Bullard and his wife, Anne, have owned and operated Gwynn Valley for more than a decade, but the camp itself has been a Transylvania County treasure for 75 years. Scores of children have experienced what it’s like to milk a cow, pick fresh string beans and lettuce or shuck corn for the first time. The camp’s objective is all about showing youngsters how critical agriculture is—that food doesn’t just show up at a grocery store.

“You get all kinds of kids having their eyes opened to aspects of foods that they would have never experienced before,” Grant Bullard says. “It’s a neat approach to a different kind of programming in a summer camp setting.”

As opposed to having food trucks arrive regularly like at a store, the staff at Gywnn Valley raises about 70 percent of the food that’s consumed at the camp during the summer. That amount includes locally raised beef and all vegetables cultivated by farm manager Dale Robertson, who has directed production for many years.

The camp includes a pond stocked with trout that are caught and enjoyed by all during a weekend fish fry. On-site is a refurbished grist mill that’s now used not only to grind corn for various dishes but also to churn old-fashioned ice cream.

“We’re finding very few kids these days have any kind of contact with farms,” Grant Bullard says. “I think 25, 30 years ago, you might find an aunt or uncle or grandparent who owned a farm somewhere in a rural setting. Now less and less you’re finding that among our camper population.”

The campers range from kindergartners through children in the eighth grade. They can stay for just a day or for as long as 20. Bullard indicated not only have children from North Carolina visited and stayed, but youngsters from as far away as Massachusetts and Mississippi have come as well.

Transylvania County Farm Bureau President Jackie Whitmire views Gwynn Valley as a crucial resource for enlightening children about farming and food.

“Many young people today never realize that their food comes from the farmed earth by way of the grocery store. Hopefully this experience will awaken their interest in the American farmer’s role in supplying a healthy and affordable food source for our people,” Whitmire says.

Furthermore, Whitmire thinks maybe some new farmers might begin to bloom because of what they experienced at Gwynn Valley.

“Perhaps some of the campers will get excited about a future profession related to farming or agribusiness. North Carolina offers a diversified menu of farming opportunities across our state for young farmers,” Whitmire says.

Hyde County Farm Bureau Member Ray Spencer remembers one of the worst ever to hit the state—Hurricane Hazel back in 1954.

“We had not had any real bad hurricanes until Hazel,” says Spencer, who now is 87 and served as the County Board President for close to 20 years and also served on the  state board of directors for quite some time.

“We had high tide right here in our yard. It got waist deep. It was a vicious storm that came in and struck real quick then went right back out,” Spencer says.

What compounded the problem was not just the amount of water on the farmland but the kind of water. Spencer recalled how the soil was altered for several years because of saltwater from Pamlico Sound that affected his farm, which is just three feet above sea level. Tons of gypsum, what Spencer said county natives used to call “land plaster,” were applied to absorb the excess sodium so crops could grow again.

“You could take your finger and run it down the row and it was salt. There’s no question about it. You can’t grow anything on that type of soil until you get it out,” Spencer says.

The predicament hurricanes leave North Carolina farmers might be the most extreme in the case of growers like the Spencer family of Hyde County. Ray’s son Glenn Spencer is now the County Board President and farms more than 1,600 acres.
“The people who haven’t experienced salt in the soil don’t have any correlation about what it can do to you,” Glenn Spencer says. “If there’s a sodium buildup in the soil, it tightens the soil up so it can’t release the nutrients.”

Whether it’s getting corn harvested before the peak of hurricane season arrives in September or hoping cotton won’t be ruined if floodwaters come in October, North Carolina farmers have had to keep tabs on potential storm tracks for decades.
Jeff Orrock, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Raleigh, explained why this state is so susceptible to hurricanes and tropical storms.

“Geographically, we’re vulnerable just from our location because we are just so far out into the Atlantic,” Orrock says, adding only Texas and Florida are more prone to be affected by hurricanes than North Carolina.

Beyond Hurricane Hazel, several storms have left vicious marks on North Carolina.

