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September 2016
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A Note from Tracy
O
ur Foxfire issue has been one of our favorite issues of the year from several years now, but this one is special because this year Foxfire celebrates 50 years! It was at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in 1966 that a high school English teacher wanted to change the way students learned. An interactive classroom to say the least and it worked. Students interviewed family, neighbors and the old man down the road. They learned some valuable tools for survival and about the heritage of their family. For half a century that information has been documented in the form of magazines and books that are treasured. We invite you to discover or re-discover Foxfire. The Foxfire museum and the property it sits on is located off of Church Street in Mountain City, Georgia. They welcome you to visit often, to explore the property, cabins, barns, the blacksmith shop, the chapel and the store where books and magazines are just the beginning. September is the beginning of fall and we all know that means cooler temps, apples and changing leaves. I for one am ready for all three! September is also the month that Peter McIntosh began writing his Adventure Out column in our magazine. This month marks TEN years of hikes to waterfalls, mountaintops, and hideaways.We are grateful for the information that Peter gives us but even more we are grateful for his outstanding photography. On our cover this month is a photo from one of his earliest adventures to Rabun Bald. Another great issue thanks to the incredible people I work with and our writers. All brought to you by the businesses that support us. A great way to say thanks is to support them. Happy almost fall! Tracy
September 2016 • Volume Thirteen • Issue Nine • Copyright 2016 Publisher/Editor - Tracy McCoy Assitant Editor - Nikki Dunbar Art Director - Dianne VanderHorst Office Manager/ Account Executive - Cindi Freeman Account Executive - Melissa Williams-Thomas Account Executive - Louis Dunbar Copy Editor/Writer - Jan Timms Photographer/Writer - Peter McIntosh
Georgia Mountain Laurel Mailing: PO Box 2218, Clayton, Georgia 30525 Office: 2511 Highway 441, Mountain City, Georgia 30562 706-782-1600 • www.gmlaurel.com Contributing Writers: Jessica Phillips, Eric Dyer, Jean Hyatt, Mark Holloway, Jo Mitchell, Steve Jarrard, MD, Lisa Harris, Kitty Stratton, John Shivers, Emory Jones, Carla Fackler,
Copyright 2016 by Rabun’s Laurel Inc. All rights reserved. The Georgia Mountain Laurel Magazine is published twelve times per year. Reproduction without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publishers and editors are not responsible for unsolicited material and it will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication subject to GML magazine’s right to edit. Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, photographs and drawings. Every effort has been made to assure that all information presented in this issue is accurate, and neither Laurel magazine or any of its staff is responsible for omissions or information that has been misrepresented to the magazine. The Georgia Mountain Laurel maintains a Christian focus throughout their magazine. Rabun’s Laurel, Inc. reserves the right to refuse content or advertising for any reason without explanation.
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LakeBurtonHome.com for Virtual Tours
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GEORGIA MOUNTAIN LAUREL
Hosts Outdoor Photo Contest, and The Winners Are...
R
esults are in from our first ever Outdoor Photo Contest. The contest was hosted on our website and the response was overwhelmingly positive with hundreds of entries and thousands of votes. Our awesome sponsors provided the following prizes for our winners. $100 Cash from Duvall Automotive (2) $50 Gift Certificates to Fortify Kitchen & Bar from Nicolaus Poss of RE/Max of Rabun $100 Gift Certificate towards pest control services by American Pest Control An Outdoor Photo Shoot with Peter McIntosh Photography Our Grand Prize Winner is Cristie Welborn who won with this adorable raccoon photo. Our First, Second and Third Place Winners are included in this issue of the Georgia Mountain Laurel: 1st - Brianna Welborn 2nd - Dee Dee Arrowood 3rd - Kevin Croom We also included two honorable mentions who each received over 100 votes: Malinda Cannon Randy Clegg We would like to thank Locables for handling the contest for us, all of the photographers who submitted entries and to all who voted we send out a special thanks! Visit our website and sign up to receive news and information on upcoming contests and follow us on facebook and twitter!
1st Place Winner - Brianna Welborn 8
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In This Issue A Taste
Yesterdays 10 12 14 16
The Foxfire Fund Foxfire - Laurie Brunson Altieri Exploring NE Georgia Wheels - Rick Rahn’s Hotrod & Classic
Arts & Entertainment 18 20 28 32
Foxfire - A Modern Day Blacksmith Cover Artist - Peter McIntosh Celebrates... North Georgia Arts Guild The Art Lab at Timpson Creek Galery
Affairs to Remember 36 40 46 48
Foxfire Mountaineer Festival Event Calendar NGCP - Plaza Suite by Neil Simon Keep Rabun Beautiful - Please Don’t Litter!
50 52 56 58 60
Foxfire - Chocolate Cake! Bon Appetit The Family Table Blue Ridge Honey Company Harvest Stomp at Stonewall Creek Vineyards
Faith in Christ 62 64 66 68
Foxfire - Sunday with Aunt Arie Bless Your Heart River Garden Life is a Blessing
Outdoors 74 76
Adventure Out Mountain Nature
Health & Wellness 80 84
Foxfire - Healing the Natural Way Live Healthy & Be Well
Life & Leisure 86 88 90 92
Dogwoods Foxfire - Beanie Ramey Lovin’ the Journey Good Work - Foxfire Alumni
In Closing 96
Second Place Winner - Dee Dee Arrowood
By The Way
Third Place Winner - Kevin Croom
Honorable Mentions: Malinda Cannon and Randy Clegg
The Foxfire Fund, Inc.
by Foxfire Student Jessica Phillips
R
abun Gap-Nacoochee School was originally a public (farm) school for local students to attend, until 1977, at which time it was designated as a private school. In 1966, a new teacher arrived on campus, only to find he was not really prepared for the journey ahead. The students were a challenge to him because of their lack of interest in English. This frustrated him as he tried to experiment with varied strategies to teach them, help them acquire the much needed classroom discipline, and make the students more interested in the subject. Facing many obstacles, he decided to ask the students how they could (and would) learn the curriculum. Ideas were shared, but one idea involving the production of a magazine through a publisher peeked their interests. Through this, the students would learn the basic understanding of writing and could create their own piece of history. As a whole, they decided to write articles on stories from their elders, family members, or friends about the Southern Appalachian Region. The first step was to find a name for the magazine. Names began being blurting out all around the room, such as ‘Ginseng,’ ‘Yellow Root,’ and other native Southern Appalachian plants. Then the word Foxfire was vocalized. The title clicked, and they all agreed on that particular name to start their venture. People always ask, “But what is Foxfire?” It is the name of a glowing fungus found on rotting wood during summer months in the area. During this era, people were more interested in living simply and learning about the ways that surrounded them. The Foxfire Magazine automatically caught the readers’ eyes when they realized they could read stories from the actual people who had lived and worked in the region—a hands-on approach with firsthand knowledge. This gave the readers a whole new perspective about the Southern Appalachian region. Readers began to understand what the mountain people were really like rather than what they had fathomed about “hillbillies.” It was like something they had never seen before. Foxfire’s unique way of writing captivated the audience’s attention and drew them closer, anxiously waiting to see what was next. In 1972, Foxfire produced its very first anthology book. This book contained all sorts of information about Southern Appalachia at its finest. Immediately, the book began selling thousands of copies over the entire world. Every student was shocked about the outcome and what they could do. It was hard to believe what a student-led organization could achieve in such a short period of time. Over the course of 50 years, Foxfire has collected and preserved documentation that would otherwise never have existed if it were not for the determination and efforts of the students and faculty involved with the magazine program. Over a million dollars in scholarships have been awarded to Foxfire students for their hard work and dedication to the program, with the support, since 1989, from philanthropist, Ms. Julia B. Fleet. Located in Mountain City, Georgia, The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center provides daily tours of original log cabins, a gristmill, a blacksmith shop, two barns, and other scenes from the Appalachia heritage, all of which were reconstructed by students on the mountain, land of which was purchased with funds from the sale of their books and magazines. Educational experiences, such as Living History Days and Children’s Heritage Days, are held each year to share what it would actually be like living in Rabun County years and years ago. Visitors travel great distances to witness and take part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Foxfire Program is now located at Rabun County High School. Students continue its legacy by going out to the community and further extend to other Appalachian communities to interview the great and noble people of our region. Their words continue to teach us about the “good ole’ days”, how to find value in our heritage, and how to use that to make our culture even better. Their stories always seem to touch our hearts in some way, and give us a closer connection to what we call home. Our Mission: Foxfire is a not-for-profit, educational and literary organization based in Rabun County, Georgia. Founded in 1966, Foxfire’s learner-centered, community-based educational approach is advocated through both a regional demonstration site (The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center) grounded in the Southern Appalachian culture that gave rise to Foxfire, and a national program of teacher training and support (the Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning) that promotes a sense of place and appreciation of local people, community, and culture as essential educational tools. 10
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Foxifre
From Pencils to PCs Laurie Brunson Altieri
I’ve discovered a lot about Foxfire that I didn’t know before. As Ms. Altieri was telling us about her adventures with Foxfire, I could only imagine what it would be like to do all the paper work with the subscriptions. I work with subscriptions now, but I was asked to transcribe this article, and I got really interested in the differences from how things were back when Ms. Altieri was a member of Foxfire. When I make postcards for our contacts, I think it is so hard to keep up with everything, but now, after this article, I could only imagine what it was like at the beginning. This article has been such an adventure for me. This is my first article, and I’m so excited about having it in the 45th Anniversary Edition of Foxfire Magazine. ~Shannon Dunlap I graduated forty years ago in 1971—that was from the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. I was not originally from Rabun County. You all may or may not know that, back then, there was the high school here in Clayton (the old high school), and the community students in the northern end of the county went to Rabun Gap. I had come down from Virginia and I was going to school at Rabun Gap as a dorm student. That is where Foxfire started. I think it proved to be the kind of medium that was good for Foxfire to begin with. That’s how I happened to come into Foxfire. I took the journalism class, got very involved and just really loved it. That was back in the very beginning. Foxfire was only just a few years old. I have always been interested in writing. I did not even know about Foxfire until I came down to the school [Rabun Gap]. When I found out about Foxfire, I was really excited. As a matter of fact, Coach Oscar Cook, who was the basketball coach and a teacher over there, tried his best to get me to play basketball. I said, “No way. I am doing journalism.” That’s how I got involved with Foxfire, by taking the journalism class. Back then, Foxfire was very different. We had no computers. Back then, we had to send the magazines to a printer in Atlanta in what they called a picture-ready format. We had to literally cut and paste it. The kind of layout we had to do was all by hand. The article transcriptions were done by hand because none of us had a typewriter, and we sure didn’t have a computer. Things weren’t actually typed until they were ready to be typed, cut and pasted into the layout. We had these great big [sheets] of graph paper; a piece of graph paper would do two pages. It had to be exact. In other words, we had to decide how the page is going to be laid out exactly, and then paste it in. We had to give directions on how to crop the 12
Laurie Brunson, interviewing Bill Lamb. photographs and how they were going to be laid out. It was nothing like Foxfire is done now. Back in those times, we mailed the magazine ourselves. We got big manila envelopes, and when it was time to mail one, we would get a stack of them [magazines] and have an assembly line going. Some of us would scribble addresses on them by hand. Some of us would stamp on their book rate and we’d stamp our postal thing on there. Then, some of us would stuff them, and some of us would lick the envelopes. We had to sort them into state and zip code. We had subscribers, by that time, in all 50 states and about a dozen foreign countries. We had to sort them out and put them into mail bags. We had postal bags for that very purpose. Then, we took them to Mrs. Jean Burch, who was at the Rabun Gap post office at that time; we had bags and bags and bags. It was quite a bit different from the way you all do it now.
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We pulled a lot of late nights. If we had a magazine layout to do, we would all be up in the very tiny Foxfire office. Believe me, this kind of space [the Foxfire classroom] was like, “Oh my gosh!� We would be in this tiny little Foxfire office working on everything at one time. Each of us would be working on a different article layout and then, we would put it all together. We might be up there till midnight trying to get everything done. Adapted from The Laurie Brunson Altieri in the Foxfire Magazine Spring/ Foxfire Classroom in 2011, being Summer 2011 by former interviewed by current day Foxfire Foxfire student Eric Dyer students.
Laurie with Aunt Arie, Foxfire student Frenda Wilborn just behind Aunt Arie, and visiting students from another school.
Laurie Brunson as a Foxfire student in the 1970s, with Foxfire Staff Member Suzanne Angier. gmlaurel.com
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Exploring Northeast Georgia Myths & Legends Trahlyta’s Grave by Kitty Stratton
T
he Northeast Georgia Mountain Region has its fair share of myths and legends. We have our Native American Heritage to thank for many of them; especially the Cherokee who lived throughout this region.
As the mists swirl around the mountains and low clouds settle over their peaks it is easy to imagine the evening campfires that gave birth to stories long before we were entertained by televisions and computers. On a recent drive to Dahlonega I passed by a large pile of rocks with an historic marker – Trahlyta’s Grave. At the crossroads of Highway 19 and Highway 60, called “Stone Pile Gap”; people still place stones to show remembrance of her story. In case the type on the marker is too small to read in print the story goes: “This pile of stones marks the grave of a Cherokee princess Trahlyta. According to legend her tribe, living on Cedar Mountain north of here, knew the secret of the magic springs of eternal youth from the Witch of Cedar Mountain. Trahlyta, kidnapped by a rejected suitor Wahsega, was taken far away and lost her beauty. As she was dying, Wahsega promised to bury her here near her home and the magic springs. Custom arose among the Indians and later the whites to drop stones, one for each passerby, on her grave for good fortune. The magic springs, now known as Porter Springs, lie 3/4 miles northeast of here”. Porter Springs was a real place. In 1868 the spring was discovered by Joseph H. McKee, a Methodist preacher. The spring water was tested and claims were made that the water provided cures for many ailments, including rheumatism and other diseases. News traveled and hotel accommodations were provided for those traveling a long distance. Henry P. Farrow bought the property and enlarged the hotel turning it into a recreational resort. Sometime during the early 1900’s Porter Springs Hotel caught fire and burned to the ground. The ruins of the old hotel have rotted and disappeared and the springs now flow with the silent forest as their only witness
Porter Springs Hotel – Georgia Archives Myths have elements of truth. Trahlyta’s grave definitely lies close to a spring that provided healing waters at a time when healing springs were popular health resorts and spas. The reader can decide for themselves if the rest of the story is true. But then there is this to consider as well. At least twice the highway department tried to move the grave site during road construction. Stories tell us that both times at least one person died in an accident while moving the pile. So today the grave remains where it has been for many years, in the middle of the highway intersection. 14
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The Song of Trahlyta Pass not by, Stranger! Stop! Silently bare your head, Drop a stone upon her grave, and make a wish straight from your heart. The Spirit of Eternal Youth and Happiness hovers near to grant the wishes of all who love the hills and valleys of her native home.
