DeMent Jamie - The farmhouse chef: recipes and stories from my Carolina farm

My daddy died unexpectedly as we were finishing the editing and photography for this book. It was a devastating loss for me and for our whole farm family. He was such a special part of all of our lives, and he is missed so much by so many. In the midst of all the other grief, I struggled with how to address his death in this book. He was my biggest fan and such a constant presence in my life that hes always been a part of the book. He was a good cook in his own right, but even more, he was a great eater. He enjoyed food and drink more than anyone else I have ever known. He was with me as I wrote every word, and he joyously ate every dish in this book. I have left his parts in the book exactly as they were the last time he saw them, so he gets to live just a little bit longer here.

Thank you to all the friends and family, and extended farm and restaurant family, who helped us through the hard days and who came out of the woodwork to help get the perfect photos taken and put commas where they needed to be (Will, Sara, Jen, Joshua, Rachel, Matthew, David, Jen Jahn, Crawford, Yancey, Judy, Fred, Jimmy, Willis, Ron, and Bob). Thank you, even more, for the basic love and supportthe calls, cards, messages, long hugs, and late-night bourbons. We will always miss him but know that hes with us as we keep singing his song.

Lets get the sad out of the way. Thank you to UNC Press for taking a chance that people would be interested in what was happening down my dirt road. Thank you to Felicia Perry Trujillo for taking my recipes and photographing them into art. Thank you to my agent, Leslie Stoker, for believing in the book from the beginning; to David Downie for becoming such a wonderful friend and for sending me to Leslie; to Matt and Ted Lee for helping me shape my monster idea into something actually readable; and to Karl Worley for nudging me toward Matt and Ted. Its a strange and interconnected world.

Thank you to our restaurant familiesfrom the early days with Sarig and Nancy at Zely & Ritz to Chef John and our ever-growing Piedmont Restaurant family for taking what we grow and making it into art every day and for creating a warm and welcoming space to showcase what we grow. Thanks, especially, to Crawford Leavoy for being not only a huge presence at Piedmont but also an integral part of our family. We love you.

Thank you to all the peoplefamily, friends, customers, customers-who-have-become-friendswho have supported our farm dream for the past thirteen years. Thanks for shopping, for coming to cooking classes, for helping us plant garlic, and for believing that this really is a better way to live and eat.

Thank you to all the people who have come together over the years to help us build this farm. Weve had over one hundred interns, so I cant name them all here. Yall know who you are. Thank you for the long days, the loud dinners, and the best stories. We couldnt have done any of this without you. Thank you, especially, to Lisbeth Rasmussen, Joe Tedrow, Brown Rogers, and Suzanne Stafford for holding down the fort while I finished this book.

Everything I have ever accomplished in life has happened because I have always had an amazing support network. Jen, Meg, Morgan, Nicole, and Brooke: yall are simply the best a girl could ask for. Carla Rea, you always bring out the beautiful in me, and you dug especially deep this time to help me find it at such a sad time. Sara, thank you for always being there when I reach out and for being such a strong part of all our lives. Yancey, you are more than friend or familyIll spend the rest of eternity thanking the universe for letting me have the very best, and truest, friend ever.

My small-town world growing up included an amazing family network, and they continue to buoy me every day. Thank you to Devan and my sweet grandma and to my other Franklin County grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friendsliving and dead. Yall are with me in spirit every day. Most especially, thank you, Mama, for keeping me grounded and for continuing to believe in every hare-brained scheme I have and for always helping me make them successful. Thank you, also, for checking all the commas in this book. Im still bad at them.

My biggest thank-you of all is for Richard. Thank you for sharing David, Joshua, Matthew, and Rachel with me. Thank you for this wonderful world. Thank you for dreaming with me and sharing this awesome journey. I love you so much.