Beyond the rain barrel

Posted by LB on May 27th, 2008 filed in Nature
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By Giles Blunden
Special to The Citizen

As the drought lingers on in North Carolina, there is much discussion about how to more effectively use our water. The reality is that even in a drought year, the Piedmont still got 32 inches of rain. In many parts of the country, this would be considered a huge amount. Los Angeles, for instance, averages about eight inches of rain per year and in a drought year gets four.

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South Estes farmers’ market takes root

Posted by LB on May 27th, 2008 filed in Farms, Food
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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Farmers of Orange, one of the groups that petitioned the county to run the farmers’ market at the county’s new Public Market House, has launched a new farmers’ market in the parking lot of University Mall.

The new market, called the South Estes Farmers’ Market, is sponsored by A Southern Season and will be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. year round. The market held a soft opening on Saturday and will hold a grand opening on May 3.

Jeffry Goodrum, president of the Farmers of Orange board of directors, said the group had been considering different options for a farmers’ market location while waiting for the county’s decision on who would run the market at the Public Market House in Hillsborough.

Last August, two opposing groups appealed to the Board of County Commissioners for control of the Hillsborough Farmers’ Market and later split into the Farmers of Orange and the Hillsborough Farmers’ Market. Both markets asked to administer the farmers’ market at the new Public Market House, but the commissioners expressed aversion to being forced to choose between the two groups and in February decided the county would run the market for an interim period.

Goodrum said his group decided not to sell at the county-run market at the Public Market House.

“Based on how the county indicated they would be managing it and what their plans were for it, it just didn’t seem quite the right fit for us,” he said. “When this opportunity to have a market in association with A Southern Season at University Mall came along, we decided to go with that one.”

Goodrum said A Southern Season will not be involved in the management of the market, but the market and the gourmet foods store will work together for various events. The store’s cooking school will hold classes in which students will go to the market to select items that they will then take back to the school and use in preparing dishes.

Saturday’s market included about 16 or 17 vendors, but Goodrum said the market will grow to more than 20 soon, adding that the opening, which was not advertised, attracted about 500 customers.

The South Estes Farmers’ Market will only be open on Saturdays, but many of the Farmers of Orange vendors would like to have a Wednesday market as well, Goodrum said.

“We will probably be trying to get a mid-week market established somewhere in the county,” he added.

The South Estes Farmers Market is held near the entrance to A Southern Season at the University Mall on Estes Drive in Chapel Hill.

Wild cherry drama

Posted by LB on May 27th, 2008 filed in Flora
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By Ken Moore

Last Saturday, I saw a roadside spectacle as beautiful as any deliberately designed garden landscape. Nature’s inter-planting of yellow sassafras and pink redbud resulted in what may be best described as “roadside impressionism.” Fortunately, the recent cold spells have extended the flowering of these early bloomers.

Now, amidst all this beauty, I noticed another of nature’s seasonal designs. Less welcome to most folks are the webbed nests of tent caterpillars that appear in wild cherries, Prunus serotina, and cultivated apples, cherries and plums. Some homeowners cause tree injury in the practice of burning the nests. If there is an urge to battle this particular cycle of nature, a twist with a cloth-tipped stick will harmlessly extract the nests.

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General Store Café ready for reopening

Posted by LB on May 27th, 2008 filed in Food
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By Emily Burns
Staff Writer

Vance Remick, co-owner of the General Store Café in Pittsboro, felt that the Café had grown so much it was losing that “laid-back feel.” Expansion, he said, will restore it.

On April 3, the Café will kick off a four-day grand opening event to celebrate its new 6,000-square-foot addition, located in the historic old Justice Motor Co. adjacent to the Café’s current building at 39 West Street.

The four-day grand opening celebration will begin with an official public ribbon-cutting ceremony with Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller at 6 p.m. Thursday, and the music group JazzBeau will christen the new stage from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m.

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Local coffee shop has eyes everywhere

Posted by LB on May 27th, 2008 filed in Food
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By Katie Spencer
Carrboro Commons Writer

In the green mountains of Honduras, Chapel Hill resident Hunter Barbee found the familiar logo of his favorite coffee shop. And it wasn’t Starbucks. It was Carrboro’s own Open Eye Cafe.

Barbee, 22, was touring a coffee farm in the small highland village of Copan with a group that spent the week building houses with Habitat for Humanity.

“I just walked in, and the first thing I saw was an Open Eye sticker on the office window,” Barbee said. “I did a double-take.”

Excited, Barbee had trouble communicating the coincidence to manager Guillermo Calderon.

“I’m sure he actually understood what I was saying, but I just explained myself over and over,” he said.

