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\f0\fs24 \cf0 Westwater Country Hams Script\ For: NC Now\
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Kelly McCullen: \b Henry West spent his boyhood helping his
father process meats. He'd convinced himself he not follow his Dad's path but Henry's heart
had other ideas. Henry liked meat processing but around age forty, he found he LOVED curing
country hams.\
\b0 \
\b Kelly Mc: \b0 What makes somebody love country ham as
opposed to bacon or sausage or any of the other kinds of meats you could fry up in the
morning?\ \
\b Henry West Jr.: \b0 Everybody likes bacon. Most everybody
likes country ham except for some of the people who have never tried it and have never gotten
used to it because of the salt content. They'd rather have, they think it's too salty until
they get used to it. \ \
Kelly Mc: \b Henry is 82 and retired to follow his heart's
desire. But his heart keeps pulling back to his Westwater Country Ham House every workday.\
\b0 \
\b Henry West Jr: \b0 If I wasn't in this, of course, I'm old
enough now I could certainly retire and wouldn't do anything at all but I'd like to travel
and all that kind of stuff.\ \
\b Kelly Mc: \b0 You know, you talk this retire game but
when we walk in here, you're working. So what is \'93retirement\'94 for you?\
\
\b Henry West Jr: \b0 Being able to do what I want to when I
want to do it \{Laughs\}\ \
Kelly Mc: \b Henry passed the torch to his son-in-law,
Bart Smith, a few years ago. \
\b0 \
\b Bart Smith: \b0 We'll probably tell that we don't love
everything we do, but when we leave it for a short period of time, you've always got
to feel like you've got to come back and he's been talking retirement for twenty years.
\ \
Kelly Mc: \b Bart's worked with Henry for nearly thirty
of Westwater Country Hams' forty years in business in Warsaw, North Carolina. They say
so much has changed, from getting older to food inspectors changing the rules, but their
country ham curing remains the same.\
\b0 \
\b Kelly Mc: \b0 I don't see too much \'93high tech\'94
here.\ \
\b Bart Smith \b0 \'96 There isn't much \'93high tech\'94
in the country ham business as far as the way they're processed, or the way we process
them anyway. We still do it the old fashioned way. Everything's done by hand, basically.
\ \
Kelly Mc: \b Salt, sugar, a pinch of this, a little
of that and a LOT of time make a Westwater ham. It's hands-on work using techniques handed
down as long as anyone can remember. \
\b0 \
\b Bart Smith: \b0 We're a family that work together and
we try to play together when we have the opportunity. But really, I walk out here every morning
and he's out here every morning but we don't look at it from a father-in-law and son-in-law
relationship. We come out here and work. \
\ Kelly Mc:
\b Ryan Smith is Bart's son and Henry's grandson. He was raised around country ham. Like his
grandfather, he's going to find another line of work....for now. \
\b0 \
\b Ryan Smith: \b0 As a member of the younger generation,
you know, they tend to go for your doctors, your lawyers and everything but, as I've grown
up, I've realized more and more how I appreciate what my grandfather has developed around here.
\ \
\b Ryan Smith: \b0 He's developed a good customer service.
My daddy has taken a lot of good notes from him and passed them on to me and, hopefully,
if it all works out, I hope to help keep this business alive and running. \
\
\b Bart Smith: \b0 You've got a certain amount of pride you've
got to put into whatever you try to produce. And, I think the pride and being able to produce
a product, like country hams or anything else; you've got to put a certain amount of yourself
into it. \ \
Kelly Mc: Henry and Bart have about seventy years' experience making country hams. Bart
hopes he has about thirty more years in him. Time will tell if Ryan will head off to work
only to find true happiness in salting hams.\ \
\ }