August 2, 2024 • 23 mins
A recent visit with new friends has shown Brent that some of the old ways are alive and well. There's still some good country living taking place and families with enough desire can make it just fine living close to the land. From catfishing to milking goats, this episode has something for everyone. It's time for MeatEater's "This Country Life" podcast.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.
From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
I want you to stay a while as I share
my experiences and life lessons. This country Life is presented
by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you
the best outdoor podcast the airways had off. All right, friends,
(00:28):
grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some
stories to share country living at the Riverstead. There's a
lot each week that goes into me talking about my
country life with a big emphasis on nostalgia and the
(00:49):
earlier parts of my childhood and adolescents. Well, this week
is about a recent visit I had with some folks
that are still living a life very close to the
land and way down the country. I'm going to tell
you all about what they're doing, but first I'm going
to tell you a story. This story comes from this
(01:13):
Country Life listener Glenn Peters. That's Glenn two Inns. I
met a fellow named Glenn once and I was putting
his phone number in my phone and I asked him
if he had one inn or two in his name.
He said, my name is Glenn. Now Glenn anyway, Glenn
sends us the story to share, and it ties in
(01:34):
with this week's episode through goats. I promise it all
makes sense eventually, somewhat so, without further delay in Glenn
Peters words and my voice, here we go. The year
was two thousand and eight and I was a teenager
(01:54):
at high school on my way to my very first
country outside of the US, my very first mission trip
to eat the Opian.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
My church had a very.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Good relationship with the young Life staff there, and our
job was to help run the behind scenes of a
camp for the young Life teenagers. I was pumped, first
time out of the country and to nowhere else but Africa.
What else could a teenage kid dream up better than that?
After getting over jet lag and seeing a couple of
(02:26):
sights in the main capital, we went into the country
and started gearing up for the camps. Among the numerous
cultural shocks, one of the most surprising things was the
sounds that we heard at night, the most bone chilling
of all being the hyena who Now they would always
start off in the distance and gradually get closer and closer.
(02:49):
And don't get me wrong, I'm an outdoorsman through and through,
born and raised, but putting my pride aside. I did
have a fear of the dark, something still fighting today
at the age of thirty two. The fear doesn't help
you when you've heard a hyena in real life and
suddenly it.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Becomes part of the night course.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Every night, all of us, including the adult leaders, were
enamored by these sounds, and most of us, never having
been to this part of the world before, we're itching
to see the gangly ghosts that were making those bone
chilling sounds. Many attempts were made through the nights, but
we never saw one. Then, between the intermission of the
(03:32):
first and the second camp times, the staff butchered two
goats in our honor. During the cooking, one of the
guards mentioned that this would definitely draw in the hyaenas
close enough.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
For us to see them.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
That night, we started to hear hyaenas like we've never
heard them before. But again, they were all in the shadows,
just outside of our view. So what was a group
of teenagers going to do about that. We'll follow one
of the guards into those shadows and bushes and search
for him. Of course, we all filed in behind one
of the camp staff and eventually ended up in a
(04:08):
huge tunnel of thickets, and I mean a thicket one
that if you sent a dog through he might not
come out of.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It was so tight that it forced us to.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Be single file, and I found myself behind the lead
local staff member, And as we got deeper in, I
noticed that he was not carrying the AK forty seven
rifle that I was used to see.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
In the guards carrying.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
He was carrying a stick, a small, thick, little hickory stick. Now,
with people uncomfortably close behind and in front, there was
no other option but to hope that this man knew
what he was doing in case we ran into the
strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. Luckily, we never ran
(04:54):
into a hyena in that thicket, even though we almost
ran face first into a massive African porcupine. After that
little hard pounding adventure, with no hyenas in sight, everyone
went back to the fire at the camp, while one
of the leaders and I stayed around on the road
near the field where we'd been hearing all the hyaenas.
(05:16):
After about thirty minutes, the mood changed. Somewhere in the
surrounding areas, dog started barking and going nuts. Commotion was
happening all around us, and mainly about one hundred yards
down the road. The Leader and I took one look
at each other and ran straight toward the commotion.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
We knew it was.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
On about three quarters of the way there. In About
thirty yards in front of us, one two, three, four,
now five hyenas dashed across the road.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
We stopped dead in our tracks.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Then slowly emerging from the shadows. Only about ten yards away,
a massive female hyaena crossed right in front of us
and back into the shadow on the other side of
the street. A muffled sentence of unholy words that I
can't repeat could be heard out of the Leader's mouth
as we watched. This huge, dominant hyaena paid no attention
(06:12):
to the world and walked right in front of us,
then staring at the tree that all the hyaenas passed.
