About this Episode:
We are joined by our special guest, Adam Bigelow, he is a well-known environmental and community activist as well as an outstanding musician who lives in rural Jackson County, N.C. In addition to his work as an activist and artist, Adam runs his own business –Bigelow Botanical Excursions –where he teaches folks about the wonders of the natural world in Appalachia.
In our conversation with Adam, he talks about his passion for botany and how the Smokies is a great place to go further into that passion. He talks about the physical surroundings of the mountains and the role it plays in the economy and society.
Connect with Adam:
Connect with our host Joseph Franklyn McElroy:
Check out our Social Media:
SHOW NOTES
SEGMENT 1
Today’s episode starts off with host Joseph Franklyn McElroy introducing today’s podcast topic: the botanical excursions in the Smokies. Before continuing further, Joseph gives his shout-outs to sponsors and gives special announcements. Tonight’s guest, Adam Bigelow, is introduced. He explains how even though he was not originally from the area, he chose to live near the Smokies because he fell in love with it. Adam’s passion for botany came accidentally nearly 20 years ago and he found a community that came with this passion.
SEGMENT 2
Adam talks a little more about his passion for botany and how the Smokies is a great place to go further into that passion. He talks about the physical surroundings of the mountains and the role it plays in the economy and society. Joseph asks Adam about his past achievements and experience. Adam talks about his time working with Cherokee land and talks about an old botanical garden nearby where he attempted to revitalize the garden while documenting special plants.
SEGMENT 3
Coming back from the break, Adam talks about his hiking tours in the mountains. He talks about the wildlife people often run into on the hike, including beautiful and rare plants. He describes his hike tours as going back in time as you can see wildlife that has been there for hundreds of years. The conversation takes a turn for Adam’s other hobbies and activities. He talks about his acoustic bluegrass rock and roll jam band.
SEGMENT 4
For the last segment of this episode, Adam explains the name of his band. Then he gives what his day-to-day itinerary would look like at the Smoky Mountains. He recommends cafes for people to visit, as well as, beautiful sightseeing places, and great dining choices.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:26.820 –> 00:00:32.850 Joseph McElroy: howdy thanks for joining us on this week’s episode of gateway to the Smokies
00:00:33.810 –> 00:00:41.850 Joseph McElroy: This podcast is about America’s most visited National Park, the great smoky mountains national park, and the surrounding towns.
00:00:42.150 –> 00:00:50.850 Joseph McElroy: These areas are filled with ancient natural beauty and deep storied history and rich mountain cultures that we explore with weekly episodes.
00:00:51.330 –> 00:01:00.990 Joseph McElroy: I am Joseph Franklin McElroy man of the world, but also with deep roots in these mountains my family’s lived in the great smokies for over 200 years.
00:01:01.440 –> 00:01:11.880 Joseph McElroy: My business is in travel, but my heart is in culture today’s podcast is about botanical excursions in the smokies but first a little bit of.
00:01:12.990 –> 00:01:20.670 Joseph McElroy: housekeeping and then a little introduction of my life, that is, I think, applicable here.
00:01:21.150 –> 00:01:31.530 Joseph McElroy: So anyway, imagine a place evocative of motor courts and the past yet modern and vibrant with the Chic Appalachian field, a place for adventure and for relaxation.
00:01:32.190 –> 00:01:42.300 Joseph McElroy: Imagine a place where you can fish in a mountain heritage trout stream grill to catch on fire and eat accompanied by fine line or craft beers.
00:01:42.660 –> 00:01:52.500 Joseph McElroy: Imagine in place with old-time music and world cultural sounds, there is no other place like the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley North Carolina.
00:01:52.980 –> 00:02:02.160 Joseph McElroy: Your smoky mountain adventure starts with where you stay another sponsor’s smokies adventure at smokies plural adventure.
00:02:02.940 –> 00:02:14.040 Joseph McElroy: singular it’s smokies adventure.com and it’s a place where you find information listings about the smokies hiking wedding venues books trail maps resources.
00:02:14.460 –> 00:02:31.260 Joseph McElroy: The emphasis of smokies adventures outdoor recreation outdoor life events like weddings and adventures, along with providing information on logic family entertainment events conventions honeymoons anymore, it is, it is becoming the leading information portal for the smoky mountains.
00:02:32.880 –> 00:02:47.820 Joseph McElroy: An upcoming event I’d like to mention is traditional skills and naturalist weekend August 27 and 29th at the Meadowlark mountain smoky mountain Heritage Center which is at the Meadowlark motel.
00:02:49.050 –> 00:03:01.020 Joseph McElroy: it’s Ginseng granny medicine herbs it’s the botanic the exploration of the botanical Lord lord of the mountains, and it was a weekend of lectures wanderings, and entertainment.
00:03:01.470 –> 00:03:10.110 Joseph McElroy: Friday, there will be some traditional music in the evening with will return and Mike Ogletree Saturday the 28th there’ll be wildflower and native.
00:03:10.410 –> 00:03:23.310 Joseph McElroy: Plants of southern Appalachian with a tour and guide tour guide and naturalist Adam Bigelow who’s our guest today the healing powers of history of Jim single be explored with novelists and natural Jim Allen Hamilton.
00:03:24.060 –> 00:03:32.970 Joseph McElroy: medicinal herbs and granny my medicine will be explored with Renee Winchester who’s a naturalist herbalist and award-winning author.
00:03:33.450 –> 00:03:51.690 Joseph McElroy: there’ll be a program by Tyson Samson and then an acclaimed Cherokee naturalist historical lecture there’ll be an afternoon of would want woods wandering and discussion with a renowned naturalist tour guide lecturer and author Abby Artemisia.
00:03:52.950 –> 00:04:02.850 Joseph McElroy: there’ll be an heirloom seed discussion with Will Ritter there’ll be some entertainment traditional Scottish music of the Highlands with Mike Ogletree and.
00:04:03.420 –> 00:04:16.350 Joseph McElroy: who’s the former drummer or simple minds and there’ll be a song-to-seat concert with William Ritter, exploring the bluegrass and folk music of the mountains, as long as a little bit of storytelling.
00:04:16.860 –> 00:04:29.790 Joseph McElroy: And then, on Sunday morning will be sent off with a traditional mountain Gospel music service, you know when we put this book this show you know talking about botanical and.
00:04:30.780 –> 00:04:43.260 Joseph McElroy: And and herbs and met plants in the mountains, I saw that the guests were involved with Community gardens I took me back to my childhood and the memories of.
00:04:43.590 –> 00:04:55.050 Joseph McElroy: My grandmother’s both grandmother’s gardens and I got to work in both my grandmother’s garden so on an island up and running and fox run and both in Haywood County and them really.
