Here at Deepwoods the springtime perks are well exceeding the winter blues! Daylight lasts all day and into the evening, and with a full moon the night never falls.

The days here (at Deepwoods) have been extremely busy, so much so in fact that I had to take a break to write these few lines.

Spring Fling went without any problems. The weather cooperated nicely with only a few showers on Sunday morning. Sorry about that, Nashville.!

Hillbilly on his way to get gas for the mowers

SPRING AT DEEPWOODS

by Hillbilly

Work weekend gatherings have become the norm, as the DW house band (Slide Glide) leads the way (musically) with Too Tall Tom, Cap’m Bob Lewis, Dean Arrigo, Danny Murray, D’Anne Clontz and sometimes Flynn... and other jammers sitting in. I would like to publicly like to thank Ranger Jim for all his hard work, past and present.

We would also like to thank all of you for your donations; physical, spiritual, and monetary. The Hollow is alive with souls. Bob and AnnE have resumed work on their Dutchman camper and are very vibrant in their shady mountain home. Dean and Michele are tucked away in their new forest campsite and continue to live off the electrical grid. Around the Hollow it’s a case of  “if you need it fixed, Dean’s the man.”

Alice and Flynn continue to improve the neighborhood in the Ponderosa.

Too Tall, Prof and Michele take a timeout from work

Alice’s daughter Michele seems to be an aspiring actress. (Ed Note: Several Deepwoods residents recently attended Michele’s debut acting performance at the newly opened arts center in Bakersville).

Too Tall Tom and Suzi have us “Tied to the Whipping Post” with Tom’s new cover release of that song and Suzi’s website whip. Prof makes surprise visits and keeps his time well spent. Danny got his plumber’s license and has accomplished masterful feats on the Hollow plumbing. He is has also found his path to personal fulfillment. (Ed Note: Danny and CooCoo are engaged!).

Linda Jean and myself have grown stronger by working together in our second year of making and maintaining our garden and many flower beds, and of course, John watches over us all, and you can bet he never allows us to get too bored!

Hillbilly gathering the news

We hope to see you on Sonny’s Birthday and Deepwoods Work Weekend (4th of July), and if not, there’s always the Deepwoods Ball in August! Remember to call John as we are updating our membership list

Linda Jean’s Ice House Garden

Smiley inspects remains of the fallen Karmen Ghia barn the boys tore down and began carting off

The view with the barn gone

Preparing to recycle the pile of metal removed from the Karmen Ghia barn

Deepwoods resident and staffer Linda Jean Rush (Harmon) is a Field Research Technician for the new Medicinal  Plant Garden Program administered by Mayland Community College in Avery County, NC.   She has taken it upon herself to begin flowerscaping Deepwoods by adding mini gardens throughout the tract.

Deepwoods residents Gufford and Captain Dan relaxing by the pond

Deepwoods resident Branch taking a swim in the petal-decorated pond

Deepwoods’ Flame Azalea in bloom

Hillbilly thinking about taking a swim

The Spring Fling was great!  It was really good to see Nothin 2 Serious playing together again!!  We will continue to update the invitation list but we also want to keep it small. We’ve been getting reports from people who attended that this one was one of the best Spring Flings ever! Thanks for everyone’s support.

Okay,  now the news.

It has been a fun week with Mom and Mrs Mann visiting the Hollow. We went to the Penland School of Crafts, which is only a few miles away, and visited John and Courtney’s studio and many other places around these parts. The ladies and I thoroughly enjoyed this artistic tour and it gave me a chance to take a break from the day to day routine.

Mom is in her 90th year but is still in good health and spirits. I’ll have  pics of her visit soon. 

I hope to see you at the Hollow for the July 4th work weekend and music jam. We have great plans for that weekend and want as much help as we can get! There are many work projects to be done and some are nearing completion. Let’s get ‘er done!.

Metal collecting is going well and soon we will be able to sell the aluminum cans and scrap so we can continue cleaning up this place. If you were at Spring Fling you’ve probably seen some of the improvements we’ve made. Thanks to Linda Jean and Mark we now have several little flower gardens. Linda Jean, Mark, Alice and Flynn have also planted vegetable gardens, so come harvest time we’ll have fresh organic produce for our tables.

A lot of work is on going and this place is looking better all the time!! 

Deepwoods Members will get a letter soon thanking them for their support and informing them of our NEW RULES and what we expect of them to contribute to keep this thing going. Deepwoods is a community and we need you to take an active role in helping us with our goals.

Thanks! JS

Mitchell County, NC has been considering the building of a wind farm on the site of an abandoned rock quarry, and one of the issues holding up the process is the idea of noise pollution. It’s been rumored that wind turbines are noisy.

