| Title |
Excerpt |
Author |
Date |
| How little we know |
The Lamar Alexander springtail (Cosberella lamaralexanderi) is a small, insectlike creature patterned with calico dots. Named for the senior senator from Tennessee, it is partial to dead leaves and plays a vital part in the whole forest food web. And here is the clincher: Until 2006, the Lamar Alexander springtail… |
Kent Priestley |
08/20/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Knee-high to a grasshopper: For the budding naturalist, the North Carolina Arboretum is holding Wee Naturalist Classes beginning Monday, Aug. 25. Preschoolers will learn about trees, birds, bears, bugs, raindrops and a whole lot more. Each class might include a physical activity, critter visits, puppets, songs, art time, stories and… |
Kent Priestley |
08/13/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Dragon’s tale: For the first time this September, the annual Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad will offer dragon-boat racing as part of its sanctioned activities. You may have no idea what a dragon boat is, but if the idea is in the least bit intriguing, you’re invited to Lake Lure on… |
Kent Priestley |
08/13/08 |
| Book of secrets |
At some point in the mid-1950s, Fred Feder began visiting his local gym in New York. He would go during his lunch break, stand behind the free-throw line, and shoot. Sometimes he would miss the basket; more often, he would make it. His style was unconventional (he never looked at… |
Kent Priestley |
08/06/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Feeling hot, hot, hot: Asheville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts, Montford Recreation Center and the Asheville Track Club will team up to host the Hot August Night 5K race on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m. Registration will be taken at Montford Recreation Center, located at 34 Pearson Drive, or… |
Kent Priestley |
08/06/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
The darkest hour: INFINIT Custom Nutrition and Rusty Sprocket Productions LLC have teamed up to present the Night Train six-and-12 hour mountain-bike races, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 9, at Fontana Village. Races begin at 10 a.m., with the six-hour event ending at 4 p.m. and the 12-hour event ending at… |
Kent Priestley |
07/30/08 |
| In my solitude |
text by Kent Priestley, illustrations by Nathanael Roney Alas, there you are: alone, surrounded by miles of sea. Your luggage is gone, so is your family. Your iPod was lost in the wreckage. Your BlackBerry was swallowed by a grouper. Your mind, baked by an unrelenting sun, is full of… |
Kent Priestley |
07/30/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Junior achievement: If nine teenage girls have their way, the expanse behind their residential cottage at Eliada Homes will soon be transformed into an organic garden, full of green and growing things. All they need to make it happen is your support. The young gardeners are asking the community for… |
Kent Priestley |
07/30/08 |
| Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver |
Doyle Lawson’s performance on the Bele Chere stage this weekend could be viewed as a homecoming of sorts for the multiple Grammy Awardwinning bluegrass musician. Born in Ford Town, Sullivan County, Tenn. in 1944, Lawson grew up with radio broadcasts beaming from nearby Nashville, including that most influential of programs,… |
Kent Priestley |
07/24/08 |
| Sound off on downtown Asheville |
With Asheville’s Downtown Master Plan now under development, the city wants additional public input. Accordingly, the Asheville Downtown Commission and City Council will host another series of meetings over two days—Monday, July 28, and Tuesday, July 29—to hear residents’ concerns. The meetings will be held at the Asheville Public Works… |
Kent Priestley |
07/23/08 |
| Garden Journal |
The seeds of next year’s garden: The Tuesday, Aug. 5, meeting of the nonprofit Men’s Garden Club of Asheville will feature BB Barns Landscape Company owner Hunter Stubbs, speaking on the subject of “Sumptuous Summer: Preparing for a Great Performance.” Stubbs, former director of the horticultural program at Richmond Hill… |
Kent Priestley |
07/23/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Recreationists unite: The Cullowhee-based nonprofit American Whitewater is urging concerned paddlers to express their opinions on the National Forest Service’s draft Environmental Assessment for the upper portions of the Chattooga River, a stretch of river that has been closed to boats for nearly 30 years. The proposed management plan would… |
Kent Priestley |
07/23/08 |
| Three decades of change in the Bele Chere city |
