Local Love in Lonesome
A Dinner to benefit the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.
On September 10th our Chef John Fleer will host a dinner to benefit ASAP. The dinner will be like a typical dinner at Canyon Kitchen, but with more flare! Here is the teaser our Chef sent to ASAP, and the menu will be finalized this week so check both Lonesome Valley and Canyon Kitchen’s Facebook page for more details over the next week.
We look forward to welcoming you to a beautiful night at the foot of Cow Rock in the pastoral Lonesome Valley. It’s an exciting time to be celebrating local food production here in Western North Carolina as Canyon Kitchen and ASAP join forces to benefit our shared mission of preserving our agricultural heritage and helping our local farmers thrive by showcasing some the best our area offers.
This is a celebration of intersections. We’ll find ourselves at the crossroads of growing seasons, as summer wanes and cool fall nights begin to set in. We can still expect to see an abundance of tomatoes and late season sweet corn. But we can also expect to see those heady fall mushrooms like lobsters, black trumpets and boletes all foraged here in the Highlands.
The dinner at Canyon Kitchen will also represent an intersection of the Highlands-Cashiers agricultural community and the greater Western North Carolina community that ASAP supports. You can expect to see Canyon Kitchen’s immediate agricultural community of Jackson and Macon counties represented as well as representation from our broader locale.
Additionally, with a more global sustainability stroke, we are enlisting support for this benefit dinner from several of the best producers from Canyon Kitchen’s “all organic, sustainable or biodynamic” wine program.
Upon arrival, plan to enjoy an aperitif and snacks in the Canyon Kitchen garden in the shadow of Cow Rock. As you stroll indoors into Canyon Kitchen’s cross-breezes, we’ll welcome you to the table with an array of tastes from our local farms—think Looking Glass Creamery cheese, heirloom tomato jam berber pizza, ricotta gnudi, locally foraged wild mushrooms, and Carolina bison spiedino and black walnut pesto. Following these bites, you will enjoy three more courses featuring the best food grown in our area—be it Jolley Farms, Sunburst Trout, or Brasstown Beef. To complete the meal, we will again succumb to the burden of plenty and present you with some dessert nibbles showcasing local chocolate and fruits.
Tickets are $100 and can purchased by calling Kristen at 828-743-7967 or emailing kristen@lonesomevalley.com. We look forward to welcoming you to our Kitchen and helping to benefit ASAP.
The Red Eft
The Red Eft is familiar to many who have visited the woodlands of Western North Carolina, and, based on countless sightings over the years, the temperate rain forests of Cashiers seem to provide their perfect home and habitat. Their flaming orange, red color make them easy to spot. Here at Lonesome Valley, these calm little (typically 1” to 3”) creatures can be found on any of our hiking trails, especially along Logan Creek after a summer afternoon shower.
Unlike their typical salamander cousins, the Red Eft’s skin is dry during their orange juvenile phase until they transform to their aquatic adult stage, when they change from bright orange to olive brown. Here at Trout Pond Park, the adult Efts can be found in the shallows around the pond’s perimeter, hoping to avoid any lurking Rainbow Trout. Fly fishermen know that artificial lures that mimic the Eft’s swimming pattern can often lead to angling success.
Similar to other salamanders, the Red Eft serves as a good indicator species for the overall health of their forest and pond habitats. Based on their relative abundance here, Lonesome Valley seems to be their perfect healthy habitat. So, on your next hike, be on the look out for these little orange critters.