00:04:55.860 –> 00:05:06.000 Joseph McElroy: taught me a lot about gardening my grant and the one in fox from there’s more about the real bill, vegetables and flowers by the one in Ireland was corn and.
00:05:06.510 –> 00:05:22.410 Joseph McElroy: And beans and squash the church or the traditional three sisters, along with lots of berries and and and things like that, and so there was this poem I sometimes like reemployment here, I went out and found a source, so you know spoke to me about.
00:05:23.520 –> 00:05:24.060 Joseph McElroy: That.
00:05:25.080 –> 00:05:27.570 Joseph McElroy: And it’s called string beans by Wendy Hammond.
00:05:29.070 –> 00:05:34.500 Joseph McElroy: Perhaps grandma taught me to snap the string beans for anxiety relief.
00:05:35.610 –> 00:05:49.140 Joseph McElroy: Maybe she knew more than I gave her credit for, because here I sit 40 years later, in the middle of it with a bowl of tense green beans and a pile of little endings I need to throw away.
00:05:49.950 –> 00:06:06.000 Joseph McElroy: On a hot summer day in the middle of July I split my fears and eat my tension every seven times and I see grandma’s hands showing my breaking off the split ends of life, one being at a time.
00:06:08.490 –> 00:06:10.020 Joseph McElroy: It was really nice so.
00:06:11.130 –> 00:06:27.360 Joseph McElroy: You know, and I think life is the life, in the end, growing up in the mountains is about that you know grandmothers and mothers teaching children about you know the pulse of life and the nature’s bounty and how it can you know it’d be an important part of living.
00:06:28.560 –> 00:06:40.230 Joseph McElroy: My guest today Adam Bigelow I think there’s a lot about that he lives in rural Jackson County North Carolina and is a well known, environmental and community activist, as well as an outstanding musician.
00:06:40.860 –> 00:06:52.920 Joseph McElroy: In addition to his work as an activist and artists Adam runs his own business Bigelow botanical excursions where he teaches folks about the wonders of the natural world and Appalachian how you doing Adam.
00:06:53.070 –> 00:06:55.980 Adam Bigelow: I’m doing great today Joseph, thank you for having me out here.
00:06:56.340 –> 00:06:59.100 Joseph McElroy: cool and you’re in are you in silver right now.
00:06:59.550 –> 00:07:01.410 Adam Bigelow: I’m actually in cali.
00:07:02.490 –> 00:07:10.830 Adam Bigelow: Mountain top at around 3600 feet on top of tilly creek road right at the headwaters of tilly creek.
00:07:11.850 –> 00:07:15.570 Joseph McElroy: So, are you originally from that area.
00:07:16.110 –> 00:07:16.920 Adam Bigelow: Oh no.
00:07:18.030 –> 00:07:26.130 Adam Bigelow: As they like to say here in southern Appalachia I from around here and Bigelow is certainly not a.
00:07:27.270 –> 00:07:35.610 Adam Bigelow: Traditional Appalachian settler name I grew up on the coast of Virginia and Hampton Virginia and I grew up.
00:07:36.660 –> 00:07:47.670 Adam Bigelow: disconnected from nature, not any way connected to gardening surrounded by streetlights and sidewalks and writing skateboard so I’ve come a long way from there.
00:07:48.180 –> 00:07:55.260 Joseph McElroy: Oh yeah it is so uh yeah I mean your talents would have allowed you to live anywhere you want it to, but why did you end up in the Smokies?
00:07:55.770 –> 00:08:00.390 Adam Bigelow: You know how I ended up here is kind of an accidental thing like a lot of.
00:08:02.040 –> 00:08:21.030 Adam Bigelow: Things when we look back on a life that kind of random but they may eventually make sense and I’ve lived here and just mostly in Jackson county a little bit in macon county since 1993 and I moved up here to go to college at the local community college to study radio and TV production.
00:08:21.450 –> 00:08:21.810 No.
00:08:23.040 –> 00:08:31.890 Adam Bigelow: yeah I didn’t really finish that out, but I fell in love with these mountains and I’ve lived here, ever since, and I hope to live in southern Appalachian for the rest of my life.
00:08:32.370 –> 00:08:34.560 Joseph McElroy: Oh cool was that hey what Community college.
00:08:34.830 –> 00:08:37.050 Adam Bigelow: was actually Southwestern Community college.
00:08:37.140 –> 00:08:39.510 Joseph McElroy: I say, and then you go to hey what Community colleges.
00:08:39.660 –> 00:08:49.470 Adam Bigelow: I eventually did get a hey what Community college, after a long Sir code is the road that led me to find a love of plants and.
00:08:50.490 –> 00:08:57.300 Adam Bigelow: and flowers, and so I went as an adult and studied horticulture at hey what Community college.
00:08:57.870 –> 00:09:03.210 Joseph McElroy: And I know that horticulture and farming are actually big and successful program is there.
00:09:03.690 –> 00:09:18.930 Adam Bigelow: They have been in the past yeah the horticulture program has a lot of a long history of really influential graduates in the region by for the horticulture and for the forestry and natural resources department.
00:09:19.620 –> 00:09:22.620 Joseph McElroy: And then you went to Western Carolina University right.
00:09:22.980 –> 00:09:24.150 Adam Bigelow: yeah I did I studied.
00:09:25.200 –> 00:09:31.620 Adam Bigelow: Environmental science at WCU and colorway here after getting my degree in horticulture.
00:09:32.250 –> 00:09:36.060 Joseph McElroy: All right, so you get educated.
00:09:36.780 –> 00:09:40.020 Adam Bigelow: I did, and I went back to College as an adult I.
00:09:41.910 –> 00:09:48.300 Adam Bigelow: I got my bachelor’s degree from Western six days before my 40th birthday.
00:09:48.930 –> 00:09:52.290 Joseph McElroy: Well, congratulations all right well that was just like that was a few weeks ago.
00:09:54.030 –> 00:09:54.900 Adam Bigelow: or 10 years.
00:09:57.810 –> 00:10:02.940 Joseph McElroy: So now you’re a notable environmentalist and you’re passionate about botany.
00:10:03.360 –> 00:10:14.910 Joseph McElroy: And the natural world and you mentioned you got interested in plus how did that passionate of all you know, during that time between you know Southwestern and then Haywood Community college what led to that passion.
00:10:15.720 –> 00:10:25.470 Adam Bigelow: it’s all again by accident, and I am definitely a plant nerd and somewhere around 20 years ago I fell in love with wildflowers.
00:10:27.210 –> 00:10:35.190 Adam Bigelow: accidentally I had been you know living here for a while and working mostly in restaurant jobs but I enjoyed going hiking.
