Flu clinics coming up

Release from Buncombe County...

The Buncombe County Department of Health has scheduled several flu vaccine clinics during the month of October. This year the department is placing a priority on getting children vaccinated, because they tend to spread the flu virus most easily. One-day flu clinics are being planned for one school in each school district from Oct. 4 through Oct. 14.

Vaccines at the schools will be available for children and their families and also for teachers and their families.

The Department of Health’s large flu vaccine clinic will be held this year at the Biltmore Square Mall from 9 am to 4 pm on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23. This flu clinic will be open to anyone 6 months of age and above.

Flu shots will be available for all ages at all clinic locations, however flu mist will be available for children 2 through 18 years old only. A limited amount of flu mist for adults will be available beginning Oct. 25 at the Buncombe County Department of Health, 35 Woodfin Street in downtown Asheville, across from the YMCA.

While everyone should get a flu vaccine each flu season, it's especially important that people in the following groups get vaccinated. Pregnant women, children younger than 5 years, people 65 years of age and older, people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions, people who are morbidly obese, people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and people who live with or care for those at high risk for complications from flu, household contacts of persons at high risk for complications from the flu and household contacts and caregivers of children less than 6 months of age.

Insurance information
Insurance that will be accepted this year: Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Crescent PPO, Health Choice, Medicaid, Medicare Part B, Medicare PFFS, Medicare Railroad, Primary Physician Care, Today’s Options, United Healthcare and Wells Fargo.
Without one of these forms of insurance, flu shots must be paid for at the time it is given.

Cost
Cost of flu vaccines at all clinics will be $25 for the shot and $31 for Flu Mist. Vaccines may be paid for by cash, check, MasterCard, VISA or most major insurance companies. Insurance cards must be presented before a vaccine is received. Children who are not covered by health insurance may be eligible for a flu vaccine at no charge.

School district flu clinic schedule
These vaccines are intended for children and their families and teachers with their families.
10/4 – TC Roberson, 3:30 - 7:00
10/5 – Erwin High, 3:30 - 7:00
10/6 – AB Tech, 3:30 - 7:00
10/7 – Enka Middle, 4:00 - 7:00
10/11 – North Windy Ridge, 3:30 - 7:00
10/12 – Owen Middle, 4:00 - 7:00
10/14 – Reynolds High, 3:30 - 7:00

For more information about the flu vaccine for 2010, go to www.buncombecounty.org/flu; www.cdc.gov/flu; or www.flu.gov.

Conservationist performance

From the Western North Carolina Alliance...

The Western North Carolina Alliance (WNCA), along with Clear Channel Asheville, hosts an evening around the campfire with John Muir, America’s best known conservationist, and President Theodore Roosevelt at 8:00 PM, Thursday, October 7 at the Asheville Community Theatre in downtown Asheville. Actors Lee Stetson and Joe Wiegand will reprise these legendary men in a show entitled The Tramp and the Roughrider.

The Tramp and the Roughrider recounts part of a four-day camping trip in 1903 with just President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir in the Yosemite wilderness. The action unfolds around a campfire at sunset on Glacier Point, overlooking the magnificent Yosemite Valley, and the audience will hear the men spar over environmental and wilderness issues, witnessing the conversation that helped lead Roosevelt to establish 200 million acres of wilderness, five new national parks, and 55 wildlife preserves during his tenure.

Who: Western North Carolina Alliance and Clear Channel Asheville
What: The Tramp and the Roughrider, a two man performance
When: October 7, 2010 8:00 PM
Where: Asheville Community Theatre
Cost: Tickets to the performance are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, and $20 for WNCA members. Admission includes a reception with wine and desert immediately following the performance.The public can reserve a seat or learn more information by calling WNCA at 828-258-8737 or visiting the group’s website at www.wnca.org.

