April 2003 Archived Columns

4/27/2003

The weather was a bit cooler last week, more seasonal, and we had a couple of days of rain. Saturday was a nice day, and Sunday is starting off beautifully. The dogwoods are still in bloom, but the native azaleas (flame azaleas) are looking a little peaked.

Update to wildflower lovers! I was out walking property yesterday (4/30) and the woods are thick with native lilies, including Trillium and Lady Slippers. With the rain (and hail) we had yesterday, I expect this weekend will be the peak time for many native species. (Walking property is one of the great parts of this job, because you have access to many areas of the county that would otherwise be off limits. The other day, I was behind a gate in the Cohuttas previewing a cabin near the confluence of the Jacks and the Consauga, and it was beautiful beyond description back there.)

Cynthia visited the Polk County Ramp Festival yesterday (see last week’s newsletter). She reported that it was much better attended this year than last, perhaps due to better advertising. I can report from personal experience that the ramps she brought home were rampy and good. There is supposed to be another ramp festival scheduled for Saturday at another location, but I have been unable to obtain information on it. There is another scheduled for May 4 in Waynesville, North Carolina (828.456.3517).

May is the time for spring festivals and fun things to do in the mountains. I've posted my May calendar of events (under "Local Info"). There are many good choices, starting this weekend. It's a great time of year in the mountains, and a great chance to get out and have some fun and learn more about our beautiful area.

According to the News Observer, Representative Nathan Deal’s National Recreation Lakes Act remains alive in committee. This bill is an attempt to reshape management of federal lakes, including the TVA lakes, by making recreational use one of the top priorities (currently, they are flood management, river navigation, and electricity generation). If the bill comes out of the Transportation Committee and is passed, the payoff for us locally might be a later winter drawdown of Lake Blue Ridge and Lake Nottely. As it is now, the TVA usually begins to drain the lake in late July or early August. Even another month or so at full pool would be a great economic benefit to the area.

Marc O’Connor, the noted fiddle champion, jazz violinist, country music session man, and composer will play the Ellijay Elementary School Auditorium on Saturday, May 10. Tickets are $10, $25, $25, and $45 at 706.635.5605.

4/21/2003

The weather has continued unseasonably warm, and the weekend was very fine. We got a pretty good thunderstorm Monday morning, which washed some of the pollen out of the air. Last week, Cynthia and I heard the first Whippoorwills, and the puppy started chasing the blue-tailed lizards around the yard. (Those lizards are actually young Southern Five-lined Skinks to reptile enthusiasts.) The dogwoods are in beautiful, full bloom, and the mountains are looking very pretty.

We’ve seen our office activity picking up with the war in Iraq seeming to wind down, and my guess is that we’re headed into a period of good activity. The leaves are almost on the trees, but there still might be a window for a week or so for people who want to look at view property.

This weekend, there is a Bluegrass Festival at Sugar Creek Music Park (off Hwy 5 at Scenic Drive, follow the signs, 1224 Cox Road). This is a nice, old-fashioned venue with some camping, and the festival should be a high point for those of us who love the “high, lonesome sound.” Call Vida Cox for details at 706.632.2560.

One of my favorite annual events is coming up this Saturday, the Polk County Ramp Festival. For those of you who haven’t heard of them, ramps are wild onions or leeks. They are actually members of the lily family, and the leaves (usually two) look not unlike the leaves of a Trout Lily. The rest of the plant looks somewhat like a green onion. The size of the bulb depends on how mature they are, but it is usually about ½” to 1” in diameter. Ramps are famous in mountain folklore, mostly for making your breath strong, but I haven’t noticed anything unusual along those lines. People who are used to cooking with garlic or leeks will probably enjoy this mountain treat, which was a traditional sign of spring in the Southern Appalachians. For the folklore, you can consult Dabney’s cookbook (listed in the reference library section of this website). The basic preparation is to fry the ramps, leaves and all, in bacon grease and serve with eggs. But they can be used in any salad or other dish where leeks or onions would be appropriate. There is a small cookbook and history available at the festival. For more sophisticated preparations, you can consult www.earthydelights.com (a mail order source for fiddleheads, ramps, and morels).

The festival begins on Thursday, with the “ramp tramp,” usually a caravan over to the vicinity of Robbinsville, North Carolina to pick the ramps, which grow only above 3000 feet (or more often, 4000 feet). Those who want to participate in this part of the festival should call 423.338.4503 for directions to the pickup point. The festival continues on Friday night, with ramp cleaning and bluegrass music. The main day of the festival is Saturday morning, when a big country breakfast of bacon, fried potatoes, and scrambled eggs with ramps is served at about 10:00 AM. There is more bluegrass music and some low-key activity by Tennessee politicians, who generally attend this important grassroots event. This is your chance to get a gallon of Sassafras root tea (bring your own container) and buy a bag or two of ramps (usually $5 a bag).

The first Polk County Ramp Tramp was held on April 13, 1958, on Big Frog Mountain. When the Big Frog was taken into the Cohutta Wilderness, it was no longer accessible by car. One year, the supplies were helicoptered in, with the participants hiking up (no small hike!). Another year, it was held at Sylco Campground. Finally, in 1985, the festival found its present home at the Polk County 4-H camp. To reach the site from Blue Ridge, take Hwy 5 north to McCaysville and continue to Ducktown on TN 68. At Ducktown, turn left on Hwy 64/74, toward Cleveland, Tennessee. You travel past the Olympic Whitewater venue, along the river, on the “Old Copper Road.” In the vicinity of Parksville Lake, you take a right on Hwy 30/315 toward Reliance. There should be signs at this intersection for the festival. The camp is on the right, a few miles along Hwy 315. You should allow 45 minutes or an hour to reach the festival from Blue Ridge. For more information, call 423.338.4503.

