Exploring the Valley

Use Your Legs And Buy The Fish

• PC PRODUCTIONS • Season 3 • Episode 5

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 44:24

Fresh seafood in the mountains sounds like a contradiction until you hear how it actually works. We’re catching up with Carolyn Bajesse, a St. Thomas native who found her way back to Black Mountain, North Carolina and stepped into ownership of Black Mountain Seafood, one of the most practical, community-rooted small businesses in town. 

We talk through the real behind-the-scenes logistics of getting fresh Atlantic seafood inland: the Thursday night pickup packed in ice, the Friday sell-through, the short Saturday hours, and the simple rules that keep fish at its best. Carolyn also shares what shows up week to week, from North Carolina shrimp and scallops to rotating local catches like flounder and black sea bass, plus how her Wednesday email list lets customers reserve what’s coming in before it even hits the case. If you care about sustainable seafood, seasonality, and buying food with a clear story, you’ll get a lot out of this. 

Then we zoom out to what makes Black Mountain feel like Black Mountain: the Tailgate Market under the trees, chamber coffee meetups that turn into real referrals, and the local spots we keep coming back to when we just want to sit outside and watch the world move. We also get honest about Hurricane Helene recovery and why visitors matter even when downtown looks “fine.” 

If you enjoy conversations about local business, community culture, and the best things to do in Black Mountain NC, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Send us Fan Mail

Best Buy Metals is the industry leader in long-life metal roofing and siding materials. With seven manufacturing locations, they deliver high-quality products at everyday low prices and at speeds others can’t match. But what truly sets Best Buy Metals apart is their people—a dedicated team committed to providing exceptional service for projects of any size, every single day.

Support the show

Welcome Back To Black Mountain

SPEAKER_01

Carolyn Bajesse. I am so glad you're here today. Thank you for coming. You and I met a long time ago. We actually met a long, long time ago and figured out that we had met when you were with Straightaway Cafe. But we didn't realize that till much later. Right. And then I met you in another world, another life of yours. And then you walked into the chamber one day and you were like, Hi, I just bought this business, which we'll talk about in a minute. But uh my name's Carolyn, and I'm like, and you're in my phone as Carolyn something else that reminded me of how I met you. I'm really glad you're here. I'm glad you're back in Black Mountain and you're part of the Black Mountain community. But tell me what's your story and where are you from? Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

It is a pleasure to be here and to be reconnected into the Black Mountain community. I lived here for many years, 2015 to 2019. I lived on Paget Town Road and I worked on Highway 9 at the Straightaway Cafe. Had so much fun working out there and eventually moved to Old Fort. But the question is my story. So where are you from? What's your like your I don't want to know your work story. I want to know your story.

SPEAKER_01

Tell me about you.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we're gonna go to the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Charlotte Amalia. That's where my brother and I were born. Both of my parents moved there when they were children. So that is where I am from. And then we moved off island to the mainland to Mills River.

SPEAKER_01

Really?

SPEAKER_00

In like when I was about eight years old. But my family had this little tradition where I would go back and live with my grandmother in the summers. So I kind of had a

Roots In St. Thomas

SPEAKER_00

foot in each world growing up. And then the last time I went as a teenager was when I was 15. And then just recently, I in 2025 I went back after a 20-year hiatus, and it just totally lit me up. I love that island so much. I think the some of the nicest people in the world live there. The landscape is actually very similar if you look at absolutely. We my mom, I took her to Craggy Gardens the other day for her birthday, and we were looking up at the mountain ahead with the green trees, and she was like, This could be Fairchild Park in St. Thomas.

SPEAKER_01

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00

If you look at like the mountains in the mist of the ocean and the mountains and the mist here, it's totally similar. And there's actually a lot of Virgin Island transplants here. Because if you kind of look at a map, I mean, this is one of the most geographically beautiful areas of the country that's closest to the Virgin Islands. Direct flight out of Charlotte. That's the way to do it, people. Okay, okay. And so then I grew up here and went to college at Western Carolina University, got me a bachelor's degree in creative writing. Super useful. Absolutely. Just like mine. Right. Um, and then I uh traveled a lot in my 20s for work and sales. I worked for Eno Eagle's Nest Outfitters, those those like parachute hammocks. They're very popular at music festivals. We would go to like big festivals like Electric Forest and Bonnoroo and would set up these hammock installations and sell them and sell out. I was their first female Road Warrior. Ooh, they did Road Warrior. Is that like sales rep? Yes, I'd like give it a name on my LinkedIn, Road Warrior. That's awesome. It was really a great experience. I learned so much more being a solo outside sales rep on the road than much other things during that time. So I afforded me to be able to travel the country a little bit and get to see, I love experiencing the flavors of other cities. Like I love New Orleans, I love New York City, I love San Francisco, I love Atlanta, you know. But after years of getting to travel and work the whole time, I really wanted to come back here, you know. And here you are. And here I am. So then you came back here and you did different things. I came back here, yeah. I've gotten I've had a hospitality, you know, career. Definitely, you know, sales and hospitality go hand in hand. And then uh in 2019, I was like, you know what? I really want to pivot and I think I want to get into healthcare because I love helping people. So then I worked in healthcare throughout the whole pandemic. Awesome. Mm-hmm. From August of 2019 to the spring of 2023. And then I got an opportunity to work with a family member and help her start her business, which was fractional HR and talent acquisition, another, you know, industry, especially the TA recruiting that goes hand in hand with hospitality and skills, talent talent acquisition. Thank you. Yeah, those big old corporations. They have whole lots of acronyms, whole departments of people who will recruit for the company and be building that talent pipeline. So learned a ton there, honestly, as well. So in my past job, doing the fractional HR and recruiting, part of my role in that job was community engagement. So going to all of these small business owner meetings and associations. And I just where we met, which is where we met again. I totally fell in love with the small business owner culture and community. It was something I was never really exposed to before. I mean, you get in a room of like some of the speed networking events and stuff, like the energy is so high, you know, it kind of transcends all other like divisive topics. Like we're we're part of building a community. Like business owners really do play like a hand in shaping the community culture. And I just, you know, I'm in my mid-30s, getting to be late 30s now, and you know, the job market here can be challenging, you know, and I just saw this opportunity to with my husband to invest in this small little seafood business. And it was a like a unique intersection of everything I've been through before with hospitality, my obsession with the ocean and sustainable food. I'm like kind of a food snob about what I eat a little bit.

