Getting my hands dirty and loving it

Imoved from Maggie Valley to or trellises. Vertical gardens are less suscepWaynesville last fall. My house in tible to fungal disease and easier to maintain Maggie was on the side of Soco Road because you can work standing up. where there is little to no sun. While that Try succession planting: Planting in was great for the summertime utility bill, it stages offers easier maintenance and a wasn’t conducive to gardening. I tried hard longer period with fruitful bounty. With to make things grow in my shady yard, but proper planning, you can even plant multiphotosynthesis is an important part of the ple rounds of the same plant, such as letgrowing process. Unfortunately, I had zero tuce. control over this life-sustaining force. Plant compatible combinations: Plants

It could be that I that don’t grow in harmony will rob one have a bit of a black another of important nutrients; however, if thumb, but I’m faith- you plant companion plants, they work ful that’s not the case. Our new yard is full of sunshine and the previous owner left raised boxes for us. I don’t need a massive garden to be happy, just the sta- Susanna Shetley Columnist together to increase growth. Companion planting can also save time and money. I’m a lifelong lover of nature and a person who embraces products such as essential oils, herbal teas and farm-fresh vegetables. Gardening and composting are activities I’ve tried numerous times, sometimes successfully and other times, not so much. ples — a variety of As with children and puppies, gardening lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, zucchini and takes patience. I feel like I’m pretty good maybe some peppers. I’m starting to think with children and puppies, so I just need to having a green thumb may be a myth. pretend like my seedlings and buds are Perhaps “green thumb” simply means sig- more babies to care for and nurture. nificant preparation and patience. Moreover, the act of gardening offers

When researching for this column and numerous benefits aside from baskets full for my new life as a stellar gardener, I of veggies and herbs. Along with physical Googled “how to be a successful gardener.” activity, the contact with the natural world This is what I learned from the Gardening provides a boost in mood and overall wellChannel: being. If you’re gardening alone, it’s a time

Create a garden plan: Each plant needs for thought and reflection, and if you’re gardifferent amounts of sun and water, as well dening with family or friends, it offers a as unique values of pH in the soil. Spending chance for bonding. time to create a layout and timeline of the During the pandemic, many folks have garden will prove helpful. taken on gardening as a way to ease stress

Keep garden records: The previous own- and escape from everyday woes. I heard a ers sent us a spreadsheet of their gardening news clip recently that called 2020 “The records. I didn’t realize people actually did year of loss and a lost year.” While I do this, but they had great luck gardening on think it’s been a year of loss for numerous our property so I’m going to follow their individuals, I don’t think it’s been a lost lead. year. Whether gardening or another hobby,

Save seeds: If one is keeping records the pandemic encouraged people to look then it’s easy to know which seeds took outside the box for happiness, relaxation hold and which did not. For the plants that and fun. grew well, save some of the seeds for next I didn’t have a ton of success last year in year. Store seeds in a sealed container in a regard to abundance, but we had fun buildcool, dry place. ing raised beds and planting veggies and

Soil quality: For smaller gardens, raised herbs. This year I’m feeling energized on beds help maintain soil quality. They also many levels, not merely for my garden but make maintaining the soil more manage- for a lovelier, more hopeful spring all able. My boyfriend built raised beds at our around. Maggie Valley house, and it was a fun project for the kids. Luckily, we’ll use the existing beds at our new home.

Go vertical: Whether you have a small or large plot, you can benefit from using stakes (Susanna Shetley is an editor, writer and digital media specialist with The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living and Mountain South Media. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com)

Voting rights bill deserves support

To the Editor:

Voting records show that North Carolina and Haywood County had the largest voter turnout ever in the last election. That’s great, because our democracy depends on citizens voting. And that’ whey it’s important to understand the proposed voting rights act that is heading to the U.S. Senate for consideration. It was created from well-established voting practices, from both red and blue states.

The proposed law would ensure that registered voters in all states have access to early voting for at least 14 days. Were you one of the 23,256 Haywood County residents who voted early? Both Republican and Democratic voters regularly take advantage of early voting. Currently, 39 states provide for early voting. Why not adopt this for all states?

Do you know someone who registered to vote at the DMV while renewing their license? This was a time saver for me. My friends have also registered to vote online via the N.C. State Board of Election website. Sixteen states already offer this type of voter registration. The proposed law would expand these conveniences to all states. Doesn’t that make sense?

