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ORAL HISTORY

Julia, Hadley, and Karen Bledsoe

Sisters Julia and Hadley Bledsoe were born on opposite sides of the country to parents with roots in Macon County, NC (and its canned green beans), and Lancaster County, PA (and its apple butter). Now the family splits time between Raleigh, NC, and a 100-acre Stuart, VA, property with a crawfish-stocked creek and woods and pasture that encourage foraging for walnuts, elderberry, and grapes. The farm also supplies the wildflowers that the young women make into acetate bookmarks and sell, along with cookies, mini-bundt cakes, flavored lemonade, and beeswax candles, at the summer 4H-affiliated Rise & Shine Market in Stuart. Hadley is saving for a horse, while Julia is building a reserve for the days after she leaves home.

The Bledsoe girls have been welcome in the kitchen and garden since early days. They connect with their maternal Italian-American heritage when making quarts of herbed tomato sauce “like little old nonnas” or experimenting with a pizzelle iron to make cannoli. On Friday family movie nights, their friends come to share personalized totally home-sourced pizzas cooked outside in the wood-burning oven. Eating seasonal, locally grown food is important to the Bledsoes as they develop neighborly networks in Stuart.

Baking for the market has improved the young women’s planning, problem-solving, and communication skills, and they love seeing customers respond to their attractively packaged, fresh goods. Both appreciate the structure that recipes for baked goods provide—but they also like to problem-solve, learning from mistakes and trying new flavor combinations and decoration techniques.