Who is an American?

With the dust settling after Memorial Day weekend, or the so-called 'start' of grilling season and summer vacations, the excitement for one of my favorite times of year has been clouded by a pit of frustration I can't ignore anymore.  After a weekend of proudly flying American flags and endless tributes to those who have served and sacrificed for this great country, I was greeted on Tuesday morning with the usual back and forth bickering of articles pointing fingers at the other side.

This all has lead me to ask a few really simple questions: who is an American?  Are there any left? What is it that makes one an American?

It seems most, (and I say most, not all), people choose to be conveniently 'American' on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, and a few other days when it's all the sudden the mainstream thing to celebrate.  And the other 350 days of the year, we are split into Conservatives and Liberals to the point of almost no return.  Am I the only one this really bothers? It seems as if these lines have become so divided, we are no longer "one nation, under God", but "one nation, choose a side, and don't dare mention God".  What has happened to the pride, the fortitude, the perseverance that made us the most sought after nation in the modern world in record time?  Where did the excitement of being able to choose your own adventure go?  What happened to personal responsibility and accountability?  What has happened to make working hard and being happy to enjoy the fruits of your labor criminal?  This is AMERICA - where we get the unbelievable privilege and right to wake up every day and CHOOSE how we want to spend that day.  Now a lot of people will disagree, but unless you are in jail, (which you probably chose to do something you shouldn't have), we have the freedom to choose how we live our lives.  It amazes me how many people truly do not understand how precious this is.  I remember someone telling me in college that at the end of the day we do exactly what we want.  If we didn't want to do it bad enough, we would have found a way to change it.  That goes for jobs, relationships, higher education, etc. Yet, we have an enormous number of people in the country who believe they are the victim, and in no way responsible for their situation, and much less, believe it's someone else, (usually the government's) job to provide for them.  Here's a newsflash: The government is not here to take care of you!! Their role is to provide and regulate legislation that gives its citizens the best chance to succeed, or at least are supposed too but that's a whole other can of worms.  The government is not here to make your life for you, that's why this country was founded in the first place, so people could quit living the life they were told to live and have the freedom to choose how they lived.  Yet it seems there is an increasing divide of belief of what role the government should play.

This is the core of my frustration - what happened to the American way?  Is there an American way left?  All I hear about is the conservative way or the liberal way, and they will fight to the death to get it their way, or at least make sure the other side doesn't get what they want.  But what do the people, (American people) want? What do the people, (American people) need? Unfortunately, we have a very small group of people, (politicians), making decisions for the rest of us and they are very out of touch with the needs of those they have committed to represent.  This country was founded on the principles of a country for the people, by the people.  Serving in the Senate or in Congress was meant to be a privilege - you come, serve your term for those you represent and then go back to work.  Politics wasn't meant to be a career, yet almost every one of them has made it one.  Does this not bother anyone else?  Does the fact that over 90% of the politicians who are supposed to be among us to represent us are in that 1% that so many were adamantly protesting a few years back?  (Don't put words in my mouth and assume I have anything against millionaires, in fact, I plan to join them as the fruits of my hard work pay off down the road).  Every policy, every politician, and most of all the citizens of this country have a defined side, and if that person/policy is represented by the other side, then to hell with it!  Where did this attitude come from?  I feel every time an election comes around, it's like the entire country is in divorce court litigation to see who gets custody for the next four years.  And maybe as an adult it's more noticeable to me now, but it seems to have gotten exponentially worse in the last four elections.

I think of the conversations I have with certain people.  Knowing their political affiliation, they will immediately defend their position, even if they know damn well they are absolutely wrong.  I think of my own beliefs, and as a small business owner, economically I lean very conservative.  I understand what makes the machine tick, and spending someone else's money faster than they can print it is never the solution.  However, I think of my stance on some social issues, and they would lean to the left side of the aisle, and guess what, I'm OK with that.  I'm very comfortable with my beliefs because I honestly believe they are best for the country and all who live here.  Not just me and my family, but for everyone.  I cannot stand the fact there is so much hatred and division in our country between conservatives and liberals, and the end does not seem to be in sight.  Many conservatives are well, conservative, and sometimes so conservative they cannot think outside the box long enough to understand this is the 21st century, times have changed quite a bit and it's time to adapt with them for the greater good.  However many of the "open-minded" liberals are anything but that, and not able to understand that this country can't progress, (and won't) without capitalism.

