About Us
The Papa Sleepy Grits Co. is in Mayesville, South Carolina wherethe Tisdale family has lived and farmed for four generations. The family moved there in the 1930’s during the height of the depression. Papa Sleepy, as he was known by his grandchildren, was in the second generation of family here. He grew up and spent his life on this farm. He began working on the farm behind a mule at 11 years of age. Now the third and fourth generations are restoring the farm as a hobby and a business with a mission of growing quality non-gmo grains while embracing regenerative and sustainable agricultural methods. It is our goal that products from the grains we grow such as grits, corn meal, & flour be nutritious, healthy & to be enjoyed by our friends and neighbors. We believe in the nutritive value of locally sourced foods and whole grain products
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Regenerative Farming
While this information is about the foods we grow on our farm,
more than anything it is about a journey. Nourishing the body
starts with healthy soils which grow healthy foods. While there are many excellent quality conventional farmers who we greatly admire, we feel our path can best be followed by using regenerative agricultural methods. Posted below and in the coming months you will find some interesting reading about this growing trend, but essentially, we try to keep crops and cover crops growing year-round using no-till farming methods to allow soil bacteria to recycle all plant material for use in a regenerative network. We invite you to follow along on our journey. It is not a perfect path, but it is filled with our joys, mistakes, and successes.
No Till Soybeans
The two photos shown below tell a little about regenerative farming. Crops are planted into standing cover crops, in this case soybeans into wheat. We plant soybeans as a rotational crop for corn. Rotating crops along with winter cover crops is important in breaking the pest life cycles and eliminating the need for pesticides. Soybeans and other legumes such as clovers add a natural source of nitrogen to the soil to reduce the amount of commercial nitrogen fertilizer needed. The cover crop(s) which can be a variety of different plants, especially winter crops, ensure there will be a thatch (mulch) which conserves moisture and suppresses weed growth without or with greatly reduced herbicide use. This also substantially reduces the number of trips across a field with equipment saving fuel and reducing carbon footprint. This residue also decomposes to add organic matter back to the soil and increase the diversity of bacteria in the soil. All of this combines to ensure a crop that yields nutrient dense grains. Shown below are the no-till planter used to plant into standing cover crops and soybeans emerging from a wheat cover crop into which they were planted.
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These young soybeans plants are emerging about 4 days after planting. The cover crop residue will help conserve moisture and suppress weed growth. As the soybeans mature the residue from the cover crop will decompose and help add organic matter back to the soil and recycle nutrients to reduce the need for commercial fertilizer.
This photographs illustrate planting of this year’s heirloom corn. It is being planted into residue from grain sorghum planted in this field last year. The grain sorghum has a natural toxicity for soil nematodes that attack corn roots. Grain sorghum is also important because it has deep roots that help break up the soil hard pan and help eliminate the need for deep mechanical tillage. Heirloom corn, unlike more recent commercial varieties of corn, is more difficult to grow. Obtaining consistent plant emergence with heirloom corn is difficult but even more so when planting into crop residue in a no-till program.
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Cocke's Prolific Heirloom Corn
Cockes Prolific corn was originally bred in Virginia in the 1880’s. This was a time when you ate what you grew, so most families valued good taste among other qualities in their grains. Cockes Prolific corn was known for excellent milling qualities and taste. It outperformed other “Prolific” varieties of corn in its era and became the favorite of the times. It was thought to be a lost variety after WW2, but was recently discovered on a small historic farm in the foothills of South Carolina where it had been planted continuously since the 1930’s. Please see the articles and links below to know the full story of this tasty and historic corn. Cockes Prolific Corn is now grown and ground at the historic mills at George Washington’s Mt Vernon and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Seed for this variety of corn is a precious commodity and has been available only through the efforts of friends such as Dr. Steve Ritchie, whose profession is corn genetics, but fortunately his passion is heirloom corn.
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Cocke’s Prolific Heirloom Corn typically grows around 10 feet in height and the ears are generally set around 5’ high. With proper care and moisture plants often produce two ears per stalk. While good, this can be a problem because the ears create a tendency to fall or “lodge” during storm high winds. It is much taller than commercial varieties of corn now grown. Also, the tassels and silk are more delicate with heirloom corn. It is a challenge to grow, but the flavor is very worthwhile!
Additional Varities
In addition to Cockes Prolific, we have put some acreage into, for us, a new variety of corn called Pencil Cobb. This will be available as grits and cornmeal in store and online in November of 2023. It was originally developed as a roasting ear corn (and for whiskey making) but has been widely used for grinding grits because of its naturally creamier quality. Also available in November we will have grits milled from Jackie Freeman corn which is best known for its historic use in distilling excellent whiskey. It was also chosen as the best tasting grits in blind taste test at NC State University.