00:10:35.940 –> 00:10:54.720 Adam Bigelow: At the time, it was mostly about a destination what waterfall are we going to see what big view what Big Mountain, are we going to climb up and the traveled in between was just drudgery and trying to get there as soon as I can walking very fast, but I had a friend that took a.
00:10:56.460 –> 00:11:15.420 Adam Bigelow: botany course at WCU way before I ever went there and got was lucky to take classes with Dr. Dan Portillo retired botanist from the university and so as we are hiking they started talking about and pointing out some of the flowers, but I didn’t really still have an interest there.
00:11:18.300 –> 00:11:22.740 Adam Bigelow: What actually led me to get into plants was.
00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:37.110 Adam Bigelow: A bit of an accident, I went and got a job at a big box store in Franklin and they randomly put me out into the Garden Center and the rest is history, now I love plant.
00:11:38.700 –> 00:11:41.580 Joseph McElroy: ooh and did you find some mentors along the way.
00:11:42.810 –> 00:11:50.520 Adam Bigelow: Oh, very much you know everything from miss Betty who worked at the outdoor garden Center and knew all the plants at the time.
00:11:52.170 –> 00:11:52.590 Adam Bigelow: To.
00:11:54.210 –> 00:12:00.840 Adam Bigelow: One of my main friends and mentors in this work is a retired ethnobotanist.
00:12:02.310 –> 00:12:13.560 Adam Bigelow: Dr. David Koso who, up until recently was working out on the call of boundary in Cherokee and is a medical as no botanist and studied on.
00:12:14.760 –> 00:12:22.710 Adam Bigelow: The relationship of humans and plants from a Cherokee and indigenous people at the southeastern tribes perspective.
00:12:24.420 –> 00:12:29.160 Adam Bigelow: And one of the most influential things in my education in life.
00:12:30.330 –> 00:12:30.930 Adam Bigelow: Was.
00:12:32.070 –> 00:12:42.270 Adam Bigelow: right before starting horticulture school, I read a little blurb in the local paper about what I thought was a small no big deal thing called the color we native plant conference.
00:12:42.780 –> 00:12:50.880 Adam Bigelow: And so I signed up I said I’m going to go study plan, so let me go to this local Conference, and what I walked into was the largest and oldest.
00:12:51.210 –> 00:12:58.980 Adam Bigelow: native planet conference, at least on these guys then possibly in the country, and these are the folks that have had the biggest influence on me.
00:12:59.340 –> 00:13:00.870 Joseph McElroy: So you found your community.
00:13:01.320 –> 00:13:02.520 Adam Bigelow: I certainly did.
00:13:02.550 –> 00:13:03.510 Adam Bigelow: When i’m playing.
00:13:04.080 –> 00:13:12.060 Adam Bigelow: Open include me in with fellow planners, and one of the amazing things about the colorway native plant conferences it’s not.
00:13:12.420 –> 00:13:22.020 Adam Bigelow: Specific to one field of study or one trade there’s botanist there are horticulturalists there are nursery workers landscape designers home gardeners.
00:13:22.350 –> 00:13:37.410 Adam Bigelow: Everyone comes together from all over the southeastern US to Cali third week of July to share out their love and joy of seeing native plants used in the landscape cool.
00:13:37.890 –> 00:13:46.590 Joseph McElroy: All right, well, when we come back, I want to explore more about your influences and what you’ve done with those mentoring and education that you’ve got.
00:13:48.090 –> 00:13:48.360 Great.
00:16:06.780 –> 00:16:19.470 Joseph McElroy: howdy this is Joseph Franklyn McElroy back with a gateway to the smokies podcast with my guest Adam Bigelow so Adam there’s been there’s a lot of great naturalist in this area like.
00:16:20.160 –> 00:16:29.940 Joseph McElroy: I think I had her and George Ellis and then for Tello like Those are just a few that come to mind they’ve been influences on what you do.
00:16:30.600 –> 00:16:36.570 Adam Bigelow: All three of them are big players and educators and leaders and in.
00:16:38.130 –> 00:16:44.160 Adam Bigelow: The botanical and naturalist world that I live in here in Jackson County and Southern Appalachian.
00:16:45.570 –> 00:16:52.230 Adam Bigelow: Especially is very similar I have been Ms. Ila Hatter she’s such a wonderful treasure for these.
00:16:52.740 –> 00:17:01.290 Adam Bigelow: Great smoky mountains and an educator and keeping alive the traditions that she was raised with, as well as.
00:17:02.010 –> 00:17:15.030 Adam Bigelow: she’s been very encouraging to me in my work as I set out there, trying to teach people about plants and flowers and it feels really great to have her friendship, as well as encouragement yeah.
00:17:15.600 –> 00:17:23.040 Joseph McElroy: that’s cool I mean it’s always nice to have those relationships that helped blossom what you’re doing.
00:17:24.060 –> 00:17:27.990 Joseph McElroy: And speaking about what you’re doing you you started out doing some interesting.
00:17:27.990 –> 00:17:36.660 Joseph McElroy: Things right out of HCC you did you started building your own biodiesel equipment what was that project about.
00:17:36.990 –> 00:17:52.320 Adam Bigelow: yeah so um I had been looking into you know I’ve been definitely interested in environmentalism since I was in high school, which was a long time ago and, while I was studying horticulture, I was looking at.
00:17:53.640 –> 00:18:01.800 Adam Bigelow: Potential growing different feedstocks for making biofuel and by a diesel became an interest in so.
00:18:03.060 –> 00:18:05.490 Adam Bigelow: I guess I had talked about it enough that when.
00:18:06.810 –> 00:18:19.980 Adam Bigelow: The Haywood County College automotive department and a couple of local environmental organizations won a grant to start to build a biodiesel reactor, I was hired in.
00:18:21.000 –> 00:18:33.780 Adam Bigelow: to manage that project, and so I got a first-hand experience and both collecting waste fryer grease from the local school system.
00:18:34.320 –> 00:18:48.210 Adam Bigelow: And also learning quickly the science and application of the process of turning vegetable oil into diesel fuel and over the course of the grant-funded project.
00:18:48.600 –> 00:19:04.230 Adam Bigelow: We built a small-scale bio-diesel reactor at the College and made about 500 gallons of fuel taught one continuing education class and recorded a nice little video about how to do it, it was really interesting.
00:19:04.590 –> 00:19:11.790 Joseph McElroy: That did was, I mean what was the intent was to try to get the sort of industry happening or get farmers to do it or.
00:19:12.060 –> 00:19:23.040 Adam Bigelow: What was a little bit of both it’s um there is still one of the remaining biodiesel manufacturers in North Carolina is based, out of Nashville with blue Ridge biofuels.
00:19:23.460 –> 00:19:30.510 Adam Bigelow: And so, one of the things that Community college is always trying to do is workforce development and train people to work in the industry.
