Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm on Saint Helena Island in the low country of South Carolina and this island is known for its preservation of galagichi Heritage and culture. and guess what an okra can be eaten raw! Today we are on our way to the Morning Glory Homestead which is a regenerative sustainable agriculture Farm. They also raise animals and livestock but I'm gonna meet up with Tony and Belinda who run the farm so we're gonna walk around their Farm. We're going to see some of the amazing crops and produce that they're growing and then after that which is going to be the highlight of today we are going to do some cooking outdoors.

I think we're going to cook some okra and some shrimp over the fire and I'm gonna share everything with you. the farm, the food all coming up right now. Thank you Galagichi are an African people originally enslaved, brought to South Carolina mostly from West Africa and because of the relative isolation of the coast and the islands here, they have been able to preserve their Heritage culture and food more than anywhere else in the United States welcome to Saint Helena Island and we have met up now with Tony and Belinda from Morning Glory Homestead for me and then also for I. Think a lot of people watching this might not know exactly who are the Gullah people.

Gala refers to not only the people, but the language that the people spoke. So the Gullah people are a combination of people who were taken from their homes in Africa who primarily lived along the west coast which is called like the Rice Coast and they were brought here and they developed their own language and way to speak and communicate amongst themselves and that language became known as Gullah. Some people say it's akin to the word Gola from the country Angola Um, there's not a true specific definition. The word Gullah represents the people and the language that they spoke and the language is recognized as an official in language.

and the Traditions were kept true because of the isolation. There was no Bridge here until 1950s. So you have a group of people people living together sharing a common language that is now seen and being heard up and down the what is now the Goligichi corridor. Yeah, so you hear the similarities in the and of the people who they're saying the same types of words and have a slightly different dialect.

But yeah, it's so it represents those people from like Wilmington North Carolina down to Um Jacksonville Florida Welcome to the Morning Glory Homestead And this is the sustainable regenerative natural Farm We're gonna walk around first. we're gonna tour, see what they have. You can already hear turkeys and ducks and they have some goats in the back too. And then they have a variety of vegetables that they grow here.

They also preserve some of the ingredients which are used in Gullah Cuisine Such a cool place! We're surrounded by forests, we're near the ocean. we're on an island. It is beautiful. We're just walking around first seeing some of the ducks, chickens, turkeys, geese.

So cool how it's such a natural and they're just free to roam about. And were you always into farming? or is this something that you've gotten into When I was in the military we had a little garden plot. We decided here. We started giving away vegetables and as the kids aged at a 4-H we started thinking well let's stop giving away the vegetables.

let's start allowing it to be a part of uh, our livelihood. And so there go: Morning Glory Homestead Farm And the farm is named after uh, there's a wild flower that grows here called Morning Glory. Okay and uh, you will see it's named after the Morning Glory Fall. Those Majestic Live Oaks are a site that will never get old.

Such a story to tell. We're moving back here where I think. We're now proceeding on to the vegetables, broccoli on the first row and a half cabbage for about two and a half rolls. And then we've got collets, six tomato plants, and some cucumber.

What do we have here? This is okra. The variety is called Clemson spineless. It doesn't have any spines on it. every part on the Oprah plant.

It's edible and very useful. We found out, uh, just the other week that there are some people that take the leaves and put it in water and rub it together and they make soup out of it. Ah, the seeds are edible. The leaves are also edible on an okra plant.

Oh cool. I've never eaten the leaves? Yeah, and guess what, an okra can be eaten raw. In the African language, the okra is gumbo. Really, when you do say gumbo it, it's like a super astute that's made made with okra.

originally. okra would be like the thickening agent. So we're gonna Harvest some okra and that's going to be part of the meal this afternoon. Yes, it will.

We're going to have shrimp and okra. Oh nice, thank you very much. All right. And then yeah, right.

I Mean you don't often think that okra can be eaten raw, but it's perfectly okay to eat raw okra and this is as natural as you can possibly get. I mean right off the okra? Plants? All right. So here we go. Oh man, oh it's deliciously crisp.

You can taste the I mean the naturalness. Yeah, my first bite I could almost taste a little bit of a saltiness. Oh oh, that's the the greatest ever raw okra you'll ever have. And then finally, we have some of the fresh collard greens.

Collard greens are one of the great vegetables, especially common in Southern United States Okay, thank you. Oh, these are limes. Huge limes. That huge lime.