We stared a little closer. There was a mound of
brush next to a tree that all the hyaenas were
jumping over. Looking at it closer, we realized it was
one of the guards sitting there stone, still smiling at
(06:36):
our open mouths that were still hanging to the ground.
After picking up our jaws, we smiled back at him,
and he just sat there slowly patting that rifle that
was laying across his lap. And according to Glenn Peters,
the Pride of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that's just how that happened,
(06:59):
running towards the high Maybe you ain't as afraid of
the dark as you thought they're Glenn, thanks for sharing
country living at the riverstead, Britt, you ought to come
(07:20):
down here some time and go fishing with us. That
was an invitation sometime back from Keith Brandon, and that
didn't go by unnoticed. My responses to things such as
those are usually don't tempt me with a good time,
or don't toy with my emotions. Some invitations are more
of an example of polite conversation as opposed to a
(07:41):
genuine offer. But now I take those invitations very seriously
and I get a lot of them. Unfortunately, there's no
way I could take everyone up on their generous offers
because of other commitments, and I can't be out hunting
and fishing all the time. My boss, Garrett Long would
send someone from Bozeman down here to beat me up
(08:02):
and tell me to get back to work. But this
invitation ban it hit it just the right time. Me
and my buddies rand On Bread up to Coon Camp
had to cancel a flathead catfish expedition due to heavy
rains that had the predictably unpredictable Cash River in an
ebb and flow that just wasn't conducive to hooking flatheads.
(08:25):
Baron newcom and I experienced that a few weeks ago
by running limb lines on the Cash under the same
exact conditions. We caught two nice blue cats, but zeroed
on flatheads, which is what we were after. I remembered
Keith's invitations, so I checked with him on the water
levels on the other end of the Saline River from
where I grew up. Keith said to pack a bag
(08:48):
and come on. I was way ahead of him because
I hadn't fully unpacked from the trip to the case
factory when I set out again, heading to the riverstead
where Keith and his wife Lee have lived for twenty
four years. I mentioned Keith in episode two twenty seven
of This Country Life when I was talking about flathead
catfish in the different ways to catch them, including dynamite,
(09:10):
like some of my family did way back then. If
you hadn't heard it, I recommend you do so I
do not, however, recommend fishing with dynamite. I'm just throwing
that out there. But I rolled down to Keith and
Lee's and I found them sitting under a covered patio
with fans turning the unseasonably cool July air to what
felt like springtime. We sat down and visited. It was
(09:34):
actually the first time I'd met either one of them personally,
even though I'd been talking to Keith for several months.
My brother Tim has been friends with him for quite
a while, and it was Tim's introduction months ago that
really made this trip possible. We got more acquainted with
one another, and Keith laid out a plan for the
afternoon and evening.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
We'd hit the river.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
We'd tie out some troutlines and find some good spots.
Go ahead and set out a dozen bank poles that
I'd got from Jeff and Dusty gesture it be my
first time fishing them since I picked them up, and
I was as anxious to do that as I was
anything else. The river rolled by the front of their home,
within easy rock chunking distance of the yard's edge. Were
(10:19):
off to the side sat a skin and shed and
a walk in cooler the water and yard were separated
only by a one lane road that was shaded by
hardwood trees that more resembled a tunnel than a dirt road,
with each following the path of the river a little
over a quarter of a mile before ending at a
gangway that led down the bank to their boat dock.
(10:41):
His and her john boats were tied up there, and
after we compiled items from each end of Keiths, three
of us headed out down river. Now, Keith's been catching
fish for a quarter of a century right there, mainly
within a two mile stretch of their home. Brim bash cropping,
and of course catfish were what they like to eat,
and according to them, they eat a lot of fish.
(11:04):
That's my kind of menu. Keith told me that the
first year he lived there as a bachelor, he brought
home twenty four thousand dollars of his earnings that year
and was able to save sixteen thousand of it by
feeding himself what he could hunt and fish.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Now, fish is what I was there for.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And way back in episode one to eleven of This
Country Life, I talked about how to build and fish
a trot line. For those of you that are new
and may not have gone back and listened allowed me
to review for just a minute on what a trot
line is. The trot line is a long length of
line with individually spacelines hanging from it called drops, with
(11:46):
a large caliber hook that you can attach a bait
to also along the line or waits. They're tied in
as well. That keeps the hooks fishing at or near
the bottom of the river. Keith has his lines at
about each third of the line, and he doesn't suspend it.