00:19:31.080 –> 00:19:32.730 Adam Bigelow: At the time there was a lot more.
00:19:34.170 –> 00:19:55.140 Adam Bigelow: Support politically and economically, for biodiesel manufacturing and that that support in many ways, had been taken away over the years and suing but Blue Ridge biofuels is still able to withstand that and are thriving as a business, I hope, because I buy my fuel from them these days.
00:19:55.530 –> 00:19:57.120 Joseph McElroy: You have a bio is a car right.
00:19:57.210 –> 00:20:00.540 Adam Bigelow: I do, I drive an old Volkswagen Jetta.
00:20:01.740 –> 00:20:02.670 Adam Bigelow: TDI.
00:20:04.050 –> 00:20:13.650 Adam Bigelow: From 2005 and I buy my biodiesel in bulk from blue Ridge biofuels now, and so I have a little.
00:20:15.330 –> 00:20:29.250 Adam Bigelow: fueling station up at my house where I fill up my car it’s a really interesting thing when I fire up my car and or anybodys or run vehicle it smells like French Fries.
00:20:31.470 –> 00:20:35.370 Joseph McElroy: So you have trouble can tell you, controlling your weight.
00:20:36.390 –> 00:20:37.680 Adam Bigelow: Right, it makes me hungry I.
00:20:37.680 –> 00:20:40.440 Adam Bigelow: Get I get snack urges all the time, driving down the road.
00:20:41.070 –> 00:20:42.180 Adam Bigelow: Is a one thing that.
00:20:42.840 –> 00:20:43.950 Adam Bigelow: One thing that people don’t.
00:20:45.000 –> 00:20:55.260 Adam Bigelow: Understand or often know about biodiesel, is that it is diesel fuel, just like any other diesel fuel, except for instead of being.
00:20:56.250 –> 00:21:13.890 Adam Bigelow: made from petroleum it’s made from vegetable oil and so for my car, there was no conversion needed there was nothing that I needed to do outside of change my fuel filter after two tanks of.
00:21:14.940 –> 00:21:27.300 Adam Bigelow: Biodiesel gas running through it because diesel has a high solvency product for these that cleans out some of the builds up from petroleum so I’m able to switch back and forth.
00:21:28.320 –> 00:21:33.300 Adam Bigelow: When needed from petroleum diesel to biodiesel or do different blends.
00:21:34.620 –> 00:21:38.460 Joseph McElroy: what’s the what’s better for the environment biodiesel or hybrid cars are.
00:21:38.880 –> 00:21:42.900 Adam Bigelow: You know that’s a really deep question and.
00:21:44.190 –> 00:21:50.910 Adam Bigelow: Biodiesel is not a solution for our environmental issues, based around transportation.
00:21:52.740 –> 00:22:04.350 Adam Bigelow: hybrids run a combination of electric and gasoline so they still have emissions, the hybrid technology allows the fuel mileage to be increased.
00:22:05.370 –> 00:22:08.100 Adam Bigelow: Usually into the 40 or 50 miles per gallon.
00:22:09.270 –> 00:22:31.950 Adam Bigelow: run, but my biodiesel vehicle also is in that same mile per gallon with the Volkswagen Jetta TDI the old ones, the game-changer though in our modern world is electric vehicles, especially if you can be charging them off of electric energy that you’re producing on site.
00:22:33.750 –> 00:22:45.210 Adam Bigelow: You know if it’s running on typical coal-fired power plant electricity that comes from central Appalachia coalfields where it’s primarily.
00:22:45.840 –> 00:22:57.810 Adam Bigelow: A mountaintop removal coal mining, which has a method of blowing the tops of mountains off and filling in the valleys between to extract us 18-inch seam of call the.
00:22:58.710 –> 00:23:12.690 Adam Bigelow: Environmental impact of electricity generation has to be factored into electric vehicles, one thing I learned in studying environmental science, though, is there are no easy answers and none of it is clean.
00:23:14.220 –> 00:23:25.650 Adam Bigelow: Even are you know the lithium for lithium-Ion batteries are more modern and more efficient battery systems is still a mind product that has a lot of issues around that.
00:23:26.220 –> 00:23:30.540 Joseph McElroy: Well biking bicycle my bicycle a lot so that’s the solution right.
00:23:30.750 –> 00:23:47.460 Adam Bigelow: yeah bicycling is a really great way, especially if you live in for transportation of individuals and commuting, especially if you live in a flat land they are yeah it’s a little more challenging up here and the sales of Appalachian.
00:23:47.520 –> 00:23:51.240 Joseph McElroy: I this build up your muscles come off.
00:23:53.160 –> 00:23:53.580 Adam Bigelow: that’s right.
00:23:54.150 –> 00:24:01.500 Joseph McElroy: So you’ve had you’ve done you know you’ve done some interesting things he worked with the eastern band of the Chair he’s enterprising.
00:24:02.640 –> 00:24:03.930 Adam Bigelow: Well, I did when I was.
00:24:04.560 –> 00:24:05.850 Adam Bigelow: Still in school.
00:24:06.900 –> 00:24:13.800 Adam Bigelow: I was brought in by my friend’s day David khoya the ethnobotanist to work out in the.
00:24:14.970 –> 00:24:32.850 Adam Bigelow: For the eastern band of the Cherokee Indian on the call a reservation call a boundary right near the smoky mountains and there is they have a few places around there’s one, there is a demonstration village on the Cherokee.
00:24:34.260 –> 00:24:56.460 Adam Bigelow: reservation the color boundary and next to it is actually a very old botanical garden that was built and has kind of fallen into a little bit of disrepair and inattentiveness, and so I have hired into the walk the property over a series of a few months and document the.
00:24:57.510 –> 00:25:11.490 Adam Bigelow: native and exotic and invasive plants that are there as a precursor to what we at the time were hoping would be a revitalization of that botanical garden, so I got to go visit and.
00:25:12.300 –> 00:25:24.930 Adam Bigelow: Take notes and look up the plants and key them out and documented and also was given some of the historical documents that at the time was just a.
00:25:25.680 –> 00:25:43.320 Adam Bigelow: fated photocopied blueprint of the original planting plan and I had some friends who worked in photo restoration and we’re able to take that and digitize it and make it a little bit more readable and stronger, so the Cherokee.
00:25:44.580 –> 00:25:55.770 Adam Bigelow: Historical Association and the Cherokee preservation foundation which funded that project have those digital and physical documents now to add to their history.
00:25:55.860 –> 00:25:59.610 Joseph McElroy: historical event should get the botanical gardens rehabilitated.
00:25:59.940 –> 00:26:07.590 Adam Bigelow: Unfortunately not, but I still have hopes that it can be brought it up and I’d love to collaborate with them, I have a lot of friends.
