The Biz

Perhaps you’ve already resolved to quit smoking, lose weight or just generally be a better person in 2008. But why stop there? Maybe this is the year you resolve to make a career change—or at least take steps to make your current career more successful and meaningful. Going places: Looking for your calling? Life coach […]

20/20 hindsight

2007 is so last year. But before we dive into ‘08, Xpress takes its annual look back at the year that was, in quotes and photographs. You said it. You did it. And now it’s all here in a lengthy, if necessarily selective, digest of 2007’s high and lows as reflected in our pages. It […]

Down-home soul music

For The Avett Brothers, 2007 was a very good year. “[2007] was our biggest year,” says Seth Avett, who, along with his brother Scott and bassist Bob Crawford, comprise the Concord, N.C., trio. “It’s something that we are very proud of, for sure.” The group’s success has been fueled by a seemingly never-ending touring cycle […]

One on One

About this time every year people ask me what books I would recommend for Christmas giving. I am glad to get the question because I try to keep up with our state’s books and authors in connection with North Carolina Bookwatch, the UNC-TV program that I host. But I have learned that there is no […]

Fun for the whole familia

Ten years ago, the Asheville Art Museum sponsored an exhibit by a group of fiber artists from Latin America. In an effort to broaden the scope of the exhibit, the museum, along with the Asheville branch of Catholic Social Services, decided to expand the events around the visit to include a more in-depth look at […]

Small Bites

Most chefs probably get their fill of whining, crying and screaming from their customers, but the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is trying to recruit a few local chefs to work with an even harder-to-please audience: children. The Growing Minds seminar on Thursday, Oct. 4, is designed to train chefs to create an engaging cooking curriculum […]

Mother knows best

In the past century, society’s understanding and use of technology have undergone a profound transformation. Rapid advancements in mechanical, chemical and electronic technologies have fueled unprecedented economic and population growth worldwide. And in recent years, new information, network and media technologies have changed almost every aspect of how we live, work, play, learn and communicate. […]

Eating local

Whether driven by health consciousness, energy awareness, parochialism, fear of tainted Chinese imports or all of the above, Western North Carolina residents are showing increased interest in locally produced food. That, at least, is the conclusion of a five-year assessment conducted by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. No middlewoman: Local growers forge a direct connection […]

Garden Journal

Queen (or king) bee needed: The Asheville City Market, in connection with Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, is looking for a manager for its new producer-only destination farmers’ market in downtown Asheville. The half-time position will start this fall. Organizers say they want a diplomatic communicator who is organized, detail-oriented and an innovative thinker, with experience […]

No Reservations


The Story: A temperamental chef finds herself saddled with an orphaned niece and an unwanted sous-chef she thinks wants her job. The Lowdown: An OK diversion that's never as moving or as funny as it thinks it is, and ultimately just feels a little phony.

Adventures in local food

Without a doubt, “Local Food: Thousands of Miles Fresher” is one of the most popular bumper stickers in Western North Carolina. Born of the Local Food Campaign launched by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project some seven years ago, the bumper sticker is the sort of mantra I’m proud to sport on my car. And like […]

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: […]

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 […]

Growing smaller with thyme

“Betty started this business in 1982 and it’s gone through a lot of transitions.” The speaker is Alan Salmon. Betty Sparrow is his wife and co-grower at Wildwood Herbal Flower Farm, a small-scale nursery a stone’s throw from the Zebulon Vance birthplace on Reems Creek Road in Weaverville. Hands on: Alan Salmon delivers plants and […]

Small Bites

Shavuot, the Jewish holiday which commemorates the day the Torah was given at Mount Sinai, is almost always celebrated with a meal of dairy-derived foods. Nobody knows exactly why: According to Orthodox scholar Avraham Sutton, whose posted his thoughts at desiretoshare.com, the connection might have something to do with the ancient Jews’ sudden realization upon […]

When bees sneeze

Black Mountain beekeeper Ed Buchanan has lost 150 of his 400 hives in the past two years. “Part of it was starvation,” he says. “We didn’t have a good fall flow of goldenrod and aster. The other part was due to CCD.” (Colony collapse disorder is a mysterious malady that’s wiping out honeybees on at […]

Buzzworm news briefs

Buncombe 1, Asheville 0 A Wake County Superior Court ruling earlier this month dismissed the city’s attempt to overturn state legislation that prohibits Asheville from charging different water rates for customers outside the city limits. But the ruling by Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. also lambastes state legislators for giving Buncombe County preferential treatment, which […]

Letters to the editor

Quite a slide Your “Slippery Slopes” articles [Nov. 22 Xpress] covering the concerns with the overdevelopment of our beautiful mountains hit on my growing heartbreak as I witness these rapid changes here in Western North Carolina. I have lived in this area for over 23 years now, and I feel such a deep-heart connection to […]