He runs it all the way to the bottom, letting
the weights keep it where the flat had drawn, and
(12:08):
fishes live baby, which is the preferred food of Polydictus olevrius.
With three unbaited trot line set, twelve bank polls jobs
in their spots.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
We started brim fishing for bathing. I'll admit him.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You've probably heard me say it on several occasions, a
targeting and catching big brim to put on a hook
to catch something else that's somewhat sacriligious to my Upbringing
a mess of fried brim from the slein river would
be my last meal request should I ever find myself
sent us to ride the lightning in Old Sparky at
the Arkansas Department of correction. It is my favorite meal.
(12:52):
But man, I'll tell you, there is something special about
a mess of cubed up belly meat off of flat
head that'll make you do strange things. The difference between
flathead and the other type of catch is like the
difference between wagoo beef and everything else. Now, I can
make that comparison only because I was treated to a
(13:13):
wagoo steak about a year ago at a famous steakhouse.
It was incredible, better than I could have imagined, and
I could eat one right now and I ain't eating hungry.
But it's still a distant second to fried bream. So
what drives a person to do such blasphemy, Well, they
provides some variety in your diet, and it's the thrill
(13:36):
of catching them. There's nothing like checking your lines and
seeing the tree you've got your line tied to, or
a bank pole bobbing up and down with the weight
of a big fish. We would experience both of those
the next morning after baiting them up. That night, the
lines we baited up stretched across the bottom of the river,
some forty yards from bank to bank. The regulation state
(13:59):
that you can ain't have drops closer than twenty four inches.
Keith and Lee only run about twelve to fifteen hooks
per line. They're they're fishing for quality, not quantity. They
also have some self imposed regulations that I'll tell you
about in a minute. But right now, with the lines
freshly baited with some good sized brim, it's time to
head back to the riverstead for a late supper. Keith
(14:27):
woofed the supper mess of belly meat and grits for
our supper.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
It was kind of funny earlier.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
In the day when Keith asked me if I liked
shrimp and grits and how I fixed them. I told him,
and he agreed that that was basically the same as
the way he did it. I also told him that
was my daughter Bailey's favorite dish next to barry chilli,
and that I had fixed it for supper last night.
He laughed and said, well, that's kind of what we're
having tonight. I promise I didn't mind. I usually eat
(14:55):
grits multiple times a week for breakfast, except when I
was in Pennsylvania last this week, I couldn't find the
bowl of grits there. With the search one lady and
I sent my piles out at case a big bag
of them when we got back home.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We're hoping the trend catch his own.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Out there, but the combination of seasoned flathead belly meat
cooked on his blackstone was an even fetter substitute for
shrimp man.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
The next morning we were up bright and early, grabbing
coffee and making our way down to the boat to
check the lines in the bank poles. It was a
good run. We had several flatheads on the hook, and
both types of fishing produced good fish. The smallest was
an eight pound flat head and the biggest was a
blue cat that weighed over thirty pounds. Now here's where
(15:42):
the self imposed regulations come in. Anything they catch that
is close to or over thirty pounds gets released back
into the river. Don't matter what it is, blue cat, flathead, whatever,
that's conservation and stewardship at the resource. That's good stuff.
Aside from fishing that morning, Lee had gotten up two
(16:03):
hours before the rest of us and milk a squad
of dairy goats that she raises. She also gathered eggs
from their laying hands. While Keith and I fed some
rabbits after we got back from fishing. Their menu is,
aside from goat milk, the same as mine. But they
raise fish or hunt for an estimated eighty five percent
(16:23):
of what they consume, including vegetables arounding out the meat men,
you are squirrels and ducks, turkeys, bullfrogs, and wild hogs.
They cure their own bacon, they grind their own sausage,
and can a ton of vegetables, relicious rowtail and jelly.
And I know a lot of folks are doing some
of these things nowadays, but it's just refreshing to see
(16:47):
so much of it done like Keith and Lee are
doing it now. They both hold college degrees and work
full time jobs in addition to their riversteaded life, as
as Keith calls it, and they do it in a
remote corner of southeast Arkansas. And I brought some bear
meat with me and Keith fixed up a simply outstanding
(17:07):
meal that he filmed stepped by step and posted on
his riverstead YouTube channel. My most favorite riva in the world.