00:26:08.910 –> 00:26:22.800 Adam Bigelow: Over in Cherokee and both cooperative extension, as well as in the Cherokee tribal government and so every once a while we have conversations about potentially seeking funding to try to bring it up, it still is.
00:26:23.610 –> 00:26:33.840 Adam Bigelow: operational and you can go tour it’s free to walk around, and it has some really neat things, including an old cabin and some traditional farming examples going on.
00:26:34.260 –> 00:26:39.600 Joseph McElroy: Does that would be a nice out-of-the-way thing for somebody visiting the area to go find right.
00:26:40.140 –> 00:26:40.650 Adam Bigelow: Oh yeah.
00:26:41.520 –> 00:26:41.910 Joseph McElroy: yeah.
00:26:42.030 –> 00:26:49.770 Adam Bigelow: Oh yeah driving and when you drive to the great smoky mountain National Park, for the most part, you drive through Cherokee.
00:26:50.940 –> 00:26:57.840 Adam Bigelow: The downtown area, the touristy areas, and then some of the really neat things that they’re doing to revitalize that area.
00:27:00.060 –> 00:27:00.840 Joseph McElroy: Alright, so.
00:27:01.980 –> 00:27:09.810 Joseph McElroy: I see that you’re a director of the color we Community garden, you know I’ve been involved with Community gardens up here in New York, I was in the south Bronx.
00:27:10.290 –> 00:27:18.540 Joseph McElroy: Work to communicate in terms of beekeeper so on is, I have a fondness for Community gardens to tell me what you do with the Callaway Community garden.
00:27:19.020 –> 00:27:21.810 Adam Bigelow: Community gardens are amazing and I’ve been a.
00:27:22.950 –> 00:27:37.290 Adam Bigelow: Member of the silver Community garden and downtown Silva for 16 years and about nine or so years ago we had the idea to build a brand new Garden on.
00:27:38.820 –> 00:27:48.960 Adam Bigelow: publicly owned land that’s owned by Jackson County in the colorway, and so I developed a project idea, it was basically.
00:27:50.520 –> 00:28:00.810 Adam Bigelow: It was a hot summer day and The SOFA Community garden and I had a bit of a vision to create a garden-based environmental education project.
00:28:01.200 –> 00:28:12.720 Adam Bigelow: And so I dreamed it up, I wrote it up, I did a bunch of research, and then I started talking to people about my ideas, which is something that I do frequently.
00:28:13.500 –> 00:28:28.050 Adam Bigelow: Whether my friends want me to or not, and this uh This project was actually picked up and supported for the Jackson county department of public health, and I really love that relationship and it’s still run through the health department.
00:28:29.400 –> 00:28:34.560 Adam Bigelow: And I’m a year-round part-time employee of the health department running the garden as a health educator.
00:28:35.040 –> 00:28:49.890 Adam Bigelow: And through that relationship, I get to use the phrase a garden for the public health and it’s a really powerful thing public health gardening access to fresh produce physical activity it’s a really great combination cool.
00:28:50.220 –> 00:29:00.630 Joseph McElroy: Well, when we come back, I want to explore more of what you’re doing and and and talk about some aspects of what people might come to visit in the mountains about the botanicals.
00:29:01.350 –> 00:29:02.010 Adam Bigelow: sounds great.
00:31:35.190 –> 00:31:50.430 Joseph McElroy: howdy this is Joseph Franklyn McElroy back with the gateway to the smokies podcast with my guest Adam Bigelow so Adam we were talking about community gardens is that something that people can visit in color is it you might find interesting.
00:31:51.240 –> 00:31:57.600 Adam Bigelow: yeah I think so it’s really beautiful and it’s close to that campus of Western Carolina University.
00:31:57.990 –> 00:31:59.640 Adam Bigelow: Oh it’s really easy to find.
00:32:00.930 –> 00:32:11.370 Adam Bigelow: it’s a beautiful garden, and the way our garden works really quickly is it’s actually one big garden area that we’ve broken up, with no bunch of small individual plots that people from the Community adopt.
00:32:11.850 –> 00:32:19.230 Adam Bigelow: We provide tools equipment materials everything Someone needs to grow a garden organically, except for seeds and plants and.
00:32:19.980 –> 00:32:25.470 Adam Bigelow: So people are afraid to grow whatever flowers herbs vegetables, they want for themselves and friends and family.
00:32:25.860 –> 00:32:38.700 Adam Bigelow: And my favorite part about how the garden works is we don’t charge any money to adopt the plot instead were able to charge everybody half of their products and collect that food and donated in the local food really to help out our neighbors.
00:32:39.210 –> 00:32:39.750 cool.
00:32:41.370 –> 00:32:48.720 Joseph McElroy: that’s I mean that’s a good model I think yeah yeah so so I know also that you.
00:32:50.220 –> 00:32:54.540 Joseph McElroy: You have your own business Bigelow botanical excursions.
00:32:54.720 –> 00:32:56.730 Joseph McElroy: That come about wasn’t do.
00:32:57.360 –> 00:32:59.850 Adam Bigelow: bigelow’s botanical excursions is.
00:33:01.260 –> 00:33:12.750 Adam Bigelow: Where I take people for walks in the woods and I take people on a slow and gentle walk in the woods it’s very accepted accessible to many people.
00:33:13.140 –> 00:33:23.070 Adam Bigelow: And I teach them about the flowers and the plants that we see along the way I teach how to identify the plant some of their characteristics, I also.
00:33:24.060 –> 00:33:37.740 Adam Bigelow: share the stories of the plants, which is what really draw drew me in early on, and what continues to really excite me is the stories and the stories can be about humans used in connection whether that’s.
00:33:38.940 –> 00:34:02.070 Adam Bigelow: For edible wild foods or medicinal uses also uses for fiber fuel or different things, but they can also have stories connected with American history indigenous people in North America and their use of the plants and understanding and connection, it can be about the history of.
00:34:03.450 –> 00:34:12.810 Adam Bigelow: botany throughout the southeastern us and my I’m really something that uh that I keep diving deeper and deeper into.
00:34:13.350 –> 00:34:35.400 Adam Bigelow: Is the ecological connection between plants, each other plants, and the insects and wildlife that depend on them, including us depending on them for life on this earth so it’s um it’s a lot of fun it’s a slow walk usually after maybe two and a half hours of walking in the woods.
00:34:36.810 –> 00:34:47.370 Adam Bigelow: When it’s time to turn around and go back to our cars it usually doesn’t take us more than 20 or 25 minutes to walk back to the car, so it is definitely not hiking.
00:34:47.820 –> 00:34:49.620 Joseph McElroy: I have to ask you is a slow walk.
