Tag: agriculture

  • I’m Finally Going to Pepper Fest!

    I have wanted to go to this event for years, but something has always come up that’s kept me from snagging tickets ($30 here)… until this year, y’all! Can you imagine how excited I was when my girl Cherith from Clairemont Communications gave me a buzz to ask to me to volunteer as a beer judge? Well dang, Cher… twist my arm, why don’t ya? (PS: Thanks for the invite, giiiiiirl!)

    Billed as, “(The Amazing Pepper Festival is) a celebration of sustainable agriculture, farmers, renewable energy, and the creativity of the Piedmont’s chefs, brewers and artisans. An afternoon of fun, food, children’s educational workshops, breweries, distilleries, music and entertainment!”, I’m pumped to make the 20 minute trek over to Chapel Hill for my first taste of the fest. Be sure to tune in on Instagram and see just how much heat this girl can sample in one afternoon.

    So here’s what you need to know – especially if you might be able to find yourself in Chapel Hill on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27th!

    Tickets get you:

    • The most delicious pepper-themed dishes from some of the Piedmont’s best chefs and food artisans using locally grown and produced food.* (Alcoholic drinks not included – bring some extra $$.)
    • Live music – The Stacks are playing! Tania Elizabeth (of the Avett Brothers) and Andy Stack.
    • Participation in fun activities for kids and adults about local farms, renewable energy, and the abundance of great local food in and around the Triangle!
    In addition to spending the afternoon enjoying flavorful, and occassionally spicy, dishes and drinks, you can feel pretty darn good knowing that all proceeds benefit Abundance NC, 
    Who is Abundance, you might ask? They’re “About Us” page reads: “At Abundance, we aim to be a hub of community resilience in central North Carolina, sourcing out the abundant local opportunities for us all to live and act sustainably, and bringing people together to exchange ideas and build the communities we want to live in.” Quite simply put, the group believes: “We don’t have to rely on goods and services brought in from elsewhere to eat well or to live fulfilling lives. We have everything we need to create a flourishing and interdependent community, right here at home.”
    Local and sustainable. I am definitely down with that. Add peppers and afternoon cocktails? I’m in.
    Hope to see y’all there! 
  • Local Raves: The Produce Box

    Nick and I (and really mostly me in that equation) have a weekly CSA (community-sustained agriculture) service we can buy from and have delivered — The Produce Box. I totally forgot to login before 9pm tonight and pick out which Produce Box I wanted for this upcoming week. This girl certainly lucked out, however! Check out this week’s goodies:

    Box A (Double share of sweet potatoes)
    Lots of Sweet Potatoes
    1/2 # Salted “ready to eat”peanuts
    Tomatoes grape or cherry
    Assorted apples (6-8 depending on size)
    Cucumbers 4-5 (depending on size)

    SO excited. Those are probably my most favorite NC produce items! (Although I’d certainly take big tomatoes, too.) I case you were wondering, here are the other offerings I could have picked from:

    Box B (Fresh basil and cider!)
    Large Onion
    1.5 oz Fresh Basil leaves
    Local Muscadine Grape cider
    Tomatoes grape or cherry
    Butternut squash
    Sweet pototatoes
    Cucumber

    Box C (Oregano and Thyme)
    Sweet Potatoes
    One bunch Fresh Oregano
    One bunch Fresh Thyme
    Large Onion
    Peaches 4-6
    Cucumbers 4-5
    Tomatoes cherry or grape

    Add-ons
    1 case (12 jars) $56
    Tomato Salsa
    Jalepeno Pepper Jelly
    Spicy sweet dill pickles
    Pickled okra
    Pickled Habanero Pepper

    Shitake Mushrooms (larger portion this time: 1/2 #):$6.50
    John Toogood’s Chocolate Chip Bread: $6.75
    Garlic Ristra Wall Hanging: $11.00
    .50 donation to help with shipping all our donated shoes to Haiti: .50

    Mmmm… peaches would have been stellar, too. Wonder when the fall apple cider will show up?

  • For My Green Thumb Readers…

    I’ve noticed many of you (with blogs that I read… drop me a comment if you’ve been lurking and we haven’t connected yet) have mentioned starting up your own backyard produce farms and/or gardens, so I thought I’d pass along some great tips from yesterday’s Toxic Free NC Spring 2009 email newsletter.


    Organic Gardening from Scratch

    Here are a few tips for starting a new garden from Toxic Free NC and Tom Mekus, owner of Native Elements Landscaping in Raleigh.

    Plan for too little (and too much) water
    Keeping your garden within a hose’s length of an outdoor tap is always a good idea, but it’s also wise to consider installing a rain barrel. Just one-quarter inch of rain onto a 300-square-foot section of roof can yield nearly 50 gallons of water!

    Resources for gardeners
    Free soil testing by the NC Dept. of Agriculture
    Call your County Extension office for more info, or visit http://www.agr.state.nc.us

    All about composting from the NC Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources www.p2pays.org/compost/
    919-715-6500

    I thought I’d just pass along some tips that were maintenance related, since many of you have already started (and posted) some of your great results. Be sure to read the full post for some even better all-around tips.