Will include a link to the show description. Now you
can substitute deer meat if you don't have any bear
for this recipe, and beef if you don't have any deer,
but if you don't have any deer.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I highly encourage you. Just ground some up.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I'm gonna try at this fall, and the first big
old man that walks by me is now doomed just
because of this recipe.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Good night, nurse.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
It's good I skipped over that goat milk drinking like
I do it every day.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I do not.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
As a matter of fact, the last glass goat milk
I had came from a gallon that had been given
to me by my talkative, health nerd neighbor from down
the street. Over a year ago. A joker caught me
outside one day and got to tell me about all
all the wonderful attributes of nanny goat milk as opposed
to cow's milk, and like folks with manners do, I
(18:07):
feigned enough interest in what he was talking about, allowing
him a reason to keep talking about it. After listening
to him drawn on for thirty minutes of how pasteurized
milk was going to kill me, I was at that
point right then when I wished it had already had.
Eventually he walked on home, and a week or so
later he brought me a gallon of goats milk, and
(18:30):
I tried to drink it. It was so sweet I
couldn't finish the glass. It was like sweet Tea and
simple syrup had had a baby and named it goats milk.
I was not a fan of it, so I told
him to come get it and drink it himself, or
put it back in the goat. I liked to drink
and cook with cow's milk period. Now the further layer
(18:51):
of some lactose confusion on this, I should explain that
I normally refer to whole milk a sweet milk. I've
always called it that because that's what I've always heard
it called. There'd always only been two kinds of milk
in my life, sweet milk and buttermilk, and they both
came from a cow. Now their skim milk two percent milk,
and every kind of liquid known to man kind mashed
(19:14):
from a plant referred to his milk. But I got
some news for y'all. If it ain't squeezed out of
an udder into a bucket, it ain't milk. That, my friends,
is juice. Anyway. Fast forward to a few days ago,
and Lee is pulling a fresh batch of homemade brownies
out of the oven. Keith and I are admired her
(19:35):
handiwork and waiting for the green light to commits to
digging in them. And what goes better with a warm
brownie than a cold glass of sweet milk? Lee asked,
wants some milk to go with that? I?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sure do.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
She poured me up a glass from the ice box,
and I was raised it to take a drink, when
the thought occurred to me that this probably came out
of a goat. This goat's milk, Lee it is, she said, proudly.
Here we go again. I thought, but I'm too committed
now to back out. Plus I don't want to offend
my new friends. I took a silk and nothing bad happened.
(20:12):
Then I took a drink, and I was more surprised
of what it didn't taste like rather than what it did.
And what it tasted like was milk, regular old red
top whole milk like I've been drinking all my life.
It was good, and it watched that browning down like
it wasn't there, And I drank some more just to
make sure I wasn't crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Goat's milk. Who knew?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I tell you who knew? Lee and Keith Brandon and
I know some of y'all are laughing right now and
confirming to yourself that what I'd led you to believe
since this country life started, and that's that I finally
lost my mind. But you be wrong about the goat
milk thing. You'd be wrong, and I'm talking to you
Sunspot like crew. They like to listen to each episode
(20:55):
and then call me and poke fun at myself confessed imbecility.
Not this time, I'm changing that huge ad campaign. It
was everywhere I turned a few years ago, from got
milk to goat milk. That's enough about goats anyway. Have
you ever had honeysuckle jelly?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I hadn't in what seems like forever, but I had
some at the riverstead that Lee made. It took me
back fifty years just looking at the golden contents of
that jar and thinking about gathering up honeysuckle flowers as
younger and tasting the sweet nectar. A visit there wasn't
necessarily a unique experience. The life they're living is represented
(21:37):
in some form in every direction I can see from
my front porch. But watching Keith and Lee navigate through
twenty twenty four, much like folks did in nineteen thirty
four with refreshing and they're both younger than me, and
they're fully vested, working hard and making the most out
of what they're producing and gathering, not because they have to,
(22:00):
because they want to. There's a lot of work hours
ago until the chores are done. That's not an easy living.
But living in the country has never been about easy living.
It's been about good living. When living is good, everything
else seems pretty easy. Guess what This Country life t
(22:28):
shirts are back in stock and I can't thank y'all
enough for showing your support for my show and clay Bowls.
