Happy trails: A 10-mile trail system in the Beaverdam area of Haywood County opened to hikers and mountain bikers earlier this month. Located in the formerly off-limits Rough Creek watershed, the mostly flat trail loops are reportedly ideal for family hikes or beginning bikers Trail work at the site was done by Cedar Mountain-based Trail […]
Author: Kent Priestley
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Garden Journal
Tall, slender and exotic: The American Bamboo Society’s Southeastern Chapter will host its second annual Bamboo Festival at the North Carolina Arboretum on Saturday, July 12, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will include a lecture series, demonstrations, crafts, plant sales and a […]
The Dirt: The bugs of summer
I was in my garden the other day when an unfamiliar butterfly landed on a flower nearby. It was small and sleek, with long, narrow black wings that had white spots spread along them. Before I could get my camera, though, it was gone, off to sip another flower. Hornin’ in: I’m going to eat […]
Happy feet, sore fingers
In the summer of 1966, in Washington, D.C., a mysterious drug called LSD was receiving scrutiny from Congress. In Chicago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was confronting discrimination on a scale that rivaled what he’d seen in the Deep South. On television, the nation was about to encounter the primetime sight of a character […]
Country roads
The bulldozers and graders are silent for now, but if all goes as scheduled, work will begin later this fall on widening a nearly 30-mile stretch of U.S. 19/23 from two lanes to four, beginning around Mars Hill. We interupt this service: Bethel Baptist Church will lose parking to the widening of U.S. 19/23. The […]
Outdoor Journal
Birds do it: Fall in love, that is. And now you can get a sneak peek into their annual rites. On Sunday, June 22, Chimney Rock Park will host a Breeding Birds Guided Bird Walk, led by Park Ornithologist Simon Thompson. Thompson will point out the family life of downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers, all […]
Garden Journal
This is the last time we’ll tell you: The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) will hold its annual Mountain Farm and Garden Tour on Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29, from 1 to 6 p.m. both days. Tour participants will see a surprising diversity of agricultural operations, from generations-old family farms to community-supported agriculture […]
Raise your green thumb
Americans respond to high food prices by digging in the dirt. How about you?
Park it
The civic-minded got an earful about the intricacies of how the Asheville Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department works during the ninth installment of the city’s 2008 Citizens Academy on June 5. “It’s All Fun and Games!!!” featured talks led by Parks and Recreation Director Roderick Simmons, Assistant Director Debbie Ivester and Asheville Civic Center […]
The Dirt: Baldy’s song
A chicken may die for a number of reasons, but seldom from “natural causes.” An animal so perfectly designed to be eaten, so attractive to a variety of predators, rarely gets the chance to expire of its own accord. Baldy was different—but then Baldy was no ordinary chicken. It was the spring of 1997 when […]
Outdoor Journal
New kid in town: Western North Carolina has a new outdoor-sports magazine. Debuting last month, Western North Carolina’s Adventure Outdoors covers hunting, fishing and conservation concerns in this part of the state, with regular profiles of sportsmen and women throughout our region. Adventure Outdoors’ publisher is Joe Street. The magazine is seeking field reporters willing […]
Garden Journal
Hay hay, my my: Spring rains and adequate soil-moisture levels have permitted the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to wrap up its Emergency Hay Program. The department sold 729 large hay bales and 4,251 small bales to farmers in the region via the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville. With approval from the Council […]
Wanted: food for Fido
Meals on Wheels could use your pet-food donation.
Outdoor Journal
Are you lonely tonight?: The next meeting of the Pigeon Valley Bassmasters will be held on Monday, June 9, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Canton Library. Nonmembers are encouraged to attend and make friends with their fellow anglers. Howdy, neighbor: Longtime West Asheville outdoor consignment shop Second Gear has moved across the street to […]
Garden Journal
Make dad happy: In the past you’ve given him neckties, wallets, Beer Nuts and a universal remote control, but what Dad really hopes for this Father’s Day is a ticket for Quality Forward’s annual Father’s Day Garden Tour on Sunday, June 15. And who can blame him? Featured during this year’s tour will be water […]
What do I look like, a dictionary?
Xpress team fights for its life during annual spelling bee
Happy endings
Local 5th-grader wins hearts and minds with his radio essay.
Disc jockeys
Reynolds High School senior Dallas Shaw was introduced to the team sport known as Ultimate two years ago. The school had a new disc-sports coach—with a new strategy for getting participants.
“It was his first year here, teaching biology and he would give, like, extra credit to anyone who came out to play,” Shaw says. “So I came to one of the meetings and just kept coming out.”
Off da chain
You’ve seen them: Dogs, dragging a heavy chain or wire from their necks, tied to a stake or a tree or a dilapidated doghouse. The scene around them is equally forlorn—an overturned food dish, a belt of bare ground where the dog paces the day away. They bark, they snarl, they whimper. They have nowhere […]
Garden Journal
Woodland wisdom: The Men’s Garden Club of Asheville will present a talk by Amy Garascia called “Basics of Land Management” at the Botanical Gardens at UNCA on Tuesday, June 3, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The presentation by Garascia, who is program coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service’s Woodland Steward Series program, will cover the history […]
Outdoor Journal
You can keep that trout, pardner: Anglers trying their hands at mountain waters designated as “delayed-harvest” are permitted to keep the trout they catch from those waters, beginning at 6 a.m. on June 7, when regulations change to “hatchery supported.” Under hatchery-supported regulations, which remain in effect through Sept. 30, anglers may keep a maximum […]