Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

Back in 2014, I got to play the part of Dr. Herman Einstein in a stage production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Peter Lorre played that part in the 1944 movie of the same name. Always an admirer of Lorre, I finally got to “be” Peter Lorre, utilizing my impression of his voice.

I have always admired the singing voice of the actor/singer Jack Prince, who played Rafe Hollister on “The Andy Griffith Show,” so, this year, utilizing my natural singing voice, I got to “be” Rafe Hollister in the Mount Airy Mayberry Days Parade.

Paying tribute to a character on stage involves “stage right” and “stage left;” while doing the same in a parade involves “stage straight ahead, rolling along underneath!”

My daughter Rachel, and her husband, Richard, had been attending the Mount Airy Mayberry Days for the past few years; and Rachel said I should portray Rafe Hollister in the Mayberry Days parade. So, on Sept. 24, Rachel, Richard, my son, Jeremy, and I met up in Mount Airy.

I began a week before by ceasing my shaving. This was an attempt to match up with what TV’s Mayberry Mayor Roy Stoner said about Rafe Hollister not being worthy of representing Mayberry at a choral festival: “He’s unpresentable!” “He’s seedy!” After not shaving for a week, I looked unpresentable and seedy! People think male actors in movies are hot when they have stubble on their faces; but in the case of a 71-year-old man, it’s just an old man who evidently forgot to shave.

To further look the part, I wore bib overhauls, a plaid shirt, and a fedora to which I had given a slightly crumpled look. Since Rafe did some moonshinin’, I carried a quart Ball Mason jar filled about one-third of water to resemble moonshine. Regarding the “Glass half full or glass half empty phrase,” I bet that with moonshine aficionados, a 1/3 quart of moonshine is always dishearteningly seen in the negative: being unfortunately, two-thirds empty instead of “one-third full.

Just so none of the parade-goers would wrongly assume my jar contained the real thing, I taped a homemade label to it, reading “190 PROOF H2O,” captioned with 3 Xs.

In the parade formation’s Truist Bank parking lot, I was welcomed heartily by veteran character portrayers from past Mayberry Days Parades, some with 30 years of experince! There was not one bit of snobbery towards the new kid on the block (or in the lot). I told “Mayor Stoner” I hadn’t shaved for a week in order to present myself as “unpresentable.” He said “And you’re seedy looking,” followed by a big laugh. I told him that coming from him, it was a great compliment — we both had a good laugh.

Briscoe Darling, Andy, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Otis, Colonel Harvey, Ellie, Mayor Stoner, Asa, The Man in a Hurry, The Fun Girls, etc. were all like long-lost family reunited.

I was overwhelmed by the response of the parade goers When I sang “The Lonesome Road” or “Ridin’ on that New River Train,” I was greeted by one of the greatest numbers of smiling teeth I’ve seen, smiles “Busting out all over!” Some people hollered: “Hey Rafe! Can I have some of what’s in your jar?” And some had me pause for pictures with them.

At one point in the parade, a gap was developing. So, a police officer (real, not Barney) motioned to me and asked me to move up a bit to help fill in the gap. I thought: “Gosh! I’m a float in the Mayberry Days Parade (as was each of the Mayberry tribute characters).

Partway through the parade, I realized something. It occurred to me that since a goodly number of those greatly smiling parade goers were of the Mayberry generation; they were reacting to someone bringing back a beloved TV character from their childhood There are many of us from that generation who can recite “The Andy Griffith Show” episodes (and we’re also getting a regular refresher course from ME-TV). In a way, all of those characters from Mayberry were formative for us. And thanks to ME-TV, newer generations are being “so formed!”

After the parade, we toured the Andy Griffith Museum and shopped. Due to my sciatica acting up while just standing, I had to periodically find an outside storefront chair. Upon striking up conversation with those around me (also sitting), I learned their reasons for sitting was sciatica. During one of my pauses, I received a ticket for “loitering” from Barney Fife. I thanked him and told him I would treasure it.

In the last store where we shopped, I saw some jars of Aunt Bee’s Pickles for sale. I passed them up, thinking they might contain her pickles with that kerosene taste; and that with all of the hubbub going on in Mayberry, Andy and Barney might not yet have had a chance to replace them with the store-bought pickles.

I suddenly realized that Mount Airy’s Mayberry Days had achieved for me that supreme goal of the stage: The suspension of disbelief.

Mount Airy City Schools has a winning culture

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

By November, the crops were in, the hog was killed, the tobacco was sold and (after being broke all summer) we had money again. To celebrate, Mama fired up the wood cook stove and invited kinfolks in for a Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

On the big day, they came by the car loads; drooling with anticipation, and why? They knew nobody left Mama’s table hungry. The house was jam-packed and with so many people talking at the same time, you could not hear yourself think. Even so, I learned what a good crop year it had been, who grew the biggest hog, how bad the winter would be, whose car pulled Bate’s Hill in high gear, who wound up in jail, what for and who had “the best derned’ fox hound on God’s Green Earth, and that was just the men folks.

I’d had nothing to eat for at least a week (seemed to me) and was just about to “meet my Maker,” when Mama said, “Come and get it, you all.” Never would you believe the variety of foods she had laid out on the eatin’ table: fried chicken, ham, white-sop gravy, green beans, pinto beans, cornfield peas, cornbread, mashed ‘taters, baked sweet ‘taters, lemonade, Kool Aid, perked coffee, pumpkin and apple pies, cakes to write home about and her special biscuits that floated in the air, I swear. Once again, she had done herself good.

The men-folks ate “first table,” while the kids ate anywhere they could. Everybody “put it down the hatch” like there would be no tomorrow and when “full to the brim,” they cleared out and the women folks “took their turn.” When they “ate their fill,” they cleaned up, washed the dishes and talked about how good little Jimmy was doing in school, who sewed the best quilt, who canned what for winter, swapped recipes and gossiped about the women not there.

Meanwhile, back to the men. With bellies now full, they smoked, chewed, dipped, took a little nip from a fruit jar hidden out back and told big lies that were sworn to be the Gospel truth. The younger kids? They played hide and seek, cowboys and Indians and ran wild in the woods. The older girls primped in front of the mirror and talked about boys, while the older boys “rolled their own” cigarettes out behind the barn, cussed and talked about girls. Me? Never had I seen the like and I took it all in.

Late in the day, everybody loaded up, headed for home and all agreed, “It had been the best Thanksgiving Day Dinner ever” and come next year, they would do it all over again. Me? It was a sad ending to a perfect day; a day that would not be coming back for a whole year. If I had my way, every day would be Thanksgiving day.

Two thousand people packed the bleachers at Mount Airy’s Floyd Poore Park for a chilly October homecoming game in 1952. It had been a rough year for the Bears as injuries took out critical players and the losses piled up. Their hopes of a shot at the Class AA conference title had died the week before.

Local legend, Coach Wally Shelton, was pragmatic as ever when he told a Mount Airy News reporter, “We’d like to win this one.”

The team had four games left in the season, but this was the final home game. The team was also set to lose a class of strong players as Dick Belton, Sonny Cashwell, Bill Gruble, Frank Kurtz, Hugh Talley were seniors.

The crowd was excited. Mineral Springs was known for its aerial game, but the Bears had Belton and Cashwell, a duo that seemed charmed in game after game as the ball repeatedly found its mark. And the injuries seemed to be behind them.

The News favored Mount Airy 21-13. They were wrong.

The Granite Bears, with a defensive line on its best game and offense in overdrive would fight their way to a 39-12 victory.

The energy from the home crowd must have been a real boost that night. Football is king on Friday nights. And homecoming games in particular draw more than just family and friends as people often make special effort to show up that week.

The game is just the beginning because Homecoming, of all sporting events, has its own royalty; the Homecoming Queen and her attendants.

In the ‘40s and ‘50s at least, that court of young ladies was chosen by the members of the football team. Then the girls, themselves, voted which of them would be queen. The museum holds several photos of girls so chosen: Ivylyn Sparger, Beulah High, 1946; Yvonne Vaughn, Mount Airy High, 1957; Maxine King, JJ Jones High, 1962, Joy Dale Simmons, East Surry High, 1968.

Broad smiles, arms cradling a bouquet of flowers, sometimes a crown crafted of aluminum foil, they embody an ideal of smalltown wholesomeness and joy.

But beyond the game and the dance, Homecoming is a loaded word with so many meanings.

The mayor of Raleigh put out a call for all North Carolinians who had moved away to come to the “Home-Coming Jubilee and Reunion” at the 50th State Fair in October 1910.

“Thousands … have migrated to all parts of the country,” said the Mount Airy News article. “This state has played a great part in the winning of the west and in the development of all sections….People from the Old North State have set their mark everywhere but have never lost their love for their mother state.”

In 1919, as the unspeakable horrors of World War I ground to a close and sons, husbands, and brothers began to return, the Red Cross organized parades, community picnics, and band concerts to celebrate. Dressed in their uniforms and marching in formation, Surry’s levy of returning military personnel moved down Main Street as flags and bunting fluttered in the breeze and residents turned out to cheer their return.

On a smaller scale, homecomings have been organized in churches for 200 years. Sometimes they have been an annual call for parishioners to return once the summer labor in the field was done or to bring families back to a routine now that summer vacations were over. Sometimes they are used for a special occasion such as a significant anniversary celebration when members who’ve moved from the area are invited ‘home’ to celebrate with their spiritual family.

And, perhaps the warmest use of the phrase is something that is an African-American tradition. Homecoming (or Home-going) celebrations when a loved one passes away mark the sunrise and sunset of their days and generally include a celebration of the person’s life and impact as was the case for Lurenda Ellen Moore Berry.

“She was a respected church and community leader known for her kindness, creativity, generosity and wonderful cooking skills. Every visitor was a welcomed guest with whom she shared food, wisdom and encouragement.”

The program from her Homecoming details all she did in the Pinnacle community and in her own family, helping to raise her siblings after her parents died, her own family, and children she adopted.

“She strongly believed in the adage, ‘Let the life I’ve lived speak for me.”

As you read about the lady you are left with a sure sense that she truly had a homecoming.

I hope that wherever you find your Homecoming this year and as we look toward the holidays, that it is a good one filled with warmth and the love of home.

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

The royal beauty of autumn pansies

Plenty of color from mid-autumn and all the way through the winter is the beauty that pansies provide. An array of colors from lavender, cream, purple, wine yellow, orange, white, tan, bronze, burgundy and pink and combined with plenty of dark glossy green foliage to add more contrast to their colors. Pansies are tough as well as winter hardy and they produce floral beauty no matter how cold the weather gets. They will produce blooms even when snow falls. In the cold of late November and all through the winter, limit the amount of water you use on them because this will cause potting medium to freeze in the containers. Many hardwares, garden centers, nurseries, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware have plenty of the pansies in stock and in full bloom. Use a few handfuls of peat moss in the potting medium when planting pansies to promote moisture retention. Buy a bag of pansy booster to give pansies a great start. Pansies are available in six- and nine-packs and come in assorted colors and varieties. They can be planted on the porch or deck. Water lightly once every week.

November prime time for Christmas cactus

The semi-sunny living room is now getting ready to glow with the colors of red, white, pink and coral of the Christmas cactus plants in full bloom. You can purchase Christmas cactus in full bloom at Food Lion, Lowe’s Foods, Harris Teeter, Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and at most nurseries. You can purchase them in small or medium containers. After you bring them home and they finish their bloom cycle, you will need to transplant the cactus to a larger container to promote long term growth. Buy a bag of Miracle-Gro citrus and cactus medium to start the cactus off for many seasons of growth. If you already have a Christmas cactus, you can root a cactus to share with friends and relatives. Just cut off a piece of the foliage and place it in a 16-ounce clear soft drink bottle and keep the bottle filled with water and place the bottle in a semi-sunny location inside the home. In six to eight weeks it will produce a root system and can be transplanted to a container of cactus medium. Always use cactus medium for better results and continued growth.

The perennial beauty of coral bells

The holy season of Christmas will be ringing its way in next month and the coral bells ring in all four seasons of the year from the front porch and back deck. They have beautiful foliage that covers their containers. Several times during the summer they produce red “bells” on long stems. You can also purchase coral bells in a purple color. The red is prettier but the purple is a lot tougher as well as bushier but both perform well through all four seasons.

Enjoy the crisp November calm

Splendor rides on the crisp breezes of November. It is certainly a time of calm as nature is in a slow down mode as we see the subtle signs that winter is slowly approaching — the Carolina blue skies, puffy marshmallow clouds and the soft sound of the leaves falling on the lawn. Brown leaves form a new carpet on the lawn. The birch trees are empty and leaving their silver gray trunks bare and glowing against a background of dark green red heart cedars, short leaf pines and honeysuckle vines that highlight the Piedmont woodlands. It is surely a time to enjoy the calm and crisp, fresh air of the days of November, frosty mornings and natural quietness.

The season of Dark Thirty is here

Daylight Savings Time has departed for another year and darkness comes an hour earlier each evening and we are still losing a minute of daylight each evening and will continue to do so until Dec. 21. It is always more difficult to get used to losing that hour of daylight. Winter is five weeks away, but losing that hour of daylight will make it seem much closer.

This has been the week of All Saints Rest

Since last Wednesday, Aug. 2, the week of All Saints Rest has been celebrated. The Swedish immigrants in New England used the first week in November as a time to rest at the end of the harvest. This would probably be the last few days before New England’s cold weather would set in. This would be a few day’s rest before the chores of the up and coming winter. Americans could learn a worthwhile lesson from these Swedish ancestors and take advantage of a few days rest before the rush of the Christmas season begins. We need to reflect on this Thanksgiving season and God’s blessings upon us. We need to be careful and not be overwhelmed by materialism and commercialism of the Christmas season, but rest and relax and concentrate on the blessings of the past year.

Some weather lore for Saint Martin’s Day

Saint Martin’s Day will be Friday, Nov. 11. On his day, it is said that we will have cold weather this winter if the leaves are still hanging on the grapevines and trees. We do know the grapevines have lost their leaves but the mighty oaks are hanging on to many of their leaves. Many of them will fall by Thanksgiving and some may just hang on for a cold Saint Martin’s winter (heaven forbid!)

Lime pellets great for November lawn

As the temperatures of November get cooler, it is a great opportunity to apply a layer of lime pellets to the late autumn lawn. Lime pellets perform well on the lawns of late autumn. The frost, rains, and possible snowfall will aid in dissolving the pellets in the soil and prevent pellets from washing away. A heavy snow will soak the pellets deep in the soil.

Ice forming in the November birdbath

Frosty November mornings bring a layer of ice to the birdbaths. As the sun warms things up a bit empty the ice and refill the bird bath with fresh water. Fill the feeders also and the birds will continue to visit the lawn every day.

Harvest mixes for Thanksgiving candy dish

The center of the dining room table can be adorned with a dish of November harvest candy such as Hershey’s harvest Kisses in autumn colors, old fashioned candy com, harvest M&M’s, creme pumpkins, and Indian candy corn. Add a few jack-be-little pumpkins and several ears of Indian corn for a colorful Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Making a trip to the turnip patch

Nothing hints of autumn like turnips from the late autumn garden. The cool November nights promote growth of hefty turnips and the cool soil gives them extra sweetness. The turnips are reaching harvest stage. They are one of the easiest vegetables to prepare. Just wash and peel the turnips and dice into half inch chunks and you can stick a fork through them. Remove from heat, drain most of the water, add a stick of light margarine, salt and pepper (to taste), one tablespoon of sugar or two tablespoons of white Karo corn syrup and two teaspoons of Bacon-bits. Mash with a potato masher or mix with the mixer. Turnips make great leftovers and can be fried or microwaved.

Broccoli, cabbage and collards in fall garden

The cool soil in the November garden will cause the cole family of vegetables to thrive and turn the late autumn into a beautiful shade of emerald green. They perform well because in the cool November days, they have very few insect enemies. Feed them every three weeks with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Keep soil hilled up on both sides of the row. As soil grows colder, spread a layer of crushed leaves in middle of the rows.

A few warm days during November

Early November still has some warm days remaining. You can take advantage of them to continue to rake in the leaf harvest and adding them to the compost pile or bin.

“The heavenly way!” Church visitor: “So what denomination are you?” Minister: “I’m a Baptist.” Visitor: “So you’re one of the narrow minded bunch that believes you are the only group that is going to make it to heaven?” Minister: “I’m even more narrow-minded than that. I don’t believe all our group is going to make it!”

“All alike.” All husbands are alike. They have different faces so their wives can tell them apart!

The moon reached its first quarter on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Daylight Savings Time will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6. There will be a full moon on Tuesday, Nov. 8. This full moon will be named “Full Beaver Moon.” Election Day will be on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Veteran’s Day will be Friday, Nov. 11. The moon will reach its last quarter on Wednesday, Nov. 16. The new moon of November will occur on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 23. Thanksgiving Day will be Thursday, Nov. 24. The moon will reach its first quarter on Wednesday, Nov. 30, with November starting and ending with the moon in its first quarter phase.

Daylight Savings Time comes to an end

As of two o’clock am. Sunday, Nov. 6, Daylight Savings Time will end and we will return to standard time for the next six months and gain darker evenings and longer nights as well as shorter days. As the sun sets earlier, the temperature will begin to get more nippy each evening.

“Full Beaver Moon” will be November 8th

The full moon of November will occur on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 8. This moon will be named “Full Beaver Moon.” The full moon will rise over the eastern horizon and with Eastern Standard Time now in effect. It will be bright when it rises into a cold and hopefully very clear late autumn sky. Enjoy this moon before going to bed that evening.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) attracts families at a more consistent rate than most any other school district in the state. In a recent report by The Innovation Project (https://tipnc.org/), MACS had attracted more than 93% of its market share this year compared to 90.2% of their market share of families in 2020. This basically means that everyone that lives near MACS and has children is choosing our district to attend.

The state data is a good way to compare this percentage. Out of North Carolina’s students that could attend public schools, 77.7% do attend public schools. This is down from 79.4% in 2020. Public charter students account for 6.7% of all students, private schools also hold 6.5% of eligible students, and homeschool is up slightly from 8.3% of students in 2020 to 9.1% in 2022. So, MACS is about 16% higher than the state in attracting students to traditional public schools.

There are several reasons why families choose us. Academics are strong, workforce development is key, innovation makes us unique and different from anyone else, athletics are high performing, and the arts are required throughout the K-12 experience. These are a few of the reasons why we continue to attract students year after year. Once families are with us they rarely leave us which is a great indicator of our success. The number one reason our families choose us is our staff. Our teachers and administrators go the extra mile every day to make sure students’ needs are met and they create a winning culture.

Today, I plan to talk about the staff, academics and workforce development, innovation, athletics and the arts. Our staff is constantly improving and reflecting on its own leadership development. We have 15% of our eligible staff members working on the National Board Certification. This is a difficult certification that shows staff to be among the best in the nation. This portfolio of work helps staff members provide the best educational strategies and support for all students. Many of our staff members are working on master’s degrees in various areas along with several attaining their doctoral degree. When our EVAAS was made public last year 100% of our academic areas were in green or blue showing that our teachers were growing all students at a tremendous rate.

Workforce development is key. The state is developing the attributes all children should be able to demonstrate upon graduation. These attributes were developed in combination with industry. These attributes in a portrait of a graduate (https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/operation-polaris/portrait-graduate) include adaptability, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, empathy, learners mindset and personal responsibility. MACS is developing our own matrix for what this would look like in each grade level. For example, as ninth graders all of our students take a financial literacy course that teaches students personal responsibility in finance. The topics covered range from economics, personal finance, income and education, money management and financial planning. This course is required for graduation as well as a requirement for our students to take career and technical courses in high school. Each school will have various ways to teach this graduate skills.

Athletics are high performing in our district because of the consistency of our athletic directors and coaches. We currently are leading the conference in all fall sports at the high school level. For instance, volleyball has won the conference tournament for the second straight year in a row. Families know that athletics teach students life skills such as developing strong team work, growing leadership skills, and communicating well with others. There is a place for all athletes within our school system from golf, to cross-country, to tennis, to soccer and everything in between. We believe the 20 sports we offer allows all talents and abilities a chance to compete. Having a winning culture with sports is reflective of your overall programs in a school and shows us why many families choose us.

We are known across the state for innovation, which is creating new and different solutions to problems that help benefit students. We have a dual-language immersion program, Chinese language and culture program, North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities (NCASA) competitions at middle school as well as the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program at high school. Our new sustainable agriculture program has baby quails that will help students understand sustainability through animals, along with our goals to have students learn to grow their own food. We want to create a variety of choices for students and help everyone succeed. Families love our menu of options when comparing schools to attend.

The arts are required for our students from kindergarten through high school with arts being part of the elective rotation K-5 as well as after school programs available such as Melody Makers. Once students rise to the middle school level they have the opportunity to take middle school chorus, band, and visual arts. The high school requires arts credits as part of a comprehensive curriculum that develops well-rounded young adults. Our program offerings of band, chorus, theater, and visual arts have many pathways for students to pursue. Since I was the band director for over a decade here in the system it is near and dear to my heart. Many of our graduates go on to have careers in the arts.

The multiple programs, success academics, workforce development, innovation, athletics, arts, and amazing staff all work together to create an option that nearly 100% of our community is choosing. At an age where school choice gives parents the most options with homeschool, charter, and private, our community is still choosing traditional public. We will forever be grateful for the support of our community that provides us amazing resources to develop a private school feel in a public school setting. We know why families choose MACS; find out how your child can join the winning team by visiting www.mtairy.k12.nc.us.

For families wishing to better understand what MACS has to offer them and for current families wishing to see what is found at the next school, visit https://bit.ly/AboutMACS21-22 There you will find a brochure highlighting many opportunities found in our system. Anyone wishing to schedule a tour can visit http://bit.ly/MACStour.

The foothills of North Carolina are a treasure trove of mystery and excitement for many who pass through them. These paths are where nature and history collide in the best ways. Growing up among the hills holds some of my fondest memories, outings downtown, playing in creeks, and so much more sprinkle my memories.

One of the places I treasured visiting the most was the two-story granite art “deco” United States Post Office in Mount Airy. The majestic double staircase leads guests into a foyer that could come straight out of the silver screen. The floral bronze grills grace the tops of the ornate post office boxes that hold mail for citizens, but for a child, they were gateways of mystery.

Aside from the beauty and mystery, this post office holds a lot of history. The lot at the southwest corner of South Main and Pine streets once held the Jenkins hotel. The hotel operated from the 1910s to 1920s, but by 1922 the Fire Insurance Sanborn Maps showed the lot empty. A small filling station sat within the lot that is now the post office parking lot.

Before being placed on South Main, the Mount Airy post office was housed in different locations throughout the city. One source suggests that Mr. Perkins’ Hotel, known as the Blue Ridge Hotel later, received the mail for a time. It then was potentially moved to Laurel Bluff and back to South Main.

In January 1932, plans were reviewed by Postmaster J.B Sparger for a new and elaborate post office. For over a decade before these plans, the town of Mount Airy had been vying for a more modern facility. The architect who won out was George Berryman of Raleigh. Construction companies bid on the job with Algernon Blair of Montgomery, Alabama. securing the job with a bid of $98,000. The land was purchased for $25,000 by the government leaving $130,000 of the $155,000 budget left for the building itself.

Originally the building was only supposed to be faced with the native Mount Airy granite, but citizens petitioned the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., to amend the plans. Main Street was growing and more streets were being opened up and developed, the town wanted the post office to stand as a monument of the granite city. The petition was approved and granite was set to encapsulate the new structure, raising the final construction price tag to $125.000.

On Oct. 3, 1932 a program was held to lay the cornerstone for the new post office. The time capsule holds the names of officials, officers, club members, and other important documents. Civil War veteran Colonel Z.T Smith placed the copper box in the structure, with J.D Sargent, president of the NC Granite Corporation, sealing it in place. The building was finished by 1933, with offices on the second floor and space to grow.

The Mount Airy United States Post Office has resided at 111 South Main street for 89 years. Next time you are downtown, stop by the site and take in its historic grandeur, you won’t be sorry you did.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Halloween and frost on the pumpkin

The season of Halloween is only two days from now. The autumn air has that certain nip that is traditional as Halloween draws near. We have had several frosts to kick off Halloween and the autumn lawn has a carpet of leaves on it. The green of the lawn is beginning to have a brownish tint highlighting it. Soon we will have the first killing frost and some hard freezes. We have had several scattered frosts but none that are considered “killing frosts.” The frosts that knock out the warm weather garden usually occur in mid-November. We are getting scattered frost that sweetens the collards and a dusting on the rooftops. It will not harm the pumpkins and there are plenty of them this year.

Bringing in the late tomato harvest

Before a killing frost arrives gather all the green tomatoes from the vines and wrap them in sheets of newspapers and place them in box lids or shallow boxes and store them in a warm dry area and cover with whole newspaper sections. Check them once a week for ripeness. If you have a lot of room in the basement you can leave green tomatoes on the vines and hang them on the joists in the basement ceiling to ripen there. Check them often and harvest them as they ripen.

Celebrate Halloween by placing a pumpkin crisp on the table for the night of Halloween. This crunchy dessert has simple ingredients and contains plenty of pumpkin. You will need two cups of fresh or canned pumpkin, one large can of evaporated milk, one cup sugar, half cup light brown sugar, one tablespoon McCormick pumpkin spices, one tablespoon vanilla extract, two sticks light margarine, three beaten eggs, one box yellow cake mix, half cup chopped pecans, one teaspoon orange extract. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with Crisco Shortening and then flour the pan. Line the pan with a sheet of waxed paper. Spray the waxed paper with Pam baking spray. Mix the pumpkin, white sugar, light brown sugar, pumpkin pie spices, vanilla extract, orange extract and beaten eggs. Mix all these ingredients together. Spread the box of cake mix over the pumpkin mixture and spread it out to cover the pumpkin. Sprinkle the pecans and golden raisins over the dry cake mix. Drizzle the two sticks of melted margarine over the dry cake mix. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Cool the cake completely. Turn cake from pan onto a cookie sheet or a cake board. The layer of pecans and raisins becomes the bottom crust. Frost the crisp with this topping: one eight ounce box of cream cheese, two cups of 1ox powdered sugar, one cup of Cool Whip, one teaspoon vanilla extract.

A bowl of witches brew

You can make this unusual brew for a harvest festival or Halloween carnival. It is tasty and unusual because of its purple color and taste. Make this punch in a large pot or a canner and serve it from a punch bowl. For this recipe, mix three envelopes of Crystal Light Concord grape powdered drink mix, one bottle Welch’s grape juice, one 46 ounce can pineapple juice, one 46 ounce can of water. Two 2-liter bottles of Fanta grape soda, two 2-liter bottles of Sprite (regular or diet). To serve the brew, mix half the punch base mixed with half Fanta and half Sprite. Use this formula to prepare the brew as it is replenished. Make an ice ring or two the night before by mixing two quarts of water in a pitcher and pouring it into a tube pan and freezing overnight. Run a little warm water over bottom of tube pan to loosen the ice ring from the pan. You can also freeze a bottle of grape Fanta to make ice rings. If you would like a clear ice ring, use bottles of Sprite.