Another great way to show your support is to write
us review and share our shows with folks you think.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
That would enjoy them too.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
It really does help, according to the nerves that know
all about how.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
That stuff works.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Anyway, that's all for me until next week.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful, chi
Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.
From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
I want you to stay a while as I share
my experiences and life lessons. This country Life is presented
by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you
the best outdoor podcast the airways had off. All right, friends,
(00:28):
grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some
stories to share country living at the Riverstead. There's a
lot each week that goes into me talking about my
country life with a big emphasis on nostalgia and the
(00:49):
earlier parts of my childhood and adolescents. Well, this week
is about a recent visit I had with some folks
that are still living a life very close to the
land and way down the country. I'm going to tell
you all about what they're doing, but first I'm going
to tell you a story. This story comes from this
(01:13):
Country Life listener Glenn Peters. That's Glenn two Inns. I
met a fellow named Glenn once and I was putting
his phone number in my phone and I asked him
if he had one inn or two in his name.
He said, my name is Glenn. Now Glenn anyway, Glenn
sends us the story to share, and it ties in
(01:34):
with this week's episode through goats. I promise it all
makes sense eventually, somewhat so, without further delay in Glenn
Peters words and my voice, here we go. The year
was two thousand and eight and I was a teenager
(01:54):
at high school on my way to my very first
country outside of the US, my very first mission trip
to eat the Opian.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
My church had a very.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Good relationship with the young Life staff there, and our
job was to help run the behind scenes of a
camp for the young Life teenagers. I was pumped, first
time out of the country and to nowhere else but Africa.
What else could a teenage kid dream up better than that?
After getting over jet lag and seeing a couple of
(02:26):
sights in the main capital, we went into the country
and started gearing up for the camps. Among the numerous
cultural shocks, one of the most surprising things was the
sounds that we heard at night, the most bone chilling
of all being the hyena who Now they would always
start off in the distance and gradually get closer and closer.
(02:49):
And don't get me wrong, I'm an outdoorsman through and through,
born and raised, but putting my pride aside. I did
have a fear of the dark, something still fighting today
at the age of thirty two. The fear doesn't help
you when you've heard a hyena in real life and
suddenly it.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Becomes part of the night course.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Every night, all of us, including the adult leaders, were
enamored by these sounds, and most of us, never having
been to this part of the world before, we're itching
to see the gangly ghosts that were making those bone
chilling sounds. Many attempts were made through the nights, but
we never saw one. Then, between the intermission of the
(03:32):
first and the second camp times, the staff butchered two
goats in our honor. During the cooking, one of the
guards mentioned that this would definitely draw in the hyaenas
close enough.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
For us to see them.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
That night, we started to hear hyaenas like we've never
heard them before. But again, they were all in the shadows,
just outside of our view. So what was a group
of teenagers going to do about that. We'll follow one
of the guards into those shadows and bushes and search
for him. Of course, we all filed in behind one
of the camp staff and eventually ended up in a
(04:08):
huge tunnel of thickets, and I mean a thicket one
that if you sent a dog through he might not
come out of.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It was so tight that it forced us to.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Be single file, and I found myself behind the lead
local staff member, And as we got deeper in, I
noticed that he was not carrying the AK forty seven
rifle that I was used to see.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
In the guards carrying.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
He was carrying a stick, a small, thick, little hickory stick. Now,
with people uncomfortably close behind and in front, there was
no other option but to hope that this man knew
what he was doing in case we ran into the
strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. Luckily, we never ran
(04:54):
into a hyena in that thicket, even though we almost
ran face first into a massive African porcupine. After that
little hard pounding adventure, with no hyenas in sight, everyone
went back to the fire at the camp, while one
of the leaders and I stayed around on the road
near the field where we'd been hearing all the hyaenas.
(05:16):
After about thirty minutes, the mood changed. Somewhere in the
surrounding areas, dog started barking and going nuts. Commotion was
happening all around us, and mainly about one hundred yards
down the road. The Leader and I took one look
at each other and ran straight toward the commotion.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
We knew it was.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
On about three quarters of the way there. In About
thirty yards in front of us, one two, three, four,
now five hyenas dashed across the road.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
We stopped dead in our tracks.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Then slowly emerging from the shadows. Only about ten yards away,
a massive female hyaena crossed right in front of us
and back into the shadow on the other side of
the street. A muffled sentence of unholy words that I
can't repeat could be heard out of the Leader's mouth
as we watched. This huge, dominant hyaena paid no attention
(06:12):
to the world and walked right in front of us,
then staring at the tree that all the hyaenas passed.