As a husband anxiously awaiting the birth of our second child, I think of the world I want my kids to grow up in, and what values and principles are important for them to understand.  I think of the role model my wife and I will be for them.  I think about how proud I am for them to have an uncle who serves proudly in the Marines.  I cannot wait for them to be old enough to understand my wife and I are living our dream of finally starting our own business, and  it will be a successful business thanks to our sweat equity, our commitment, and our dedication to work harder than anyone else.  I can't wait for them to know this world is exactly what you make of it.  That this world doesn't owe you a damn thing and doesn't care what your last name is or where you came from.  But with dedication, perseverance, a commitment to education both inside and outside the classroom, and a commitment to family, God and yourself, you are free to build your future.  I hope to instill enough confidence for them to stand up for what they believe in, even if it goes against the status quo, or even my beliefs.  I hope to educate them on how lucky they are to live in a country like America.  I hope they will understand America is a place where you can nurture ambition and channel that ambition into a productive output.

I also hope they will learn how to be an American.  I hope they will learn that a price has been paid for the freedoms we have.  A price has been paid by many to preserve all American rights, even the rights to those who believe what they do is wrong.  I want my children to understand there are many people who hate us just because we are American's and they will do whatever they can to try and rob us of our freedoms.  We are the backbone of what our military fights for, and we will always support them.  We are American's, we need to start acting like it.


I am Michael Woodard, and I am an American.

The Evolution of the Ultimate Cooking Trailer

The pig cooking trailer, the ultimate man machine.  A trailer that is symbolic of BBQ, tailgating, and great memories.  I remember seeing someone pulling a pig cooker, as we refer to them in NC, for the first time and thinking, ‘that looks awesome’.  For some people, they wake up one day and decide they are no longer going to be outdone by the guy tailgating next to them, and so they buy one.  For me, it’s been an evolution 20 years in the making.

The love for cooking can be traced back as far as I remember, and I believe that was my first homemade apple pie with my mother at age five, she may be able to correct me on that one.  Since then, this skill and interest has been nurtured and developed in many different arenas.  Being at summer camp, I wanted to be the master of the iron skillet making our chicken ranch burrito’s while camping along the Neuse River, and then into college…

I remember one of my specific goals in college: to master a charcoal grill.  Some people aspire to make great grades and get into grad school.  Me – I figured I’d focus my efforts on a specific area of my social life, the back deck.  My Aunt had given me the old school Weber, and everyone knows exactly what grill I’m referring too, for my 20^th birthday.  It was the fall of my sophomore year at UNC-Wilmington and my roommate and I had just moved into our first apartment and we now had one of the essential tools for survival – the charcoal grill.  After messing around with lighter fluid for too long, I discovered the chimney which took all the guesswork out of the most difficult part about cooking with charcoal, lighting it.  From there, my back deck on the second floor, (where we weren't allowed to have grills), became the focal point of that apartment.  I tried grilling about anything we could, all the usual’s and just about anything else shy of a PB&J found its way onto that old Weber.  On one instance, that Weber took the place of the back seat of my Jeep Wrangler where we and a big cooler of beer made the trek from Wilmington to Philadelphia for the Army/Navy Football game.  I’m sure in the 12 hour span it took to get to Philadelphia, there was probably another grill available to use, but that would have been way too easy. 

Then onto smoking – after college and feeling pretty confident on the skills handling charcoal, it was time to expand my knowledge of the ‘low and slow’.  The natural place to start was the gas smoker.  They guy I was working with at the time decided it would be a good investment for our company to have a smoker.  We went with the traditional vertical direct smoker, (where there is a water/chip pan of sorts between the flame and the meat smoking above.)  This was a great introduction to smoking for its ease of use and we were able to get a lot of the smoke flavor from our variety of liquid choices put into the water tray. 