SPEAKER_01

Which is why you look so good and you don't look dirty something. That's really cool. I would have thought you were younger. I wasn't sure. Well, uh, so tell me, like, we're not gonna talk about business the whole time. So tell me a little bit more about um, tell me how uh Black Mountain Seafood works.

SPEAKER_00

Black Mountain Seafood works. Uh, this will be our 16th week coming up. So still fairly new in ownership, but we have a trusted supplier who is just deep in the fish culture in Wilmington. That's the number one question I guess. Deep, like deep seafishing. It was like a pun. Uh yes, go ahead. Absolutely a pun.

How The Seafood Shop Works

SPEAKER_00

Okay, keep going. And so we, you know, and that's kind of how all of the seafood culture works. It gets driven up regardless of who you're using. A lot of it gets driven up Thursday night and it's all buried in ice. That's actually the best way to keep seafood cold, isn't ice, versus, you know, it's fine in your refrigerator at home, but it's gonna stay fresher longer buried in ice. Okay. And so then we pick that up late Thursday evening, keep it buried in ice, and then Friday we sell, sell, sell. So sell out. Yeah, ideally. And then Saturday we're open just a few hours. And then we typically recommend people try to eat their seafood before it goes into Monday. Or you can freeze it, and that if you freeze it, you at least know when it was frozen versus like mystery frozen dates. And as someone who grew up on the water and loves to cook, and you know, I at this point I really do just like simple foods. I like a vegetable, a fish, and or a steak, or you know, a protein, a vegetable, get your fiber in there, and then some dessert, of course. But of course, um, so that's how it works. And I have just totally fallen in love with the Black Mountain community customers, which I knew they would be good because I'm very familiar with Black Mountain. All my friends are here. So when this opportunity came up, it was just like all these synchronicities and checking all of these boxes. Like I met like all my best friends what working at the straightaway in that era of my life on Highway 9. Like, I'm in love with Highway 9. My dad rides a motorcycle, so he'll he'll enjoy that too. It's known as the Sidewinder, of course. And so I'm just excited to be back here. My customers are amazing, super diverse community of people. And I you go to the Tailgate Market some too, right? We we have a booth at the Tailgate Market. So the couple we purchased the business from, he got his start in the Black Mountain Tailgate Market like 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So there's a lot of like, you know, legacy stuff going on here. And so from my vending experience for so many years at music festivals, I was no stranger to, you know, the vending culture. Um and so we've been loving, we're next to Lee Fortune One Farm at the Tailgate Market. And

Tailgate Market And Vendor Life

SPEAKER_00

so we've been eating like their bok choy and their fresh eggs like every week, and I'm excited. They collaborate collaborate with the hop a good bit.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Absolutely. Um, I don't know that you could collaborate. I mean, I don't know. Greg can make the ice cream out of anything, but maybe not best. Seafood. I don't we're kind of no thing, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but anyway, that's what I think of when I think of them. Anyway, totally. And uh, so the tailgate market has been great. When is the tailgate market? Saturday at the church. Which church? Um, I really don't know. The Baptist church. The first Baptist. It's the first Baptist church, of course. That's right. On Montreat Road. On Montreal Road.

SPEAKER_01

There you go. And starts at 9 a.m. time okay, and it's really summertime. Starts late spring, yeah, and goes early fall.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. And it's it's honestly, I'm not just saying this because I'm a vendor there now. It was my favorite market before. I know Black Mountains Hillgate Market is unique in comparison to many because it's under the trees. Right. You know, that's you're not in a parking lot. That's always stood out to me, you know. So we really enjoy it. And it starts at nine versus eight. So uh love that too. That's good for you. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's good. So I came from Cartersville, Georgia, and in Cartersville, Georgia, they have the number one farmer's market in the state of Georgia. And I came here going, yeah, Tailgate Market. They don't they give it a cute name, so people go, it's gonna be fine. There's no way it can compete with Cartersville. Wrong. Oh, wrong. It was they're different, they're very different from each other. Yeah, yeah. But I love the vibe. I I usually go to the tailgate market, but I don't cook a whole lot. I don't I don't do any of that stuff, but I like to go just because the atmosphere, the vibe is so cool. There is. There's crafts, there's music, it's very wholesome.