00:34:50.910 –> 00:34:51.750 Adam Bigelow: slow.
00:34:52.380 –> 00:35:05.490 Adam Bigelow: thing to look it’s a lesson in mindfulness is what it is it’s mindfulness practice it’s seeing every plant and talking about every flower that we notice and really just one of mine.
00:35:06.780 –> 00:35:18.810 Adam Bigelow: Big big goals and the work that I do all the work that I do is to try to help connect people with nature connect people with plants and wildflower so that they’ll fall in love with it as I did.
00:35:19.350 –> 00:35:28.920 Adam Bigelow: And so that they’ll have a bigger understanding of why we want to protect them and save these special areas that have these really rare and special wildfires in plants.
00:35:29.430 –> 00:35:30.960 Joseph McElroy: And how long you been doing this business.
00:35:31.320 –> 00:35:36.690 Adam Bigelow: I’ve been doing this for about five years and the way it came about.
00:35:37.890 –> 00:35:44.280 Adam Bigelow: Was I was approached by Southwest and Community college our local community college to teach an organic gardening class.
00:35:44.730 –> 00:35:57.990 Adam Bigelow: And I had a flash thought to pitch them a wildflower class and they said yes, and so the very first year I did a continuing ED spring wildfire class, and it was a lot of fun and.
00:35:58.650 –> 00:36:06.270 Adam Bigelow: I got paid a little bit of money to go walk into the woods and I thought that was great the very next year, I tried to pitch it again and they told me, I was late.
00:36:07.200 –> 00:36:28.230 Adam Bigelow: To suggested and wouldn’t make the catalog so I had the idea to hold the class on my own, and I made a little bit more money than I did through the Community college and I like that better so I’ve been doing it every year since and after that first year of hosting it on my own I.
00:36:30.030 –> 00:36:34.440 Adam Bigelow: I started offering I’m, not just in the springtime but throughout the year.
00:36:35.760 –> 00:36:47.580 Joseph McElroy: And the side, I mean there’s obviously the walk but what kind of services, you offer to people that come to do the tour at picking love you or they have to meet you somewhere to provide lunch or anything.
00:36:48.210 –> 00:37:09.000 Adam Bigelow: uh no not yet, but I’m working up to some of those ideas, the way it works right now is we meet every week, and right now my walks are on Fridays, and so the weekly public walks are every Friday and we meet at a different trailhead or location and go for that short slow walk.
00:37:10.710 –> 00:37:29.850 Adam Bigelow: this coming Friday we’re actually going to the Highlands botanical garden at the Highlands biological station in Highlands North Carolina but we meet at different places and my tagline for the businesses where the wildflowers are the destination, so we go to where things are blooming.
00:37:31.530 –> 00:37:42.720 Adam Bigelow: I have people meet us out at the site, and I do a morning session from 9 am to 12 and then I get an hour break to eat a peanut butter sandwich and then I do the.
00:37:43.770 –> 00:37:48.180 Adam Bigelow: Second walk at the same location every Friday from one o’clock to four.
00:37:48.570 –> 00:37:52.590 Joseph McElroy: Who I am and what are some of the other locations, besides the Highland Center.
00:37:53.160 –> 00:37:58.650 Adam Bigelow: Oh, at this time of year, especially it’s hard to stay off the blue Ridge parkway there’s so many different.
00:37:59.460 –> 00:38:15.150 Adam Bigelow: channel heads and overlooks that are special along the parkway we go to blackball some area off of the Blue Ridge parkway I love walking in panther town Valley, which is one of the most special places in all of Western North Carolina.
00:38:16.650 –> 00:38:22.470 Adam Bigelow: And so really it throughout the year, my locations bounce around a little bit.
00:38:23.580 –> 00:38:32.310 Adam Bigelow: But really it’s all focused on what’s blooming where so I have a hard time giving a long-term schedule to people.
00:38:33.330 –> 00:38:41.970 Adam Bigelow: Because every year and nature is different and the bloom times can be slower or later, and so I want to offer value to the experience.
00:38:42.480 –> 00:38:52.440 Joseph McElroy: I know that even the same trail can have dramatically different people talking about spring, white flowers in the mountain the smokies right.
00:38:52.920 –> 00:39:10.050 Joseph McElroy: But it changes, based upon how cold, it is because you know early you know the early the wildfires are down low, but then as it gets warmer up and up the mountain the wildfire is blue higher higher higher so you have a long wildfire season right.
00:39:10.050 –> 00:39:21.630 Adam Bigelow: it’s true and it’s so magical I actually talked about that and call it a reference to it as botanical time travel so as early as early February.
00:39:22.140 –> 00:39:35.310 Adam Bigelow: I can go off the mountain into upper Piedmont and see, for instance, a wildflower called the trout lily era, friendly and Virginia Virginia Anna and.
00:39:35.850 –> 00:39:46.800 Adam Bigelow: So I can see that blooming in the first weeks of February and then that’s down low may be lower than 1000 feet in elevation and I can watch that same flower bloom.
00:39:47.190 –> 00:40:01.410 Adam Bigelow: each individual plant, maybe only has a two-week bloom time but I can see the remnants of that plant up in the high smokies and 5000 6000 feet elevation at the first week of June.
00:40:02.490 –> 00:40:05.700 Joseph McElroy: fabulous So how do people find out about your tours.
00:40:06.990 –> 00:40:21.750 Adam Bigelow: The best way is to send an email to me at Bigelownc that’s BIGELOW NC like North carolina@gmail.com and then I can add you to my own.
00:40:22.500 –> 00:40:33.300 Adam Bigelow: To my email list, where I now see two weeks location I’m also available to find on Facebook at Bigelow botanical excursions.
00:40:33.870 –> 00:40:51.330 Adam Bigelow: and also on Instagram under that same thing, and you can look me up personally on Facebook, but just be aware of my tagline on my personal Facebook pages come for the pretty wildflowers stay for the environmental, social and racial justice.
00:40:53.520 –> 00:40:55.410 Joseph McElroy: yeah you put it out there that’s good.
00:40:56.910 –> 00:41:03.300 Joseph McElroy: So you know I want to also explore some other things about you it’s interesting you are also a musician.
00:41:03.870 –> 00:41:08.760 Joseph McElroy: it’s true right what kind of meat, what kind of music, do you play.
00:41:09.420 –> 00:41:27.990 Adam Bigelow: I am an I play that stand-up bass and a non-traditional string band here around Western North Carolina and we’re called old dirty bathtub and we are Western North Carolina’s premier acoustic party band.
00:41:29.040 –> 00:41:34.050 Joseph McElroy: right and what is it bluegrass or is folk or is its a mix of all sorts of that sort of stuff.
