Jones Valley Farm names scholarship for retiring food writer Bob Carlton
Bob Carlton, longtime food and entertainment writer for The Birmingham News and AL.com, is retiring at the end of May after 46 years in journalism.
In recognition of his career, Jones Valley Teaching Farm has announced a scholarship in his name.
“We are so grateful for the work that Bob Carlton has done for the Birmingham community,” said Amanda Storey, Executive Director of Jones Valley Teaching Farm. “A fan of Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s work from the beginning, he has also been a vocal champion of Birmingham’s food community for years. We are excited to be a part of this scholarship fund honoring his legacy.”
The Bob Carlton scholarship will pay for a student to attend Camp Grow, an educational, and interactive learning opportunity for students who are curious about food, farming, and the culinary arts.
Camp Grow occurs for six week-long sessions at Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s Center for Food Education during which students build technical agriculture and culinary skills while expanding their social and emotional competence as they work alongside their peers, instructors, and other strategic community partners.
Camp Grow is a fee-based program and part of the farm’s earned revenue strategy. One week of camp is $400, inclusive of early and after-care, a curated lunch, and snacks. To promote equitable access to Camp Grow, full scholarships are offered to students attending Birmingham City Schools, Title I schools, and those with financial needs.
Carlton will retire on May 30.
Carlton recapped his career this week in an appearance on the podcast “Down in Alabama” with host Ike Morgan.
Carlton grew up in Alabama’s Black Belt, in Linden, studied journalism and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1980.
Starting with a summer internship in 1979, and becoming full-time after graduation, Carlton began work with The Birmingham News and was affiliated with Advance Local and its brands for his entire career. That includes Alabama Media Group, AL.com, This is Alabama and It’s a Southern Thing.
In his early years as an entertainment writer, he covered music, movies, radio and television. He took over as food writer in 2008 from retiring food editor Jo Ellen O’Hara, who died this year on Feb. 12, at 87.
On an episode of the “Down in Alabama” podcast this week with host Ike Morgan, Carlton recapped his illustrious writing life.
“My whole career has been a real rewarding career for me, especially these last couple of months that I’ve gotten to reconnect with people I’ve worked with and people I’ve written about,” Carlton said.
“The thing I enjoy most about my job is that I get to meet everyday people who do everyday, but remarkable, things and they’re unsung heroes, if you’d like,” he said. “You get to interview them and hear their stories. Some of them I’ve become friends with through writing about them because they’re just nice people, neat people, people you’d like to know better. I couldn’t pick one person from that, but there are dozens of people like that I meet and continue to meet.”
Carlton was so revered as a food writer, legendary restaurant owners sought him out.
In 2019, Bright Star owner Jimmy Koikos called Carlton and asked for a favor.
“He said, ‘Come out to the restaurant. I want to talk to you about something,’” Carlton said. “He had found out he was dying of cancer and he said, ‘I want you to write my obituary.’”
That was indicative of the deep relationship Carlton had with his sources. “He knew he was dying, and wanted to tell his story, and he trusted me to tell it,” Carlton said.
“It was really special that he trusted me to write that story,” he said. “In a bittersweet way, it was one of my favorite things that I’ve ever worked on.”
The first item on Carlton’s retirement list is travel. He and his wife, Joie, will be traveling to France to Normandy Beach and retracing the steps of the U.S.-led invasion force that defeated Hitler in World War II, traveling through Belgium and into Germany.
Carlton said that while he’s retiring, he can’t help but keep writing.
“I have the opportunity, and I believe I’m going to take advantage of it, to do some freelance work for the company on a limited basis, so you might not see the end of my byline,” he said. “I may be back on the site again in a very sporadic basis in a couple of months after I take some time off.”