Asheville has come a long way from where it was in 1979, the year of the first Bele Chere. And while we can’t say for certain that the festival is responsible for making local commerce as vibrant as it is today, it seems hardly a coincidence that all these changes… |
Kent Priestley |
07/22/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Read all about it: Charleston, S.C.-based publisher The History Press has just released Will Leverette’s new book, Waterwise: A History of Paddling in Western North Carolina. Beautifully produced and full of fascinating information about the birth and development of whitewater paddling in the region, the book is available from local… |
Kent Priestley |
07/16/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Save the date: Asheville-based author Cecil Bothwell will read from his new book, Garden My Heart: Organic Strategies for Backyard Sustainability, at Malaprop’s bookstore in downtown Asheville on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m. Malaprop’s calls the book “a guide through the seasons and the weeds, with ideas about edible… |
Kent Priestley |
07/16/08 |
| Garden Journal |
What-a-melon!: North Carolina is well known for its barbecue, but you may be less familiar with its variety of spectacular watermelons. Get a taste of these big, quenching fruits from around the state during the North Carolina Watermelon Tasting, scheduled for Friday, July 11, at the WNC Farmers’ Market. Call… |
Kent Priestley |
07/09/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Reel good time: The seventh annual Talking Trees Children’s Trout Derby will be held on Saturday, August 2, at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. The all-day event entertains up to 2,000 children annually. Activities include fly-tying exhibitions, fish-cleaning stations, wildlife and fisheries exhibits, food, music and door prizes. Trophies… |
Kent Priestley |
07/09/08 |
| Dusk to dawn |
“You see that? That’s bad.” Bernard Arghiere pulls his SUV off Swannanoa River Road in Asheville and gestures toward a nearby bridge. After spanning the river, it touches down on the acres of pavement surrounding the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Dark knight: East Asheville resident Bernard Arghiere sees a future with less… |
Kent Priestley |
07/09/08 |
| Garden Journal |
They were here first: Hundreds are expected to drive, walk and crawl to Western Carolina University for the 25th anniversary of the “Cullowhee in the Landscape” native-plant conference scheduled for Wednesday, July 23, through Saturday, July 26, at the school. Conference topics will include the study, understanding and conservation of… |
Kent Priestley |
07/02/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
On your mark: Get ready for the Bele Chere 5K and Fun Run, setting out from McCormick Field in Asheville at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 26. For registration information, contact the Asheville Track Club at 252-7867 or visit the club’s Web site, http://www.ashevilletrackclub.org. And speaking of running: The Asheville… |
Kent Priestley |
07/02/08 |
| Local faces, local food |
If you’re wild about local food (and really, who isn’t?), it’s time to turn your thoughts to the Mountain Farm & Garden Tour, which returns for its 13th year this Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29. Billed as “an opportunity to reconnect with where food comes from and with… |
Kent Priestley |
06/26/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Happy trails: A 10-mile trail system in the Beaverdam area of Haywood County opened to hikers and mountain bikers earlier this month. Located in the formerly off-limits Rough Creek watershed, the mostly flat trail loops are reportedly ideal for family hikes or beginning bikers Trail work at the site was… |
Kent Priestley |
06/25/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Tall, slender and exotic: The American Bamboo Society’s Southeastern Chapter will host its second annual Bamboo Festival at the North Carolina Arboretum on Saturday, July 12, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will include a lecture series, demonstrations,… |
Kent Priestley |
06/25/08 |
| The Dirt: The bugs of summer |
I was in my garden the other day when an unfamiliar butterfly landed on a flower nearby. It was small and sleek, with long, narrow black wings that had white spots spread along them. Before I could get my camera, though, it was gone, off to sip another flower. Hornin’… |
Kent Priestley |
06/25/08 |
| Happy feet, sore fingers |
In the summer of 1966, in Washington, D.C., a mysterious drug called LSD was receiving scrutiny from Congress. In Chicago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was confronting discrimination on a scale that rivaled what he’d seen in the Deep South. On television, the nation was about to encounter the… |
