Craig Childs loves to clean things. When the 32-year-old met Xpress at a local café recently, he looked up at the ceiling and, noting the dirty ductwork, said, “It needs cleaning again!” Restaurants and home kitchens can present the toughest cleaning challenges, says the owner of the Asheville-based Pristine Clean. And sometimes you walk into a home and realize there’s a bit of a dust problem: “You look up, and you can shave the ceiling fan,” jokes Childs, adding, “But I like to go into a place and make it smell and look great.”

A few essentials: The alchemy of green cleaning begins with essential oils such as lavender, lemon and lime. Photo by Margaret Williams

About 6 feet tall and kind of stocky, the Philadelphia native boasts several prominent tattoos, including one big bird totem he acquired in Homer, Alaska. “The gender thing: I’m this guy with tattoos who shows up, and people are saying, ‘You’re gonna clean my house?’” Childs reveals, adding, “Then they see what kind of alchemy you can do.”

By that he means avoiding the standard power chemicals. Many common household cleaners, he notes, are considered hazardous wastes. (Chlorine bleach, for example, combines with another common cleaning product, ammonia, to create a toxic gas. And Spokane County, Wash., officials recently banned dishwashing detergents containing phosphates. Hard to remove at wastewater-treatment plants and thus released into waterways, these chemicals produce algae blooms that rob fish of their oxygen supply).

On the other hand, some green-cleaning products “can be perfectly natural but not necessarily the best thing to use, [because] they leave a residue that you have to clean later,” says Childs. What about vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda and the like — all touted by grandmas and the latest green-cleaning guides?

“Vinegar’s cool, but it’s still acidic,” Childs replies. Sure, it cuts through grease and such, but it’ll take the luster right out of the finish on your fine wood floors, he reports, adding, “Not everyone wants to come home and have the house smell like a pickle.”

Childs’ passion for cleaning is nothing new. To fulfill a second-grade project, he volunteered for a few weeks at a Philadelphia nursing home. At first it was “pure horror,” especially for a chemically sensitive kid who used to get ill when his mom sprayed his mattress with disinfectant. “The residents suffered from neglect, abuse and everything was disgustingly dirty,” Childs recalls. But he was able to light up their lives in small ways, inspiring the youngster to keep volunteering there till he turned 19.

After college, Childs headed west, taking pickup jobs in direct care and nursing homes. In Boulder, Colo., he launched a green cleaning service as a side business, drawing on a few natural-cleaning tricks he’d picked up along the way. “Ten years ago, no one was cleaning with ecologically conscious products,” says Childs. He created combinations of phosphate-free soaps, distilled water, plant-based surfactants (the stuff that actually lifts out the dirt), natural bacteria-eating enzymes and essential oils — whatever was needed for the task at hand.

“I call it resetting: going in and getting rid of all the junk and creating a healthy environment,” he explains.

Essential oils are key, he says: Lavender and peppermint are two natural-cleaning powerhouses due to their antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. And instead of fighting mold with the commonly recommended tea tree oil, Childs chooses cinnamon.

But when you’re cleaning green, sometimes it’s the little touches that make the difference, adds former Pristine employee Jackie Tripp. “Craig taught me to put a little peppermint oil on the vacuum filter,” says the Kentucky native, who trained as an herbalist in Asheville but now has her own cleaning service, Green Earth Essentials. She recommends switching to green cleaning “not just because it’s trendy or because it’s the right thing to do. … The natural stuff works better and doesn’t [ruin] your indoor environment.”

And citing a few added benefits (lavender is relaxing, rosemary’s a stimulant), Tripp emphasizes, “It’s not just a fad: It’s a way to improve your health.”

Both Tripp and Childs also stress the importance of disposing of old-fashioned cleaners properly. (No pouring them down the drain: the Buncombe County landfill accepts household hazardous waste most Fridays, and local municipalities regularly sponsor pickup days). And get rid of those disgusting sponge mops — especially the ones that dispense heavy chemicals, Childs adds. Then, laughing at himself, he remarks: “I never thought I’d own a cleaning company. Helping people is what I love to do, but there’s all kind of different directions that can take you.”