Farmers throughout the Eastern part of the state readily remember the agricultural disaster Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd caused in 1999. Residents in Western North Carolina witnessed historic flooding in 2004 stemming from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan that originally made landfall on the Gulf Coast. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo blasted 90 mph winds in downtown Charlotte though it came ashore in South Carolina.

“There’s really no part of the state that’s immune to these things,” Orrock says.

So what could this year’s hurricane season hold? Orrock believes atmospheric conditions in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans could make for a rocky time in North Carolina if all the ingredients come together for breeding severe storms.

“The last time North Carolina got a direct hit from a significant hurricane was back in 2003 with Hurricane Isabel. Fast-forward seven years and we really haven’t had to deal with one,” Orrock says. “We may be getting overdue for a significant hurricane.”

For Lowry, horses are his passion, especially racing thoroughbreds. He began training horses to compete in races starting back in 1996 near Shreveport, La. Then in 2004, Lowry moved to North Carolina to raise horses at his farm in Laurinburg and train them at a special facility near Wilmington.

Lowry explains that it takes about six months to train a horse for racing, a process called “to leg them up.” The racehorses sometimes swim in ponds to strengthen their muscles before going on several rounds at a dirt or turf track.

“You don’t know what you’ve got until you put them in the gate and see how fast they can run,” Lowry says. “Just because you’re bred to a big-name stallion, that doesn’t mean it’s going to run like that big-name stallion.”

Lowry currently has a horse training to compete in races in West Virginia later this year. He’s visited the winner’s circle previously during his time in Louisiana.

“There’s nothing like it, especially with one that you’ve raised,” Lowry says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a $5,000 race or a $100,000 race; the high is just unbelievable when you can take one to the winner’s circle. It doesn’t matter what the caliber of horse, it’s about being able to take that picture in the winner’s circle.”

While not every horse is going to be a winner, Lowry stressed that’s what fuels his passion.

“Once you go to those tracks and have one win or get close, it just gets in your blood,” Lowry says. “We just say, ‘We’ll get ’em the next time.’ Sometimes the best horse doesn’t always win, just like in any athletic competition. On any day, any horse can be beaten.”

Welcoming Visitors at Holly View Farm

The pace isn’t at racing level at Holly View Farm in Transylvania County, but that doesn’t mean things are slow for Farm Bureau Member Tracie Taylor Gant. In fact, activities have picked up tremendously since Gant and her family turned a beef cattle operation into a horse boarding facility and campground a few years ago.

The opening of DuPont State Forest between Brevard and Hendersonville has brought Gant plenty of business from people who bring their horses to ride the trails at the 10,000-acre park. Gant indicated that she’s welcomed visitors from as far away as Montana and South Dakota.

“It was a part of the industry we sort of stumbled into when people started to contact us for somewhere to put their horses,” says Gant, who also is a member of the Transylvania County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. “It has really started to grow over the last three or four years. It is kind of amazing. You don’t realize until you get into this part of the industry how big it is.”

Gant has expanded the campground area and is in the process of building new stables, too. She describes what she does now as “agri-tourism.”

For someone who has had a horse since age 4, Gant now says, “I have really found the place where I work the best.”

Learning the Trade at Martin Community College

Working with horses is what the equine program at Martin Community College in Williamston seeks to train students to do. The program is the only one of its kind in the North Carolina Community College System. It prepares students to enter the industry for positions ranging from ride trainer to barn supervisor to breeding manager.

Program Director Tami Thurston emphasized how much more affordable the training at Martin Community College is as compared with other schools. At Martin, Thurston indicated costs can be about $2,000 per year, while other places it can run  close to $40,000 annually.

“And since we’re smaller than most equine schools, the students get more thorough, in-depth experience,” Thurston says. “I feel like we can take a lot more time with individual students. It’s just a great bargain.”

When it’s time to come in after a long day in the field or in the barn, many Farm Bureau Members find the toe-tapping rhythm of fiddle-based music to be the perfect way to enjoy time with family and friends. Fiddle playing in North Carolina can range from impromptu jam sessions to thousands of people gathering for events such as MerleFest in Wilkesboro or the Cherokee Bluegrass Festival.

