On the Blue Ridge

Anna Rawlins is the Chief Marketing Officer for Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO), an Asheville-based maker of hammocks and outdoor gear that inspires people to adventure anywhere, and relax everywhere.

Thanks to a compact design and innovative straps that can wrap around trees, ENO helped redefine the hammock from something associated primarily with the backyard into portable, lightweight gear that’s equally at home on a mountain ...

Marielle DeJong is the Donor Engagement Officer for The Pisgah Conservancy, the only nonprofit organization that is solely dedicated to supporting the Pisgah Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest.

Pisgah National Forest is one of Western North Carolina’s most treasured public lands. Millions of people come here each year to hike, camp, fish, climb, bike, and chase waterfalls. But maintaining a forest this large, and keepin...

Ty Gilpin is a mandolinist, songwriter and singer for the band Unspoken Tradition, whose sixth studio album, “Heartwood,” is available now.

For more than a decade, Unspoken Tradition has built a reputation for bluegrass music that celebrates both the beauty of Western North Carolina and the realities of everyday life here. The band—which also includes Audie McGinnis, Zane McGinnis, Tim Gardner, and Sav Sankaran&mda...

Loretta Ball is the owner and operator of The Never Ending Flower Farm in Barnardsville, North Carolina, where visitors can wander through rows of flowers to create their own, fresh-picked bouquets.

A Western North Carolina native, Loretta transformed family land into The Never Ending Flower Farm. She lives on the property with her husband, Kurt, and their two children. Now in its 10th season of you-pick flowers, the farm has become...

Chris and Jessica Whaley are the owners of Old Fort, North Carolina-based Whaley Farm Brewery, where Appalachian-inspired beers, local ingredients, and a resilient community helped shape the brewery’s long road to recovery after Hurricane Helene.

After many years of farming and brewing in Western North Carolina, the Whaleys opened their brewery in 2022 and specialize in Appalachian farm beers, English cask ales, and thoughtful...

Andrew Kota is the executive director of Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, a land trust that permanently protects land and water in Western North Carolina for the benefit of people and all living things.

If you’ve ever hiked at South Mountains State Park, enjoyed a view of Lake James State Park, or visited Catawba Falls, then you’ve benefitted from a fraction of the work by the Morganton-based organization.

For the...

Taylor and Fran Montgomery are the owners and driving force behind Leicester, North Carolina-based Montgomery Sky Farm, where regenerative agriculture, intimate dining, and an animal rescue are deeply intertwined. Just a few weeks after this conversation was recorded, Taylor was named the 2026 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Southeast.

Established in 2018, Montgomery Sky Farm offers farm tours and hosts private and community...

Aaron Burdett is a Western North Carolina-based singer-songwriter, guitar player, and one of the lead vocalists for Steep Canyon Rangers.

A highly acclaimed musician with eight solo albums to his credit, Aaron is also the founder and owner of Solstice Construction Co., a custom homebuilding firm in Saluda, the small mountain town where he grew up. Blurring the lines between Americana, Folk, Country, and Bluegrass, his solo work is d...

Mike McKearin is the co-owner of Crystal Creek Gear, a Pisgah Forest, North Carolina-based company creating minimalist fishing gear designed to fit in your pocket.

Mike and his wife, Susie, started Crystal Creek Gear after years of getting their four kids outside in Western North Carolina. What began as a family project, with early GoReel prototypes built on a 3D printer in their garage and tested by their kids on local ponds, river...

Marc Hunt is a passionate river steward helping shape the next chapter of the French Broad River, from efforts to remove the Craggy Dam to the creation of Taylor’s Wave, a manmade whitewater wave in Woodfin, North Carolina.

Marc is also a whitewater paddler and former Asheville City Council member who has spent decades working to protect and reimagine our local rivers. A former outfitter on Tennessee’s Ocoee River, he ha...

Paul Bonesteel is a documentary filmmaker and writer whose latest film explores the life and legacy of George Masa, a Japanese immigrant photographer whose work was instrumental in the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the development of the Appalachian Trail.

Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Paul is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work explores history, landscape, and the people whose liv...

Joseph Sabbag runs Terramonga Farm in Fairview, and Andrea DuVall stewards Terramonga Hub—a service that delivers food from Terramonga and a network of local farms—straight to customers’ homes.

Terramonga, which means “the earth among us,” began when Joe and Elaina Sabbag moved to Fairview in 2018 with a vision for a farm rooted in both the land and the community around it. Today, the regenerative farm ...

Lisa Bottomley is the executive director of the Blue Ridge Parkway Association, a nonprofit made up of local businesses, communities, and individuals that has been promoting America’s Favorite Drive for 75 years.

A native of North Carolina’s Alleghany County, Lisa grew up with the Parkway playing a supporting role in her life. Her father helped build portions of the road, and years later she got engaged at Doughton Park....

Laura Rice is the executive director of Friends of the Ecusta Trail, a nonprofit organization supporting the transformation of a former rail line into a multi-use greenway connecting Hendersonville to Brevard in Western North Carolina.

In this episode, Laura shares the story behind the Ecusta Trail, from its earliest days to the stretch that’s open today, and what it will take to complete all 19 miles and connect Hendersonvill...

Lang Hornthal is the Executive Director of EcoForesters, an Asheville-based nonprofit professional forestry organization dedicated to conserving and restoring Appalachian forests through education and stewardship. 

In this episode, Lang discusses the organization’s work and how the aftermath of Hurricane Helene has reshaped the forests around us, and the way EcoForesters approaches its mission.

Lang also zooms out to talk ...

Kevin Westmoreland and Joe Scully are the co-owners of Corner Kitchen, a venerable restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina’s Biltmore Village that reopened this August, nearly a year after Hurricane Helene flooded the entire first floor of the restaurant.

Prior to opening Corner Kitchen in 2004, Kevin had a background in corporate operations and management roles, and Joe was a seasoned, classically trained chef. The duo met th...

David Huff is an Asheville-based writer, photographer, and conservationist. 

Leading at the intersection of disruption and resilience, he is the founder and chair of the George Masa Foundation, Councilor for Communications for the Carolina Mountain Club, and a trustee for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. 

A few weeks before the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact on Western North Carolina, ...

Beth Kellerhals and Dana Amromin are the co-owners of ButterPunk, a bakery and café that opened this May in Asheville’s River Arts District.

Beth and Dana have been longtime friends since their days in Los Angeles, and both of their paths eventually brought them to Asheville, where they realized their shared dream of opening a shop together. But just as they were about to get serious about building out their space, Hurricane H...

Les Love is the president of the Carolina Mountain Club, the oldest and largest hiking and trail maintenance organization in the Southeastern United States.

If you’ve ever set foot on the Appalachian Trail or Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Western North Carolina, odds are the Carolina Mountain Club helped clear the way. Now more than a century old, the member-run volunteer organization helped build both trail corridors through the ...