This week at NBHS

Tuesday
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball vs. Enka High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball vs. Enka High School

Wednesday
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity soccer @ Asheville High School
7 pm - Boys' varsity soccer @ Asheville High School

Thursday
3:30 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Hendersonville Country Club
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis @ Clyde A Erwin High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball @ McDowell High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball @ McDowell High School
7 pm - Junior varsity football @ McDowell High School

Friday
7:30 pm - Varsity football vs. McDowell High School

Info on this weekend's True Nature Country Fair

True Nature Country Fair
September 25 & 26, 2010 10am-6pm daily
Big Ivy Community Center Barnardsville NC

Farmers, homebuilders, craftspeople, restaurateurs, social and political activists, and conscious consumers of the Southern Appalachians gather together for a weekend of local food, sustainable product trade show, plant walks, sustainable living workshops, a kids program, and more!

The True Nature Country Fair is a celebration of life lived in connection with the Earth. The focus on local, organic, and sustainable means that everything featured at the Fair is from the southern Appalachian region and will be produced from resources that are at least 50% organic and/or sustainable. The exhibit areas include a farmers market, energy and shelter, health and healing, social and political action, and crafts. The education component includes workshops on gardening, farming, and homesteading, plus nature walks, a children's program, and small livestock displays.

A weekend-long event, the daily entrance fees for the Fair are $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 3-12, and free for children ages 2 and younger.

Leftover notes from the Woodfin Board of Aldermen meeting

Some more notes from Tuesday's (Sept. 21) meeting:

* Woodfin Mayor Jerry VeHaun will be a member on the Asheville Area Riverfront Redevelopment Commission. Ricky Silver, owner of Silver-Line Plastics in Woodfin and Woodfin town attorney Joe Ferikes, is also on the board. The AARRC was created to support the continued development and sustainability of the riverfront. This commission is a strategic partnership and includes appointees from the City of Asheville, Buncombe County, RiverLink, Town of Woodfin, Council of Independent Business Owners, Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the City’s River District Design Review Committee. The commission acts as an advisory board and provides policy recommendations to the city and strategic partners.

* Following the county's lead, Woodfin aldermen approved setting $160,000 as the affordable housing cap. Those constructing houses less than that amount can qualify for reduction of tap fees and other discounts.

* The aldermen approved two updates to the town's personnel policy.

* The aldermen will have a public hearing on Oct. 19 before considering adoption of a 301-foot section of Sen. Reynolds Boulevard into the municipal street system.

This week at NBHS

Monday
3 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Marion Lake Club
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis vs. Clyde A Erwin High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity soccer @ T C Roberson High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball @ Mitchell High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball @ Mitchell High School
7 pm - Boys' varsity soccer @ T C Roberson High School

Tuesday
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis @ McDowell High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball @ Asheville High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball @ Asheville High School

Wednesday
TBA - Coed varsity cross country vs. NBHS Meet

Thursday
3:30 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Highland Lake
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis vs. T C Roberson High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball vs. A C Reynolds High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball vs. A C Reynolds High School
7 pm - Junior varsity football vs. Enka High School

