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Bruce Wilson has organic chewing tobacco crop ready to harvest Chewing tobacco grown organically, without pesticides, is healthier, he believes. Test crop is 30 plants imported from Western Kentucky with the aid of David Herbst. Maybe signals a whole new industry in Adair County, maybe it could toppling Red Man and Mammoth Cave from their lofty sales slots. Maybe not Father of Neutralization Diet raises organic gardens, is one of area's most respected food critics By Ed Waggener Bruce Wilson, the man who invented the "Neutralization Diet," is a tobacco chewing man who is a health food purist. His garden is grown organically, without the use of pesticides. And that provided the impetus for his latest venture. "I didn't like the idea of all the 'stuff' they put on tobacco," he said, "so I decided to grow my own." He thinks that tobacco, in its natural state, is safe to chew or smoke. He believes the pesticides are the reason for all the health scares today. "You didn't hear of Indians having cancer," he said, "and they smoked--and I guess chewed--tobacco all the time." With the help of fellow Adair Countian David Herbst, whose regional UK Extension office is in Princeton, KY, Mr. Wilson obtained 30 dark tobacco plants, which he's successfully grown this season in one of his organic gardens on Keen-Wilson Road in the Ozark Community of Adair County. Dark tobacco is the ingredient for good chewing tobacco, Mr. Wilson says. In its Western Kentucky growing belt,Dark tobacco is usually fire-cured but Wilson will cut and spear the tobacco and air cure it the way burley tobacco farmers have always done it here. Will concoct own recipe for chewing tobacco Then, he said, "I'll mix up my own recipe to make into chewing tobacco." He'll try mixing in some molasses, some of his own secret recipe of spices, and may a little honey. "I think it will be real good." Mr. Wilson says that in the old days, other people grew their own chewing tobacco. "I remember when I was a young boy," he said, "A neighbor, Mr. Denton gave me a plug of his home grow. He said," Mr. Wilson remembers, "'Here, try this,' and he gave me a good supply. I tried it, and it nearly burned my mouth up. I took it back," he remembers. "I told Mr. Denton I sure appreciated it, but I just couldn't handle it. He said, 'I guess not. It separates the men from the boys.'" But he never forgot the idea that you don't have to go to the store to get everything you want. You can make a lot of it yourself. Whether he'll ever decide to put the genius which made him one of the most respected hog farmers in Kentucky to full use to develop the product is not yet decided. Likely as not, he won't. He's pretty busy, as well, managing several hundred oil wells, which have become much more profitable with the crude oil run-up. For now, the crop is worth it for his own pleasure, it says. It may never be a huge threat to Red Man and Mammoth Cave, but it could be. Don't get the wrong idea: He's broadly travelled But don't get the wrong idea. Mr. Wilson buys anything he wants. It's not the money. It's the health principle. And he's just a little particular about quality. When he hears about a new restaurant or a food he'd like to sample, he and wife Patsy will make a special trip to try it. They've made pilgrimages to such places as Avery Island, LA, to sample Tabasco Sauce and see it made. Tabasco may be a secret ingredient in the chewing tobacco, too, by the way. He's an expert on Kentucky barbecue of all kinds, and knows when hit Pat & Norman's BBQ in Burkesville to catch chicken coming off the grill with just the right finish--and won't abide any that isn't cooked to perfection. He recently helped son Chris of Golden Rule Realty-Wilson,with a big Land Between the Lakes sale in Western Kentucky not so much for the value of his assistance in the successful auction, but because it would be a good chance to find the best catfish and barbecue in that storied foodie paradise. And, when he wanted to some new Pointer brand of overalls, he told Patsy, "Simp has been a good neighbor. Let's just take them over to Bristol and spend the night and let them see where the overalls are made. So the two couples, the Bruce Wilsons and the Simpson Relifords drove to the factory in Bristol, TN, to see them made and buy them where they are made, and of course, to check out the eats. As he does everywhere he travels, Bruce left a lasting impression. When they got back, friend V.T. Yarberry, was checking out the classy blue denim, blanket lined coat Bruce Wilson was wearing, a garment classy enough to wear doing farm chores or to church. Bruce told, in great detail, about the quality of the coat, about the company, and about his experience at Bristol. "You ought to go over and buy some, yourself," Bruce recommended. He told Yarberry that the company had an internet site; about it's symbol, a hunting dog, and how it would bark when one clicked on Pointerbrand.com and that he could learn more about the place there. Yarberry called the phone number he found at the site and made some inquiries. The voice on the other end of the line asked Yarberry where he was from, and he said, "Columbia. Columbia, KY." The Pointer representative asked how he'd learned about their company. He said, "A friend of mine, Bruce Wilson told me." "Oh yes," the woman said, "we know Mr. Wilson very well." He left a lasting impression in Bristol, just as he has in Burkesville, New Iberia, and everywhere he goes. The Neutralization