4/14/2003

It was rainy all week, until the weekend. Then it cleared up beautifully for the Adventure Race on Saturday. It started out a little cool, but by mid-afternoon the weather was beautiful. Sunday was a great day, and Monday is starting out a lot like Sunday.

Those of you who love the Dogwoods need to get up soon. They started coming early last week, and I believe most of them are now in flower. Most, if not all, of the Sarvis is gone, and the ridges are showing nicely of Dogwoods. On last year’s calendar, I noted that the Lady Slippers came on 4/15. It’s been a little cooler this year, and I haven’t seen any yet this year.

The Adventure Race was a huge success again this year. With 90 four-person teams and their friends, this is a major event for tourism in Blue Ridge. Many of the teams come up before the race to practice, and the event has raised awareness of Blue Ridge quite a bit among Atlanta people and others who visit. There are permanent signs out on Aska Road designating the “Aska Adventure Area,” and that raises awareness of the event among people traveling down Aska Road.

There was a wonderful article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, titled “Back from the brink: Newcomers revive quaint Blue Ridge,” by Norman Arey. If you missed it, please email me and I’ll email it down to you.

I want to mention that on Friday, April 18th, the Natti Love Joys are scheduled to play the Duff Tavern off Route 64, over toward Cleveland, Tennessee. The Natti Love Joys are an internationally known reggae band whose principals, Marla and Jati Allen, live in Blue Ridge. Jati is from Kingston, Jamaica, and Marla is from Brixton, England. They host Camp Reggae every Labor Day weekend, a music festival held in nearby Isabella, Tennessee. They’re one of my favorite bands, and they’re really world-class. You can visit them on the web at www.campreggae.com. To get to the Duff, you go to Copperhill (Hwy 5) and then Ducktown (TN 68) and then turn left on the four-lane, Hwy 64/74 toward Cleveland. This takes you along the Ocoee on “the Old Copper Road.” You go past Parksville Lake, then over the Ocoee as it passes under the road, and the Duff is on the left just before the four-lane begins again. It’s about 45 minutes from Blue Ridge. The Duff does not have a phone, but Charlie’s, next door, is 423.338.2408.

4/6/2003

The first part of the week was a bit chilly, but it got warmer as the week went on. We had a considerable thunderstorm Saturday morning, but the rest of the day was fine. Sunday turned out to be a little overcast with a drizzle in the late afternoon. The dogwoods seem about ready to blossom, and I’ve seen the first may apples down along Long Creek. I’m told that the turkeys have been gobbling good for a couple of weeks now. I heard my first gobble last night, but I haven’t had a lot of porch time lately.

Don't forget the Adventure Race, which is next Saturday, April 12. Even if you aren't especially interested in the race, the finish line at the park is a fun place to be as the race comes to an end. It's probably best described as an exteme triathalon, with hiking, biking, and kayaking, along with some mystery events. The race starts at the Shallowford Bridge around 8:00 AM. The finish is usually between 2:00 and 4:00 PM in the downtown park. Some 90 four-person teams compete, and it's a major event for tourism. The town will be full of people, and it's a good time to mix and mingle. Visit the Chamber site, www.blueridgemountains.com, for details, or stop by the Chamber for a program (the Chamber is behind the United Community Bank, across from the McDonald's).

I learned more about pine beetles last week than I ever wanted to know. The last time they flourished, about ten years ago, they didn’t quite reach my ridge. This time, they passed over it, and I thought they had missed me until I had a pine tree die suddenly about three weeks ago. I talked to Larry Benson, Senior Forester, and he said it was probably infected last winter, with the beetles remaining inactive until the warm weather. You see the needles turning brown, of course, but the characteristic mark is the dime-sized “pitch hole” where a bit of sap oozes out of a hole in the tree and turns white. When the tree is well and truly infected, you will see a number of these holes going up the trunk. The larval stage is a white worm about a half an inch long, and the beetles themselves are tiny.

According to the state forest service, there have been reports of pine beetle infestations in Georgia since the 1700s. They seem to flourish in periods of extended drought, because it weakens the trees. The beetles only eat the cambium layer of the tree, which is the tissue that carries the nutriments. Once they girdle the tree, the tree dies. They don’t have wings and they seem to spread by being borne on the wind. Their pattern is somewhat odd. They’ll hit one area and then move on to the next. The forest service recommends cutting all the trees in a circle about 1-1/2 lengths of the tallest affected tree. It’s been bad in Blue Ridge this time, but the devastation in Tennessee has been really incredible. Up in Tellico Plains, they’ve had to close many of their camp sites, and there are signs all over the national forest warning people from going into the woods when it is windy.

When you get them around your house, you need to cut them in the hopes of preventing their spreading. It’s best to have the tree man haul the chips and trunks off, or to burn them (call the forest service for a burn permit). It’s also not a bad idea to spray the stumps and remaining chips with insecticide. It isn’t practical to spray the trees, because you have to spray the whole thing, not just the first few feet of the trunk. The forest service recommends that you not do routine pruning of pines when the weather is warm, because the open wounds from cutting and climbing can be exploited by the beetle. The bottom line is that it is an expensive and somewhat heart-wrenching experience. I spent about $2000, and it isn’t at all clear that a lot more trees won’t die. I also had to cut a huge old pine that shaded my cabin from the morning sun, and I really miss that old tree and the habitat it provided for wildlife.

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