At this point, I’m in my mid 20’s and decide it’s time – time for my first whole hog.  By this time, I was hounding Craigslist for a good deal on pig cooker.  This would become my guilty pleasure at work for the next few years whenever I needed a 10 minute breather.  Considering I was living in the middle of Uptown Charlotte, putting a pig cooker in my gated parking deck spot unfortunately did not make a lot of sense.  You could already point out very easily which balcony was ours.  Some would have a cute table and a candle while others might have a few wicker chairs – well ours consisted of a turkey fryer, an old piece of plywood which doubled as an oyster shelling station in the winter, a few coolers and a big outdoor heater that found its way to my porch after the closing of a nearby restaurant.  So we opted to rent a cooker for the weekend to enter into the greatest circle of smokers, cooking a hog!  It was a great event.  We even went as far as to make t-shirts to commemorate such an occasion.  On a side note – everyone at this event was under the impression I’d done this multiple times, I guess the cat’s outta the bag with this story.  We get up at around six the next morning to start the day of waiting and anticipation all while a bit nervous as to whether or not my BBQ is going to live up to all the hype.  So by man law, when you start cooking, you crack open a beer.  Nothing like the taste of an ice cold Natty Light to perk your senses before the sun comes up!  Over the course of the next 12 hours, many more beverages were consumed, the corn hole boards were worn out, and the level of anticipation reached an all-time high.  And then it hit me – the reason people go crazy over pulled pork is after smelling the hearing the fat soak through the meat and onto the bottom of the cooker all day, they’re so hungry it doesn't matter what they eat.  For all they care, they've been waiting around wafting the smell of pork for last six hours; it probably could have been a piece of cardboard and tasted great.  Nonetheless, the pig was amazing, and the first official whole hog was a success. 

The first pig cooker of the Woodard Family before it's modification

The Monday following the event, I’m pretty sure I spent the entire day burning up Google looking for the best, Mac-daddy pig cooker out there.  Realizing that some people spend over $10k building these machines of manliness, it was back to Craigslist.  My wife and I would even consider selling one of our cars in order to fund a rolling weekend of fun.  And then it happened…on a Monday morning when I had not quite got into full work mode, I see a Craigslist ad for not one, but TWO smokers.  I call my wife and tell her we’re going to look at them as soon as I get off work.  We take an hour ride to find the deal we've been waiting on.  We went with the intention of buying the large cooker, and went home with both.  So we get a little overzealous at times, it happens.  There was only one problem, the big cooker; a 250 gallon heating oil drum was not on a trailer.  This made backyard cookouts a breeze but wasn't quite the right fit.  So back to the drawing board we went.  We thought about selling it and putting the money towards a pig cooker on wheels, but nothing quite worked out.  And so we decided to get creative and figured it would be easier to find a trailer to mount the cooker on than vice verse.  Now this is where we really got carried away…

Prior to moving to Charlotte, I was in the boat business slinging big floating toys.  One of the irrational occurrences most boat owners have is referred to as “2 foot syndrome”.  Where they think to themselves, “If I just had a boat 2 feet bigger, I could do _______(fill in the blank)”.  This is solid justification to get a bigger boat immediately.  I experienced something similar with trailers.  Initially, I was looking at a 5’x8’, just big enough to get the big cooker on and go.  But the more research I did, I found the incremental cost on a 6’x10’ wasn't very much.  So after pursuing the 6’x10’, I realized if I had a 6’x12’, I would have enough room for the cooker, a few burners, and still have room for a good sized cooler.  So that was it, we decided a 6’x12’ was going to be the best fit for our needs, so the hunt was on.  Everyone in our area we found was quite proud of their trailers and this was a mighty popular size.  Not to be defeated, we stayed patient to find the right deal for us.  Well we ended up with a 6’4”x16’ tandem axle trailer…just a little bigger than we initially started at.  With another great deal we couldn't pass up, it was officially ‘Game On’ to turn our regular utility trailer into the testosterone breathing machine it is today.  So we have our trailer, we have our cooker, all we need now is some good ole’ redneck ingenuity.  Thankfully, we had that handy…