By accident I ran across a woman named Sylvia Rogers on Facebook who lives in Oklahoma very close to a wind farm. In fact, she can see it from her kitchen window. I contacted her and asked her what she thought of the noise pollution issue that is one of the factors blocking the construction of a wind farm within a few miles of Deepwoods. What follows is her reply:

“I can drive right up to the base of them. I cannot hear anything at all. They turn very slowly, amazing that they produce power at such a slow speed.”!

She says the wind farm is located on the Slick Hills, “just pure rock,” and that there is no additional dust

OTHER NEWS...

The dates for the Deepwoods Ball (Lesterfest 2) have been set, so mark your calendars for the weekend of August 20th - 22nd. Remember, this event is Invitation-Only and our list is constantly being revised, so make sure your dues are paid! The invitations will be mailed in plenty of time for you to make copies for your guests. Make sure your guests understand the Deepwoods rules.

And Don’t Forget the 4th of July Work Weekend! This work weekend has been growing in popularity the past few years. It’s the kickoff of the Summer Work Schedule, and we could use your help and expertise! Bring a covered dish or refreshments, work clothes, camping gear, and yourself. (NOTE: Hillbilly requests that you bring a gallon jug of Apple Cider Vinegar for Poison Ivy abatement!)  After dinner there will be an always-popular music jam in the bar, so bring your instruments and amplifiers. This weekend we will begin rebuilding the barn we just tore down so we can use it for storage and free up the Ice House for Prof to use for mechanical repairs and other projects.  As always, visiting Deepwoods is restricted to  Members and Their Guests only!

So far this year all of the cabin residences have been brought up to standard, and we’ve begun clearing out the junk cars and other eyesores. Dean & Michele have moved their camper to the property and AnnE & Cap’m Bob have been busy rebuilding the interior and roof of their Dutchman camper. Alice and Flynn and Alice’s daughter Michele have installed gardens at the Ponderosa.

Deepwoods residents Ruby and Michele

Flynn  our cabinetmaker

Dean is our resident “Fix-It” man, and Flynn is our Deepwoods cabinet maker. Hillbilly has been busy installing hand rails at the kitchen steps, finishing Smiley’s cabin, and taking care of all  other in-house carpentry work. The Hollow is looking better everyday, and we have all the people who have contributed work and materials to thank for it!

And let’s not forget our Kitchen Crew! They’re the reason we have the energy to do all the work!  Make sure you thank them, and don’t be shy about offering your help. We always welcome the contribution of food and beverages, whether it’s an event weekend, work weekend or if you just come for a visit.

Blair Jones is donating his sound board to Deepwoods to replace ours. Our board has been giving us problems for the last several years, driving our sound crew nuts! Thank you Blair!!  We always appreciate the donation of working sound equipment for the stage and bar and would like to thank all of you who donate.

And let’s not forget to thank our stage crew! Thanks to our sound guys Too Tall Tom and Prof and all of you who have lent your muscle to helping us lug and set up stage equipment! Their work makes the music happen!

And for our Event Weekends, please remember to leave your pets at home! As you can see, we now have several resident dogs and cats as well as our wildlife, and we do not want additional animals on site. We all love pets, but please leave yours at home.

 other than their normal “Okie dust, none from the wind farm.” She also says she loves looking at them and considers them things of beauty.

So that puts to rest at least two of the issues blocking construction of a wind farm here in Mitchell County, and maybe three. I personally could get used to seeing wind turbines around here. Hell, if they want, they can stick one right here on this hill

Wind Farms in Mitchell County?  Contributed by Suzi Dimock:

Oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, Chemical Spills in the rivers... What can we do?

One of the things most of us forget about is that most pollution begins at home. It begins in the chemicals and drugs and hormones we flush down the toilet every day. It begins with the Styrafoam cups and plates we litter the landfills with. It begins with the balloons and 6 pack harnesses we throw in the trash.

It begins with US.

In generations past no one thought about local pollution because no one understood the impact of straight-piping waste - human and otherwise - into our creeks and streams and rivers. We used our waterways as toilets and garbage disposal units.

Nowadays we have no such excuse. The facts are in, the science exists, and the results are clear: when we dump poisons into our water supply, we poison ourselves.

Take the time to look around your neighborhood. Are the streams clear of rubbish and pollution? While you might think a stream is clean because the water is clear, often the opposite is true. A healthy stream will have native plant life and fish and bugs and turtles and frogs, a whole plethora of life. If these are absent, then there is a likelihood that the stream is dead... devoid of life due to pollution somewhere upstream.

If you know of or can visibly see a business, factory, farm or other such areas of commerce dumping trash or chemicals or waste into our waterways, report it.

There are laws against this in most states. Go on record. Call the local papers, call the local clergy, call the police, and call whatever passes for an environmental protection agency in your state. Find out what environmental groups are active in your area and tell them.

Don’t allow carcinogens and mutagens to go unchecked in our water.

