Shirley Cole's company appreciated by Reece Farm in North Georgia

Shirley Cole, Netwest member from Jackson County, was recently applauded in the Byron Herbert Reece Society newsletter. Shirley served as a representative for NCWN in Jackson County recently, but is now busy writing a novel. 

Changes in the Landscape 
Thanks to the ongoing contributions of Shirley Cole and her son Shannon of COLE  AND  COMPANY, MASTER LANDSCAPE GARDENERS, INC., visitors to the Reece Farm will notice another landscape change in and around the light pole in the parking area.  Three golden Hinoke Cypress trees have been planted there along with the placement of small boulders from other Farm locations.  Other plantings in this area are underway.  

Also, Shirley and Shannon found an ancient “cemetery rose” growing along the railroad tracks in Marietta.  The rose is pale pink and very hardy and has been planted behind the split rail fence at the end of the parking lot.  It should bloom in the spring and hopefully will help replace the lost rose so treasured by Reece’s mother Emma.   

Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center Visit

For those who have not visited the Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center outside Blairsville, GA, this is a wonderful time of year to spend an hour or more learning about life in these mountains as it was 100 years ago, and to learn about the interesting poet, Byron Herbert Reece. He grew up here and lived on the farm where the center has been built. He taught at Young Harris College. His story tells the story of this land, of Choestoe, where he was born in a cabin in 1917.

The anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, is dedicated to Reece and several of his poems are in the book. I was fascinated to read Reece's actual letters and the newspaper articles I found at the center. The lost art of letter-writing is a window to the writer's heart. My appetite has been whetted and I want to read all of them.
On the day I visited the center, Mrs. John Kay was there and filled our heads with interesting facts about the noted poet.

My guests and I watched a video about Reece's life told by poets, Mildred Greear and Bettie Sellers, and other well-known people of this area. I hope to get back over to continue my tour and purchase some of the books on sale at the gift shop, but I must go soon. They will only be open a few more weekends.

(from the Reece website)
The remaining days of fall


We’re back to clear blue skies, and while the wind was hard on the leaves, it’s still lovely at the Reece Farm and Heritage Center. We’ll be open just a few more weekends, so be sure to stop by soon. The Gift Shop is full of unique items for gift giving, and Shelley will be glad to guide you through the selections. The Farm and Heritage Center is located south of Blairsville on the Gainesville Highway (Hwy 129), just north of Vogel State Park. Watch for the signs! We’re open the remaining weekends in November, including the weekend following Thanksgiving, on Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 to 4:00.

JIM CLARK'S NEW CD SETS BYRON HERBERT REESE'S POEMS TO MUSIC

Poet, musician, and professor Jim Clark has just released The Service of Song: Words by Byron Herbert Reece/Music by Jim Clark.

The cd includes the text of the poems set to music by Clark, including I Go by Ways of Rust and Flame, The Elm and the Moon, and The Altitudes of Love.

I Go By Ways of Rust and Flame

I go by ways of rust and flame

Beneath the bent and lonely sky;

Behind me on the ways I came

I see the hedges lying bare,

But neither question nor reply.

A solitary thing am I

Upon the roads of rust and flame

That thin at sunset to the air.

I call upon no word nor name,

And neither question nor reply

But walk alone as all men must

Upon the roads of flame and rust.

The cd is $10.00 (plus $2.00 for shipping) and may be ordered from Eternal Delight Productions, P.O. Box 7861, Wilson, NC 27895.

Brenda Kay Ledford publishes with Finishing Line Press

LEDFORD PUBLISHES POETRY CHAPBOOK

Brenda Kay Ledford’s poetry chapbook, SACRED FIRE, will be released by Finishing Line Press this September.

A native of Clay County, North Carolina, Ledford earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee and was creative writing editor of Tri-County Communciator.

She received the Paul Green Multimedia Award for her poetry books, Patchwork Memories and Shew Bird Mountain. Her work has appeared in Our State, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Pembroke Magazine, Old Mountain Press, Appalachian Heritage, Main Street Rag, Asheville Poetry Review, and upcoming in The Reach of Song.

Ledford is a member of North Carolina Storytelling Guild, North Carolina Writer’s Network West, North Carolina Poetry Society, Byron Herbert Reece Society, Georgia Poetry Society, Appalachian Writer’s Association, and listed with the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers.

According to Maureen Ryan Griffin, an award-winning poet and commentator for Charlotte, North Carolina’s NPR station, “A lovely offering indeed is Brenda Kay Ledford’s SACRED FIRE. It pays homage to her Cherokee, Scots-Irish ancestors, and the Appalachian Mountains she calls home. Despite the pain and desolation present in this patchwork of Appalachian moments, SACRED FIRE is in the end an uplifting book, filled with beautiful images lovingly rendered.”

The cover of Ledford’s book is a beautiful image of Hayesville’s historic courthouse framed by flaming maples. Ledford took the picture that received an award in the Georgia Mountain Fair Photography Show last year.

To order Ledford’s book, send $14.00 to: Finishing Line Press; PO Box 1626; Georgetown, KY 40324.

You may also order online at: http://www.finishinglinepress.com/ and click on “New Releases.”