SPEAKER_00

Kids running around, but not obnoxiously. I don't know how that works. It works. Yes, like the cuteness of everything else subdues them. That's right. I guess so. Family friendly event. It's a way to spend the morning. It's great. Yeah, I love it. Um, my husband works the booth, and so I'm over at the shop. So we wondered how you did that. Okay. Like it's we wondered too until we started doing that. So what we do on Saturdays, we go to the shop first, get that all ready, and then we go set up our booth. We unload, I go park the car, he starts setting up. I call him the market manager. I'm the shop manager, you see. And then we'll work for together for the first hour. And then our shop is just a couple blocks away. It's like a three or four minute walk, but they're they're kind of different markets, you know, because the shop is getting people driving by to and fro the highway. So so yeah, we're we're figuring it out one step of a time, and we're really excited for the support. And I've loved meeting other business owners in Black Mountain and going to some of the chamber meetings at the bistro and business and community club on Wednesday mornings from eight to nine.

SPEAKER_01

It is a good time, it's the place to be. It really is. It's actually a really good picture of the culture of the chamber, but also of the whole community. So that's my that's I don't have a favorite because because in Chamber World, you're not allowed to have favorites of anything. Oh. But if I had a favorite event, it would definitely be that, but I don't.

SPEAKER_00

Those are some of my favorite events too. I know that some of the business associations will do like, you know, bigger ones, but it's just kind of like those coffee meetups, you know, where you start to really make make relationships and you walk away after an hour of your time sipping your coffee and then just knowing so much like accessibility and resources that are available to you on a local level. It's like, wow, that was a productive hour of my time. Did and you don't even have to be a member to go, right? You can for like the first couple. No, you don't have to be a member to go. Yeah, I try to tell other entrepreneurs that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it's it's a it's uh usually people end up being members because they're like, this is actually useful. They usually end up getting a referral that costs that covers enough that they can pay for their membership and they're like, okay, I'll give you one year and see how it goes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But um, but not offer not everybody, you know, not uh not always, but but often. But yeah, but I love when you come. It's good. Yeah, I'll be there soon. I know, I know. It's hard. It's not easy to even be up at eight and there. But are you a morning person? I used to be more of a morning person, but I mean, I still am yes, I'm still a morning person.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. I kind of ebb and flow a little. I mean, I used to be like a big morning person.

SPEAKER_01

Like I mean, like four o'clock, I'm awake. Oh, wait, but when I am yeah, but now but I came into the office at 5 30 or 6 every morning when I was brand new at the chamber because there was so much to do. Right, right. Recently got we got to have an assistant at the chamber. And so my life has gotten significantly better. Done since Sophie, my hero, got there. Go, Sophie. Go Sophie, we love you. But uh and so now I'm not coming until seven, which is great. That's great. It's great. That's still pretty early. It's making a difference. Well, but nobody's there, nobody interrupts, nobody that's I'm so easily distracted that I need to be in my office away from other people.

SPEAKER_00

So I find it more productive in the morning too. Yeah. So by the time the afternoon comes, I'm like, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I don't like being alone. Right. So I don't the four or five o'clock in the morning was too early because that's like four hours before you see the night time. Yeah. No. This is much more conducive to long-term life. Okay, good. So we lost a good day. Yeah. We love Sophie. Sophie has changed my life. But awesome. All right. So we've talked a lot about business and about the chamber and all those things. Uh tell me, let's see, I know you lived here and then you moved away and you're trying to move back. And I mean, not like tomorrow, but that's your goal.

SPEAKER_00

It's definitely my awareness. I told my husband the other day that after a walk with my dog at Lake Tomahawk, I thought that we should get a lakefront house there. There you go. So a girl can dream. I'm a water person, right? From the ocean. My uh I the house I grew up on in Mills River, we grew up on a little lake there. So I'm always I'm always feeling not water. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Yeah. And I live, I live up in Montreat, and there's a creek that's beautiful there. In the in the wintertime, you can hear the creek. In the summer, you cannot. The leaves are enough thickness that you don't hear running at night, you know, your sleep to the sound of the creek. So I don't know. I I'm with you on the water. I didn't grow up on the water. I didn't have to have it. But as an adult, I started to spend more time at the lake. Yeah. And that was my calming. Water calms me down. Totally. And I'm a fisherman, so I love fishing. Oh, you do? I love fishing. I'm not good at catching. I'm just good at the fishing part, but I don't care. I if I don't even have a hook on the line, it calms me down. It's very meditative. It is. And very meditative. It's repetitive. And I don't know. It's good for people like me. So good. Anyway. Yeah. All right. But you want to live here? Tell me. You just said like tomahawk and walking your dog and all that. But but but what is it you love to do in Black Mountain? What do you like to do?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I just like to be here in general, but I do have like a little list of things I could share. I mean, I was here before the bush was the bush and it was Roots and Fruits. So I used to go there and get fresh juice. Now I love going to the bush and hanging out outside and just one of the most unique places in this area. I like to similarly,

Favorite Spots Around Town

SPEAKER_00

I like to go to Barado and get their chicken salad sandwich. You gotta get it. I will try that. Get someone to share it with.