However, Graham County Farm Bureau Member Steve Jordan doesn’t need a big festival setting to bring out his fiddle. Jordan has played the fiddle since he was a teenager. His father, Jimmy Jordan, toured with famous acts such as Bill & Wilma and the Snowbird Mountain Boys, as well as Carl Story, known as the “father of gospel bluegrass.” Jimmy Jordan passed away suddenly three years ago, but Steve Jordan wanted the music to carry on in his honor throughout the North Carolina mountains.

About a year ago to honor Jimmy Jordan, Steve Jordan and his wife, Sue, opened up Jimmy’s Pick n Grin, a venue consisting of 4,000 square feet in Andrews where fiddle and bluegrass music are just part of the attraction every weekend. Organized bands or anyone interested in playing that style of music so entrenched in the region can participate.

“We have great fellowship. People just come to share their talent,” Sue Jordan says.

Steve Jordan might get up on stage to share with whoever is playing at the time. His wife insists musicians who come—especially fiddle players—don’t have to practice much as a group. The melodies come naturally because it’s the style of fiddle music that’s been played for generations.

“Folks have said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve got this kind of crowd here and you don’t even sell alcohol.’ People aren’t coming for a pick-up bar,” Sue Jordan says. “They’re coming to see their friends, and we have a big dance crowd.”

And when people get ready to dance with fiddle music, clogging often is one of the more popular choices. Graham County Farm Bureau Board Member Raymond Norton can be found nearly every weekend clogging with his wife, Lala. Whether it’s at Jimmy’s Pick n Grin, at the town square in Robbinsville or at another event in Georgia or Tennessee, the Nortons put their tap shoes to good use.

“Some of our friends were cloggers, so four years ago we just ordered two pairs of shoes and took a couple of lessons,” Raymond Norton says. “It’s not hard to pick it up. It’s mostly keeping time with the music. It’s so much more fun dancing to it rather than just listening to it. We used to just listen and pat our feet a little bit and keep time, but it’s so much more fun when you put on a pair of taps and get up and dance.”

For Apex resident Cindy Gambino, clogging has been more than just a weekend pastime. Gambino was named Miss American Clogger in 1992 and 1993. She’s taught the dance for years, as well, only taking a break recently because of the birth of her first child.

“One of the major appeals of clogging is that you can be any age and you don’t have to be in perfect shape,” Gambino says. “It’s easy to pick up. I think people are surprised once you learn a couple of basics, you can go from there.”
While fiddle and bluegrass music might be most connected to clogging, Gambino stresses the dance can be performed with many genres.

“One of the things that makes it so popular now, especially to kids, is you can dance to any kind of music,” she says. “We dance to pop music, country music, bluegrass; you name it—if it’s got a good beat.”

Ladies, gentlemen and kids—start your engines! Welcome to the wild world of lawn mower racing. No, it’s not a contest to see who can mow their grass the fastest. It’s actual racing, on an actual dirt racetrack, with actual lawn mowers. And it’s a popular spectator sport for North Carolina families. “It’s racing like NASCAR or anything else, just on a smaller scale and a lesser budget,” says Roger Choate, owner of CarQuest in Sparta and an avid lawn mower racer. It may seem like an odd sight—dozens of lawn mowers lined up at the starting line; drivers in their helmets and racing gear—but these drivers are competitive, even if they are just out there to have a good time. There are classes for every type of mower and driver imaginable—powder puff classes for the women, legends classes for the seniors and juniors classes for the kids. There are classes based on the size of the engine and the speed of the mower. Typically, lawn mower drivers race around an oval dirt track at speeds of 30–40 miles per hour, but some of the more serious racers enter classes where speeds can exceed 80 miles per hour.