More voters cast their ballots by mail in 2020 than ever before, including 6,197 in Haywood County. And 29 states, from Alaska to Florida, currently allow voters to request a mail-in ballot without providing an excuse. This law will standardize procedures for voting by mail to make them secure, easy to navigate, and limit rejections of ballots cast by eligible voters. Why not implement best practices for all states?

Some people say that the federal government shouldn’t be involved in elections. Article I, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority to enact voting laws. These laws have historically been supported by both Republicans and Democrats.

Over 60 percent of Americans across the political spectrum support this law. Now is the time for unity. Republicans and Democrats can come together to strengthen and unify our voting system. Please contact Senators Tillis and Burr and ask them to support this voting rights act.

One last thing. Would you like to see fewer political TV ads? This law will tackle the influence of big money in politics and prohibit foreign money in U.S. elections. Then maybe the political budgets will dry up and we can get back to watching “Dancing with the Stars.”

Jean Wright Franklin

Patience, passion and pork

Big Nick’s Barbecue in Sylva (pictured) has become a culinary haven of sorts for barbecue fiends, foodies and the curious alike. The company recently opened its second location in Murphy.

Big Nick’s Barbecue carries on family tradition

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Coming off Exit 85 on the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, a funny thing happens to drivers when they’re about halfway down the hill heading into Sylva — they start to get hungry.

It isn’t the chain restaurants dotting the busy four-lane road, nor is it the sense of nourishment needed after another day running around the mountains. Rather, it’s the tantalizing scent of fresh barbecue wafting into your vehicle.

“We’ve got barbecue until we don’t, then you’ll just have to come back tomorrow,” Tim Fisk said. “We don’t want to make so much barbecue that it just sits around — by doing that, the quality of the barbecue suffers. It’s all about freshness and making everything from scratch, every single day.”

Owner of Big Nick’s Barbecue in Sylva, Fisk is the second generation of a storied barbecue family. His late father, “Big Nick,” was a beloved name in southern barbecue. A legendary pit-master, Big Nick owned and operated several successful barbecue joints from Florida to Western North Carolina, most notably the Rib Country locations in Murphy, Hayesville and North Georgia.

When Big Nick passed away four years ago, Fisk decided it was time to leave the family business and go out on his own. Amid 25 years of experience in the barbecue world, he wanted to strip down the approach and menu to just the bare bones — barbecue, burgers and a handful of sides offered, all under a simple banner and ambiance.

Thus, Big Nick’s Barbecue came to fruition in Sylva, taking over the small brick-n-mortar building that once held Robbie’s, a cherished burger spot that had been a familiar part of Jackson County’s culinary identity for over 50 years. Recently, Big Nick’s also opened a second location in Murphy.

“We wanted a low overhead, one where the entire focus was on the barbecue and nothing else. And we wanted a small dining room with a focus on takeout ordering,” Fisk said. “In this day and age of the pandemic, everyone wants to do takeout, and this place is tailor-made for that — either call in an order or pull up and honk for service.”

Fisk estimated that the Sylva location feeds upward of 150 folks each day, with the Murphy location providing barbecue for somewhere between 300-400 hungry patrons. The wellportioned and hearty barbecue is as mouthwatering as it is in demand (which is high), with several signature sauces available for dipping and finger-lickin’.

“We’re trying to really get back to that barbecue place, that roadside stop we all remember from long ago. We’re here from 7:30 in the morning until 8:30 every night, all to make sure everything is done correctly,” Fisk said. “We have very high standards for our barbecue. For us, it’s like this fun puzzle we have to figure out and put together every day — it’s a deep passion.”

Leaning back in his chair in the dining room, Fisk adjusts his facial mask and his trusty Big Nick’s Barbecue hat. He readies himself to head back into the kitchen at the culmination of this newspaper interview. Although it’s mid-afternoon, there’s still lots of barbecue left to be sold and an endless stream of customers, as heard by the constant ringing of the phone behind the counter or incessant honking outside.

When asked what his father, Big Nick, would think of “all of this,” Fisk can’t help but smile ear-to-ear, a jovial chuckle echoing throughout the dining room.

“Oh, he’d love it. He’d like seeing his name on the building, seeing how we prepare the barbecue just the way he did, the same standards and everything,” Fisk said. “We remember the old man every day — this place is a tribute to him.”

Tim Fisk

Hungry?