Oh yeah, oh man, that's as fresh as could be. Oh in South Carolina it's a subtropical climate so you can grow some of the tropical fruits and vegetables here as well. So they have some figs, there's some bananas. what is this one? Persimmons Okay, cool, Thank you very much.

Here we go, we're gonna sample the persimmons. Oh yeah oh they're so sweet I Always think persimmon is just like a natural Jam Straight up sweet, a little bit starchy. great flavor, really nice on that persimmon snack. We're walking over to the live oak trees where I think Belinda has been setting up and we're gonna start cooking a gulla Farm to Table meal from the farm.

these are all Ritz crackers and these are all refrigerator pickles. We dug up some carrots yesterday so these are the onions are I think that we bought the onions but the pit. the peppers are from here and so are the carrots. All right.

So the tops of the carrots are here. It's like a pesto like a chimichurri. Okay, okay. sauce.

oh cool. Okay, so that would probably be with that. All right. These are pickled okra, right? And this one has more of the like.

You see the little chilies in the whole chilies and this one doesn't have the whole chicken. I Can't get it out? Okay, there we go. There's one Okay, can't wait to try a pickled okra. Stop it.

Oh it's wonderful. mm-hmm soap I mean just like the rock, it's crisp. Oh it's so refreshing. but with that added vinegariness.

the blend of spices, you taste the coriander seed in there, the allspice in there I just has that hint of clove. and Nutmeg okra too. Thank you that's soft. Put that chili onto that.

There we go. And there's some in here too. like a pesto or similar to a chimichurri. Um, oh wow, that's wonderful.

Wonderfully refreshing. Oh man, that chili is a welcome addition here. Delicious! Oh yeah, that has a bit of heat to it. A Black-eyed Pea Okra salad.

Oh wow with of course some peppers. Wow! and this one has the general okra. Yeah, see the dark pepper there? Okay, oh yeah. I'm just loving the use of how they use raw okra.

I mean okra on every stage in form, but raw okra. So refreshing. so incredibly crisp. like a cucumber, but more Airy and a little more sticky.

This is a beautiful dish of black eyed peas with some chilies in it with fresh chopped up okra. and I think there's some green peppers in there too. Oh, he immediately taste the green peppers in there. Yep, vibrant.

Aroma to it the crunch of the raw okra. Wonderfully simple, natural tasting and just you taste the vibrancy of the real ingredients in their natural state. and then I'm going to add oh man, you cannot get enough of these chilies. What? Oh, that's a pimento.

That's a pimento or allspice. Berry Oh, that one is a dry chili. oh so good. That's the local shrimp.

I'm gonna take the hits off and I'm gonna leave some for you. All right. And then when you get through doing that, they have an apparatus that you can remove it. but I grew up doing it with a fork with a fork.

Oh, just slice that back. this clearly the shell back very well and then you can devein. You'll do vein in the shrimp. So some local shrimp from the coast right here.

I got it from a local Fisher and just pull off that shell, pull off the head, devein them because they're going to be cooked with the okra. Pinch the heads off. all right. you're doing it too.

gentle man. okay and then slide the fork down the the back a little bit at a time. Okay, no the other way. Oh the other side, you weren't paying attention.

Oh okay. In and oh yeah. okay. go in and out.

In and out. Oh every segment. Kind of okay and you can peel. Sure Then the shrimp pops out revealing the the flesh and then also at the same time.

you can then go down the back side and take out that there we go. There's the the vein. Wow. yeah.

Mr Tony What are you getting started cooking now? Ah, the onions and this is this gonna be for the okra and shrimp? Yep, all right. so you had some bacon going on here first. That kind of Sizzle down. Now we've got the bacon bat.

Yeah yeah. Oh man, that smells so good. That's okra. it's just been cut up.

Oh man, that smells incredible. That bacon grease, okra, onions, pepper goes in. these are spicy. Sure.

Oh yeah, what is that? Okay, yeah, and what is what is Rue Here it's you. Uh, you boil the shrimp heads okay and you take the uh. the broth off the shrimp is ah going in and that just smells wonderful. The roux, the broth of the shrimp, the shrimp.

the okra in there seasoned with salt and pepper. oh garlic. some garlic goes in any time. Oh yeah.

okay. so then we have some fish over here. What kind of fish are these? They're called Whiting Oh, these are Whiting Okay, so Whiting is the fish very popular and yeah, local favorite in these parts and so they're just quick. Batter goes on.

