January - April 2012 EdVentures

Industry Tours

March 1, 8, & 22, 2012   Self-drive 

First Restoration Services, Fletcher
Thursday, March 1
10:00 to approximately 11:00 a.m

Disasters Happen! A water break floods your home or business. A fire causes
severe smoke damage. Mold damages personal or business property. Crimes
and vandalism cause hazardous materials pollution. First Restoration Services
brings life back to normal. They help people return to their properties after
disasters as soon as possible. On this tour you will learn about the processes
used for restoring everything from smoke damaged dishes and water soaked
dolls to complete business inventories. Clean-up of damage to the interior of
homes and businesses will be explained. The majority of the calls the company receives are for flood damage, but this business has experience dealing with all types of disasters. The company gets referrals from insurance agents in addition to homeowners calling for themselves. First Restoration Services averages about 600 calls per year. For more information visit First Restoration Services.

Elkamet, Hendersonville Thursday, March 8 10:00 to approximately 11:00 a.m. Note: Cameras are not permitted

Modern cars, trucks, motorcycles, and construction vehicles require sophis-
ticated, reliable, long lasting parts and assemblies, many of which can best be manufactured using plastics. Elkamet is a custom molder of plastic containers
and sub-assemblies for customers such as Caterpillar, Harley Davidson, BMW,
and Ford. They design, manufacture, and assemble to fit customer needs. For
more information visit Elkamet.

Haiku Bamboo Nursery and Bamboo Pole Warehouse, Hendersonville Thursday, March 22 10:00 to approximately 11:00 a.m.  Back-up date of Thursday, March 29 if needed due to snow on March 22

At Haiku Bamboo Nursery, Keiji and Stefani Oshima nurture the plant that
brought them here – they care for it, prune it, tame it, and bring out its
strongest qualities. We will learn about bamboo and its many uses. We will 
see it growing at the Bamboo Nursery and hear how and why the Oshima’s 
selected Hendersonville for their home and Nursery. At the Pole Warehouse
(a few miles from the Nursery), we will see many different kinds of poles and handicrafts Keiji makes from their crops. We may even get to hear a Shakuhachi flute, an instrument prized for its soft, melodic tone and made from cured bamboo! To learn more about the Haiku Bamboo Nursery see page 181 in the June, 2011
issue of the magazine Our State – Down Home in North Carolina.