In the last episode of Allergy Free Back Roads - Gluten Free High Country, we discussed eating out in a multitude of restaurants in Boone, NC. But we couldn't leave Boone without going to visit my friend Eustace Conway and friends at Turtle Island Preserve.

In meeting my goal to explore and get aquainted with the mountain culture, I had run across a video clip someone posted on Facebook about Eustace Conway on History Channel's Mountain Men who owns his own piece of wilderness near Boone in Triplett NC. At the time, this 1000 acre plot of heaven had just reopened after being shut down for a year by local government officials trying to make Eustace modernize his living arrangements.

Video explaining Turtle Island's educational programs

I did some digging on the internet about the "modern day Daniel Boone", better known as, Eustace Conway, and found Turtle Island Preserve's FB page. There, I saw a post looking for volunteers to help out with summer camps on their 1000 acre wilderness spot. I sent in a response to their request for someone to cook with a detailed description of my gluten free knowledge. Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang and a woman on the other end asked to speak to me and excitedly talked about how Eustace's office manager had some sensitivities to gluten and that we could all learn from one another.

So I hung up the phone and excitedly said, "You want to have an adventure?"
Erin painfully reminded me of that comment over and over later. I was abnormally excited to try my hand at roughing it and being gluten free. The intern had explained that there would be a wood stove and pit fires for me to cook on as well as a handmade cobb oven. Somehow that all sounded romanticly Daniel Boone-ish, so I was sucked in immediately.

The drive into Turtle Island Preserve is like dropping into the depths of a wooded fortress cast back in time. The 800 ft of drive winds down and includes a considerably bumpy terrain as you slowly creep beside of the fresh mountain creek, steadily flowing down past rocks, making little waterfalls as you peer down at it over crops of mountain laurel. Four wheel drive is suggested. After getting out of the car at a parking lot made from just a leveled area beside the creek, we walked into base camp, another few hundred feet.

You start to glimpse primitive structures through the trees as you come into the camp area. Eustace, volunteers, and his interns have helped build structures using the timber, just as our ancestors did. I came to the kitchen area which sits in an island in between where the creek flows. This means you have to walk across a tiny bridge that looks as if Crusoe made it himself into an outdoor kitchen/dining hall with fireplaces, wood stoves, picnic tables, and the sound of the creek water flowing around you.

Thai, a fellow intern stoking wood stoves in "Nacho Mama's" outdoor kitchen

Yes, it is totally foreign to me too, at this point in my American spoiled life, to think of cooking under these circumstances and making it gluten free, but hey, it is possible right? I mean, we all talk a good game about having to struggle and boy, I was taking it on full force! I can do this though...yeah. We stoked fires, boiled water, and chopped wood, while Thai and I were thrown into a kitchen with a camper count (50), menu, supplies, and a time schedule.

Cooking in "Nacho Mama's Cafe"

On the menu for the day (write to me for recipes if needed at gfafwellnessevent@gmail.com):

Breakfast - 7 am

Scrambled eggs

Sausage Hash with rice, green peppers, red peppers, onions, and cayenne

Reg. & Gluten Free Toast

Sliced fresh fruit

Lunch - 12:30 pm

Zucchini Fritters with spicy honey mustard (made GF with cornmeal, fried in oil)

Asian slaw with fresh homemade goat's milk yoghurt

Sliced fresh fruit (nothing goes to waste)

Fresh Kale Salad

Spring Onion Greens

Beans with Cracklings

Dinner - 6:00 pm

BBQ pig slaughtered by nearby farmer

Baked Beans

Asian slaw

Fresh Kale Salad (with every meal but breakfast)

Roasted Cassava Root

Banana Pudding (obviously not GF, so I brought some Glutino treats)

A "Mountain Cooler" is a hollow log with cold mountain creek water running through it used to store milk turning into yoghurt, fresh pickles, tea, watermelons, anything you want to keep cool.

After 12 hours in the heat (and man, does it get hot working wood stoves in the summer), covered in sweat and soot, we crawled into the SUV and headed back up the mountain and home. I remember falling out of the car Erin said in a falsetto voice, "You want to have an adventure?"

I grumbled something obscene and hobbled into the house to sleep it off.

The next day we made our famous Gluten free pizza, which they scoffed with delight, and we caught Eustace picking the last of it off the platter. For a couple of days a week, I volunteered while summer camps continued. My kid went with me, helping to feed the animals, pick the Kale, and play her mandolin to Eustace at meal times. He likes the Old Time Bluegrass she is learning.

Circle time at Turtle Island Preserve Camp before dinner

The Turtle Island Ark Treehouse where the kids play when they aren't learning skills

If you are a fan of History Channel's Mountain Men, you may wonder if Eustace Conway is as nice as he seems or if he is genuine...

He is.

Eustace has Southern charm and intelligence combined with the resolve of having a mission, which makes him very cool to know. But more importantly, I believe in his right to preserve the knowledge and ways of the people of this great country. To me, he is a patriot in every sense of the word.

My fave pic of Eustace and Savannah

I can't say that they have learned near as much from me, as I learned from them. I know I can start a fire and cook under the most extreme conditions now (yes, even in a storm and a flood) I know I can successfully be gluten free in the woods with no power, and I admit it makes me feel darn good!! There is a certain sense of empowerment to know you can survive, if need be, on your own without an Outback or P.F. Chang's.

For about 6 months I was the main volunteer running Eustace's Twitter, since they have no fast internet nor power. Appalachian State University students have helped him with hydropower for his saw and solar power for his office only. I have also helped them guide some students of ASU in a non-profit class on event planning. So, I guess I finally paid Eustace back for the amazing experience I had at Turtle Island Preserve after all.

If you would like to donate to their cause of teaching history to our children and the importance of our relationship with nature, please visit their web site.
TURTLE ISLAND PRESERVE