That's it. Gonna go into the deep fryer. deep fry smells incredible going into a batter and gonna be fried. Yes, yes, that extra bit of flavor setting here in the evening could not be more perfect.

The Majestic they truly are. Majestic Live Oaks The fish is frying the okra and shrimper almost ready. I Think the rice today are ready. It is ready.

it's just waiting for us to eat living off the land growing vegetables. the seafood of the Atlantic and I think the resourcefulness and the knowledge of growing your food. I Think that's one of the big factors that I've learned today that is a major part of the Gala culture. Wow.

Cornbread! Oh yes. Another must-have A must-have Oh okay, this is Jimmy Red Grits. It's just a slow cooking it's from Edisto Island a store there that has a mill ion. you see the texture of that.

yeah, the coarseness of it. So these dishes could be eaten with either rice or grits so you can try them. Uh okay. what a meal.

Spread cornbread in the skillet. there's the black eyed pea salad. there's biscuits, the fried whiting. we've got the okra and shrimp We've Got Rice Oh what a meal.

Another must-have sweet potato pie. I'm together. we thank you now. food and the hands that prepared it.

We actually nourish our bodies forcing your son Jesus saying amen. amen. Okay, here we go. I've been excited for this all day long.

Gotta start with some of the rice. which you just look at that Aroma You smell the aromatics in that rice. Lots of different herbs in here. Amazing texture, the coarseness of it.

wow. and I Love that texture too. It's not not runny but holds its form. One of the main events that shrimp and okra from the the farm here and you eat it both together with grits and with the rice right you can I take this whole Whiting Oh man, you can feel how soft it is.

It's set this guy down right here. Black-eyed pea salad on the side there too like I'd Peace salad. Look at that plate of food. Oh man and I cannot wait.

sorry I could win No Okay, please don't please dig in. I'm gonna dig into that Whiting um oh wow yes. the freshness. Oh I Love that it's just like a flash fry so it's so so juicy on the inside.

Oh it's delicious. Oh man. The Whiting is just absolutely delicious. Fresh, neutral, crispy, oily on the inside.

so good. Okay I gotta try the shrimp. The okra with that rice. Mmm oh man.

yes that just the naturalness of it. Oh, you taste that flavor, the aroma of the shrimp and the heads in there, the freshness of the shrimp. But it's all about that okra that really Powers it that provides the sauciness of it, the stickiness that is used in such a positive and wonderful way to bring it all together. Man, it's so good.

And I love that that fish. You can mix some of the fish into it. Shrimp and rice. Got the bacon in there.

Those chilies I want to try that? that hot sauce. Oh yeah, thank you. Cannot wait to try this hot sauce. Then with that hot sauce mixed in.

Oh yeah, without hot sauce, the vinegary, acidic fermentation of it delicious. And then the way that fish is just so it just like So Soft just flakes off the bone crispy pieces of fish. They're alive honey. I Like honey because it's sweet.

Oh, the honey is wonderful. Fragrant and aromatic. Not too sweet, but so much flavor goes great with the cornbread that's crumbly that's a little bit salty. That contrast of the salty cornbread with the sweet honey and the aromatics.

Oh that's delicious. I Could not stop at one plate of food. Just too good. Too good to stop, Too too delicious.

More of that fish, more okra and rice. It's also, after traveling around and eating at almost all just restaurants, it's such a treat to have a home-cooked meal like this. That's because you just taste the difference in them. Well not to mention the freshness of all the ingredients that are used in this meal.

That was a delicious meal. For dessert, we have the sweet potato bite. Oh it's delicious, not too sweet, that wonderful, and the sweetness of the sweet potato on that meal that completes this truly memorable day in the Low Country Saint Helena Island of South Carolina with Mr Tony Mrs Belinda on their farm and then walking around the farm seeing the way that they sustainably farm raised animals, grow crops and educate and then also preserve. the Gullah Heritage is remarkable and a beautiful thing.

And again big thank you to Mr Tony and Mrs Belinda for hosting us here. I will have their information in the description box and I want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Also, remember to subscribe for lots more food and travel videos.

Thanks again for watching goodbye from Saint Helena Island and I Will see you on the next video.