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Wheels
Rick Rahn’s Hotrod & Classic by Tracy McCoy
I
knew the minute I shook Rick Rahn and Grace Guess hands I’d like them. Rick reminds me of one of the members of ZZ Top and put him behind the wheel of his 1932 Ford Roadster and you find yourself humming Sharp Dressed Man. Rick found the car at a car show in 2003. He called Grace who just happened to be in a jewelry store. He told her he was putting a deposit on a ‘32 Ford and she asked how much, ironically it was the same amount of her jewelry purchase that day. The car was nothing but a bare metal frame, no chassis, engine or anything. This wouldn’t be his first rebuild and it wasn’t his last. His car is an all steel reproduction with a Ford 406 Tri-power engine and a C6 transmission with gear vendor overdrive. This classic hotrod has a Ford 9” rearend, seatbelts, air conditioning, tilt steering and a 12 disc CD player. “It’ll do anything you want it to do.” Rick said. I think I know what that means because the license plate says BUT OFCR. I think maybe more than one citation for speeding has been paid, a small price for driving this car. The rebuild took three years and Rick did the work himself at his home in Bartow, Florida. Grace and Ron are “sometimers” with a home in Sky Valley, Georgia they visit, sometimes. The couple likes to travel and when they aren’t speeding around
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in their Ford Roadster you can find them tooling around in their 1934 Ford Pickup. The Ford pickup was a barn find. Rick says it was a rust bucket with no fenders. The truck belonged to a friend’s father. Rick wanted the truck and he kept after the man to sell it to him. It had been in storage for 9 years when Rick ran into the fellow at a car show. The owner told him to come and get it! The rebuild on the truck took him two years. It got a Ford 5.0 liter V8 with a 4 barrell carburetor, a B303 racing cam and aluminum heads and headers. The ‘34 has an AOD transmission, an 8” Ford rear end, disc breaks on the front and drums on the back. “We have drove this truck all over, it’s our choice for road trips.” Rick told me. Recently the couple went on a 6600 mile adventure visiting 17 states. Rick and Grace have two daughters and 5 grandchildren, one great-grandson, a dog and a cat. Life is good for this couple. “Clean shirt, new shoes...and I don’t know where I am goin’ to... they come runnin’ just as fast as they can, ‘cause every girl crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man.” The good news is you can get a first hand look at Rick and Grace’s car and truck at the Sky Valley Fall Fest Cruise-In on October 22. This year’s car show will honor the service and sacrifices of Vietnam era veterans and their families as part of the National 50th Commemoration program. The show will include antiques, classics, hotrods, and other unique cars and trucks. Sky Valley, Georgia is nestled in the North Georgia Mountains between Dillard, Georgia and Highlands, North Carolina. The Sky Valley Resort and Country Club is the perfect setting for the Fallfest and the Cruise-In with fun filled activities for the entire family. Mark your calendars and we’ll see you there! gmlaurel.com
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RUTH CAMP 706.499.4702
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LAKE HARTWELL! 12 Lake HEAR THE MOUNTAIN MELODY! SOQUE RIVER!! Stunning PERFECT COUNTRY ESTATE! Hartwell access lots for sale in 2 Creeks on 6.7 acres, log home, departure from the ordinary with 20.59 Acres. Stunning home 22X45 workshop, 12X16 storage trout filled luxury in your own with custom finishes. Gated w/ gated neighborhood. Owner/ building. $356,000 (8007161) back yard. $799,000 (7617245) pasture. $1,250,000 (7602862) Agent! All 12 lots for $130,000.
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BILL CAMP 706.499.4720
bill@billcamp.net www.billcamp.net
Foxifre A Modern-Day Blacksmith Eli Bundrick
T
oday, a lot of people have been getting into blacksmithing, but not everybody knows the proper equipment for the job. As a friend of mine once told me, all you really need is a forge, anvil, hammer and a pair of tongs. The rest of the tools can be made on your own. People also ask, “What kind of forge do I need?” Personally, I favor a coal forge because it was what my ancestors used, and there is just something about the sound of the coal fire and the smell that starts to grow on you. If you want to be more of a production kind of person, however, you should probably go with a gas forge. You can probably find a good forge and the other necessities in an estate sale or at a blacksmith auction. Here is a list of some basic tools to get you going: a three-pound, cross-peen hammer; a ball-peen hammer for light finishing work; tongs for holding round stock, square stock, flat stock and bar stock; beeswax; borax for forge welding; an anvil; a forge; a punch; a cold chisel; a hot cut and a small sledge for moving lots of metal very quick. In blacksmithing, the forge is what heats up the metal that you are working with. There are two different variations of forges: a coal forge and a gas forge. The coal forge is the type of forge that was used by our ancestors. The only drawbacks to the coal forge is that, when you start the fire and you’re putting on the coal, it starts to burn off this yellow cloud of sulfurous smoke, but this depends on the type of coal you are using. That smoke is the result of the impurities that are burning off the coal. Also, it is difficult to control the heat, and some people who aren’t used to the coal forge will crank the blower or pump the bellows too fast, and it will burn up the piece. There are different types of coal; there are soft blacksmithing coal like Bituminous and hard blacksmithing coal like Anthracite. The differences between them are that Anthracite is a very high-quality coal with a high-carbon content, low-sulfur content, low-ash and very little smoke. Many people dislike using
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Anthracite because it is harder to light, but I like that it burns hotter and cleaner than Bituminous. Bituminous coal is one of the most widely used coals in blacksmithing. Bituminous coal has a medium- to high-carbon content, medium-sulfur content, low-ash content and little smoke, but it also has a lot of clinkers, which are impurities that form around the tuyere (the fire pot of the forge). The clinkers are made up of coke, coal, slag and other wastes, but it all depends on your personal preferences. Try both coals and see which type works best for you and your forge. A gas forge burns propane for the heat it puts off. You can set the flame to a certain temperature so that you don’t burn up your work piece. That, in itself, is the greatest thing about the gas forge. This is great for a blade smith because you can leave your piece in the forge for a while and not have to worry about burning off the carbon in the steel, which completely ruins the knife. The anvil is the tool that allows you to shape the metal. Most anvils are either drop-forged or cast out of high-carbon steel. They come in a variety of styles and weights. The most common one used is the London Anvil, also called the Peter Wright style of anvil. The weight that I recommend is approximately one hundred eighty pounds, and they cost around two or three dollars per pound so you will end up paying around three to five hundred dollars. When you’re looking for an anvil to buy, there are several key things you should look for. You want to make sure that there are no cracks along the waist, the feet or the base of the anvil and you should also look at the horn of the anvil and make sure there are not serious dings or cracks. Adapted from The Foxfire Magazine Fall/Winter 2013 by former Foxfire student Eric Dyer
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Cover Artist
Peter McIntosh – A Decade of Adventures Out
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t was in 2006 that cover artist Peter McIntosh ran into publisher Tracy McCoy at an art festival. Five years earlier, McIntosh had settled in the Rabun County area, and he was on his way to becoming one of the region’s most well-regarded photographers. Many of his early images came through working with Martha Ezzard, advising her on destinations and taking photographs for a hiking series that appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On that fateful day at the art show, McCoy told McIntosh that she would like to feature his photographs in what would become the Georgia Mountain Laurel. He jumped at the chance and added his own wish – to write a column for her new magazine highlighting adventures in the southern Appalachians. So, “Adventures Out” was born. This month marks the tenth anniversary of the column’s debut. A decade into writing that popular column, McIntosh jokes that his biggest surprise is how quickly a month passes, how often he faces the next deadline. Yet McIntosh has never missed a month, including writing 120 of his intentionally-bad poems. Like the postal service, neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor fog keeps him from his appointed rounds at publishing a hike for local adventurers. If he repeats a destination, McIntosh will try to cover it in a different season than the one in which it first appeared. Even so, he will still drive out and take the hike again so that his readers can be sure the road and the trail are open. New hikes, of course, take even more work. McIntosh must first find a place he hasn’t been, drive there, make notes on the mileage and directions, find the correct turn-off, and take the hike. Sometimes, a destination doesn’t pan out – a waterfall can gmlaurel.com
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COVER ARTIST - Peter McIntosh – A Decade of Adventures Out fall beneath his standards of beauty, or a Forest Service road might be closed so that the trail is inaccessible. But that’s all part of the job, and it’s a job he thoroughly enjoys. McIntosh is currently at work on compiling a volume of his top forty adventures. He says he prefers a list of favorites over a comprehensive geographic guide so that he can select only the best hikes with the best pay-offs. He also likes to put together multi-point destinations in which he’ll link waterfalls and overlooks in one area to each other, and top it off with a perfect spot to catch the sunset. Readers appreciate his efforts. The greatest reward for the photographer comes when he’s hiking with his camera and gear, and he runs into a reader of the Georgia Mountain Laurel out on the trail. More than once, a fellow adventurer has pulled a copy of Peter’s “Adventure Out” column from their pocket to show McIntosh that he got them there. McIntosh enjoys not only the acknowledgment, but also knowing that he’s inspiring others to get out and discover the beauty
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in the area he’s been capturing for years. McIntosh’s exposure through the magazine has opened the door for the backcountry photography workshops he leads. He has a natural passion for teaching students how to use their cameras and equipment out on hikes to a destination of their choice. When he sees their efforts on social media, he feels pride in their accomplishments. He’s a generous teacher, and he likes to hear feedback from his students and fellow hikers through his website. Asked if he worries that he’s training his replacement, McIntosh chuckles. He knows there’s more to the art of capturing a particularly evocative sunset than just equipment or camera skills. A successful photograph requires the photographer to be at the perfect place at the perfect time in the perfect weather. When everything comes together, he feels like Ansel Adams did – that he’s reached the perfect spot right when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter. The biggest help to his art, McIntosh admits, is living in this area, right in the midst of where all the best pictures happen, and where he places himself so that he can guide the rest of us on our next adventures out. Heather Leigh Johnson
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Finding Art
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North Georgia Arts Guild Featured Artist
Anne Autsolief:
By Jo Mitchell
Ageless classic jewelry
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hainmail. As in armor. Think: Medieval castles sprouting turrets and towers; jousting knights astride their gallant steeds, extravagantly gowned and bejeweled ladies of the court. Romance in epic proportions. Chainmail as protective battle armor dates back to around third century Romania. Relatively lightweight, flexible and valued for its ability to deflect penetrating weapons, i.e. arrows. Fundamentals of chainmail passed forward through the centuries, and found their way into unexpected forms. Such as the very modern handcrafted jewelry created by Anne Autsolief: classic, elegant. Intricate, yet simple: chainmaille. Anne discovered hundreds of chainmaille weaves developed over the centuries, learning the weave and sizes, adding her personal style and adapting along the way. The ideas for her creations depend on the movement of the weave and how unique she wants it to be. Anne is gratified to experience the “progression of the raw metal into a finished piece that has fluid movement, texture and unique appeal.” Quality is equally important, and the sense of accomplishment with a finished piece is not to be denied. Thus she would like viewers of her work to come away with an “understanding of how they were made and an appreciation of the time and effort” put into it. Anne hopes her clients find years of enjoyment with their wire and metal artisan chainmaille purchases.
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She begins with ‘raw’ wire of gold filled, rose gold filled, sterling silver or copper in different thickness and hardness. These are then coiled on multiple size mandrels/rods depending on the item being created. The coils are then “saw -cut down the middle” to produce hundreds of loose rings. Each of the rings are then opened and closed by hand with pliers to produce complex patterns used in bracelets, crosses, earrings, pendants and rings. For metal pieces, Anne uses sheets of differing gauges, that are then “cut, annealed (heated and slowly cooled), textured, fold formed, embossed or etched using various metalsmithing techniques. Planning is essential with such a complicated process, but Anne is open to clients’ ideas or special requests. The renaissance began for Anne in 2005 in Charlotte at an exhibit of wire-wrapped jewelry. This led to an impromptu class, followed by a weeklong education at the William Holland School of Lapidary Arts, where she learned about wire gauges, tools and techniques. From there, it was a chance meeting with a business acquaintance that happened to be wearing; you guessed it, chainmaille jewelry. After that it was a combination of self-taught application and additional classes over the years. Retired from AT&T after 32 years, Anne has evolved from a curious novice, to a professional who’s been able to channel her creative talent with chainmaille jewelry into years of participation in the juried art fair circuit. She has also enjoyed teaching chainmaille and silversmith classes in Atlanta. Awards: First Place Best in 3D-Dahlonega Art and Wine Festival 2016 Fourth Place-Historic Pendleton Spring Jubilee 2015 Judges Choice Award-Celebrate Clayton 2015 Honorable Mention-Sandy Springs Festival 2014 You may contact Anne via email @ anne50@windstream.net.
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NORTH GEORGIA COMMUNITY PLAYERS Directed by Sandra Hood Produced by Ginger Belcher
Friday, September 30 • 7 pm Saturday, October 1 • 7 pm Sunday, October 2 • 3 pm Friday, October 7 • 7 pm Saturday, October 8 • 7 pm Sunday, October 9 • 3 pm
Dillard Playhouse Old Dillard School • 892 Franklin Street Dillard, Georgia next to the famous Dillard House Restaurant
TickeTS: Not recommend for 13 and under. Rated PG13.
Starring
Jon Blacksto ck an Holly William d son Check us out on
and on NGCP’s web site at
www.ngcommunityplayers.com
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$
12 adult
Ticket line is 706-212-2500 Also at Rabun county chamber of commerce
Sponsored by
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The Art Lab at Timpson Creek
hrough a grant to further artistic expression, Timpson Creek Gallery and Libby Mathews Studio present The Art Lab at Timpson Creek. Offering art classes at discounted rates or even no cost, these classes are an opportunity to learn from incredible artists. Both hosts are thrilled to be able to present this to their customers and others who desire to learn to make art. A class schedule is posted below with information on registration and class time and fee. Plan to take advantage of this marvelous opportunity. Doing so will enable Cecile Thompson and Libby Mathews to continue with The Art Lab. For additional information please call 706.782.5164. Timpson Creek Gallery and the Libby Mathews Studio are located at 7142 Highway 76 West, Clayton, Georgia 30525, You are invited to e-mail timpsoncreek@yahoo.com and encouraged to visit their website at www.timpsoncreek.com. Saturday, September 17th 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Ink Dyed Silk Scarves by Deb Goatcher debgoatcher@windstream.net $50 Deb Goatcher an amazing multimedia artist who refuses to color within the lines will be facilitating participants in creating their own wearable art. Whether your style is sophisticated, bohemian or funky you will be sure to have fun creating silk scarves to wear or a gift for someone special. Be prepared to get messy. All materials included to create two scarves. Additional blanks will be available for purchase. Saturday, October 1st 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM The Painted Book by Peggy McBride pmcbride@ windstream.net $95 Peggy McBride is a mixed media artist who has experimented in the world of book arts for four years as a form of expression in both functional and sculptural forms. She operates Globe Studio - Art with the Earth in Mind located in Clayton, GA. An exploration of bookmaking paired with mark-making using a collection of handmade brushes/pens with fine & funky papers and canvas book cover. No experience necessary. All materials supplied.
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Saturday, September 24th 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Painting Demonstration by Susan Burns no charge* Timpson Creek Artist and the Official Artist of the Kentucky Derby, Susan Easton Burns’ spontaneity and intuition are the most important concepts that she conveys in her art. Her energetic seemingly random, chaotic beginnings create rich under paintings for the images that come to life in her art. Come see Susan demonstrate how she begins her paintings and watch the magic that happens… to reserve a space email mathewslibby@gmail.com. *made possible by the St. Anton Foundation and The Hambidge Center for the Arts and Sciences.