Big Nick’s Barbecue is located at 7 East Sylva Shopping Center in Sylva and at 630 U.S. Highway 64 in Murphy. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (or sold out) in Sylva (828.631.3891) and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (or sold out) in Murphy (828.516.5201). For more information, email tim@bignicksbbq.com or visit www.bignicksbbq.com.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

You are the rock on the riverbed, growing smoother every year

Sunday morning. Sunshine and blue skies piercing through my dusty bedroom window. I’ve been up an hour or so. And yet, I can’t seem to fully fall back asleep. I keep trying, but remain in this dreamlike state, that void between the waking world and the depths of your subconscious.

The laptop near the bed is quietly radiating the sounds of Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. It’s a live show recording from Feb. 18, 2006, captured at the Paradise Rock Club on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts.

Rolling over in bed to turn up the volume of the stereo, I catch eyes with the show date ticking across the screen and it hits me: How can that be 15 years ago? Where has the time gone? Where have all those greatly missed faces and places disappeared to?

Feb. 18, 2006. I attended that show. Turning 21 years old earlier that month, I was a junior at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. As a lifelong music freak, I’d be at shows every weekend, usually nearby at the legendary Toad’s Place in downtown New Haven.

Back then, I kept hearing about this badass new rock band out of Vermont, hailing from my native Champlain Valley: Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. People said it was like Bonnie Raitt or Susan Tedeschi fronting Crazy Horse, this melodic intersection of rock, blues and soul. Sold. Count me in.

Sitting in my cramped dorm room, I cruised around on my laptop in search of performances to catch around “The Constitution State” and greater New England. A show listing popped up for The Nocturnals at the Paradise. I jumped on the $15 ticket. A week later, I skipped class and jumped into my 1998 Isuzu Hombre pickup truck, bolting out of campus and onto the highway: Interstate 91 to I-84 to I-90 and right into the heart of Beantown.

Feb. 18, 2016, was a life-changing show, whether or not I realized it at the time. Nothing was ever really the same in the trajectory of my existence after that night, personally and professionally.

The Paradise is such a crazy spot, this Mad Max “Thunderdome” style venue. Multiple levels. People stacked all over the place surrounding the small stage. Walking in, I grabbed a beer and stood in the back. Sold out show. Packed house. Grace & Co. waltzed onstage and launched into “Nothing But The Water.”

Grace stood alone at the microphone and howled the introduction of the song, her trusty tambourine echoing across the raucous room. Soon, the rest of the group exploded into sound and purpose as the tune unfolded. It was staggering. The band’s presence was incredibly mesmerizing.

By the end of the show, I had worked my way to the front of the stage and remember vividly standing at the feet of Grace during “Stop The Bus.” In that moment, I would have followed that band to the ends of the earth. And I did, I really did for a period in my 20s.

That night shifted my mind into genuinely pursuing journalism, especially in the realm of the written word in reference to live music. At that time, I’d only been toying with the idea for a little while, doing small album reviews and such for the school newspaper, the Quinnipiac Chronicle.

Witnessing The Nocturnals at the Paradise flipped on some sort of switch within my mind — sparking this deep ambition and unrelenting passion — where I left the Paradise performance eager to write about what I saw and heard: to share my thoughts on it with the world, or at least whoever would stop and read what I had to say.

By that summer of 2006, I had miraculously (more so, serendipitously) gotten an internship with the now-defunct but dearly missed State of Mind Music Magazine in Burlington, Vermont (across Lake Champlain from my hometown of Plattsburgh, New York). Initially, I spent my time with them delivering heavy boxes of magazines to local/regional bars and venues, transcribing endless interviews, and browsing through a pile of albums from record labels for possible review.

But, eventually, the gracious editor/publisher, Mike McKinley, started letting me write short album reviews and attending Vermont music festivals throughout the summer as a representative of the magazine. He also taught me everything I know about writing, the main (and most important) point being “write what you feel, be honest with the reader.” Is this what you truly want to say? If not, what would you actually say?

That fall of 2006, during my senior year, I returned back to the Paradise to see The Nocturnals again. But, this time, I circled back in my new role, as a music journalist. It was my first real deal show assignment.

I was still 21 and the band wasn’t much older, maybe just a couple years or so. We were all so young, and so new to the music industry. This was before all the chaos that would come later on down the line. Brighteyed and bushy-tailed. We were all standing at the starting line of our careers, our eventual fates.

It’s crazy to look back on all that, onward to where we all stand today. That original band from Feb. 18, 2006, is no more. Old members left. New members came into the fold. Big money contracts. Creative differences. Divorces. Some members still play music. Others left the business completely. And so on. The usual gauntlet of things in the music industry for an act on a meteoric rise, sadly.