Chicken stew on an October night

Chicken stew does not have to be prepared in a black iron pot to be enjoyed. You can make it for your household in an eight-quart pot. A great chicken stew can be prepared in your kitchen. You will need six or eight bone-in chicken breasts boiled until tender. Bone-in breasts are better because it makes a broth for the stew. When the chicken is done, remove the skin and bones; return the broth and chicken to the pot, and add a little more water to the broth and boil until meat begins to shred (this causes chicken to be in every bite of the stew.) When the chicken reaches this stage, add four sticks of light margarine and allow it to simmer for four or five minutes. Add two cans of evaporated milk and six cups of Vitamin D whole milk (nothing low-fat here!). Simmer for four or five minutes on medium low heat. Add two cans of chicken gravy and simmer four or five minutes. Add one teaspoon pepper, two teaspoons of salt, two teaspoons of McCormick poultry seasoning. Taste and add more of these seasonings to stew if desired. Keep the heat on medium low and mix a glass of cold water with four or five teaspoons of corn starch and stir until it is milky. Add a little at a time until stew reaches the thickness you are satisfied with. If stew is too thick add milk or water.

Pansies are flowers with a personality

Colorful jewels of the porch and deck during autumn and winter months are the pansies that have faces that resemble the face of a poodle. Pansies are tough and winter hardy. Along with their colorful flowers they feature dark evergreen foliage that enhances their flowers. They are tough enough to produce flowers when snow is on the ground. Pansy plants are available now and all the months of autumn and winter. They will produce flowers and foliage until early spring. They come in colors of burgundy, purple, lavender, pink, white, bronze and tan. They can be planted in rows, beds, pots and containers. Use Flower-Tone organic flower food, pansy booster and peat moss mixed with potting medium to get pansies on their way to a long and colorful autumn and winter and brighten winter bushes.

Still time to plant spring bulbs

There is still plenty of time to set out the spring bulbs of jonquil, hyacinth, crocus, daffodil, narcissus, tulips and snowdrops. They can be set out from now until the ground freezes. Place the bulbs root down in a furrow or hole about six to eight inches deep. Place a layer of peat moss in the bottom of the furrow or hole. Place bulbs root-side down and apply another layer of peat moss. Place a layer of Bulb Booster or bone meal on the peat moss and cover with of top soil and potting medium. Before the ground freezes cover the row or bed with a layer of crushed leaves. Water lightly once each week.

Setting out ornamental kale and cabbage

Ornamental cabbage and kale can add color to the winter porch in the dead of winter and all they need is a little layer of protection from the extremes of winter freezes. Keep a couple of towels handy and cover the cabbage and kale at night to keep them from freezing. Keep containers of cabbage near the rear of the porch. Ornamental cabbage come in colors of purple, pink, cream, lavender mint green and yellow. You can plant them in containers that summer annuals were growing in. Feed with Flower-Tone organic flower food each month and lightly water weekly.

Thunder at this time of the year is not that unusual, most of the time when thunder is heard in late autumn, it is short-lived and not severe. The humidity is low and the sound of thunder is caused by instability in the air. During the final days of hurricane season, we may have some thunder and lightning with these systems.

“A cocky situation.” Customer: “Do you have any cockroaches?” Sporting goods store owner: “Yes, I sell them to fishermen.” Customer: “I would like to purchase 20,000 of them.” Store owner:”What do you want with 20,000 cockroaches?” Customer: “I’m moving tomorrow and my lease says I must leave the condo in the condition it was in when I moved there.”

“A full tank citizen.” Citizen: “Hello, is this the city gas works?” Mayor: “No, this is the mayor’s office.” Citizen: “I didn’t miss it by much, did I?”

“Nay, Nay!” “About the only thing right you get from the horse’s mouth is his laugh!”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

For those of us who grew up in these mountains, there was never a doubt about where our next meal was coming from — be it meat, vegetables or fruit — it either came from garden, the fields or the hog pen. We’ve come a long way since and seldom do we even think about where our food comes from. We just mosey down to the local super market and choose our fancy from a wide variety of foods from all over the world, available all year long. Being an old timer who knows the score, let me say, “Things were not always that way.”

When I was a young pup growing up, every family I knew (come spring of the year) bought a young pig that had to be “slopped” twice a day. It was also fed corn and other foods the whole summer long and by late fall, it had grown into a huge fat hog that could hardly walk; the fatter the better. Why? The more fat, the more lard, which folks used for cooking every day of the year. Nobody wanted a skinny hog at hog-killing time

Came a frosty November morn’, Pa built a roaring fire under the scalding vat full of water. When it got hot, he shot the hog with a .22 rifle, (one bullet right between the eyes) and cut its throat with the butcher knife to “bleed it out.” (While all that was going on, I found other things to do in other places.)

We then loaded the hog onto the sled, hauled it to the vat, rolled it into the hot water to scald it so the hair would loosen, then scraped it off with butcher knives. Pa then inserted a hefty stick (sharpened at both ends) into the tendons of both back legs and with his “block and tackle,” hung the hog upside down from a tree limb, then he went to work.

Using his butcher knife, he split it open right down the middle, cleaned it out, washed it out, then lowered it to some planks on the ground. Then (with chopping axe and butcher knife) he whittled out hams, shoulders, back-bones and ribs, side-meat and tenderloin right there in broad daylight. He “salted down” most of the meat in the meat-box, but we ground some with a hand-powered meat grinder clamped to the kitchen table. Mama then seasoned it, fried it, canned it and it became canned homemade sausage stored in the cellar for winter time; some of the best food on God’s green earth.

On hog killing day, our whole hill smelled like raw meat and I could not bear the thoughts of eating anything that smelled that bad. At the end of the day, (tired and worn) we went to bed; thankful it was over, but knowing when winter time came, nobody would go hungry on our hill.

Come next morning, Mama cured the bad-smell problem with the smells of breakfast cooking on the wood cook stove; a stack of buckwheat pancakes yea’ high, white-sop gravy, home-grown eggs, “perked” coffee and best of all; fresh fried tenderloin; surely food from the gods. It was one of the few days of the year when nobody had to roust me out of bed; I hit the floor running, all by myself.

In II Chronicles 7:13-22, we see a list of requirements God gave to His people Israel; for Him to hear their prayers, forgive their sin, and bring them healing as a nation. These conditions for His help, and their reviving was dependent upon God’s people returning in obedience to God, their sovereign King.

I believe that if we, the people of God living here on this earth today, will hear and obey this same list of requirements; that we too can enjoy personal, community, and national revival. But will we hear and obey?

I believe that our God will chasten and correct us to the point of wanting to return to Him, if we don’t freely choose to. In other words, I believe He’ll make us want to fully return to Him; and want to let go of this corrupt old world. Let’s read, and heed the Holy Scriptures. “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence (plague or disease) among My people; If My people, which are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

We’ll come back to the last verse shortly. God will have His way with His bride, the church. Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us, “Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

It’s evident and obvious that the church isn’t close to this virtuous character, and of chaste behavior toward her Lord right now. But, God will chasten, correct, and cleanse us; in order to perfect us; for our own good, and for His good pleasure.

You may ask, “How will God correct us?” Has anyone been observing the current events around our country, and around the globe lately? Our Scripture portion gave evidence of His correction through drought, crop failure, destroyed harvest, and plagues or disease.

Consider also these Scriptures dealing with the Lord using hurricanes (tempest), floods, tornadoes (whirlwind), earthquakes, wildfires, stormy wind, and hail, to turn us again to Him. (Job 37:9-13, 38:22-23, Psalm 46:1-3, 83:15-16, 148:8, Amos 4:6-9). And how about the C-virus or any of its variants? Hebrews 12:11-13 says, “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: none the less, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness…Therefore…make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” Hosea 6:1-2, “ Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us.”

Doesn’t it seem odd that God would say, “My people, which are called by My name” need to “turn from their wicked ways.” This isn’t just about the Jews and the Old Testament. It applies also to so many professing New Testament Christians since the early days of the church.

Consider the letter to believers in James 4:8-9, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.” And again, Jesus’ strong messages of warning and call to repentance to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2–3. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-24, ”No man can serve two masters…Ye cannot serve God and mammon (the wealth of this world).”

God will not allow us to straddle this fence. We must choose, Him or the world. I John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (To try to have both is spiritual adultery) And the world passes away, and the lusts there of; but he that does the will of God abides forever.”

Please read all this appeal to the church in II Corinthians 6:14-7:1, “…what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? … And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them; and I will walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

There are many idols in our times now, even as there were in those days. We even call them by that name: sports idols, movie, TV and music idols… Anything and anyone who receives our affections or adoration in competition with, or in place of the one true God is a false god; is an idol. Romans 12:1-2 pleads with us to “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God…And be not conformed to this world (pressed and shaped to it’s mold): but be transformed” (by God). With His indwelling Spirit, we have full access to this beautiful change in character! The answer is to be in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17). The motive is our love for Him, Who is to be chosen above all else.

By our humbling ourselves, and praying, and seeking God’s face, and turning from the ways that God calls wicked, He then replies, “Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place” (II Chronicles 7:15). Psalm 84:1-13, …”Turn us, O God of our salvation… Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?”

Evenings of Indian summer bring sounds and smells

With chimneys belching the smell of oak logs and wet leaves from the maples emitting their autumn aroma, the low sounds of the crickets at twilight and the crows making their last calls of the day, as the sun goes lower on the horizon, there is a cool nip in the autumn air. These are all the signatures of the beauty, color, splendor and majesty of autumn.

Season of fall fests, harvest festivals and chicken stews

The old fashioned cake walks with prizes of homemade cakes, fish ponds, bingo games, costume contests, pumpkin decorating, door prizes, hot dogs, chicken stew and hayrides and haunted houses — it’s the season for that kind of fun, topped off with trick or treating for the kids. Keep the porch light on to signal that trick or treaters and parents are welcome at your home. Have plenty of wrapped treats. Make it a memorable time for kids, parents and grandparents.

Getting the Christmas cactus inside for the winter

As we near the final days of October, the time is here to move the Christmas cactus, panda and asparagus ferns inside the house to spend winter in a semi-sunny room. The secret of Christmas cactus blooms in late November is the time they spend outside all spring, summer and early autumn. Before moving these plants inside trim them back, add some extra potting medium to fill the containers and add some Flower-Tone organic flower food. Use drip trays under containers to keep water off the floors and carpet. water lightly once a week.

Trimming evergreens as October comes to an end

Late October and early November is the time to trim and shape evergreens and also the best time to plant evergreens. They will not be dried out by the sun and will have a winter of snow and moisture to give them a great start. Every home needs some greenery in the form of evergreens. With the soon-approaching season of Christmas decorating, this is the opportune time to trim, shape, and plant evergreens.

Christmas cactus will soon be available

November will soon be here and the containers of Christmas cactus will be showing up in supermarkets, hardwares, florists, Home Depots, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware and nurseries. You can choose from red, white, pink, and coral. Most will have blooms on them so you can select the color you prefer. After they finish their bloom cycle, you will need to transplant the cactus into a larger container. Just purchase a larger container and a bag of Miracle-Gro cactus and potting medium and transplant the cactus into the larger container. You can also root Christmas cactus by placing a large sprig of foliage and using a clear plastic soft drink bottle (clear) and place the piece of foliage in the bottle of water and place in a semi-sunny location. When it develops a root system, transplant it into a medium container filled with cactus medium. Use cactus medium for healthier growth.

Making a macaroni and cheese salad

Macaroni and cheese salad is a great treat on the week of Halloween. The orange cheddar cheese and Thousand Island dressing make it a great table topper for the dining room. For this salad, you will need two cups of cooked elbow macaroni (drained), two cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, one cup Mount Olive sweet pickle relish, one two ounce jar diced pimentos (drained), six boiled eggs (diced) one cup diced onions, half cup olives, one teaspoon apple cider vinegar, three teaspoons thousand island dressing, one teaspoon catsup, half cup mayonnaise; half teaspoon pepper, one half teaspoon salt. Mix the cooked macaroni, cheddar cheese, diced eggs, pimentos, pickle relish chopped onions, olives and stir all of them together. Blend mayonnaise, vinegar, thousand island dressing, salt, pepper, catsup. Mix the dressing with the salad ingredients. Chill in the refrigerator several hours before serving.

Visiting Halloween candy treat aisles

Plenty of trick or treat items and candy dish fillers are featured at the supermarkets and other stores. Most of them have decorated displays. Make sure that all the treats you purchase are wrapped varieties for the candy dish. You can choose from Hershey’s miniatures, harvest M&Ms, York peppermint patties, Snickers, Hershey’s Autumn Kisses, Milky Way and Three Musketeers bars plus ‘creme pumpkins and Reese’s pieces. These are traditional Halloween favorites.

Pumpkin pie spice: a great seasoning mixture

All the spices for a pumpkin pie combined in one tin container is what McCormick pumpkin pie spices is all about. This product certainly makes it easier to prepare a pie without opening five or six containers of spice and doing all that measuring. When preparing pumpkin pies, apple pies and turkey dressing or Italian spaghetti, McCormick makes spices like Poultry Seasoning for dressing and fried chicken, Italian seasoning for spaghetti and other Italian dishes. Apple pie spices for apple pies and dumplings as well as pumpkin pie seasoning and sweet potato pies and casseroles.

Preserving autumn leaves for autumn displays

To preserve autumn leaves in all their color and glory, use a small can of bee’s wax and melt it in a small pan and dip each leaf in the wax; remove and place on a paper towel to dry. They can be used on the coffee table or dining room table or the mantel for Halloween and harvest decorations.

A pumpkin patch on the dining room table

From the days before Halloween and into the month of November, you can decorate the center of the dining room table with your own pumpkin patch. All you need are several Jack-be-Little pumpkins that cost a little more than a dollar each and a pound bag of Brach’s creme pumpkins and a few colorful autumn leaves dipped in bee’s wax and dried. Place the Jack-be-Littles around the leaves and spread creme pumpkins around the the display. Keep refilling the cream pumpkins as they are eaten.

Making your Jack o’ lantern spicy

As trick or treaters and parents come to your home, welcome them with a scent of pumpkin pie. All you need to do is apply two teaspoons of McCormick pumpkin pie spices to the inside walls of the jack o’ lantern, light the candle and replace the lid on the lantern. The heat from the candle will spread the aroma of the spices for a pumpkin pie perfume.

Plastic grocery bags and thick cardboard

These two items make great covers for the perennials and annuals on the front porch to thrive during winter extremes without much labor involved. Instead of cloths and towels, you can use insulated covers made from cardboard and plastic grocery bags to cover the plants each night and remove them the next day when temperatures rise. To construct these covers, glue several pieces of cardboard together measured to fit the tops of the pots and containers. Use scotch tape to tape five plastic grocery bags together and glue to the pieces of card board. The cardboard and combined plastic bags will provide insulation for the plants. Construct one for every plant you want to protect from freezing temperatures, The weight of the cardboard will protect from winter winds and the plastic bags will provide insulation. Remove each day so plants can benefit from the winter sun, but replace at night when temperatures drop.

Frost on pumpkin and Halloween both here

Halloween is almost here and frost has visited the pumpkins a few times. There have been a few frosts in the garden plot and the lawn shows some signs of tan and brown. Many leaves have left the trees and the furnace is flexing its muscles. The crisp autumn air has a feel of Halloween and we are sure the kids and grand kids are ready for a night of trick or treating. Make it a fun night for them by leaving your porch light on to welcome them. By the way, share a treat with these caring parents also.

All Saints Day will be on Tuesday

All Saints Day is celebrated on the day after Halloween and All Saints day is also known as “Hallowmass” In New England, the Swiss immigrants celebrated the whole week after All Saints Day as All Saints Rest and a time after the harvest to rest, relax, and reflect. Sounds like a quality way to live a long life.

“Wishful Thinking.” Wife: “You’re always wishing for something you haven’t got.” Husband: “What else is there to ask for?”

“Fashionable?” Husband: “I find your new evening gown rather confusing.” Wife: “Why do you think so?” Husband:”Well, are you inside trying to get out, or outside trying to get in?”

“Nappy Time” Doctor: “You say you have not been able to sleep well?” Patient: “I sleep fine during the night, but during my afternoon naps, I just can’t keep my eyes closed.”

Have you heard the saying, “if you don’t feel close to God anymore, guess who moved?” It’s always us: never Him. In general, I believe that much of the Church in our times today has lost her passion for Jesus; her love has gotten tepid, lukewarm.

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus charged the seven churches of that time, but also the symbolic churches of this present age. Jesus said, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm…I will spew thee out of My mouth, As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev.3:14-19). Jesus also said, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place” (Rev.2:4-5).

I point out, with three fingers and a thumb pointing back at me, that many Christians have at times gotten their eyes off our Lord, and are looking more at this world and its substance. We too often forget that our Savior has saved us from, and called us out and away from this world. It’s our old nature and carnal flesh that has an appetite for its pleasures. So I remind you, our redeemer has purchased us from this bondage, and unto Himself. Our Lord has called us to love Him; not love this world. (Mark 12:30, I John 2:15-17) Here then is a call to God’s church to fix our gaze back upon Him. Bride of Christ, keep your spiritual eyes of adoration upon the One Who is “altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:16), Our “First love,” He who is worthy of our enthusiastic affection, and highest most loyal love.

II Chronicles 7:13-22, …”If My people, which are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Today we will study the third requirement God gives to you and I, to “Seek ye My face.” Our answer should be like David’s reply in Psalm 27:8, “When Thou hast said, seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” Just how do we seek God’s face? Well, how would you seek anyone’s face you love? You would search for them; you’d try to get in close proximity to them; you would set your vision in their direction and lock your eyes on them. Yes, God is invisible to us, but spiritually speaking, we can meet face to face; we can see His beauty. What I’m talking about is love; desire for our Beloved.

Psalm 42:1-2, “As the hart (deer) pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 63:6-8, “…My soul follows hard after Thee.” Hebrews 11:6 tells us, He rewards them that diligently seek Him. Diligently means to work hard at, to apply effort, to give much attention to. The opposite of our seeking the things of this world is seeking Him. Rather than our divided heart trying to split our love between this world and the Lord, our Lord wants to be sought after as the love of our life. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart”. It will take our time and our attention, it will take our “whole heart” to have this closeness with God, but there is the greatest reward for it! So, we make a choice. Let us now, for always choose Jesus.

In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus teaches us, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” He tells us not to set our affections on the temporal things of this world, but on the everlasting better things of Heaven: our home. We must remember often that we are just passing through this world. We are foreigners. We are pilgrims. Our home and our treasure is Jesus Christ. As the psalmist declared in Psalm 90:1, “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations”. In 91:9 he also calls the Lord his habitation, meaning where he lives. Jesus invites us to enter into Him and stay. John 10:9, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” , and John 15:4 & 11, “Abide in Me, and I in you… These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Only He can fulfill and complete us. The happiest ending our life story can have is intimate fellowship with Him, forever communing together as one.

Brothers and sisters, you who are in Christ; you who are called by His name, meditate long on this word of the Lord. Isaiah 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and lofty place, with him (or her) also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Lord Jesus, we turn our full gaze upon You, to seek Your face alone. Revive us unto Yourself again. Amen.

Set out spring flower bulbs

We are in the midst of Saint Luke’s Little Summer and will be until around Oct. 20. This period is usually a break in mid-October when we have mild, comfortable days and pleasant temperatures. Take advantage of these mild days to plant the spring flowering bulbs of jonquil, narcissus, daffodils hyacinths, crocus, tulips and snowdrops. They are available at hardwares, nurseries garden centers, Ace Hardware, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement. Hyacinths come in colors of red pink, white, purple, lavender, yellow and purple.

When you purchase bulbs, buy a bag of bone meal or bulb booster to give the new bulbs a great start. Add handfuls of peat moss to the bed of bulbs for moisture retention. Plant bulbs with the root side down. Add peat moss to bottom of bed before setting out the bulbs. Cover the bulbs and add a layer of crushed leaves for protection.

Enjoying crispy apples from The Big Apple

The crispiest and most mellow apples come from the New York state area. Many of these apple were probably propagated by Johnny Appleseed himself. The country’s best tasting apples are the varieties of York, McIntosh, Jonathan, Winesap, Jona-Mac, Jona-Gold and Granny Smith. New York has plenty of mountain air loamy soil, acres of cool springs and snowy winters. A combination of these natural benefits adds up to the nation’s best tasting apples.

The last shades of green

The lawn is now experiencing its last stages of green for the 2022 season. The lawn of mid-autumn seems to be singing a wintergreen song. You can feel the moistness and coolness in the blades of grass. Helen Keller, a blind teacher and poet said, “To me the lush carpet of pine needles on spongy grass is more welcome than the luxuriousness of a Persian rug.” What wonderful words from this American teacher, poet and writer; blind but her touch compensated for her eyes. Thank God for beauty that cannot only be seen but touched, felt, and enjoyed.

Perennials adorn with winter green and color

It is great to see greenery and color in autumn and winter months. A porch and deck that is filled with perennials supplies that need. Perennials are tough and winter hardy and can endure the harshness of winter. The perennials of dainties, creeping jenny, red hot poker, daphne, bugle weed, coral bells, candy tuft, hen and chicks, Columbine, Veronica and sea thrift. All of these and others bring the porch and deck alive in winter.

Setting out pansies for winter of color

As October moves along, pansies can be planted. Most hardwares, nurseries, garden centers, Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s Home Improvement have plenty of pansies in six- and nine-packs in full bloom in a variety of colors. They are tough and winter green and endure the frost and freezes of winter and produce flowers and foliage until spring. Buy a bag of pansy booster to give them a great start.

Kitchen comfort in middle of October

You can provide warmth and comfort in the kitchen in the middle of October as you prepare meals by using your oven. Bake your meals and spread warmth in the dining room. Close off the kitchen to build up warmth and then open doors to spread warmth to other areas.

Making a quick coconut whipped cream cake

This quick and easy to prepare coconut whipped cream cake has simple ingredients. You will need one box of yellow cake mix, one 18-ounce bag of frozen coconut (thawed), one tub of Cool Whip or an envelope of Dream Whip, four cups of 10x powdered sugar, one cup of sour cream and one tablespoon coconut flavoring. Mix and bake cake according to package instructions. Cool the two layers completely. Slice each layer in half to make four layers. Combine powdered sugar, sour cream, coconut and coconut flavoring and spreed on sides. Spread on the cut side of the layers. Spread the whipping cream on sides and top of cake. Store in refrigerator before and after serving.

Preparing outside faucets for winter

Prepare the water faucets outside the house by covering them with a layer of insulation wrapped with duck tape to prevent them from freezing temperatures. You can also purchase plastic faucet covers at Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware and most plumbing suppliers at a cost of around $12 to $15. They attach to a fitting on the house and can be detached when you need to use the faucet. They are insulated and built to last many years. They are a good investment.

Staying ahead of the harvest of leaves

As we draw closer to November, the trees are getting emptier as we get toward October’s end. Stay ahead of the leaf harvest as the mighty oaks get ready to empty their load. Do not allow leaves to blow all over the area. Rake, blow or vacuum them to the compost or garden area. Make a crushed leaf pile or fill the compost pile or bin. We like compost piles because you can add crushed leaves, grass clippings, garden residue and keep it turned with a pitch fork. You can also use organic plant food to heat up the compost pile. A little water on the pile can prevent wind from blowing the leaves around.

Candy corn has been around for generations

Candy corn is a traditional confection that has been around for many generations and well over a hundred years. It is one product that has not changed ingredients simply because their ingredients are sugar, corn syrup, corn starch and flavorings. It was on my Northampton County grandmas kitchen table from Halloween until Christmas. Our parents always had it in our treat bags at Christmas. It still looks and tastes the same, and compared to the price of everything, candy corn is still consistent in price. Unlike many other products, it has not been watered down. Over the years, they have only changed the color when they added Indian corn which is brown, white and orange. It has been made by Brach’s for well over a century. Place a bowl on the dining room table and relive some memories.

Jack Frost will soon pay us a visit

Jack Frost will soon visit our area and sweeten the collard bed and add flavor to the Siberian Kale. It will touch the leaves and add more bright color to them in their autumn splendor. Frost adds a special touch to cool weather vegetables and hardens them up for a grand freeze later next month.

A bit of crazy Halloween lore

This is a bit of weather that could be connected to a Halloween prank. This lore says that if you see a cow thumping its ribs with its tail you can look for thunder, lightning and hail, we do actually believe this is a lot of bull! We may have some thunder and lightning and even that would be rare in October.

A pot of mashed turnips — an autumn tradition

On a cool autumn evening, nothing says fall like creamy mashed turnips. To prepare mashed turnips, peel about six or eight turnips and dice them into one inch cubes. Boil in water until you can stick a fork through them. Drain and mash them with a potato masher. Add a stick of light margarine, half teaspoon black pepper, one teaspoon salt, one tablespoon sugar or light Karo corn syrup and one tablespoon mayonnaise. Stir or blend until smooth and creamy.

Catch basins for winter-over plants

When bringing in containers of Christmas cactus, panda and asparagus ferns or snake plant to winter over in the house, use plastic drip trays to prevent water from draining on the carpet or floor. These round trays cost about a dollar each, and are a great protective investment Make sure to get the right size for the containers.

“Land of Milk and Honey.” Little Joey: “Mom, are there going to be any animals in heaven?” Mom: “What kind of animals are you talking about?” Little Joey: “Regular animals like cows and bees.” Mom: “I’m not sure, but I don’t think they will be necessary in heaven.” Little Joey: “Well, is there going to be enough milk and honey for everyone?”

“Visiting the grands.” The grandparents were so excited that the grandkids were coming to visit that they put an an extra $10 in the offering plate. The next Sunday after the grandkids returned home, they put an extra hundred dollars in the offering plate.”

Years ago, my late wife Diane; daughter, Rachel; son, Jeremy, and I always preferred a little vacation trip to the mountains in October to see the annual changing of the leaves.

We took trips to Virginia’s Mabry Mill, Massanutten, and Luray Caverns; but being North Carolinians from birth, and following up on our childhood Carolina mountain trips and later graduation from Boone, N.C.’s Appalachian State University, we naturally gravitated mostly to U.S. Hwy 421 West.

Back then, before there was much straightening and widening of the road on the last 10-15 miles to downtown Boone, a culture of roadside apples and homemade apple cider stands flourished, along with other stands advertising “BOILED PEANUTS!!!!!”

Over the course of several years, we had a favorite apples-apple cider stand we visited every autumn. It had a typical stand outside; but the rest of it had two tiny rooms with produce, the whole resembling one of those “mini-houses” so often featured on TV and what I like to call the computer news.

The proprietor was a small, middle-aged, thin man in a wheelchair. He had grown up in that area; and being a mountain man, he had that typical Appalachian Mountain accent. I don’t say this disparagingly of him; because my own relatives in the foothills of the Appalachians speak the same wonderfully familiar way.