Saturday, October 8th & Saturday, October 15th 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Figure Drawing by Libby Mathews mathewslibby@ gmail.com $160 per class Composition, content, line and form will be stressed. All supplies included. September 2016
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Century 21 Scenic Realty 3680 Hwy. 76 - Young Harris, GA 30582 - 706.896.8633 No Expense Spared! Custom Built 3BR/3.5 Main House & 1BR/1BA Carriage House over the 3 car garage on 3.38 fully fenced acres. Year round expansive Long Range Mountain and Big Lake Views without hard to access climb, just minutes from golf, lake and town. Main Home (2014) approx 3935 sf, 2 story great room/ dining room with floor to ceiling stack stone fireplace, framed on either side by custom cherry cabinetry & granite covered bar area. 2 Master suites w/ sitting areas, 1 each level plus 3rd large BR. Interior is wheelchair & handicap accessible w/ an elevator. Storm/Safe Room, Security System w/ 4 exterior cameras. Exterior is maintenance free w/ Hardi Board siding, cultured stone & flagstone covered porches. Freestanding Carriage House (2010) approx. 860 sf w/ 2nd elevator over 3 car garage features a large bedroom, Views & covered screen porch. This home has it all & then some, Truly a Must See! MLS 259926 $799,900 389 Chatuge Shores Overlook, Hayesville, NC. Contact Owner/Agent Frank Owen for more information or to Set an Appointment. In the meantime, sit back & enjoy the Virtual Tour at http://tour.getmytour.com/580040
Frank Owen - cell: 561-818-0877 - email: fveo@att.net
Mountain Harbour
Mountain Harbour - If you are wanting to live in one of the Best Subdivisions in the County, then you have found it. With a Semi Private Golf Course, a Community Pool, Tennis & a Fitness Center in the Club House this Subdivision has it all covered. This is one of the Best Homes at The Ridges Golf Course with Beautiful Year Round Mountain Views and Golf Course Frontage. Beautiful Stack Rock Fireplace, Hardwood Floors, Wonderful Flow for Family & Guests. Three Bedrooms have a Private Suite. The Master is on the Main Floor. Just Remodeled Master Bath, Jetted Tub, Steam Shower, Double Shower, Towel Warmer and So Much More! This Home has Character, Style, and is Close to the Club House and all the Amenities. If you want a Great Country Club Experience, here it is!! MLS 252165 $649,000 Rick Andrews Richard Kelley Call Richard Kelley 828.557.9139 706.781.5220 or Rick Andrews. Rick@sceniC21.com richard@mountvalleyacres.com www.BestMountainDeals.com www.mountvalleyacres.com
Walker Point Great 4 Bedroom/3.5 Bathroom Remodeled Lake Home. Super Outside Screened-In Porch. Great Outdoor Fireplace with Large Private Area for Sitting and Entertaining. Beautiful Rock Steps down to the Boat Dock & Deep all Year-Round Water. The Home has a Super Family & Friend Feel & is Very Warm and Inviting. Very Nice Kitchen, Master & Bath. This is a Must See! MLS 260305 $879,000 Call Richard Kelley.
Century 21 Scenic Realty 3680 Hwy. 76 - Young Harris, GA 30582
Call Richard Kelley: Office 706.896.8633, Mobile 706.781.5220 richard@mountvalleyacres.com - www.mountvalleyacres.com
Heathers Cove - This is a One of a Kind True Lake Home in the Mountains with the BEST View on Lake Chatuge. There is not a Home in sight and all you can see are the Mountains and the Water. Deep Water Year Round. Great Dock with Sun Deck, Outdoor Fireplace, Fire Pit and so much more. The Open Floor Plan is great for entertaining but still gives you Great Privacy. Main Level Entry leads into an Open Living Area with Cathedral Ceilings, a Gourmet Kitchen & a Luxurious Master Suite. Terrace Level with 2 Bedrooms & 2 Bathrooms also has a Full Kitchen with Refrigerator, Range, Microwave & Dishwasher & a Living Area. The Home is truly a Home away from Home. Completely Re-Modeled in the Fall 2012/Winter 2013 with Super Good Taste. Lots of Room for Family & Friends. This is a Must See! This is a Fun Place to be Winter or Summer!! Sold Completely Furnished! MLS 258946 $1,150,000 Call Richard Kelley.
Foxfire
Foxfire Mountaineer Festival
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re you looking for a family-friendly event to enjoy with music, crafts, food and more? Then The Foxfire Mountaineer Festival is for you. This one-day celebration of the heritage of the Southern Appalachian Mountains features music from the Foxfire Boys and other local artists, demonstrations of time honored tradesmen and all of the mountain-flavored games and challenges for young and old alike. Quilters, broom-makers, candlemakers, woodworkers, potters, metalsmiths, weavers, luthiers and much more will be present at the festival to display their craftsmanship and give visitors a look into the ways of life of our ancestors. You will have the opportunity to see the creative process in action and to see the finished products.
The festival, which will be held on Saturday, October 1st from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, with music starting at 10:15 AM, will not only feature arts, crafts and music, but also some fun contests for the more energetic visitors. The wood sawing contest, wood chopping contest and three-legged race are sure to provide fun for people of all ages. For the more adventurous folks, the festival boasts the greased pig chase. Plenty of good food will be served at the festival, and the field events, mountain crafts, a raffle and silent auction will make this a fun family day not to be missed. Join us in downtown Clayton, GA, at the Rabun County Civic Center on Saturday, October 1s. Admission is $5, kids 3 & under get in free. The Foxfire Mountaineer Festival is presented by Foxfire’s Community Board in partnership with the City of Clayton and the Clayton Tribune. Visit www.foxfiremountaineer.org for more information and tickets, which can also be purchased at the festival.
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By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.
H elen H unt J ackson
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Mountain Happenings - September & October, 2016 STEPHENS COUNTY
HABERSHAM COUNTY
September 3rd and each Wednesday and Saturday through October Stephens County Farmers’ Market Corner of Pond and Tugalo Toccoa Info: 706.282.3309
September 3rd and each Saturday through October Clarkesville Farmers’ Market Old Clarkesville Mill Clarkesville Info: 706.778.9374
September 10th and the second Saturday of the month through October Sage Market Corner of Pond and Tugalo Toccoa Info: 706.282.3309
September 9th – 17th Chattahoochee Mountain Fair Toccoa Highway Clarkesville Info: 706.778.4654
September 10th and the second Saturday of the month Second Saturday Historic Downtown Toccoa Info: 706.886.2132 September 19th and the third Monday of each month Career Coach Stephens County Library parking lot Toccoa Info: www.gmrc.ga.gov/ WorkforceDevelopment
September 17th Gospel Choir Showcase Historic Train Depot Cornelia Info: 706.778.4654 September 24th 7th Annual Taste of Clarkesville Downtown Clarkesville Info: www.tasteofclarkesville.com
September 30th – October 2nd Currahee Military Weekend Toccoa Info: 706.886.2132
October 8th 29th Annual Big Red Apple Festival Cornelia Info: corneliageorgia.org
October 21st Chamber of Commerce Fall Golf at the Links The Links at Lake Toccoa Toccoa Info: 706.886.2132
October 8th Lake Russell 5k & Fun Run Lake Russell Recreation Area Mt. Airy Info: 706.778.4654
October 21st Light up the Links for a Cure Relay for Life The Links at Lake Toccoa Toccoa Info: 706.886.2132 October 27th John Berry Concert Georgia Baptist Conference Center Toccoa Info: 706.886.2132 October 29th Martin Fall Festival Martin Info: 770.861.1955; 706.491.4356 October 29th – 30th Toccoa Harvest Festival Downtown Toccoa Info: 706.282. 3309
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September 16th and the third Friday of the month Friday Night Live Downtown Clarkesville Info: 706.754.2220
October 29th Bob’s 35th Halloween Costume Ball with Melonfunky & Jason Kenney Grant Street Music Room Old Clarkesville Mill, Clarkesville Info: 706.754.3541
September 2nd and the first Friday of the month First Friday Music Pickin’ Sautee Village Sautee Info: 706.878.0144 September 2nd BINGO Helen Festhalle Helen Info: 706.878.1908 September 7th A Day in the Park for Veterans & Their Families Helen Riverside Park & Pavilion Helen Info: 706.878.3933 September 8th – 11th; 15th – 18th September 22nd – October 31st 46th Annual Oktoberfest Helen Info: 706.878.1908 September 10th Oktoberfest Parade Main Street Helen Info: 706.878.1908 September 17th – 18th Helen’s Alpine Village Arts & Crafts Show Unicoi Hill Park, Helen Info: 706.878.2181 September 24th 9th Annual Agri-Fest & the 5th Annual Pottery Comes to Town Event Freedom Park Cleveland Info: 706.865.5356 September 24th Street Dance at The Market Platz Downtown Helen Info: 706.878.2181
October 31st Trick or Treat on the Square Downtown Clarkesville Info: 706.778.4654
Yonah Mountain Vineyards Cleveland Info: 706.878.5522
WHITE COUNTY
September 3rd Crush Fest
September 1st Labor Day Celebration Unicoi State Park Helen Info: 706.878.2201
September 2016
September 11th and the second Sunday of the month Reserve Wine Tasting
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Sautee Nacoochee Center Sautee Info: 706.878.3300 September 2nd – 4th and each Friday – Sunday Discovery Tours September 3rd Folk Pottery Show & Sale and 10th Anniversary Celebration Helen Arts & Heritage Center Helen Info: 706.878.3933 September 8th 2016 Judged Art Competition & Reception October 22nd 2016 Art-Oberfest Arts & Crafts Festival Hardman Farm Historic Site Sautee Nacoochee Info: 706.865.5356 September 17 Georgia’s Spirit of Appalachia Food, Wine & Art Festival th
October 8th Fall Country Fair
September 9th; October 1st TBD September 17th; October 15th Mars Pickers September 24th; October 8th Evergreen
September 10th – 11th Joan and Jim Burke North Georgia Zoo & Farm Cleveland Info: 706.348.7279 th
Smithgall Woods Cleveland Info: 706.878.3087 www.smithgallwoods.com September 3 and each Saturday First Visit Tours rd
September 24th Youth Fishing Days at Buck Shoals Info: 770.595.5700 October 22 Basic Land Navigation nd
Saturday Evening Concert Series Unicoi State Park & Lodge Helen Info: 706.878.2201 September 3 Happy Wanders German Band rd
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September 13th; October 11th Mommy and Me at the Zoo
October 22nd Sky Valley Fall Fest Sky Valley Pavilion Sky Valley Info: www.skyvalleyga.com
September 18 and the third Sunday of the Month Behind the Scenes Tour th
October 1st – 29th Pumpkin Fest October 22nd – 23rd Boo at the Zoo
September 3rd and each Saturday Simply Homegrown Farmers’ Market Clayton City Hall Complex Clayton Info: www.RabunMarket.com September 3rd – 4th “His Last Days” Passion Drama Tallulah Falls School Tallulah Falls Info: 706.476.7939; 706.769.5271
September 12 Rhapsody in Rabun Rabun County Civic Center Clayton Info: 706.490.1494 rhapsodyinrabun.com th
October 1st The Painted Book by Peggy McBride River Vista RV Park Dillard Info: 706.746.2722 September 2nd – 5th Labor Day Celebration October 28th – 29th Halloween Weekend - A fun and haunted weekend at River Vista Rabun Arena Tiger Info: 706.212.0452 September 5th Wendy Reed Barrel Racing September 10th; October 8th Wayne Dutton Jr. Rodeo September 11th; October 9th Wayne Dutton Barrel Race & Roping September 28th James Soares Memorial Barrel Race October 16th Carolina Youth Rodeo Finals
October 28th Rabun County Rec. Dept. Trunk or Treat Rabun County Recreation Dept Tiger Info: www.rabuncountyrecreation.com
Tallulah Gorge State Park Tallulah Falls Info: 706.754.7981
October 28 – 29 Cirque Mysterieux Rearden Theater, RGNS Rabun Gap Info: www.RabunGap.org
September 10th; October 22nd Hidden Gem Hiking Series
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RABUN COUNTY
September 14th Harvest Stomp Stonewall Creek Vineyards Clayton Info: 706.212.0584
October 1 Foxfire Mountaineer Festival Rabun County Civic Center Clayton Info: www.foxfire.org st
September 3 – 4 ; October 1 – 2 Sunset Tours rd
BabyLand General Cleveland Info: 706.865.2171
October 29th Halloween Celebration
September 30th - October 1st October 7th - 9th “Plaza Suite” North Georgia Community Players Dillard Playhouse Dillard Info: 706.212.2500
September 1st – 3rd Will and Kay Lake
September 24th – 25th and weekends in October Scarecrow Trail
October 21st – 22nd Hillbilly Hog BBQ Throwdown & Fall Leaf Festival
September 17th – 18th WannaGoFast 1/2 Mile Shootout Heavens Landing Airstrip Clayton Info: www.wannagofast.com
Visiting Artist Series Unicoi State Park & Lodge Helen Info: 706.878.2201
October 22nd Ghost Legends of the Valley
September 10th Fall Fest
September 15th North Georgia Arts Guild Program Jan Walker, Children’s Author & Illustrator Rabun County Conference Center Clayton Info: www.northgeorgiaartsguild.com
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Hambidge Center Rabun Gap Info: 706.746.5718 September 3rd and the First Saturday of the month Grist Mill Visits September 17th and the third Saturday of the month Nature Hike October 15th The Great ARTdoors Festival Timpson Creek Gallery Classes Timpson Creek Gallery Clayton Info: 706.782.5164
September 3rd – 5th Gorge Floor Hike
September 10th – 11th; 17th – 18th September 24th – 25th October 5th; 7th; 12th; 14th October 19th; 21st; 29th Aesthetic Water Releases September 11th; October 2nd Sunrise Hike September 15th; 17th; October 16th Full Moon Suspension Bridge Hike September 16th; October 15th Full Moon Paddle September 16th Family Paddle October 21st Jail Tales Trail October 31st Trunk or Treat for Halloween
September 17th Silk Scarves Art with Deb Goatche September 24th Painting Demonstration by Susan Burns
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Mountain Happenings - September & October, 2016 October 1st Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in Concert
TOWNS COUNTY September 3rd Music on the Square Leather and Lace Town Square, Hiawassee Info: 706.896.4966; 800.984.1543 September 8th; October 13th Awake America Prayer Meeting Hiawassee Civic Center Hiawassee Info: 706.994.8962 October 1st “Puttin’ on the Dog” Towns County Recreation Center Hiawassee Info: 706.379.0944 October 15th – 16th Home & Garden Show The Event Center at Fieldstone Young Harris Info: 828.321.2111 October 15th US Coast Guard Auxiliary Safe Boating Classes Old 911 Center on Jack Dayton Circle Young Harris Info: 770.316.8703 Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds Hiawassee Info: 706.896.4191 www.georgiamountainfairgrounds.com September 22nd – 24th HOG Rally
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October 7th – 15th Georgia Mountain Fall Festival October 7th Mickey Gilley in Concert October 8th Aaron Tippin in Concert October 9th Isaacs, The Anchormen, The Servers October 10th Dailey & Vincent in Concert October 11th TG Sheppard in Concert October 15th Fiddlers Convention October 21st - 22nd Airstream & Tin Can Tourist October 22nd 1st Annual Appalachian Craft Brew, Stew & Que Festival Vino and Vibes Hightower Creek Vineyards Hiawassee Info: 706.896.8963 September 3rd Kaleb and Jordan Red Fable September 4 Labor Day Celebration
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Crane Creek Vineyards Young Harris Info: 706.379.1235 September 1st End of Summer Wine Tasting & Lakes Celebration September 2nd and each Friday Friday Evening Tapas & Acoustic September 3rd and each Saturday Winery Tour October 15th Annual Harvest Festival UNION COUNTY September 1st and each Thursday Trivia at the View View Grill at the Butternut Creek Golf Course, Blairsville Info: 706.439.6054 September 3rd – 4th Mountain Heritage Festival Mountain Life Museum Blairsville Info: 706.745.5493 September 7th and each Wednesday BINGO Haralson Memorial Civic Center Blairsville Info: 678.630.0452 September 9th and the second Friday of the month Writers’ Night Out Union County Community Center Blairsville Info: 877.745.5789 continued
