Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2019 - 43

educating and inspiring survival groups,
earth skills gatherings, herb collectives,
and members of the Catawba Nation,
among others.
"I have a Catawba apprentice who
knows about history, growing plants, and
working with young people," she says. "He
could've gone elsewhere, but chose to live
on the reservation nearby. We currently
have a river cane project (to restore a 2.5acre plot). Back in the day, it was so thick
a horse couldn't push its way through. But
recently, it all bloomed and then died off,
which happens every 50 years or so. No
one had ever seen this. So this is now our
work together."
Her creations have earned the attention and respect of many organizations
including the National Indian Education
Association, multiple museums, several
colleges and universities, the National Forest Service, many state departments of education, public television productions, a
Smithsonian festival nominating committee, and two movie companies. For the latter, she set dressed "Young Indiana Jones"
and "The Last of the Mohicans" with her
handmade baskets, mats, and masks made
of cattail leaves, bark, and corn husks.
One of her most interesting and often
maligned choices of material is the kudzu
vine. It is non-native to this continent,

but Basket views its tenacity and success
as an opportunity. "It grows 12 inches per
day just looking for someone to love it.
That's me! So I went to Japan to learn the
old ways."
She explains that this member of the
pea family has been used for centuries
to make cloth, paper, woven items, and
even food and medicine. Now she offers
300 different designs of folk art on kudzu
paper in her gallery, all handmade. And,
she crafted nine, 5-foot kudzu chandeliers
that mimic the African weaver bird's nest
for the Pittsburg Zoo.
Basket harvests all her own kudzu to
create vessels, sculptures, and lamp shades
in her "playhouse" (kudzu bale barn). Using a whiskey barrel, galvanized tub, and
blender she grinds the kudzu leaves and
lets them ferment for two weeks in preparation for handmade paper. "They smell
really bad during this part," she says as
she adds coffee to the current batch for
color. Then, with a needlepoint screen
and a piece of felt, she drains out fibrous
goo that will hang on a clothes line, dry,
and become one-of-a-kind paper - smooth
on one side, textured on the other, and
scent-free. She also catches the dripping
water for her plants. "Find a way to use
everything.
"And," she states, "if you don't have

kudzu, honeysuckle or other vines and
plants that need pruning around the yard
will do just fine.
"Everybody can celebrate the arts,"
Basket concludes. "It's about working together in a community and in your own
yard with your two hands. This is a cottage industry that I'm happy to share. I
want to leave as much as I've learned for
people to carry forward. Please take my
ideas and make them your own!"
Looking ahead: In addition to learning
how to make kudzu cloth on the loom
sent to her by her aunt in Portland, Oregon, Basket will be the artist in education
for the Native American Studies Center,
University of South Carolina, Lancaster.

WORTH
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B
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CraftE

➻ Homestead Creamery, 7254
Booker T Washington Hwy., Wirtz,
Virginia 24184
Recommended: milk, cream and ice
cream
➻ Miller's Bake Shoppe, 23 Wayne
Ave., Stuarts Draft, Virginia 24477
Recommended: Baked goods
➻ Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill,
4064 Muddy Pond Rd., Monterey,
Tennessee 38574
Recommended: Muddy Pond Bold
BBQ Sauce

➻ Peaks of Otter Winery, 1218
Elmos Rd., Bedford, Virginia 24523
Recommended: Blackberry wine
➻ Red Rooster Coffee, 823 E Main
St., Floyd, Virginia 24091
➻ Rum Cake Lady, 111 Ocoee St.,
Copperhill, Tennessee 37317
Recommended: Rum cakes
➻ S&T's Bees, 119 Third Street, Elkins,
West Virginia 26241
Recommended: honey
➻ Still Hollow Spirits, 128 Stink Run
Rd., Harman, West Virginia 26270
Recommended: Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey

➻ Sugarlands Distilling Co., 805
Parkway, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
37738
Recommended: Patti's Wild Mahaw
Moonshine
➻ Sweetwater Valley Farms, 17988
W. Lee Hwy., Philadelphia, Tennessee
37846
Recommended: Sweetwater Valley
Farms cheese
➻ Woodson's Mill Store, 211
Lowesville Rd., Roseland, Virginia
22967
Recommended: Woodson's Mill
Grits
-COMPILED BY JENNA NOVOSEL

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

http://www.Blueridegecountry.com/

Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2019

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