Brunswick Stew at Possum's

Today was a sign of fall.  Yes, it is technically fall, being after September 21,  but it sure hasn't felt like it.  There are a few trees starting to turn colors, and we had a few days of cooler weather, but this week it has been raining almost every day and it has been about 80 degrees this week.  It's hard to feel like it is fall when you are still in shorts and tee shirts.  My long-sleeve tee shirts have been silently crying to me to get some use.

But this was the day that Possum selected for his Brunswick stew party.  For those of you not familiar with Possum, he is the one that saw me working my original two bee hives and asked me if I would put some bees at his 3 acre garden. He starts the stew around 6am in the morning cooking over a wood fire fueled by only hickory.  He says it adds flavor to the stew.  The main ingredients are tomatoes, butter beans, corn, celery, potatoes, chicken, turkey, stock from the chicken and turkey along with water and a selection of seasonings and spices.  Mixed all together and cooked in a monstrous pot over a wood fire.  The pot is so large that he doesn't have have a matching lid.  Instead, he uses a piece of plywood cut to a matching circle with a handle screwed on the center for lifting.

Possum filling a serving bowl from the main pot of Brunswick stew.

It was delicious.  The Middle Son and Youngest Son chose not to partake and Possum had hot dogs and sausage for them, cooked up in his smoker to add some extra flavor.

A lot of people were coming and going.  Possum said about 80 people were invited, and the party started at noon and goes until the pot is empty.  That's the way to have a country get together to celebrate the changing of seasons and the coming of fall.