SPEAKER_01

It's kind of everything there. I kind of share with somebody.

SPEAKER_00

Um I went there the other day with one of my friends and we got like a bottle of sparkling water, some sliced cantaloupe, chicken salad sandwich, and we just sat on their front stoop. Do you know what I mean? And didn't go anywhere and just like totally loitered there. Did you get that at the restaurant or at the market? That was all from the deli. Okay. So I would like to go to the restaurant. I've heard good things. I like all of their posts in the Black Mountain Exchange. I know. I know. Um they're awesome. I've also always been a big fan of Black Mountain Natural Health, the Natural Health Food Store. If I'm like on the go and need a quick snap, snack, or if I need like a funny supplement or healthy snacks, or you know, I do the seafood, right? Sometimes I get people who want trout. They're traveling here and they've heard about the North Carolina trout. Well, that makes sense. So they think, and I'm like, well, that's not really me. That would not be seafood, that would be river food. Yes. So I I help break it down for the and I I send them that way. I called Marcia, was like, okay, I'm sending you somebody. Um I really, next time my dad wants to hang out with me in Black Mountain, do you know where I want to take him? I want to take him to Old Town District. One of my favorite places. Because they have some televisions for the sporting events. Yes. A sidebar. We're huge San Antonio Spurs fans, but I married a New Yorker, so I'm sure you're familiar with the Knicks versus the Spurs. Yeah, I've heard of that game.

SPEAKER_01

That was a fun, fun little game. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We're a huge San Antonio Spurs fan is because of Tim Duncan. He was like, and he's from the Virgin Islands. So, anyways, okay. Yeah, so we know we're VI people, so we're die hard for the Spurs. But um, I would love to take my dad there for like a game or something and have a spear there. I just think it's such a unique space. I also want to go catch some music there.

SPEAKER_01

They have good music there, and I'm not a huge like live music girl, but I have enjoyed it really when I go, yeah. I'm not. I don't know why. That's okay. Just don't. But I've enjoyed that. They also have a good trivia night there. That's good. And it's also a fun place for my buddy and I go there, and he's a IPA beer guy, and I'm totally not a beer girl at all. Oh, really? You're a vodka. I'm a vodka and I girl together. I guess I don't know. I'm fun of that. Maybe I should try it. But uh, but but we can get the same thing on the same tab. And it anyway, it's good. I like it. Yeah, they have it's good to have variety. Bud is great. Bud is one of the people that when I am having a bad day or thinking I'm doing something, I'm not doing well, I'm not having a great day, or whatever. I think, wait a minute, think about Bud. He's the most encouraging guy in this town. And I love, I love. I'll go down there and just talk to him some days. He probably wonders why I'll walk in, I'll go, hey man, just checking on you. And he's probably like, sometime. Okay, but he's he's like, why does she come in here and just talk to me? That's weird. But he he is the one that when I am down, that's where I go, and he brings me right back up. So nice and love him.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. Um yeah, so I want to spend some more time there this summer. As far as shopping, I bought a really, really cute black mountain shirt from CW Muse. I knew it. Okay. It's so soft and it's blue, and it has a pretty like black bear with a fussy. Of course, they don't have to have a bear on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's the the latest place I've been shopping. I've been meaning to get to the variety. I hear great things. I haven't been there yet. I need to get my butt in there. Um, but as far as things I like to do, I mean, the other day I literally just got a coffee and sat with my friend on the bench outside of the drip later, and that was lovely. I did mention that I love New York City. I've always been obsessed with New York City for some reason. I know that might like ruffle Southerner's feathers. Sorry, yeah. Too bad. Uh but I went this last summer, and you want to know what the funnest thing I did was? I sure do. I was wondering this morning. Just drinking coffee and sitting on the bench in like Washington Square Park or Prospect Park. So ever since I've gotten back from that latest trip, I've just been wanting to like kind of I say, like, yeah, let's just go somewhere and pretend it's New York City. You know, just get a coffee and sit around and and just like observe and just be.

SPEAKER_01

So you need to go to Tuscan Table and sit on their little say the the town changed the rules this last year so that they could have food and drinks out on the sidewalk in certain in certain parts of downtown district. And so Tuscan Table has, you'll when you go by there, you'll see the tables outside. And it just to me, you walk by and you feel like you're in a French restaurant, even though it's an Italian restaurant. So I don't know. Absolutely. It has that European flair. Yes, it's European. That works. And we and we want that a little bit of that. Really cool. And so people have started using their tables outside just for wine. Just a glass of wine, sit out on the table and watch people walk by.

