Denton FarmPark

Newsletter

Volume 2 / August 2023

LAST MONTH…

Was the heart and sole of the Denton FarmPark. This was the 53rd Southeast Old Threshers Reunion. It was hot and full of surprises but overall it was a good year. We want to take this time to thank everyone for coming out and being apart of the event!

We hope everyone has a wonderful August!

Recipe of the month:

Simple Tortillas

Ingredients

-2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, plus additional as needed

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/4 cup of any one of the following: 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature, shortening, lard, or vegetable oil

-7/8 to 1 cup water, hot, (about 110°F to 120°F)

Instructions

-In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

-Add the lard (or butter, or shortening; if you're using vegetable oil, add it in step 3). Use your fingers or a pastry blender to work the fat into the flour until it disappears. Coating most of the flour with fat inhibits gluten formation, making the tortillas easier to roll out.

-Pour in the lesser amount of hot water (plus the oil, if you're using it), and stir briskly with a fork or whisk to bring the dough together into a shaggy mass. Stir in additional water as needed to bring the dough together.

-Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead briefly, just until the dough forms a ball. If the dough is very sticky, gradually add a bit more flour.

-Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Round the pieces into balls, flatten slightly, and allow them to rest, covered, for about 30 minutes (see tips, below). If you wish, coat each ball lightly in oil before covering; this ensures the dough doesn't dry out.

-While the dough rests, preheat an ungreased cast iron griddle or skillet over medium high heat, about 400°F.

-Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll into a round about 8" in diameter. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Fry the tortilla in the ungreased pan for about 30 seconds on each side. Wrap the tortilla in a clean cloth when it comes off the griddle, to keep it pliable. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.

-If there are leftovers, allow them to cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic and store in the refrigerator. Reheat in an ungreased skillet, or for a few seconds in the microwave.

We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!!

The Denton FarmPark will be operating the Handy Dandy Railroad for families to enjoy during the Jeep festival and we will have Laramies Cakery open in the gingerbread house for all to enjoy freshly baked goods!

What to expect this month

Whew, what a fun time we had in July!

This month we will be having our 2nd year of the Jeeps on the Farm!

Denton FarmParks Jeep Festival is for anyone who owns or loves Jeeps! All are welcome and encouraged to attend this Jeep Show at the Denton FarmPark in Denton NC.

There will be vendors, Jeeps, food, train rides, live music, and RC racing allowed in “The Pit” for anyone who has RC jeeps and wants to bring them out.

On August 13th Denton FarmPark will have a benefit Jeep Ride down to Eldorado Outpost so you can get trail ride tickets and grab a snack The Ride will be on the 13th and proceeds will go to a non-profit organization to help others. Every year we will have a new Featured Jeep and this year its Jen Huffmans Jeep, aka Venom!

Every Jeep that is shown has to be registered and given a registration card, which has a specific number on it, in order for it to be voted on. If you want to be a part of the Jeep show then here are the packages below that we offer.

Jeep- Day Parking (inside parking only for Jeeps) – $5 Get to park your jeep inside the gates and be apart of the show. Does NOT allow your jeep in voting for contests or your ticket.

Bronze Package: $30

Commemorative Decal Sticker

1X admission to the show. (extra bands can be purchased at check-in)

Entered into the voting process for best in show and most group turnout.

Silver Package : $50

Commemorative decal sticker

1 free Train Ticket

2X admission to the show. (extra bands can be purchased at check-in)

Entered into the voting process for best in show and most group turnout.

Gold Package: $70

Commemorative decal sticker

1 Free Bottled drink from the General store

1 free Train Tickets

1X Daily admittance bands into the show. (extra bands can be purchased at check-in)

Entered into the voting process for best in show and most group turnout.

Platinum Package: $90

Commemorative decal sticker

1 Free Bottled drink from the General store

2 free Train Tickets

2X Daily admittance bands into the show. (extra bands can be purchased at check-in)

Entered into the voting process for best in show and most group turnout.

Trophy’s

Best in show (sponsored by M.A. Pickett)

Most Group Turnout (donated by Low Income car club)

Most Original (donated by Low Income car club)

Best Off road build (donated by Low Income car club)

Jeep Benefit Ride

Our Partners Off Road Outlaws out of Lexington will be putting on the Jeep ride raising money for the chosen Non-Profit for the year!

* If you want to participate in the Jeep Ride You Must provide Proof of Insurance or you will be denied! Leaving the FarmPark at 1pm. Last minute sign-ups will be by the pond from 11:00 – 12:30am and everyone needs to line up behind the ORO FAB Jeep!

For everyone who participates in the Jeep ride will get a sticker to show that you supported!

For this event we want to reach out and draw a new crowd to our community and celebrate the event with a ride. It’s a way Jeep owners can show off what they have to the town and get a good look around the town and the beautiful views it offers. The ride will charge $10 to participate but proceeds will go to a non-profit organization to help others.

This Years Ride will be raising money for Back The Blue NC, Inc.

Back The Blue NC, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to assisting the children and families of NC Law Enforcement Officers killed in the line of duty. Founded in July 2020, they have already raised nearly 1 Million dollars to help support the families of the fallen and proudly serve as 100% non-profit and volunteer driven. Back The Blue NC also provides a 24/7 confidential Chaplain for Officers and their families who are dealing with a crisis and need assistance.

OFFICER NEEDS ASSISTANCE – This is the radio call that all other Officers fear while working on duty; it is broadcasted as the ten code 10-33, and is used when an Officer is in trouble and needs immediate assistance. Sometimes the Officer making the call doesn’t make it home to their families, leaving loved ones behind to struggle emotionally and financially.

