Lowcountry Cuisine Summer/Fall 2019

www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.MountPleasantRestaurant.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com lowcountry cuisine tucked into corners of the property between shade- motivated cows, piglets running wild, and views of egrets coasting over James Island across the Stono River. After graduating from Clemson with degrees in agronomy and horticulture, Legare-Floyd (this is not a family where you drop your maiden name) worked for the USDA before rejoining the family business in the late 1980s. Now chairman of the South Carolina Farm Bureau Horticulture Commodity Committee, she’s served or chaired more farm bureaus, committees and associations than most of us knew existed. Legare-Berry, a former schoolteacher, heads the children’s summer camps, and Legare mostly oversees the meat production. As we started our loop around the farm, one of its three full-time workers who’s remarkably not in the family drove by on a tractor, towing a flat of leftover grains from local breweries like Holy City, Frothy Beard and Tradesman that will go on to feed the pigs. One of the first sights is what looked like a shed roof that shrunk down to 2 feet off the ground. “The rent-a- chicks need checking,” Legare-Floyd said, rolling down the window to let the sound of eager chicks and a huff of humid air sneak in. “Easter weekend is our biggest rent-a-chick time,” she explained. “Keeps people from buying chicks because they’re cute but then they don’t want them.” Just a few yards from the peeping-chick hut is a surprise, even if you know you’re coming for a farm visit Photos cour tesy of Legare Farms. From left to right: Helen Legare- Floyd, Linda Legare-Berry and Thomas S. Legare continue the Legare Farms legacy as the ninth generation to farm on the island. C