“A 60 cubic inch engine is the largest we run in our races, but that’s got close to 100 horsepower,” Choate says. “It all depends on how much you want to spend. We’ve got mowers out there that cost more than $10,000 to $15,000.” Some racers chose to build their own mowers, some modify store-bought mowers and others take theirs directly from the store to the track. Choate is a member of the Alleghany Mower Racing Association, which is a nonprofit organization that hosts and promotes lawn mower racing and donates the proceeds to various charities. The original idea stemmed from a fundraiser race in an effort to save the Alleghany County Fair in 2000. “Some of the gearheads were there, and we saw what they were doing and thought, ‘We could do this ourselves,’” Choate says. Choate and other founding members met up with Alleghany County Farm Bureau Member Walt Green, a retired NASCAR official, to get the program started. “Walt went after some corporate sponsors and really helped build the program from the ground,” Choate says. “Doing this as a nonprofit, that was one of the things that drove Walt to want to do this. He wanted everybody to be able to do this and for the community to benefit from it.” The AMRA continues to race at the Alleghany County Fair each year.

“According to the people at the fair, there wouldn’t be an Alleghany County Fair without lawn mower racing,” Choate says. In addition to supporting the fair, AMRA also hosts other sanctioned races and donates all the proceeds to charities like local fire departments, Rotary clubs and independent causes. The sanctioning fees they collect go to the charity they are supporting, and the racers get nothing but a trophy and bragging rights. But that doesn’t stop their competitive spirit. “If you could see the folks out there racing for a trophy, I can’t imagine what they’d be like racing for money,” Choate says. Last year, the group raised more than $75,000 for charity. Each event usually draws about 250 racers and 1,800–2,500 spectators. “We’re doing it for the right reasons. It’s all about helping others out,” Choate says. “And we’ll continue to do well if we continue to do it right.”

Rutherford County Farm Bureau Members Meik and Birgit Bartoschek often traveled up and down the East Coast to weekend art shows. Their mode of transportation was an RV so they could also bring their dog, Schroeder, a loveable tan-and-white corgi. The more the Bartoscheks traveled, the more they found campgrounds that welcomed only them, but not their faithful canine companion. The campgrounds they ran across that didn’t forbid dogs altogether left only a small space for a minimal amount of exercise and bodily functions. They wanted to offer a place where dog owners like them could enjoy the North Carolina mountains and let their canines have as much pleasure. That’s what led to Four Paws Kingdom, a 34-acre spread that uses every square foot for the benefit of guests who walk on either two or four legs. This spring marked the seventh season for Four Paws Kingdom, which operates from April until late November. The campground offers nine different completely fenced dog parks that provide owners the chance to let their dogs off a leash to play with others similar in size.

A dog play pond, a tree-lined creek, hiking trails and an agility course for competitive dogs also are incorporated into the facility, which the Bartoscheks opened in 2003 after nearly abandoning the idea.
“It was meant to be because many, many things that we couldn’t foresee at the time or were not aware of fell into place for us. It wasn’t done overnight,” Meik Bartoschek says. “Like some of our campers say, it’s kind of like Disneyland for dogs. We have a little bit of everything, and you can just come and enjoy.” The Bartoscheks worked for five-star resorts in Florida and elsewhere for more than 20 years, so they attempted to bring luxury elements for dog owners to Four Paws Kingdom, too. Cabins with porches and a fully equipped bathhouse are among popular campground amenities.
Visitors from each of the lower 48 states have come to stay for a week or more. Some have even spent the entire summer at a campground that’s an easy drive to some of Western North Carolina’s most popular tourist attractions.

“Our guests come from every walk of life. We have people who just love their dogs and just want to be with the dogs any which way they can,” Meik Bartoschek says. “We also have a group who does dog sports and are serious about it. They come to us because they can combine the vacation, relaxing idea plus an hour or two of training, which you won’t find anywhere else.” The Bartoscheks have made additions and modifications to Four Paws Kingdom each year they’ve operated. One of the most substantial was making the campground for adults 18 and older only. The combination of children and up to 75 dogs on the property at the same time made it challenging to oversee. However, that’s been one of the few problems the Bartoscheks have  encountered since the opening of Four Paws Kingdom made their dreams a reality. “If it weren’t for Schroeder, we wouldn’t be here. Schroeder was our inspiration,” Meik Bartoschek says. “Even after seven years—and I say this with pride—there’s no other place like us in the United States that’s a dog-dedicated campground.”

