Death of a sleazy man

The quintessential tale of segregationist injustice will come to the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre stage this week. Forty-seven years after Harper Lee published her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the racism, white privilege and strained ethics of rural Alabama circa 1935 remain as timely as the nightly news. Think Susan Smith—who murdered her children […]

Doom with a view

A sense of loss and potential loss runs deep in the lyrics of Nashville singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier, though it looks like she’s on a winning streak of late. Mercy Now (Lost Highway, 2005), her fourth album, gained high praise from reviewers across the country and found the singer lauded as “New/Emerging Artist of the Year” […]

Masterwork­s

Anyone who pays much attention to cultivated plants knows that there are gardeners, and then there are gardeners. People in the former category (my crowd) tend some plants and keep their yards whacked into some semblance of order. But those other folks—the true master gardeners—go way further, creating horticultural tapestries of interleaved and interwoven grace. […]

Garden Journal

Love butterflies?: Reems Creek Nursery thinks of itself as a matchmaking service for people and lepidopterans, and to that end will be offering a free seminar, “Creating a Butterfly Garden.” You can learn why sunshine, water, certain plants and shelter all foster an environment that attracts flutterbutters. The seminar will be held at 10 a.m. […]

A family affair

In a world where imported products often seem more the rule than the exception, a group of Madison County growers and crafters is rowing against the tide. Under the banner of Madison Family Farms, these go-local activists are marketing homegrown produce and value-added products and forging links with local institutional buyers. Getting their feet wet: […]

Connecting the dots on I-26

A June 11 presentation at the Asheville Design Center on the group’s alternative plan for the much-disputed Interstate 26 connector drew a visit from N.C. Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett. A host of other public officials also attended the unpublicized meeting, including state Reps. Susan Fisher and Bruce Goforth, state Sen. Tom Apodaca, Asheville Mayor Terry […]

Cold valley

The successful historical novel is a bit like a traditional patchwork quilt, composed of bits and remnants of material pieced together to create something new. Aunt Sally’s dress fabric meets Jimmy’s suit and Mama’s curtains and those matching shirts Sis made for the twins: Each piece brings its own stories, and the whole assemblage becomes […]

Garden Journal

Set your soul free: It’s time to get back to the land by way of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s 12th annual Mountain Farm and Garden Tour. Twenty-five local farms in Madison, Yancey, Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties are participating this time around. The goal of the event is to increase awareness and support for […]

Missing guns, drugs and money at Buncombe Sheriff’s Department

A routine audit performed by the Buncombe County Finance Department last December during the transition from outgoing Sheriff Bobby Medford to his successor, Van Duncan, has come up short of cash, weapons and drugs seized during criminal investigations. The Asheville Citizen-Times, which obtained a copy of an internal evidence-room audit report released to the SBI […]