Diet Mr. Wilson's Neutralization Diet is simple: You balance an otherwise unhealthy diet component with something which is good for you. Enjoy Krispy Creme donuts, but neutralize them with a GNC health food. Eat country ham, but balance that with a bowl of oatmeal. Offset a twice weekly barbecue feast with plenty of fresh from the garden, high anti-oxidant vegetables. What makes the diet more believable is that Mr. Wilson has not commercialized it. The Neutralization Diet is more of a free philosophy he gives away; not a business. It fits into those philosophies like the Aristolean "all things in moderation" theory. It just sort of works, like Grover's Pick One Vice and Stay with it Theory which says that a man is okay if he sticks to one vice, in moderation, of course, between: Womanizing, gambling, and drinking. Mix any two, it says, and he's a goner. Besides diet, Mr. Wilson also believes in exercise. He's frequent on the Pinewood Country Club course, where his turn of phrase makes him a favorite. "I didn't hit that ball with much authority," he's been heard to say, when a drive or a putt falls well short of its target. Or, another way he'll put it when the shot falls short or goes off course is, "I buckacred that shot."Golfers are used to his colorful way of putting the weather. When a storm cloud comes up and it looks like rain will fall, golfing buddy Curt Yarberry says, "Bruce will say, 'It's going to come a shirt-tail wetter.' The he'll explain it, 'If I was out plowing with my old mule and it came up clouds that those, I'd head for the house. Otherwise I'd get my shirt-tail wet.'" Has two big organic gardens on his place That's why he maintains two big gardens on his 170 acre plus spread on Keen-Wilson Road, why his freezer is stocked with his own organically grown Angus beef. The gardens have tomatoes growing in sequence to come in stages. They include everything from the cherry tomatoes his grandchildren, Simon and Gracie love, to beefsteak or Old Fashioned dinner plate covering ones. One row, yet to fully ripened, is set from plants he received from legendary tomato grower A.L. Sinclair. They're in cages and the tops are over a six-footer's heads. Probably better than what Pewee could have done with them, himself, but Bruce won't say it. "Pewee is a real gardener," he says. In addition, there's organically grown sweet peppers, red and green. Banana peppers, and jalapenos. He has eggplant and corn. Squash, green beans, cucumbers, hill onions (though his are Democrat hill onions, not KY 206 Republican hill onions.) And cantaloupe and sweet red watermelon. For the fall harvest, he has turnips, collard greens, and pumpkins for Simon and Gracie's Halloween. His wife, Patsy, who is retired after a career with the Westlake Healthcare Team, cooks the homegrown crops into the most delicous delicacies, from farm grown steaks, to chili made with homegrown hot peppers and organic hamburger from his farm and freezer, a patentable corn relish, to pastry treats like her fried turnovers, shock full of sweet home sliced peaches. This fall will be the test on the latest This fall, after the first recipe is tested, Mr. Wilson will know whether this latest venture, the homegrown, homemade chewing tobacco works. If it does, it will be an addition to a long line of Wilson successes in the Ozark community going back to 1948, when the family moved to Adair County after being displaced from the Gosser Ridge area of Russell when Lake Cumberland was impounded. His dad, the late Ivy Wilson, was agricultural pioneer His dad, the late Ivy Wilson, brought hand harvested KY 31 Fescue from the Nancy area to Adair County. Bruce remembers the device his father made to harvest KY 31 Fescue along the right of way. It was a hand held implement which Mr. Wilson held while riding a horse. He'd harvest the dry seeds with the tool, which held the seeds in a catcher, which, when full, would be transferred to a seed sack.Family farmland stretching along Russell Creek, is a showplace The Wilson farms stretch along Keen-Wilson Road from the second field past the Louie B. Nunn Parkway and run along Wilson Road down to Russell Creek, which played a big role in Mr. Wilson's early days in Adair County. Bruce and his brother, the late Curtis Wilson, fished for redeye and catfish in the storied Bailey Hole on the perimeter of the farm. He thinks, and his notion is corraborated by another great redeye fisherman, Owen Pollard, that Russell Creek may be a little bit lower than it used to be, and that the fish may be smaller. Still, the creek is a magnet for him, with its sounds and creatures, and he still fishes a little bit. The farmland, transformed by the work of the older generations, naturally scenic, now has a Kentucky bluegrass or Lancaster County, PA look, and Gosser Ridge neatness thrown in. It's now home now to Bruce and Patsy's son and daughter in law Chris and Jill Rossok Wilson and those precious grandchildren, Simon and Gracie, and to guests who can now stay in this big corner of paradise at Chris & Jill's Hill & Valley Bed and Breakfast. Guests there will be treated to the finest Adair County cooking, including food from the organic garden of Bruce Wilson, and can stay in a valley now so pretty one can imagine that it could only have been destined by the hand of God to come under the stewardship of displaced Gosser Ridge master farmers, who have the touch for creating picture postcard farmland. This story was posted on 2008-09-10 03:11:04
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