We stared a little closer. There was a mound of
brush next to a tree that all the hyaenas were
jumping over. Looking at it closer, we realized it was
one of the guards sitting there stone, still smiling at
(06:36):
our open mouths that were still hanging to the ground.
After picking up our jaws, we smiled back at him,
and he just sat there slowly patting that rifle that
was laying across his lap. And according to Glenn Peters,
the Pride of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that's just how that happened,
(06:59):
running towards the high Maybe you ain't as afraid of
the dark as you thought they're Glenn, thanks for sharing
country living at the riverstead, Britt, you ought to come
(07:20):
down here some time and go fishing with us. That
was an invitation sometime back from Keith Brandon, and that
didn't go by unnoticed. My responses to things such as
those are usually don't tempt me with a good time,
or don't toy with my emotions. Some invitations are more
of an example of polite conversation as opposed to a
(07:41):
genuine offer. But now I take those invitations very seriously
and I get a lot of them. Unfortunately, there's no
way I could take everyone up on their generous offers
because of other commitments, and I can't be out hunting
and fishing all the time. My boss, Garrett Long would
send someone from Bozeman down here to beat me up
(08:02):
and tell me to get back to work. But this
invitation ban it hit it just the right time. Me
and my buddies rand On Bread up to Coon Camp
had to cancel a flathead catfish expedition due to heavy
rains that had the predictably unpredictable Cash River in an
ebb and flow that just wasn't conducive to hooking flatheads.
(08:25):
Baron newcom and I experienced that a few weeks ago
by running limb lines on the Cash under the same
exact conditions. We caught two nice blue cats, but zeroed
on flatheads, which is what we were after. I remembered
Keith's invitations, so I checked with him on the water
levels on the other end of the Saline River from
where I grew up. Keith said to pack a bag
(08:48):
and come on. I was way ahead of him because
I hadn't fully unpacked from the trip to the case
factory when I set out again, heading to the riverstead
where Keith and his wife Lee have lived for twenty
four years. I mentioned Keith in episode two twenty seven
of This Country Life when I was talking about flathead
catfish in the different ways to catch them, including dynamite,
(09:10):
like some of my family did way back then. If
you hadn't heard it, I recommend you do so I
do not, however, recommend fishing with dynamite. I'm just throwing
that out there. But I rolled down to Keith and
Lee's and I found them sitting under a covered patio
with fans turning the unseasonably cool July air to what
felt like springtime. We sat down and visited. It was
(09:34):
actually the first time I'd met either one of them personally,
even though I'd been talking to Keith for several months.
My brother Tim has been friends with him for quite
a while, and it was Tim's introduction months ago that
really made this trip possible. We got more acquainted with
one another, and Keith laid out a plan for the
afternoon and evening.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
We'd hit the river.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
We'd tie out some troutlines and find some good spots.
Go ahead and set out a dozen bank poles that
I'd got from Jeff and Dusty gesture it be my
first time fishing them since I picked them up, and
I was as anxious to do that as I was
anything else. The river rolled by the front of their home,
within easy rock chunking distance of the yard's edge. Were
(10:19):
off to the side sat a skin and shed and
a walk in cooler the water and yard were separated
only by a one lane road that was shaded by
hardwood trees that more resembled a tunnel than a dirt road,
with each following the path of the river a little
over a quarter of a mile before ending at a
gangway that led down the bank to their boat dock.
(10:41):
His and her john boats were tied up there, and
after we compiled items from each end of Keiths, three
of us headed out down river. Now, Keith's been catching
fish for a quarter of a century right there, mainly
within a two mile stretch of their home. Brim bash cropping,
and of course catfish were what they like to eat,
and according to them, they eat a lot of fish.
(11:04):
That's my kind of menu. Keith told me that the
first year he lived there as a bachelor, he brought
home twenty four thousand dollars of his earnings that year
and was able to save sixteen thousand of it by
feeding himself what he could hunt and fish.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Now, fish is what I was there for.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And way back in episode one to eleven of This
Country Life, I talked about how to build and fish
a trot line. For those of you that are new
and may not have gone back and listened allowed me
to review for just a minute on what a trot
line is. The trot line is a long length of
line with individually spacelines hanging from it called drops, with
(11:46):
a large caliber hook that you can attach a bait
to also along the line or waits. They're tied in
as well. That keeps the hooks fishing at or near
the bottom of the river. Keith has his lines at
about each third of the line, and he doesn't suspend it.