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Mountain Happenings - September & October, 2016 September 10th Mountain Music & Arts & Crafts Festival Vogel State Park Blairsville Info: 706.745.2628 September 12th and each Monday (Excluding Federal Holidays) Guided Garden Tour Georgia Mountain Research & Education Center Blairsville Info: 706.745.2655 September 17th and the third Saturday of the month through October Cruise-In on the Square Downtown Courthouse Square Blairsville Info: 706.745.5789 September 17th – 18th 4th Annual Celebrate Autumn Arts & Crafts Show North Georgia Technical College Blairsville Info: 706.896.0932 September 17th Comedy Dinner Theater & Live Auction House of Prayer Family Life Center Blairsville Info: 706.745.5925; www.hopb.org September 18th and the third Sunday of the month Shady Grove UMC Third Sunday Singing Shady Grove UMC Blairsville Info: 706.781.4729 September 30th – October 2nd St. Francis of Assisi Fall Festival St. Francis of Assisi Church Blairsville Info: 706.745.6400 October 1st – 2nd Indian Summer Festival Woody Gap School Suches Info: 706.747.2401 October 1st 9th Annual Charity Poker Run for S.A.F.E. North Georgia Technical College Blairsville Info: 706.379.1901 October 7th – 8th Fall Festival First United Methodist Church Blairsville Info: 706.745.2073
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October 8th – 9th; 15th – 16th Blairsville Sorghum Festival Meeks Park Blairsville Info: 706.745.5789 October 15th Fall Hoedown Vogel State Park Blairsville Info: 706.745.2628 October 15th Traditional Square Dance The old gym behind Mountain Education Charter High School Blairsville Info: 706.745.5789 October 28th – 29th 2016 Fall Hammer-In & Metalwork Event Trackrock Campground & Cabins Blairsville Info: 706.745.2420 October 29th Hometown Halloween On the Square Blairsville Info: 706.347.3503 Union County Schools Fine Arts Center Blairsville Info: 877.745.5789 October 1st UCHS Theatre: Charlotte’s Web October 6th UCHS Chorus Fall Concert Evolution of Music October 11th UCMS Chorus & Theatre - Fall Show October 13th UCHS Band - Fall Concert Union County Farmers’ Market Old Smokey Road, Blairsville Info: 706.439.6043 September 1st and each Tuesday and Thursday through October 13th Canning Plant September 2nd and each Friday Trash and Treasure Sale September 2nd and the first Friday of the month through October Cruise In to the Farmers’ Market September 3rd and each Tuesday and Saturday Farmers’ Market
September 2016
Paradise Hills Winery, Resort & Spa Blairsville Info: 877.745.7483 September 3rd and each Saturday through October Paradise Hills Concert Series September 3rd Grape Stomp Fest October 29th Hallowine Night Friday Night Concert Series Historic Courthouse Blairsville Info: 706.745.5493 September 2nd Nearly Normal String Band September 9th Cartecay River Band September 16th Raven and Red September 23rd Mars Hill Porch Pickers September 30th The Wilson Family October 7th Butternut Creek and Friends October 14th John Nix & The Country Cousins October 21st Nelson Thomas October 26th The Skillet Lickers Copperhead Lodge Blairsville Info: 706.835.7433 September 2nd Michael Hulett September 30th Paul Constantine October 8th Mike Watson Band CLAY COUNTY, NC September 1st and each Thursday Hayesville Thursday Evening Market On the Square Hayesville Info: 863.287.4482 September 2nd and each Friday Music Night Eagle Fork Vineyards Hayesville Info: 828.389.8466
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September 2nd Friday Night Concert Series Gnarly Fingers Hayesville Square Hayesville Info: 828.389.2121 September 3rd and each Saturday through October Hayesville Saturday Market Old Courthouse Square Hayesville Info: 863.287.4482 September 4th Pet Obedience and Agility Classes Hayesville Square Hayesville Info: 828.389.0804 September 7th and each Wednesday through October Brasstown Farmers’ Market Old Highway 64 Brasstown Info: 828.360.2498 September 9 – 10 Annual Country Fare Community Wide Health Fair Good Shepherd Episcopal Church Hayesville Info: 502.525.7272 th
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September 10th 5th Annual Pet Celebration Town Square Hayesville Info: 828.389.3704 September 16 – 17 Cherokee Heritage Festival Cherokee Heritage Village Hayesville Info: 828.389.4592 th
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September 23rd Lake Chatuge Classic Golf Tournament The Ridges Golf Course Hayesville Info: 706.896.4966 September 24th; October 8th Hot Summer Nights Goldhagen Art Studio Hayesville Info: www.goldhagenartglass.com October 14th – 16th Punkin Chunkin Hayesville Info: 828.389.3704
Peacock Performing Arts Center Hayesville Info: 828.389.2787 September 10th Songwriters Showcase 16 October 14th – 16th, 21st – 23rd “Dial M For Murder”
September 2nd – 4th, 9th – 11th “The Odd Couple” October 21st – 23rd; 28th – 30th “Don’t Tell Mother”
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October 6th – 8th Autumn Leaves Craft Show Macon County Fairgrounds Franklin Info: 828.349.4324
October 29th Haunted Theater John C. Campbell Folk School Brasstown Info: 828.837.2775; 800.FOLKSCH www.folkschool.org September 2nd Billy Jackson September 20 ; October 8 English Country Dance Workshop Series th
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October 1st – 2nd 42nd Fall Festival MACON COUNTY, NC September 1st; October 6th Rotary Club of Highlands Bingo Night Highlands Community Building Highlands Info: 828.526.2112 September 1st – 4th “Piano Man” Highlands Playhouse Highlands Info: 828.526.2695
October 8 Highlands Own Arts and Crafts Show Highlands Rec. Park & Civic Center Highlands Info: 828.526.2118 th
October 8th CTCI’s 5k Walk for God, Country and Family Macon County Veteran’s Memorial Park Franklin Info: 828.349.2090 October 8th Fall Festival Mason Mountain Mine Franklin Info: 828.524.4570 October 14 – 16 Leaf Lookers Gemboree Robert C. Carpenter Building Franklin Info: 828.524.3161 th
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October 22nd 20th Annual Pumpkinfest Downtown Franklin Info: 828.524.2516
September 3rd Saturdays on Pine The Freeway Revival Kelsey-Hutchinson Park Highlands Info: 828.526.2112 September 10th Highlands Historical Society’s Dazzling Dahlia Festival Highlands Recreation & Civic Center Highlands Info: 828.526.2112 September 14th – 17th Macon County Fair Macon County Fairgrounds Franklin Info: 828.369.3523 www.themaconcofair.com September 18 ; October 9 Horse Show Macon County Fairgrounds Franklin Info: 828.524.3267 th
Licklog Players 34 Creekside Circle Hayesville Info: 828.389.8632
October 1st Holistic Highlands Natural Health & Wellness Fair Mill Creek Plaza Highlands Info: 828.526.9698
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October 1st Blue Jean Ball Macon County Fairgrounds Franklin Info: 828.349.6262
October 31st Highlands Downtown All Hallows Eve Celebration Highlands Info: 828.526.2112 Cowee School Franklin Info: www.coweeschool.org September 17th Malpass Brothers October 15th Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues Pickin’ on the Square Downtown Franklin Info: 828.524.2516
September 24th Remenents (Great Rock and Roll) October 1st; 8th; 15th To Be Announced Smoky Mountain Center for Performing Arts Franklin Info: 866.273.4615; 828.524.1598 www.GreatMountainMusic.com September 3rd A Tribute to John Denver starring Jim Curry September 10th Overlook Theatre Company’s 20th Anniversary Celebration September 24th Bill Anderson’s Country’s Family Reunion October 1st Charley Pride October 8th Sidewalk Prophets October 15th The Collingsworth Family October 22nd Wade Hayes Martin Lipscomb Performing Arts Center Highlands Info: 828.526.9047 September 1st – 4th Highlands Cashiers Players “Don’t Dress for Dinner” September 17th Balsam Range September 24th Capital Company – A Political Comedy Company October 1st Phantom Pack - Three Broadway Phantoms October 29th Michael Cleveland and the Flamekeepers Friday Night Live Town Square, Highlands Info: 828.526.2112 September 2nd; October 14th Southern Highlands
September 3rd Charley Horse (Country, Country Swing)
September 9th; 30th Mountain Dulcimer Group
September 10th Gear Brothers (Bluegrass)
September 16th; October 7th Johnny Webb Band
September 17th Blackwell & Dixie Bluegrass Boys (Bluegrass)
September 2016
September 23rd Cross Creek October 21st TBA
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North Georgia Community Players Present
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“PLAZA SUITE” by Neil Simon
ilarity abounds in Plaza Suite, a portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza, as shown in three separate acts, performed by the North Georgia Community Players. A suburban couple takes the suite while their house is being painted, and it turns out to be the one in which they honeymooned 23 (or was it 24?) years before. Was yesterday the anniversary, or is it today: a wry tale of a marriage in tatters.
Tickets are $12.00, and are available at the Rabun County Chamber of Commerce, or by calling the ticket line at 706.212.2500.
Next follows the exploits of a Hollywood producer, who, after three marriages, is looking for fresh fields. He calls a childhood sweetheart, now a suburban housewife, for a diversion. Over the years she has idolized him from afar and is now more than the match he bargained for.
Show times are as follows:
The last couple is a mother and father fighting about the best way to get their daughter out of the bathroom and down to the ballroom where guests await her. Mother yells, “I want you to come out of that bathroom and get married!”
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Join us at the Dillard Playhouse, next to the famous Dillard House Restaurant for an evening of sheer entertainment!
September 2016
Friday, September 30th at 7:00 PM Saturday, October 1st at 7:00 PM Sunday, October 2nd at 3:00 PM Friday, October 7th at 7:00 PM Saturday, October 8th at 7:00 PM Sunday, October 9th at 3:00 PM
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announce that all volunteers participating in the fall clean up event on October 1st will be entered in a drawing and eligible to receive an original Peter McIntosh photograph. Please sign on Facebook, search Keep Rabun Beautiful and visit the volunteer community page.
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abun County is known for outstanding beauty and is a thriving, friendly community with a lot to offer. With increasing development all year round there is increased traffic, fast food restaurants and litter. Counties surrounding Rabun County have antilitter programs in place with volunteer cleanup events. Joan Hurley & Sherryl Major met through the Town Crier to address litter pickup solutions in our county. A Spring Cleanup Event took place along with Earth Day Events throughout Georgia. The successful collection of over 60 bags of garbage, generosity from local businesses, positive feedback from 37 volunteers and outpouring of appreciations sparked the Keep Rabun Beautiful initiative. Keep Rabun Beautiful is made up of all volunteers with about 150 followers on Facebook. Joan initiated the community page to share information about cleanup events supported by Sherryl Major, Glen Whitehouse, Pete Roe and Ann Bone Inman. Some volunteer groups that pick up litter regularly were already established such as Persimmon, Earl’s Ford and The Lion’s Club. Sweep The Hooch, a volunteer cleanup on the Chattahoochee was another inspiration. The 2016 spring event had over 500 volunteers and they collected 15 TONS of garbage! “That was just shocking to me, I feel the least we can do is our small part to prevent this from happening in Rabun County.” Successes from our neighboring counties for all to share or be inspired are posted on the Keep Rabun Beautiful Facebook page. Volunteers are willing to help in Rabun County Schools to educate about the effects of litter on everyone and our environment like some antilitter programs do in surrounding county schools. One example of an educational activity is a competition to design an ad for the 2017 Earth Day Litter Pickup Event. The winner’s design would be made into posters and their name displayed in windows of local businesses. Recently, Moon Pie Pizzeria – Dillard held a community gives back day raising donations for Keep Rabun Beautiful volunteer t-shirts. Keep Rabun Beautiful is pleased to
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The Rabun County Chamber of Commerce is now sponsoring the Keep Rabun Beautiful initiative. It is an opportunity for everyone in Rabun County to get involved in serving the community they call home. Litter on our roads, trails, rivers and creeks is not only unpleasant to look at and depreciating to the area but, it is also dangerous to the wildlife that call our county home. Rabun County residents take pride in our corner of the world and this is a way to show off the natural beauty. Our volunteers help coordinate countywide cleanup events, one in spring to take place with Keep Georgia Beautiful Earth Day Events and one in the fall to prepare for Rabun County’s Leaf Season Tourism. Local businesses donate all supplies such as bottled water, garbage bags, gloves, safety vests, etc. and volunteers in the community join to cleanup. The 2016 Keep Rabun Beautiful fall event is October 1st from 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM. Volunteers will meet at the parking area below Rumor Hazit. Come enjoy the festive, fun fellowship while making a difference. More volunteers are needed; there are many ways to help to recruit, advertise or collect incentives even if you are unable to participate in this event. Individual volunteers work together in cleanup groups or better yet, bring your own team from your office, company, school or club and show camaraderie to make an impact! Sign up at the Rabun County Welcome Center or call for information 706.782.4812.
September 2016
A special thank you to local businesses that supported with donations or volunteer help and those now participating: The Rabun County Sheriff’s Department, Tiger Drive-In, City of Tiger, Home Depot, Walmart, Ingles, Andy’s Market, Wendy’s, Georgia Power, Better Homes and Gardens Metro Brokers, Reeve’s Hardware, Clark’s on Main, White Birch Inn, Goin’ Postal, The Clayton Tribune, The Georgia Mountain Laurel, Arrange to Change, Sky Radio, WSBTV, Camp Covecrest, St. Helena’s, Clayton Lion’s Club, Impressed, The Rabun County Chamber of Commerce, Rodan & Fields Skin Care, Peter McIntosh Photography, Moon Pie Pizzeria-Dillard, Heaven’s Landing and Dr. Stephen Jarrard.
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Foxfire Quick and Easy Plain Cake By Gladys Nichols This cake is good covered with chocolate icing and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup shortening or butter 2 eggs 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour 1 1/2 cups water 1 tablespoon flavoring of your choice Cream sugar and butter; add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Sift flour and add alternately with water. Blend in flavoring. Pour batter into greased and floured layer pans—two 9-inch pans, or three 8-inch pans—and bake in a 350˚ oven for 30 to 45 minutes for two layers, or 20 to 25 minutes for three.
