Elizabeth Heiskell on Hospitality, Hats and Baseboards

We’ve had a season of hosting little things and bigger things and having our favorite house guests, which has been so wonderful and fun. But, #RealTalk, if you’re a half-way introvert like me (I’m totally borderline INFJ/ENFJ if you’re a Meyers-Briggs person) living in a house with lots of people and having guests over means you have to find time for self care.

How do people who entertain for a living do it?

Photo property of Elizabeth Heiskell Catering and Woodson Ridge Farms

Elizabeth Heiskell, my cousin up in North Mississippi is basically THE most amazing hostess, caterer, storyteller, and chef that I know personally. Her farm-to-table events are known all over Delta, her farm’s vegetables are used in kitchens from Nashville to Oxford, her food is coveted at tailgates across the state, and now, her recipes and bubbly personality are being beamed into living rooms around the country because she’s been cooking on the Today Show about once a month.

I gave her a ring recently to pick her brain about hospitality, entertaining, and family… and what I got was actual delta-deep-south-debutante-wisdom for the ages. 😉

Elizabeth wears so many different hats (farmer, caterer, TV personality, hostess, business owner, mama) so I wanted to make sure that I knew which one she wore most often. Her answer?  “A lunatic.”

Her time as a professional began working with Karen Carrier, a chef in Memphis. “She was amazing. I worked with her as a caterer in high school, and then after college I stayed with her while I was looking for a ‘real job’. Eventually my real job became my own catering company because deep down I’m a cook. I love food, I love growing vegetables. I’m not classically trained, but it’s the only thing I’ve ever done. I know it. I’m just so comfortable when I’m doing it.”

Like so many southern women, Elizabeth is deeply influenced by  family’s expectations and understanding of food and hospitality. “You know, our family… we grew up with food being the most important thing. In times of pain, the worst of the worst, food was there to comfort us. And then, in the best of the best times… food is there again. It was just something that was so important to us.”

Elizabeth’s table settings and food presentation can be simply elegant or completely grand. When I asked her about her ability to design a meal and set a table with such elegance, she reminded me that her mother is an artist, like mine. “We just have to learn to SEE things, and mama made sure she taught me how. And, then, all of the women in our family know how to arrange flowers.”

Photo property of Elizabeth Heiskell Catering and Woodson Ridge Farms

Then she went on, “One of my earliest memories was visiting Great-grandmother. We’d go see her at her house at Osceola, near Leland, Mississippi. I remember one time I had lunch with her alone at her house. I must have been… maybe eight or so. She had the table completely set with all of the silver, all of the china, crystal.

I asked her ‘Who else is coming?’ because you know, it was so fancy.

And she said ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, Great-grandmother, it it looks so beautiful. Isn’t someone else coming?’
‘Elizabeth, no one will ever come to my table that’s ever more important than I am. I set this for myself.’

“And that was just her. She loved entertaining. She wasn’t waiting on someone to come to pull out her beautiful things. Her crystal, her silver…using it pleased her. And you know, when I set a buffet, all of that history is there. It’s deep deep within me, and it’s from all of those experiences.”

And when Elizabeth sets a buffet, whether it’s for a nonprofit fundraising gala, her brother’s wedding reception, or a small funeral luncheon, Elizabeth’s food, flowers, and serving pieces reflect this care, elegance, beauty, and bounty.

On top of all this, for the past five years or so, Elizabeth has extended beyond hosting other people’s events and creating food, to hosting her own events and growing food. When her husband Luke was approached about starting a vegetable farm north of Oxford, Mississippi, Elizabeth was skeptical at best. Then, she traveled to Louisiana to see her would-be-farm’s sister location and was sold. “I saw these Easter egg radishes, and other things I’d only seen in magazines. Baby purple carrots, kohlrabi, spinach. It was incredible and I knew we had to do it.” Woodson Ridge Farms was born.

Once the farm was up-and-running, she had to wear a new hat… that of vegetable hawker. “I would go to Memphis and sell the vegetables. I had these huge heavy crates, and there was no AC in the prison van that I was driving.. can you picture it? Selling those vegetables, loading and unloading those crates at every restaurant so the chefs could take their pick…that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done AND the best thing.”

And now, the the farm sells Community Sponsored Agriculture boxes, makes a premiere Bloody Mary mix and also hosts farm-to-table suppers nearly once a season and ranging in cuisine from a New Orleans’ brunch to a Tomato Spectacular.

Photo property of Elizabeth Heiskell Catering and Woodson Ridge Farms

But then, how does she DO it and still stay sane?

It turns out that her success is based in the most sincere spirit of hospitality, goodwill between guests and hosts. She confided, “I always make sure the reason I’m having something is not to impress anybody. I’m just there to bring people together. It doesn’t matter what we’re eating… it could be hot dogs, Rotel and chips. But whatever it is, I try to make people feel comfortable, welcome, and make sure they have a great time.”

And she does. If you’ve ever attended one of Elizabeth’s events, big or small, she never seems rushed or anxious. She stops to speak and makes sure to have a visit with just about everyone. She notices people, which also happens to be the way other people make her feel most welcome. “When someone remembers big or small things about you… how you take your coffee, for instance. It means they were listening to you, I think. That really matters.” Her guests, and her clients know that she listens to them by the way the tables she sets and the meals she serve reflect their tastes, their likes, and their passions.

“Pay attention” I’ve written. “Listen.”

Really good advice for friendships and other relationships, too, I think. I’m so thankful to have had this talk… now if I can just put what she’s told me into action…

When I look back on my notes, I find one last pearl… one that I think I may not have as much trouble actually living out. “Don’t ever worry about cleaning your baseboards. No one sees anything from the waist down, so leave it alone.” 😉