about 35 people each Saturday. But Philip’s not worried, says the dinners should heat up again soon.

rizer22.jpgEstill oaks

Just outside of Estill, S.C. we drove under, and then got out to walk in the deepest oak allee I’ve ever seen. There was no house.

PFE pecan

More trees… here’s one I took of Peter Frank in a pecan grove near Ehrhardt, about 7 a.m. Everyone’s been talking about how it was a terrific pecan crop this year. “Too good,” one farmer said, out of buyers for his crop. We also stopped to pick sweet potatoes in a sandy field, paid $3 to borrow and fill a 5-gallon bucket. The Interstate Restaurant in Ulmer closed years ago, after I-95 took the North-South traffic a new route further inland. I’m writing up this road trip for an upcoming travel piece in Charleston Magazine, www.charlestonmag.com.

sweetpotatoesINTERSTATE RESTAURANT2

– Sandy Lang, December 2007

Comments Closed

Food, Lowcountry S.C./Charleston, Travel

11.06

2007

A red wolf so rare

redwolftrio

In research for a story about the native wolf of the South, I spent a couple of afternoons last month watching a spry 14-year-old female who’s lived most of her life in captivity. Her wildness was still there, very much there in her aloof and exceedingly careful jaunt. She kept an eye on me, moved skittishly, and always stayed a healthy 30 yards or more away. Her fear of a human was palpable, and warranted.

Known to be immensely shy and people-wary, the long-legged, long-eared wolf is often marked with a cinnamon-burnished coat. At 50-80 pounds they are smaller than the gray wolves of the North and West, and larger than the seemingly-everywhere coyote. Through hunting and loss of habitat, the population of wild red wolves dropped as low as 17 individuals by the 1970s. Now there are about 120+ in the wild and another 200+ in captivity. My story is an update on restoration efforts, and will be the “soul” feature for an upcoming issue of the magazine Garden & Gun, www.gardenandgun.com.

– Sandy Lang, November 2007


Comments Closed

Lowcountry S.C./Charleston, Wild animals and places

06.15

2007

Diving for big bugs

Thought I’d share an excerpt from an upcoming article… had a great day on the water, watching Mike and Lou dive, and then seeing them cook everything. Yes, Lou has his own outdoor pizza oven. The complete story, recipes and images are to be in the July issue of Charleston Magazine, www.charlestonmag.com.

Mike, Louspiny lobster

Just after dawn on a calm-water Sunday, after cruising about 29 miles out from the Folly River, Luigi Scognamiglio (”Captain Lou”), cuts the engine to a purr. “Oh, it’s good vis Mikey,” he says. “It’s very good vis’.”

The 21-foot, center-console catamaran has made it to the shallower water above an offshore reef. And yes, the visibility is good. The ocean here is a clear, Gulf Stream blue, and the boat is nearing a favorite dive spot that’s known to be teeming with fish. (A mix of experience and GPS coordinates are their guides.)

Two bottlenose dolphins appear, braiding through each other in water that channels off the bow. Everyone thinks this is a good sign, and Michael Scognamiglio, Lou’s son, is on the deck prepping a dive marker, getting it ready to throw. When he tosses the floating buoy, its small anchor sinks to the bottom, pulling a white rope line that’s visible for at least 30 feet below.

“This is going to be a very, very good dive,” Lou predicts. The captain has been watching the surface, and checking the boat’s sonar which is showing schools in the ledges below. “Now let’s get underneath and look for bugs,” he says.

dive

There has already been much talk about lobster on the ride out… with father and son hoping the trip wouldn’t end up being just puffery and old sea stories. They were counting on finding good-sized fish and spiny lobster on this rough patch in the ocean floor. And they brought along fellow diver Rodney Fazilat to see what they could see and catch down below. The Scognamiglios’ confidence level was pretty high… the plan was that some of what they would find 95-110 feet below the surface they’d bring back to cook at a dinner party that night, a gathering that Michael had been calling an “Italian Folly Feast…”

cooked loboven

– Sandy Lang, June 2007

Comments Closed

Food, Lowcountry S.C./Charleston, Wild animals and places

05.12

2007

For the love of letters

From a recent visit to Sideshow Press…

press_whl.jpg

In the rear corner of a dusty warehouse on upper Meeting Street, a woman in blue jeans grabs the iron flywheel and pushes it, hard. Another woman flips a switch, and a third watches with a wrench in hand – just in case an adjustment is needed – as the 80-year-old machine begins to whir and clack. Cogs turn and plates press together in a locomotive rhythm. Then the massive contraption spits it out… an impression of an intricate line drawing of a dress pattern, or the tiniest possible font size of a line of type.

press2.jpg

press_on.jpg

The women are pretty and their work is gritty. (Actually, more ink spots and machine oil than grit, but you know what I mean.) Peter Frank shot these images and we put together a photo essay for the May 2007 Charleston Magazine. Sideshow Press owners are Amy Pastre, Courtney Rowson (founder of Gunter Design), and Virginia Page.

– Sandy Lang, May 2007

 

Comments Closed

Art, Craft, Lowcountry S.C./Charleston

03.27

2007

Where oysters come from

Went out on the Folly River on a cold Saturday a couple weeks ago, to hit the beds for some oysters.  We took our hammers, our crates.  The wind made the banks extra muddy. The oysters? Salty and perfect. We wash them of course, but you still get a little pluff, and from that mud comes flavor.

boat.jpgpfe.jpgimg_5492_2.jpg

– Sandy Lang, March 2007

Comments Closed

Food, Lowcountry S.C./Charleston, Oysters

Newer Entries »
Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 04