Soft Chocolate Frosting By Arizona Dickerson 4 squares unsweetened chocolate, cut in pieces 1 1/4 cups cold milk ¼1/4 cup flour 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon vanilla Put chocolate and milk in the top of a double boiler and heat. When chocolate is melted, beat with a rotary beater until smooth and blended. Remove from the heat. Blend flour and sugar, then stir into the chocolate, slowly, until smooth. Return to the heat and cook until thickened. Add butter and vanilla and stir until well blended. Cool and spread on cake. Adapted from The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery by former Foxfire student Eric Dyer.
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A Taste
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Bon Appétit - Crock Pot Creations by Scarlett Cook
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know that it is hard to get back into a routine after the summer break, but school bells – and baseball, football, cheerleading or band practices – wait for no one. These recipes can be made the night before and just before you run out the door the next morning put the crock in the cooker and hours later you can come home to a full meal or at least a good start on one.
Swiss Steak Serves 4
Brown & White Rice Serves 6 – 8
2 Pounds round steak, about an inch thick 1/4 Cup plain flour 1 Teaspoon salt 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1 Stalk celery, chopped 2 Carrots, peeled and chopped 1/4 Cup chopped onion 1/2 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 16-Ounce can whole tomatoes 1/2 Cup grated Cheddar cheese Cooked rice or noodles
8 Slices bacon, diced 1/2 Cup uncooked brown rice 4 Green onions, sliced 1 4-Ounce Can sliced mushrooms, drained 1 Cup uncooked white rice 3 Cups beef broth 1/2 Cup slivered almonds, toasted 3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese In skillet fry diced bacon until crisp. Stir in brown rice and cook over medium heat until rice is light golden brown.
Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Cut steak into four pieces. Mix flour and salt together on a plate. Dredge steak in flour mixture and brown on both sides in hot oil. Spray sides and bottom of crock with Pam. Place steak in crock and add chopped celery, carrots and onion and Worcestershire sauce. Pour tomatoes with juice over steak and vegetables.
Add bacon and browned rice to crock pot. Stir in onions, mushrooms, white rice and broth and stir well to mix. Cover and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours or on high 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 hours. Before serving stir well and garnish with almonds and Parmesan.
Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours. Just before serving sprinkle cheese over top of steak. If desired serve over rice or noodles.
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Macaroni & Cheese Serves 6 – 8 3 Cups cooked macaroni 1 Tablespoon margarine, melted 2 Cups whole milk 3 Cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese 1/4 Cup minced green pepper 1/2 Cup chopped onion 1 Teaspoon salt 1/4 Teaspoon pepper Combine macaroni and butter; add other ingredients. Pour into crock pot that has been sprayed with Pam.
Corn Pudding Serves 6 – 8
Cover and cook on high 2 – 3 hours; stirring once or twice during cooking time.
4 Eggs 1 17-Ounce can cream style corn 1/3 Cup plain flour 1/2 Teaspoon salt 1/4 Teaspoon pepper 1/2 Cup half & half or whole milk 1/2 Tablespoon butter In a large bowl beat eggs until thick and lemon colored. Stir in corn. In another bowl beat flour, salt, pepper with half and half until smooth. Stir into corn mixture. Pour into crock pot that has been sprayed with Pam. Dot with butter. Cover and cook on high 3 – 4 hours or on low for 7 – 9 hours.
Baked Beans Serves 6 – 8 5 Slices fried bacon, crumbled 2 16-Ounce cans navy beans, drained & rinsed 1/2 Bell pepper, seeded and chopped finely 1/2 Medium onion, chopped 1 1/2 Teaspoon mustard 1/2 Cup ketchup 1/2 Cup barbeque sauce – hickory smoked flavor 1/2 Cup packed brown sugar Mix all ingredients together. Spray sides and bottom of crock pot with Pam and add bean mixture. Cover and cook on low 8 – 12 hours or on high for 3 – 4 hours.
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A Taste
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FAMILY TABLE
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by Lorie Thompson
hh September! One of my favorite cooking months! The arrival of cooler nights promise autumn weather is on its way. Summer’s bounty is abundant and the roadside markets are full of apples! The red, green and gold shades beckon me to taste each variety and sample their unique flavor. The old standby favorites of Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Winesap are sold alongside the new varieties of Honeycrisp, Fuji and Pink Lady apples. I love to go to Osage Market and fill a bag with one of each variety. Figuring out which of these varieties are best for your recipe is not easy. I still tend to use my tried and true for my old time recipes. Let me share two of them with you! I call this my “Simon and Garfunkel Roast” because it is loaded with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, as well as garlic, salt, crushed red pepper, a host of root vegetables and a surprise ingredient of apples! Sing a little “Scarborough Fair” while you make it! Take a 3-5 pound, bone-in pork roast, give it a good sprinkle of kosher salt and garlic powder, or just garlic salt. Peel and chop into large pieces the following: 2 – 3 parsnips, 2 large sweet potatoes, 2 – 3 large carrots, 1 onion, and 2 – 3 large apples of a crisp variety such as Granny Smith or Golden Delicious. Layer vegetables and apples in the bottom of a roasting pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Salt
the vegetables, lightly. Sprinkle with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. You can use black pepper or red pepper. Snuggle the pork roast into the vegetables. Sprinkle herbs on the roast, too. Cook in a 350˚ oven for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours; check for doneness. Roast is done when meat begins to pull away from bone or check with an instant read thermometer; temperature should be 155 – 160˚. I like to turn the oven up to 400˚ the last 15 minutes to give the roast good color. Remove meat and vegetables to serving platter or cutting board and tent with foil. Allow roast to rest at least 15 – 20 minutes before cutting.
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The pan drippings make an excellent gravy. Add 2 – 3 tablespoons of flour and mix with drippings. Place on medium heat and brown flour. Add 11/2 cups of water or broth to pan, stirring constantly. Cook until bubbly and thickened. Serve alongside roast. This next recipe comes from my childhood. My grandmother Essie Ramey was known to be a fabulous cook! She cooked for her family and anyone that would give her the opportunity! When someone in the community was ill or had a death in their family, my grandmother showed up at the front door with boxes of home cooked food and willing hands to help in any way she could. Her fried chicken, biscuits, chicken pie, fried apple pies and her APPLE CAKE were a few of her specialties!
As a newly married young woman, I asked my Granny for her apple cake recipe. She told me that having the recipe and knowing how to make the cake were two different things. She told me to come to her house and we would make an apple cake together. We baked a couple of cakes that day. They cakes were wonderful then and baking one of them now brings me pleasure as I pull up those memories. Years later, Granny Ramey gave her apple cake recipe for publication in the Wiley Presbyterian Church Cookbook, but she did not add all the little changes that made her apple
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cakes so wonderful! I am so happy that she shared the “secrets’ with me and I am going to share them with you! Here is the basic recipe: Granny Ramey’s Apple Cake 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups oil 1/3 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon vanilla 3 cups plain flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups peeled and diced apples 1 cup coconut 1 cup chopped pecans Whisk together in a large bowl eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla. Sift flour, salt, soda, cinnamon together. Add to wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in apples, coconut and pecans. Pour into a Bundt pan that has been buttered and floured and bake at 325˚ for one hour and ten minutes. Glaze: 1 stick of butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/2 tsp baking soda Bring all ingredients to boil in a large sauce pan. Boil for 1 minute and pour over hot cake while still in pan. Let cake stand for 1 hour before turning out of pan. Now for the parts she did not put in the recipe: She decreased the oil to 1 cup. She increased the orange juice to 1/2 cup She started the cake off in a COLD oven Baking time changed to one hour and thirty minutes. Quality of your apple is important. Use a great tasting apple that will retain some texture, like a Granny Smith. Do not make the glaze until cake is done. You want the glaze and cake to be hot. This cake is best made a day ahead of serving. The apples mellow and the cake just gets more wonderful! I hope you will enjoy making these dishes for your own family. Making great food for the people you love goes a long way. If you make the apple cake, think fondly of my Granny Ramey. She would love knowing she was remembered for her great cooking!
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Blue Ridge Honey Company
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he words I am going to say are a gross understatement... Bob Binnie knows bees and the art of beekeeping.
Bob Binnie and his wife Suzette have spent most of their lives in the bee business. While living in Alaska Bob did a good bit of reading. He was looking at a Mother Earth catalog and noticed an ad for books about raising bees and harvesting honey and he ordered them. Thus began what would become his life’s work. Except for a five year period after moving to Rabun County, he’s been busy with bees. He began beekeeping in 1981 in Oregon where he and Suzette and their three children lived until 1991. In ‘91 Bob got a call from a friend sharing with him the beauty of the Northeast Georgia Mountains. Much like the landscape in Oregon but with much milder winters, Rabun County sounded appealing so the Binnies flew out to take a look, like so many others they fell in love with the area and decided to move their family here. All three of the Binnie children graduated from Rabun County High School. Today, 40 years after ordering the books on beekeeping, Bob is the owner of Blue Ridge Honey Company. Starting in his basement with 30 hives, today Bob manages 3,000 colonies of bees and his operation is migratory in nature and has had hives in Bob’s native state of California, Florida, Western North Carolina, Wisconsin, South Dakota and of course Georgia. He moves the hives to different areas to pollinate things like almonds, cotton, blueberries, blackberries and the like. Could one say Bob Binnie is helping feed the masses? Yes, I think so and more than just the sweet nectar that is found in his hives. Bob’s bees produce at least 9 varieties of raw honey including: Blackberry, Blueberry, Gallberry, Sourwood, Mountain and Regional Wildflower, Basswood, Purple Starthistle, Orange Blossom and Clover. You can also purchase bees and queens at their store. Blue Ridge Honey Company has many other products in their store but ALL have a connection to bees. Suzette has a radiant complexion that is a testament to the skin and hair care products that they carry. You’ll find beeswax, bee pollen and propolous (a resin that bees collect to sterilize and protect their 58
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hive) spray, often used during cold and flu season to ward off germs. Blue Ridge Honey Company also makes and sells beeswax candles as well as candle making supplies. There is a candle making class and a mead making class coming up in November. The Binnies have just received a shipment of root beer, orange soda and cream soda, all sweetened with honey. Bob wants to share his passion with others. He has everything you need to set up hives and begin harvesting your own honey. There isn’t anything you could need to get started that Blue Ridge Honey Company doesn’t stock or can’t get. And if that wasn’t enough, they offer beekeeping classes each year in August and February. The Binnies also stock books to help you get your colony set up and thriving. Managing bee hives for good health and productivity is quite a trick. Colony Collapse Disorder is a threat to any hive but maintaining a healthy environment for the bees seems to deter this phenomenon. Bob compares bees to a canary in a coal mine. If they disappear or start dying there is definitely a problem and the hive will not sustain itself. Luckily and due to good management Bob has never had CCD affect any of his colonies. It was easy for me to see why Bob is asked to speak often by regional and national organizations. He is recognized as an authority on bees and beekeeping. The Binnies tell me that they have seen consistent growth in their company and it just happens! When asked about the future the couple plans to keep doing what they do so well. My suggestion is that you make plans to stop in for a tour of the Blue Ridge Honey Company facility, a great place for home school groups, field trips or families who want to know more about the process of harvesting and processing honey. I was surprised at the volume of honey products in the retail space. It was good to hear that Blue Ridge Honey is available in many Walmart and Kroger stores in the state. I am pleased by the Binnie’s success but more than that I am happy that consumers can purchase their honey. If you visit Blue Ridge Honey you can enjoy a honey tasting, and believe me it is delicious and I was so surprised at the difference in each variety. It was my pleasure to visit with Bob and Suzette and to tour their facility and learn more about their operation. Blue Ridge Honey Company is located at 6306 US Highway 441 in Lakemont, Georgia 30552. Hours are M-F 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM and Saturday 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM. They welcome your calls at 706.782.6722 and encourage you to find them on Facebook. Their page is updated often with news and information and you can also visit their website at www.blueridgehoneycompany.com.
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Stonewall Creek Vineyards Hosts Annual Harvest Stomp! Saturday, September 24, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Stomping grapes dates back to 6,000 B.C. and the development of wine. Perhaps the most famous grape stomping was in the 1950s in the days of black and white television, when an “I Love Lucy” episode featured Lucy Arnez (Lucille Ball) stomping grapes on a vacation to Italy. The episode was filmed in California before a live audience and, with no practice session, Lucy’s reaction is priceless as she stepped into the stomping barrel. She later compared it to “stepping on eyeballs”. The show ends with a raucous grape fight.
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ry it yourself (stomping, not fighting) at Stonewall Creek Vineyards’ third annual “Harvest Stomp!” on Saturday, September 24th from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, at the vineyard and winery west of Tiger. Tickets are $30 and include a souvenir T-shirt, logo wine goblet, wine tasting and Sassy Buck wine cocktail along with a mountain and vineyard view and the music of well-known Athens’ surf band, The Flamethrowers. Unique to Stonewall Creek Vineyards—Stomp grapes and step onto the back of a souvenir T-shirt. Add the T-shirt to the others on the vineyard fence to dry. (The Clean-up Station is next to the Stomping Station.) Awards—Several Outstanding Costume and Outstanding Stomping awards will be given out during the event. Last year, two women scoured North Georgia thrift shops for just the right blouse and skirt to recreate “Lucy’s” famous attire. Food—Bring a blanket and a picnic lunch or purchase local barbeque and side dishes on-site, prepared by Bridge Creek Market & Deli’s Pat Crunkleton. Reservations— Tickets will be sold on-site. To pre-purchase tickets and guarantee a T-shirt size, email gail@stonewallcreek.com. Some 250 T-shirts are available; sizes XS-XXL. Everyone will need to show an ID at the check-in desk to claim a reservation and receive the logo wine goblet for tastings. Children may stomp grapes but will need to bring a T-shirt for foot imprints. Donations for PAWS 4 Life—Once again, the event will solicit donations for the Rabun County PAWS 4 Life no-kill animal shelter. Bring canned or dry cat and dog food, kitty litter and other supplies or donate cash or write a check and place in the paw-print containers manned by PAWS volunteers. Vineyard Dog Max will be on hand as official event greeter. The event will be held rain or shine under tents. Golf carts will transport guests as needed. Stonewall Creek Vineyards is located off Bridge Creek Road at 323 Standing Deer Lane, Tiger, Georgia 30576. For additional information, email info@stonewallcreek.com or call 706.212.0584. See www.stonewallcreek.com.
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Foxfire -Foxfire Faith
A Sunday with Aunt Arie
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here is something powerfully magnetic about Aunt Arie Carpenter. Partially, it’s the fact that we know in advance what her reaction will be when we surprise her as she sits beside her fireplace. Partially it’s because we all can feel her loneliness so keenly, and we hate to think of her sitting there, desperately alone, but stubbornly incapable of moving in with those who have offered her room. But mostly it’s the quality of her friendship that brings us back. Her total, unthinking, unhesitating generosity is a little disarming in such an age, and the depth of her love for God and man is awesome.
Aunt Arie reading her devotional.