Seems like a million years ago. Seems like yesterday. I followed the Nocturnals all around America, seeing them onstage in San Francisco, Jackson Hole, Denver, Michigan, Maine, etc. Each show was as awe-inspiring as the next — those fleeting, magical moments in time, onstage and off.

I’m also thankful that my ol’ buddy Scott Tournet (former Nocturnals guitarist and founding member) and I have stayed in touch, remaining friends all these years later. We continue to cross paths every so often when he passes through Asheville with his latest project, this whirlwind of rock and world fusion music dubbed Elektric Voodoo.

That, and the music of The Nocturnals remains, as it always does within songs immortal that are written across the walls of your heart and soul. Turn up the stereo and let the musical time machine take you away once again.

Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, 2006.

Reggae, soul rolls into WNC

The Natti Love Joys will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 20, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin.

A roots-rock-reggae band that has been playing live since 2003, the group consists of husband and wife duo Anthony “Jatti” Allen and Sonia “Marla” Allen (formerly Sonia Abel).

Jatti was previously the bassist for the reggae group The Congos, while Marla originates from the cult all female reggae group Love Joys, where she recorded two albums under the legendary Wackies label run by Lloyd Barnes (Bullwackie).

The show is free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

HCAC clay stamp class

The “Inspired by Nature” clay stamp class with Jan Kolenda will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville.

Participants will learn how to create slab patterns using handmade stamps and natural objects. All materials provided. Tools, clay, firing and glazing included.

Finished work will be returned to you between 7-10 days. Maximum of eight participants. Masks are required. Cost is $45 per person. Bring cash or a check in the amount of $45. Checks must be made payable to “Jan Kolenda.”

To RSVP, call 828.452.0593. For more information, click on www.haywoodarts.org.

There will be a wide array of new and ongoing art classes offered in the coming weeks and months at the Uptown Gallery in downtown Franklin.

To ensure health protocols there will be a limited number of students in each class. Covid protocols will be observed. Students need to be willing to wear a mask throughout the entire class. Please do not come if you are experiencing any health symptoms.

For more information and/or a full list of classes, click on www.franklinuptowngallery.com or call 828.349.4607.

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday.

Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live ALSO: music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host The

Waymores March 13 and Natti Love Joys

March 20. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host The

Waymores March 12 and Shane Meade

March 26. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com. ends. 828.456.4750 or www.facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

• Open call for artists to sell their work in the Carriage House Gift Shop at the historic Shelton House in Waynesville. For details, call 757.894.2293.

• “Paint & Pour” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. March 17 at Balsam Falls Brewing in

Sylva. Cost is $20 per person. All materials provided. Please RSVP at the Balsam Falls

Brewing Facebook page.

• The Haywood County Arts Council’s

“Winter Member’s Show” will be held through March 27 in the Gallery & Gifts showroom at the HCAC in downtown

Waynesville. Original work for 24 local artisans. Free and open to the public. www.haywoodarts.org.

• The Bethel Christian Academy will be hosting the “Papertown Spring Market” fundraiser on March 13. There will be booths for local vendors to set up and sell their products: boutique clothing, home decor, handmade items, jewelry, and more.

If you have any questions or would like to set up a booth, call 828.734.9733.

Lazy Hiker welcomes Americana act

Atlanta-based duo The Waymores will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, March 12, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva. The duo will also perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 13, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin.

Kira Annalise and Willie Heath Neal are The Waymores and they’re the epitome of acoustic country music. He was born in a cop car, lived in and out of foster care and served in the Navy. She used to get stage fright until she was swept up by his charm and grit, started writing country songs and never looked back.

Now, they travel the world together, writing songs from the road and bringing their intimate and fun stage presence to audiences around Southern Appalachia and beyond. www.thewaymores.com.

My sister, her husband, and a friend about guilt, she advises her audience to “prerecently visited me for several days. tend you’re counseling someone else,” to Though I don’t own a television, “imagine that a friend of yours has come to there’s a DVD player downstairs along with share that they did exactly what you did …. a modest collection of movies, and I offered What would you tell them?” She adds, several times to bring it to the living room “Chances are you’d be way more gracious for their entertainment. Each time they and likely, much more constructive when waved me away, explaining they were con- giving them advice than you are with yourtent just to read. self.”

