On Mother’s Day weekend in Starkville a placed called The Biscuit Shop will open. There is an interesting story here.
Starkville native Michelle Tehan grew up around her grandmother’s kitchen making biscuits and gravy from scratch every Sunday morning. There was no recipe. Instead, Tehan learned to get the “look and feel” of biscuits right through trial and error — “a little more buttermilk, a little more flour,” she said. She brought what she learned into her own kitchen, where she cooks for her husband, 7-year-old triplets and 5-year-old.
Beginning about a year ago, when friends would learn Tehan was making a batch of homemade biscuits, they would ask her to make some extra. She would put a half-dozen or so in a brown bag and sell them out of her home. The orders grew. Last September, Tehan walked away from her job in order to go full-time into a biscuit-making venture. The first day of business will be May 10.
Tehan certainly has fans. She brought 960 biscuits to the Cotton District Arts Festival two weeks ago and sold them all.
The Biscuit Shop will be located in a small shotgun house at 600 S. Jackson St. (Tehan said the front porch is bigger than the kitchen area.) It will be a come-and-go set-up. The doors will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays. Tehan said there will be buttermilk biscuits, as well as a variety: sweet blueberry, sausage, jalapeno cheddar, cranberry orange, cinnamon sugar and others.
Tehan personally makes every biscuit.
Staying in Starkville, Boardtown Gardens & More opened up recently. It is located at 404 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. W., right next to Handyman Rental. John and Dawn Herring are the owners. She’s from Pass Christian. He’s from Hattiesburg. They came to town as Mississippi State students and never left. Back in 1980, the couple opened Boardtown Garden Center & Landscaping. The landscaping side of the business has never gone away but the retail side went on hiatus in 2000. Now, it’s back.
Dawn Herring said the shop sells garden supplies and decor for outdoor gardens, as well as perennials, herbs, trees and shrubs.
“We try to buy from Mississippi companies but search for unique things that are not available from the big box stores,” Herring said. “We also carry organic garden supplies.”
The business has spaces available inside for antique and art vendors. Local artists offer paintings, pottery and vintage collectibles. Herring said she plans to host art, craft and gardening classes in the future. A wedding registry is also offered.
Boardtown Gardens & More is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
In Columbus, Fashion Apparel is changing locations. The business opened in 1984 and is located at Gardner Boulevard today. The new location will be on 18th Avenue North in Town Square, which is directly across from Chick-fil-A.
Owner Kerry Blalock said the move is all about getting more visibility for the business, which sells high-end boutique-brand clothing at discount prices. The business is open seasonally, typically February, March and April, and August, September and October.
Fashion Apparel will be at its new location in Town Square when it opens on July 31, Blalock said.
Lastly, something for fans of ketchup.
Whataburger announced Monday it is bottling its two signature ketchups and selling them at 200 select Walmarts across the U.S. The Walmarts in Starkville, Columbus and West Point are part of the partnership. The burger chain’s condiments — “Fancy Ketchup” and “Spicy Ketchup” — hit shelves this week. They come in 20-ounce bottles.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.