2004 – Issue 1 (February)

images/voice_uploads/ramp_contents.gif “Well, a ramp is a little wild onion that grows on top the mountains ‘round here. A lot of people, they eat them raw. We’d cut them up, put them in eggs, put fatback in there and fry them up real good. A lot of people pickles them things. I guess I’ve eat a…

images/voice_uploads/p2coldmountain.gif By Nan Chase At the beginning of December last year, a few weeks before the public release of the film Cold Mountain, I was invited to a Miramax-sponsored press screening in Asheville, N.C. I expected glamor, glitz, klieg lights maybe. But this odd event took place at 10 o’clock one icy morning in a…

A major characteristic of southern Appalachian weather is the large amount of precipitation we receive. Certain locations record the second highest annual rainfall in North America (after the Pacific Northwest), and even fit the definition of a temperate rainforest. Rain is created as a result of the cooling of an air mass. For illustration, consider…

images/voice_uploads/p2cranberry.gif As West Virginia’s Cranberry Wilderness Area is a winter time haven for cross-country skiers and snowshoers, Charleston, West Virginia resident John Edwards wasn’t at all surprised that the outlines of snowshoes in the rock-hard snow were the first tracks he saw as he searched for a campsite high on Kennison Mountain. He chose to…

Just as biologists count the number of fish in a body of water to gauge how clean the water is, a rural community can count its barns to understand how well it is preserving the integrity of its landscape. If you live in Southern Appalachia, chances are that you pass quite a few barns on…

There are a number of land trusts throughout the Southeast. Many promote the use of easements to protect natural resources and ensure their sustained use over time. Below are four land trusts in the Southern Appalachians that have experience with working lands easements, protecting forests, agricultural lands, and water resources. In addition, a complete list…

images/voice_uploads/p2basket.gif Sometimes, creating industry means crafting a work of art. In 1993, community leaders in Asheville, North Carolina were planning a revitalization of the Asheville area. Thinking outside of traditional economic protocols, they realized their community’s strength lay not in its ability to recruit new business, but in fostering the resources it already had, the…