Both she and her husband, Ulysses (pronounced “Eulis”)—dead now some six years—have put their God first always. Aunt Arie was secretary of the Sunday school and clerk of the church, and she taught Sunday school for sixty years. She quit, herself, as she was growing deaf. (She was afraid one of the children would ask her a question, she would misunderstand it and perhaps answer it incorrectly, and thus mislead the child.) Ulysses was a Deacon and superintendent of the same church for many years. Aunt Arie in church in the 1970s with Foxfire students.
When Coweeta [in North Carolina] needed a new Baptist church, she and Ulysses pledged $1,000 apiece to help build it, despite the fact that their combined annual income was barely more than that. It took them years to do it—in fact, Ulysses was dead already when Aunt Arie finally made the last payment not long ago. They got the money, coin by coin, as follows: “We walked all over Macon County almost t’ get that money. Sometimes we’d take a twenty-five pound flour sack full a’ eggs, walk totin’ them into Otto, get th’ money out of ‘em and give it t’ th’ church. I made quilts and sold ‘em and put that in th’ church. Picked beans all over Macon County and sold ‘em.”
Aunt Arie, leaving church with Greg Strickland and Paul Gillespie. 62
On top of their own personal astounding contribution, the two of them also walked for months through the surrounding neighborhoods collecting small donations from anyone who would listen. (Sometimes the donations were in the form of produce, which they would sell and add to the account.) Each cent was painstakingly recorded in two dog-eared Blue Horse notepads and taken to the church. We took an adding machine with us recently and figured the total for her—an incredible $1,573.25! Aunt Arie’s only sorrow when she heard the total for the first time was that Ulysses never knew. September 2016
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Knowing the closeness of her relationship to the Coweeta Baptist Church—she still never misses a Sunday unless the weather is so bad she just can’t walk the two miles there—ten of us went there with her one recent Sunday. It was a simple service—about forty members on hand—with a choir composed of volunteers from the audience, and the pastor Reverend Andrew Cloe and his congregation were genuinely warm. We felt proud to be accepted there. After the service, we all went to her home for a staggering home-canned, home-cooked country meal that she and Ruth Cabe somehow put together with a wood stove and a Dutch oven. The results: sausage, chicken, chicken and dumplings, leather breeches beans, Irish potatoes (cooked in the Dutch oven), hominy, boiled cabbage, bread, egg custard, deep-dish peach pie and about ten other little side treats.
Aunt Arie cooking.
The quality of her contribution to Foxfire and our staff is immeasurable. We try to pay her back by our helping her plant her garden, dig her potatoes, chop wood, fix things around the house, but each time we come away deeper in debt than before. And so we try to thank her by sharing her with you. As a result, she gets letters from as far away as New Jersey and Minnesota; and even though she can’t answer them personally (her writing hand has been crippled by a stroke for years), they make her day. She reads them again and again and again, awed that someone that far away could care. Adapted from The Foxfire Magazine Spring/ Summer 1971 by former Foxfire student Eric Dyer Aunt Arie Carpenter with Laurie Brunson.
The spread on Aunt Arie’s table. gmlaurel.com
Students eating Aunt Arie’s good cooking in the 1970s. September 2016
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Bless Your Heart Humble Pie by Lisa Harris
“Did you really just say that?” I replied, “Of course NOT, I was completely humble.” Tony just nodded his little wise head.
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rying a new way of being closer to God, I felt nudged to get up at 5:30 every morning and do a devotion, prayer and journaling before work. I also had been doing Toastmaster’s, a club to learn the art of public speaking. So during this early time of prayer I sought God’s guidance on whether I should be in this club. Did I need to even try to become a speaker? What was it that God wanted me to do? I prayed on the way to the Tuesday night meeting. “Lord, if I am to continue trying to learn how to speak, then please let me win tonight. If I win, then I will know for sure that I am on the right track. Amen.” Feeling confident that God would show me what direction I’m to go in, I arrived on time. That evening I was called up to answer the dreaded topic question which was, “If you could relive any age, what age would that be and why?” Immediately, I felt a heat wave come over my body as I stuttered and stammered. I looked around with a totally blank mind that was obviously reflected on my face. I was at a complete loss. Finally, I said, “Thirty, because I became divorced!” “Seriously, did I just say that?” I sat down totally mortified. Not only did I NOT win, I became overwhelmed with the idea that God did not want me to speak. After all, I did not win, right? I had asked to win if I was supposed to continue. With a red face I went home that night totally bewildered. Lying in bed, I couldn’t even pray. All that came to my mind was, “God, I really thought I was on the right track but apparently this is not what I am supposed to do.” I fell asleep knowing that I would not go back to the meeting next Tuesday. I was done. The next morning I told my husband the full story, not leaving out any details. He is always a great sounding board as he is also a wise man, or so I thought! Ha! 64
His response was, “Do you think it had something to do with being HUMBLE?”
When I got to work, I shared with my Godly friend and coworker, Brenda. She looked at me and said, “Do you think it has something to do with HUMILITY?” I was truly dumbfounded. Brenda laughed until she cried. “Really GOD?” Two people just saw humility as my problem. But I really thought I was humble. So, I asked Brenda, “How do I handle speaking, being in front of people, without getting caught up in the attention?” Brenda handed me the phone with her app of “First5” devotion on it…and said, “Did you read your devo this morning?” “No,” I said, “I was talking with my wise husband,” I said with a bit of mirth. I took Brenda’s phone and read… “When God wants to give us confidence, He doesn’t applaud our gifts. He affirms His Presence.” I was totally undone! Even though I thought I didn’t have a problem with humility, God apparently saw something in my heart that said otherwise. I was overtaken with awe in how He answered. By my asking God to let me win, He replied by saying, “No, I do not applaud your gifts Lisa, you are to affirm MY presence.” “Oops.” After those words, I took a big ole bite of Humble Pie and washed it down with His very patient love. I prayed over this ‘lesson on humility’ and I didn’t feel God was leading me to disband the club, I felt he was showing me what was hidden in my heart. So, I am continuing on with my learning process, and I’ve let go of the ‘winning’ aspect of it. Learning how to share my life stories of how God has given much grace and mercy are my foremost desires. God knew those were my desires all along, I just needed to take the Me out of them. Side note: The “First5” app was created by Lysa Terkeurst, an award winning and bestselling author & speaker. The quote above was written by Whitney Capps, one of her gifted devo leaders of the Word.
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Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Life is a Blessing
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by Tracy McCoy
n the still of the morning as the mist was lifting off the grass as the sun made its way up over the mountain, I was struck by the quiet and startled by my own voice as I spoke. “Good morning Father, it’s me again. I wanted to talk with You, but first I want You to know how grateful I am. As I look around at this world You have created I am in awe. My mind asks ‘all of this for me?’ and my heart weeps as the magnitude of Your love for us becomes apparent.
the warmth of the sun and I see it in the light of the moon. I have known Your presence when I hug my child, hold my husband’s hand and look into the face of a newborn baby. You have given me air to breathe, water to drink, good food to eat and a family that loves me. I thank You for that God. “
“When I was consumed with despair and grief and this life was unbearable, You were there. Time and again You’ve sent someone to stand beside me, to hold me up, to pray with me. Thank You for Your faithfulness Father, I am grateful for Your promises and those who follow Your lead in serving and A rush of emotion brings eyes brimming with tears. I notice helping others. Let me be like that Lord; give me a servant’s the coolness of the dawn and the pungent odor of dying heart. ferns that signal the coming of fall. The seasons are a gift and synonymous with living. Each of us is in a different season of God I’ve seen You heal and I’ve been healed. You have given me Your Word Lord so I’ll know how to live, what to do and our life.” how to be close to You. I know now that when You tell me in “Father, I wanted to thank You for this morning and this time Your word not to do this or that it’s for my own good, because with You. I praise You for the opportunity to pray. I thank You You love me. This has changed the way I read my Bible. I am for Christ Jesus and the eternal life He offers. Oh how His love so thankful to have Your Word in my home, my car and even for us sustains me through the hard days. I think of friends on my phone. Your messages to us are so readily available and family Lord who don’t have a relationship with You and Father, thank You for that. I pray for our world Lord and for I question how they make it through life alone. God is that our country. I ask that You would put leaders in positions why so many are seeking escape through drugs and alcohol? of authority Father that will seek Your counsel and make Is that why some take their own lives? Is it why people seem decisions that will glorify You. I pray that we, as a nation, will so unhappy and angry? I pray they’ll come to know You.” seek Your will for our lives and that we will treat each other with love and kindness. God as I go about my day let it begin “I wonder Father what plans You have for me? I know that You with me. are in control and that Your plans for me are what are best. I am Your child and You are my Father and You want me to live I love You God and I ask it all in Christ’s name. Amen.” in peace with incredible joy. You want me to share Your love I urge you to begin your day with God. He longs to spend with others and You’ve told me in your Word how much You time with you and me. Your day will be so much better. Your love us. I hear Your love in the song the birds sing, I feel it in life will be blessed and you will be a blessing to others.
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Main Street
Franklin, North Carolina
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HIRE A PRO!
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HIRE A PRO!
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Adventure Out Rabun Bald by Peter McIntosh
ince this month marks my 10th anniversary with the Georgia Mountain Laurel, I want to revisit one of my favorite early adventures covered in the magazine, Rabun Bald. I first wrote about this summit on my first anniversary, September 2007, so it seems like a good idea to share it again on this my tenth year. But before I go any further, let me first say thank you. Thank you to all the kind readers who’ve allowed me the privilege of sharing the remarkable natural wonders here in the Southern Appalachians. Your kind words, most of the time anyway, and supportive feedback mean the world to me. And thank you to my friend, boss and Georgia Mountain Laurel publisher, Tracy McCoy. It’s been a great ten years and hopefully I can keep doing these articles for many years to come.
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But let’s get back to our destination, Rabun Bald. It’s a two mile hike to the top, Georgia’s second highest mountain, is 4,696 feet above sea level and one of the crown jewels of the Southern Appalachians. (I would describe this trail as moderate to slightly difficult.) From the trailhead at the end of Kelsey Mountain Road, the trail follows an old logging road, ascending gently on the western side of the mountain. 74
After about one mile the road ends at a clearing that is also an intersection with the Bartram Trail. Passing through some boulders, the trail now becomes a true footpath and ascends a bit more steeply. There are a few switchbacks and a couple of spots that may require a little scrambling but this is still a moderate hike. After a mile of upward climbing on the Bartram Trail comes the big payoff. And I do mean big. There is a stone tower at the top of the mountain, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930’s. This was the base of a fire tower but now the tower has been replaced by a wooden platform which provides a stunning 360 degree panoramic view. And the deck boards on the tower run almost true north and south so it’s easy to get your bearings. Just below you to the east is the unspoiled beauty of the Chattooga River watershed. Still looking eastward, the bold granite face of North Carolina’s Whiteside Mountain is a prominent feature as are the other rock walls of the Blue Ridge Escarpment stretching into the distance through Sapphire Valley. Looking to the north you’ll see the saddle shaped Scaley Mountain with the Cowee Mountains off in the distance. Turning to the west now, we see Sky Valley just below and Blackrock Mountain and Tiger
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Mountain just across the way. Far off in the distance is Tray Mountain, another one of my personal favorites. This is a splendid spot to watch the sunset any time of year so, after familiarizing yourself with the trail on you first visit, go back again with a headlamp so you can enjoy the twilight and hike out safely. Happy hiking and thank all you all for a great ten years! Before I go, allow me the fun, of sharing poem number onetwenty-one: The cool mountain air is a nice welcome change, A good time to hike in the Appalachian Range. The layers of mountains are a spectacular sight, All the more beautiful if you’re there at twilight.
to Old Mud Creek Road. Turn right (water wheel and store at corner) and travel 2.9 miles through Sky Valley to Kelsey Mountain Road, a narrow, steep paved road on the right; there is a forest service sign that says Rabun Bald Trail. It’s two-tenths of a mile to the trail head. And don’t forget a windbreaker or fleece pullover or both. It can be windy and cold on the tower, even when it’s warm everywhere else.
Getting there: From U. S. 441 in Dillard, turn right (east) on GA 246. There is a sign pointing to Sky Valley and Highlands, NC. It is 4.1 miles
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To see more of Peter’s photos or if you have a question or comment: www.mcintoshmountains.com.
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Mountain Nature Transitions by Jean Hyatt
a population of the muted colored birds grace our feeders all winter long.
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ell, here it is September again already. A time to slow down after the hustle and bustle of summertime, a time to get ready for the coming winter; in general, a time of transition. The birds and vegetation are also in transition. Here are a few things to watch for. Hummingbirds: They are really getting fat about this time. The fat is necessary to get them to their winter homes in Central and South America. They remind me of big bumble bees as they seem unused to that extra weight. The males will beef up and leave first, followed shortly by the females. This year’s babies are the last to leave, often staying until the end of October. Instinct tells them where to go, and will bring them back in late March or early April, often to the same feeder and flowers.
Asters: A lot of plants, like the trilliums and may-apples, have already borne their seeds and died back to re-emerge in the spring. But many are just beginning to bloom. I always look forward to the purple asters that grow along the road near where I live. But asters come in white, purple and even yellow. I have always admired the ironweed blooms and only recently learned they are of the aster family. (Thanks, Linda Chafin!) The purple asters will continue to bloom well into fall, sometimes standing out even in November against a dull brown background of frosted vegetation. Grass-of-Parnassus: This beautiful flower loves water and often lives near seepages where it gets a constant supply of it. It’s not really a grass, but it does bloom atop a long stem, up to 16” tall. This is a white flower, with very visible green veins and ruffled petal edges. I’m told they bloom in Sky Valley, but I’ve seen them only on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the base of a wet rocky cliff where sundews also grow. They are not uncommon.
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks: These beautiful birds generally migrate from locally high elevations and from up north through this area on their way to Central and South America as well. Look for the black and white bird with a bright rose or red bib on the breast. The female is brown, but easily identifiable because of the thick beak and large cream-colored eyebrow. Grosbeaks generally travel in loose flocks, following food sources of seeds and available fall berries. And they usually pass through here the last couple of weeks in September. Goldfinches: This is one of only a few bird species that do two complete transitions per year in the form of molting. In September, you will notice that the goldfinches look a little splotchy, but no need to be concerned as they are completely discarding their summer brilliant yellow and black feathers for a new coat of soft yellow and brown. Some may even have a greenish tinge to their winter feathers. The wing patterns on the male are replaced with a duller black and white pattern than their breeding feathers, but are still recognizable as to their species. Many people think the goldfinches migrate from this area in winter and granted, some of them do, but 76
Milkweed: This is the plant that butterflies love, and the only one that supports the life cycle of the quickly-diminishing Monarch butterfly. Milkweeds (of which several species grow in this area including the interesting and unusually colored orange Butterfly Weed) are the only plant on which the Monarch lays its eggs and the resulting caterpillar devours. The milkweed is actually poisonous, but the poison ingested
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by the caterpillar is stored and transferred to the butterfly during its development. It’s what makes the butterfly poisonous to predators. Most milkweeds produce seeds that are attached to tufts of hair-like material which are lifted from the seed pods by the wind, and are widely dispersed. The seeds are easily harvested - just pick them up anywhere near the plant they come from. Plant them and care for them (but don’t spray or dust poison on them) and you’ve done your part to save the Monarchs.
