Emily Wallace

1 month ago | ourstate.com | Emily Wallace |Lauren Eberle |Brad Campbell |Mark Kemp

ApplesWhen Aunt Rachel, Aunt Sally, Granny Buff, Captain Davis, Doctor Matthews, and the Great Unknown are gathered, it’s a delicious bounty. The apples, whose names hint at their origins, are among the 400-plus varieties grown at the Southern Heritage Apple Orchard at Horne Creek Farm in Stokes County.

Nov 21, 2023 | ourstate.com | Emily Wallace |Jeri Rowe |Brad Campbell

Mine was not a family that opened presents on Christmas Eve. And yet, each year, there was a thing of wonder to unwrap the minute we returned home from the Christmas Eve service, before we sat down for a late-night dinner among friends. My mother or I would pry open a corner of plastic wrapping and set free a store-bought cheese ball, as garish and glitzy as golden tinsel on a tree. We loved it: a round of bright orange cheese speckled with sliced almonds and drenched in port wine.

Oct 19, 2023 | ourstate.com | Emily Wallace |Jeri Rowe |Brad Campbell

The football game gets going around 1 p.m., and the turkeys are in the oven. But it’s not just any game. And these aren’t just any turkeys. The players — some 30 to 40 folks whose ages range from 12 to 65 — are farmers, family, and friends who’ve gathered on the historic property at Sherrill’s Inn in Fairview, with a gorgeous glimpse of the Blue Ridge behind them. They play two-hand touch.