He runs it all the way to the bottom, letting
the weights keep it where the flat had drawn, and
(12:08):
fishes live baby, which is the preferred food of Polydictus olevrius.
With three unbaited trot line set, twelve bank polls jobs
in their spots.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
We started brim fishing for bathing. I'll admit him.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You've probably heard me say it on several occasions, a
targeting and catching big brim to put on a hook
to catch something else that's somewhat sacriligious to my Upbringing
a mess of fried brim from the slein river would
be my last meal request should I ever find myself
sent us to ride the lightning in Old Sparky at
the Arkansas Department of correction. It is my favorite meal.
(12:52):
But man, I'll tell you, there is something special about
a mess of cubed up belly meat off of flat
head that'll make you do strange things. The difference between
flathead and the other type of catch is like the
difference between wagoo beef and everything else. Now, I can
make that comparison only because I was treated to a
(13:13):
wagoo steak about a year ago at a famous steakhouse.
It was incredible, better than I could have imagined, and
I could eat one right now and I ain't eating hungry.
But it's still a distant second to fried bream. So
what drives a person to do such blasphemy, Well, they
provides some variety in your diet, and it's the thrill
(13:36):
of catching them. There's nothing like checking your lines and
seeing the tree you've got your line tied to, or
a bank pole bobbing up and down with the weight
of a big fish. We would experience both of those
the next morning after baiting them up. That night, the
lines we baited up stretched across the bottom of the river,
some forty yards from bank to bank. The regulation state
(13:59):
that you can ain't have drops closer than twenty four inches.
Keith and Lee only run about twelve to fifteen hooks
per line. They're they're fishing for quality, not quantity. They
also have some self imposed regulations that I'll tell you
about in a minute. But right now, with the lines
freshly baited with some good sized brim, it's time to
head back to the riverstead for a late supper. Keith
(14:27):
woofed the supper mess of belly meat and grits for
our supper.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
It was kind of funny earlier.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
In the day when Keith asked me if I liked
shrimp and grits and how I fixed them. I told him,
and he agreed that that was basically the same as
the way he did it. I also told him that
was my daughter Bailey's favorite dish next to barry chilli,
and that I had fixed it for supper last night.
He laughed and said, well, that's kind of what we're
having tonight. I promise I didn't mind. I usually eat
(14:55):
grits multiple times a week for breakfast, except when I
was in Pennsylvania last this week, I couldn't find the
bowl of grits there. With the search one lady and
I sent my piles out at case a big bag
of them when we got back home.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We're hoping the trend catch his own.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Out there, but the combination of seasoned flathead belly meat
cooked on his blackstone was an even fetter substitute for
shrimp man.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
The next morning we were up bright and early, grabbing
coffee and making our way down to the boat to
check the lines in the bank poles. It was a
good run. We had several flatheads on the hook, and
both types of fishing produced good fish. The smallest was
an eight pound flat head and the biggest was a
blue cat that weighed over thirty pounds. Now here's where
(15:42):
the self imposed regulations come in. Anything they catch that
is close to or over thirty pounds gets released back
into the river. Don't matter what it is, blue cat, flathead, whatever,
that's conservation and stewardship at the resource. That's good stuff.
Aside from fishing that morning, Lee had gotten up two
(16:03):
hours before the rest of us and milk a squad
of dairy goats that she raises. She also gathered eggs
from their laying hands. While Keith and I fed some
rabbits after we got back from fishing. Their menu is,
aside from goat milk, the same as mine. But they
raise fish or hunt for an estimated eighty five percent
(16:23):
of what they consume, including vegetables arounding out the meat men,
you are squirrels and ducks, turkeys, bullfrogs, and wild hogs.
They cure their own bacon, they grind their own sausage,
and can a ton of vegetables, relicious rowtail and jelly.
And I know a lot of folks are doing some
of these things nowadays, but it's just refreshing to see
(16:47):
so much of it done like Keith and Lee are
doing it now. They both hold college degrees and work
full time jobs in addition to their riversteaded life, as
as Keith calls it, and they do it in a
remote corner of southeast Arkansas. And I brought some bear
meat with me and Keith fixed up a simply outstanding
(17:07):
meal that he filmed stepped by step and posted on
his riverstead YouTube channel. My most favorite riva in the world.