Kent Priestley |
06/25/08 |
| Country roads |
The bulldozers and graders are silent for now, but if all goes as scheduled, work will begin later this fall on widening a nearly 30-mile stretch of U.S. 19/23 from two lanes to four, beginning around Mars Hill. We interupt this service: Bethel Baptist Church will lose parking to the… |
Kent Priestley |
06/18/08 |
| Garden Journal |
This is the last time we’ll tell you: The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) will hold its annual Mountain Farm and Garden Tour on Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29, from 1 to 6 p.m. both days. Tour participants will see a surprising diversity of agricultural operations, from generations-old… |
Kent Priestley |
06/18/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Birds do it: Fall in love, that is. And now you can get a sneak peek into their annual rites. On Sunday, June 22, Chimney Rock Park will host a Breeding Birds Guided Bird Walk, led by Park Ornithologist Simon Thompson. Thompson will point out the family life of downy,… |
Kent Priestley |
06/18/08 |
| Raise your green thumb |
A New York Times story on Wednesday suggested that some Americans are responding to this time of economic uncertainty by planting vegetable gardens. In a way recalling the Victory Gardens of wartimes-past, seed companies such as W. Atlee Burpee are reporting a rise in sales not seen in recent years,… |
Kent Priestley |
06/13/08 |
| Park it |
The civic-minded got an earful about the intricacies of how the Asheville Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department works during the ninth installment of the city’s 2008 Citizens Academy on June 5. “It’s All Fun and Games!!!” featured talks led by Parks and Recreation Director Roderick Simmons, Assistant Director Debbie… |
Kent Priestley |
06/11/08 |
| The Dirt: Baldy’s song |
A chicken may die for a number of reasons, but seldom from “natural causes.” An animal so perfectly designed to be eaten, so attractive to a variety of predators, rarely gets the chance to expire of its own accord. Baldy was different—but then Baldy was no ordinary chicken. It was… |
Kent Priestley |
06/11/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
New kid in town: Western North Carolina has a new outdoor-sports magazine. Debuting last month, Western North Carolina’s Adventure Outdoors covers hunting, fishing and conservation concerns in this part of the state, with regular profiles of sportsmen and women throughout our region. Adventure Outdoors’ publisher is Joe Street. The magazine… |
Kent Priestley |
06/11/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Hay hay, my my: Spring rains and adequate soil-moisture levels have permitted the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to wrap up its Emergency Hay Program. The department sold 729 large hay bales and 4,251 small bales to farmers in the region via the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville.… |
Kent Priestley |
06/11/08 |
| Wanted: food for Fido |
It’s well known that Meals on Wheels of Asheville and Buncombe County meets the nutritional needs of hundreds of homebound seniors every day. What fewer people realize is that the nonprofit service organization also provides food for hundreds of its clients’ companion animals. “Years ago, we found that many people… |
Kent Priestley |
06/04/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Make dad happy: In the past you’ve given him neckties, wallets, Beer Nuts and a universal remote control, but what Dad really hopes for this Father’s Day is a ticket for Quality Forward’s annual Father’s Day Garden Tour on Sunday, June 15. And who can blame him? Featured during this… |
Kent Priestley |
06/04/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
Are you lonely tonight?: The next meeting of the Pigeon Valley Bassmasters will be held on Monday, June 9, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Canton Library. Nonmembers are encouraged to attend and make friends with their fellow anglers. Howdy, neighbor: Longtime West Asheville outdoor consignment shop Second Gear has… |
Kent Priestley |
06/04/08 |
| What do I look like, a dictionary? |
A three-member Mountain Xpress team fought valiantly to spell its way to victory on Thursday night, but in the end the effort wasn’t enough. The occasion was the 18th annual Literacy Spelling Bee, co-sponsored by the Literacy Council of Buncombe County and Altrusa International Inc., of Asheville. Held at A-B… |
Kent Priestley |
05/31/08 |
| Happy endings |