His diminutive house was literally perched on the side of a mountain. Vertical, supporting beams under the “valley-ward”(in-the-air)side of the structure gave his business a reliable center of gravity. For a sort of comparison, just picture those stilted houses close to the ocean.

Every year, at the end of our fall mountain trip to the area, my late wife would say: “On our way down the mountain, we have to stop and see The Little Man.” We parked on a little crescent-shaped, off-road, dirt curb (all that was feasible for parking) in front of his store.

On every Sunday we stopped; and The Little Man would have an AM radio playing a live church service from somewhere in the mountains. Sometimes, when we picked a sack of apples, he would hand us another, saying ”This one’s better.” One year, after we got home and everyone was inside, I went back out to get our luggage from the car and found the back seat filled with broken glass and wet with cider! That jar had evidently fermented into something else and exploded.

But one Sunday, he wasn’t there; and someone else was running his store. When I saw our old friend’s empty wheelchair, I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach; and I thought of that scene with Tiny Tim’s discarded crutch in the ghost-of-Christmas-yet-to-come’s prediction in Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” I then slowly inquired as to The Little Man’s whereabouts and how he was doing.

The other gentleman said: “He’s fine. He doesn’t often get a chance to attend his church; and his brother came by and picked him up. His brother has a wheelchair for him, so he left his wheelchair here at the store.”

Some years later that whole section of Hwy 421 West was widened to allow for more tourists; and that particular store, along with many other little roadside stores and stands are long gone.

More room was made for the motoring, tourist public, but not for The Little Man.

The Hadley family has a long and enduring legacy in Mount Airy. The first Hadley in Surry County was James Alfred Hadley, who moved here in the 1890s. Hadley was mayor for two terms, and his mark on the town remains most notably with the Hadley House on West Pine Street.

The J. A. Hadley House was reportedly the first home in Mount Airy to use granite from the area for a large part of the construction. Built between 1894 and 1900, the house is symbolic of the late 19th century building boom that Surry County experienced. Built in the Queen Anne-style, the three-story house’s foundation, first story, and window sills were all constructed with locally quarried granite, while the second story and tower are made with brick. The original interior was ornate, featuring marble columns, and chandeliers of copper and brass.

J. A. Hadley was both a politician and prominent businessman, involved with several local businesses including tobacco manufacturing, a cotton mill (Hadley-Peoples Cotton Mill) in Siler City, and real estate development. At one time he had built and rented as many as 50 homes in the area. He served as Mount Airy’s mayor for two terms, the first from 1898 to 1900 and again from 1903 to 1905.

Hadley’s political influence extended beyond his mayoral term. Along with other prominent businessmen, J.A. Hadley was one of the signers of a denouncement of liquor in Surry County. This was in 1908 — the same year prohibition began in North Carolina.

Hadley-People’s Cotton Mill began as Hadley, Peoples, and Company – a general merchandise company that started in 1887, which also bought and shipped cotton in addition to the sale of merchandise. The mill is thought to have been in operation by 1895, with around 60 people being employed there at the time.

J. A. Hadley was a co-owner of the Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory, along with Alfred E. Smith, who was also the head of the National Furniture Company.

The Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory benefited greatly from the economic situation the area was in at the time. Tobacco was a booming industry with more than 1,500 tobacco farms in Surry County in 1850. At one point in 1891 a newspaper reported five tobacco factories or warehouses under construction in Mount Airy.

The Hadley-Smith Tobacco Factory was located a short walk down Pine Street from the Hadley house. Though the building still exists on West Pine street, it has been abandoned for some time.

After Martin Memorial Hospital was destroyed by fire in 1953, Mount Airy’s voters in Surry County approved a referendum to construct a new hospital, what is now Northern Regional Hospital. When a committee was looking for land on which to build Northern Surry Hospital in the late 1950s, J. A. Hadley’s widow, Swannanoa Brower Hadley, donated the land for the site.

The ancestors of J.A. Hadley influenced many of the places they lived in, just as much as the mayor impacted Mount Airy. The Hadley family came to the United States in 1712, when Simon Hadley II and his wife Ruth took their six children and made passage to America from Ireland. The family eventually settled in Mill Creek Hundred, Delaware. It is believed Simon first built a log home for the family, but in 1717 it was replaced with a brick house. It is not certain, but it is believed the house that stands on the location is the same house this early Hadley ancestor built, now named the Hadley-Denison House. In Mill Creek Hundred, Simon Hadley served as Justice of the Peace for many years, as well as a judge. Many of his children moved to North Carolina, including Joshua Hadley. Joshua, who died 1760 in Cane Creek, located in Chatham County, had resided in either Virginia and North Carolina since at least 1748. The family remained in the Chatham County area, until J. A. Hadley, Joshua Hadley’s great-great-grandson made the move to Mount Airy.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

3. William Hadley, the son of J. A. Hadley, lived next door, with his house being built around the same time as his father’s.

4. Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory was also located on West Pine Street. Courtesy of Surry County Historical Society.

“Turn us, O God of our salvation…wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? …” Psalm 85:1-13.

Thinking on these words we realize that we have just read a prayer, a humble petition for the God who saved us to also bring us back to where we’ve fallen away from; where we need to return to. And where is that? Close to Him, and back into His will.

Part of the the way back home is to recognize we need to return. In Luke 15:11-24, Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son, who left home, left his father, and “wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all…he began to be in want…” He wound up getting a job feeding pigs, and in his hunger, even began eating the same husks the swine were eating. Finally, “he came to himself,” recognizing that he would be far better off if he would just return home.

The next part of the story, and our advice for returning to God, is turning away from self and sin, and our coming home with repentant heart to the Father. Because God is good and “His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118), we know our Father is watching for us to turn the corner on our way back to Him. We know He’ll come running to embrace us, forgive us, and restore us!

II Chronicles 7:13-22, “…If My people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

I believe this is a key scripture to our being revived individually, and as the church. Last week we saw how the first step in turning to God for revival is humbling ourselves. Today we will look at the second step, which is prayer. Notice in these verses that the Lord doesn’t say He’ll hear, forgive and heal if the world repents and turns to Him: The Lord says “if my people, which are called by my name” shall make themselves right with me, then I will have mercy and do all this good for them, and the land they live in.

We the church are the ones who know Him, know better, and know we need to return to Him. So we come to Him with words of prayer; as Daniel did in Daniel 9:3-19, confessing our own sins and the sins of our nation. The book also says that Daniel fasted. Sometimes the situation is urgent and dire enough that we need to pray, and fast. Isn’t our family and friends, and their eternal souls reason enough? So let’s set aside providing for the flesh, to seek the God of Heaven in spirit and in truth.

Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us, “Seeing then that we have a Great High Priest…Jesus the Son of God, … Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Christians, I believe we recognize we’re not were we need to be. America is no longer a Christian nation. The church is now more blended with the world and its ways. The bride of Christ is not as pure and holy as she needs to be. Our light is not as bright as our God requires of us. Truly our Lord is the only answer for this grave problem, so we pray to Him to lift us back up where we belong; to revive us again. Through prayer, as we acknowledge our need for Him, He extends us mercy, and offers us help.

James 5:13-18, “…in the name of the Lord…the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up…pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual (producing the desired effect) fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman) avails much.”

Notice that this scripture teaches us that we are to pray in the name of the Lord. His name is Jesus; which literally means savior, or the Lord is salvation. We’re acknowledging that we need saving, and He’s the one who can save us. We are to pray by faith. See James 1:6, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” And Matthew 9:29, Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you.” And Luke 8:48 and 50, “be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole” …and, “Fear not: believe only… be made whole.”

Notice also that James instructs us to pray fervently. This means with great warmth of emotion. We should earnestly pour out our soul in prayer to our God. Jesus taught His disciples, and us also, to pray to our Father. In Matthew 6:5-13 we are instructed to acknowledge that Christ’s Father is also our Father by faith; we recognize in reverence that His name is holy; we desire that His kingdom come, and His will be done, here in Earth, even as it is in Heaven; we request our daily food provision; we ask for His forgiveness of any trespass against Him; we ask Him to lead us in His righteous ways; and we plead with Him to deliver us from evil, within and without. And all this is because His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.

One of the shortest verses in the Bible, but one of the most necessary to keep is I Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” We must be in a constant frame of mind of prayer and continual communion with our God. This will keep our focus where it belongs, on Him and His will.

In closing today, realize that prayer is a two-way street. As we offer up our prayers to our Heavenly Father, remember to listen to what He replies. Psalm 85:8, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.” The way we hear from Him is by preparing our hearts and minds to receive what He has to say to us through His word in the Bible. Read it daily, meditate on, and memorize it, do it. James 1:22, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Lord, “wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

Our town, Mount Airy, is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Surry County; just south of the Virginia border. We go back to a time when stage coaches ran our Main Street; headed up over the mountain and down Winston-Salem way. We’ve seen good times, bad times and once upon a time, we were known as “Little Chicago,” but whatever came our way, we fought the good fight and saved the day.

Should you drop by, the stage coaches and covered wagons are long gone and no longer will you see Tommy guns sticking out of car windows. Those Big Rigs that shook the buildings when the truck route ran Main Street? They now run the by-pass, aka; the Andy Griffith Parkway. Should you come thirsty, you no longer sneak around to someone’s back door; the moonshine we were once known for has been replaced by “Bottled-in-Bond” sold by the government in our public liquor store.

Even so, some things never change and just like the city of Chicago, we tend to get a little windy when talking about our fair city. We may not be much to look at, but we are a friendly bunch with hearts of gold and should you drop by, everybody you meet will greet you with a friendly “hello.”

Should you come hungry, you’ll find the finest dining in all the land, with stick-to-your-ribs food like you’ve never seen before: ground steak sandwiches, pork chop sandwiches, Big Moe’s, corn bread and collard sandwiches, (with a strip of fried pork side meat thrown in.) Dessert? Our famous fruit “sonker” will lift you off your feet. Should you crave some illegal moonshine, we got that too; straight from the still. You just need to know where to go and bring some cash.

With that in mind, why don’t you stop by our little town, take a load off and sit a spell? We’ll pull up a chair down at the hardware store, sit around the pot-bellied stove and drag out our favorite beverage which will quench the worst thirst, guaranteed. We’ll talk about the good old days, learn who got caught doing what, pick out a tune on the old five-string and have ourselves a whale of a good time. So, my friend, what are you waiting for? Come on down to what us natives call “Moun’ Erry, North Ka’ Liner” and you’ll be glad you did.

October signals the abundance of pumpkins. They cover the entrance of produce markets in a sea of bright orange. They are also featured sprawled out on church lawns where they can be purchased at fund-raisers. As we begin October, take the kids and grandkids on a search for their own jack o’lantem by visiting a pick your own pumpkin patch.

There are two kinds of pumpkin patches; the first kind is a man-made patch where there are hundreds of pumpkins in rows and you walk through the rows and choose the one you want. The other type of pumpkin patch is pumpkins growing in the field. Kids actually visit the patch and harvest their pumpkin. Many of these farms have a hayride, playgrounds and refreshments. Many old fashioned country stores feature plenty of pumpkins, apples and Halloween candies, Indian corn and other decor.

Checking out a row or bed of purple turnips

The turnips sown earlier in September are sprouting and have two leaves. If the turnip sprouts are too thick, thin them out so they will have space to develop large turnips. Feed the turnips with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food once a month and keep soil hilled up to cover the vegetable food on each side of the row. As we move further into October, place a layer of crushed leaves between the rows for added protection.

The furnace and air conditioner get a break

These Indian Summer days of October are comfortable and are giving our furnace and air conditioner a break in the season. These October days are pleasant because the humidity is lower and provides us with a bit of natural air conditioning. A crisp breeze also brings some comfort. These are opportune days to finish all lawn and garden chores and also relax on the front porch.

Indian Summer paves the way for Jack Frost

It’s hard to believe with the pleasant days of Indian Summer temperatures that frost is only a few weeks away. We can expect some frost after the middle of the month, but not much of a killing frost until the end of the month. The light frosts will benefit the cool weather vegetables and harden them off for the heavy frosts and hard freezes that will arrive in November.

Making a plate of sweet pumpkin puffs

This is a great pumpkin recipe that is simple to prepare for an autumn dessert. You will need two and a half cups of Bisquick, one and a half cups of sugar, half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spices, two cups canned pumpkin, half cup milk, two beaten eggs, four tablespoons Crisco oil, four table spoons light margarine, and one teaspoon vanilla flavoring. Combine the Bisquick, one cup of sugar and the pumpkin pie spices. Mix in the two cups of pumpkin, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring, half cup of milk, two beaten eggs and four tablespoons Crisco oil. Mix all ingredients well for sixty seconds. Grease the muffin tins and fill the muffin cups two thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for twelve minutes or until done. Cool slightly, remove from pans. Mix half cup sugar half teaspoon pumpkin pie spices, and four tablespoons of light melted margarine. Dip the puffs in the sugar. spice mixture. Makes at least 24 puffs. It can be made without the sugar-spice topping.

The four o’clocks have had a wonderful season

The four o’clocks have had a productive season. They have bloomed since the last of May and we still have several blooming on the front of the porch. They open earlier each evening because the end of Daylight Saving is drawing nearer. At this time late in the season, they are still in bloom at noon each day. We think it will take a hard freeze in November to finish their long season. They have became perennial and return each year. Four o’clocks are a great investment in foliage and flowers for three of the year’s four seasons.

Checking out the season’s crop of acorns

The forest floor has lots of acorns even though the squirrels have harvested their fair share of them. When there is a huge layer of acorns lying on the ground in mid-October they are sending a subtle message that they are waiting around for some snow before the year ends.

Red berries cover the limbs of dogwoods

There have been plenty of red berries on the dogwoods in spite of the fact that many have been eaten by birds. There are still a lot remaining on the limbs. We don’t know if an abundance of berries is any sign of a harsh winter or not. You can gather some of these red berries to decorate the dining room or coffee table for Christmas.

You can still set out a row or bed of onion sets

It may be close to mid-October but it is still Indian Summer. You can still set out a bed of onion sets. They are still available at most hardware’s and garden centers. You can choose from white, red, or yellow sets. The first hard freeze usually occurs in November and that’s how much time you have to set out those onion sets. At this time of season, you can go ahead and apply a layer of crushed leaves on the sets between the rows when you set them out.

The Christmas cactus ready to move inside

All the Christmas cactus have been outside on the porch in a semi-sunny location since mid-May. The time is now approaching to move them inside to the sunny living room before the arrival of the first frost later this month. They will need to be trimmed back a little and fed with Flower-Tone organic flower food and some cactus medium needed at top of the container. In the living room where they winter over, they will need to be in a semi-sunny location away from direct sunlight to prevent foliage from turning reddish. They will need a drink of water once a week but don’t over water them.

Preserving autumn leaves for harvest displays

To preserve autumn leaves in all their color and glory, use a can of beeswax and melt it in a small pan and dip each leaf in the wax, remove and place on a paper plate to dry. They can be used on the dining room or coffee table or mantel for harvest decorations with jack-be-little pumpkins and Hershey’s autumn Kisses, candy corn or creme pumpkins.

Making a jack o’ lantern and pie

You can make a jack o’ lantern and have a pumpkin pie with it later on by painting a face on the pumpkin with acrylic paints and place it on the front porch. Use acrylic paints in colors of orange, yellow black and white to highlight and color the face of the pumpkin. After Halloween, you can cut the pumpkin, peel it cut into chunks, boil until tender and mash with a potato masher or run through the blender in grate mode, and make into pumpkin pies.

The moon will reach its first quarter on Sunday, Oct. 2. Yom Kipper will begin at sundown on Tuesday, Oct. 4. There will be a full moon on Sunday, Oct. 9. This full moon of October will be named “Full Hunter’s Moon.” Columbus Day will be observed on Monday, Oct. 10. The moon will reach its last quarter on Monday, Oct. 17. The new moon of October will occur on the evening of Oct. 25. Halloween will be Monday, Oct. 31.

These tiny pumpkins are about the size of your fist and they make colorful displays for the dining room or coffee table. You can paint faces on them or use them as they are. Use Hershey’s autumn Kisses or creme pumpkins around base of pumpkins for centerpieces. The kids will love these decorations. Replenish the candy often.

Pumpkin carving kit is a good investment

The best and safest way to carve out a jack o’ lantern is with a durable and long lasting pumpkin carving kit. A quality kit with plenty of blades and attachments costs around $12 and will last for many years. They can also be used to carve melon baskets and cantaloupes. A kit includes attachable blades, a scraper, and a scooper and saw blades of all sizes.

Still time to plant pansies

Pansies are the annuals of autumn that will carry over into winter and early spring. As October arrives, there is still plenty of time to start containers of pansies. You can still purchase six and nine packs of pansies in full bloom at hardware’s, nurseries garden centers, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware.

“Checking out the tomatoes.” Doctor: “That’s a horrible gash on your forehead, what happened?” Child: “My sister hit me with some tomatoes.” Doctor: “That’s amazing. I’ve never seen a tomato cut like that before.” Child: “Well, these tomatoes were canned tomatoes.”

“Silent treatment.” Father: “Your boyfriend stayed last night.” Daughter: “And did the noise bother you, Dad?” Father: “No, but the long periods of silence did.”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

Back in 2014, I got to play the part of Dr. Herman Einstein in a stage production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Peter Lorre played that part in the 1944 movie of the same name. Always an admirer of Lorre, I finally got to “be” Peter Lorre, utilizing my impression of his voice.

I have always admired the singing voice of the actor/singer Jack Prince, who played Rafe Hollister on “The Andy Griffith Show,” so, this year, utilizing my natural singing voice, I got to “be” Rafe Hollister in the Mount Airy Mayberry Days Parade.

Paying tribute to a character on stage involves “stage right” and “stage left;” while doing the same in a parade involves “stage straight ahead, rolling along underneath!”

My daughter Rachel, and her husband, Richard, had been attending the Mount Airy Mayberry Days for the past few years; and Rachel said I should portray Rafe Hollister in the Mayberry Days parade. So, on Sept. 24, Rachel, Richard, my son, Jeremy, and I met up in Mount Airy.

I began a week before by ceasing my shaving. This was an attempt to match up with what TV’s Mayberry Mayor Roy Stoner said about Rafe Hollister not being worthy of representing Mayberry at a choral festival: “He’s unpresentable!” “He’s seedy!” After not shaving for a week, I looked unpresentable and seedy! People think male actors in movies are hot when they have stubble on their faces; but in the case of a 71-year-old man, it’s just an old man who evidently forgot to shave.

To further look the part, I wore bib overhauls, a plaid shirt, and a fedora to which I had given a slightly crumpled look. Since Rafe did some moonshinin’, I carried a quart Ball Mason jar filled about one-third of water to resemble moonshine. Regarding the “Glass half full or glass half empty phrase,” I bet that with moonshine aficionados, a 1/3 quart of moonshine is always dishearteningly seen in the negative: being unfortunately, two-thirds empty instead of “one-third full.

Just so none of the parade-goers would wrongly assume my jar contained the real thing, I taped a homemade label to it, reading “190 PROOF H2O,” captioned with 3 Xs.

In the parade formation’s Truist Bank parking lot, I was welcomed heartily by veteran character portrayers from past Mayberry Days Parades, some with 30 years of experince! There was not one bit of snobbery towards the new kid on the block (or in the lot). I told “Mayor Stoner” I hadn’t shaved for a week in order to present myself as “unpresentable.” He said “And you’re seedy looking,” followed by a big laugh. I told him that coming from him, it was a great compliment — we both had a good laugh.

Briscoe Darling, Andy, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Otis, Colonel Harvey, Ellie, Mayor Stoner, Asa, The Man in a Hurry, The Fun Girls, etc. were all like long-lost family reunited.

I was overwhelmed by the response of the parade goers When I sang “The Lonesome Road” or “Ridin’ on that New River Train,” I was greeted by one of the greatest numbers of smiling teeth I’ve seen, smiles “Busting out all over!” Some people hollered: “Hey Rafe! Can I have some of what’s in your jar?” And some had me pause for pictures with them.

At one point in the parade, a gap was developing. So, a police officer (real, not Barney) motioned to me and asked me to move up a bit to help fill in the gap. I thought: “Gosh! I’m a float in the Mayberry Days Parade (as was each of the Mayberry tribute characters).

Partway through the parade, I realized something. It occurred to me that since a goodly number of those greatly smiling parade goers were of the Mayberry generation; they were reacting to someone bringing back a beloved TV character from their childhood There are many of us from that generation who can recite “The Andy Griffith Show” episodes (and we’re also getting a regular refresher course from ME-TV). In a way, all of those characters from Mayberry were formative for us. And thanks to ME-TV, newer generations are being “so formed!”

After the parade, we toured the Andy Griffith Museum and shopped. Due to my sciatica acting up while just standing, I had to periodically find an outside storefront chair. Upon striking up conversation with those around me (also sitting), I learned their reasons for sitting was sciatica. During one of my pauses, I received a ticket for “loitering” from Barney Fife. I thanked him and told him I would treasure it.

In the last store where we shopped, I saw some jars of Aunt Bee’s Pickles for sale. I passed them up, thinking they might contain her pickles with that kerosene taste; and that with all of the hubbub going on in Mayberry, Andy and Barney might not yet have had a chance to replace them with the store-bought pickles.

I suddenly realized that Mount Airy’s Mayberry Days had achieved for me that supreme goal of the stage: The suspension of disbelief.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Our theme for the 2022-2023 school year is “Don’t Give Up. Don’t Ever Give Up.” We all know we can be 1% better every day supporting students. We know that students can be 1% better every day reaching and growing toward their goals. We don’t want to ever give up on a student and we don’t want them to give up on themselves.

Athletics has a long tradition of working toward winning for the team. This year, we have taken these lessons and translated strategies for a winning team to our school culture. Creating a winning culture where the team wins is what we strive to do. Leader in Me teaches this strategy to children but we can all benefit from it — Habit 4: Think Win-Win means, “I balance courage for getting what I want with consideration for what others want.”

We can all benefit from learning to create win-win situations instead of “I win” and “you lose” situations. Winning athletic teams outline communication and team building as their top strategies for success. More than 90% of our staff report on the recent working conditions that they are happy to be in our school system because they know that we keep children in the center of all we do. They contribute feedback through many teams at their school, surveys, and focus groups.

This feedback from our staff helps us to continually improve processes and builds healthy teams. Our district started the school year with all teaching positions filled which showcases a mixture of low turnover rates and others wanting to join our team. As our enrollment numbers have continued to increase over the past six years, we have added new positions to best support our students and staff. We have a small list of current openings at this time and anyone wishing to join our team can visit https://bit.ly/MACSjobs to learn more and apply.

These communication feedback loops allow us to hear information from multiple sources and perspectives. We have feedback loops available for school staff members with teams such as the Multi-Tiered System of Support team and School Improvement Team. We have opportunities at the district level such as the Staff Superintendent Advisory Team and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund staff feedback sessions. We gather survey data each year regarding working conditions and provide staff opportunities to share with district staff how we can improve along with ideas from the classroom. This is similar to the game field where adjustments are constantly made for improvement.

Our community, parents, and students are important team players and are also powerful voices for us to listen and learn from. We have a Superintendent’s Business Advisory group, a Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Group, and two Superintendent’s Student Advisory groups. We also have students who sit as representatives during our Board of Education business meetings. We have scheduled public meetings this year for input on the Portrait of a Graduate, where you can discuss your ideas about what traits students should graduate. The dates are Oct. 6, Jan. 19, and March 2. If you are interested in joining this work email Carrie Venable at cvenable@mtairy.k12.nc.us.

Just as athletes are on winning teams our schools are also working hard to create winning teams. These high expectations and standards are critical to student success. Students can do the work, if they have educators and parents going hand-in-hand daily to move them toward their goals of being a teacher, doctor, technology leader, welder, health care worker, or any other aspiration. We hope to work with students to envision a successful future for each of them and then, by design, move them toward that success. We expect to have high standards in our classrooms and high expectations on our campuses. Students will rise to the level of expectation that we set just as they do when they are coached and encouraged along the way.

Winning coaches outline that teams must have high expectations and standards and make sure that every athlete reaches those standards and expectations. But, most importantly they need to understand why they are part of the team and why it matters. The team has a goal of winning every game and taking the championship. We know this translates into the classroom as well.

Why do staff members come to school every day, why are students part of the team of Mount Airy City Schools, and how can we empower students and staff to live in their “why”? Mount Airy City Schools believes every child deserves to graduate with a plan and tools to make them successful such as strong mathematical skills, strong reading skills, arts education, language acquisition, career and technical skills, and much more. Every year, we equip them, share tools with them, encourage them, and grow them to the next level. We have 1,800 reasons why walking through our doors every day. We must work together, communicate well, improve our practices, and empower students to win the game of life. We will never give up on any student and we want students to also work hard, gain skills, learn trades, and design their dreams with skills to achieve them.

Derek Jeter said, “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” Bill Belichick tells his team, “Do your job.” If we all do our job better than anyone else in the state, the team will win. If we are all giving 100%, going the extra mile, being positive, building up our teammates and our administrators, encouraging children, and setting goals showcasing we believe in all of our students, we will win this year. We need everyone’s help to sustain a winning culture.

We know that to lead, innovate, and serve we also must embrace this year’s theme of “Don’t Give Up. Don’t Ever Give Up.” We hope the community will continue to work with us through the many opportunities and ways to engage. Please check out our website for more information on how you can contribute and be part of our winning culture. www.mtairy.k12.nc.us

For families wishing to better understand what Mount Airy City Schools has to offer them and for current families wishing to see what is found at the next school, visit https://bit.ly/AboutMACS21-22 There you will find a brochure highlighting many opportunities found in our system. Anyone wishing to schedule a tour can visit http://bit.ly/MACStour.

The blast tore through the chilled morning air, glass shards from shattered windows raining down on Mount Airy citizens as they ran to investigate. The scene of destruction must have been jarring.

A heavy fog shrouded the carnage, clinging to trees and adding to the surreal affect. Twisted metal, fluttering pieces of paper, and the mangled remains of a Ford pickup truck littered Franklin Street and the neatly kept lawns that lined it. The acrid scent of burning fuel filled the air as people tried to make sense of the wreckage.

Twenty feet from the truck lay the body of their neighbor William Cochrane. Someone brought a blanket to cover the young man out of respect as others called for emergency services.

It must have been a shock when Bill pushed the fabric from his face. “Don’t cover me. I’m not dead.”

It was 8:05 am, Monday, Dec. 31, 1951. Bill was headed to White Plains High School where he was an agriculture teacher who worked with the Future Farmers of America and also GIs returning to family farms after their tour of duty was done.

At 23, he wasn’t much older than many of his students. Athletic and affable, he was popular with students and staff at the school where he’d been teaching since he graduated from NC State in 1949. The Franklin native had deep roots in the far-western counties of Macon and Buncombe where his ancestors had lived since at least 1800.

He met Imogene Moses, a graduate of Appalachian State and Surry’s assistant home demonstration officer, here. Imogene grew up near Pittsboro, Chatham County, near Raleigh. The couple married August 25, 1951. They were looking for a home in White Plains where they regularly attended services at the Friends’ Meeting House.