00:41:34.140 –> 00:41:42.180 Adam Bigelow: it’s a mix, you know, if anywhere else, they would call us bluegrass but in Appalachia, people know better.
00:41:43.980 –> 00:41:47.100 Adam Bigelow: We do a lot of original songs it’s bluegrass.
00:41:48.270 –> 00:41:50.130 Adam Bigelow: As a foundation, but also.
00:41:51.690 –> 00:42:13.200 Adam Bigelow: rock and roll influence hip hop influence jam band type things, and so we have a wide-ranging influence on our music and but are my favorite stuff that we do are our original songs and we have a new album that’s available on streaming services like Spotify.
00:42:14.670 –> 00:42:18.390 Adam Bigelow: that’s called Pat, you know that your listeners can look up and find.
00:42:19.410 –> 00:42:19.980 Adam Bigelow: cool.
00:42:20.370 –> 00:42:24.600 Joseph McElroy: yeah oh and you’re a vocalist with that’s pretty cool right, you can sing.
00:42:25.140 –> 00:42:34.560 Adam Bigelow: I sing a little bashing the base backups I think sometimes, but my bandmates usually just try to turn my microphone off.
00:42:35.820 –> 00:42:38.250 Joseph McElroy: and whoever you want to give a shout out to the other band members.
00:42:38.580 –> 00:42:54.630 Adam Bigelow: Oh yeah they’re great guys all and we’re really good friends too and have a lot of fun hanging out as well as making music and I think that makes the music better so I’m all dirty bathtub is made up of brad Boulay who is ours.
00:42:55.860 –> 00:43:00.900 Adam Bigelow: vein harmony vocalist and plays a rhythm mandolin we have.
00:43:02.130 –> 00:43:09.570 Adam Bigelow: Two really incredible flat-taking lead guitar players Jared Davis and Neil leopard.
00:43:10.650 –> 00:43:11.550 Adam Bigelow: And then, our.
00:43:12.630 –> 00:43:16.500 Adam Bigelow: dough bro player our slides resonating guitar player.
00:43:17.550 –> 00:43:25.380 Adam Bigelow: Carter Gingrich is just an amazing player and they all are just really good at what they do and we have a lot of fun on stage.
00:43:26.280 –> 00:43:26.880 cool.
00:43:28.170 –> 00:43:28.710 Joseph McElroy: So.
00:43:29.910 –> 00:43:39.960 Joseph McElroy: So when we get back, I want to, I want to explore a little bit about the music and places to go for that you, you know about music and then your ideal itinerary and where you live.
00:43:40.320 –> 00:43:40.860 sure.
00:46:14.490 –> 00:46:28.290 Joseph McElroy: howdy this is Joseph Franklin McElroy back with the gateway to the smokies podcasts and My guest Adam Bigelow so Adam I forgot to ask them to interest me why did you call it the old dirty bathtub.
00:46:29.370 –> 00:46:31.830 Adam Bigelow: Well, so Joseph.
00:46:33.600 –> 00:46:46.500 Adam Bigelow: That band name has some different layers of meaning like a lot of things on its surface level old dirty bathtub and there’s no D and all its just Oh well, with an apostrophe.
00:46:47.130 –> 00:46:56.790 Adam Bigelow: On the surface, it’s just a kitschy little country name, you know you could probably picture a cloth foot porcelain talk about in a field rusting away but.
00:46:57.900 –> 00:47:14.520 Adam Bigelow: If you are a fan of or know anything about 19 1990s hip hop music, you might be a fan of the Wu-Tang clan Wu-Tang for life, and one of their members was an old dirty bastard so it’s actually a play on the old dirty bastard name.
00:47:14.850 –> 00:47:19.980 Joseph McElroy: There you supercop combining old country to new hip hop that’s kind of cool.
00:47:20.400 –> 00:47:33.480 Adam Bigelow: It is and it’s and it’s really interesting we’ve had lots of conversations about untag going cultural appropriation and to look at the history of music in the United States of America is a look at.
00:47:34.920 –> 00:47:56.400 Adam Bigelow: African culture and black culture of being expanded on or even stolen or taken even bluegrass music from bill Monroe and Kentucky is a combination of traditional folk music from England and the British Isles and African blues and roots music that way so.
00:47:56.730 –> 00:48:10.200 Joseph McElroy: Well, but you know bluegrass itself as you know and a lot of ways evolved from you know older Scotch Irish ballads but then you introduce the banjo, which was a West African that’s right that brought a percussion Ella some element to it so.
00:48:10.440 –> 00:48:11.460 Adam Bigelow: that’s I am the.
00:48:12.660 –> 00:48:18.660 Adam Bigelow: musical patterns are based on blues which are but also based on African rhythmic patterns for sure.
00:48:19.170 –> 00:48:24.690 Joseph McElroy: So, what is your some for something visiting area to see some great music Where would you recommend them.
00:48:25.260 –> 00:48:40.020 Adam Bigelow: You know, in the general area, of course, you can’t talk about music in western North Carolina which, without talking about the incredible music scene based around Asheville North Carolina there’s so many.
00:48:40.890 –> 00:48:53.880 Adam Bigelow: Wonderful bands of all styles of music there’s different venues and clubs and bars and folk music out the parks pre covid and hopefully post covid if we can make it to that.
00:48:55.380 –> 00:48:58.140 Adam Bigelow: There are all kinds of great music.
00:48:59.400 –> 00:49:19.770 Adam Bigelow: But keeping it local like I like to do SOFA The SOFA area has a real and for the whole time I’ve lived up here has had very interesting art and music scene with lots of bands lots of creativity and so on, any given night, you can go into downtown silver.
00:49:21.390 –> 00:49:44.370 Adam Bigelow: In here in Jackson County North Carolina and see live music at one of the many breweries, including innovation brewing the lazy hiker has music there’s old-time circles and jams that happen in the past, at city lights CAFE and also other places there’s weekly.
00:49:45.390 –> 00:49:56.910 Adam Bigelow: produced music events at the Bridge Park, which is an outdoor pavilion and park and downtown and there’s just always has been a large number of bands and different styles of music.
00:49:57.600 –> 00:50:13.440 Adam Bigelow: rock and roll reggae bluegrass jam band and everything in between the university really brings in a lot of cultural and a little bit ethnic diversity that lends itself to the artistic nature of our Community.
00:50:14.100 –> 00:50:16.680 Joseph McElroy: So I asked you to think about the itinerary.
00:50:17.760 –> 00:50:18.150 Adam Bigelow: But.
00:50:18.420 –> 00:50:19.710 Joseph McElroy: Well, you know you live in so.
00:50:21.180 –> 00:50:27.060 Joseph McElroy: What would be a great itinerary for somebody coming discover some things there, what would you do for breakfast.