As part of its “In Character” series, the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered” has solicited listeners around the country for essays about the characters of the screen and page they find inspiring. Here in Asheville a while back, Issac Dickson Elementary School literacy coach Mary Turner turned the… |
Kent Priestley |
05/29/08 |
| Disc jockeys |
Reynolds High School senior Dallas Shaw was introduced to the team sport known as Ultimate two years ago. The school had a new disc-sports coach—with a new strategy for getting participants. “It was his first year here, teaching biology and he would give, like, extra credit to anyone who came… |
Kent Priestley |
05/28/08 |
| Off da chain |
You’ve seen them: Dogs, dragging a heavy chain or wire from their necks, tied to a stake or a tree or a dilapidated doghouse. The scene around them is equally forlorn—an overturned food dish, a belt of bare ground where the dog paces the day away. They bark, they snarl,… |
Kent Priestley |
05/28/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Woodland wisdom: The Men’s Garden Club of Asheville will present a talk by Amy Garascia called “Basics of Land Management” at the Botanical Gardens at UNCA on Tuesday, June 3, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The presentation by Garascia, who is program coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service’s Woodland Steward Series… |
Kent Priestley |
05/28/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
You can keep that trout, pardner: Anglers trying their hands at mountain waters designated as “delayed-harvest” are permitted to keep the trout they catch from those waters, beginning at 6 a.m. on June 7, when regulations change to “hatchery supported.” Under hatchery-supported regulations, which remain in effect through Sept. 30,… |
Kent Priestley |
05/28/08 |
| Outdoor Journal |
A piece of the Rock: Chimney Rock Park will celebrate National Trails Day on Saturday, June 7. The event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will include guided hikes, rock climbing, a “trail challenge” and special exhibits. There is no additional fee for the programs, but regular admission… |
Kent Priestley |
05/21/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Get you some: If you’re wild about local food, it’s time to turn your thoughts to the Mountain Farm & Garden Tour, which returns for its 13th year on Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29. Billed as “an opportunity to reconnect with where food comes from and with the… |
Kent Priestley |
05/21/08 |
| Buncombe Commissioners |
Sheriff gives first annual report County to pay for water line to The Oaks subdivision Millions of dollars worth of county-financed building projects are either pending or in progress around Buncombe County, and Planning Director Jon Creighton updated the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on them during the board’s May… |
Kent Priestley |
05/21/08 |
| Buncombe County commissioners: Sheriff gives first annual report |
Millions of dollars worth of county-financed building projects are either pending or in progress around Buncombe County, and Planning Director Jon Creighton updated the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on them during the board’s May 13 meeting. The 248-bed jail annex, begun in nearly two years ago, is now complete,… |
Kent Priestley |
05/19/08 |
| Get your Griffin on |
The Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County will present its annual Griffin Awards for Historic Preservation on Tuesday, May 20, at the Princess Anne Hotel, 301 East Chestnut St. in Asheville. A reception with refreshments and music will begin at 6:30 p.m. The awards program will follow at 7… |
Kent Priestley |
05/19/08 |
| Crime and punishment in Buncombe County |
Arrests are up. Response times are down. There are more inmates at the detention center. Their detention times are shorter. These and many other items of interest can be found in the the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office annual report report for 2007. Released in the spirit of Sheriff Van Duncan’s… |
Kent Priestley |
05/14/08 |
| Dust on the Bible |
Mars Hill College welcomed a new rarity to its collections last month when Elfreide Ludwig Wilde, formerly of Hendersonville, donated her copy of an 1686 Martin Luther Bible to the school. The good, old book: Elfreide Wilde with the 1686 Martin Luther Bible she recently donated to Mars Hill College.… |
Kent Priestley |
05/14/08 |
| Garden Journal |
Sleuths in the garden: The Botanical Gardens at Asheville will start its kids’ series, Garden Science Investigation (GSI), on Saturday, May 17, with a program called “A Habitat’s a Home.” The series, intended for ages 5 to 11, aims to encourage children’s observation and investigative skills in the natural world.… |
Kent Priestley |
05/14/08 |
