Food Processing Center Offers Kitchen Space
A Simplex bottle filler at Blue Ridge Food Ventures makes food preparation easier by allowing the user to set the amount of product to be placed in each jar for automatic filling.
Filling a whopping 11,000 square feet in the former BASF research and development facility on the Enka Campus, Blue Ridge Food Ventures has opened its doors to caterers, farmers, and entrepreneurs needing space to create their food products.
The four processing areas in the facility are for wet product preparation for sauces, jellies, salsas and catering; dry product preparation for bakery items, dried herbs, teas, and trail mixes; a juicing and pasteurizing room, and a controlled-temperature room kept at 55 degrees. This chill room is perfect for bakers decorating cakes, chocolate work or washing and bagging fresh salad greens, according to Mary Lou Surgi, Executive Director of BRFV and a graduate of the A-B Tech Culinary Program.
Large equipment such as stoves, ovens, food processors, and dehydrators are available to clients who are expected to bring their own utensils, pots and pans and other preparation devices. Also provided are services for business and product development and marketing support for those using the facility.
A recent addition to the site is the juice and cider system funded by grants from the N.C. Agricultural Advancement Consortium and the Janirve Foundation. This should be a boost to apple farmers who had stopped pressing the fruit due to regulations. "They have not been able to make the cider because pasteurization is required," Surgi said. Starting next season, growers will be able to press, pasteurize, and bottle juice and cider.
Nearly 7,000 square feet is available for storage and clients are charged by the week or month to use it. The kitchen facilities are available on an hourly basis, currently anticipated to be at $20.
Blue Ridge Food Ventures is a non-profit organization currently dependent on grants for renovation, equipment and overhead. "We hope after three years to be self-sufficient," said Surgi. "The grants are enabling us to get up and running and develop a good base of customers."
Blue Ridge Food Ventures, LLC is an initiative of AdvantageWest-North Carolina and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Over $1 million in funding for the facility came from the Golden LEAF Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Progress Energy, Asheville Merchants Fund, N.C. Department of Justice, the Janirve Foundation, N.C. Farm Bureau Foundation & USDA, AdvantageWest, BB&T, N.C. Agricultural Advancement Consortium and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Contact Mary Lou Surgi at 665-9464 for more information about the center.
Giving the Power of Sight: The Influence a Teacher can have on a Student's Education . . . and Life
David Rickman, Creative Writer's Club President
The following article was submitted by David Rickman, President of the Creative Writer's Club
I recently purchased a new pair of eyeglasses. I'm not blind without them, but the world is out of focus. When I put on my glasses I can see clearly the obstacles that lay in my pathway and which direction I should turn to avoid pitfalls and dangers. I had a similar pair of glasses two years ago, but just like the pair I have on now, these only worked for my physical eyes. My soul had no "eyeglasses." My life and my future ambitions were without focus. I tripped frequently over the various impediments the Universe placed in my path and far too often I didn't know which road I should take. Then the most incredible thing happened; a sequence of meaningful coincidences that would forever change my life.
Up until a year ago I had spent most of my life working in the retail industry. I worked hard during the day and at night would dream about being the next great "Technical Space Writer." But, there was no real focus in my life: no bona fide plan of action. During this time there was some mental pain in my life, but I was also a experiencing a very tangible pain in one of my shoulders which intensified over time. After several months of increasing chronic pain, I was diagnosed as having a degenerative disk disease affecting my fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae. My only option was an anterior cervical discectomy; a surgical procedure that would remove part of the malformed disk and replace it with a piece of bone from my hip. The post-surgical recovery process left me in a rigid neck brace for nearly two months. Unable to perform even the most menial task I soon came to realize that I had lost more than just my mobility and a chunk of bone in the process. I also lost the ability to continue the kind of work I had grown accustomed to.
There had been a time in my youth when I had dreamed of going to college. I even fancied that one day I could become a teacher. But these had just been dreams. However, this long recovery process gave me time to think and these dreams I had had started to transform into ideas. These ideas then became seeds and these seeds began to grow. "What if," I thought? What if I went to college? What if I got a degree? What if I did something meaningful with my life?
With just a few days left before spring classes started, and walking with the aid of a cane, I nervously hobbled my way into the registration process at A B Tech. My initial idea was to become a nurse. However, when I saw the results of my placement test, an old yearning came back to me. Could I actually become a teacher? My advisor told me that she didn't see why I couldn't. The "why not" quickly overpowered the "what if" and I was shown the options for available classes. I chose "Introduction to Computers," "Survey of Chemistry," and "Sociology." I was also told that I should go ahead and take "Expository Writing." I was a "C" and "D" English student a couple of decades ago and I was not looking forward to this class. But, I figured I could somehow suffer through it. There was an available slot in one of Kathy Godfrey's classes and I decided to go ahead and take it. That last decision would turn out to be the next key event in my life.
Kathy Godfrey impressed me on the first day by making a very profound declaration. She told us that while the rules of grammar are important (and we would learn them), the most significant thing we would learn is that we are all writers on some level. I can't say that I really believed that statement at the time, but I would learn through personal application, as well as observation of my fellow classmates, that there was truth to her statement. By the end of that first semester I had a view of myself that I have never had before. I also made Kathy a promise at that time that I would write.
For my second semester I chose my classes carefully, making sure that I took "Literary Research" with Kathy Godfrey. I had a feeling that she wasn't quite done with me yet. I was right. Once again Kathy went beyond the required curriculum. She had us reaching inside of ourselves to find out what we are capable of writing. Over the semester we were given opportunities to explore the three major genres of literature: poetry, drama, and fiction. Each has left its mark and we finished this semester realizing the immense potential that is within each of us.
Now as I look back and reflect, I realize that I have been most fortunate in my first two semesters at A-B Tech to have had excellent instructors, which are all deserving of praise. But the one that shines the brightest has been Kathy Godfrey. Under her tutelage I have become more than I dreamed possible. I am now majoring in English and am the president of the newly formed A-B Tech Creative Writer's Club. Kathy has given me confidence, courage, and most importantly - the vision to see the many possible futures that await my arrival. She has given me the power of sight and under her caring guidance I have become a man with a much clearer focus on the future. I not only see the obstacles, but also the choices. And, I look forward to the journey with both appreciation and great enthusiasm!