Jean and her husband Richard own and operate Mountain Nature in downtown Clayton. They can be reached at 706.782.0838, or www.facebook.com/ Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply. ** Don’t forget to turn off your outside lights at night. Use motion detector lighting, shields, and IDA-approved lighting so you don’t impose your light on those who want to see the stars. I believe God made night dark for a reason. Please help keep it that way. **
Clarkesville, Georgia
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Foxfire Healing the Natural Way With Charles Thurmond
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y grandmother was a midwife and had at least one herbal cure for everything. Her having a good bit of Cherokee blood in her caused her to know a lot of the herbs. Grandma used to take me out to show me things in the woods and tell me what they were good for. My grandma taught me some of her herbal cures, but most of it I’ve picked up since then. When you are a child, you don’t listen enough. I remember some of what Grandma taught me. My father and uncles have supplemented my herbal education. I go to the doctor occasionally, but I like doctors that don’t go overboard with antibiotics and things like that. I don’t medically treat people, but I talk about herbs with ‘em. I teach people about herbs so they can learn for themselves. My grandma had numerous cures for everything, usually two or three. One of her favorites was boneset. Boneset plants are weeds that grow around waterways, swamps, creeks, lakes and whatever. It is good for fevers. It cures about twentyfive different illnesses, but it’s natural quinine. Quinine is a medicine made from a tree in South America that kills fevers from malaria. During the Civil War, the South didn’t have quinine because of the northern blockade, so they used boneset. It works quite well. Boneset will kill a fever in ten to twenty minutes. Joe-pye weed is very close to boneset, and, because of this, it can be used for fevers and such. I have found that a tablespoon for a child and two tablespoons for an adult is usually enough. Once, my grandmother saved one of my older uncle’s lives by breaking his fever. There are many ways to prepare various herbs. Whether you want it prepared cold, warm, or hot depends on what you are treating. If it is cold, it takes longer to work, but it will work longer in your system. Most herbs can be boiled. You soak some herbs. Alcohol will take the chemicals and things inside the herbs out. It depends on how you fix them and, most importantly, how you use them.
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Sassafras Sassafras is not real strong if the sap’s not up. It’s an ointment. It stimulates your system like a tonic, but it makes you sweat. If you’ve got something in your system and you want to sweat it out, this is a good herb to take. If you know someone who’s got asthma, you might want to give them bloodroot. It can be fixed in teas or other fluids. It can be used on the skin sometimes. You use the blossoms and leaves from clover. Not only does clover have a lot of vitamins and things like that, but it is also a sedative. If you have trouble sleeping at night, get some clover tea. It improves your circulation and digestion. It helps thicken or thin your blood, depending on which way it is used. If you use too much to thicken or thin your blood, a good tonic will get it back straight. Bloodroot or clover can also be used for bronchial problems and stimulating your circulation and appetite. They cause you to sweat. Sweating is a way of cleaning out our bodies. In the old days, they’d give you castor oil every spring and fall thinking it was going to clean you out and make you healthier. To some degree, it did. If you have a virus, rarely will any antibiotic do it any good. If you do take an antibiotic for a virus, it may take you longer
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to heal. If you don’t take medicine, you just need water, rest, and fruit juice. Let it run its course. When you take antibiotics all the time, it makes the disease you have less affected by them. You become resistant to it. When they raise chickens in the chicken houses, they feed them antibiotics all the time because if they don’t they would die. So when we eat meat raised that way, the antibiotics go into our systems, and we become resistant to the antibiotics that we need to take for a disease or illness. You gotta be careful about things like that. You shouldn’t use plants unless you know what you are doing. You can use only certain parts. A lot of people go to the herb stores and buy them in pill Bloodroot form. I prefer to get my own herbs. When I gather herbs, I use the old Cherokee way of conserving. I make sure that I find four of the plants before I take one. Then I know that I will leave three plants to reproduce. You can take part of the root of the plant and leave part, and it will continue to grow. Always put something back. Adapted by Foxfire Student Jessica Phillips from The Foxfire Magazine, Spring/Summer 1998 Issue
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Health and Wellness
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Live Healthy and Be Well! “A Shingles Primer” Stephen Jarrard, MD, FACS
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once felt a sore place on my right side, like a bruise, then felt two or three more follow shortly. They were not random, but followed a curved line from my back around the right side toward the midline. A day or two later a rash erupted in these areas. Some of you may have had this in the past, and others may wonder about – Shingles! Shingles is the common name of Herpes Zoster, a condition that causes a painful rash. Even though it carries the name “Herpes” in its classification, it is not the same as Herpes Simplex, which is more of a sexually transmitted disease – they both happen to be part of the same larger sub-family of viruses – Alphaherpesvirinae.
If you get shingles, there is often a “prodrome” phase of headache, low grade fever and malaise for a day or two. Next, you may begin to feel tenderness on the skin as if you have hit something or a bruise is about to form. Then, a rash will erupt that, at first, may be itchy like poison ivy or poison oak exposure. After another day or two, this same rash may darken in color, start to have small, fluid filled “blisters” or vesicles, and become painful. Any pressure or anything touching it hurts, and it may even spontaneously throb or have sharp, burning pains similar to someone sticking you with a hot ice pick.
As many of you know, Shingles is a late result of having “chicken pox” (Varicella Zoster) in childhood. Even though you recover from the pox, the virus never goes away, but lives in your nervous system in a dormant state. Years later, for various reasons such as stress or immune system compromise (weakened state, steroids or medicines), this virus may become re-activated and its effects will be felt down the distribution of that nerve. This is why the rash is usually in a curvilinear pattern, often starts on the back and curves around to the side and front, and does not cross the midline. As it follows the distribution of a sensory nerve – it follows that it is painful. Even when the rash eventually clears up and goes away, the skin in that area may remain discolored for a while, and there may still be some intermittent pain present for several months – this is known as post-herpetic neuralgia. Usually, you will only have shingles once in your lifetime. Although there are exceptions to this rule, it is uncommon to have repeat or multiple occurrences (only about 1% chance).
You may get Shingles in the distribution of any sensory nerve, occasionally on the face, neck or limbs – but it seems to be more common on the trunk. An attack of this condition can have different effects on different individuals – ranging from a mild, limited rash, short duration to a severe, large surface area rash that is almost disabling. Fortunately, there is treatment that has been shown to limit the duration and severity of the attack, and may also help to prevent or limit occurrences of post-herpetic neuralgia. “Anti-viral” medicines (e.g., acyclovir) for 7 to 10 days should be started within 72 hours of the eruption of the rash, for best effect.
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Those of you that have had this condition will testify to all this, and those of you have not had it – I want you to recognize what it is right away so you can seek treatment! A person is considered to be “infectious” until the vesicles start to crust over, and you should avoid being around pregnant women, or small children.
If you had chicken pox as a younger person, and you experience the above symptoms, see your provider for a documented diagnosis and then get started on the medicine. There is also a vaccine available for shingles (Zostavax) that shows some promise in preventing even one attack. It is available for people over the age of 50 that did have
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chicken pox as a child. While it cannot claim to be 100% effective at total prevention, if you do get an attack – it may be more mild and limited in scope. There is also a vaccine for chicken pox given to our children now. Therefore, chicken pox is now much less common than it used to be. And, the good news about that is that if you never have chicken pox, you can never get shingles later in life. So, you actually prevent two diseases with the one vaccination. We are starting to see shingles a little more often in the adult population now than in the past. A theory is that, as adults growing older, we used to be exposed occasionally to children with chicken pox (our own or others). Even though we would not get chicken pox again, those exposures acted like “boosters” to our immune systems to fight the dormant virus in our system, and prevent shingles. Now that we don’t have these occasional exposures as often, we don’t get that stimulation to our immunity. This may be one reason for the slightly increased incidence of shingles that we are now observing in the older population. We really do enjoy hearing from you with any questions, concerns, or ideas for future columns and/or health and wellness related issues for the Georgia Mountain Laurel. Please send an email to rabundoctor@gmail.com, or call us at 706.782.3572, and we will be sure to consider your input. This and previous articles can be now be found on the web at www.rabundoctor.com in an archived format. If you use Twitter, then follow us for health tips and wellness advice @ rabundoctor. Like and follow our Facebook page at facebook. com/rabundoctor. Until next month, live healthy and be well!
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Dogwoods by Nicole Dunbar
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.D. Bays recently opened Dogwoods, which features art, interiors and antiques in historic downtown Clayton.
With the support of her family, husband Ian Ross-Johnson and their three children Maxwell, Garrett and Olivia, now all attending college, it was the perfect time. “It has been our dream to live in Rabun County for many years. When the opportunity arose we took a leap of faith and opened the store.” Between balancing family and her antiques and design business she unwinds after her hectic days by relaxing with her painting. This self-taught artist uses only a palette knife and rich acrylic paints, which she loves to use to build unique color and texture in creating her impressionistic florals and landscapes. Her creative artistic style has been well received in both local and regional venues. “Each time I stand in front of a blank canvas I never know where that moment will take me, but the painting becomes my journey.” Visit Dogwoods at 29 North Main Street in downtown Clayton or call 706.960.9232.
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Foxfire It Has Been Wonderful, Really Beanie Ramey is a remarkable woman, who has led an abundant life rich in people, places and experiences. She has encountered a plethora of adventures in her time, and she graciously and candidly shared many of those with us. Her ready smile and comfortable manner made all of us feel welcomed. As we approached her door, a slew of bunny rabbits hopped around in her flowerbeds and yard. We learned later that those bunnies were one of her late husband’s favorite hobbies. Beanie is an industrious, determined woman, modern in many ways, but still adhering to the old-fashioned individualist nature of her forebears. Her exuberance and quick-wit entertained us for hours. We wouldn’t trade our time with Beanie for anything either. She is exceptional in so many ways. ~Kaye Carver Collins
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y dad’s and mom’s names were M. L. and Eva Crawford. She [my mother] was Eva English, and at the time of her death, she had remarried after my father died. She was Eva Brown. They lived all their life right there in that house in Tiger. My daddy built that, and I can remember in the early, early years we didn’t let dogs in our house, but if Mother’s dog had puppies in the wintertime and there
was a chance they might get cold, they got put in a box and set by the heater, and we had wood heat in the house. My mother would take care of them and wouldn’t let anything happen to them. They stayed in a big box by the heater to stay warm, the same as she always did for us. There were five of us in the family other than our two older sisters. It was my father’s second family, so the older sisters were married and had children our age. Along with that wood heater, she always warmed a blanket and put it around our feet in the wintertime, so we wouldn’t get cold. You sleep better with warm feet. There was a preacher who lived behind us when we were young, and my mother had the preacher’s wife make us dolls. They laughed at my dolls, ‘cause one was dressed in white and mine was dressed in beige. They told me that my doll had dirty clothes because it was beige. So, I got rid of it! Don’t know what I ever did with it. I think one had blond hair and one had dark hair. Carolyn got the one with the white dress and blonde
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hair. When I told Tom [my husband] that one, he bought me all the Gorham dolls—beautiful dresses—like Christina and Rosemary—one of those really pretty dolls. He said, “Since you didn’t have dolls, I’m giving you dolls for Christmas.” He gave me about twelve of them. When I was probably in fifth or sixth grade, there was a big fire in Tiger at the Looper Factory. Do you know what a looper is? Have you ever seen a potholder made of loopers, those round things, those little round circles? We used to weave them together, you know. Lay them out and weave them together. It was next door to my mother’s house. It was just a big white building, and there was a lady named Mrs. Phillips—that was the woman that ran it. I asked somebody the other day if they ever knew anything about her, or who she was, or whatever happened to her or anything, but Mrs. Phillips ran the Looper Factory. I really don’t know who owned the Looper Factory, but they said a boiler blew up in it and it burned. It had some kind of big boiler down in the basement. I believe I was in the fourth grade when that happened. I could see the smoke, and I could hear people saying something about the fire. You could look out the schoolroom at Tiger school and see the smoke coming up from around my mother’s house. At that time, there was a Texaco service station on the corner, across from the post office. I remember running because it was in the direction of our house, running home that afternoon. When I got to the Texaco station, I saw all of our furniture out in the yard, and I thought our house was on fire. I can remember just running until I couldn’t run anymore, but they were spraying water on her house, to keep it from burning, because the Looper Factory was already on fire. Adapted from The Foxfire Magazine Fall/Winter 2014 by former Foxfire student Eric Dyer
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Lovin’ the Journey
An Unexpected Turn by Mark Holloway
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ur journey has taken an unexpected turn.
When our son was 13, Garrett asked to volunteer at a friend’s veterinary hospital to earn his rescue dog. Three-month-old Tanner with his gimpy hip became a Holloway. Although I’ve never experienced a 12 Step program, I understand the Ninth is making amends, apologizing. I’ll do that in a moment. I grew up with dogs but had never been present when one was put down. When I was 9, my battlefield-hardened dad tenderly broke the news we’d be leaving my mutt, PoPo in Mexico City as we prepared to move to Kansas. I’d witnessed Popo (named for a nearby volcano) get hit by a car, which spun him around in the air. But he was no worse for wear. He’d chew gum alongside me as we played in the yard. We were buddies. It hurt deeply to say good-bye. But I’ve never had to take a pet to be put down. The Holloway clan quickly bonded with our beautiful full lab puppy. Eventually Garrett and Victoria would move away and Carol and I become his sole human family. Garrett knew Tanner would be better here in the mountains than locked in an Atlanta apartment all day. Wise choice, son. Early on, I began teaching Tanner tricks. Lots of them. He could fetch, sit, lay, speak, stay, turn and pen up all on command. He even obeyed my random hand gestures I’d invented to go along with voice prompts. My favorite trick of his was telling him to lie on his side and I’d stick a cookie under his lip. He’d stay frozen until I gave him the ‘okay’ to chomp away. He loved showing off at Home Depot. The staff would begin pulling treats out of their aprons when Tanner entered. I’d tell him to sit at one end of the store while I walked to the other. With customers bustling around he’d sit like stone. Then I’d say, “Come!” and he’d gallop the 75 yards to me.
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He was born with a hip problem, which caused his 4WD to function erratically, and also caused the breeder to nearly put him down at 8 weeks... Tanner wasn’t an inside dog...instead he’d roam his threequarter acre yard like a king traverses his empire. He was an expert at chasing birds and squirrels. Not at catching them, just chasing them. The other day Carol told me he knew the sound of my truck from a long distance away. He’d wait past the guesthouse until I’d pull up, then dash towards the house to greet me. The apology. To all you folks who make too much over an animal, who pamper your pet with loads of attention, who seemingly elevate your animal to human status, I’m sorry. I hadn’t fully
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appreciated your excessive dog affections until I became one of you. I couldn’t seem to relate to folks who got ‘so emotional’ when their pet died...until Tanner’s respiratory suffering forced us to the inevitable. The other day we took him in my truck to visit Garrett in Athens. Tanner loved riding in the back of my truck. Garrett wanted to spend a few days saying good-bye. It never happened. Tanner’s condition so quickly deteriorated, Garrett made the decision that evening. Carol and I accompanied our adult son to a compassionate clinic where we watched Tanner slip away from his suffering. He’s now buried on a farm in horse country along side his cousin Addie. So much of Tanner’s life affected our home culture. His patterns, habits, tricks, sounds and behavior became part of us. I’m okay with folks judging me now...judging me as being too emotional over the passing of a good friend who explored the trails, waterfalls, and forests with us. I used to be the judge. Now I’m just the bereaved. I hope you’ll forgive me. A life axiom of mine is: Never trust a man without a limp. Tanner would limp from time to time. He has now taught me to limp. See you on the trail.