And read they did, all three of them, sev- There is much to admire in Didn’t See eral hours each day, sitting still and silent in the den or the living room, absorbed in print and pages, and whisked away to heaven knows where in their imaginations. When I passed through the room, I Jeff Minick Writer was several times struck again by a thought that has recurred throughout the years: Few sights touch me more deeply than to see a reader completely entranced by a book. Whether in the classroom where I used to teach or in the coffee shop I enjoy, the sight of a reader moves me. There is a beauty in those faces comparable to those vistas I find at the shore or in the mountains.

Now on to this week’s review.

In Didn’t See That Coming: Putting Life Back Together When Your World Falls Apart (William Morrow, 2020, 227 pages), motivational speaker and best-selling author Rachel Hollis looks at how we can survive catastrophes: the death of a loved one, divorce, lost jobs, failed relationships, and That Coming. Hollis writes as if she were other personal disasters. Through chapters speaking directly to the reader, she’s often like “Stop Questioning Your Suffering,” “Try clear and blunt with her advice, and most of On Another Perspective,” “Get Real About the examples she uses to shore up her points Your Finances,” and “Chose Joy Even When are valuable. Her account of her brother’s Life Sucks,” Hollis offers readers a multitude death by suicide is sweet, sad, and instrucof stories and anecdotes, many of them per- tive; she’s the one who as a teenager was in sonal, about suffering and pain, and advice the house when he shot himself, and Hollis on how to keep going through the darkness takes the reader through the emotional turthese hardships bring. moil that tragedy brought to her in the years

At the end of each chapter, Hollis following. includes a short section “Things That Hollis also exhibits a lively sense of Helped Me.” Here she both summarizes the humor. Here’s part of her description of a points of the chapter and gives the reader juice cleanse she underwent with some specific steps to take in handling their emo- friends: tions and their difficulties. Regarding finances, for example, she directs them to seek out guidance if they feel unable to save money or control their spending. Writing “You’re so hungry you want to die. You’re so hungry you begin to obsess over your next juice — even though it’s three hours away and made of, like, beetroot and seaweed. As I recall we were allowed to have one solid ‘meal’ a day, but it could only be leafy greens.

“Who designed this plan for us? Satan, I’m sure.”

We might have done without the “whole pooping-my-pants episode” brought on by this diet, but otherwise she had me smiling in this part of the book. I had two objections to the book. First, in offering advice and revealing part of her own story, Hollis tells readers that as she was editing Didn’t See That Coming her 16-year-old marriage fell apart. Though she returns to this crisis several times, her account of that breakup is muddled. The reader leaves her description feeling as if she has softened or hidden certain incidents, which is strange coming from a woman who prides herself on her truth telling. And in her Prologue, Hollis writes, “Don’t fear your own weakness, fear drowning in despair for the rest of your time on earth because you were too afraid to confront your pain. In the following pages I will try to do my best to do just that. I will examine the pain and break it apart and laugh at it when possible and cry over it when necessary, but I will not — ever again in my life — cover up my pain to make other people more comfortable. “And neither should you.” Here I must partially disagree. Hollis is of the confessional crowd, believing in the value of counseling — she’s apparently spent 23 years in therapy — and I agree we can find hope and help by sharing our emotions with family and friends. But I’m also a believer in restraint, and that includes holding back my pain with certain people, those I don’t know well, for example, or those who either are suffering their own mishaps or who are themselves uncomfortable dealing with another’s tragedy.

Those quarrels aside, Didn’t See That Coming offers guidance and comfort to those suffering through a hard season. (Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, Amanda Bell and Dust

On Their Wings, and two works of nonfiction,

Learning As I Go and Movies Make the Man. minick0301@gmail.com)

New book on Smokies railways

Acclaimed author Bob Plott will present his latest work, Smoky Mountain Railways, during a special drop-in book signing at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 20, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Plott will also make an appearance at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

The Great Smoky Mountains were a remote and inaccessible place with no major highways or railroads until well after the Civil War. Using first enslaved and later convict labor, the Western North Carolina Railroad and Murphy Branch connected the mountains with the remainder of the state by 1891.

The railroad brought commerce and tourism, and tourists and rail buffs continue to come to Bryson City to experience travel by steam train on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The history of this line is a story like no other. It is a tale filled with tragedy, heroism, brains, blood, sweat, tears, nitroglycerin and humor. Local authors Jacob Morgan Plott and Bob Plott tell the story of a line that refused to die.

Bob and Jacob continue to perpetuate the family legacy, raising Plott hounds at their North Carolina home. www.bobplott.com.

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