Friday
7:30 pm - Varsity football @ Enka High School

Terra Madre dinner set for Saturday

Amidst a riotous palette of flowers and overlooking lush organic vegetable gardens and livestock fields in the picturesque mountains bordering Pisgah National Forest, it’s easy to imagine life in another era – life when there was time to savor beauty and family; time to grow your own food, make hearty dinners from scratch, and appreciate the scent of lilies on the breeze.
Slow Food Asheville’s September Terra Madre fundraiser, entitled “Mountain Fire,” will offer an opportunity to taste for oneself this intentionally slower lifestyle centered around the sustainable farming and heirloom production techniques being reclaimed by environmentally minded folks worldwide.
It is these qualities the Slow Food movement has been promoting since it formed in 1986. And the organization’s origins in Italy are why delegates from Slow Food chapters around the world still gather every two years in Turin, Italy, for its Terra Madre conference.
The Asheville Slow Food chapter sponsors several WNC farmer and food producer delegates to travel to Turin where they can share their own knowledge while learning new techniques that will make their small businesses as well as their communities more economically viable.
This year’s Terra Madre fundraiser will be held at Sunswept Farm Conservancy in Spring Creek, Madison County, on September 18 and will include a scratch-made, home-grown, gourmet feast as well as a silent auction of fine, local products and services.
Arrive early to tour Sunswept Farm – a small family farm at its heart, predominantly powered by water and sun, and surrounded by 68 acres of Forever Wild forest land. Try your hand at the antique cider press, preview the crafts and services offered for silent auction, or just relax dangling your feet off the pond dock while enjoying the mountain views.
Two of the eight 2010 WNC delegates, Lalasa Mohr and Vanessa Harbin, will travel as
representatives of Sunswept Farm. Other delegates are Julie Mansfield of Mountain Harvest Organics; Dave Bauer of Farm and Sparrow Bakery; David Kendall of Elk Knob Farm and Gardens; Lady Spirit Moon Cerelli of Bee Healing Apiary; and Chuck and Jeannie Blethen of Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard.
Each delegate is contributing their own time and materials in support of the fundraiser.
In addition to the venue, Sunswept Farm will provide organic, free-range pork, chicken, and eggs plus use of their antique cider press and commercially licensed kitchen. Conservancy director, Dory Brown, an acclaimed metalsmith, will donate several pieces of her handcrafted jewelry for the silent auction.
Mountain Harvest Organics will contribute a cornucopia of seasonal, organic vegetables and coordinate event decor.
Farm and Sparrow Bakery will supply artisanal breads baked in their wood-fired ovens and offer a certificate for a dozen loaves for the auction. They will also make sumptuous apple tarts using apples supplied by Elk Knob Farm and Gardens.
Elk Knob’s apples will likewise be used for fresh-pressed cider and autumn-spiced apple sauce to accompany the meal along with their wild fruit dipping sauces for the pork.
Bee Healing Apiary will provide honey for the desserts as well as scratch-made cannoli.
Several types of honey and Lady Cerelli’s wonderfully healing Bee Lotion will also be on auction.
Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard is organizing the auction. Their contribution to the auction is a two-hour Wine Evaluation/Wine Etiquette seminar for up to eight people.
Event collaborator, Chef Mark Rosenstein, who founded The Market Place restaurant and has been dedicated to local, seasonal ingredients for the entirety of his 40-year professional cooking career, has designed the menu to be a medieval fantasy of fire-kissed offerings.
Visit SlowFoodAsheville.org for tickets and further information. To donate for the auction or to volunteer event help, please email MountainFire@charter.net.

This week at NBHS

Monday
3 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Asheville Municipal
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity soccer @ Enka High School
7 pm - Boys' varsity soccer @ Enka High School

Tuesday
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis vs. A C Reynolds High School

Wednesday
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity soccer vs. McDowell High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball vs. Madison High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball vs. Madison High School
7 pm - Boys' varsity soccer vs. McDowell High School

Thursday
3:30 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Etowah
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis vs. Enka High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball vs. Clyde A Erwin High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball vs. Clyde A Erwin High School
7 pm - Junior varsity football vs. Mitchell High School
TBA - Coed varsity cross country @ Owen Invitational Meet @ Black Mountain

Friday
7:30 - Varsity football @ Mitchell High School

More on Monday's Craggy Mountain talk

A meeting to discuss a possible wilderness designation for a 2,380-acre section of Pisgah National Forest near Craggy Gardens will be held at 7 pm on Monday, Sept. 13 at the Big Ivy Community Center. Forest Service representatives and others have been invited to come and answer questions and hear comments.