Luckily, Barbee didn’t need words. He bears the Open Eye logo on his person: a small tattoo on his wrist that gets him a free cup of joe in exchange for a little advertising. The image broke the language barrier.

“I ran around showing the tattoo on my arm and pointing to the picture,” he said.

Calderon, 35, has known Open Eye co-owner Scott Conary since August, when Conary traveled to Honduras to share his knowledge of quality coffee roasting.

“It surprised him to find an espresso machine in the middle of coffee farmland,” Calderon said in an email.

At home in Carrboro, Conary is involved in as much of the process as possible, from roasting at Carrboro Coffee Co., which he co-owns, to retail at Open Eye and Caffe Driade. But the climate required for growing coffee limits his participation: You can’t grow coffee in Carrboro. This fact connects Conary to places like Copan.

“I go to countries and try to build relationships with farmers and get direct trade,” Copan said.

Making coffee is an intricate process of planting; waiting; picking; processing; roasting; cupping, or tasting; and, finally, selling.

“Literally hundreds of hands are touching that coffee before it gets to the customer,” Conary said.

The importance of each step creates interdependency between Conary and growers like Calderon. A slipup anywhere along the line could ruin three to five years of work, he said.

“It’s called ‘seed to cup,’” Conary said. “We’re honoring the chain.”

Conary’s interest in coffee links him to places across the world. It has taken him all over Central and South America. Last year he went to Tokyo to judge the World Barista Championship. This year he will go to Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Coffee is cool. It takes you around,” he said.

The main focus of Conary’s trip to Honduras was to share expertise in quality roasting. Historically, Honduran coffee growers sell what they can and roast what is left, which is usually of poor quality, Conary said.

“The goal was to equate quality with the work and the price,” he said. He said he hopes to encourage a taste for good java in a country covered in coffee plants.

Calderon’s farm, Finca Santa Isabel, is in the mountains of western Honduras.

“It was beautiful, as is much of Honduras,” Barbee said.

Calderon oversees the operations of the whole farm, from coffee to poultry to honey, with a focus on environmentally sound practices.

“The farm is a beautiful example of what you can do with ecotourism,” Conary said.

Calderon said that growing and processing coffee covers a wide range of disciplines, from agriculture to chemistry to art. “Our clients’ job is to have a passion,” he said. “[Conary] is a person who has a passion for the art of coffee.”

Although Conary was at Finca Santa Isabel for only a couple of days, he and Calderon connected.

“We got along famously. I consider him a good friend,” Conary said.

Barbee said Calderon was excited about Barbee’s connection to Carrboro.

“I think he expected me to know Scott personally,” Barbee said.

Katie Spencer is a UNC-CH student writing for the Carrboro Commons, the bi-weekly online lab newspaper for Carrboro produced by Jock Lauterer’s Community Journalism class.

Land & Table Brief: Haw workshop

Posted by LB on May 27th, 2008 filed in Nature
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The Haw River Watch will host a Macro-Micro Workshop on Saturday, March 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bynum Beach. Volunteers will teach attendees about collecting and inspecting water samples for microscopic creatures (with an interlude for lunch) to test water quality. RSVP and learn more from Cynthia Crossen at 967-2500 or riverwatch@hawriver.org

Spring Gardening Special Section

Posted by LB on March 24th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized
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Stress-Free Gardening

Posted by LB on March 24th, 2008 filed in Flora
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By Ken Moore

The intent of my gardening strategy is to replace the stress with enjoyment. Rather than struggling to enforce my design on Nature, I step back and garden with a lighter touch, letting Nature be my guide.

I have gradually altered the garden to favor desirable plants that plant themselves. They almost always perform better than the ones I plant. I was impressed that the volunteer Joe-pye-weed, Eupatorium fistulosum, at the edge of my patio did not require extra water as did the one I had carefully planted in a garden bed.

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OWASA declares stage three water shortage

Posted by LB on March 24th, 2008 filed in Nature
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On February 28th, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) Board declared a Stage Three Water Shortage.

Stage Three Water Use Restrictions went into effect on March 1st.

The Stage Three water shortage declaration is based on the following:

· Although recent rainfall improved our water supply situation, our lakes were only 57% full as of March 12th. It is unprecedented for our lakes to be so low at this time of year.
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Local nurseries

Posted by LB on March 24th, 2008 filed in Nature
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Apex Nurseries, Inc.
2925 Highway 751
Apex
362-8315/www.apexnurseries.com
Apex Nurseries specializes in large trees, shrubs and perennials for landscaping needs.

Barefoot Paths Nursery
224 Henley Rd
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919-933-7467
Hours by appointment. Specialty trees, shrubs, and perennials for southern gardens.

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