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GOOD WORK
Foxfire Alumni Bring the Story Current by John Shivers
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t’s been 50 years since a classroom assignment at Rabun GapNacoochee School ignited the pilot light on a local history preservation project that still thrives today. During the course of the life of the Foxfire program, through multiple transitions and ups and downs, many hundreds of students have graduated and gone on to varying walks of life. Three of those students, Rosanne Chastain Short, Candi Forester-Smith and Sheri Thurmond, are answering four questions and sharing how those Foxfire days shaped and molded their lives. Rosanne lives in Cornelia, Georgia, and works in Gainesville, where she teaches online students from all over the country, and military students from all over the world. She was involved with Foxfire from 1978 through 1981. Through 1985, she was a Foxfire scholarship recipient. Her Foxfire advisors were Elliot Wiggington, Margie Bennett and Paul Gillespie. Candi, who was a Foxfire student from 1995 ‘til 1998, now lives in Clemson, South Carolina. Angie Cheek and Joyce Green were her teachers, along with Kaye Collins during the summer. Sheri Thurmond, who still lives in Rabun County, started with Foxfire in 1986 and was active in the program through 1992. She took all the magazine classes and was also in the summer work program. In addition, she was on staff full-time at the museum. Her advisors were Elliot Wiggington, Margie Bennett and George Reynolds. Here are their responses to the four questions: What attracted you to Foxfire? Rosanne: My grandmother Lettie Ruth Chastain received the books as a gift from her daughter Elsie Chastain Smith. While picking blackberries one summer she told me about the books and how much they made her feel happy thinking about the old ways on the farm. I vowed that day to get into the Foxfire classes and interview her for one of the books. She was in the Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery, as well as in the magazine. Candi: In the ninth grade, Mrs. Cheek approached me about working during the summer for the magazine. I had participated in Foxfire Music in high school that year, and I didn’t know much about the magazine program. Mrs. Cheek said that she thought my personality would suit the program well. I applied and began my love affair with all things Foxfire. Sheri: My sister Teresa Thurmond Gentry was in the program and I had heard her talk about different things. Plus Foxfire was very popular back in the 70’s and 80’s. The Foxfire Books were well-known. I was in Foxfire 7 when I was only six, at a singing school that was held every year in Rabun County. I went to church with Linda Page and knew about her involvement with
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Senior editors 1995-1996 Foxfire Class. From left, Brandy Day, Stephanie Dollar Kyles, Kari Hughes Emerson, Candi ForesterSmith and Lacy Hunter Nix. Foxfire students second row, from left, Kelli Owens Grantham, Crystal Baker Chastain, Melena Adolf, Kimberlea Bryant Harkins. Third row from left, Michael Cross, Lisa Cross Jones, Phillip Martin. the program. Plus, at that time, I was shy and English wasn’t my strongest subject, but I was interested in writing. Foxfire provided an outlet for that interest. What were your duties and responsibilities? Rosanne: Mostly photography and interviews. Worked for two summers on the Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery, assisted Ann Moore with subscriptions, designed two magazine covers and one book cover (Foxfire 7). Candi: I started in the summer of 1995. At that time, the magazine was way behind!! We had to get numerous issues out in one summer, and all of us were new to the program, except Kaleb Love. It was myself, Lacy Hunter (Nix), Stephanie Dollar (Kyles), Brandi Day, Kari Hughes (Emerson) and Kaleb Love. Poor Kaye Collins spent the summer trying to teach us and keep a bunch of teenagers focused at the same time. We spent 8 hours a day finishing interviews and articles, learning how to use PageMaker and MAC computers, and how to process film. We did it, and when summer ended and the new school year began, we had caught the magazine up and distribution had gone out. Then the real responsibilities began. I was just a sophomore, and the youngest in the group, but I was a senior editor, and it was our responsibility to “teach” the class how to write an article, interview someone, transcribe and put it all in PageMaker. We
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What are your special memories, highlights, or “ah-ha” moments? Rosanne: Growing up in a college town (Athens, GA) suburb, it was a great moment when I realized the ‘old country things’ our family did with my grandparents was not something to be selfconscious about, but a legacy of a diminishing culture.
Candi Forester-Smith being shown how to fashion a wooden livestock yoke. also edited and worked on distribution. Since I was coming off of the crash course of the summer, it was all fresh and new to me, and I could really relate to any obstacles the students might have. I worked two more summers on the magazine, and I was a senior editor all the way through high school. There was never a crazy summer like the first one; we were all caught up and focused on learning new skills, speaking to the teachers that were coming to learn the Foxfire method and getting interviews and articles ready for the coming year. Sheri: When I started as a student, we interviewed people within the community with a cassette recorder. I took photos with a black and white camera and then developed the pictures after we received the negatives from Mr. Edwards. There was a dark room set up at the high school and I would go in there and choose the photo I wanted and then develop the print. When I first started everything was laid out by hand. We, as a class, would discuss what would go into the magazine, and then lay out the story and the photos from the front cover to the back cover. I also transcribed the tapes and put the information into story form. Sometimes that would take three or four different revisions but in the end, every revision led me closer to an awesome story of someone’s life. I interviewed the postmistress that mailed out the first Foxfire Magazine, Mary Pitts. I learned how everything had changed since 1966. When I worked in the summers for Foxfire, I worked in archives. I took all of the cassette tapes and put them on reel-to-reels to go to the archives in Atlanta. I also archived the original transcription of the interview and filed it with the same coordinating number that was used on the reel-to-reel. I loved working and listening to all the different interviews that had been conducted over the past school year. At times, I transcribed tapes for the magazine crew during the summer months. I transcribed 95% of Foxfire: 45 Years. By that time, I transcribed using a transcribing machine, whereas when I first started we used a cassette player to play, rewind, etc. the tapes. A transcribing machine has a pedal that rewinds, plays, etc. and a headset, so you just have to type.
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It was quite a surprise when I learned that the Scotts-Irish roots mixed with a fundamentalist/ backwoods Independent Baptist philosophy of family communities in NE Georgia is the product of isolated pockets of immigrants, and the speech, dialect and unique vocabulary often tie back to Elizabethan English. Not as incorrect as it sounds, just a throw-back to times past...almost an insulated time capsule of speech and culture. I still can’t understand where ‘yonder’ is, and the incorrect cogitation of verbs makes me cringe, but it is so common in the local speech, it is a colloquialism (I seen, we drunk, etc.). Candi: There were so many; it is not easy to describe the impact a program like Foxfire can have on your life. Just in your daily activities you are experiencing opportunities and learning in ways that you do not even realize. I learned how to selfmotivate, have the confidence to speak in front of a group and how to teach a group. On the technical side, I learned how to edit articles and give constructive feedback. I was trained on how to motivate others and lead. With Foxfire’s purpose, I had already loved the mountains where I was born, but Foxfire gave me such an immense appreciation for the Appalachian Mountain Heritage and a passion to preserve and continue the practices of the Appalachian people. This is a passion that I will carry with me throughout my life. Some highlights: I was able to go and speak at an Appalachian Book Convention in Ohio; I spoke to classes at Clemson University and North Georgia College’s education program on the Foxfire teaching method. I interviewed so many people over the years, that I lose track of them, until I start talking about their story. Another highlight was interviewing then Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller. He was from the Appalachian Mountains and had built himself up from Young Harris. No one thought the governor would respond to my request, but he did. Walking into the governor’s office to interview him was one of the neatest experiences of my life. As a college history professor and being from the general area, he was very aware of what the Foxfire Magazine is. He took us very seriously and gave us ample time for the interview. How many 17 year olds can say they were able to interview and write an article on the governor of Georgia? Sheri: One year we met the lady (her name fails me) that gave money to the magazine class and Foxfire scholarships. It’s probably the first time in my life when I realized there were different economic classes in the United States. She had us visit her in Sky Valley and we ate dinner with her. She was well dressed and very well spoken, and was different, yet at the same time, she was very loving toward us. I received a Foxfire scholarship when
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I attended Truett-McConnell College and Piedmont College, so her gift certainly helped me obtain my education. How has Foxfire impacted who you are today; what you do today? Rosanne: Working in a university setting, I am constantly reminded of the acceptance of others we were taught in the Foxfire program. Many local students, some like myself who had moved in from other areas (although I was from Athens, GA – the few miles were worlds apart), had to learn to accept not only the rural families but the extremes in religion, the truly backwoods traditionally Appalachian individuals and customs, the influx of Floridians and families from Illinois who moved in for manufacturing jobs and varying family educational levels. All of this exposure helped me to develop a flexibility and understanding of cultural diversity. Today we focus on sexual, racial, ethnic and religious diversity, but the ‘redneck’ and southern stigma still exists. I am as guilty as the next person in my personal life of not giving that same level of acceptance to someone more country, or backwoods in speech or manner. I don’t discriminate against them, but I find I am not as aware of my acceptance level of the cultural differences as I am, with the legally protected areas of race, gender, etc.
and motivate others; that all comes from how I was shaped through Foxfire. As you can see, I believe Foxfire helped to mold me into who I am today in multiple ways. I cannot stress enough how important I think their programs are.
Sheri: Since my time with Foxfire, I put together, wrote, edited, interviewed, and transcribed all the Dillard House Cookbooks. I have edited several pieces for different people and have edited two book transcripts. As I stated before, the scholarship certainly assisted me in receiving my Bachelors in Education and my Associate at Truett-McConnell. I currently work for the Department of Family and Children Services, but I received my degree in Middle Grades Education in English and History. My love for writing and knowing that a classroom did not have to be rows of desks, worksheets and quiet, came from my Foxfire experience. Some of the same interviewing skills that I was taught back in 1986 and ’87, I am still using today in my current position. Learning how to connect with another person and then listening to what is shared are Foxfire Advisor Angie Cheek in the Foxfire classtechniques that still serve me well.
room pointing out something to Stephanie Dollar Kyles and Candi Forester-Smith
Rosanne describes her Foxfire experience as “invaluable”. She still utilizes those skills in her work with adult students who’re re-entering college after absences My parents were both educated and of five years or longer. Those students as the child of a chiropractor I have a have to interview a parent or an older better understanding of, and acceptance relative and write up the account. of herbal, alternative and ‘country’ Candi declares herself as a living and medicine. The Foxfire contacts that relied breathing example of how the program on this type of healing were fascinating. It impacts the students of Rabun County in is interesting to see the pendulum swing multiple positive ways. back in that direction. Sheri remembers that because of Foxfire she tasted her first seafood while on a Candi: Foxfire gave me the ability to finish long-distance interview trip. She adds, college with only $1,500.00 dollars of “…there are so many memories with Summer 1995, Chris Nix, left, (later the debt. My Foxfire scholarships are what Ann Moore, Margie Bennett, George husband of Lacy Hunter Nix, thanks to allowed me to become the person I am Reynolds and Robert Murray. I’ve been Foxfire!) was already in college, but he today. I was not worried about having there through the good times and the came back to help train students over the to take out student loans for my master’s worst of times, but overall, Foxfire summer. degree, because I didn’t have any debt remains close to my heart and dear to from my undergrad. My belief in service my soul.” and helping others also bloomed in While each of these three alumni has Foxfire. I went on to get my MPA at Clemson University, with been impacted in differing ways, there’s no doubt that each of a specialization in nonprofit-management. The skills I learned them emerged from the program forever changed. Sheri Thurmond through my time at Foxfire are one of the main reasons I didn’t adds, “It was a great program and still is. Julia Fleet, I am thinking, have any problem becoming the head of fundraising for two is the lady that set up the Foxfire Scholarship program. There have United Way organizations in two different counties. The speaking been several stories over the years about Foxfire teachers helping skills, especially, gave me the ability to walk into a room and students financially while in college and beyond. It’s certainly a discuss why the program I was raising money for was important, gift that keeps giving.” and why they should give. I had been doing that for years, starting at age 15. I have confidence in my ability to tell a story, to lead (Photos courtesy Candi Forster-Smith)
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By The Way
Don’t Let the Past Make You Tense by Emory Jones
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all me old fashioned— and most people do— but the truth is, I like the past. I guess that’s because some of the finest things that ever happened to me happened in the past, and I believe that’s true for a lot of people.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” What’s the point of having a cake if you can’t eat it? Besides, if you want one cake to eat and another for looks, just make two cakes.
Remember when auto mechanics would hum from underneath the car while they worked on it, lying on one of those little padded wheelie boards they all had? I haven’t heard a mechanic hum in years, at least not here in the future. And the last one of those wheelie boards I saw was on the Antiques Road Show.
Here is one that’s so obvious it just goes without saying: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Surely no one has actually done that, have they? Besides, The Department of Children’s Services would be on you like a duck on a June bug! Trust me.
How about, “A penny saved is a penny earned?” What if you found that penny? And say you did earn your pennies, and saved one every day except Sunday for the rest of your life. My wife hates for me to admit this, but my favorite TV show is Economists tell us that over an average lifespan, you’ll have Green Acres. I love Gun Smoke, too, re-runs of Hee Haw send saved roughly $83. And since most stores won’t take that many a tingle running up my leg, and I haven’t even listened to the pennies, you’ll just be making things hard on your heirs. radio since the Statler Brothers retired. “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” I enjoy the past so much that I even built a real, fully-workable Shakespeare came up with that, but I don’t agree with it. The time machine so I could visit it more often. My wife doesn’t old, “better late than never”, suits me quite well. want me to admit that either, but it’s the truth—just google “Emory Jones Time Machine” if you don’t believe me. I even And what about, “The early bird gets the worm?” Every wrote a book about my historical travels. country boy knows the best time to catch worms is at night, so in all probability it’s the wise old owl–who sleeps all morning– My time machine is a goat-powered model that uses the that gets the most worms. Fleeblish-7 operating system, in case you have an interest in the technical aspects, and many people do. I named it, the Folks used to say, “Be nice to everyone you meet on the way USS Fred MacMurray. up because you meet the same people on the way down.” I agree you should be polite to everybody on the way up, but Anyway, while tooling around the past lately, I’ve noticed that, common sense says you’ll probably meet an entirely different back then, people said and did some mighty fine things that crowd on the way back down. we, here, in what I call the future, don’t say or do all that much anymore.—take using the term mighty fine, for example. The silliest of all may be, “All roads lead to Rome?” The only road I’ve found that leads to Rome is I-75. And also take humming. I can’t recall the last time I heard anybody humming, can you? If I could just accomplish one Here’s another one that simply isn’t so: “A watched pot never thing in this life, it would be to get people humming again. My boils.” If you find this to be true, you either haven’t watched grandmother hummed a lot, especially while she washed the the pot long enough, or you may have it on the wrong stovedishes. I reckon it’s just hard to out-hum a dishwasher. eye. That happens more than you’d think.
I may get in trouble for this, but I’ll close with my wife, Judy’s, But—and I hate to admit this—some of the so-called wise old favorite old saying—a clean house is a sign of a misspent life. sayings they used a lot in the past just don’t make sense. Here are a few I just don’t get at all:
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