Courtney McCurry is one of those people who will make you feel like an old friend. He was thrilled when we approached him and couldn’t wait to have us out to see his garden. For Courtney McCurry, however, growing produce was never the plan.
Courtney’s father planted a garden on a Monday, and by the following Friday he was gone. Courtney was a cattle guy with no interest in growing produce, but after the funeral he decided to finish the garden his father started. What started as homage to his dad would become a life changing decision. He fell in love with gardening, sold his cows, and began growing produce full time.
Mr. McCurry leases his land from a wonderful couple in Marshall. No pesticides are used, but he employs some creative techniques to keep away pests, such as a buttermilk mixture and hot sauce. Yep, hot sauce. Courtney swears by it to keep the deer from gobbling up his delicious strawberries. Oh, those fabulous strawberries! If you didn’t get the pleasure of trying his strawberries this year you really missed out.
Courtney doesn’t grow a wide variety of produce, but he grows an abundance of the things he is good at. This gives him the ability to only bring the best of his harvest to market. Everything else is turned to jam and jelly by the couple he leases the land from. That is why you never saw an ugly strawberry at his stand. He was excited to show us the watermelon crop he will be harvesting soon. Courtney says he has the sweetest watermelon you will ever taste and we can’t wait to try some.
Courtney shared with us his desire to expand as he gets to know his market. After getting to know him we are confident that whatever expansion occurs will be done with the highest quality product in mind. We can’t wait to see and taste what he has in store next. Courtney has come a long way since the decision to finish his father’s garden, and even though we never met the man, we know he would be so proud.
We made a Sweet Hoecake with Strawberry Sauce and Whipped Sour Cream. Recipe here.
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