By day, Jeff Delfield is the Librarian at Bryson City’s Marianna Black Library. And in his spare time, he’s a maker of unique hand-crafted musical instruments, filling requests from as far away as Australia.

Above, he’s putting the finishing touches on a tackhead banjo with a distinctive “patchwork quilt” design — a specific request of the buyer. To achieve the multicolored pattern, Jeff constructed the rim from eight different woods. And to fully display the beauty of the woodwork, he hid the head tensioning system on the inside of the rim, a technique he borrowed from the makers of Irish Bodhrán drums. The head is calfskin, the neck walnut and the fretboard is made of bloodwood.

Jeff makes just one instrument at a time, a process that usually takes about six weeks. You can see more of his hand-crafted folk instruments, including videos, on his Deep Creek Strings website.

With supermarket strawberries available year ’round, it’s easy to forget the taste of fresh-picked, locally-grown berries. But May is the time to enjoy the real thing.

In the Bryson City area, two local growers have fields where you can pick your own or purchase containers of freshly-picked berries. Above, Brynnae Rhinehart of Bryson City samples a berry at Darnell Farms, just east of Bryson City on Highway 19. The other is Shelton Family Farm on Thomas Valley Road in Whittier.

Products made from locally-grown berries are also appearing on Bryson City’s retail shelves. Molly Shaw is an elementary school teacher whose award-winning strawberry jam is available at the Cottage Craftsman and the Fryemont Inn. And an area winery, Calaboose Cellers, uses local berries in their “Up The River” strawberry-rhubarb wine, which is served onboard the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad excursions, and is available at the Cottage Craftsman.

It’s blueberry time in the Smokies. And several “You Pick’em” berry farms — like the one above in the Whittier community — should have plump, sweet berries from now through late summer.

Want to make something special with your berries? Try this Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake recipe provided by the Folkestone Inn Bed & Breakfast.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Makes twelve 1/4 cup pancakes, four servings

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg, beaten
1-3/4 cups buttermilk
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Sift together flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk and oil. Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring as little as possible (only until combined). Stir in 1 cup blueberries.

Heat griddle to 375 degrees F. Brush with oil or melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter to make each pancake. Cook until edge of each pancake loses its gloss, then flip. Uncooked batter can be placed in the refrigerator for the next day. (Recipe can be doubled)