SPEAKER_00

I just think that's the coolest. We're all so overworked and stressed out. We just need to like sit down and have a little glass of wine and save. We'll do that one night. All right, let's get it. Let's go. We're out. No, no, no. But no, Black Mountain does have like an impressive. Okay, so I do belong to a lot of like Facebook groups about food and restaurants in the area. And I just see Black Mountain being mentioned more than ever before. The the collection of restaurants that we have here and people driving from Asheville to here being like, Oh, I had no idea how close Black Mountain was. You know, like newer transplants to the area and stuff. So like hear about it, and then they're like, Oh, that was just like that was 17 nights on the interstate legs. And I'm in a whole different place, and I can actually see the mountains downtown, and I can maybe find a parking spot. And do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

This town does not, I'm gonna be very clear. This town does not have a parking problem. It has a leg problem. If people would park their car and use their legs, there would not be any complaints. About parking.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. You know, yes, I won't I won't go into street names, but yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Come on, people. Use your legs. God gave you legs. Use them. 10,000 of them. That's right. Anyway. But yes, you're right. You're exactly.

SPEAKER_00

The other place I like, Perry Social House. Love Perry Social House. I was there last night. I have had so many different events there. I've gone in there. When I say I've I've attended there so many times and seen all different events happening every time I go.

SPEAKER_01

And they're all happening at the same time, and you don't feel like you're honing in somebody else's event.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's cool. It's like, okay, you're having a book club over there. We're playing music over here. We're gonna get a pizza over here. There's a kids' zone over here.

SPEAKER_01

It's people that is like the best kept secret is their playground. Yeah, that has a window to the bar. Hello. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's pretty good. I don't have little children, but if I did, I bet that's where you'd find me a lot.

SPEAKER_00

I don't either. You know, but another cute kid zone place that I thought was cute is the Grange. Yeah. Their little like toy truck, dirt sand area. Tonka truck land. Yeah, Tonka truck land. Like when I bring people from out of town that have kids, they just think that's the cutest thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So if you come without children, you sit up in the the up upper part where it's like a stage. And if you bring kids, it's sort of anywhere below that because it's you're performing. It's yeah, it's it's kid world down there. But but it doesn't feel like you're at outdoor fast food place with a playground. You know, it doesn't feel like that. It feels like a really cool place. But and you know about the local special on Mondays, right? No, I don't. You need to gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00

I'll tell you later. Um, I do know that the Green, I guess they're sponsors of the Tilgate market, and as vendors, we get a discount there. Very cool. I don't I think it's just on Saturday, I'm not sure, but when I want food after the Tilgate market, that's where I would go. Yep. Well, that's where my husband wants to go too. Good, perfect. Works out great. Yeah, their burgers are great, tallow fries, love it. Yep. We go every Monday night for when he's in town. Anyway. And then as far as other things in the blackboard, I've always been an OG lookout person. Um I love, I've love hiking up lookout. And then what's what's the park called in Montreat in that same parking lot? It's just like where the river's running through. Oh, the playground. The playground. Yeah. Super underrated spot to just go sit. Again, I I like to do nothing. But secrets out. Secrets out. She likes to do nothing. I like to do nothing. That's right. Well, I'm the girl who wants to do something at all. What do you like to do here? What are some of the things that you've done recently?

SPEAKER_01

Recently, well, since Sophie came along and I can leave at a decent hour. I have I am the girl who tries a new hobby every year. Oh my gosh. That's my it's kind of dorky, but I do something different that's way out of my range, way out of my what I think about or do. So last summer I tried pottery. So I got a bunch of clay and worked on it at home.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I don't like to be alone. I hate

New Hobbies And Watercolor Nights

SPEAKER_01

being alone. And so I have had to learn to be at home alone, which is hard. But is your boyfriend off saving the world? Yes. He's in he lives in Virginia now. He had to move away, which is sad. But anyway, he comes back and visits. But anyway, but focus. Yes. He's coming back tomorrow. Yay. But I I took up watercolor this year, which is hysterical because I'm not an artist. I'm very creative, but I'm not an artist. I do watercolor painting too. Do you really?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I'll have to go to a park and look like those people. That's what I actually like to do. Plain air painting. So this last time I've got a name. Plain for air painting.

SPEAKER_01

B-L-E-I-R something. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I'm thinking airplane. Local Swannanoa Black Mountain artist, Laura Sellers, former Warren Wilson painting teacher, really has inspired me. And so this last time I went to my island, St. Thomas, every beach I went to, I did a plain air painting. So I came back with like seven paintings, and I'm just using like the salt water from the ocean. So I all that to say all that to say, tell me more about your watercoloring.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's hysterical because it's terrible. But I love it. It's a bad thing. It is so artistic process. Absolutely. It is so I I have I'm also the girl who goes to bed at 8 15. Well you're getting up at four. Well, it's true. Which is ridiculous. But but if you hate being alone, yeah, it's easy just to go to bed. So anyway, but now I'm like looking up at midnight and going, I have to go to bed. I've been painting since 6 30. Cheryl, that's ridiculous. So anyway, so that's what I like to do at home. Yeah. When I am, when I have people, obviously I eat a lot. I go to every restaurant. My job is to know every restaurant in town. That's upside it, is my job. Okay, good. Um, so I've eaten in every restaurant in this town. And let's see. Um I just like to go, I love to talk to people. So I just go to different places. Sometimes I'll go to a restaurant, or maybe it's not really going to a bar. I guess there's only one really bar I go to, which is Old Town District. But the rest of them are restaurants who have a bar. Right. Or perisocial or whatever, and just find people and hang out and learn about different things. And that's usually how I end up with the next year's hobby. It's what somebody else is doing for this. It's interesting. I'll try that.