The blast put an end to all of that.

The bomb was under the driver’s seat. It ejected Bill through the roof of the cab and amputated both legs. Police, recognizing the severity of Bill’s injuries, asked if he knew who could have done this.

“I don’t have an enemy in the world,” was the confused reply before he was taken to Martin Memorial Hospital on Cherry Street.

His students flocked to the hospital to donate blood but, despite extraordinary efforts by the medical staff, the trauma and shock were beyond them. William Homer Cochrane Jr. died 13 hours later. More than 3,000 mourners attended the funeral.

Rumors flew as the investigation got underway. Mount Airy Police Chief Monte W. Boone met with James Powell, director of the State Bureau of Investigation. Mount Airy Police Captain W. H. Sumner worked with SBI Agent Willis Jessup, former Mount Airy Police Chief.

City leaders posted a $2,100 reward for information leading to an arrest. The state added $400 and Bill’s hometown of Franklin where his own father was chief of police, added $1,300.

Governor W. Kerr Scott decried the indiscriminate nature of the murder that could have killed anyone. “The flames of righteous anger continue to run high in Mount Airy… every citizen should cooperate to the fullest with the Mount Airy police officers.”

Sumner and John Edwards and Guy Scott, SBI agents based in Elkin, tracked down Imogene’s former beaus here, at App State, and in Chatham County where she grew up.

They sent what they could find of the bomb to the FBI’s Crime Laboratories in Washington, D.C., where it was determined dynamite or nitroglycerine had been used. So, they tracked down dynamite sales.

The process was made more difficult by a dry season where many local wells dried up causing a spike in dynamite sales. Ed Draughn, a worker at the W. E. Merritt Hardware Store on Main Street, remembered selling two sticks and five blasting caps to a stranger the week before Christmas.

But there the trail ran cold — until April 1954.

Imogene moved back east to Edenton to be closer to family and to escape painful memories. There she met George Byrum, a city councilman. Two weeks before they were due to wed a bomb was found in her car. Not as powerful or sophisticated, when this bomb exploded it didn’t kill anyone, just put Edenton Police Chief George Dail in the hospital with burns.

SBI agents John Edwards and Guy Scott headed to Edenton to talk with a man they suspected from the start but couldn’t find enough evidence for arrest.

George Henry Smith, a childhood friend of Imogene’s, had asked her out a few times over the years. She never accepted. After being questioned he drove to the family farm where he lived with his parents, ran into the woods and committed suicide before they could charge him.

Imogene and George Byrum married and raised a family in Edenton. She and George both died in 2008.

There are those who believe young Cochrane’s spirit haunts the apartments and homes along Franklin Street where he lived and died. His story is recounted on the museum’s ghost tour each Friday and Saturday night. The tragic emotions of a life cut short ripple through time as he continues to wonder, “Who could have done this? I don’t have an enemy in the world.”

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

In late September, the soil of the garden plot is cool and workable. The vegetables of onion sets, turnips, Siberian kale, mustard greens, collards, cabbage, and broccoli can be planted or set out. Use plenty of peat moss in the bottom of the furrows and for a root crop like turnips, place a layer of peat moss on the bottom and on top of the turnip seed. Use Plant-Tone or Garden-Tone organic vegetable food during the cold winter to side dress the vegetables and hill up the soil on both sides of the row. As the season gets colder, cover between the rows with a layer of crushed leaves.

The leaves of autumn are now falling. Stay ahead of them and pile them up to use for compost, mulch, blankets, protection as well as crushed leaves. If you pile them up, use a sprinkling can of water on them to prevent wind from blowing them around. Vacuum them up as you need them.

Snow predictions for Saint Michael’s Day

Saint Michael’s Day will be Wednesday, Sept. 28. Special weather lore on his day says that if the mighty oaks are filled with acorns on his day, the fields will be filled with snow on Christmas Day. Could it be possible to have a snow that covers the fields on Christmas Day? Yes, and it happened on Dec. 25, 2010 when we received an eight-inch snowfall. In Northampton County, my grandma’s old homeplace, they received 13 inches of snow. The prediction of Saint Michael could have a bit of truth in it. My grandma may not have known about Saint Michael, but she knew about acorns on the mighty oaks and had her prediction about them as they bounced off her tin roof in Northampton County. She always said that a yard full of acorns in late September meant plenty of snow covering the yard in winter. Could fogs in August and acorns in September connect with the snows of winter?

The tomato plants that will produce green tomatoes in October to be harvested just before frost now have tiny green tomatoes that are developing. Feed them with Tomato-Tone organic tomato food this week so they can have one more boost of food. Keep an eye on the first frost and gather the harvest of green tomatoes. Wrap them in sheets of newspaper and store them in a shallow box. Check them in the box every ten days for ripeness. Keep the tomatoes sheltered in a warm dry place in the house.

Making a maraschino cherry pound cake

This cake has cherries in the cake and also in the frosting which makes it moist as well as colorful. You will need one and a half cups of Crisco shortening, three cups of sugar, three forth cup of milk, six eggs (separate whites from yolks), half teaspoon baking powder, three and three fourths cups plain flour, one and a half teaspoons vanilla flavoring, one and a half teaspoons cherry flavoring, one half of a ten ounce jar of maraschino cherries (chop the cherries into small pieces and save juice for the frosting.) Cream the Crisco and sugar. Add milk and egg yolks and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the flavorings. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold the chopped cherries into the egg whites and add to the mixture. Grease and flour a tube pan with Crisco shortening. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Bake at 275 degrees until batter starts to rise then reduce temperature to 250 degrees and bake for two hours until cake is firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting. For the frosting, you will need three ounces of cream cheese, half stick light margarine, two cups 10X powdered sugar, one cup of chopped pecans, half of the ten ounce jar of chopped maraschino cherries, one teaspoon of cherry flavoring and juice from the cherries. Mix all the ingredients together except the juice from the cherries. Add only enough juice from the cherries to make the frosting smooth enough to spread.

American bee balm has long history

Bee balm has been a part of American history for more than 250 years and a part of the American Indian history for much longer than that. It was traditionally used by native Americans to sooth bronchial conditions, coughs, and colds. Leaves can be made into tonics and tea. The lavender and pink petals can be used in salads. When you trim back the bee balm for winter, trim back all the stems because next spring, the balm will produce a whole new season of stems, foliage, and flowers.

Splendor of September winding down

The calling card of September is now down to the last six days. We still have a few more weeks of comfortable weather and a bit of a nip in the night air to remind us that autumn is now with us. Days are still getting shorter by a minute each evening. Indian Summer is certainly being seen as well as felt. The wet dews are lingering each late September morning and the harvest of acorns is falling from mighty oaks. The season is slowly transitioning to future events of the first frost, colorful sunsets, and the departure of humming birds, as well as falling leaves as the autumn has officially arrived.

Row or bed of Siberian kale lasts all winter

Siberian Kale can now be planted in autumn’s garden plot. It is a tough, winter hardy green that will winter over. It can be be used as a salad or fresh cooked sweet greens. Seed of Siberian kale costs less than $3 an ounce and can be sown in rows or beds until the middle of October.

Preparing the Christmas cactus for a move

The Christmas cactus has been outside on the front porch since mid-May, and the first steps are being made to move all of them to the sunny living room where they will spend late autumn, winter, and early spring. The first step is to make sure they have enough cactus medium and to feed them with Flower-Tone organic flower food before they are moved inside in late October. Inside the house, they will bloom in late November. Inside the house, do not expose them to direct sunlight because this causes the foliage to turn reddish.

Still time to plant the flowering spring bulbs

The frost date is Oct. 15, and we usually don’t get a hard freeze until late in the month of November. That means you still have plenty of time to set out the spring flowering bulbs of daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, jonquils, narcissus, snowdrops, and crocus. Most hardwares, nurseries, and garden centers, as well as Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware, and Walmart still have plenty of bulbs. You can buy them in mesh see-through bags or from individual bins. This makes it easy to inspect bulbs for rot or mold. Purchase a bag of bone meal or bulb booster to promote bulb growth and development. Apply a layer of peat moss when setting out bulbs.

Heating season near; keep filters ready

Autumn is now in its fourth day and we are in the beginning stage of the heating season. Many furnaces have already flexed their muscles or they will be in a few days. Keep several new filters on hand as the heating season gets underway. Change or clean filters once a month for a cleaner air flow and less dust in the home write the size of the filter on the side of the furnace with a black permanent marker so you won’t forget the size of filter to purchase.

Covering the air conditioner outside condenser

As the season of the furnace begins, the season of the air conditioner will soon be over. As the season of cooling comes to a close, cover the outside condenser unit with a vinyl cover to protect against winter temperatures and freezes. Find the size of the condenser and purchase a cover at a plumbing and heating contractor or Home Depot or Lowe’s Home Improvement, or at the dealer where your unit was purchased.

Organizing storage buildings for winter

The outdoor barn or shed during spring and summer becomes a storage area for tools, plant foods, peat moss, and supplies and as the gardening season moves along, it becomes filled and disorganized. This makes it difficult to keep up with objects you frequently need. As we approach the first days of autumn, it’s time to devote an afternoon to reorganizing the outdoor shed or barn and place lawn and garden tools in an order where they can be easily located to where you need them and they can be found when you need them. Remove everything from the building and sweep it out. Spray the area to control insect pests and critters. Replace the items in the order that you will need them next season. Leave rakes, snow shovels and tools for use in autumn and winter near the front of the barn or shed. Use control measures to prevent mice and other varmints from wintering over in the buildings.

“Tripped Up!” Jan: “I always get sick the night before I leave on a trip.” Fran: “Then why don’t you leave a day earlier?”

“Polluted Space.” Professor: “Do you know what will happen if we keep polluting outer space?” Student: “Yes, the Milky Way will curdle.”

“Alienated.” People are always criticizing my looks. Last week, I had a blind date, and she went home and reported having a close encounter of the third kind!

“Return to Sender!” Teacher: “Mrs. Philton, your son is a constant troublemaker. How do you put up with him?” Mrs. Philton: “I can’t, that’s why I send him to school!”

Protecting American bee balm in winter

Autumn has arrived and it is time to prepare the American bee balm for a long winter’s nap. It can winter over on the back of the front porch, but it will need covering and protection from harsh winter winds and freezing temperatures. You will need to trim back tall growth to about six to eight inches. Move the plant to the rear of the porch away from winds and exposure to extreme temperatures. Use several sheets of cardboard glued together place the cardboard on top of the bee balm and then place a dry towel on the cardboard. Remove them each day when temperatures warm up. Water lightly every week to keep container from freezing.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a feature of The Mount Airy News, presenting commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

As a district, we know that safety is at the forefront of the minds of our students, parents, and staff. In the wake of one tragedy after another across the nation, many in our community rightly wonder what can be done in our area to ensure these acts of violence do not reach our schools. Surry County Schools commits to taking preemptive safety measures and having continued conversations evaluating our approach to safety in schools.

The Surry County Board of Education Safety Committee exists to provide Board of Education members, Senior Cabinet, law enforcement, and district personnel an opportunity to meet and identify safety solutions for schools and offices. Over the summer, the committee met three times to identify current needs and phased solutions. As a result of our safety committee, Surry County Schools will focus on enhancing communication during a safety event, provide additional staff training with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office on addressing daily safety protocols, providing additional uniformed officers at elementary school campuses, adding more keyless entry systems, and increasing the number of security cameras.

At this time, the district is evaluating all funding sources to place additional officers at all school campuses. Surry County Schools has nine school resource officers. The goal is to have a uniformed officer at each of our elementary schools to protect students in the case of an emergency.

As a result of the meetings, the committee identified the need to create a safety communication campaign that reaffirms safety norms for students and staff through visual cues. Our communications department was charged with developing this campaign over the summer. This fall, schools will participate in practice lockdown drills across all campuses to further prepare for emergency situations. The department has also created a video for the community that outlines safety norms in our schools and what families can expect when they visit one of our campuses. The goal of this video is to be transparent with our families and let them know what the district is doing to keep students and staff safe.

Along with the videos, another facet of the campaign is to promote the use of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System. Last year, Surry County Schools began using the Say Something tool to allow students, staff, and families to submit secure, anonymous safety concerns. The district urges anyone to submit a tip if they are worried about someone, see something concerning on social media, or overhear a threat to submit a confidential tip to a licensed counselor who can help. The tip line can be accessed at 1-844-5-SAY NOW, online at www.saysomething.net, or on the Say Something mobile app.

The Surry County Schools is upgrading our mobile app to offer push notifications to our students, staff, and families. These push notifications will be able to alert anyone of a lockdown, shelter in place, or any other situation that may be occurring at their selected school. The mobile app will be available for download on the App Store and Google Play this fall.

If there is one thing we want our community to know, it is this: Surry County Schools is committed to being transparent with our families and providing learning environments that prioritize safety, trust, and wellness for our students. We look forward to ongoing discussions to look at our needs and resources to provide the best schools for our community.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

They come from “all over.”

When? The last week in September, by automobile and tour-bus loads, to our little town of Mount Airy.

Why? To celebrate Mayberry Days and the life and times of a native son who found fame and fortune along the way. You can see it in their eyes as they crowd the streets, searching for the easy-going life of “The Andy Griffith Show” they saw on 1960s black and white TV.

What do they find? A friendly little town where, when you walk down the street, you get a big smile from everybody you meet. Come Mayberry Days, multiply it tenfold and it becomes a circus; with Andy Griffith Show “look-a-likes” everywhere. There’s Deputy Barney Fife with that big side-arm on his hip telling someone to “Nip it” or go to jail. There’s Otis (the town drunk) riding his cow right down Main Street in broad daylight. Aunt Bee? Opie? Them too and many other look-a-likes, maybe even Gomer. Sad to say, I have yet to see Andy.

Just down the street; you’ll find Floyd the Barber snipping away at the same barber shop Andy knew. A couple of doors down; Snappy Lunch where Andy once ate; near the Blue Bird Café, where back in the back room back in the day, you could still drink beer after closing hours.

How about Goober? Him too; pumping gas and wiping windshields at his service station down on South Main. Need a ride to see the sights? For a very few bucks, those 1960s Ford squad cars will haul you around all over the town to see the same sights Andy once knew; including the home where he grew up.

Best of all is the Mayberry Days Parade, with hundreds of people lined up on both sides of the street to applaud and watch their heroes go by. Believe me; it’s a sight to see.

Being a native son myself, it’s pleasing to know that a hometown boy like Andy caused such a “to-do” and I hope and pray that all who come here find what they were looking for and go home with a big smile on their face; knowing they found Mayberry.

Preservationist Richard Moe is quoted as saying, “There may have been a time when preservation was about saving an old building here and there, but those days are gone. Preservation is in the business of saving communities and the values they embody.” ‘

Recent events have seen one of our historic landmarks and anchors torn down out of necessity. Sometimes we can’t save a building, but we can cherish the memories, hard work, and legacies they leave behind.

Quality Mills has a story that has been woven through the lives of Surry County and the surrounding area’s citizens, touching many lives as it branched out through the area. Personally, my grandmother, Jean Morgan, worked in the offices of Quality Mills for 15 years and her story is only one of many that surround the mill’s legacy.

Somewhere between 1934 and 1935, Howard Osler Woltz Sr. or H.O. as he is known, purchased a failing underwear company and took over the machines and stock of the Duke Knitting Mills. These machines were moved to the old Beasley Lumber Company building at the corner of Franklin and South Streets in Mount Airy.

W.E Lindsay, H.O. Woltz, and Matt Hines pulled together to get Quality Mills up and running by 1936. The mill provided hundreds of jobs for the community in its heyday, starting with the sewing/knitting plant on Franklin. Operations started under the supervision of John March, who had worked for the Hanes Knitting Company for 17 years, giving the starting operation a leg up on the competition.

Though the path to success looked gentle from the outside, that wasn’t always the case. In the early days, one Mount Airy article suggests that payroll was hard to cut and mistakes were made, however, the company persevered. One turning point was when Woltz, out of desperation, visited Macy’s Department Store in New York and offered a deal. A week later a contract for more than $200,000 in men’s shirts was placed with the company. The company soon needed to expand its operations and by the late 1970s eight different buildings were dedicated to mill operations, some in surrounding counties and other states.

The company continued to grow adding offices, community, and employee events and even having to up its protection against sabotage and espionage in 1942. In 1958 Quality Mills was handed over to Woltz’s son, John. The elder Woltz’s other company, Dixie Concrete (now Insteel Industries), was given to his other son, Howard, in 1953. The family even started Cross Creek Country Club in the early 1970s, giving Surry County its first 18-hole golf course, as H.O. Woltz Sr. believed it needed.

With the printing of the October 1988, “Quality News,” a newsletter sent to employees and community supporters, Quality Mills was making a big change. The larger Russell Corporation purchased the operation and began a merger that further expanded the company’s reach. Clothing lines such as “Cross Creek” continued alongside new Russell brands. At the same time, Quality Mills had opened a new plant in Pilot Mountain earlier in the year and acquired a sewing plant in Danbury.

By the early 1990s, the name Quality Mills Co. was changed to Cross Creek Apparel Inc. The subsidiary continued to be one of the major assets to the Russell Corporation. In 1998 the company claimed a net loss of $10.4 million on revenue of $1.18 billion. In August of 2008, the Cross Creek Apparel Plant closed its doors, laying off about 300 employees and changing lives again.

Here in the foothills, textiles and millwork were a way of life for generations. While the buildings, machines, and businesses may no longer exist, their histories continue.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478, extension 229.

The lore of September thunder

Thunder in September is not all that rare and with the weather being less humid, most thunder does not produce gusty thunderstorms, but thunder in September can still be heard when the temperature is warm. Usually when thunder is heard in September, a lot of rain comes with it but not much in the pattern of thunderstorms. There is a bit of lore concerning thunder in September as a sign of abundance of fruits and vegetables next year. Here’s to hoping for some September thunder.

The harvest of autumn leaves has begun

Don’t let the leaves of autumn go to waste and please do not burn them but recycle them for compost, leaf mulch and a blanket for protecting cold weather vegetables. The leaves can be blown to the garden and run over by the lawnmower to break them down for the compost pile or bin. Crushed leaves make a protective blanket for rose bushes, azaleas and bulb beds. Crushed leaves can be placed between rows of collards, broccoli, cabbage, kale, and greens. Stay ahead of the leaves during the days of autumn. You can crush them by running the mower over them or run them through the leaf vacuum and place them in a pile to use in the spring garden plot. When you crush them, the wind will not get under them and blow them around.

Grass clippings filled with nitrogen and heat

September grass clippings are filled with nitrogen and other heat-building nutrients. Save them for making compost piles and bins heat up. Mix them with piles of leaves to help break them down. Keep saving the clippings all the way until a hard November freeze that will cause grass to become dormant. They are one of nature’s best resources.

Slowdown of the last summer crops

All that remains of the summer vegetables in the garden plot are late tomatoes and peppers. The nip in the September air has slowed them down. The tomatoes are slowing down and still have plenty of green ones developing to be harvested before Jack Frost arrives.

Time to set out a row or bed of onion sets

As we reach the middle of September, onion sets are showing up in hardwares and garden centers, and a row or bed can now be set out in the autumn garden plot. You can choose from red, yellow, or white sets. Onion sets are tough and will endure the harshness of winter and produce all the way into early spring. A pound of sets costs around $3. Sow them in a furrow four inches deep. Place a layer of peat moss in the bottom of the furrow and set the onions with the root side down and about three inches apart. Cover with another layer of peat moss and an application of Garden-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill up soil on both sides of the furrow and tamp down with the hoe blade for good soil contact. They will sprout in about two weeks. In October, cover between the rows with a layer of crushed leaves. Feed with Alaska fish emulsion mixed with proper amount of water in a sprinkling can according to instructions on the bottle. Feed onions once a month. You can also side dress with Garden-Tone organic vegetable food and hill up soil on both sides of the row.

Outside critters trying to winter over

The days are growing shorter and the nights are getting cooler and this is a hint to insects and creepy crawlers to find a warm place to spend winter such as in your home or basement. They are seeking a dry place to spend winter and now is the time they are looking for opportunity to gain entrance to your house. You can prevent them from gaining entrance by spraying around all door ways and porches as well as carports. If you have a wood pile spray around it and also around basement doors and around basement walls. Don’t leave any food or scraps outside that could attract the critters. Open and shut doors quickly when coming and going outside.

Plenty of colors in autumn leaves

As September reaches its middle, the leaves have been putting on a show of color. Some of the trees are now unloading their harvest of leaves. The maples and dogwoods are the first to lose their leaves followed by hickories and poplars. Last to go are the mighty oaks and many of their leaves will remain until Thanksgiving while the remainder of their leaves will linger until a heavy snowfall brings them down.

Heat as the season changes cooler

The furnace will be in season for the next six months as we make the transition from summer into autumn and winter. You can make your furnace work less by keeping the thermostat on a uniform, comfortable setting without moving the setting up and down. You should also clean or change the filter on the furnace once each month, open and close outside entrances quickly. Keep blinds and drapes closed at night. Make sure all doors and closets and cabinets are closed. Wear warmer clothing while in the house. Prepare food in the oven so that the heat from the oven will make the kitchen comfortable as well as the surrounding areas. Educate the kids to open and shut doors quickly when coming in and going out of the house.

Still time to set out spring bulbs

There is still a little more than a month to set out the flowering bulbs of early spring. The soil is workable and hardwares, nurseries, and garden centers still have plenty of bulbs in stock. Buy only bulbs in mesh bags or individual bins so that you can feel and inspect bulbs for rot, or mold. You can choose from hyacinth, crocus, daffodils, narcissus jonquils, tulips and snow drops. Buy a bag of bone meal or bulb booster to promote growth. Another useful tool for setting out bulbs is a durable bulb planter made of heavy duty steel that will last for many seasons. Spend the extra money and buy a tough one that will last. You get what you pay for.

The humming birds winding down season

Mid-September and the humming birds are preparing to move south in just two weeks or so. They are still visiting the feeders often as summer flowers continually fade out. Keep feeders out for as long as you see the hummers. The nectar you provide is important for the next few weeks. This will help them as they prepare for one of the natural wonders of the world, a trip across the Gulf of Mexico where they will spend winter and return to us next spring.

Making a pot of sweet and sour beef stew

This is a great dish on a nippy September evening. It is actually a meal in one pot. You will need one fourth cup of plain flour, one teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper, one and a half pounds stew beef, half cup Crisco cooking oil, one cup water, half cup light brown sugar, one fourth cup apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, one envelope Beefy onion Recipe Secrets, two diced potatoes, three diced carrots, half teaspoon salt. Combine flour, one teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper and coat stew beef with the flour mixture. In a frying pan, brown the stew beef on all sides in the Crisco oil. Combine the water, half cup catsup, light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and the second half teaspoon of salt. Boil over low heat until stew beef is tender. Boil the diced carrots and potatoes, drain and add the Beefy onion Recipe Secrets and one stick light margarine. Cook for one minute and add to beef stew mixture and boil on low heat for two minutes. Serve with a bowl of Minute Rice.

The beginning of apple season

There is a lot of color adorning fruit markets and produce stands as well as supermarkets as the season of the apple harvest begins. Apples come in varied colors of red, green, yellow, pink, and other mixed colors. Apples have a long shelf life and will last for weeks in the refrigerator or in a bowl on the dining room table. Apples are one of those special fruits that are available all year round but especially at this season of year.

Making an old fashioned apple pudding

For this pudding, you will need ten fresh apples, two cups buttermilk, two large beaten eggs, two cups light brown sugar, one cup sweet milk, two teaspoons apple pie spices, two cups plain flour, one teaspoon salt, two sticks light margarine (melted), and tablespoon vanilla flavoring. Peel the apples and cut into one inch chunks (make sure you have enough apples for at least two quarts). Add the buttermilk, beaten eggs, sweet milk, apple pie spices, flour, one teaspoon of baking soda and melted margarine (all in the order listed). Pour into a 13×9×2 inch baking pan or dish. If you have more than enough apple pie filling, use another pan. Spray pan with Pam baking spray and bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

“Mouse in the house?” Wife: “Jack wake up! There’s a mouse in the room, I heard him squeaking.” Husband: “What do you want me to do? Get up and oil him!”

“Unsure.” The man was fleeing down the hall of the hospital just before his operation. “What’s the matter?” he was asked. He said, “I heard the nurse say ‘It’s a very simple operation everything will be alright.’” “She was just trying to comfort you, why are you so frightened about that?” The patient said, “She wasn’t talking to me, she was talking to the doctor.”

“Second opinion.” For years, he thought he was a failure. Then he took a course on positive thinking. Now he is positive that he is a failure.

“Speedo.” State Patrol man: “I clocked you doing 85 miles per hour, friend, is anything wrong?” Motorist: “Yes, officer, I forgot to connect my radar detector!”

When was the last time you ordered something off Amazon? Was it practical or fun?

For years the online shop platform has dominated the shopping scene, offering discounted items and cheaper or free shipping to the masses. Customers can practically buy anything and everything their hearts desire with a click of a button. For many people around the world, this is the best way to shop, there is no need to drive to a store, encounter crowds, or feel pressured to complete your shopping in a single session.

While Amazon’s rise to fame is a relatively new phenomenon, it wasn’t the first shopping experience of its kind. Sears, Roebuck and Company offered anything and everything people needed or wanted in everyday life. Substantial catalogs were delivered straight to customers’ doors simply waiting to be opened.

The company started in the late 1880s with a man named Richard W. Sears, who sold gold watches for $14 a piece out of a mail order catalog. After finding the mail-order business so successful, he partnered with Alvah C. Roebuck and Julius Rosenwald to create the monolith of a book that sold everything from wheelbarrows to houses.

The Rural Free Delivery Act of 1896 and the rise of disposable income created a rise in rural consumerism. Items could now be delivered straight to families outside of city or town limits. For many Americans, these large catalogs allowed them to view a different culture, that may have been different from their own. Not only did the company advertise singular items, but they also offered choices. Customers could choose colors, styles, and makes that differed from their neighbors, allowing individuality to also reign true in buying choices.

As the company continued to grow so did its customer service, by the turn of the century the company boasted “Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back,” saying that “every article in this catalog is honestly described and illustrated.”

Richard Sears himself wrote all the copy for the catalog until his retirement in 1908. In 1906 a three-million-square-foot distribution warehouse was built in Chicago, helping to organize and distribute the majority of its wares. In 1908 the company began to sell house kits of prefabricated supplies, with explicit instructions on how to set them up.

With the rise of automobiles, the company saw itself changing once again. The first Sears brick-and-mortar store opened in 1925, and the company launched Allstate Insurance in 1931. It wasn’t until the late 1970s and early 1980s that the company was challenged as the forerunner in retail experiences. The famed catalog continued until 1993 when the company leadership decided to switch its priorities to match the changing times of the world.

For years the Sears and Roebuck catalog brought the world to everyday people. Through the seasons, especially Christmas, the catalog allowed people to dream and hope for the extra things in life. Here in the Hollows and surrounding counties catalogs such as Sears provided a new way of reaching necessary and some unnecessary products.

