APP Angels- Quilt Trails, Poor Man's Suppers and More- THE COVE AT CELO MOUNTAIN

SPRING HAS SPRUNG  

Backyard of an estate home within THE COVE AT CELO MOUNTAIN

Trout pond within THE COVE AT CELO MOUNTAIN

One of our favorite breakfast spots in Burnsville, NC

Blue Ridge Regional Fitness Center in Burnsville, NC

Mary Jane's Organic Cafe - you'll never see these empty tables!

view from the cabin porch

Mayland Continuing Eduacation - MassageTherapy

Parkway Playhouse - NC's oldest continuously operating summer theater

Historic Yancey Movie Theater

Poor Man's Supper - Ramps and Streaked Meat

and like our mountains - there are beauties to behold everywhere you look.
I am going to call this APP Angels - Appalachian Angels  - the people and places that make this place so special and unique.

When you get here, one of the things that will tug at you the most, is to get deeper back into the mountains.  The All-American small towns around are our roots, the mountains are our souls - the places and people expressions of our spirits.

Let me see if I can express this a little better.  At the break of dawn, I head to Appalachian Java for specialty organic coffees and homemade breakfast delights that include local sausage.  Then, I move on to the  Blue Ridge Fitness Center with  Bradford Pear and blooming cherry trees beckoning me out-of-doors for the cardio part of my workout.  For lunch, I stop by Mary Jane's organic cafe for salads, homemade specials and baked good - often with live blue grass music as the backdrop.  Work?  OK, at least I can sit on the porch with my laptop and listen to the birds, the sound of the rushing creek, and watch the antics of the wild turkeys. Then, I head to any of the following for a drive through the mountains and a homemade dinner - unless, of course, I prefer to stay on the porch and move from the work table to the hammock and a great book.  The evenings offer courses in Continuing Education at Mayland Community College (ranked #4 in America by Washington Monthly and free for the over-60 crowd) for classes in everything from basket-weaving (according to the Fibonacci method), to foreign languages for travel, to welding for use on-the-job or in Trashformation Art.  Theater?  Sure - world-premiere stage theater at our Parkway Playhouse - North Carolina's oldest continuously operating summer theater - or the latest movie at our historic Yancey Theater ($5 a ticket and free soft drink refills).

One of my absolute favorite things, though, are community suppers.  These include:
*Empty Bowl Suppers (we are the hometown of the founders of this non-profit that has raised millions for the relief of local and world hunger.)  Homemade soup and bread anyone?  Take home the handcrafted bowl in which your soup was served.  Every time you look at it in your cabinet, remember those who go without and embrace the power of one to change that.
*Then there are the Monday night free homemade suppers for the community at Higgins Memorial Methodist, as well as the constant fundraiser suppers for the firemen, Lion's Club, various churches, ad infinitum.
*You will want to go to at least one Poor Man's Supper.  Now this is not to feed just poor people but to raise money for those in need.  Here in the mountains those translate into Streaked Meat ("streaked" is pronounced as 2 syllables - not 1- a local favorite.)  My tiny church with about 30 in attendance will have 100 at these fundraisers- IF we serve the Streak-ed Meat, pinto beans, ham, corn bread, coleslaw and dessert - menu does not vary.)
*Ramp Suppers - only in the spring when the wild ramps are harvested.  Every group tries to out-cook the other with a new recipe.  Knife and Fork used ramps to help them win the WNC Chef Challenge in 2011 against Grove Park Inn, Biltmore Estates, etc.

We have food for your soul as well as your stomach.  This is another local non-profit that is spreading through the nation - our Quilt Trails.  Everyone knows that handmade quilts are one of our Appalachian cultural treasures.   THE COVE AT CELO MOUNTAIN helped this established non-profit when it was first emerging by being its Corporate Sponsor for over 2 years.  Enjoy the heritage and beauty of this ancient art on our historic barns (many old tobacco barns), cabins, homes, and public buildings.  The names of the Quilt Blocks give a hint of the stories that are written on each and available for purchase. (My humble abode and quilt block is included in these!)

LIVE THE MOUNTAINS; BREATHE THE DREAM

BURNSVILLE, NC ARTISTS IMPACT WORLD HUNGER RELIEF THROUGH EMPTY BOWLS PROJECT

Small-town America still produces innovative giants that have an impact globally. Local artists, Bob and Lisa Hartom, began the Empty Bowl project as public school art teachers in Michigan. The concept began as a way of awakening their students and fellow teachers to the power of one person to help relieve hunger – locally and world-wide. The idea was to craft handmade bowls, fill them with homemade soups, have a supper to raise funds, and then have the participants take home the hand-crafted bowl as a subtle reminder of those who go without food and that for one day they did something decisively to alleviate hunger.

Now relocated to Burnsville, NC, these two artists have taken this non-profit project to international venues to raise millions of dollars at grassroot levels to combat world hunger. Few people have heard the names of these All-American heroes; they don’t want their names to detract from the goal of the project. So the concept of the Empty Bowl becomes both a metaphor for and a visual reminder of individual responsibility for action on behalf of others.

It is this same philosophy of getting back to simple but powerful concepts of living that makes The Cove at Celo Mountain unique from other gated communities. The pristine beauty of these ancient mountains – the creeks, streams, trout ponds, waterfalls, breathtaking mountain views - has been preserved and enhanced for this and future generations. Instead of acres of golf courses, there are miles of manicured hiking trails. Instead of landing strips, there are 5 outdoor parks with cooking areas, fire pits, and locally handcrafted furniture in the seating areas. Instead of barns and stables or ski slopes out your back door, there are areas to camp out with children or grandchildren and trout ponds where you can teach them to fly fish. The 4 ½-star “must play” public golf course (Golf Digest) is just 10 minutes up the road. The ski slopes are 15 minutes away. The rivers for fly-fishing, kayaking, tubing, and rafting are within 5-15 minutes. Horse stables are within 10 minutes. This is home – a sanctuary to escape to and from the busyness of life, and a time to reconnect to nature and to the creative spirit within each of us. The mountains are beckoning.

The Cove at Celo Mountain is a private gated community near Asheville, N.C. offering mountain properties and mountain homes for sale with dramatic mountain views. Browse our selection of Black Mountain Homes, Cabins and Mountain Properties at www.thecoveatcelomountain.com.

For more on Lisa and John Hartom of Burnsville, NC and the Empty Bowl Project: American Profile.com