SPEAKER_00

So well sounds like paintings really gotten your interest if you're looking up at midnight.

SPEAKER_01

You sound like you're getting asked for a year into an off states. Then I'll find something else. It'll be fun. This happens every year. But that's what I've been doing when I'm at home. Yeah. So super fun. Do you have any pets? I had a dog and she's fine. She's fine. She just went to live with somebody else. Okay. Trestan is was my dog walker. She went to Montreat College. She was my dog walker. And then she became the intern at the chamber. And she graduated this year. And that was what we discussed is that I was gonna find another home for her when I got this job. It was so many hours it wasn't fair to the dog. Right. So Trestlan was like, Well, I wish you wouldn't find her another home. I really love her. And I said, Well, you're graduating in May. Yeah. She was like, I could have her. Oh. So she took her. Yes. And she she sent me pictures and it's kind of fun. It's kind of sad. Kind of nice. I know. It's bittersweet, but it's also like what's best for the dog. It's great for her. She knows there's pictures of her at a waterfall, Mingo Falls. There's pictures of her hiking and riding in the car on a Blue Ridge Parkway. I'm like, this dog is living her best life. It's awesome. Absolutely. Yeah. So Sasha is awesome, but she's not mine anymore. She is Trestland's. So you're a busy lady and yeah, it's cool. I like other people's dogs now. Absolutely. Kind of fun to play with their dogs and then they go home.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I keep meaning to bring dog to brand dog to the shop. Yeah, you should think of I know when my dog goes to any retail establishment, they're like, Where's where's the treats? Exactly. Super dog-friendly town. Super dog friendly. Yeah. Thing I've been wanting to check out in Black Mountain is one of my customers, Laura, I believe she volunteers at the Swannanoa Valley Museum in downtown Black Mountain. There's a really cool exhibit about, I guess, war and the effects of war. Cool.

SPEAKER_01

So I've heard about it. I haven't seen it yet, but um, but I will.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I've been in there

Local Museums And Hidden Hikes

SPEAKER_01

before many times. Okay, cool. I love their um, they have a table. It's not a table, it's a horizontal display that's uh it's not topographical, that's not the right word, but it's it's the valley and it shows you it it I am geographically challenged. Like if somebody says if you're going to Wilmington to get the seafood, which direction do you go? I'm like, I I don't know. There's water, so it must be east. You know, I mean I I cannot do that. I can't see things, like I can't envision how but there's a it's got the mountains, it's got the road, it's got the it just looks I it made me realize how big the valley is, what the valley really looks like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I really we're actually in a valley. I knew that, but now I know that because I saw it there. It's things like that. And they're after Helene, they had a Helene exhibit that was the the friendliness, the hospitality, the way people took care of each other. Yeah. Their exhibit. There was an there's another museum in town that did the the that showed the devastation and and like running video of what it looked like. And it it is fascinating. It was it was good to watch too. It's the Presbyterian Heritage Museum. Okay. And they had that, and I would send people to both of them because I wanted visitors to see what it was really like. Yes, like both. But I also wanted them to see what we did with it. Yeah, and uh, but anyway, Leanne always did a great job at Swananoa Valley Museum. She is going somewhere else, which is sad but good for her. Yeah, chapters change, yes, but it's sad. But she's so good at what she does, and I feel like we can always call her and go, Can you check this history for me and be sure it's right? Great resource. She helped us with the Black Mountain Walking Tour, history walking tour of Black Mountain. It's a it's an iPad that you take to the different locations and then they tell you the history of that building. Yeah. Um, she checked it to be sure that it was all correct and added something. It's fascinating. It's a really good idea. I've been on it like it's really fun. I really like it. And it it it took a long time to get it to where we were comfortable with it.

SPEAKER_00

But now I want to have like all this in my awareness to like recommend activities to come into your store and ask absolutely outside of the hiking and the eating, it's like nice to get a taste of like the history when you're visiting somewhere too.

SPEAKER_01

We have a couple of options on a history tour, but anyway, the point is that Spawnanoe Valley Museum and Leanne helped us with that. So anyway, they are very helpful. And they have hikes. Do you know about their hikes? No, I don't. They have hikes that go along the the crest of the mountains. That's really cool. And it's guided and anyone who's or anybody who lives here. Yeah, I'm curious. And it's not your normal hikes that you and I know about, right? It's hikes we don't know about, and they're really, really cool. Um, we're getting ready to start a new screen at the visitor center that tells you which hikes and how to sign up for them and that sort of thing. And it's gonna include theirs and the wreck and parks. It's not park and wrecks, it's wreck and parks. Okay, get it right, people, whatever. Um their hikes that you can register for, and we're getting ready to do a new screen of that too. Awesome. It'll help with just people come in all the time. What do we do outside? Right. Do you know we have a remote control sailboat regatta thing on Wednesdays and Saturdays every single week? That's so central party. But it's like tomhawk. Yeah, absolutely. So when you move there, you'll be able to see it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I love painting sailboats.

SPEAKER_01

We could go watercolor it together, Cheryl. There you go. On a Wednesday or a Saturday at one. My guess is it'll have to be a Wednesday because Saturdays you're very busy. Very, very, very busy.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. However, by my in-laws are coming to take us out to lunch right after work on Saturday. Oh, we're going to look and get and so very charming. I like that place too. It's across the street. No, you mentioned Helene, and one question I had for you is like, what is your impression of like outsider people's like thinking? Like, like I noticed when I went to California for a trip last September that people were still thinking like we were in devastation over here.