Garlic

Chatham County Farm Bureau Member Harry LeBlanc has been eating a clove or two of raw garlic every day for years for good health. “It’s a virtual panacea as far as I’m concerned,” he says. “It has antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties.” LeBlanc says that might have something to do with why he never gets sick. And there might be truth to that. Garlic has been used for its medicinal purposes for more than 5,000 years. Throughout history, it’s been used to treat everything from the common cold, to acne, to high cholesterol. It’s even known to be a natural mosquito repellent. North Carolina is a hot bed for growing garlic. Warm fall weather followed by a mild cold period and then the long days and warm temperatures of springtime are exactly what the garlic plant requires to grow best. LeBlanc discovered this when he purchased a case of garlic from a local market, planted some of the cloves and watched them prosper. After planting it in September, by May he had enough garlic for his family to enjoy and a little leftover to give away. From that harvest, he kept some of the largest cloves and planted them the following year. Before long, garlic had become a regular addition to his growing farm operation.

“It’s pretty easy to grow,” LeBlanc says. “The crop is pretty much pest-free except for the onion maggot and occasional mold.” LeBlanc grows several varieties of garlic in both the softneck and hardneck families. Softneck garlic typically has layer upon layer of cloves, whereas hardneck has cloves centered around a solid, woody scape. Softneck garlic is the most common type found in grocery stores because it is easy to grow, stores well and has a milder flavor. Once harvested, the garlic is cured for several weeks and can then be stored. “You cure it to help it keep longer,” LeBlanc says. “When the greens have turned papery, it’s cured. It takes two to four weeks, but once it’s cured, it will last all the way through the winter.” LeBlanc sets aside some of the larger cloves for replanting during the fall; the rest he sells or gives to his CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). According to the Polk County Extension Office, Italian and New York White Neck varieties of softneck garlic and German Extra Hardy hardneck garlic grow best in North Carolina. North Carolina garlic is typically sold directly to the consumer at roadside stands and farmers markets and typically brings $0.85 to $1.20 per pound.

Ramps

Ramp sightings signal the passage into spring for many mountain families. After a long, cold winter, even before the trees have begun to bud, the emergence of broad, green ramp leaves from the soil is a welcome sight. Ramps are wild leeks—a sort of cross between garlic and onion—that grow in high altitudes. “Ramps are in the onion and garlic family,” says Smokey Mountain Native Plants Association Chair Beverly Whitehead, a Graham County Farm Bureau Member. “But, just like wild onions are different from spring onions, are different from yellow onions, are different from garlic, ramps are unique.” “People raised on ramps wait expectantly all year for ramps, because there is nothing like it,” Whitehead says. “It’s sweet, savory and pungent all at the same time.” This finicky plant takes roughly seven years from planting to fully mature and produce seeds.

“Ramps grow in deep, intense shade on the north slope of mountains, not land that is usually cropped,” says Whitehead. “It is considered a non-timber forest product. If you think of timber as a crop, the people that grow timber have a long-term timber management plan, and that sometimes takes 10–15 years to establish. Ramps take a shorter period of time on the same land.” Once the ramps are established, they can be harvested without destroying the root system and will grow back. On average, the plants last about 40 years. “It’s a long-term, generational project, but in seven years you’d have something you can crop every year,” Whitehead says. On average, a one-gallon bag of ramps typically sells for about $60. Ramps sprout and show above ground for only a few weeks at the beginning of spring and then die back until the next year. It is one of very few plants that bloom in spring and flower in late summer.

Because of their regular appearance at the beginning of spring, many mountain communities honor the first sightings with a festival or celebration. Festivals and dinners in Cherokee, Buladean, Robbinsville and Cullasaja are some of the more popular celebrations in the North Carolina mountains. Diners at these celebrations enjoy a wide variety of foods prepared with ramps—everything from fried potatoes and ramps to ramp hushpuppies and ramp corn bread. Whitehead says that ramps are very versatile. “You can use them in anything you put onion or garlic in.” “A lot of people continue to raise their own food and forage in the mountains,” Whitehead says. “It’s a big deal to get the family together and gather the first fresh greens of the year.”

