There’s an old adage about real estate investment that goes, “Buy land. They’re not making it anymore.” The line packs so much wit and wisdom that it has variations attributed to – not one but – two of America’s most notable quip-masters, Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Its truth is also precisely why we need land trusts.
...read more
Local Flavor | Mast Family Favorites
All
May 10, 20247 minute READ
Big Mysteries in the Mountains
A mysterious creature roams the hills of Appalachia. It carries its bulky, slouching figure upright yet travels with catlike agility under the cover of night so that it goes undetected and unseen – by most people, at least. Though it’s said to stand much taller than an adult human with hair or fur covering its body from head to toe, the creature is best known for one distinctive feature evidenced only by the tracks it leaves on the ground… An oversized foot.
...read more
Local Flavor | Mast Family Favorites
All
May 2, 20244 minute READ
Mast Store in Asheville Celebrates 25 Years on Biltmore Avenue
It’s hard to believe that a quarter century has passed since the Mast General Store opened its fifth location on historic Biltmore Avenue in a resurging Downtown Asheville. Sunday, May 12, 2024, marks the date when the doors first officially opened to welcome locals and visitors alike. To celebrate, Mast Store is giving everyone who visits that day a free bag of its world-famous, freshly popped popcorn.
...read more
... Our favorite foods! Food is universal because everybody’s got ta eat! And the last two months of the year are filled with more than their fair share of family meals, work gatherings, special outings to favorite restaurants, tins filled with homemade cookies and fudge, and the anticipation of food traditions handed down from generation to generation
...read more
At Home | Recipes
All
May 26, 20237 minute READ
John and Faye Cooper: Why We Support Land Trusts
Even before we bought the Mast General Store, we were taken by the beauty of Valle Crucis. We’ve heard people describe the drive out Broadstone Road as traveling through a time portal. In the 1970s, fields in the river bottoms would be filled with tobacco, cabbage, or high with hay to feed cattle that were grazing in the summer pasture.
...read more
All
April 20, 20235 minute READ
Mark Earth Day with a Plan for Action
The lucky few who have seen the Earth from a different perspective – astronauts - all echo the same viewpoint upon their return. Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut and the first human to go to space, commented, “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it.”
...read more