What is Whole Grain
Grain seed, which is what we eat, is made of three parts, the germ which contains most of the oils and protein of the seed, the starchy parts (endosperm) and the husk which is the outer shell of the seed. In simplistic terms, these three parts make up the “whole grain”. Maybe it is easier to describe what whole grain is not. If you are like me, most of my recent life has been spent eating brands of “quick” grits which will remain un-named here. These grits are made through various modern milling techniques by extracting the starchy portions (endosperm) and using that to make grits. The balance of the seed is used for a long list of other very useful corn products. The starch portion of the corn kernel is dried and ground very uniformly to create a consistent grit, generally known as enriched grits. I used to think “enriched” was something special until later in life I found out it was from various nutritive elements that had to be added back to the grits to restore some of the minerals & nutrients removed in milling and processing. If you are like me, I came to associate grits as being a bland base for other recipes. When I tried whole grain, stone ground grits for the first time, it was a new benchmark in flavor. The same holds true for flour ground from whole wheat as well as other grains. It is also useful to note that because whole grains contain the germ of the seed, there is also more oil. This oil contains a lot of protein, vitamins and antioxidants, but it also limits unrefrigerated shelf life as it will go rancid after a period of time. One added benefit of whole grain is the outer shell or husk. This provides valuable fiber.
Stone Ground
Stone Ground, Whole Grain grits are excellent sources of antioxidants, protein, and fiber. (Please see attached information and links below). So, what is “Stone Ground”? The stone grinding process has changed little over the past 200 years. The granite stones used for grinding grains, primarily corn and wheat, have changed very little in that time. The same North Carolina company, Meadows Mills in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, has been manufacturing these mills for well over 150 years. Now, instead of being powered by water, they are turned by electric motors and processed through stainless steel screens and chutes It is a “cool temperature” milling process which though much less efficient than modern milling techniques, preserves the qualities of the grain being milled. Commercial milling techniques are generally accomplished with high-speed steel mills and in some cases chemical separation processes. Corn when stone milled produces almost equal parts grits and corn meal. A bit of trivia, the saying “keep your nose to the grindstone” originated hundreds of years ago because a good miller was able to, through the aroma of the being stone milled, tell if the stones were too close and generating too much heat. If the stones got too hot, it would ruin the quality of the grain being milled.
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History of Grits
Grits have been a staple in the Southern diet for centuries. It was first introduced by Native Americans to early explorers and settlers. The culture and improvement of corn (maize) by the Native Americans is an obscure story, but scientist have uncovered the existence of an early plant and grain that was very much less improved than varieties encountered by settlers in the 16th century. The corn served by the First American people to the explorers was a variety of flint corn which is more similar to popcorn today. Early explorers of what is present day Roanoke, North Carolina described the ground, boiled corn prepared by their Native American host as a “white, well tasted faire.” Corn was extremely valuable to the early Americans in that it could be taken with one in their travels without fear of spoilage. It could then be ground and cooked wherever one found themselves. (or planted in settlement of new areas) The Cherokee called their staple ground corn food “fry cake”. It was mixed from ground corn with water and seasoning and fried in animal fat for a delicious and nutritious fare. Grits gained popularity throughout the South. A byproduct of stone grinding Grits is corn meal. From this the ever-popular southern dish was hoe cakes. This was a simple fare prepared by working folks for centuries. More on this in later stories. For every bushel of corn ground, about half or a little more is corn meal. Grits also continued to be a working man’s food with its adaptability to anything from seafood to pork and eggs. In 1976 South Carolina declared grits to be an official state food. A paraphrase of this declaration stated it was a “symbol of its diet, its custom, its humor, and it hospitality….A man full of (grits) is a man of peace”.
Our Partners
Small farms like ours cannot operate in a vacuum. We have been blessed by our Maker to have the help of a few folks to make our venture successful. Most important of all is family. Family is God’s greatest blessing. Our family believes in this journey and works tirelessly in ways only a farm can demand. Only a love of each other and a shared vision can create this kind of unity.
First, we would like to thank Lynn Kennedy of the Carnivore Butcher and Bottle Shop. Lynn and her folks run a most excellent butcher and custom foods shop. Lynn believes in locally sourced foods and is instrumental in convincing our family to embrace this journey.
Jessie Adkins of Hurricane Creek Farm in Anderson County, South Carolina is an excellent miller and grew up with his family’s water powered mill. He now runs an electric powered stone mill. He mills and packages all our corn in addition to providing excellent guidance and purchasing our corn for use in his milling operation as well.
Most farms and equipment now are on an almost industrial scale as a necessity of economic survival. Our’s is a small, simple farm and we do not have enough acreage to justify large equipment such as a combine for harvesting grains. The Dorr Family has been so gracious to harvest and haul our grains as well as providing much valued guidance and friendship. They also operate Dorr Farms in Gable, South Carolina.
You can find our Grits there.
A special thank you to Hannah Mikell of Clemson Extension.
Hannah was instrumental in helping us gain the needed knowledge to restart our farm. Her guidance, knowledge and friendship are invaluable.
We are blessed to have as neighbors and friends like the McArthur Family. Besides being such delightful family people, Traver & his brother Jason are without a doubt some of the most competent, successful farmers we have ever encountered. They have been so gracious to share their help, knowledge, and guidance with us.
​Most important of all is family. Family is God’s greatest blessing. Our family believes in this journey and works tirelessly in ways only a farm can demand. Only a love of each other and a shared vision can create this kind of unity.