And always remember that whatever you put onto the ground or into the ground will eventually wind up in the water supply. Avoid the use of lawn chemicals, take your used motor oil to a place that recycles oil, and never throw used batteries (household or otherwise) into the trash or water or onto the ground. There are places that recycle or destroy batteries. Check with your local recycling center for the addresses of places where you can drop them off.

And to cut down on the trash in our landfills, recycle anything you can possibly find another use for. Be a good steward of our land and water. The future of Earth depends upon all of us.. 

OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO

• Organize a local stream cleanup. Send a notice (press release) to the newspaper, contact your local Boy and Girl Scout troupes, contact your local environmental groups, post notices at stores and military bases, etc. Have people bring heavy duty trash bags with them or get local stores to donate them. Make sure people wear heavy shoes or boots and socks and have plenty of bug spray on hand. Caution them about snakes.
• If you see trash accumulation that you know comes from a business, take photos and speak to the manager of that business, and if that has no effect within a week, write a formal letter of complaint to them and CC a copy to the mayor and head of the city council. If nothing is done, go to a council meeting and bring the subject up. If nothing is done, contact a reporter at your local newspaper and ask him/her to report on the issue. If the store is part of a statewide or national chain, contact the corporate offices. They will care. If all else fails, organize a cleanup on your own, enlisting if possible the local landowners.
• Keep a camera on hand to document environmental pollution. It could be cows standing in a stream or a farmer using pesticides near a stream or waterway, a business or person improperly disposing of trash or waste, or a factory storing barrels of chemicals close to a stream or school yard.. Whatever you think might be wrong should be looked into.
• Clean up your own property. Don’t store used car or household batteries. Dispose of them properly. Cans and bottles can be recycled. Plastic rubbish can be picked up and properly disposed of. Take unused chemicals, pesticides and other poisons to your local recycling center or find out where they should be disposed of properly. If you’re not sure, call the town or city clerk and find out where they should go
• If you see trash, pick it up. If it’s too much for you to deal with, call the town and complain.
• Get rid of junk cars and trucks  People will pay you for the value of the metal and come pick it up. Call a local scrap yard of contact someone who augments his income by collecting scrap metal or do it yourself and get a hundred bucks or so in your wallet that you didn’t have before. The amount varies, so call the scrap yard to get a current quote.

All Music at the DWPS Spring Fling and the Deepwoods Ball is recorded. Every band will get a copy of their set. If you are a Deepwoods Member and  would like a CD of any performance from 2007 to 2010, please contact us HERE. There is a small charge for additional copies of $4 per CD ($7 for a 2-cd set) to cover the cost of the CD and mailing..

Available Performances

Below is a list of available music that has been recorded at Deepwoods. Please note that all original music and musical performances  recorded at Deepwoods are copyrighted. You must have the permission of the artist to record or duplicate those songs or performances. We do not charge for these recordings, but as noted above, there is a $4 material and shipping charge.  If you like what you hear, be sure to let us know!

Go HERE to see photos from Spring Fling 2010

Go HERE to see older photos

If you have photos taken at Spring Fling 2010, please contact Suzi HERE if you would like to see them on these pages. We are especially interested in photos of Unnamed Suspects and Nothin Too Serious from Saturday Night, since our batteries died just before they went on and it was Blair’s 60th Birthday!

If you pay your annual dues what does membership get you?

1. You get an invitation to Spring Fling and the Deepwoods Ball
2. You get special camping privileges (must check with Smiley before planning a visit)
3. You get to hang out with a bunch of really cool people
4. You get to bring guests to our events
5. You get to help Deepwoods maintain the property and environment

Deepwoods Preservation Society is:

1. A privilege to belong to. We’re located in a beautiful part of the country.
2. More Personal: We purposely keep the membership and events lists small
3. Non-Political:  You don’t have to jump through hoops to belong. Nor do you have to belong to come.
4. Environmentally Friendly:  We recycle, we care about our water and environment and we will soon be off-grid
5. People helping people. We could use YOUR help. What can you do for us? What can we do for you?
6. A place to come to chill out. Relief from the hubbub and stress of everyday life. Rustic.
7. A creative society. We make and police our own rules. We construct and create things of beauty. 
8. Non-Profit: We make no profit from our events or products. It goes right back into the property, not our pockets.
9. Still cheaper than everywhere else.

Deepwoods Preservation Society is NOT:

1. A place to bring dogs or kids
2. A legal 501c3 organization, which means donations are NOT tax-deductible
3. A place to bring people who are under 21 or people who will be disruptive to the residents, animals or environment
4. A retirement home.
5. Without limits. We do have limits. We’ll let you know if you cross them or approach them.
6. Beyond banning troublemakers.
7. Free - we need money to run this place, so please, please pay your annual dues!

Members! Do You Have A Personal or Work Website You’d Like To See Included? Email Suzi: HERE.

Hootie Hoooooo