You can reach Green Earth Essentials at 545-1829 or at http://www.ashevillehousecleaning.com. Pristine Clean is at 215-9634 or http://www.ashevillepristineclean.com.

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Sure, the French Broad boasts good length, big parks, a fun name and zealous environmental defenders — not to mention its putative status as the world’s third-oldest river. But besides it and the wily Swannanoa (carver of historic valleys and deceptively sleepy flooder of gift shops), the Southern Appalachians are striped by myriad other intriguing streams. With July Fourth in mind, here are three that are within an hour's drive of Asheville. On a hot summer’s day, they’re all well worth checking out.

The Oconaluftee

Splish splash! Parts of the Oconaluftee River in Cherokee are very kid-friendly. Photo by Melanie McGee Bianchi

Boldly inverting the tragic Trail of Tears, Mary Jane Ferguson recently used the phrase "Trail of Hopes" when referring to the culturally significant Oconaluftee River. (Ferguson, who is vice chair of the Cherokee Historical Association, was interviewed by the Knoxville News Sentinel for a May 17, 2009, article about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's 75th anniversary.) She was talking about the pristine, 1.5-mile riverside trail that runs from the Oconaluftee Mountain Farm Museum to Oconaluftee Islands Park in downtown Cherokee. The trail marks a prominent North Carolina-side entrance to the Smokies.

A chatty, sparkling, trout-filled gem that is mesmerizing in all seasons, the Oconaluftee supports commercial tubing and "funyak" excursions, but it’s less congested than other easy white-water spots, such as the nearby Tuckaseegee River and Deep Creek. Solitary fishing (with a tribal license) and plain old contemplation are still possible on the "Lufty," whose full name means "by the river" in Cherokee.

But tranquility takes a back seat at Islands Park— at least in summer, when the place teems with people. This newly beautified area — updated with an extensive wooden walkway and deeply shaded picnic grounds — actually delivers on the family-friendly premise so casually tossed out by promoters of similar recreational areas. You can't safely take the littlest ones down Western North Carolina’s other rivers, but even babies can get their feet wet in the shallowest spots at this pretty park.

The Green

Stunning and wild, the Green River runs through Polk and Henderson counties, and it’s accessible off Interstate 26 near Saluda. Green River Adventures founder Sara Bell says it's one of very few rivers in the country with three geographically defined sections whose rapids represent distinct levels of white water: class I-II, class I-III and class IV-V.

"Everyone from day-one beginners to the best kayakers in the world come here," she notes. (Indeed: In an uncharacteristically emotional Wikipedia entry, the river's middle "Narrows" portion is described as "one of the extreme white-water challenges in North America ... with one section dropping at a horrendous rate of 350 feet per mile.")

What's more, the river, a popular tubing destination in its milder stretches, abuts state-protected game lands —preventing all commercial and residential development while protecting wildlife.

"I saw our first river otter this year on the Upper Green," says Bell. "We always see tons of deer, and we've seen bobcats and blue herons." This spring, on twisty Green River Cove Road, which corkscrews down to the Lower Green, a mother black bear and her cub have already put in frequent appearances.

But it's the road itself that most folks recall, she notes. "It drops about 1,000 feet in two-and-a-half miles. I've run into people whose grandmothers remember descending that road to get on the river. It always sticks out in people's memories."

The Laurel

En route to the popular Hot Springs Resort & Spa on the French Broad lies another Madison County oasis — and this one's free. The Laurel River, easily accessed at the junction of highways 25/70 and 208, is flanked by a mostly wide, level trail that follows its course all the way to the French Broad. In the woods beside the path stand bona fide ruins — the remnants of Runion, a former logging town.

Dan Gallagher, co-owner of Bluff Mountain Outfitters in Hot Springs, also praises the trail's "good [tree] canopy and excellent swimming holes." The Laurel is too unpredictable for commercial kayaking, especially after rain, though some daredevils do risk it from time to time. “When the river is not running big time, those [swimming] spots are excellent,” says Gallagher. "At least you can be sure no one's going to come downstream and hit you in the head with a raft."
Melanie McGee Bianchi is a stay-at-home mom and freelance journalist.
Even babies can get their feet wet in the shallowest spots at Islands Park on the Oconaluftee.