SPEAKER_01

We are. Do you think yeah? We are. The thing is that the the area that people see, yeah, looks fine. Right. And people always say in Black Mountain, in Black Mountain, they come in and they go, Oh, y'all weren't hit at all. Yeah.

Hurricane Helene And Visitor Reality

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely not true. Right. But I just got a road three weeks ago? Right. Four weeks ago. I didn't have a road. They're still working on my road. Yeah. I mean, it's it we still are. And and and I'm glad to hear that. I usually don't hear that. I usually hear it the other way around. The negative is that people are like, well, we don't want to get in the way of them fixing it. We're like, but we need you here. Right. That's what I mean. Like so it works both they're both and so it's multidimensional. Visitors who come to town, unless they go off the beaten path, they're they're gonna think everything's fine. Yeah. And so please come, please visit, please stay in our hotels, please eat in our restaurants. Tip your servers. Please tip your servers, go to the sea, the Black Mountain Sea. Fire Christmas presents early. That's right. So there's plenty to do here. And amazing shopping here. But it's also kind of the other side of that is that it's I think it's important for people to see what I send them to the places where you can still see what it was. We can still go see what it looks like. And so I think it's important for people to see both sides because I feel like we got press coverage for a month, which was good and needed. Right. Then it just went away. They went on to the next thing, just like any other news story. Right, just a Maui fire. Just like any other news story.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I understand. Um, it's hard to when I'm talking to like out-of-towners, it's hard to like talk about the sheer like hundreds of square acres that were affected. Like the whole like you would have to drive around for like a whole day to different areas to really even start to understand the damage and how some places are are okay now and some places totally aren't. Just aren't exactly. Yeah. But I wouldn't rather do it with anyone else but the people in this area.

SPEAKER_01

It's fun. So we have a good time. We uh we learned we met all our neighbors. We got to know people we didn't never know before. Totally. Didn't care what they believed, didn't care what their political beliefs were. It was like all that I just need help. Somebody help me, or or do you need help? And it worked. I felt really well. And I got to know neighbors I didn't know. Often, I mean, I've known my neighbors my whole life. And I didn't. So it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00

You know, cool both ways. It was interesting for me because my first memory on this earth was Hurricane Hugo. My mom was pregnant with my brother, and so and then Hurricane Mary. You are young. And uh, she actually gave birth to my brother 10 days after Hurricane Hugo in our living room because um there was no power in the hospital still, and people were like, Nurses are running out of the hospital crying, so I don't know if you want to go have a baby there. So she got a midwife and everything was fine. Go Dylan. Yeah, go Dylan. We love him. That's my brother. He works at the fish shop Friday morning. Come meet him on Friday morning, super fun, nice guy. Mm-hmm. He's a hospitality professional. I love having him there. But my point being that I've always been kind of uh impressioned by hurricanes, and it's always made me into a little bit of a micro prepper because that's how I grew up. Like I've always stored water, stored food, had a generator, just the basics and uh seeing Helene. I was supposed to go camping that that night. Well, glad to uh I didn't. That's good. That's a bonus. And I told my friends who were driving up from Georgia to go camping with me to get a hotel room, and they were trying to be all like brave. I'm like, I don't think you understand. You're not getting that because there's some really amazing meteor meteorologists now on YouTube that that do live coverage, and you know, I was up at like 1 a.m. watching it Thursday night, like, oh shoot, darn if this is gonna go down. So forever grateful for the lessons and definitely like a dark time for this area. But like you said, the resilience afterwards is everything. It's kind of hard to like translate new friends.

SPEAKER_01

New new relationships were built. Mother Nature, man. Yeah, I wouldn't have met Bob Burke if it weren't for that storm either. Yeah, that's your boyfriend. I'm not I'm not a fan of the storm, but I'm sure you can go for a a date when he comes to visit. Oh, you never know. You never know. Usually so I try to rotate restaurants. I try to not go to the same one just because it's my job. Yeah but but anyway, uh Monday nights we always go to the Grange. Word Monday at lunch, we always go to Cuban because that's just the that's just what they're fabulous. Tuesday, you can't get pizza on Tuesdays because all the pizza places are closed, which just cracks me up. I'm like, could y'all get together and like one of you be open on Monday? I'm gonna be open. Organize them. Chef's the day I always want pizzas Tuesday. I don't know. We go to lots of different restaurants. We do we have e-bikes and this week? That's cool. And we are going this weekend, we are going to go ride e-bikes. So that's where will you go? In Montreat or last weekend I went to Point Lookout from Montreat. That's 23 and a half miles round. Significant. It was. And so I might take him on that one. We might go somewhere else. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Never know. Bicycling is like one of the things that truly makes me happy. Yeah. Like on a flat surface. Most of them. How are you not like friends? I don't know. We get like side of us. Love bicycling, especially by the beach.

SPEAKER_01

We could take bicycles and our watercolor stuff. You can go and find somewhere to go ride bikes, just like six-year-olds. Let's go ride biking color.

