West Liberty festival

[Catfan73]

Just wanted to post a note that the Morgan County Sorghum Festival will be in a couple of weeks, Sept. 28-29-30 in downtown (what's left of it) West Liberty. If you're looking for something to do that weekend, check it out!

[dan_bgblue]

I love sorghum molasses and would love to attend, but a 450 mile round trip is not in the cards for this weekend. I hope they have great weather and people turn out in droves

[Catfan73]

Yeah, it's 300 miles round trip for me if I take the shortest route, right around Cave Run Lake. Lots of hand-made arts and crafts stuff, and it's the only place I ever buy molasses and honey.

[elicat]

Man, that brings back memories. My family used to go to that every year. I loved watching the old guys making molasses. I live way too far away to get there now, but I would do it in a heartbeat if I could. That festival really formed my idea of what molasses should taste like, and I make it a point to stock up whenever I come across the good stuff.

[dan_bgblue]

Catfan, do they ever have sourwood honey? That would make it hard to stay home.

[Catfan73]

I'm not familiar with that term. I just buy whatever the Mennonites are selling. Whatever it is, it's much darker than what you find on supermarket shelves.

[dan_bgblue]

In mountainous areas a flowering tree grows and it is called "sourwood". If a beekeeper is in an area where they grow, he will move hives that are empty of honey to the "sourwood" area just when they are blooming and leave them there until the bloom is gone. He will immediately harvest the honey so it will not be mixed with honey produced from different species of trees or other wildflowers. It has a flavor that is unique to all other honey production and is not real easy to find in the flatlands unless one orders it online and doing that is never a sure thing for getting the real deal. I buy it in the NC mountains every time I am there as I am "addicted" to it.

[Catfan73]

It sounds intriguing. I've seen sourwood in the area (my mother still owns 40 acres of woods on the Greasy Creek headwaters of Cave Run), but it's pretty scarce there, certainly not enough for honey production. I don't know if it makes a difference, but the county isn't really a mountainous area, mostly just knobs, although it is on the Cumberland Plateau. Most flatlanders are genuinely surprised when I tell them West Liberty sits at a lower elevation than Lexington.

[dan_bgblue]

That is interesting about the topography. I have never been there but am in Morehead and north of there a lot and there are plenty of tall hills to be seen. Not mountains really, but I would not walk to the top of them to see what was there either.

[elicat]

(my mother still owns 40 acres of woods on the Greasy Creek headwaters of Cave Run)

You have got to be kidding. Are you and my wife related? (You know any Chaneys or Blantons?) My father in law is from Greasy Creek. At least he was raised partly there and partly on Pompey Creek. I have never heard or read anyone outside her family refer to it.

[Catfan73]

I remember a couple of Chaneys in school, including my 5th grade teacher.

I think you might be talking about the Greasy Creek in Pike County. The one I'm talking about is in Morgan County, near Dehart.

Dan, I think most of the towns in East Kentucky probably sit down in river bottoms, but I"m pretty sure Morgan County has no elevations more than 1,000 feet above the surrounding plateau (a common definition of a mountain). Rowan County does, with Clack Mountain. If you have Google Earth on your computer, check out Lockegee Rock--really cool. Even that's not a real mountain though by the geologic definition--it's just where the surrounding area has been eroded over eons. If your definition of a mountain is limited to only those created by plate movement and uplifting, then Kentucky only has 4 counties with mountains, the ones that border Virginia--Bell, Harlan, Letcher, and Pike. That's why I call myself a Hillbilly, not a mountaineer.

[ukblue]

Dan, have you ever tried popular honey? A little darker than sourwood but a really nice honey and my favorite. Most people want the lynn honey and really pay for it.

[BudCat_upthecreek]

Orange Blossom Now That's the real deal, but you only find it in Fla or where they grow oranges.

[dan_bgblue]

Dan, have you ever tried popular honey? A little darker than sourwood but a really nice honey and my favorite. Most people want the lynn honey and really pay for it.

I have not tried poplar and have never heard of lynn. Do you know what time of year and where I should look for either or both of them?

Thanks

[dan_bgblue]

Well I found this beekeeping company that produces both. Going to call Monday to see if they have any left in stock.

Thanks for the heads up on the different types that you like. I am a honey lover and willing to try new ones to see if they beat out the sourwood for me.

http://mtnstatehoney.com/page8.php