Craggy Mountain Wilderness Study Area Fact Sheet

Area Description:
Craggy Mountain WSA is 2,380 acres below the Craggy Mountain Visitors Center (bounded by the Blue Ridge Parkway on the south, Bullhead Ridge on the east, Forest Service Road 63 on the west, and national forest boundary to the north). Outstanding features are the waterfalls and cascades on Waterfall Creek and the old growth / virgin trees found throughout this drainage, Douglas Fall is the most prominent waterfall, with a vertical drop of 65 feet. The most outstanding example of the virgin timber is the pure hemlock stand on Sprucepine Ridge and the eastern side of Waterfall Creek.

Legislative History:
The nationwide Roadless Area Review in 1979 recommended the Craggy Mountain Area for further planning. The 1984 North Carolina Wilderness Act designated Craggy Mountain as a Wilderness Study Area. In 1987, as part of its overall Forest Land Management Plan Pisgah Nat. Forest, the USFS recommended that Craggy Mountain be designated Wilderness. Bills proposing the creation of a Craggy Mountain Wilderness were drafted by then Congressmen Jamie Clark in 1990 and then by Charles Taylor in 1991k, but neither bill made it out of Committee.

Management Situation:
As a Wilderness Study Area since 1984, no timber harvest activities are allowed. If designated Wilderness, several miles of illegal OHV trails created by private land to the north will need to be closed and restored. Continued mechanical and chemical treatment of invasive species resulting from recent fires should be considered. Ongoing treatment of Carolina/Eastern Hemlock stands for hemlock woolly adelgid control should be permitted to continue.

Race for the Ring 2

Release from Wick and Greene Jewelers. Sounds fun. A couple from Weaverville won the inaugural race last year.

There is a $15,000 Lazare Diamond Ring somewhere in the streets of downtown Asheville. No, it’s not missing, it hasn’t been stolen and no one left it there by accident. Wick and Greene Jewelers has purposefully placed it there and is hoping for some lucky couple to find (and keep) it. Wick and Greene Jewelers is turning downtown Asheville into a city-wide game-board and has built a high tech treasure hunt for couples to try and seek out the diamond! So, this event is none other than 2nd Annual North Carolina Race for the Ring!

To participate in the game, couples have to submit their love stories to Wick and Greene Jewelers at www.NCraceforthering.com. Wick and Greene Jewelers will select the pairs with the most compelling stories and offer them a spot to participate in the city-wide game on Sunday, Sept. 26.

This game is not your average treasure hunt; this is a game of skills, and it’s a fully interactive high tech game where all of the clues and challenges are delivered to couples’ mobile phones via text message. At 1 pm on Sept. 26, 350 couples will meet at Wick and Greene Jewelers in downtown Asheville to take part in 2nd Annual North Carolina Race for the Ring.

Once the game kicks off, the teams will be sent sprinting around downtown Asheville, solving clues and riddles delivered to participant’s cell phones via text message. The game will culminate when one lucky couple finds the secret location of the Lazare Diamond Ring worth $15,000. In addition to this beautiful ring, Wick and Greene Jewelers has also put together a lavish after party for all of the participants at Century Room on the Park.

This week at NBHS

Tuesday
3 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Forest City Municipal
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball vs. McDowell High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball vs. McDowell High School

Wednesday
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis vs. Charles D Owen High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity soccer @ Watagua
7 pm - Boys' varsity soccer @ Watagua

Thursday
3:30 pm - Girls' varsity golf @ Sequoyah National
4 pm - Girls' varsity tennis @ Asheville High School
5 pm - Junior varsity volleyball @ T C Roberson High School
6 pm - Varsity volleyball @ T C Roberson High School
7 pm - Junior varsity football vs. Brevard High School
TBA - Coed varsity cross country @ Buncombe County Meet @ Christ School

Friday
7:30 pm - Varsity football vs. Brevard High School

Navitat named one of nation's best

Navitat Canopy Adventures, the new zip-line tour located in Barnardsville, was recently picked by USA Today as one of the nation's best zip-line tours. Read the article here.

New restaurant

The former home of Frazier's Steak and Seafood near Woodfin is about to get a new tenant.
Mexican restaurant Hacienda Del Sol is scheduled to open there in the near future.