SPEAKER_00

We're getting back to wholesome activities. We're in a crazy world. We just want wholesome activities. We want to see the beauty. But something about riding a bike. I did the Acousta Trail in Hendersonville uh recently. It was amazing. It was just such a great way to spend the day. I have like some ongoing foot pain. So, like riding a bike is like one of my best. Getting stung by a bee doesn't help. I know. I got stung by a yellow jacket. My foot's all swollen. It's so attractive. It's it's like ibuproven, it's spenadryl, it's ice. Again, Mother Nature's powerful.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, very cool. Is there anything else that I haven't asked you? You've I mean you've already brought a couple things up, but anything I haven't asked you or anything you wanted to do?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I had a question about the rocking chairs. Uh-huh. It's like I grew up in downtown Hendersonville, and so it was bears. And here I noticed in Black Mountain it's rocking chairs. Is there like a story or any like lore?

SPEAKER_01

The the Black Mountain used to be the front porch to Western North Carolina, is what they were called. Uh-huh. And then I don't know how it happened, but I think I know, but I'm not going to tell it because it might be wrong. But but it became, we sort of moved from rocking

Why Black Mountain Has Rocking Chairs

SPEAKER_01

from front porch to rocking chairs, and we are the little town that rocks. Love it. So that's its like name. And so they used to do the chamber used to do a fundraiser that they would different businesses would adopt a chair and then decorate it, and then people would sell them. They would, we would sell them, and it was a fundraiser for us. So, but there are rocking chairs all over town because that's those are the rocking chairs that we would put all over town after that. So that's why they're everywhere. And you'll see a giant one in front of our visitor center, and there's one in town square. So three in town square. But um, but yes, so that's why the rocking chair. Okay, glad. That's why the rocking chair. Yeah, I'm trying to change it to the little town that rocks and incorporate like white horse into it. Oh, that'd be cool. Wouldn't that be fun? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Way more fun. And um Robert Hope down at CW Moose has a whole new line. I don't know if it's called a line, but uh it's not a logo. What's the word? It's just a picture of a bear in a rocking chair playing a guitar. That's what we need, people. And that's awesome. I think that's really cool. So he's got postcards and magnets and stickers and things like that. So, but anyway, but yes, and tell me about what you have. So my friends, Christy and Charles, come to town. They they live in Greenville, but they come here a lot. And they came to see me one day, and he is an amazing cook. Amazing cook. And I'm sure she can cook too. I don't mean that, but but he's amazing. But anyway, they they came into the place and they asked me where to go get seafood. And I'm like, you've got to go down and see Carolyn at Black Mountain Seafood. So they came back and they were so excited. And that night I got to have scallops. Yeah. They invited me

What’s In The Friday Fish Order

SPEAKER_01

for dinner because they had so much fun with you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I remember them. They were so sweet. They're adorable. They're back next week. Okay, good. Keep my eye off. We got we talked to a lot of chefs and home chefs. We're always fishing stories, cooking stories. So yeah, I the seafood comes up Thursday night, and then we sell it on Friday. A normal order for me would look like North Carolina shrimp, salmon, scallops, cod, haddock, char. Um, I do get walleye. I tend to focus on fresh Atlantic seafood, but I do have a few wild cards. So all the Michiganders come out for the walleye that's a freshwater fish from the Great Lakes. Um, other like local fish I'm getting right now, which I am trying to promote local North Carolina water fish to people who are open to that. So that would look like red fish or spotted sea trout, other fish I are mahi mahi is good right now. Um, sheep's head, black sea bass, flounder. Holy towel. And then other fish I've got is golden tile fish, snapper. I was gonna ask you about tile fish. I got four pounds coming in this weekend. You know what I'm having Saturday? So I do the whole business is held together by an email list. So I email everyone on Wednesday. Okay, and then they can reply to that email and okay. No, keep going. Oh, they can reply to that email and order a pound or two from there. Okay, and then I'll hold it for them. But I just want people to understand that if you're ordering from the Wednesday email, you're ordering out of what I've already like got coming up. Right. You know, the fish probably isn't even caught yet, right? You know, yes. Uh and it's so if people are ever entertaining and want like a whole side of salmon or something, or I just for like a a week in advance and I'll order it special for them. Okay, cool. So, yeah, that's a little bit about our seafood. And are you like all year long? So that's the intention. Don't know yet. That's that's what the previous owners did. Of course, the fish changes with like the seasonality of everything. Yeah, I was like, do fish come out in the winter? Why wouldn't they? And I'm and I'm learning. I actually um have befriended a customer that is a park ranger here and used to live on the North Carolina coast for 15 years. So he's been like helping me get up to speed on certain things. Um, and of course, my suppliers educating me. All the fish, of course, is caught within like regulation limits, and that's something that right I'm continuing to learn about and is really interesting to see how you know the environment and policy intersect on that. But the question was all year and so far, yes. Obviously, we'll close for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then when I go to the Virgin Islands in January, ah, might close for a couple weeks. But other than that, we'll be there. Well, cool.

SPEAKER_01

Well, thank you so much for coming in today. And I appreciate it. I'm I'm looking forward to going bike riding and coloring. Yeah, let's go have some fun. Yeah. Thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.