Some of the older catalogs are hard to come by, seeing as most people used the valuable paper for other things as new catalogs came in. Cracking open one of these catalogs is a step back in time and while we just have a few pictures here, Ancestry.com and the Library of Congress websites have multiple uploads that can help paint a better picture of all the catalog had to offer.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

With autumn less than two weeks away, it’s time to stir up a bit of pre-autumn weather lore to boost the change of the season. When the hawk flies high, we can expect Carolina blue sky, but when the hawk flies low we can expect a blow. There are all kinds of hawks around the garden plot, the crafty chicken hawk is the most common. When he flies low, he can be a hard blow for the birds. Their activity ceases and everything gets quiet. The birds have a weapon which is communication with each other and they also perform a disappearing act when the chicken hawk flies low. After all the birds get settled in their hideaways, several sentries will gather together and chase the hawk away in flight. After danger is past, the birds return to their activity and singing. It is amazing how tame they seem when a chicken hawk flies low. They place themselves in “fly and hide” mode when the chicken hawk is looking for a meal. They always have to stay a step ahead of the swooping chicken hawk.

Preparing for the long journey South

The hummingbirds are busy at the feeders as autumn gets ready to make its advent. They are on a mission as they arrive early at the feeders and visit often all the way until sunset. Keep plenty of nectar in the feeders so they will feel at home as the annuals of summer continue to slow down and a cool nip invades the twilight air. Your feeder of nectar will boost their source of nourishment. The hummers should be in our area until around the first week in October. It is then that cool temperatures will signal that their journey to winter in Mexico is imminent. Their long trip will take them across the Gulf of Mexico.

Broccoli performs better in winter

Broccoli can be raised in the garden in both early spring and in autumn. Broccoli performs much better by far during the season of autumn because during the colder temperatures there are no cabbage butterflies laying eggs and hatching larvae and virtually zero insect pests. The heads last over a long season and don’t bolt into seed until late spring assuring a longer and productive harvest.

The varieties that produce multiple shoots over a long season such as Blue Comet, Premium Crop, Raab, Packman, De Cicco, and Lieutenant. Johnny’s Select Seeds has great varieties of broccoli that perform well in over- winter production such as Arcadia, Marathon, and Eastern Magic. You can order a catalog from them at Johnny’s Select Seeds, 955 Benton Avenue, Winslow, Maine 04901-2601. The Johnny’s catalog has one of the largest selections of greens in the country as well as herbs and bee balm seed. Set broccoli plants about three feet apart for winter production. Keep the heads and shoots cleanly harvested and they will continue to produce until early spring.

The season of the mum is with us

These colorful flowers are making their appearance in nurseries, hardware’s, garden centers, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvements, Ace Hardware, and Walmart. Mums will endure through the harshness of winter with some protection such as keeping them toward the rear of the porch away from cold north winds and covering with a towel or cloth on freezing nights. Remove cloth when temperature rises above freezing. Mums come in colors of yellow, white, brown, maroon, pink, and wine. Feed them once a month with Flower-Tone organic flower food. Water them sparingly to prevent the medium in container from freezing. Keep them toward rear of the porch all winter for protection from cold and freezing temperatures.

The first pie pumpkins are appearing

The pumpkins for cooking and canning are now appearing at produce and fruit markets and can be purchased for pumpkin pies or for canning to make pumpkin pies or desserts all year long. Home canned pumpkin is much better than canned store-bought pumpkin because that commercially canned pumpkin has more water and not enough flavor, and has a lack of texture.

Here is how to make the very best canned pumpkin for pies and recipes. Select the pumpkins that are not round (these are strictly for decoration and jack o’ lanterns). Buy the pumpkins that are oblong or shaped like watermelons and may be very light orange, beige, or tan in color, but will be dark yellow or orange inside. Slice the pumpkins in half and remove the seeds. Divide pumpkin into slices and peel each slice and cut the slices into one-inch sized chunks. Place the chunks in a canner and cover with water and boil until tender. Drain all water from the cooked pumpkin. Run the pumpkin through the blender in grate mode or mash pumpkin with a potato masher. Pour the grated or mashed pumpkin into sterilized pint jars, draining any excess water. Process in a pressure canner at ten pounds pressure for fifty minutes. One pint of this pumpkin will two make pies.

Plenty of time to set out spring bulbs

It is not too early to have thoughts of spring 2023 and begin by purchasing the bulbs of hyacinth, jonquils, daffodils, crocus, tulips, and narcissus. Most hardware’s, nurseries, garden centers, Home Depots, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and Walmart have bulbs in stock. They also have bone meal and bulb booster to help get bulbs off to a good start. Purchase bulbs that are in individual bins or mesh bags so you can check for rot or mold. Bulbs can be planted from now until before the ground freezes.

When to expect autumn’s first frost?

With autumn less than two weeks away, when is the first frost of autumn expected? The chances are rare that we will see an early frost, in fact most of our first frosts occur the week before Halloween although Oct. 15 is the date frost can be possible. The first frost is usually just a dusting but not a killing frost which occurs around the first of November.

The September front porch is comfortable

The four o’clocks are still in full bloom. The crows are making their noise as well as the crickets and the humming birds are still on the zoom. The mid-summer roses are still in bloom stage and the zinnias are on their last leg of summer. The porch is comfortable as the sun begins to set and produce the colors that will end in a sunset pattern. There is a new season just beyond that horizon that will open in less than two weeks.

The first of autumn leaves turning

There is a red tint in the leaves of the dogwood and some yellow in the maples and a few leaves are already falling. As the leaves will soon be covering the lawn, remember that they are ingredients for compost, mulch, and a blanket for cool weather vegetable crops, and to protect rose bushes and azalea during the cold winter. Never burn leaves or let the wind blow them away, but put them to a good use.

Making a four layer Dirt Dessert

This is a no-bake, easy to make dessert that you can prepare in just a few minutes. You will need one package of chocolate Oreo cookies, two three ounce boxes of Jello instant chocolate pudding mix, one cup 10x confectioners powdered sugar, one eight ounce package of cream cheese, two eight ounce tubs of Cool Whip, one stick light margarine. For the first layer: In a 13x9x2 inch baking dish, break the cookies and lay on bottom of the dish. Melt the stick of light margarine and pour over the cookies.

For the second layer: Mix the 10x sugar, one of the cartons of Cool Whip and the eight ounce pack of cream cheese (softened). Mix all together in a bowl and allow it to set until you mix the third layer and then spread this second layer over the cookies.

For the third layer: Mix the two boxes of instant chocolate pudding mix with two cups of milk and let set to thicken. Spread over the second layer.

For the fourth layer: Spread the other tub of Cool Whip over the top of the chocolate pudding layer and run about eight Oreos through the blender in “grate” mode and sprinkle over the top of the Cool Whip.

September is time to plant perennials, evergreens

September provides the best opportunity of the year for planting evergreens and perennials because the days are getting cooler and the root systems of evergreens and perennials can establish themselves over the winter. They will suffer less transplant shock because perennials and evergreens are very cold hardy. We like the perennials of bee balm, columbine, bugle weed, creeping phlox, coral bells, diantus, creeping jenny, and thrift. Planting in September will provide them a good start and you can enjoy green in winter for many years to come.

Two frogs were sitting on a log by the creek bank. One of them leaned toward the other and said, “Time sure is fun when you are having flies.”

Two desserts. Mom: “Today, we are having two desserts and you have a choice of good or evil.” Johnnie: “What do

mean by that?” Mom: “Angel food and devil food!”

The bright night of Full Harvest Moon

The brightest full moon of the year will rise on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 10. If the night is cool, this moon will be a bright silver moon and shine down on corn fields filled with feed corn ready to harvest. It will shed its light on trees that are not far from shedding their leaves. Keep an eye on this moon each night before you go to bed as it sails along through the night. Think about farmers of the past who harvested crops by the light of a harvest moon or Bill Monroe or Eddy Amold singing the “Kentucky Waltz:” We were waltzing alone in Kentucky beneath the beautiful harvest moon. When I was a boy in Kentucky, out it all ended too soon. I see your face in the moonlight and I long once more to see your face and the beautiful Kentucky Waltz.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

It still stands today on Pine Ridge Road in Surry County; a quarter mile south of the Virginia state line; an ancient barn made entirely of chestnut logs. It was there when the Wright Brothers flew Kitty Hawk and when Lindberg flew the Atlantic. It saw both world wars, jet planes and television come on the scene and it was there when men walked on the moon. It has seen good times, bad times and times in-between and if those old log walls could talk, what stories they could tell. Maybe they can talk; let’s listen in.

“Hello there, stranger, why don’t you pull up a chair and let me tell you a story. I’m one of the 40 logs that make up the walls of this old log barn you’re looking at. I go back to a time before our country’s Civil War, when one long ago spring, I came into being as a bloom high in a hillside tree. Come late summer, I had grown into a chestnut, fell from the tree, rolled downhill and hid under some fallen leaves until spring, when (wonder of wonders) I sprouted and became a chestnut tree.”

“As the years rolled by, I grew tall and survived everything Mother Nature threw my way until around 1900, when the land owner (Jim Smith, by name) came into the woods hunting trees to build himself a barn. When he laid eyes on me, I became one of his barn logs and that became my lucky day, because within a few short years, a blight killed every chestnut tree still standing in the land.”

“Some wondrous things have happened along the way, as the thunderstorms of summer and the deep snows of winter came over that mountain back there. I watched covered wagons and horseback riders pass by on that road out there, where automobiles race by today.”

“Jim Smith and his wife Carrie lived in a log cabin home next door and eked out a living from the rocky hillsides here on the North Carolina/Virginia state line. They heard about the Great Depression, but with hard times being their normal times, they just kept doing as always. They earned their daily bread by slaving away in the hot summer fields; knowing that no matter how cold or how deep the snow, they would be warm, fed and safe from harm; come winter time.”

“It was in their home next door where new lives came into being and old lives came to an end. I watched their kids play, grow up and move away. I watched Jim and Carrie fight the “good fight” and grow old along the way. They’ve now been gone for a very long time, but if I listen close, I can still hear Jim calling his fox-hounds with his fox horn (made of a cow’s horn) from a far hilltop in the wee hours of the morn.”

“After all these years, I’m thankful to still be here beside the road; watching the seasons come and go and wondering what tomorrow will bring. It has been said that a log cabin built in the right moon sign would last for a hundred years. At better than 120 years, it works for me and I hope to still be here for a very long time to come.”

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a feature of The Mount Airy News, presenting commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

On Aug. 15, students and families were welcomed back to our school campuses by staff who have been eagerly awaiting their arrival. Over the past month, teachers have been setting up their classrooms. Child Nutrition staff have been busy planning menus. The Transportation Department has been ensuring that our safe routes to school are ready with pick-up, drop-off, and adjustments for each school around the district. Our maintenance and custodial teams have been hard at work throughout the summer, and the schools are looking great. On behalf of the district, I would like to send appreciation to all who worked throughout the summer to make sure our schools were ready for students on day one.

This new school year brings with it the opportunity for our district to introduce a new yearly theme: “ALL in.” “ALL” stands for Achievement, Leadership, and Life, which are pillars of the Surry County Schools strategic plan. Our strategic plan serves as the compass for our district, directing us to follow the path that best serves our students. We are “ALL IN” every day as we focus on providing for the whole child.

Academic focus areas this school year begin with improving literacy instruction through the state required LETRS training for PreK-5 classroom teachers, elementary exceptional children’s resource teachers, multilingual teachers, and reading specialists. We are certainly excited about the launch of the new elementary Reveal Math textbook. Additionally, all other educators will be participating in their choice of professional development sessions led by teacher leaders from across the district focused on increasing student engagement in all content areas. All of these efforts are aligned to increasing student academic achievement outcomes.

A new year brings the opportunity for growth in our career and technical education offerings. Along with classes, students can look forward to the addition of a new poultry lab at Surry Central High School. Through a partnership with Wayne Farms, Surry County Schools will be able to offer students the opportunity to learn the process of raising a broiler until it is processed. Surry Central High School will also be the site of a new live animal lab, further solidifying the partnership between Surry County Schools and Surry Community College. Teachers will use the facility at Surry Central High School in the animal science program and instructors at Surry Community College in the animal science degree program to offer hands-on instruction on raising calves, goats, piglets, and other small animals. Students from the high school and college will receive valuable training in the field of animal science in this cooperative lab.

The new school year also brings the opportunity for students to continue to grow through our leadership framework, which introduces attributes that help students lead with self, lead with others, and change their world. Surry County Schools believes our students can go out into the world and truly make a difference. The same sentiment echoes with our dedicated employees. Last year, we launched this program within schools for our students and were excited to see the growth that occurred as they learned leadership skills individually and collectively.

Along with welcoming returning students and staff, the district is excited to welcome new students and staff members to the district. Surry County Schools has seen a boost in enrollment, growing from 7,303 in 2021-2022 to 7,552 this year. Many families are returning to our schools this year from homeschooling and hybrid learning environments and we are excited to welcome them. Additionally, principals worked hard during the summer to recruit and hire the best of the best for their schools. Today, we only have 4 certified openings in Surry County Schools! We realize that opening schools this year has been a challenge for some due to staffing but we are thankful to be in a school system where principals have worked tirelessly to staff their schools with talented educators.

In Surry County Schools, we are dedicated to making an impact through our strategic plan in our schools, in our communities, and in our world. We are “ALL IN” on strengthening our approaches to safety in schools, Career and Technical Education, leadership opportunities for staff, and additional enrichment programs for students. I look forward to being ALL IN with our students, staff, and families this year!

This summer, during one of our camps sponsored by the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, I asked the kids, as we made biscuits, where do you think the pioneers got their flour from? Most said it was from farming or stores, but one child said, “we get it from factories but pioneers didn’t have those.”

Not only did they have flour-making factories, but they were one of our earliest industries in the region and they were called gristmills.

In the days of the pioneers, flour could come from grains of wheat, corn, rye, and oats, and if you were lucky, it was ground in a crucial community business, the gristmill. Gristmills get their name from grist being another word for grain and a mill or milling meaning grinding things.

Even without a mill, flour could be ground; but it was often a tedious and difficult task. Some pioneers used small hand mills, some made specialized mortar and pestle (a method they learned from Native Americans), and some used a quern. The quern is a tool that has been around since the stone age and is made with two flat stones. All of these techniques were labor- and time-intensive, so as early pioneers started to form communities and farming increased, there was a need for machines to help them grind flour and mills.

That need for mills had at least 37 of them operating in Surry County and employing more than 200 people by 1850. One of the biggest of this time was Kapps Mill in Mountain Park that was powered by the Mitchell River.

Kapps Mill started operations back in 1827, when it was run by a firm called Nixon and Jackson, but in 1843 John Kapp purchased the mill along with the 800-acre property it sat on. John Kapp luckily came from a family familiar with mill work.

His grandfather, Jacob Kapp, ran a mill in Bethabara (part of present-day Winston Salem) until his daughter and son-in-law took it over. Jacob even notably had his mill stones carved from local granite.

What did it take to be a miller? Most Millers had to be educated, physically fit, and skilled to be able to do their job. There were books to learn about milling and you would need to be able to measure and count well. A miller would also need to be able to carry sacks of flour, repair the machinery, and had so much to do they often had a full work day. All this hard work wasn’t without benefits though, many mill owners were often highly respected.

In Kapps Mill, like many mills, the bottom floor housed the gears and mechanics of the mill that kept the grind stones moving with the water wheel turning and powering it all.

Grain is crushed between two big flat stones called millstones. The distance between the two stones had to be adjusted for different types of flour, and getting it right wasn’t easy. Wheat traditionally needed less space than corn, and the stones could never touch, or the flour would ‘spoil.’

Even the design of the stones was highly detailed as many had furrows or engraved markings that helped take off the grain’s outer husk and move the flour to the outside of the stone where it would fall into a collection space.

Millers faced many problems from the constant threat of fire from machinery, pests, floods that could damage the milldam or the mill, and accidents from working with dangerous heavy machines.

Getting crops to the mill could also be difficult as there were few roads at this time and it could be a long trip, but it was worth the effort.

Gristmills were often not just places you went to have your crops ground into flour, but many included blacksmiths, workshops, and even general stores. The general store offered travelers a place to rest and eat while they waited, and they could even stock up on supplies and trade some of their flour (a usual form of payment for the mill’s work.) Kapps Mill in its heyday had a general store, blacksmith shop, and even a post office.

The mill went through many renovations, but was eventually closed around 1935 by John Kapp’s son-in-law, Ivry Wallace, because the mill was no longer profitable. Kapps Mill continued to have a place in the community even after it closed, and would become known for trout fishing and its scenic view of the 120-foot dam that had remained operational for more than 100 years. Sadly, the dam was blown out by Hurricane Michael in 2018, but that doesn’t mean all history is lost. Private owners are working to make the estate a space for the community once again.

Cassandra Johnson is the programs and education director for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with a background in environmental and natural sciences.

Four o’clocks still going strong

Four o’ clocks are still going strong in the last days of August. With Daylight Savings Time still in effect, these flowers could actually be named five o’clocks! Usually they open their blooms around five o’clock or later. The four o’ clocks could be called the longest lasting of all summer annuals because they are in bloom from mid-spring all the way until a hard freeze in November. We have several that are perennial and come back every year. One of these varieties is speckled and has wine and white features while others are solid wine.

A late summer cool off for the birds

On steamy hot mid-summer afternoons, empty the sun-heated water from the bird bath and refill it with fresh cool water. When the late summer sun shines down, it dries water in mud holes or puddles and a lack of thunderstorms, makes it difficult for them to find water. You’re providing them a fresh cool source of water that will continue to attract all types of birds to your lawn.

Making a cool summer fresh carrot salad

This is a great salad for a summer supper. It doesn’t require much prep time and is tasty and colorful. You will need two cups of finely shredded carrots, one can pineapple tidbits (drained), one cup golden raisins, half cup of mayonnaise, half cup sugar, two teaspoons lemon juice, one teaspoon of real vanilla, half teaspoon orange flavoring. Drain and save juice from pineapple tidbits, soak the golden raisins in the pineapple juice for 30 minutes. Mix sugar into the drained pineapple. Refrigerate the pineapple and sugar for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drain the juice from raisins and discard. Drain juice from pineapple and discard. Mix all ingredients and stir in mayonnaise vanilla, orange flavoring and lemon juice. Cover and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve. This salad is better when refrigerated overnight and has a life of a week in the refrigerator. The colder it is the better it is.

Crows of late summer making noise

The crow population seems to be getting larger and the crows don’t seem to be shy around humans. We have several nests of them in our area. Some of them even visit the birdbaths. They don’t seem to bother anything in the garden. They seem to find plenty to eat from road kill along U.S. highway 52. With all the nests, they must be hatching plenty of young. Like the buzzards, they are useful scavengers and help the environment.

A nip in the night air of late

When the evening sun goes down the late August porch has a comfortable nip in the twilight air. Birds are more active and the humidity is lower. The sunsets are getting a bit more colorful. Squirrels are beginning to harvest the first of the acorn crop. There is a hint of yellow and orange in the maples and red in the dogwoods. All these are signs that we are nearing the advancing season of autumn.

Recycling potting soil from summer

The annuals of summer are winding their way down and the time to plant the annuals of autumn has arrived. The medium that the summer annuals are planted in can be recycled and used for planting the annuals of autumn such as pansies, mums, and ornamental kale and cabbage. Empty the medium from containers, pots and hanging baskets into the wheel barrow and add the same amount of new medium and half that amount of peat moss and stir it all together. Add two quarts of Flower-Tone organic flower food and stir it in. Use this medium to plant the annuals of autumn.

Making a batch of pear preserves

The season of the pear harvest is now here. It is the time to take advantage of the harvest and prepare a batch of honey pear preserves to use on toast for breakfast on a cold winter morning. It will certainly taste like none you purchase at any supermarket. It is easy to prepare and all you need are pears, sugar and water plus time and patience. Just peel the pears and cut into two inch chunks and place the chunks in a canner of salted water (to prevent pears from turning brown). After peeling and cutting all the pears into chunks, allow them to soak in salt water for 10 to 15 minutes, drain the water from pears and rinse with fresh cold water and soak for 15 minutes. Measure the pears into the canner. For each cup of pears, add three fourth cup of sugar. And three quarts of water to the pears and sugar and stir well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Stir the mixture often until it becomes syrupy, reducing heat and continue to stir to avoid sticking. Keeping a close eye on the mixture and reducing heat as needed. Dip a spoon into it every few minutes check for thickness. As it begins to turn golden brown and begins to thicken, place a drop of the syrup in a cup of cold water when the syrup forms a ball in the cold water, pour it into pint or jelly jars and seal. Process for five minutes in a hot water bath canner or in a pressure canner, bring the jars up to five pounds pressure and turn off the heat.

August ends and colorful sunsets begin

August only has three more days in it and when September begins we can look forward to the beauty of some colorful sunsets as an attribute of one of the many of the splendors of the month. As the days get shorter and cooler, it paves the way for color in the western sky as the sun sets. The colors of red, orange, yellow, pink and bluish purple will tint the western horizon as the sun slowly sinks into the west and it casts a glow on the trees that have leaves already beginning to turn to some of the same colors that are showing up in the glorious sunsets.

These ornamental come in the colors of red, cream, yellow, mint green, wine and burgundy as well as pink. They can replace some of the annuals of summer. These ornamental will last through the whole winter with a small amount of protection such as placing them toward the back of the porch to avoid extreme winter wind from the north and hard freezes. A cloth or towel for protection on below freezing nights.

Filling late summer annuals with pansies

The tough autumn and winter flowers of pansies are brightening up the hardwares, nurseries, garden shops, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware and Walmart. Pansies have beautiful dark green foliage that will endure winter as well as unusual colors of flowers with faces on them. You can purchase them in six and nine packs and most are already in bloom. You can choose from yellow, purple, white bronze, wine, tan, maroon, and lavender. Buy a bag of pansy booster to give the pansies a good start into cool weather

Bulbs for spring can be planted now

With September only four days from now, the bulbs of tulips, jonquils, crocus, narcissus, daffodils, and hyacinths can now be planted. Planting them now will assure them a good start. Buy bulbs in mesh see-through bags or from individual bins so you can see and feel the bulbs and know they are not molded or rotten. You can also buy a bag of bulb booster to get bulbs off to a good start.

Working in the autumn garden

In autumn, the garden is more comfortable to work in with less heat and humidity. Not many insects and not much weeds to contend with. The soil is workable and the choice of cool weather vegetables is great and now is the time to get all of them off on a good start.

“Pay Up Time.” Wife: “There is a man at the door who wants to see you about a bill you owe him. He wouldn’t give his name.” Husband: “What does he look like?” Wife: “He looks like you had better pay him!”

“Wrong Knock.”- On a moonlit country road, the car coughed and came to a halt. The young driver said, “That’s funny, I wonder what that knocking was.” The young girl sitting next to him said, “I can tell you one thing. It was not opportunity!”

“Bluffing.” Bill: “If you refuse to be mine, I’ll jump off that cliff.” Jill: “That’s just bluff.”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

Ever think about going back to the old home place where you grew up? Is it still there? If so and it’s not too far away, maybe you should before it’s too late. Should you go, take along a camera, “sit a spell,” picture in your mind how it used to be and you will be glad you did, I guarantee.

I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains; about as close to the land as it was possible to get. As our ancestors had done for generations, we plowed the land, sowed the seeds and prayed for rain, without which the crops would not grow. On many a day, I hoed corn in the hot summer sun; vowing to grow up and get away. Lo and behold, I finally married and moved away; knowing the old folks and the old home place would always be there when I went back.

Thomas Wolfe tells us in his novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” but thanks to memory and some old photographs, I beg to differ. On a day to remember, I drove back to the family homeplace on Banjo Lane just off Pine Ridge Road in Surry County; where (in 1936) my parents built a log cabin home that was the beginning of the place we called “home” for some 48 years.

Sad to say, the only remains of the home and buildings were some broken cinder blocks from the underpinning, some bricks from the flue, the old well and a hole in the ground where the cellar used to be. A small black walnut tree beside the yard was now a huge black walnut tree and the pasture where the horse and cow once grazed? Now full of trees.

The chestnut oak tree that hung over the road? Still there; the same tree we hung the hog from at killing time to clean it out and wash it down. I could almost see Pa making hams, tenderloin and side-meat with his axe and butcher knife, right there under the tree. There was our house nearby: our safe haven from the storm, our sanctuary, the place we came back to at the end of the day when tired and worn; to sleep the night away safe from harm. I could feel the heat from the wood heater on cold winter mornings when Pa fired it “as hot as she’ll run.” I could taste the “out-of-this-world-good” meals Mama cooked: stacks of buckwheat pancakes yea’ high, white-sop gravy, biscuits that floated in the air, along with pies and cakes; all made from scratch. To top it off, I could smell the coffee perking on the wood cook stove.

I fought honeysuckle and blackberry jungles down to the spring we once carried water from. On the way down, four wild turkeys flew up almost in my face and I almost ran. The old spring that was once so bold? Now just a trickle and almost gone like the spring box, the old garden place and the cow shed made of sawmill slabs that stood nearby.

I could see it in my mind; Pa plowing the ‘tater patch nearby, while my brother and I hoed dirt up around the plants. There was Mama washing clothes in the wash-tub beside the spring and hanging them on the garden fence to dry.

Just down the valley, I could see maple trees blooming red again, as spring came again to the land. Up on the hillside? Apple, pear and peach trees blooms lit up the whole world; assuring us we had survived another “hardest winter I ever seen.” It was just like being there in the old days and I was glad.

Maybe Thomas Wolfe could not go home again, but (as I learned) you and I can and the old home place and the old folks will always be there, if only in memory.

In Matthew 26 we find Jesus has gone into the Garden of Gethsemane. He took Peter, James and John with Him and tells them to pray. Jesus then goes farther into the garden to be alone to pray to the Heavenly Father. When he returns, he finds these disciples asleep.

He wakes them up and warns them; “Matthew 26: 41: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It is the same warning that we need to be aware of in our lives today. Many of us act as if we could never be tempted to sin or to drift away from faithful service to the Lord.

I want us to look at three temptations each believer faces in this day we live. These temptations tempt us to make our wants a priority and not allow the Lord to have control of our lives.

The first is the “Temptation to Whine.” We seem to find so many things to whine or complain about as we go through this life. We want to talk about the things we don’t have or gripe about the things we do have. I see the Children of Israel as the Lord brought them miraculously out of Egypt and through the wilderness and yet they always seemed to find something to whine or complain about to Moses.

God calls us to serve Him, and it seems that no matter the situation, we find something to whine about: “I could do more if I had what someone else has” or “If I had the ability to speak like they speak;” or “why can’t I have the same advantages as they have in their life.” Sometimes we whine about others by being critical: “They did it the wrong way, I think it ought to be accomplished another way,” or “I would have done it differently.” So, we accomplish nothing because we have given into the temptation to whine.