00:50:28.260 –> 00:50:42.510 Adam Bigelow: lunch and dinner that evening sure yeah I do recommend people come to visit here and really just embrace the wonderful different offerings that we have.
00:50:43.680 –> 00:51:02.100 Adam Bigelow: I would start with a visit for coffee and breakfast that white moon CAFE which is on what we refer to as backstreet, but if you type backstreet into your Google maps that’s not going to take you there it’s on mill street they’re really great.
00:51:04.110 –> 00:51:06.510 Adam Bigelow: Small CAFE with a really.
00:51:07.530 –> 00:51:25.590 Adam Bigelow: Very hip vibe they do really good coffee drinks, they are very focused on locally sourcing of their food, and so they make great bagels they buy bagels from one of the local bakery places they just do a really good job real friendly people in that place.
00:51:25.710 –> 00:51:27.600 Joseph McElroy: And then, what you do after that, where would you go.
00:51:28.080 –> 00:51:40.410 Adam Bigelow: I would if it was Saturday I would walk from there to the glorious Jackson county farmers market and go visit our very thriving farmers market and downtown silver every Saturday morning.
00:51:40.920 –> 00:51:51.780 Adam Bigelow: and buy some wonderful produce and bread and also a limited amount of crafts, but it is truly a farmers market I would look at.
00:51:54.360 –> 00:51:59.730 Adam Bigelow: Taking a trip down to Hillsborough for lunch and visiting.
00:52:00.960 –> 00:52:09.570 Adam Bigelow: The innovation station, or what my favorite brewery and all of Western North Carolina and that’s saying a lot because we have a lot of great breweries and was.
00:52:10.470 –> 00:52:12.060 Joseph McElroy: Great food I’m telling you.
00:52:12.420 –> 00:52:26.790 Adam Bigelow: yeah it’s great food and there are food trucks and Hillsborough is a very cute and touristy town with lots of shops, the great smoky mountain railroad comes through there, you can see the train, but you can also go and.
00:52:27.900 –> 00:52:33.180 Adam Bigelow: Take an afternoon float on the River with the Hillsborough wrapping company or one of the other.
00:52:33.510 –> 00:52:34.890 Adam Bigelow: Small wrapping companies.
00:52:35.160 –> 00:52:49.560 Adam Bigelow: And the Texas ag river, which is the main river that flows through our Community is very gentle it’s not a major excuse for me it’s not major class rapids it’s very gentle very family-friendly.
00:52:50.010 –> 00:52:50.280 And then.
00:52:51.690 –> 00:53:06.090 Adam Bigelow: yeah after that you’re going to want to relax and there are a lot of great offerings in downtown silver for food, but there is none better, in my opinion than the Guadalupe CAFE.
00:53:06.180 –> 00:53:07.860 Joseph McElroy: yeah I love.
00:53:08.190 –> 00:53:22.050 Adam Bigelow: Love Guadalupe CAFE owner Jen Pearson has been really pushing the envelope on what I believe she calls Appalachian and Caribbean and South American fusion it’s like a hippie talk area.
00:53:23.010 –> 00:53:31.740 Adam Bigelow: It is locally sourcing and environmental sustainability or a factor in every single decision they make at that place.
00:53:32.070 –> 00:53:35.610 Joseph McElroy: it’s really amazing and the salsa platters to die for.
00:53:35.610 –> 00:53:36.240 So.
00:53:37.260 –> 00:53:38.400 Adam Bigelow: This is also platter.
00:53:38.670 –> 00:53:41.850 Adam Bigelow: fried plantains and the best okra you could ever eat.
00:53:43.980 –> 00:53:46.440 Joseph McElroy: We didn’t really have time to finish at the end with.
00:53:46.830 –> 00:53:58.950 Adam Bigelow: An evening I would walk around downtown Silva and taking the character of the town I would pop into the lazy hiker innovation in Silva, to see if there’s live music and I will.
00:54:00.000 –> 00:54:11.580 Adam Bigelow: finish off the evening sitting on the porch of your Airbnb or whatever rental you’re sitting on in a rocking chair, with the cool mountain air and just really soak up.
00:54:11.790 –> 00:54:13.620 Adam Bigelow: The atmosphere of southern appalachian.
00:54:14.160 –> 00:54:25.890 Joseph McElroy: Well, thank you, I look forward to seeing you at the Meadowlark at Meadowlark smoky mountain the traditionalist weekend and August 27 and you’re going to be talking about what.
00:54:26.370 –> 00:54:29.820 Adam Bigelow: I’m going to be talking about wildflowers of southern Appalachian.
00:54:30.270 –> 00:54:32.640 Adam Bigelow: And I want to do a presentation, with some.
00:54:32.640 –> 00:54:35.040 Adam Bigelow: Really pretty pictures good I can’t wait.
00:54:35.250 –> 00:54:37.470 Joseph McElroy: I look forward to seeing you there I’ll be there.
00:54:38.760 –> 00:54:42.330 Joseph McElroy: Any other ways that you want people to contact you or look you up.
00:54:43.020 –> 00:55:00.000 Adam Bigelow: I really primarily right now I’m working on a website and working on some of those more social promotions, but I invite people to connect with me through Facebook oh My big was botanical excursions page or to send me an email at bigelownc@gmail.com
00:55:00.450 –> 00:55:02.280 Adam Bigelow: to inquire about.
00:55:02.490 –> 00:55:03.420 Adam Bigelow: wildfire walks.
00:55:03.510 –> 00:55:06.720 Joseph McElroy: And is your brand have a Facebook page.
00:55:07.080 –> 00:55:13.350 Adam Bigelow: yeah we’re on Facebook and Instagram and also you can find us on your streaming music services.
00:55:13.350 –> 00:55:14.760 Joseph McElroy: Well dirty bathtub.
00:55:14.760 –> 00:55:16.230 Adam Bigelow: So dirty bathtub.
00:55:16.530 –> 00:55:17.130 Joseph McElroy: I look you.
00:55:18.180 –> 00:55:20.100 Joseph McElroy: See on the 27th year.
00:55:21.510 –> 00:55:28.020 Joseph McElroy: You can find out more about this podcast and gateway to the smokies fun and we’re also on Facebook.
00:55:28.920 –> 00:55:40.590 Joseph McElroy: gateway to the smokies podcast I am part of the talk radio. NYC network, which is a great live podcast network with lots of great shows after this is the one about New York that I advise you to.
00:55:40.890 –> 00:55:51.330 Joseph McElroy: Take a look and don’t forget next week next we have another show from six to seven on Tuesday night and then I promise you, it will be very interesting until then I’ll.
00:55:52.530 –> 00:55:54.060 Joseph McElroy: Until then, I look forward to seeing you.
