Rolling out on Sept. 18, the inaugural Pedal to Plate event will offer tours of six Madison County farms along a 33-mile bike route, followed by a locally sourced farm dinner at Root Bottom Farm.
Tag: Madison County
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Murky future for Madison’s historic jailhouse
UPDATE [6/24/16]: Madison County Commissioners voted to accept the $99,800 bid for the old jailhouse property Thursday, June 23, at their monthly meeting by unanimous decision. Josh Copus, a local potter and founder of Clayspace Co-op, announced he and several partners are the purchasers on Facebook. Initial indications are the building will be utilized as […]
Letter writer: Silver Mine fire inspires poem
“Out of the ashes of her arsonist’s deliberate attack
She will rise in time and take her mountains back”
Celebrating Madison County’s farm buildings
Appalachian Barn Alliance hosts Barn Month 2016, a series of events surrounding the third annual Barn Day on Saturday, May 21. The festivities kick off on Friday, May 5, with the opening reception of The Barns of Madison County exhibit at The Madison County Arts Center.
Smoke and mirrors: the death of tobacco in WNC
Few crops have been as central to North Carolina’s economy and culture — or as controversial — as tobacco. Historically, its high market value and the relative ease of growing it made tobacco a staple for many Western North Carolina farmers. As late as 2002, 1,995 mountain farms grew tobacco. The crop’s prevalence, however, was […]
Blood in the valley: The Shelton Laurel Massacre’s haunting legacy
“Will the America of the future — will this vast, rich Union ever realize what itself cost back there, after all?” – Walt Whitman In January 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Confederate soldiers of the 64th North Carolina Regiment, composed mostly of men from the western counties, marched into Shelton Laurel. Their […]
Feeling Fancy: Madison Has Heart hosts 3rd annual Fanciful Flea fundraiser in Marshall Feb. 13
To help its neighbors in Madison County manage these costs, local nonprofit organization Madison Has HEArT is hosting its third annual Fanciful Flea event on February 13 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Marshall Island Studios in downtown Marshall.
United we stand: Let’s get serious about addressing addiction
” The disease of addiction feeds on isolation, and as long as we criminalize and condemn addicts, we will never make any true progress in addressing the problem.”
Deck the halls: Madison Has Heart holds Dec. 5 Christmas sale of vintage collectibles at historic Walnut church
Wintertime in the mountains, with its temperature variances and extreme weather conditions, can be a harsh season for residents of western North Carolina. For those with limited financial means living in isolated areas of the region, the cost of simply heating one’s home can be difficult to manage. To help support those in need of […]
Smart bets: Barn Raisin’ Concert
The concert to benefit the Appalachian Barn Alliance kicks off at the Ebbs Chapel Performing Arts Center in Mars Hill on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 3 p.m.
In photos: Root Bottom’s farm-to-table dinner
Madison County’s Root Bottom Farm welcomed guests to its first farm-to-table dinner on Saturday, July 11. The dinner — one of three that Root Bottom Farm will be offering this summer — combined produce from the farm with other locally sourced foods to create a unique seasonally menu for the evening’s 30 diners.
Down the road: The future of Future I-26
Identifying the challenges facing the Future I-26 project is fairly straightforward; implementing the needed improvements is more complicated. So how does an ordinary highway become an interstate? And when might the stretch north of downtown Asheville make the interstate grade?
Madison County farmer launches WhiskeyPigs meat CSA
The WhiskeyPigs name refers to Troy & Sons’ spent mash, which the pigs and Reeves’ other animals slurp down for 30 days prior to slaughter. With 10,000 pounds of mash per week, the distillery produces more than enough for the WhiskeyPigs fleet.
Rash’s “The World Made Straight” becomes a very N.C.-centric film
Serena, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, was filmed in the Czech Republic. Similarly, Civil War drama Cold Mountain, from the book by local author Charles Frazier, was filmed mostly in Romania. The World Made Straight, however, was a North Carolina production through and through, down to — and because of — its directors.
State of the Arts: Rob Amberg at Pink Dog Creative
For 41 years, photographer Rob Amberg has kept an acute documentary eye on Madison County. With his camera, he’s created an insightful, ongoing narrative that’s familiar yet analytical of every back road, kitchen and front porch in a bucolic landscape. Amberg’s intimate and personal views of the county’s residents have long been among his most […]
Wolf Ridge Ski Resort under new management
Wolf Ridge Ski Resort is now under new management and big changes are in the works.
Madison County organic growers question herbicide use along power lines
With French Broad Electric Membership Corporation set to apply herbicides to the power-line corridor in Madison County, organic farmers in Spring Creek are asking why there isn’t more public input on the way the utility manages the rights-of-way through their farms and near local streams.
Land of Sky Regional Council hosts a community meeting
Land of Sky Regional Council is currently shepherding a 20-year planning process for the five county region of Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood, Madison and Transylvania called GroWNC. By looking at existing regional and local plans and extensive public input, this initiative strives to look for implementable action in the fields of Economic Development, Energy, Health, Housing, […]
Let me tell you about Junior Achievement
Today I had the pleasure of volunteering at a wonderful community service and fundraising event put on by The Rotary Club of Madison County. The event was the Hot Doggett 100 bicycle tour of Madison County. There were two rides: a 100-mile ride and The Devil's Fork Metric, a 100-kilometer ride. The amount of coordination […]
There’s a glow in the Smokies tonight: Nuclear waste and WNC **UPDATED**
Our research on the past and present of nuclear waste in WNC dug up two interesting campaign items from a 1980s citizen-based effort to keep radioactive waste out of the community. The campaign, which resulted in Madison County commissioners adopting a resolution against nuclear waste transit on county roadways, featured a photo of local music producer Steven Heller wearing a hazmat suit and seated on a tractor, as if plowing a field of contaminated soil. The photo was part of a campaign that appeared on billboards with the catch-phrase, “Don’t think it can’t happen here.” Heller produced a piece of music written to support the campaign (listen to it within); go ahead and sing along as “…the bears in the park/Are glowing in the dark/There’s a glow in the Smokies tonight.”
Look for a full report on nuclear-waste facts, fiction and fears in the July 13 Mountain Xpress.
You may need annexation as much as it needs you
North Carolina's progressive annexation laws are constantly under attack and yet they are what have allowed our cities to stay at a healthy level not found in our neighboring states. Anyone driving on White Horse Road must think Greenville, S.C., one unattractive city, and yet, due to South Carolina's archaic laws, the city has no […]