We need to be reminded that Jesus, our supreme example, never one time whined. He came to this earth for the purpose of dying on the cross of Calvary to pay a sin debt that He did not owe, in place of worthless sinners like you and me and yet He did not complain or whine but followed the will of the Father. When the temptation to whine comes to us, let us be reminded of what Paul said: Phil:4:11: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

Second there is the “Temptation to Shine.” There are so many people that seem to only want to serve the Lord if they can be the star of the show. They want that special job where they can be seen by everyone. They seem to say ‘If I can’t be the one out front then I will find another place to serve.’ They desire the praise of man and if they do not get that praise, they are not willing to do the unseen jobs that God needs done to carry the message of Jesus to a lost world.

I am reminded of Simon in Acts 8. He saw the disciples’ lay hands on the people and receive the Holy Spirit. He said, “I want to be able to do that.” He offered them money to receive the power of “laying on of hands.” Peter rebuked him for even thinking that he could buy that power. The problem was he saw the power of God demonstrated and he wanted to shine like those apostles of Jesus.

We must remember that no matter how insignificant the job seems that the Lord assigns to us, it is important. Just as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, if we do something for the praise of man, when it is finished, we have our reward from man but not from God.

It is when we do our work for the glory of the Lord, that one day, the Lord will reward us in heaven. We should desire to hear the Lord say: “Well done thy good and faithful servant.” The way that happens is when we forget about who does what, and just be obedient in whatever the Lord calls us to do.

Third, we have the “Temptation to Recline.” This happens when we become indifferent or complacent in the work of the Lord. Let’s be honest, it can happen to all of us, no matter what our calling. We start saying things like: “It is not my job;” “let someone else do it;” “I don’t have time for that job.” There are so many more excuses we use that shows we are reclining on the Lord.

The disciples in the text scripture most likely thought everything would be all right. They may have thought, “Nothing can happen to us, we are disciples of Jesus.” It wouldn’t hurt us to stop and take a nap.”

We must be mindful that time is short and there are people all around us that need to hear the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ. We need to be carrying that message so when Jesus calls us home by death or the rapture, we will be found faithful – not reclining. Jesus has warned us that temptations will come but let’s be watchful and pray that through His power we can overcome.

For the more than half a century, every Labor Day weekend, a sea of antiques, collectables, rare knick knacks, and keen-eyed shoppers flow through the quiet town of Hillsville, Virginia. Customers travel miles from up and down the East Coast and beyond, to attend the Hillsville Gun Show and Flea Market, which is said to be the largest gun show and flea market east of the Mississippi.

From its humble beginning as a fundraising event for the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, it has grown into a spectacle in its own right.

Flea markets can trace their lineage back to ancient times, with the idea coming from open air markets. The first ever “flea market,” which more closely resembles what we envision today, is thought to have taken place in the 1800s in Paris, France. The term “flea market” comes from these early incarnations, thought to be due to the fleas that were said to infest the upholstery of furniture sold at the original French market.

It did not take long for the markets to make the jump across the Atlantic, and the first flea market in the United States is thought to have been set up in the late 19th century in Texas, though the exact location of the original American flea market is highly contested.

The Hillsville Gun Show and Flea Market was the creation of two area men, Glenn Jackson and Pierce Webb. In early 1967, the two were discussing the popularity of gun shows in the South and settled on the idea of opening their own in Hillsville. There was certainly a desire for such a thing, with both Gene Pack, the Hillsville police chief at the time, and Dennis Quesenberry, a local collector of fine guns, also considering the same idea at the time.

Jackson was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Grover King Post 1115, located in Hillsville, and wanted the flea market to assist the post in raising funds. The organization had begun on May 15, 1935 with 27 local veterans from World War One as well as a handful of veterans from other wars. The post was named in honor of the first Carroll County serviceman killed during World War One, Grover C. King.

The post first held meetings in the county courthouse and moved into the organization’s own specially built building in the mid 1950s. Only a few years later, the cost of the new building was paid off in full. But tragedy would strike not long after, when much of the building collapsed and was destroyed in 1968. This meant the VFW post would need to construct yet another building and was looking at ways to afford this new cost.

Knowing the VFW was looking for a new revenue stream and that a gun show would be a viable way of bringing in extra money and visitors to the county, Jackson approached the VFW with his idea, which was approved by the post, and the first Hillsville Gun Show and Flea Market was open for business in 1968.

Every year since 1968, aside from 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the gathering, the market has been up for four days over Labor Day weekend. The event started small, with its first year drawing in 100 vendors and 4,000 visitors. By 1989, there were 1,200 vendors and around 250,000 shoppers. These days, some estimates claim more than a half-million bargain seekers attend the market.

Jackson took a hands-on approach in the event’s early years, from helping vendors set up on the day of, to driving around the South handing out flyers and sticking up posters. Jackson’s marketing was such a success, and brought in so many people, that at one time some VFW members asked that the event stop being promoted as there were just too many people attending.

Another long running local flea market in North Carolina was the Sedgefield Flea Market, just a few miles south of Greensboro. Beginning operation around the same time as its Hillsville counterpart, the market was open one or two days every month. It eventually closed down in 2015.

During the 1970s, a fire broke out at the market, damaging much of the building it was housed in, and destroying thousands of dollars of inventory. At its height, the market saw thousands of customers stream through its gates, and close to 100 vendors.

In the western corner of the state, Asheville’s Dreamland Flea Market opened in 1971, and closed down in the early 2000s. Nearby, ​Smiley’s Markets & Malls, known as Smiley’s Flea Market, was formed in 1984, and remains in operation. In 1991, owner Ben Campen attributed the popularity of flea markets to the low overhead costs for vendors, since usually spaces are rented out for a flat fee.

From France to Texas to North Carolina, flea markets have had a long history. Through their grass roots organization, flea markets often brings communities together, with people ready to both buy and sell all kinds of goods. Throughout their long history, there’s always one thing flea markets have in common: you never know what you’ll find.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

Autumn is now only a month away. A row or bed of purple top turnips can be sown in the garden plot. Temperatures may be warm but the soil after sowing a turnip row or bed can be kept cool with the water wand by spraying water on the row or bed each evening. When sowing the turnip seed, place the seed in a three- or four-inch furrow and apply a layer of peat moss in the furrow before sowing the seed. Thinly scatter seed in furrow and cover with another layer of peat moss. Apply an application of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food and hill up soil on on both sides of furrow. Tamp down soil on top of the row for good soil contact. Keep turnip row or bed watered to cool the soil. The peat moss will absorb the moisture, and promote growth in the remaining warm days of the month of August.

Saint Bartholomew’s Day

Saint Bartholomew’s Day will be celebrated Wednesday, August 24. On his special day, something unusual occurs as the dews of summer mornings begin to become cooler and linger until the middle of the day. The fogs of August may contribute to the cooler dew, but also the fact that the days are getting shorter and late nights of August have a subtle nip that lets us know that autumn is on its way. Many leaves are seeing this subtle hint and have already developed tints of yellow and gold. Cold dew and subtle nip in the night air lets us know this is slowly paving the way for nippy air, Jack Frost, and falling leaves as we move closer and closer to a new season.

The Christmas cactus on the August porch

All four of the Christmas cactus are performing well on the front porch as they enjoy sun and summer as they bask in temperatures that will prepare them for blooms in December. They receive a drink of water each week and an application of Flower-Tone organic flower food once a month. They will be moved inside the sunny living room in late October.

Planting the colorful annuals of autumn

The pots and containers of summer’s annuals can now be replaced with the annuals of fall and winter such as pansies, mums and oriental cabbage and kale. When planting these annuals, add a layer of crushed leaves and water plants often so the leaves will stick to the soil and give added protection later on when temperatures get colder. The oriental cabbage and kale will survive through winter if they are kept out of the north wind in a protected area of the porch and cover with a towel or cloth on freezing nights. Mums will also need a small amount of cold weather protection. The pansies are tougher and will endure the extremes of winter.

Time to set out spring flower bulbs

Most hardwares, nurseries, garden shops, and Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and Walmart or Lowe’s Home Improvement now have displays and bins of spring flowering bulbs of jonquils hyacinth, tulips, daffodils, narcissus, and crocus. They can be planted from now and through the end of October. When you purchase bulbs of spring, choose from those in bins or mesh bags so that you can feel and inspect the bulbs for firmness and texture. You can buy hyacinths in individual and assorted colors. There are several types of jonquils but the King Alfred is most popular. Buy a bag of bulb booster and place a half handful under each bulb. Cover bulbs with a layer of peat moss and a layer of Flower-Tone organic flower food before covering with soil. Cover the area where the bulbs are planted with a layer of crushed leaves. Hyacinths come in the colors of red, pink rose, yellow, lavender, blue, and purple. They also have the sweetest scents of flowering spring bulbs.

Autumn care for the next azaleas

The beautiful green foliage of azaleas have performed well and we enjoyed their colorful blooms in spring. Their evergreen foliage is still lush and green. As August draws to a close they could use a bit of attention as we get closer to autumn. They can now be fed with Holly-Tone evergreen food to give them a boost. In September, a layer of crushed leaves can be placed around them. The foliage can also be trimmed and shaped. Give azaleas a drink of water every ten days.

Time to sow Siberian kale

Siberian Kale is the sweetest and best of all the greens. It can be used raw in a salad or cooked as a green or canned in pint and quart jars. It is sweet, crisp, tender, and quite different from turnip and mustard greens. It is winter hardy and will endure winter and produce all the way until spring. The leaves are a little larger than other greens. A great way to prepare Siberian Kale is to broil a pound of bacon and cut into half-inch chunks, boil Siberian kale in a pot until tender, chop it up after draining. Add mayonnaise to the kale and bacon and add two tablespoons of ranch dressing.

Lining the list of cool weather veggies

As we get well past the middle of August, it is time to plan the autumn garden plot. The seeds of turnips, Siberian kale, curly mustard, mixed greens, onion sets, and spinach can now be sown in the late summer garden. Plants of broccoli, cabbage, collards, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts can also be set out. Keep all cool weather vegetables watered with the water wand not only for moisture, but to cool down the soil.

Making a tasty roasted turkey loaf

When preparing a turkey, and you have any leftover turkey, make a special meal of turkey loaf with the leftovers. For a turkey loaf, you will need three cups of leftover turkey (run through the blender in “grate” mode), one small bag Pepperidge Farm cornbread dressing, one can Swanson chicken broth, small jar Heinz roasted turkey gravy, two large eggs, one envelope Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion Soup mix, one teaspoon poultry seasoning, one teaspoon celery seed, half teaspoon pepper, half teaspoon salt, one cup shredded carrots. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the can of chicken broth over the Pepperidge Farm corn bread stuffing in a bowl and set it aside for fifteen minutes. Mix all other ingredients together in the bowl with dressing and broth. If too dry, add a little water. Form into a loaf or place in a loaf pan or baking dish. Bake for one hour or until loaf is firm. This loaf will serve six persons.

Keeping hummingbirds on the zoom

As the humming birds of mid-summer contend for space at the feeders and fight for domination, keep the feeders filled with nectar. They are now staying pretty active at the feeders and burning a lot of energy. The nectar in the feeders will boost their energy level. You can make your own nectar by mixing two quarts of water and three cups of sugar and several drops of red food coloring in a pitcher of water and pour into a half gallon plastic milk carton. Keep nectar in refrigerator and use as you need it.

August proves to be transition time

As we move through August, we see before us a transitional month with heavy dews, dense fogs, and a subtle hint of autumn in the air, along with the yellow tint in the maples and tiny berries forming on dogwoods. The annuals of summer are slowing down. Days are getting shorter every evening by a minute. The humidity is dropping a bit lower and the garden summer vegetable crops are reaching the harvest stage and some crops are slowing down. Thunder storms are not as frequent. The crickets are sounding off and katydids are less noisy in the mighty oaks. Slowly, silently the late days of August are fulling us into the approaching season of autumn.

“Toothy Sermon.” The pastor visited the dentist for a set of false teeth. The first Sunday after he gets the teeth, he preaches for only eight minutes. The second Sunday, he preaches for ten minutes. The third Sunday, he preached for two-and-a-half hours. As the pastor left the pulpit, many in the congregation asked him what had happened. The pastor replied, “This morning, I put in my wife’s teeth by mistake and I couldn’t shut my mouth up!”

“Return to Sender.” A son wrote a letter to his dad. “Dear Dad, Gue$$ what need most? That$ right. $end it $oon. Be$t wi$he$, Joey.” The father replied. “Dear Joey, NOthing ever happens here. We kNOw you like school, write aNOther letter soon. Mom was asking about you at NOon. NOw I have to say good-bye, Dad.”

“Dumbbells.”Professor: “If there are any dumbbells in the room, please stand up.” There was a long pause and then one student in the back of the stood up. The professor said, “Do you consider yourself a dumbbell?” Student, “Well, not exactly, but I hate to see you standing all alone.”

“The Last Supper” First husband: “When I am near death, I will ask my wife to cook my last meal.” Second husband: “Why would you went her to do that?” First husband: “Then I would feel more like dying!”

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Today’s culture and climate have changed from when most of us attended schools. There are more pathways to college and the workplace. There are opportunities to attend community college and even graduate before finishing high school. The teachers are still experts in their field but on average have more advanced degrees than ever before. Our schools provide flexibility to attend school at home, work full time while attending high school, and intern at area industries leading to full time employment.

All of the amazing opportunities have created great experiences accessible for all children. One of our top priorities in schools remains the ability to safely attend school so students can access these opportunities.

The Office of Justice at the federal level as well as National School Safety and Security Services agree that there are several steps schools can take to make sure they are as safe as possible. While we cannot prepare for every situation, we can work with safety experts and our local law enforcement to make sure our safety is the best it can be. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours with safety preparation but we also know that relationships, communication, and safety plans for staff and students are some of the best measures we can take to ensure everyone is safe and supported.

Some essential steps we have outlined in our school system include strong communication tools, mental health support, security cameras, locked and secure doors, threat assessments, training for emergencies, partnerships with local law enforcement and community partners, and enhanced crisis strategies.

Communication: Some of the steps recommended are to make sure all communication lines are open and every child feels they have someone to talk with at all times. We must create communication pathways that provide access to counselors, social workers, and caring adults. We have online monitoring of student computers, social media, and platforms to tell us if there is anything alarming on these platforms, while also giving us steps to resolve issues before they arise. We have an anonymous reporting system, See Something Say Something, that allows people who see something to get that information quickly to authorities. This gives everyone an avenue for sharing vital information to prevent a crisis. Our multiple ways to engage families through emails, phone calls, social media, and text alerts provides ongoing and up-to-date information is another way to make sure everyone has “on time” information. While the beginning of the year provides a great time to ensure your contact information is up to date, remember that anytime your phone number changes to let your child’s office know. Keeping your current phone number on file is a crucial part of our communication plan.

Mental Health Support: Each of our schools have access to licensed counselors and on-campus mental health support. We have threat assessments to help identify and screen potential issues as well as a road map to experts in our community who can help. Our detailed work on our campuses match up student needs with experts in the field who can help them with strategies to thrive. Although it is not the job of educators to provide mental health support, each of our educators are given tools to help students find the treatment they need that is available to them and their family. Some of our partners such as mentors, graduation coaches, Daymark, Easter Seals, and our See Something Say Something service can make sure students in crisis have the help they need.

Safe Campuses: Secure doors with keyless entry provides ways to control who enters and exits our buildings. These doors have buzz-in systems or systems that are accessed by key cards. It’s critical for all staff and students to keep all doors locked and make sure everyone enters through the main entrances where visitors can be screened. We have door latches that can be utilized without a key from inside a door at all times to secure doors from the inside. Each of our campuses have outstanding alarm systems throughout our buildings and money has been put into these systems in recent years to ensure they are active and working.

Transportation Safety: Smart Bus technology with Tyler Technologies was funded for Mount Airy City Schools by the General Assembly. Traversa Software allows us to have cutting edge cameras on the bus and outside the bus. We have electronic seating charts to make sure we know when students ride the bus, where they are seated, and when they exit. The Ride 360 application allows parents to know where students are at all times. This gives relief to parents to ensure they are at home when a child arrives or if there is a delay in the bus route. The tablet provided to drivers is much safer for them and works similar to GPS in our cars such as telling us if there are road delays ahead, changes in routes, or the most efficient way to travel between two points.

Camera Systems: Our systems have been upgraded over the past few years implementing more than 50 cameras on each campus. These cameras are critical to show all aspects of the campus accessed by your phone or computer system. This system has measures that only allow personnel “as needed” to have access to these cameras. But, they play a critical role in preparing for any emergencies and being able to secure areas quickly.

SRO Officers: Our community and school system feel it is critical to partner with law enforcement and our city government. One of the ways we have done this is to provide three School Resource Officers for our schools. These officers build relationships every day that prevent school incidents. They deliver a preventative curriculum that helps students choose positive ways to respond and help provide strategies that lead to good decision-making. Our SROs are critical in the day-to-day and would be essential in the event of a critical incident.

Emergency Protocols: How adults handle crises from a gas leak to a community threat to an incident on campus is critical. Adults must have training for emergency situations. We train for tornadoes, fires, and critical incidents as well as scenarios that are a surprise to us. These emergency protocols outline what everyone is required to do in the emergency situation. The drills throughout the year as well as resources provided help staff to respond quickly when a situation occurs that is beyond their control. The relief of emergency protocols, detailed with plans that are well throughout can make the difference needed in response time.

Community Relationships: Fire, rescue, EMS, police, churches, mental health support, and community involvement is absolutely critical for our school system. Each of these partnerships fill a need every day and especially during critical incidents. You, as a community member, can make a difference. One of the biggest ways is to volunteer in a school nearby, mentor an at-risk child, provide funds for struggling students, substitute teach, drive a bus, serve a meal, and support the school system. Your encouragement of our staff goes a long way. Attending our events to support children makes an impact and thanking an administrator will not be forgotten.

All of us can work together to make our campuses safe. We know that a lot of emphasis in the past few years has been on physical security. We also know that emphasis needs to be on emotional security. We can all do our part by supporting young people, providing thriving arts programs where they can show their talent, athletic teams where they can learn life skills and enhance their abilities, as well as academic pathways to success. We can all work together to make our community a thriving and safe place to be for the next generation.

In Mark 4: 1-9 we read a parable that Jesus taught to his disciples of the sower and sowing the seed. In this parable we find some truths about being a child of God as we live in the world today. Notice that Jesus started in verse 3 with the word “Hearken” or “listen” because He had something important to teach His listeners. Let’s see some truths from this parable.

First, we see the responsibility of the sower to sow. Jesus used a picture of a farmer who went out into the field and took a bag of seed and when he got there, he began to broadcast or sow the seed. We, as Christians, have a responsibility to sow the seed of God’s word throughout the world in which we live. There are many ways to sow: some preach, some teach, some sing, some witness, and others pray for those who go out; but we all have a responsibility to be a part of the sowing process.

When we realize the responsibility to sow, I believe there are five ways that we are to sow:

– First, we are to sow plentifully. That means we are to sow a lot of seed. I learned on the farm that if you were going to have a bountiful harvest you had to put plenty of seed in the ground. We need to be constantly looking for opportunities to plentifully sow the seed of God’s word in the hearts of others.

– Secondly, we are to sow passionately. Farmers are always excited for springtime to come so they can get a new crop started. We need to have an intense desire to sow the seed of God’s word by telling others the Good News of Jesus Christ and constantly look for an opportunity to share what God has done for us.

– Thirdly, we need to sow compassionately. This is like the farmer who sows with such passion that he waters the seed with his sweat and tears. We need to bathe the seed of God’s word, which we sow in the hearts of others, with tears of prayer, love, and concern for those who are hearing about what Jesus has done for them.

– Fourthly, we need to sow patiently. I have never seen a farmer sow seed today and expect them to be sprouted and producing harvest the next day. We as Christians so often get discouraged if we sow and do not get an immediate harvest. Folks, we must remember it is our job to sow, not produce the harvest. That is God’s job, and He will do His job in His time.

– Fifthly, we are to sow expectantly. No farmer would ever go out and sow seed and say, “Well I am sowing this seed, but I know it will never produce a harvest.” Farmers sow expecting a bountiful harvest, usually more than ever before. That is the attitude that we need to have as Christians when we sow our seed. God will take that seed and produce a greater harvest than we have ever seen. It is when we understand our responsibility that we will begin to do what God has called us to do and that is: to sow the seed.

Second, we need to understand the reliability of the seed. What kinds of seed are we to sow? The Bible is plain in Mark 4: 14 “The sower soweth the word.” When a farmer goes out to plant his crops, he tries to find the very best seed to plant for the greatest harvest possible. We have the very best seed available for us to sow and that is God’s Holy, Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant Word. In God’s word we have wonderful seed. It is wonderful because it tells us of God’s mercy, grace, peace, salvation and so much more.

The word is described as a fire that burns in our heart and must get out; sharp as a two-edged sword that can cut through sin; and so powerful that it can bring salvation and a change to every person who will hear and heed its message. God’s word is a penetrating seed that will penetrate the hardest of hearts and sprout forth the love of God to be shared with all that encounters it. God’s word is also a fruitful seed. Just as the seed goes in the ground and reproduces itself so does the Word of God. When we faithfully sow the seed of God’s word it will produce a harvest of souls that will cause all of heaven to rejoice.

Christians, if we are to make a positive impact on this world for the Lord, we need to heed what we have learned from this parable. We have a responsibility to sow the reliable seed of God’s Word and one day at judgment God will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Are you sowing for the Savior?

The summer is full of nostalgic sounds. The heat brings cicadas and bird songs; dusk brings on the free night show put on by mother nature. Between the lightning and fireflies, who could ask for more?

The buzzing, whirling, and breezes usher in a sense of freedom, producing fond memories in our minds. Some of my favorite sounds and many others in our area are the constant buzzing of our pollen-collecting friends, bees.

While North Carolina and its surrounding states have tons of native bees that aid in pollinating our trees, gardens, and flowers, the non-native honeybee has fascinated us since the mid-17th century. Honeybees are native to Europe, Africa, and Asia and traveled to America on English ships to be used in agriculture. The early 19th century saw beekeeping well established throughout North Carolina, with bee wax being an important exported good from the state.

Our ancestors used all parts of the hive; wax, honey, propolis, and the bees themselves. The wax was used and still is to make candles that smell nicer than the fat renderings originally used for candles. Honey, of course, is a natural sweetener that stores for long periods, never going bad if properly stored. Propolis is another resinous product produced by bees that aid in the building of hives. The sticky dark substance can fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, and inflammation, and sometimes heal the skin.

Folklore also surrounds our buzzing friends with superstitions that cast them as bringers of life. One major tradition is going to tell the bees when someone has died. The lore suggests that the bees will aid in the carrying of the soul to the next place and will produce abundantly for being kept in the loop. If a bee enters your home, you will have visitors soon. If a swarm of bees entered your home, it is a sign of an omen.

On a more practical side, bees were cared for and appreciated due to their pollinating superpowers. The many orchard farmers of our hollow and beyond used bees to spread pollen from blossom to blossom ensuring that the year’s yield of apples would be strong. Many statistics say that bees are responsible for 80%-90% of apple crop pollination. So, when you see bees hovering over your gardens, trees, and flowers try to leave them alone, they’re doing the hard work.

In North Carolina beekeeping had become such an integral part of the agricultural and hobby sector that apiarists or beekeepers from all over the state set a meeting on Jan, 11, 1917 in Winston-Salem starting the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association. The association grew adding chapters from the different counties of the state, and a full-time state beekeeper position at NC State University in 1975. In 1982 a state bee-keeping school was started by Dr. John Ambrose, in his position as the state apiarist. The program is still the largest of its kind in the country.

Surry County has its own beekeeper’s association that meets monthly to discuss various topics and offers a beekeeping class annually. My friend and Master Beekeeper Paul Madren is a member of this group and the 1st Masker Craftsmen Beekeeper in North Carolina. The goal of Master Beekeepers and Craftsmen is to help educate the public about the art of keeping bees. Paul has shared priceless advice with beekeepers all over our state.

This past week he shared some highlights with me: 90% of the pollen and nectar bees receive is from trees, not flowers, and each tree yields a different type of substance (glucose vs. fructose), dark honey is usually better for you, despite being referred to as “bad” honey. Paul also helped move the association into the digital age. At the state organization’s meeting last month he was received as the oldest, and longest member of the association.

You couldn’t choose a better place to get started beekeeping. We are privileged to have such knowledgeable mentors in our own county. Mount Airy is even designated as a “Bee Friendly City.” If you would like to learn more, and there is lots to learn, contact the Surry County Beekeepers Association or the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association.

Thanks to Paul Madren for his sage advice and stories.

Emily Morgan is the Guest Services Manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Making a homemade chicken creamy pie

This chicken pie is fairly easy because you use two frozen nine-inch pie shells and four boneless skinless chicken breasts. For this pie, you will need two nine-inch frozen pie shells, four boneless skinless chicken breasts, half can evaporated milk, one can Campbell’s cream of chicken soup, small jar Heinz chicken gravy, salt, pepper, half teaspoon poultry seasoning, one stick melted light margarine. Boil chicken until tender. While chicken is cooking, lay out the pie shells to thaw (this will be two shells for bottom and two shells for tops of the pies). De-bone the chicken breasts and place half in one shell and half in the other shell. In a bowl, mix the can of cream of chicken soup with jar of gravy and half can evaporated milk and stick of melted margarine, salt pepper and the poultry seasoning. Pour half the mixture on each pie. Cover pies with other two crusts, Pinch edges to seal the pies. Cut slits in tops of the pies. Bake pies on a cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes. One plus of these pies is that you can freeze them.

Starting late tomatoes from seed

As August moves along, it is time to start packets of tomato seed to be transplanted to the garden in late August or early September. The best varieties for early autumn are the determinate varieties such as Celebrity, Mountain Pride, Marglobe, Rutgers, Homestead, and Better Boy. To start tomatoes from seed, use a fine-textured seed-starting medium such as Jiffy organic or Hoffmans. For each seed variety, use a quart flower pot filled with seed-starting medium and allow a handful per pot to cover the seed. Measure enough for each pot that you need. Mix the medium with enough water to moisten it. Scatter the seed over the medium and cover the seed, label each pot with variety of the tomato. Repeat process with each pot. Press down the medium with your fingers for good soil contact. Use a spray bottle such as window and glass cleaner comes in to mist the pots each evening. They will develop two leaves in eight to ten days and be ready to plant in individual pots.

The impatiens have been showing their color

The annual summer charm is the impatiens in containers and hanging baskets as they provide colorful blooms on the porch, deck and in the hanging baskets. They really perform well in hanging baskets as they cascade over the sides of the baskets. They bloom in colors of bright orange, red, white, salmon, pink and wine. With a bit of care they will bloom all the way until frost. The impatiens is also known as “Mary’s Earrings” which is a pretty name for such an unusual flower. The bees as well as the butterflies are attracted to them.