The trailer the day we bought it

I quickly call my father-in-law and tell him we have a project for him.  Now this man has been the president of his hunting club since he was 19.  After working all day, he typically can be found in the woods at the country house or tinkering with his latest project.  If you were to shake his hands with your eyes closed, you would swear he was wearing gloves.  After snapping and texting a couple pictures of our newly acquired trailer, the ball was rolling.  Michael Smith, (my father-in-law), had called in the other critical part of this project: Richie Cantley.  A welder by trade, and having a southern draw so thick he sometimes requires subtitles; he was described to me as having the ability to “weld a nat’s ass shut”.  That’s all the credibility I needed to feel good about the direction this project was heading.  So after getting the trailer to Bloomingvale, SC, we hashed out some ideas of what I had in mind and gave them the freedom to improvise where necessary.    They said come back in two weeks and it’ll be done.  Pulling away that weekend, I looked at my wife and asked her to wager the chances of this project actually being completed in two weeks. 

Four weeks later…

We decide these boys would benefit from a little help to increase efficiency, so we make the trip down for the weekend.  Now the community of Bloomingvale is pretty tight night, with my father-in-law at its center.  If you are there on a Saturday, depending on what season is in dictates who stops by to chat and shoot the breeze.  What we realized is the Saturday after the project started, being a typical Saturday in Bloomingvale, everyone who stopped by had to give their two cents on how it was to be built.  Can you imagine that – a whole bunch of country boys standing around trying to figure out who has the best idea, that’s never happened before?  Needles s to say, there were some constructive delays if you will, but all in good time.  And judging by the end product, this would have been worth waiting twice as long for.  The big cooker mounted with a new, bigger smoke box.  A three burner cook top and a homemade “Richie Cantley Original” custom grill built from scratch.  I now wake up every day and walk around it once before heading to work thinking about when we’ll be cooking something next. 

And so now, after years of thinking about the perfect pig cooker, it now sits in my driveway.  Whether it is a 300lb hog or a couple of burgers, this rig has become the focal point of our household.  So that only leaves me with one question:

Where’s the tailgate?

Storage side of the trailer, complete with dual 30lb propane tanks and toolbox

Rear view of the "Richie Cantley Orginal" grill and the custom serving counter made from the tailgate.  It has the flexibility of folding down or flat if needed to load the trailer

Side view of the cooking side

Welcome to Stories of the South

Welcome to Stories of the South!

Well here it is guys, only about three years after starting SOTS, (Stories of the South), we are making our first post.  Back in the fall of 2010 when my bride and I met, we realized immediately we had a connection - food.  We had met briefly once before, but the main event that lit our spark was attached to a propane tank at a pig pickin' where I was cooking a hog, and Geena was making Shrimp 'n Grits.  These Shrimp 'n Grits are roughly 25% of the reason we are married today.

We started SOTS as a way to record the stories of life told through food.  We quickly realized the majority of our life events and most enjoyable gatherings with family and friends are based around food.  To this day, I still remember my favorite vacations, cities, small towns, and highway exits by the food that is a part of them.  I will go out of my way to stop where I know there is great food.  The better the food, the further out of my way I’ll venture, it’s as simple as that.  We are using SOTS as an avenue to tell those stories and share the recipes that make them that much more memorable.

In addition to the stories and the recipes, you will have the pleasure of hearing my expert opinion on the South's most famous food, Bar-B-Cue.  I really don't care if you agree with me or not, that's why this is my blog and not yours.  We will be touching on the best smoking wood, side dishes, what people outside Eastern NC call BBQ, sauces, etc.  It will be fun, I look forward to bringing these ideas to paper.

Most importantly, we will be showcasing the variety of uses that folks have found for Carolina Table Salt.  This brainchild of my wife and I has been in accidental development for a few years now.  I had a go-to rub I had a habit of making year after year.  Well, every year it changed because I never wrote it down and swore I would remember the next time how I made it.  However, that all changed when my wife added a little south of the border love to it and Carolina Table Salt was born.  In the short time since Carolina Table Salt's inception, this has become the most versatile kitchen staple since the wisk.  My brother refers to it as "the WD-40 for food, just add it on, and it works!"  If you haven't been to our website yet, check it out: Carolina Table Salt! If you don't already have a bottle, be sure to buy one, or three would be even better.

We look forward to seeing the recipes folks share and the stories that follow!