Very berried bramble ramble: Those itching to cash in on brambles can get expert advice at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Fletcher on Thursday, July 20. SunnyRidge Farm Inc., a Florida-based grower of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, will meet with berry growers interested in becoming commercial suppliers. The program will also … Read more
In his book The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia (University of Tennessee Press, 1991), Garry Barker explains his reasons for living with a houseful of crafts. “Every handcrafted piece,” he wrote, “tells a story, evokes a memory of a very real person, adds a special warmth and character to daily life.” Barker moved to Asheville … Read more
Highest and best use As I read Cecil Bothwell’s well-written and carefully researched article “The(Non)enforcers,” [July 12 Xpress], I was struck by the irony of Greenlife Grocery and Staples being two examples of nonenforcement. Appropriately, these two businesses are almost directly opposite each other on Merrimon Avenue, just as they are, in my mind, almost … Read more
A seat at the table Despite any differences they may have, the seven sitting members of the Buncombe County Board of Education all have one thing in common: None are students in Buncombe County Schools. 15-year-old Adam King aims to remedy that situation. Since February, he’s been stirring up local interest in adding a student … Read more
“The competitive pressure exerted by credit unions on the banking industry in North Carolina is substantial.” — Thad Woodard, N.C. Bankers Association Better than banks?: Customers line up at the Ecusta Credit Union in Pisgah Forest, which has some 7,400 members. photos by Jonathan Welch Once referred to as “the poor man’s bank,” credit unions … Read more
Community gardens may be all the rage today, but the concept is nothing new in Asheville. Beginning in the early 1980s and continuing until the spring of 2000, a nonprofit called Mountain Area Gardeners in Communities (MAGIC) blazed a trail here, maintaining as many as 13 community gardens outside of schools, housing projects, homeless shelters … Read more
Growing downtown: The George Washington Carver Edible Park, maintained by the Bountiful Cities Project. photos by Rebecca Bowe Darcel Eddins reaches up into the sun-speckled branch of a low-hanging tree and plucks off two ripened, juicy yellow fruits. “These are called shiro plums,” she explains. “Would you like to try one?” It’s an offer that’s … Read more
“We look forward to the next step, whatever that is.” — CAN Board Member Joe Minicozzi. It has been a few weeks since a third-party report on deficiencies in Asheville’s Unified Development Ordinance and its enforcement was submitted to the city, and some are ready for Council to take action. During the public comment period … Read more
Katy, bar the door: Asheville wins the distinction of the nation’s number one whitewater “dream town” in the August issue of Outside magazine, on the strength of all that high-class whitewater within easy striking distance. (Any more “best of” titles and that bungalow you’ve always dreamed of will be pie in the sky. On the … Read more
Pretty in pink: The author takes it to the river in style. photo by Richard Bernabe “It’s all an illusion,” photographer Richard Bernabe said, directing me as I attempted to get both hands around a 20-inch brown trout that someone else had caught. To make matters worse, I was wearing a pink shirt (“makes for … Read more