Will include a link to the show description. Now you
can substitute deer meat if you don't have any bear
for this recipe, and beef if you don't have any deer,
but if you don't have any deer.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I highly encourage you. Just ground some up.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I'm gonna try at this fall, and the first big
old man that walks by me is now doomed just
because of this recipe.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Good night, nurse.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
It's good I skipped over that goat milk drinking like
I do it every day.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I do not.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
As a matter of fact, the last glass goat milk
I had came from a gallon that had been given
to me by my talkative, health nerd neighbor from down
the street. Over a year ago. A joker caught me
outside one day and got to tell me about all
all the wonderful attributes of nanny goat milk as opposed
to cow's milk, and like folks with manners do, I
(18:07):
feigned enough interest in what he was talking about, allowing
him a reason to keep talking about it. After listening
to him drawn on for thirty minutes of how pasteurized
milk was going to kill me, I was at that
point right then when I wished it had already had.
Eventually he walked on home, and a week or so
later he brought me a gallon of goats milk, and
(18:30):
I tried to drink it. It was so sweet I
couldn't finish the glass. It was like sweet Tea and
simple syrup had had a baby and named it goats milk.
I was not a fan of it, so I told
him to come get it and drink it himself, or
put it back in the goat. I liked to drink
and cook with cow's milk period. Now the further layer
(18:51):
of some lactose confusion on this, I should explain that
I normally refer to whole milk a sweet milk. I've
always called it that because that's what I've always heard
it called. There'd always only been two kinds of milk
in my life, sweet milk and buttermilk, and they both
came from a cow. Now their skim milk two percent milk,
and every kind of liquid known to man kind mashed
(19:14):
from a plant referred to his milk. But I got
some news for y'all. If it ain't squeezed out of
an udder into a bucket, it ain't milk. That, my friends,
is juice. Anyway. Fast forward to a few days ago,
and Lee is pulling a fresh batch of homemade brownies
out of the oven. Keith and I are admired her
(19:35):
handiwork and waiting for the green light to commits to
digging in them. And what goes better with a warm
brownie than a cold glass of sweet milk? Lee asked,
wants some milk to go with that? I?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sure do.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
She poured me up a glass from the ice box,
and I was raised it to take a drink, when
the thought occurred to me that this probably came out
of a goat. This goat's milk, Lee it is, she said, proudly.
Here we go again. I thought, but I'm too committed
now to back out. Plus I don't want to offend
my new friends. I took a silk and nothing bad happened.
(20:12):
Then I took a drink, and I was more surprised
of what it didn't taste like rather than what it did.
And what it tasted like was milk, regular old red
top whole milk like I've been drinking all my life.
It was good, and it watched that browning down like
it wasn't there, And I drank some more just to
make sure I wasn't crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Goat's milk. Who knew?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I tell you who knew? Lee and Keith Brandon and
I know some of y'all are laughing right now and
confirming to yourself that what I'd led you to believe
since this country life started, and that's that I finally
lost my mind. But you be wrong about the goat
milk thing. You'd be wrong, and I'm talking to you
Sunspot like crew. They like to listen to each episode
(20:55):
and then call me and poke fun at myself confessed imbecility.
Not this time, I'm changing that huge ad campaign. It
was everywhere I turned a few years ago, from got
milk to goat milk. That's enough about goats anyway. Have
you ever had honeysuckle jelly?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I hadn't in what seems like forever, but I had
some at the riverstead that Lee made. It took me
back fifty years just looking at the golden contents of
that jar and thinking about gathering up honeysuckle flowers as
younger and tasting the sweet nectar. A visit there wasn't
necessarily a unique experience. The life they're living is represented
(21:37):
in some form in every direction I can see from
my front porch. But watching Keith and Lee navigate through
twenty twenty four, much like folks did in nineteen thirty
four with refreshing and they're both younger than me, and
they're fully vested, working hard and making the most out
of what they're producing and gathering, not because they have to,
(22:00):
because they want to. There's a lot of work hours
ago until the chores are done. That's not an easy living.
But living in the country has never been about easy living.
It's been about good living. When living is good, everything
else seems pretty easy. Guess what This Country life t
(22:28):
shirts are back in stock and I can't thank y'all
enough for showing your support for my show and clay Bowls.
Another great way to show your support is to write
us review and share our shows with folks you think.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
That would enjoy them too.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
It really does help, according to the nerves that know
all about how.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
That stuff works.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Anyway, that's all for me until next week.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful, chi
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