It may sound like the start of a science fiction novel, but white squirrels are no myth. Though colonies of populations of white squirrels are somewhat rare, North Carolina is host to two such locations—the most notable being Brevard. Only about a dozen other cities in the United States can claim being home to white squirrel colonies. “Most people that come here think it’s a joke and that we don’t really have white squirrels,” says Madrid Zimmerman, executive director of Heart of Brevard. “We have to convince them that we didn’t just make it up.”

So how did the white squirrels of Brevard come to be? Well, that story is a little more fantastical. The story says they arrived by way of a carnival accident. According to Barbara Mull Lang, two white squirrels were caught by a Mr. Black of Madison, Fla. in 1949 when a carnival truck carrying these unique creatures overturned near his home. Black then passed the squirrels along to H.H. Mull, Lang’s uncle, who later gave the squirrels to her. She attempted to breed them, but wasn’t successful. After she left home in 1951, one of the squirrels escaped, and so the other was let go to join its mate. Once in the wild, the squirrels began breeding, and soon there was a rapidly growing population in Transylvania County.

Brevard’s white squirrels all have similar markings—a white body with a pigmented head patch, shoulder saddle and dorsal stripe, and dark eyes. Though a breed of white squirrel does exist, the white squirrels in Brevard are thought to be a color variation of the Eastern Gray Squirrel. “They are simply another coat color variant in a species that already has quite a bit of variation,” says Bob Glesener, research director of the White Squirrel Research Institute. “As evidence that Brevard’s white squirrels are simply a color variant of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, I like to point out that when a white squirrel is foraging on the ground and is threatened by a predator or human, it darts to the nearest tree trunk and does a ‘spread eagle.’ This is appropriate for a squirrel with a dark coat color, but a white squirrel sticks out like a ‘sore squirrel’ against the dark tree bark.”

And these white squirrels shouldn’t be confused with albino squirrels. An albino squirrel will have no pigmentation at all, and will have pink or blue eyes. Because these squirrels are such an oddity, they attract a considerable tourist base to the area. People from all over the country come to Brevard to see the natural beauty of the area and with hopes of spotting one of the elusive critters. In fact, Brevard takes such pride in its white squirrel population that a protective ordinance was approved in 1986, which makes it “unlawful for any person to hunt, kill, trap or otherwise take any protected squirrels within the city.” “The ordinance wasn’t put in place because there was a problem; it was more to recognize that they are a special species we have living here,” Zimmerman says. Each year, Brevard hosts the Annual White Squirrel Festival during Memorial Day weekend. The festival is complete with free live music, the Squirrel Box Derby, the White Squirrel 5K and 10K race, guided tours, exhibits and squirrel feeder and photo contests.

To ensure the population continues to grow, the White Squirrel Research Institute conducts an annual white squirrel count. Originally, the project started as a Brevard College student project, but was continued by mentor Glesener, the research institute’s director, and the help of volunteers. Each year, the original city limits are divided into 35 sections approximately 20–30 acres large and all squirrels are counted. “We conduct the count to see how well they are thriving in this populated area, and to see how well the white squirrels are doing compared to their siblings,” Zimmerman says Glesener adds that the population appears to be maintaining its numbers or possibly growing by a small percentage. Zimmerman says there are three reasons that tree squirrels thrive in the Brevard area—the density of trees, which they need for food and mating, the city-wide ordinance protecting the squirrels and the fact that town residents will actually put out feeders to encourage the squirrels. “They aren’t the sort of cute, cuddly thing that people want to make pets out of,” Zimmerman says. “But the residents here have a recognized respect for them.” “I have had people tell me they will brake for white squirrels, but not gray ones. Or that they will let white squirrels feed at their bird feeders, but shoo gray ones away,” Glesener says. “There is much civic pride over our squirrels.”