That is when Back The Blue NC steps up; to assist the children and families of Officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

What's Next

September 2nd is the Denton Yard sale Day hosted here at the park. Please go to our webpage to view the details. (NO vendors allowed, must sell "yard sale" items only, we will ask vendors to leave.) This "event" is created for the community.

14th- 16th- is the Pickers Festival

23 &24th- Sunny Days Markets is coming back to town.

“Hello August,

please be a good month that brings smiles and happiness to our lives.”

Puzzles

“ your a-maze-ing!”

Lets put 9 back on the line!

We are Raising money for our 1942 50 Ton Class BSI Porter Steam Locomotive – AKA #9.

She needs a new boiler and firebox and we would like to see if anyone is interested in donating for her repairs!

Go to the Train Station when you are here and donate to help us restore #9

Mail a donation to:

Handy Dandy Railroad INC.

1072 Cranford Rd, Denton, NC 27239

Please Donate Today!

Make sure you stop in the General Store and see what all we have!

1898 Cotton Compress

The Cotton Compress originated in Charlotte, NC on North Brevard Street in a rail yard. It weighs 125 tons and is 113 years old. It is the tallest structure at Denton FarmPark. You may be wondering how this gargantuan structure found its way to Denton Farm Park. It was located at a warehouse, that was once one of North Carolina’s longest buildings, that stretched for nearly a quarter of a mile.

Imagine, On a hot day in August 1899, your great-grandparents, passing Brevard Street near 18th, might have seen one of the monuments of Charlotte’s early industrial development under construction next to the Southern Railway tracks. They probably wouldn’t have known what it was – but they would have stopped to stare, because it was an awesome sight: a cast-iron machine the size of an up- ended locomotive, weighting 125 tons, supported by massive 30-foot timbers and topped by a 10-foot-tall piston cylinder – the whole thing driven by steam. The Press, in its heyday, squeezed the moisture and air out of a bale of cotton and reduced its height from 30 inches to 8 or so inches allowing more bales of cotton to be loaded onto train cars to be sent to the cotton mills up North. According to information obtained from the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, in two decades, the Charlotte Compress’s usability increased from just a few thousand bales to 40,000 bales annually. This Press helped propel Charlotte growth into one of the largest cities in the South.

In the hard decades following the Civil War the Charlotte Cotton Compress played a key role in the resurrection of the regional economy. “It was a very proud moment when a smaller community got a cotton press,” says UNC Charlotte historian David Goldfield. Charlotte evolved long ago from a cotton processing and transportation center to an administrative and banking center for the textile industry. The compress sat, unused for 20 years. The Press was given to Denton Farm Park from Cogentrix, a Charlotte, NC Power Company, who had bought to the scrap metal rights on the Press from L and J, Inc., a Columbia, SC Company.

Compress in parts at the park.

The Charlotte Cotton Compress was an integral part of North Carolina agricultural and textile heritage. It has been dismantled and moved to the Denton FarmPark in Davidson County in 1993. It took 6 weeks, working 16 hour days to dismantle the Press and move it to the Park, according to Brown Loflin, Denton FarmPark Director. Due to other projects at Denton FarmPark, The restoration process didn’t start until 2005 and the Compress was not fully restored to running condition until 2006. Denton FarmPark takes pride in displaying this part of North Carolina history.

So come by and see part of North Carolina history in action. It is an awesome machine!

Photo by L. McKay Whatley Randolph Heritage

Making the Most of August

By: Christina Frost

I have another confession…August is my least favorite month of the year. You might not dislike August. You might love this time of year, but I bet there’s at least one month you dislike for different reasons. For me personally though, it’s this one. Here are a few reasons why…

There are no big, special holidays in August. The excitement of summer is winding down, but we’re still months away from fun fall days. And the worst part, it’s blazing hot and that means we’re either inside or in some blessed body of water (if there are any after days of little rain.)

So with all that in mind, I made the decision a long time ago to find ways to actually embrace this difficult month.

First and foremost, I made a shirt I wear every August. Against a vibrant red backdrop, a bottle of orange hot sauce is poured over a golden sun wearing sunglasses. It makes me laugh, and I only wear it this month so I always look forward to it.

Also, where I live, our city grocery stores really pump up the spicy wonder of hatch chiles. They sell hatch chile popcorn, queso, and even hatch chile cookies! I just love how we can celebrate a flavor that goes along with this heat. I even take it one step further and I make it a point to bake a batch of hatch chile cornbread in my grandmother’s cast iron skillet that will knock your hatch chile socks off.

And speaking of other foods to enjoy in August, it’s also a great time of year to have ice cream socials or attend ice cream festivals. Us and our ice cream can sit and melt happily under the late summer sun…

August also makes me extremely thankful for air conditioning. That might sound like a throwaway benefit for this time of the year, but think about it, air conditioning was only invented in 1902. In the previous millenia, people had to figure out random, less effective ways of staying cool while us 21st century duckies get to sit inside and dream of crisp, chilly days from the comfort of our homes. It makes you think (and feel grateful)!

Forced to spend more time inside also means we can work on craft projects or home renovations. We can visit museums, libraries, or movie theaters and enjoy the magical elements there.

And of course, we can really live it up by making the most of dipping into our local pools or floating rivers or maybe escaping for an end of summer trip for one last hurrah before the start of the school year. We tend to appreciate things more when we have less time at our beck and call, and August is a perfect setup for that.

Bottom line, there will always be periods of our year, or our lives, that are more challenging or less enjoyable. We can either sit, head hanging low and wallow, or we can get creative and look for something new to cherish.

You never know! You might even create a whole new time of year that you love without ever having expected it.