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Greetings!
Welcome to the Sixth Edition of the Great Smoky
Mountains Association Online Newsletter.
We hope you will enjoy the latest news from the
Smokies as well as information about interesting
people, places, and things to do!
| The 2006 Sorghum Crop is In! |
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Photo by R.M. Schiele (1959).
It's sorghum season. Lots of sorghum molasses making
demonstrations are planned for Cades Cove and Oconaluftee
this year. See what it was like when men with names like
"Sugar John" made what the mountain folks called "short
sweetenin".
The first Cades Cove demonstration is September 22-24 at the
Cable Mill area. The second Cades Cove demonstration is
tentatively planned for sometime during the first week in
November.
The next Oconaluftee demonstration is planned for as soon as
their crop of sorghum is ready, tentatively, October 7.
Check our website at www.SmokiesStore.org, and we'll let you
know as soon as we get the latest information.
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| Sorghum Making Demonstrations |
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Photo courtesy of Carlos Campbell.
Come watch molasses being made from this season's fresh
crop!
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| Mountain Farm Kitchen is Open! |
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Country cookin' makes a great Christmas present -- especially
if you don't have to do the work yourself.
Try out a gift box with a pint each of strawberry preserves,
blackberry preserves, sorghum molasses, and apple butter.
A five pound sack of our famous stone-ground corn meal is
thrown into the bargain!
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| Sorghum is Good For You! |
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Before store-bought vitamins existed, doctors prescribed
sorghum molasses for people who needed iron, calcium, and
potassium.
A good stack cake will cure a world of hurt, too. Or you could
go the whole hog and make molasses pie, muffins, cookies,
and candy.
Molasses, or 'lasses, was also a key ingredient in mincemeat,
popcorn balls, and pumpkin custard pie.
At my house, we just drizzle it on a biscuit...
If you need the recipes for any or all of these tasty molasses
dishes, check out our Food & Recipes of the Smokies!
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| Smokies Holiday Cards |
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Celebrate Christmas with a boxed set of 20 cards featuring 5
beautiful photographs of the Smokies: Cades Cove, Mt.
LeConte, Meigs Falls, the Primitive Baptist Church, and the
Noah "Bud" Ogle cabin in snow.
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| Watch Out for Hungry Bears |
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Photograph courtesy of Gary Carter.
Smokies officials expect higher
than usual black bear activity
this year.
Bears are expected to be especially active and persistent in
seeking food this fall because of a combination of limited
natural food sources and higher bear numbers than in previous
years.
Please be especially careful about how you protect your food
and garbage. Don't help bears learn to associate food with
people.
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Fall Color Bonanza This Year? |
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Sourwood tree in The Sugarlands. On September 19, 2006
we had both fall color and an array of wildflowers
all showing off at the same time!
An unusually wet late-summer in the Smokies could lead to
an unusual fall color season. Though no one knows for
certain what the future will bring, the extra, well-dispersed
rain could mean:
1. There may be more leaves on the trees than usual come
October.
2. The lack of drought stress may lead to a later color peak.
Right now in the Smokies some early individual red maple
trees are already putting on a brilliant show at the park's
higher elevations.
In the lowlands, some sourwood and blackgum trees are
peaking and dogwoods are about halfway there.
Tuliptrees, black walnuts, and sycamores are just starting to
show some gold.
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