Hard to beat taste of fresh tomato

It was Lewis Grizzard, the Mark Twain of 20th century writers and syndicated columnist for the Atlanta Journal and constitution, who said, “It’s difficult to think any thing but pleasant thoughts when eating a home grown tomato.” These are true words from one of America’s best columnists of the 20th century. A vine-ripened freshly sliced tomato, placed on bread smothered with mayonnaise on both sides and a sprinkling of salt and pepper also on both sides of the bread elicit thoughts as pleasant as you can think.

Starting the seeds of broccoli and collards

As we move through August, the time is ideal for starting broccoli and collards from seed for transplanting to the garden in mid-September. Purchase a bag or two of seed. Starting medium which is especially formulated for starting seeds. Buy the varieties of broccoli and collards you prefer. Use two quart-sized flower pots to start the seed in. Measure out two pots filled with the medium and two handfuls to cover the seed with. Add enough water to moisten the medium. Fill the two pots to within half inch from top of pots. Sprinkle seed from broccoli over top medium and cover with handful of medium. Label the pot because all cole family seed look alike. Repeat the process with the collard seed. Pat soil over the top of medium for good contact with the soil. Use a spray bottle such as glass cleaner comes in and spray a mist on the medium each evening. Keep the pots out of direct sunlight and preferably in the carport or porch. The plants will sprout in eight to ten days. When they develop two strong leaves, transplant to individual pots and keep out of direct sunlight. By mid-September, they should be ready to transplant to the garden plot.

Something different about the month of August is the fogs that occur on many mornings that may send us a hidden message about the upcoming amounts of snow we may receive in the winter months. Rise early before the sun burns off the fog and record the density of the fog and the date and whether the daily fog was heavy, medium, or light. August has 31 days, so record the fog each morning. As winter arrives, check the snow amounts during winter with the amounts of the fogs of August.

Making a batch of smooth apple sauce

The first of the apple harvest is coming in and you can purchase them by the bushel. A warm summer afternoon is a fun time to sit on a shady porch and peel a bushel of apples and make some apple sauce. Peel the apples and drop them in a canner of cold salted water to prevent them from turning brown. Peel all the apples and allow them to soak in the salted water for fifteen minutes. Rinse the apples in the canner of fresh water. Pour apples into the sink and rinse them off. Cut into one-inch chunks and place in canner of fresh water. Boil apple chunks for 10 or 15 minutes until you can stick a fork through them. Remove from heat, drain, and run through the blender in “puree” mode for several seconds. Pour the pureed apple mixture into jars that are sterilized and process in hot water bath canner for 25 minutes. An easier way is to process them in a pressure canner at ten pounds pressure for five minutes.

Taking care of summer roses

The knockout roses of summer are so pretty and are still producing blooms and will produce until the first frost. Roses now need a boost as we move into the second half of the summer. Roses need a boost of Rose-Tone organic rose food once a month until the end of summer. Use the water wand in shower mode to the base of the roses. Cut back long canes and dead head all spent blooms. Spray for leaf mites and Japanese Beetles.

The dew on August mornings linger all the way until afternoon. The dew is a sticky moisture that is not good for mowers and weed trimmers because it sticks to the blades and housings of the mower as well as the feet. Never mow lawn when the dew is still on the lawn. Wait until the sun dries the dew even if it takes until mid-afternoon. Another summer factor is never mow a lawn after an afternoon thunderstorm even if you have to wait until the next day to mow.

An organic, smelly, cure for insect bites

There is nothing more irritating than an insect bite or bee sting whether you are in the garden or on the porch or deck. We have a remedy for the bites and stings if you can tolerate the smell of an onion. Use a half an onion sliced down the middle and rub it on the bite or sting. This is a double cure because first of all, it will relieve the bite or sting and the aroma will prevent another bite or sting.

A quick shot for controlling the weeds

No harmful chemicals are involved in this weed killer solution that works quickly and well on hot dry, summer afternoons, with no rain in the forecast. Just fill a spray bottle with apple cider vinegar and spray the mist on the weeds, while you avoid misting vegetable foliage.

“Men and other men.” There are two kinds of men who will never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.

“Twin Natures.” A man was in court for stealing from a department store. The man said to the judge, “Your Honor, I’m a Christian, I’ve become a new man who did wrong. But I have an old nature also. I was not my new man when I did wrong, but my old man.” The judge responded, “Since it was the old man that broke the law, we will sentence him to 60 days in jail. And since the new man was an accomplice in the theft, we will give him 30 days also. I sentence you both to 90 days in jail. This case is dismissed.”

“Fun Pun.” If a nickle knew what it was worth today, it would feel like a half-cent.

“Fun Pun.” Why did the Cyclops have to close the school? He had only one pupil.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

From “all over” they came on 1940s weekends (Round Peak, Low Gap, Lambsburg and Pine Ridge) to a dilapidated log tobacco barn at the intersection of Pine Ridge and Lowe Roads in Surry County. It was little more than a wide place in Pine Ridge Road called “Easy Street” and after a hard week in the corn and tobacco fields, slaving away at the sawmill and making moonshine, it was fun and games time “down at The Barn.”

As told by local housewives, “All they do down yonder at that old barn is loaf around, guzzle moonshine, make music, play poker and act like they live on Easy Street.”

Truth be known, almost all were hard-working souls who “earned their keep” the only way they knew how; the hard way. For some, including my Pa, (according to Mama) the Barn was their doghouse; their second home, their port in the storm, their home away from home that generated fire and brimstone sermons in local churches and threats to “burn that sinful place to the ground.”

The barn leaned southwest, leaked when it rained and had seen better days, but (come Saturday afternoons and Sundays) a crowd gathered in and played the claw-hammer banjo, fiddle and harmonica, drank R C Colas, ate Moon Pies, and imbibed some of Round Peak’s best moonshine “made right up that holler up yonder under Fisher’s Peak.”

They talked about those not there; who got caught doing what and whom they did it with. They told of strange happenings, like the time William Senter’s barn ran into someone’s automobile. (The driver swore to God he was just driving along in the middle of the road minding his own business, when “here come that d… barn right out in the road in front of me.” That was the same barn William’s one-horse wagon wound up on top of one Halloween night. They told of a family who found a dead cat in their crock of molasses, “You know? They wasted nearly all them ‘lasses gittin’ that dead cat out.” (I sat on my bicycle and listened bug-eyed and almost lost breakfast.)

When the High Sheriff drove up outside, a miracle happened right there in broad daylight. All the cards, money, and moonshine vanished into thin air and the Barn became a house of worship. When asked what they were doing there, the answer was, “We’re holding a little prayer service here, Sheriff; don’t you see that sign up there that says, “Easy Street Church of God?” The Sheriff gave everybody his “dead-eye” look, shook his head, got back in his car and before he was out of sight, the good times rolled again.

Everybody had a great time, but those who had just got home from the Big War had the best time of all. They had seen Germany, Paris, Tokyo and the South Sea Islands and all agreed, there was no place on Earth like home and Easy Street.

We are surrounded by much in this life for which we can rejoice. We find ourselves rejoicing at the birth of a child, a marriage, a graduation, buying a new home, and a host of other significant events. However, it seems that we fail to rejoice when it comes to what spiritually and eternally matters. When was the last time someone heard us rejoicing in our salvation and what the Lord has done for us?

In writing to the Christians who lived in Rome we find Paul has much to say about salvation and what Jesus did for us on the cross. In Romans 8:14-17, he mentions several reasons we should rejoice and praise our Lord and Savior. When I look at this portion of Scripture, I see four reasons that stand out and I would like to share those with you.

The first reason we should rejoice is that “We have a Father.” When we are born-again into the family of God we are adopted by the Father and become children of God. In verse 15 Paul uses the term “Abba” when referring to God as our Father. This is a term of deep affection and endearment. It gives us a picture of saying I have a “daddy” in heaven. When we realize just how much our Father in heaven does for us, we have to rejoice that we are His children. He provides for us, leads us, protects us, loves us, and even chastises us. So, we must rejoice that we have a “Father” in Heaven.

The second reason we should rejoice is that “We have a Family.” In verse 14 we find that Paul uses the word “sons,” which is plural. That simply gives us a picture that when we were born into the kingdom of God we were also born into the “family” of God.

When we are part of the family of God there are some great benefits. We do not have to walk through this world alone; we have brothers and sisters to walk with us. When something terrible happens, we have someone to cry with us. When something good happens there will be someone to rejoice with us. There have been times when we as believers say, “If I had not had my brothers and sisters in Christ, I do not know how I would have made it through those tough situations.” We also know that being part of the “family” there are those that will pray for us, encourage us, exhort us, and love us. Being in God’s “family” is truly a reason to rejoice in our salvation.

The third reason we should rejoice is that “We have a fortune.” In verse 17 Paul talks about being “heirs and joint-heirs.” According to the Roman law of that day the adopted child would receive all the rights that a natural born child would have. Under Roman law a natural born child could be disowned by their father, but an adopted child could never be disowned. That means that we are forever part of the family of God. (Praise God).

The term joint-heir also means that Jesus, being the only begotten first-born Son, would receive a double portion of the Father’s inheritance. As a joint heir of the Father’s inheritance Jesus says, “I will share it with my adopted brothers and sisters.” We are part of the family of God that not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills but also owns the hills. Grasping such a truth gives us reason to rejoice in our salvation and the “fortune” we possess in Christ.

The fourth reason we should rejoice is that “We have a future.” I am thankful that as a child of God, He meets all my needs while on this earth, but when death comes and my journey on earth is over, it is not the end. As a result of faith in Christ we can have a future in the presence of the Lord in heaven.

Scripture teaches us, our limited minds cannot begin to imagine what heaven is like. I do know that the Bible teaches it will be a place where there are no more tears, sickness, disease, sorrow, pain, suffering, death, or sin. We will see our loves ones that have died in Christ, and there will be no sun light needed because the Son, Jesus Christ, will be the light of an eternal day. Having such a hope gives us a great reason to rejoice in our future.”

I want to encourage each Christian, share your faith with others by being found rejoicing in what Christ has done, is doing, will do for you through Jesus Christ. If you cannot rejoice today because you do not know this wonderful Savior, I encourage you to seek out someone who can share with you the life changing message of Christ. Then you, too, can rejoice in the salvation found in Jesus Christ.

Willie Byrd Williams was a schoolteacher and, like many people in Surry County, also a farmer. In 1913 he entered some of his corn harvest in a fair exhibit. It must have been some fine corn because he won for the best ear of seed corn.

He took that premium money straight to Dobson to buy a marriage license.

He and his sweetheart, Cornelia Jane Bray, were married for 57 years and raised their daughters, Ola and Minnie, in their Zephyr home just north of Elkin. They were also active supporters of the Zephyr Community Fair and the Surry County Fair for their whole lives.

Fairs and carnivals were a great excuse for people to come together and have fun. The Surry County Fair, from the beginnings in 1916, has scheduled hot air balloons, airplane stunts, side show acts, rides, and fireworks to entertain.

But their primary purpose in the beginning was much more practical. In the days before the internet, television, or radio, fairs allowed farmers and other businesses to promote their products to a much larger audience than they would otherwise be able to reach. They also provided education for young and old.

“The man who … fails to attend misses a fine opportunity to meet his neighbors and see what is being done by other people in the various occupations of life.” Mount Airy News, Sept. 25, 1919.

Farmers and business owners got to see new products that local stores were not able to carry or to see how seeds or fertilizers from various companies behaved in local soil with a reduced financial risk.

Companies such as Chesapeake Guano Company of Baltimore, Maryland, that specialized in fertilizer for tobacco in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, were popular in this region for decades. In 1886 they advertised in the Yadkin Valley News (predecessor to the Mount Airy News) that the judges of the NC State Fair in Raleigh granted their product the highest award for manure.

I know it’s tempting to chuckle at that, but for farmers it was no laughing matter. The right fertilizer combined with other progressive farming practices increased production dramatically at the turn of the last century. Corn yield went from 12 to 20 bushels per acre, wheat from 9.5-11.5. The US population was growing at an unprecedented rate, and the nation, with thousands of acres under cultivation and isolated from the direct damages of war, quickly became an important exporter of grain to feed a starving world. Successful farmers were vital to world food management.

George Hinshaw opened a general store in Winston-Salem in 1868 specializing in seed and fertilizers. He is credited with organizing the first three “Wheat and Cattle Fairs” in Forsyth.

Such events, if done well, brought people and money to a region, an economic jump-start for any community that hosted one. They were also an important tool to spread information on public health matters or better farming practices or to recruit for military service or civic organizations. But they were expensive to organize and needed a competent organization to pull local and state resources together.

It’s no surprise that soon after the trains arrived in Surry County, calls from local newspapers started encouraging people to organize a fair. The first mention I’ve found is in the Western Sentinel of Winston-Salem, Nov. 21, 1889.

“The News is pushing for a Surry county (sic) Fair next year. Winston wishes its Surry neighbors a big success.”

Though many communities across Surry, such as Zephyr and White Plains, held smaller fairs, it would take 27 years for the first county fair here.

In the meanwhile, Surry residents were taking special train excursions to attend the Catawba, Cumberland, and Forsyth county fairs and the State Fair in Raleigh. Several locals traveled to Chicago’s Columbian Exposition. With each passing year calls persisted.

“With all the progress and public spirit and wonderful achievements of Surry people and most especially the thrift and growth of Mount Airy and Elkin it looks odd to see such a grand county as Surry without a county fair. A fair properly managed would do more to stimulate farmers and manufacturers than anything else that has been tested.” Winston-Salem Journal, Sept. 25, 1907.

Finally, in 1916 the Charlotte Observer reported “Surry County is to have a fair this Fall” with a state charter and $50,000 in committed capital. A meeting in the opera house resulted in “more than a hundred business men (sic) and farmers” from across Surry and from surrounding counties buying shares at $10 each ($271 in today’s money) to fund the fair.

Mount Airy, the largest town in the county, was chosen as the location for many reasons, not the least of which was “the splendid system of sandclay roads.” Business and civic leaders such as Thomas Fawcett (founder of the First National Bank of Mount Airy), W. G. Sydnor (immediate past mayor of Mount Airy and president of the Workman’s Federal Savings and Loan), and JD Sargent (owner of the granite quarry) organized the Surry County Fair Association in June 1916.

Directors and vice presidents from every township in Surry and representatives from Carroll, Patrick, and Stokes counties signed on. They bought land from Dr. W.S. Taylor northwest of town. We’re not certain but it seems to be the same land where the fair is held today, the Veterans Memorial Park. They graded a racetrack, built exhibition buildings, and promoted the new fair relentlessly across the state.

The first fair was held in mid-November, the next two were mid-October, but in 1919 it settled in September where it would stay for a century before moving into August.

Whenever it is held, though, the fair remains exciting for kids of all ages, drawing the community together through good times and bad. If you’re headed to the fair this week, enjoy. If you’ve entered an exhibit, best good luck!

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

Dog days will end August 11

As of next Thursday, August 11, Dog Days of 2022 will come to an end. This does not mean hot weather will come to an end, but only the humidity will drop a little. Even with departure of Dog Days, we still have plenty of hot weather in store as we have only reached the halfway point of summer.

Checking out the pesky morning glories

As we deal with August, keep a close eye on those pesky morning glory vines and don’t allow them to choke out summer vegetables. One morning glory flower can produce a seed pod with hundreds of seeds. Morning glory vines also have roots like drill bits that reach deep into the soil. Pull them up by their roots and out of the garden before they reach the flower stage.

There’s still time to plant a turnip row or bed

The days of August are the time to plant a row of purple top turnips and give them a great start for an autumn harvest. You can plant them in rows or beds as August gets on its way. Add a layer of peat moss to the furrow when sowing turnips.

On August 17 the cat nights will begin. Did you ever wonder why cats prowl at night — it’s because all day long they take cat naps. Cats are always on the prowl at night and the night seems to belong to them. Cats are sort of like the month of August, unpredictable, finicky, restless continually searching as well as mysterious. Cats at night seem to be in a state of transition and typical of the whole month of August that pours out a lot of heat in daytime and cold dew at night. It is a month that days get shorter and nights continue to get longer. Cats are hard to figure out and many August days are hard to figure out and are as unpredictable as my cat. My grandma in Northampton County had several cats, and she had an old saying that cats drew lightning and when a storm was brewing, she would make sure they were not on her porch or near the chicken house. One thing we know about Cat Nights is the fact that they will be hot!

Making a tomato bread pudding

With an abundant harvest of fresh tomatoes you can use some of the harvest to prepare a tomato bread pudding. My grandma and mother always used leftover homemade biscuits in their puddings but we use hot dog and hamburger buns that are leftover and you can also use Caesar salad croutons for a flavorful tomato bread pudding. To prepare a fresh tomato bread pudding, place ten or twelve fresh tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for half minute, remove and place in a bowl of cold water. Slip off the peelings and core, the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into chunks and stew them until they break up and become soupy. Add one, stick light margarine to the stewed tomatoes, stir in one cup of sugar, half teaspoon salt, two beaten eggs, four hot dog or hamburger buns or one package Caesar salad croutons or break buns into small chunks one fourth cup light brown sugar, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring, half cup catsup, four drops Texas Pete hot sauce. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan or dish sprayed with Pam baking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle top of pudding with finely grated parmesan cheese or a layer of cream cheese.

The season of August fogs

We hope you are keeping a written record of the size and number of the fogs each August morning. Check them each morning when you first get up especially before the sun begins to burn them off. The fogs tell the types of snowfall the winter will bring. It will be interesting to see if the August fogs have any bearing on the number and amounts of snow the winter will produce. According to my Northampton County grandma, a heavy fog meant a heavy show, a medium fog meant a medium-sized snow, and a light fog meant a dusting, trace, or very light snow fall. Keep up with the fogs during the 31 days of August and see what the winter brings in snowfalls and amounts

Tomatoes ripen quickly in the August heat

In the heat of the August sun, tomatoes will ripen fast, on days when the sun bears down and no rain or thunderstorm is in the forecast, use the water wand in shower mode and water the base of the tomato vines, and not the foliage to prevent blossom end-rot. During dry spells, birds will peck holes in tomatoes to obtain moisture. To prevent this, harvest tomatoes before they get fully ripe and place them on the porch or deck to finish ripening. Apply powdered lime to tomato vines and hill up soil on both sides of tomato vines. You can also mix lime and water in a sprinkling can (about two quarts lime per sprinkling can). Add water to can and pour around base of tomato vines.

Keeping sweet bell peppers harvested

Sweet bell peppers should be almost ready to harvest as the August sun shines down on them. Sweet bells are easy to process and freeze. All you have to do is cut off the tops, split them and remove the seed, and cut peppers into quarter inch cubes and place in pint or quart plastic containers. When you need them all during the year, pour what you need and place container back in freezer.

Starting a late harvest of strike green beans

Strike is the very best variety of green beans for late summer and an abundant production. A row that is planted this week will produce a harvest during late September and into October. Plant the strikes in a furrow about four inches deep and apply a layer of peat moss in the furrow after sowing the seed. Apply a layer of Black Kow composted cow manure and an application of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill Soil up on both sides of the furrow and tame down with the hoe blade for good soil contact. Once they develop two leaves, apply a side dressing of Plant-Tone and hill up soil to cover it up. Apply water with water wand in shower mode if no rain is forecast during the week.

Rainbow of colors in the zinnia bed

The zinnias of mid-summer are showing off a rainbow of colors and attracting an abundance of attention from yellow and black swallowtail butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, goldfinches, and the majestic Monarch butterflies. When all these floral masterpieces are on display along with the tapestry of butterfly wings, they combine to perform a spectacular show.

The moon reached its first quarter on Friday, August 5. The moon will be full on Thursday, August 11. This full moon will be named “Full Sturgeon Moon.” The moon reaches its last quarter on Friday, August 19. There will be a new moon on the evening of Saturday, August 27.

Preparing an apple sauce pound cake

This is a very easy recipe for an apple sauce pound cake that could be called semi-homemade. All you need to do is mix a box of Duncan Hines caramel cake mix or spice cake mix (caramel is best), one three ounce box Jello instant vanilla or butterscotch pudding mix, four large eggs, one pint of apple sauce, one teaspoon apple pie spices, half cup Crisco oil, half cup milk, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring. Mix all ingredients well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a tube pan with Pam baking spray, Pour batter into the pan and bake forty five to fifty minutes. The cake will be done when it springs back when touched or when a toothpick comes out clean. Better yet, you can tell by the smell when this cake is done.

June started off on a cool note and a few temperatures in the cool 40s and the overall average temperature for the month was 72 degrees. This caused a lower number of firefly counts for the first week in June. On June 8, the firefly count was 80 and temperature was 74 degrees; June 9, the count was 175’ on June 12, the count was 237. The count was 325 on June 16. On June 23, the count was 320. For most of June the average count was 260 each evening between 8:50 to 9:25 p.m.

The record number was June 29, it was 606. On that evening, the temperature was 78 and the humidity was 65. On that evening the fireflies were observed from trees to the grass on the lawn and all areas in between.

The ideal nights for counting were dry nights, lower humidity and no wind. Peak viewing is between 8:35 and 9:35 p.m.. Their numbers seem to dwindle after that. As Dog Days started, the number averaged around 100 or less. Best counts were between 70 to 79. On rainy evenings the number dwindles. High humidity affects their numbers.

In July on the first day of the month, we counted 536 with a temperature of 74 and humidity of 79. July 2 was stormy and few fireflies. July 3 was clear, humidity 84 and a count of 236. July 4, the temperature was 78 and humidity 69 and the count was 326. On July 6, the count was 159 with humidity of 85 and temperature of 81. As we reached Dog Days, the average count slowed considerably each night with humid conditions and evening thunderstorms.

Let us focus today on Hosea 4: 1-2. In this text we find that the Lord was revealing to Hosea there was a call for Israel to return to the Lord. Israel had strayed far away from God and was following paths of sins that totally displeased the Lord. The Lord called it a “controversy” which means to be in opposition to. The Lord was in opposition to the way that Israel was living, and they were bringing a reproach to the name of the Lord.

When we look at this text, we find the things that the Lord had controversy with: Israel had departed from the Lord in their worship. There was no truth in the land which meant that they were finding other gods and false religions to worship. There was no mercy in the land which means that people were ready to pass judgment on others but never wanted to admit the sin in their own lives. There was also no knowledge of God which meant they had forgotten the Lord; were not teaching their children about the Lord; were not going to a place of worship and were not faithfully doing the things that would bring honor and glory to the Lord. They were satisfied living apart from the Lord.

Israel had also departed from the Lord in the way they talked. In verse 2 Hosea told us that by describing the words they were using. Swearing and lying gives us a picture of those that used profanity; profaning the name of the Lord and were constantly lying about anything and everything.

Israel had departed from the Lord with their works because also in verse 2 we see three marks of decay: killing, stealing, and committing adultery. These were all very plainly forbidden by the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses by God. So, with all this we can see why God had a controversy with the nation Israel.

We live in the United States, which was founded on Christian principles, yet when we read this text and see that the Lord had a controversy with Israel, one must believe the Lord also has a controversy with our nation. Why, because we are doing the same things.

We have departed from the Lord in our worship. There is no truth because there are many false religions and teachings, and many people are being deceived into following these false teachings today. People also seem to be worshipping many things other than the Lord: things such as money, sports, material things, education, and the list could go on and on. There is no mercy because we are so easily ready to pass judgment on people who don’t think, talk and act just exactly like we do. So many times, we act as if we are without any sin in our lives and we condemn others. Scripture reminds us that “all have sinned.” There is also no knowledge of God because we have done everything possible to keep God’s word away from the people of our nation and especially the children. We have taken the Word of God out of our schools, our courtrooms, and many other public places. The saddest however may be that many have taken the Word of God out of our homes and churches. So yes, the Lord has a controversy with our worship.

We have departed from the Lord in our words. Profanity has become the accepted language of the day. It seems that we use it to be “cool” or to be accepted by the crowd and yes even those that profess to be Christians are using profanity regularly. We have also departed in our words by lying. People today seem to think nothing at all about telling an outright lie if they think it will help them or keep them out of trouble. We try to justify profanity and lying by saying everyone is doing it, but the Bible is plain when it tells us “To put off lying” and “let our words be acceptable in the sight of the Lord.”

We have departed from the Lord in our works. We have constant crime all around us, killing, stealing and adultery. These today are still just as much sin as they were when the Lord told Moses “Thou shall not…. kill, steal, or commit adultery.” Christian, sadly we cannot say “not me” because we do these same things. We kill by gossiping, backbiting, fussing, and fighting with one another. We steal each other’s blessings by tearing each other down. We commit adultery by being unfaithful to the Lord.

So yes, the Lord must have a controversy with us. Hosea 6: 1 tells us what to do to clear up this controversy. “Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up”. Solomon may have said it best in 2 Chronicles 7: 14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. It is time that we follow the Lord to end His controversy with us or God’s judgment will soon come.

Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist Church, established in July 1878, still stands on Pine Ridge Road in Surry County, a quarter-mile south of Crooked Oak Crossroads. The official name is “Zion Hill,” but locals call it “Crooked Oak.” There it sits under the shade trees with three windows on each side, a tin roof and two outhouses out back; a “His” and a “Hers.

As I remember, with no electricity the inside got a little toasty in the heat of summer and everybody fanned the hot air with card-board fans from the funeral home. Come winter-time, it was like being at the North Pole; even with a wood heater going full-blast. Whatever the weather, come Meeting Day, they preached, prayed and sang a joyful noise unto the Lord. When they sang, my grandma sang highest and loudest of all. When she hit an extra high note one memorable day, a dog howled outside. Then all the kids howled. Then everybody laughed. Grandma? She never missed a lick.

Foot-Washing Day always came on the fourth Sunday in July; the high social event of summer and the best time to meet all the neighbors who had not seen each other since the last Foot-Washing or the last funeral. It was the one day of the year when everybody went to church; including Pa, Mama and us boys. (So much for those who said about us, “Them Heathens never go to church.”)

The meeting came at just the right time to give everybody a hard-earned break from tending crops in the burning fields of mid-summer and they could hardly wait to get together, celebrate and share their huge back-logs of gossip, jokes and news.

On a bright July Sunday morning, they came “from all over” to that little white church on Pine Ridge Road. From Scrap-town, Garbraley, Flower Gap, Lambsburg, Pine Ridge, Round Peak, Beulah and Low Gap they came: along the hot dusty roads, riding in A-Models, T-Models, and some newer models. By farm wagon, buggy, horseback, muleback, bicycle and on foot they came and all wore their very best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.

The kids and dogs chased each other in the dirt and dust until all became the same color; the color of dirt. The women wore ankle-length dresses, home-made slatted cardboard sunbonnets and they too fanned themselves with cardboard fans from the funeral home. They bragged about their wonderful families, how well little Joey was doing in school, their gardens, how many cans of green beans they had “put up” so far and gossiped about the women not there.

The men wore brand-new bib overalls, with wind-up watches in the bib pockets, “chawed ‘baccer,” dipped snuff and smoked “roll your own” cigarettes made from “store-boughten” Prince Albert tobacco or from small cloth sacks of Golden Grain, also from the store. Those who had no money to buy smoked their own “home-growed ‘baccer” from Golden Grain sacks and nobody knew.

