Stitched Together
Southern Living|June - July 2024
For South Carolinian Andrea "Annie" Cayetano-Jefferson, sewing sweetgrass baskets ties her to generations of Gullah people, including her mother and daughter
BETSY CRIBB WATSON
Stitched Together

"MY AUNT LINDA used to tell me, 'Nobody has to make a basket. It's a want, and if you want to make it, you're going to have to make it right.' I was 5 or 6 years old, but I was determined. I wanted it bad," laughs Andrea "Annie" CayetanoJefferson, a sixth-generation Gullah sweetgrass artist who lives in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Basket weaving is one of the oldest African art forms still practiced in the United States, says Cayetano-Jefferson, and it can be traced back to enslaved people. "Because of our ancestors' knowledge of rice harvesting, they already knew how to make baskets when they came here, so they just used materials similar to what they'd found in Africa's rice-growing regions," she says. In coastal South Carolina, that meant using a combination of bulrush and split oak. Bulrush (which is pulled from the marsh) still makes up the vessels today, along with sweetgrass, palmetto fronds, and longleaf pine needles.

Denne historien er fra June - July 2024-utgaven av Southern Living.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra June - July 2024-utgaven av Southern Living.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA SOUTHERN LIVINGSe alt
Forging a Legacy - A Fredericksburg, Texas, couple is creating a new class of heirloom cast-iron cookware
Southern Living

Forging a Legacy - A Fredericksburg, Texas, couple is creating a new class of heirloom cast-iron cookware

When Jay Mallinckrodt pitched the idea of crafting cast-iron cookware to his wife and business partner, Heather, in 2020, she was hesitant. I immediately said no, she recalls with a laugh. But I finally agreed as long as we made something that we would actually want to use ourselves. Like many others during the initial throes of the pandemic, their multigenerational family operation, Heartland Enterprises (which specializes in machining parts for jet engines and gas and oil equipment), was seeing a lull. “No one was flying; no one was drilling, says Jay. So we had time to try something different.

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
A Butterfly Haven - In the Texas Hill Country, a conservationist is helping monarchs adjust to the changing world
Southern Living

A Butterfly Haven - In the Texas Hill Country, a conservationist is helping monarchs adjust to the changing world

Twenty-four years ago, Monika Maeckle bought a small property on the Llano River in Central Texas as an escape from fast-paced San Antonio. A journalist and marketing professional by trade, she didn't at first realize the value of the location on which she and her husband would later build their ranch. She also had no idea how this decision would eventually transform her life.One October evening a few years later, a friend invited Maeckle to their nearby house, which sat on a watershed with several large cypresses. All these butterflies dropped from the sky and started to gravitate toward the trees, she recalls. Stronger people who could swing a big 12-foot-long pole began trying to capture them, and we waited. By the end of the evening, we'd tagged a couple hundred butterflies, and I left there enchanted.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2024
Oktober Feast!
Southern Living

Oktober Feast!

While I respect your right to serve spooky food in October, you won't find any gory grub at my house this month. Instead, I'm hosting a gathering that's inspired by biergartens across the pond. The focus of the menu is a fondue made with Gruyère cheese and crisp Riesling-like beer-cheese dip but more elevated. It's served with a smorgasbord of dippers such as smoked sausage, grapes, apples, and a few amped-up store-bought snacks, like Mustard-Glazed Pretzel Bites and Smoked Paprika Potato Chips. (Just one taste, and you'll want to add this spice to every bag you open.) Pour yourself a Cider Shandy, and get ready for a good time. Prost, y'all!

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
The Roast With the Most
Southern Living

The Roast With the Most

Embrace the changing seasons with a cozy pork supper

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
Roll With It
Southern Living

Roll With It

Company's coming? Bake a batch of these apple-stuffed delights

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
VIRGINIA PASTORAL
Southern Living

VIRGINIA PASTORAL

IN MIDDLEBURG, THE COMMONWEALTH'S MOST STORIED SMALL TOWN, OCTOBER WELCOMES A HOST OF TREASURED TRADITIONS

time-read
7 mins  |
October 2024
TAKING ROOT
Southern Living

TAKING ROOT

Turn the season's freshest veggies-beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots-into colorful fall sides

time-read
6 mins  |
October 2024
THE FAMILY PLACE
Southern Living

THE FAMILY PLACE

When it came time for a young Georgia couple to make an 1800s farmhouse their own, they took it apart piece by piece-then rebuilt it into a home ready to welcome the next generation

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2024
Loving Life in Fayetteville
Southern Living

Loving Life in Fayetteville

This Northwest Arkansas college town is easy to love and hard to leave

time-read
5 mins  |
October 2024
The Road That Raised Me
Southern Living

The Road That Raised Me

This lesser-known drive offers the most breathtaking views in the Smoky Mountains

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024