This year’s Firefly Gathering, being held June 25-28 in Barnardsville, aims to take its transformation potential a step further, putting cultural transformation at the forefront. The gathering, now in its eighth year, has always been geared toward changing participants’ lives through a variety of classes based on radical ideas and concepts, but this summer, directors are working to make that goal explicit instead of implicit.
Celebrate land preservation on Land Trust Day, this June 6
Conservation groups like the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy need the support of residents and local businesses in order to achieve their work. Building on this co-dependence, the nonprofit will hold its annual “Land Trust Day” celebration Saturday, June 6.
Solar Saturday event to raise awareness about energy efficiency
On May 30, Clean Energy for Western North Carolina, the Garden Club for America’s local French Broad chapter and Audubon North Carolina (NC) will be hosting their first Solar Saturday event to “kick off” this summer season.
Harvesting serenity: First Step Farms uses agriculture to overcome addiction
First Step Farms WNC is two farmsteads, both located on historic farmland in Candler. One site grows vegetable starts for small farms; the other grows flowers for weddings and school graduations. But the farms’ primary purpose goes beyond agriculture — the two sites are home to a substance abuse recovery program that uses farming to restore self-confidence in recovering addicts.
Foraging for food, fun and adventure
Foragers live along a spectrum, and I’m fairly moderate, somewhere on the tamer end. I tag along occasionally with those who hew to a wilder code of living and eat closer to the land. The other day I served as assistant to well-known local, Alan Muskat, “The Mushroom Man,” on a wild foods tour he had arranged for some out-of-towners.
The zero-waste kitchen: Ideas for honoring the true value of food
What we often cull, throw away or compost can be the building blocks for new recipes, offering an infusion of flavor to many meals to come. And something deeper happens when we repurpose our scraps: a change of perspective.
Native pollinator meadows to open at UNCA
This season, UNC Asheville is doing its part to protect honey bees and other important pollinators by planting several new native pollinator meadows throughout the campus. The meadows have been funded by the Burt’s Bees Greater Good Foundation, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership and grants from Bee City USA.
Dandelions for dinner: Foraging and preparing a prolific spring edible
Far from the lawn nuisance it’s often considered in our culture, the dandelion has actually been celebrated since ancient times as one of the world’s top health-promoting herbs. Chris Smith of Sow True Seed offers several tasty and nutritious ways to prepare this easily identifiable and abundant wild edible.
Mother Earth News pioneers gather at Asheville fair
Some of Mother Earth News’ earliest “Mothers” — whose roots go back to the 1970s and 1980s — got together this past Sunday at the Mother Earth News Fair, which was held at the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher. Nearly two dozen former employees and families met for brunch and to share their recollections from the decades past. I was one of them.
Mother Earth News Fair offers attendees a taste of sustainable living
Mother Earth News Fair offered no shortage of activities, workshops and vendors to educate and entertain attendees over the weekend of April 11 and 12 during the magazine’s second annual event at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center.
In photos: Mother Earth News Fair 2015
Crowds of locals and visitors converged on the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center Saturday and Sunday, April 11-12, to take in the sights, sounds and tastes of the 2015 Mother Earth News Fair. Click through for a slideshow of photos by Tori Pace.
Mother Earth News Fair gets down and dirty in Asheville
Mother Earth News Fair returns to the Western North Carolina Agriculture Center on Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12, marking the fair’s second consecutive appearance in Asheville. The fair is an opportunity for fans of the bi-monthly environmental magazine to get hands-on experience with the topics covered in the publication from sustainable agriculture to green home building.
How to master the fundamentals of home schooling
From the Get It! Guide: Pulling a child out of traditional school or deciding to homeschool from the start can seem daunting . But local experts say there are many ways resources to help parents navigate their options, including homeschool networks right in Asheville.
When the breaker flips: A vegan love story
From the Get It! Guide: John, a self-described “poster child for carnivores,” may seem like an odd match for Ann, a devoted vegan. But Ann’s beliefs inspired a change in John’s lifestyle — one that John says saved his life.
Talking youth education with Dawn Chávez and Asheville GreenWorks
From the Get It! Guide: Asheville GreenWorks’ new executive director may be new to Asheville. But her roots in environmental education go all the way back to childhood exploration in NYC.
Empowerment from the Earth: Reclaiming Cherokee health and heritage
Cherokee is a community in flux. Decadeslong high poverty and unemployment rates are beginning to decline, but access to healthy food remains limited and cultural values seem to be changing. “It’s Western civilization versus our traditional Cherokee ways,” say community leaders. But community efforts are using gardens to reconnect the Cherokee people to local food, health and a collective heritage defined by knowledge of the earth.
Watering the sprouts
From the Get It! Guide: Some parents and teachers are seeing our children’s education fall short. It’s time to consider “who” we are graduating into the world, they say — and shift the focus from memorization and abstract academia to purpose and values.
Welcome home: Veterans Healing Farm connects returning veterans to their community
From the Get It! Guide: John Mahshie says he realized the value of the exercise, healthy eating and time spent in the sun that comes with farming — and what that could mean for veterans experiencing isolation or even suicidal thoughts as they struggle to reintegrate into civilian life. “It’s a natural fit for this sort of healing,” he says.
The call of the bees: Phyllis Stiles on founding Bee City USA
From the Get It! Guide: Ever doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world? Well, according to Bee City USA founder Phyllis Stiles, the evidence of our power to change our environment for the better is literally (buzzing) all around us.
The Collider brings a collision of ideas to help businesses navigate climate change
From the Get It! Guide: For a business to succeed long term, it has to factor in supply and demand, market trends, technology and, according to one of Asheville’s newest ventures, climate change. The Collider calculates climate change data to present trend predictions as an asset for businesses new and old.
From dirt to dining room: Restaurant gardens give new meaning to farm-to-table cuisine
Asheville restaurateurs are giving the term “locally sourced produce” a new meaning by picking up a shovel and digging in the dirt themselves. This translates to a farm-to-table journey that, for some, may only be a few yards.