Some of the year’s best farming was done right there in the shade of the oak trees on Foot-Washing Sunday. With a cloud of tobacco smoke in the air and a sea of tobacco juice on the ground, the men traded guns, knives, horses, mules, cows, jokes, lies and talked about the good old days and the more they talked about them, the better they became. The discussions never ended about who got caught doing what and who did not, whose horse could out-pull whose mule and whose could run the fastest. “My mule can smell rain coming and your horse can’t.”

Every man was the proud owner of “the best durned huntin’ dog ever put on God’s Green Earth.” “My Ol’ Blue treed a coon one time and clomb right up the tree after it. That ol’ coon come tumblin’ down scared half to death and seein’ Ol’ Blue up in that tree scared me too.” “My Ol’ Bessie, she run a fox for two days one time and I thought I was gonna’ have to shoot ‘er to git ‘er to stop, but she finally did.”

On a Foot-Washing Sunday to remember, a red-headed girl from Lambsburg, Virginia came dressed as a cowgirl: complete with cowboy hat, vest, boots and two guns on her gun-belt. She was an instant hit with every man and if prizes had been given, she would have won by a landslide. Even with no horse, she was the main attraction and even I was impressed, because I had never before seen a real live cowgirl. (For some unknown reason, not a single woman was impressed.)

Zion Hill Cemetery was located just across the road; with a wooded area beyond, where some of the men sneaked in and sampled moonshine hidden there. As the day went on, they became experts on everything under the sun. Their fields of corn and tobacco became bigger and better and some almost became millionaires right there in the woods. Those who drank too much “took a little nap,” while their wives threatened to “burn them woods to the ground.”

One of our neighbors (Frank Coalson by name) parked his Dodge pickup under the shade trees and sold cones of ice cream and cups of lemonade from a brand-new No. 2 galvanized wash tub that had a chunk of ice floating around in it. According to my Pa, Frank’s lemonade was “Made in the shade, stirred with a spade and the best old lemonade ever made.” I agreed and figured I could have put away the whole batch all by myself.

Except for lemonade and ice cream, I’d had nothing to eat since breakfast and was in mortal danger of starving to death. To my way of looking, “all that preaching, praying, singing and foot-washing was a waste of time. Them people shoulda’ washed their feet at home like I had to do last night after wadin’ them mud holes. One good thing about the whole mess; if anybody died from hunger, there was Zion Hill Cemetery right across the road.”

Finally, just when I was about to meet my Maker, the meeting came to an end. Every family had brought food from home and the long tables (covered with white sheets) were loaded with more good stuff to eat than I’d ever seen. There were pies and cakes as far as the eye could see and it looked like every chicken in the country had been fried and brought there, which told me there were some tired people close by. Our chickens back home ran free and when we needed one to eat, we had to chase it down, which sometimes took the whole family and the dog. (We never failed.)

For most kids, (including me) it was the biggest and best meal of the year and nobody cared who ate how much. It was an awfully long time until next year, so, like everybody else, I dived in. No way was I about to go back home hungry. Until the eating began, it had been a slow day, but the sun then raced across the sky and all of a sudden, all the food was gone, all the big tales had been told and everybody headed for home. It was the end of a perfect day, but a sad time, because Foot-Washing Day at Crooked Oak Church would not be back until next year.

In the photograph: Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist Church in April, 2019.

As July wraps up, I couldn’t help but reflect on an exciting trend that has come back to the area and brought a wave of nostalgia and historical discovery with it. From Downtown Pilot Mountain’s Fun Friday ‘70s edition to the second annual Hippie Revival Festival at Miss Angel’s Farm, the ‘70s are back in Surry County in a big way.

The ‘70s were memorable for many things from the trends in fashion and hippie culture being in full swing, but the music of the decade really stood out. As a millennial, I remember every summer, saving up money and going to music festivals (such as the Vans Warped Tour in Charlotte). It was never lost on me that we had never really stopped trying to recreate the iconic music festivals of the late 1960s and 1970s.

This all had me wondering where young people from this area would have gone to hear live music and have their own music festival experience, and the answer? Love Valley just north of Statesville for the Love Valley Rock Festival of 1970.

Love Valley was, and still is today, a 2,000-acre town created by Andy Barker. Barker loved westerns and the stories of the wild west so much that he made an entire western-themed tourism destination in 1958. The creation of this town was truly interesting and exciting, especially for surrounding North Carolinians. Even here in Mount Airy, Bobby Atkins recorded a bluegrass song about the town at Stark Records in 1968, called Love Valley.

How did this Wild West wonderland become the location for “The South’s Woodstock”? Barker saw how successful other music festivals were and figured if he could get bands to play for free and people to pay $5 for a three-day ticket then he could make a good amount of money. His 22-year-old daughter Tonda also wanted to attend Woodstock the previous year, and though he thought she was too young, he allowed her to plan a music festival there in Love Valley with her 16-year-old brother, Jet. She originally planned to host 25,000 – 50,000 people if they were lucky, but no one could have expected what the festival would bring.

Because of the nature of the event, it’s hard to know just how many attended, some say 100,000 others speculated it could have been closer to 200,000, but regardless there was a huge turnout. The event strategically took place from July 13 – 16. Other major music festivals were happening in the south that July and people had traveled from all over to come and experience them.

At Love Valley, people were skinny dipping in a nearby lake and camping, and truly putting a Southern twist on hippie culture. One of my favorite stories includes, “…It was such a cool place. You had to ride horses. It was just like this Wild West town, and I can remember nights we were full of moonshine and LSD, having fake fights, and falling out of the second floor of the hotel with one of the guys in the middle of the street cracking a whip. It was nuts. I mean, it was crazy.”

This all caused quite a stir especially in more rural communities, and the event was a media frenzy with many local papers writing about it. Some were not ready to accept the ‘weird’ culture and concerned citizens from surrounding towns wrote to Andy asking him why he was having the event and voicing their concerns. Despite the concern from locals, the event went off without any real incident aside from a dispute between two rival biker gangs (Hell’s Angels and The Outlaws) though that was broken up quickly.

The bands that played at Love Valley truly helped set it off, some say that more than 40 bands showed up to play over the three days. Some of the best locally known were Kallabash out of Greensboro who iconically set off smoke bombs and finished their set naked, and lesser known Sacred Irony out of Winston-Salem.

The most well-known band to play was The Allman Brothers. They had an album out as a Southern rock band but weren’t extremely well known yet. Their performance was so well-anticipated though that they were booked to play at least twice and are thought to be one of the major reasons for the impressive turnout. The set list itself showed music to start at 6 p.m. and go to about 1- 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday a “Praise the Lord” service at the area stage from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and partying “until you couldn’t stand” starting back up at 2 p.m.

It seems unreal that less than an hour away, such a bizarre and amazing event took place. The reality though is that the Love Valley Rock Festival was so much more than anyone could have dreamed, and it had a fascinating impact on the community, artists who performed, and most importantly the participants who experienced it all. I can’t wait to see how else Surry County will embrace the ’70s, but as trends come back in style, I hope we can all bring the history back with it.

Cassandra Johnson is the director of programs and education at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She is a Carroll County, Virginia, native whose family has been exploring the Devil’s Den cave in Fancy Gap for generations.

The katydids are singing songs of autumn

Even though Dog Days are still with us, as the month of July comes to an end the katydids in the tops of mighty oaks are singing songs of the up-and-coming autumn. These unusual insects make music by rubbing their legs against their sides. They resemble large green grasshoppers. Their song is the same each evening and they remind us how slowly and subtly one season paves the way into another. Soon, the dews will become wetter and sticky and the fogs of August will be another sign that the season of fall is sneaking up on us. The crickets will join the katydids in singing of the coming change of seasons.

This is the season to start compost pile

As the harvest of some vegetable crops reach maturity, the time to start a compost bin or pile has arrived. The heat will quickly warm a pile of compost. The residue of spent vegetable crops and stalks or vines are great compost ingredients. Run the mower over them to break the garden residue down to speed up the compost process. Add grass clippings to heat it up. Add some Plant-Tone organic vegetable food or Black Kow composted cow manure to build up heat in the pile. Add peelings, hulls, and garden waste to the compost and add some water once a week. Stir the pile or bin twice each week as you add the ingredients.

The sights and sounds of midsummer

The humming birds zoom around and contend for nectar at the feeders. The birds of summer are active at the feeders and bees visit the annuals and perennials on the porch and deck. Butterflies and finches visit the zinnia bed. Thunder sounds in the distance as a storm approaches. After the storm runs its course, the garden plot will be filled with the glow of fire flies. Humid days, pop-up thunderstorms, and fire fly evenings seem to be summer’s calling cards.

Checking the rose of midsummer

The roses have bloomed all the way through the spring and early summer. With some extra care, they will bloom until frost. To keep them blooming, dead head all spent blooms, spray foliage for mites, insects, and Japanese beetles. Feed with Rose-Tone organic rose food once each month. Water once a week if no rain is in the forecast. Keep long canes trimmed back.

A bit of Saint Lammas weather lore

Saint Lammas Day will be celebrated tomorrow. On this day, it is said the grain begins to ripen and dew’s begin to get heavy. A bit of lore on Saint Lammas Day says that if his day is hot and steamy, look for winter to be white and creamy. We can certainly look for Saint Lammas Day to be hot and steamy because after all, we still have several Dog Days remaining. Don’t count on winter being too white and creamy. Winter is still more than five months away, and a lot of hot, humid weather is ahead before we can even think about the white stuff. One sure thing we know about Saint Lammas Day is that the halfway point of summer has been reached.

Connecting August fogs with winter snows

Tomorrow brings the arrival of the first day of August. The month also brings the arrival of foggy mornings. Are the fogs of August harbingers of the coming snows of winter? My grandma in Northampton County always thought they did, and so did my mother. They kept accurate records of each August fog and if they were light, medium, or heavy. They rose early every morning so they were in good position to observe and record results of the fogs. A heavy fog represents a heavy snow, medium fogs represented a medium snowfall and light fog would mean a trace of snow or a dusting of snow or just a covering of snow. Some of their observations were about as accurate as some of today’s forecasts.

Weather lore as August begins

The last full month of summer begins Monday with almost two more weeks of Dog Days remaining. The last day of the Dog Days of 2022 will be Thursday, August 11. A bit of winter weather lore to begin the month of August says that if the first week of August be warm, winter will be white and long. With Dog Days still in progress, we could very well see some more hot weather. August has plenty of weather lore as you will see in today’s Garden Plot. Even though winter is still a long way off, surely this bit of winter lore can be taken with a grain of salt.

A bowl of colorful dressed up green beans

For this summer recipe, you will need one quart fresh or canned green beans, one large diced white onion, one teaspoon sugar, half teaspoon pepper, one two ounce jar of diced pimentos, one can mushrooms, one can Green Giant Lesueur peas, one stick light margarine and half cup catsup. Mix all ingredients except green beans and simmer for fifteen minutes. Add drained green beans and half stick margarine and simmer for twenty minutes.

Tomatoes ripen quickly in late summer heat

In the heat of the midsummer sun, tomatoes will ripen fast. On days when the sun bears down and no rain is in the forecast use the water wand in shower mode and water the base of the tomato vines and not the foliage to prevent blossom end rot. During dry spells, birds will peck holes in tomatoes to obtain moisture. To prevent this, harvest tomatoes before they get fully ripe and place them on the porch or deck to finish ripening. Apply powdered lime tomato plants and hill up soil on both sides of the plants or mix lime and water in sprinkling can and pour around base of tomato plants.

The monarch butterfly with orange wings trimmed and bordered in black and white have decreased in numbers of 25% to 50% percent over the past decade. A lot of their decrease in population has been caused by the shortage of milkweed which hosts the egg-laying monarch butterflies. Milkweed is in shorter supply because of habitat destruction by development expansion, commercial enterprises, urban sprawl, and careless land management. Most of the land where milkweed prospered has been gulped up.

We are not much for the propagation of weeds, but in the interest of the survival of the Monarch and the hidden benefits of the milkweed, we are going to plant more flowers, scout for some milkweed and transplant it to the garden or try to locate some milkweed seed. After all, milkweed is a perennial and has beautiful purple and lavender flowers. We think this is a worthwhile project and we hope we can find some milkweed or milkweed seeds. Here are a few factors about milkweed: 1) Milkweed is a perennial. Monarchs and their larvae and caterpillars love milkweed. 2) Milkweed can be propagated from cuttings, the milkweed also develops seed pods and can also be rooted. (3) If you can find seed, milkweed can be planted. 4) Monarchs are also known as milkweed butterflies. 5) Monarchs migrate 1,600 miles each year to the mountains of western Mexico.

Keeping bell peppers harvested to freeze

Sweet bell peppers should soon be ready to harvest as the midsummer sun shines down on them. Sweet bells are easy to process and freeze. All you have to do is cut off the tops, split them and remove the seeds and cut into half-inch cubes and place in quart and pint plastic freezer containers. When you need peppers for recipes all during the year, get a container and pour out what you need and place the container back in freezer.

Starting a late row of strike beans

Strike is the best of a green beans for late summer harvests and abundant production. A row that is planted this week will produce a harvest before mid-September and produce until end of the month. Plant the strikes in a furrow about three or four inches deep and apply a layer of peat moss on top of the seed and also a layer of Black Kow composted manure and then an application of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill up soil on both sides of the furrow and tamp down soil over seeds in row with the hoe blade for good soil contact. Once the beans develop two leaves side dress with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food every 15 days. Apply water with water wand in ‘Shower” mode each week when rain is not in the forecast.

The rainbow of colors in the zinnia bed

The Zinnias of mid-summer are showing off a rainbow of colors and attracting an abundance of attention from yellow and black tiger swallowtails, bees, hummingbirds, sparrows, gold finches, as well as the majestic Monarch butterflies. These floral masterpieces are on display along with the tapestry of an array of butterflies, all performing a spectacular show of motion and beauty.

“Female football lover.” A man took his sweetheart to a football game. After the game, he asked her how she liked the game. She replied, “I like it, but I could not understand why the players fuss over twenty-five measly cents.” Her boyfriend said, “What are you talking about?” His sweetheart said, “Well, they were all saying get the quarter back!”

“Watered down.” A motorist, after being stuck on a muddy road, paid this farmer $50 to pull his car out of the mud. The motorist told the farmer, “At these prices you should be pulling people out of the mud day and night.” The farmer replied, “I can’t do that because every night I have to fill the hole with water!”

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Summer fun, enrichment activities, outdoor games, learning lessons, and exciting field trips describe a summer full of engagement for our students. Many of our staff dedicate their summer to make sure there is no summer loss for many of our children.

We expect 50% of our total population of students to be involved in some type of summer activity on our campus. It may be an athletic camp in soccer, basketball, football, basketball, or one of our other 27 sports. The students may be in our summer school program that allows them to work on academic areas that may be weak for them or strengthen areas where they have academic talent. Our enrichment programs in the summer are free to every child in our community. The Blue Bear Bus is out and about in the community reaching more than a hundred students and their families with amazing resources. 800+ students benefit from the many summer opportunities that Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) is able to provide.

Imagine a camp such as Baking Bears, where you are able to grow your culinary skills. You might also conduct fun science experiments at our many S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) offerings, learn about college at College Application Bootcamp, experience the arts at Arts Alive and Magical Music, or enjoy creating structures during Legos Extravaganza. Our S.E.E. (Summer Enrichment Experiences) camps have a little something for everyone.

The amount of adult educators it requires to put on these camps is a big undertaking. We feel blessed at MACS that more than 40 staff members show up to help lead summer programming. We all know how difficult it can be for high poverty families to be involved in meaningful activities, get three meals a day, and find appropriate child care while they are working. We are happy and excited to provide these opportunities for every single student.

The Blue Bear Bus is a favorite of the Mount Airy community. Any given day you see the decorated bus pulling into your neighborhood with activities for the whole family, academic support resources, along with educators ready to play games and have a lot of fun. The energy of the Blue Bear Bus team is second to none and the excitement they bring is contagious. Serving more than 100 students each week shows the popularity of this mission. Check out our link to show all of the great locations they will be visiting over the next few weeks. https://www.mtairy.k12.nc.us/apps/pages/bluebearbus

Everything from driver’s education, to teacher training, to cleaning and preparing schools is happening on our five campuses. There are custodians, school nutrition workers, maintenance workers, bus drivers, administrators, and many staff members who work twelve months out of the year preparing our schools for the upcoming school year. Any given day you can see basketball floors being stripped and waxed, classrooms being painted, maintenance occurring and planning happening. This feels busier than the school year for many of the staff members because they are onboarding new staff, working on licensure issues, and balancing budgets before the next school year begins. We are thankful for all of these everyday heroes that make a difference in the life of a child.

The summer is the best time to jump into one of our summer academic programs, our enrichment camps, or our Blue Bear Bus activities to see if you are interested in joining the Mount Airy City Schools family. We open our programs to all children, regardless if they are enrolled in another district, they are homeschoolers or they attend a charter school. Our programs are free to students with transportation and meals provided for city residents. We are the hub of the community and that only gets stronger during the summer.

If you are interested in touring our schools and seeing for yourself the amazing staff we have ready to serve you please check out our website and sign up for a tour http://bit.ly/MACStour Come see what all the excitement is about, Blue Looks Good on You.

2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

We are living in a time when our belief as Christians is being tested; our faith is being put under a microscope for Satan to see our every weakness. The very moral laws of God are being pushed aside and replaced by the evil heart of mankind. The Bible says in verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.

Satan has blinded the minds of the unbeliever, but God has given mercy and grace to those who have their faith in Christ Jesus. After we are saved through the blood of Jesus we have renounced, which means to give up, those hidden things (or things in secret of dishonesty), not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Apostle Paul is saying we don’t handle God’s word deceitfully which means don’t present God’s word in a way that keeps the truth hidden and gives false impressions. We are to present God’s word in truth so that we can be shown worthy in the eyes of people and in the sight of God. I have always in my 26 some years preached, sung, and wrote the truth of the gospel of Christ. I have taken the word of God from the KJV Bible for its face value and never tried to smooth over what God says is wrong.

The Bible is not a book for God to pat us on the back and say good job. That will come later on judgment day for Christians at the Judgment Seat of Christ if anyone should be so worthy. The Bible says; All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16.

Now if you ever think you are perfect while you are here on earth you better step back and take a real close look at yourself. If anyone ever thinks they are perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works you are deceiving yourself and certainly not fooling God. God’s word is a goal that is set before us for correction of our sinful nature. I don’t believe anyone can reach God’s goal of righteousness on earth except the Lord Jesus.

We are running a race as a servant of God, not as a self-made saint before people. This race that we are running for God has road signs that are taken from the Bible like 1 John1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So while we are still in the race we come upon the next sign that says in 1 John1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We are not confessing our sins to keep our salvation; we are confessing our sins because of our sinful nature and keeping our prayer life in tip-top shape. But if you bypass that sign of confessing your sins the last road sign will pop up. 1 John1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. So we take time to talk to the Lord because we know and He knows we have sinned. We need and must have a regular prayer life because we are the sheep running a race for the Shepherd that speaks to us when we listen for correction and instruction. Jesus said; John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

God is holy and there is a barrier that exists between God and us when we come to Him with unconfessed sin in our lives. The Bible says in Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. That is the very reason you can’t put yourself upon a pedestal of righteousness as a human.

I’m trying to express the truth in a human-understanding way. Sometimes it takes loudly spoken words for folks to listen to the truth. I believe that God is using His word to scream out to His people today not to get caught up in this world of hate, to gather your children together and keep them under the shadow of God and keep them from using a false source of being in control without God in an animated world.

Mankind is out of control today because they are without God and the next generation is going to be worse. So don’t let that happen to your kids no matter how old they are. Teach them the road signs of the Bible now. If they belong to Christ, it will be a lot easier on them today than God chastening later in life, believe me I know.

In today’s world we can instantly contact each other at any time. Text, video, and even with our voices. It’s almost inaccurate to call the devices in our pockets “telephones,” but telephones were the first small step of mankind’s journey in instant communication. Let’s take a look back in time at the history of telephones in Mount Airy, Surry County and beyond.

The first telephone was invented by Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. North Carolina first began dialing in to telephones in 1879, the first being installed in Raleigh. The city also saw the first telephone exchange, and the same year, it was possible to place calls as far as Wilmington.

The introduction of telephones in rural areas of the South was largely thanks to the Rural Electrification Administration, also known as the REA. Established by Congress, the agency made it possible to bring electricity to isolated parts of the country and played a part in lighting up and bringing power to Mount Airy and its surrounds. Then in 1949, the REA reached a new phase, and began its work to also provide telephone lines to those outside of the big cities. While the REA did not build or operate facilities, it was integral to the introduction of telephones by offering start-up loans that allowed rural cooperatives to build their own service lines.

It was in 1951 that one of the major telephone companies in the area, the Surry Telephone Membership Corporation, applied for a loan of more than half a million dollars from the REA loan through the North Carolina Electrification Authority.

Surry Telephone Membership Corporation, which still exists under the name of Surry Communications, had its first telephone exchange in Level Cross, a small community just south of Mount Airy, in November 1954. The company’s telephone directory from the same year not only lists the names and numbers of its members and outlines the services it provides, but also includes instructions on how to dial using a rotary phone, and a reminder to “speak in a normal tone of voice, slowly, clearly and directly into the mouth piece” when making calls.

By 1957, Surry Telephone Membership Corporation had added exchanges in Westfield, Beulah and Zephyr. The monthly charge for a line was $3.25, with toll charges on all calls outside the member’s own exchanges.

Telephones had made it to Surry County by 1894. Those who had joined up to the service were called “subscribers,” with some of the earliest subscribers in the area being the Sparger Brothers Tobacco Factory, Blue Ridge Inn, First National Bank, C.F and Y.V. Railroad, Fulton Tobacco, and the Renfro Inn. Around the same time, a line from Mount Airy to Dobson had been newly built.

Many of the first telephones were placed in general stores, or other business establishments. One of the earliest records of telephones in Surry County is a 1909 notice announcing that Telephone Pay Stations had been installed at a number of general stores in Mount Airy, as well as Foy’s Hardware, Prather’s clothing store, and various other stores. The same notice announced that 5 cents will be charged for local connections.

Pay stations were a necessity when using telephones in their early years. To make a call, you would have to find an agent-operated telephone pay station to pay a fee and make your call. In 1888, William Gray began dreaming up what would eventually become public, coin cooperated telephones. His original had a bell attached which would alert the telephone operator that the person had paid for their call and could now be connected. The design was upgraded throughout the years.

Back in Mount Airy, the town’s telephone services were under the name of Central Telephone Company, formally Central Electric and Telephone Company, before it was separated from other utilities services in the late 1940s.

Back in Mount Airy, in 1947 the Central Telephone Company began planning to install underground telephone lines along Main Street. While assessing its feasibility, workers used power drills to explore beneath the street to determine what granite deposits are there, and whether the lines would actually be able to be placed around the granite. Around the same time, the company announced that additional telephone lines were being planned that would connect Mount Airy to Dobson and Winston-Salem.

The same year, the Central Telephone company filed an application with the North Carolina Utilities commission asking for a general increase in telephone rates. The company said rates would vary but would generally range from 25 cents to $1.25 per month for business service and 15-75 cents per month for residential. Long distance calls would not be affected by the proposed revisions.

As the years go by, we are constantly finding more and more ways to speak and connect with each other over physical distances, from Zoom to text messages, email to FaceTime calls. But it’s all due to the early work of those who saw the potential of the telephone that we have these services that make our lives just that much more connected.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is a staff member at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

This morning I walked out back of the house looking at the shrubs and flowers, while gazing at the sycamore, oak and pine trees. A red bird was hopping along on the fence. Robins and blue birds were flying from limb to limb in the trees.

It was quiet since the day had just begun. The grass was still wet from the heavy morning dew. My mind flashed back to the back porch when I was growing up in Surry County. Well, really a porch on the side of the house. But, since it was near the back, we called it the back porch. Every afternoon or evening, our family would just naturally migrate to the porch. We didn’t plan it, we didn’t talk about sitting on the porch. It just happened. Porch living was our way of life.

Dogs played around in the yard, but soon walked up on the porch to be petted and rubbed. We talked to them just like they were humans. I think they probably understood most of what we were saying. Pretty soon they were lying there in wait of a snack that would come later. Two or three cats were circling between our legs while constantly glancing over at the dogs in fear of being chased.

Mom might be stringing beans or peeling apples. A neighbor would probably drop by to talk about the crops or news about one of the neighbors. Often, we discussed a recent elementary or high school basketball or baseball game. In the summer, everyone talked about the Yankees or Dodgers. To us, there were no other teams. You were either a Dodger fan or a Yankee fan. And, you didn’t get along.

Neighbors would often drop off a “mess of beans,” several ears of corn, a basket of apples, a blackberry pie, or other assortments of food. Mom and dad always had a pitcher of “iced tea” for anyone on the back porch. Now, tea meant sweet tea. There was no such thing as unsweetened tea. That would be unheard of; it just didn’t exist. Of course, there was also a Pepsi Cola, a Big RC, a Big Orange (Nehi), a Cheerwine, or another bottle of pop that was available for the neighborhood kids. Yes, it was pop. The word soda or soft drink wasn’t in our vocabulary.

A front porch wasn’t quite a public room, but really close. It was a meeting ground between our family with friends and neighbors. Everyone could be seen; you could hear the sounds of neighborhood life. Neighbors knew one another and what was happening in our community. And because neighbors talked, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company, news traveled fast.

When Dad heard about a plumbing problem, a leaky roof, a sick cow or horse, or someone in need of help, he just got up, jumped into the truck, and took off to offer help. Dad was really hesitant to ask for help, but eager to provide help. It was just a way of life. I think all of the families in the community really lived with this type of independence, but with compassionate hearts.

Sometime later, the backyard patio and barbecue became the focus for family living. People moved away from the porches; and with the proliferation of television, families moved indoors where rooms were air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. The living room recliner and the remote control eventually replaced back and front porch living. In fact, porches are now mostly little more than architectural decor.

Now, it’s usually the den, basement, or the family room at the rear of the home where families gather and relax in private. It is rare that neighbors and friends drop by for an uninvited chats and sharing of neighborhood news.

In many ways, the faster the pace of life, the more wealth a family accumulates, the more isolated and lonely we become. We won’t admit it, but our family, our children, and our friends are the biggest losers. We need our community far more than we are willing to admit.

Well, a lawnmower and weed eater outside just took me out of my reflections of living on the porch. Back into the house for now. Hoping the joy of front porch living is still alive and doing well in some areas of North Carolina.

Hope ya’ll have a relaxing and enjoyable summer. Try out the back porch!

Johnny Long grew up in the Beulah area of Surry County, graduating from Beulah Elementary School, North Surry High School, and later from UNC-CH, as well as Appalachian State University. He lives in eastern North Carolina, but still visits Surry County.

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