    Want to make your own rain barrel? That’s definitely something I’m going to be tackling this summer… especially after previous summer droughts here in central NC.

    Here are some links with how-to guides:

    From the EPA – Build Your Own Rain Barrel (pdf)
    YouTube – How to Build a Rain Barrel (video)
    YouTube – How to (On the Cheap) (video)
    Get creative! Add a screen to keep out leaves, etc., add a monogram (for the particularly preppy garden), whatever floats your boat… knock yourself out. (As pictured above, I’m not above putting a monogram or some cute embellishments on a rain barrel!)

    {Images: Clockwise from Top Left – Zedomax, River Falls Rain Barrel Program, This Old House, Arlington Village Green Team. Embellishments by yours truly.}

  • Red, Merlot, or Muscadine?

    Lisa S. shared Old North State Winery with those of us in her networks on facebook this week and I thought I’d pass it along here, too. She swears by Restless Soul and says it makes a great table red.

    Restless Soul
    This blend of Malbec, Tannat, and Cabernet Sauvignon is combined in just the right proportions to emphasize the wonderful fruity character of this complex Bordeaux style red wine. – $10.00
    Have any of you NC people sampled any of their wide selection of wines or dined at the bistro in Mt. Airy?

    Share the details!

    PS – In case you might not have noticed, NC has a wonderful state-wide wine industry. Check out the Visit NC Wines website and find out where you can check out some local offerings near home, vacation, or even make day trips out of!

  • Local Produce – YAY!

    Ok, it is terrible that I might need to rely on a delivery service to provide me with local, fresh produce when I pass the NC Farmers Market multiple times a day.

    That being said, this will still ensure I get to support local agriculture even with my “I don’t have time to grocery shop” schedule – The Produce Box.

    I would love to join any of the local CSAs, but I don’t have a few hundred bucks to shell out right for all of my seasonal produce in advance. This is a great pay-by-week alternative for me! I was so excited to find out via the Lineberry Alliance mailing list tonight that someone from our neighborhood is coordinating this for us.

    Image: The Produce Box

  • Local Job Opening

    This isn’t my typical blog post, but this isn’t your typical job opening either. This sounds like it would be a really fun and rewarding job.

    Please pass this along to anyone who may be interested.

    Open job position from SEEDS (1998 NC Peace Prize winner)
    From Lucy Harris, SEEDS Executive Director,
    706 Gilbert Street, Durham, NC 27701
    919.683.1197
    www.seedsnc.org

    SEEDS is hiring a co-coordinator for Durham Inner-city Gardeners (DIG) to start in March 2009.

    Come join our multi-generational team of youth and adults working together to increase food justice in our community by:
    -Growing healthy, sustainable food on a 1/4 acre lot in northeast central Durham
    -Selling it at the Durham Farmer’s Market every Saturday
    -Learning about the importance of food and sustainability
    -Cultivating self-confidence, inter-dependence, solid community, and a strong value for all life
    -Primary responsibilities would be:
    -Sharing knowledge of sustainable gardening, cooking, and healthy living with youth;
    -Program development;
    -Youth leadership training;
    -Working with volunteers;
    -Garden stewardship

    Required Skills:
    -Experience working with youth, especially in leadership development;
    -Some gardening experience;
    -Creative problem solving and conflict resolution skills;
    -Ability and interest in doing physical labor;
    -Commitment to social, economic, and environmental justice;
    -Ability to work well with a multi-racial, intergenerational staff and desire to interact with a wide range of people
    -Flexible schedule, driver’s license, sense of humor and the ability to think on your toes

    Strongly recommended:
    -An understanding of and interest in food systems and food politics;
    -Cooking skills;
    -Carpentry skills;
    -Creative self-expression;
    -Morning person

    We encourage applicants to get a feel for the position by volunteering during a Saturday work day.

    Starting salary $12/hour + paid sick, vacation, and holidays
    Average of 28 hours/week including Saturdays

    Job starts mid-March

    Interested parties should send a cover letter and resume to Lucy Harris, lharris@seedsnc.org, or 706 Gilbert St, Durham, NC 27701.

    SEEDS is a non-profit community garden whose goal is to teach people to care for the earth, themselves and each other through a variety of garden-based programs.

    The Durham Inner-city Gardeners (DIG) program is a youth-driven, urban farming leadership development program. DIG empowers teens by teaching organic gardening, sound business practices, healthy food choices and food security values. The program emphasizes sustainable living and growing practices, ecological balance, and the natural recycling of organic materials for plant health and nourishment. DIG youth are paid a stipend to cultivate fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and mushrooms, which they then sell at the Durham Farmer’s Market.

    Today’s beautiful local weather should definitely encourage some good applications for this position – plus, just think about all the amazing things you’d learn about in this position. I’ve never heard of this before seeing this posting come across the Chix email list, but now I’d love to volunteer sometime.

  • Recognize that Little Curly-Haired Girl?

    Readers of the NC State Fair’s blog may have recognized a familiar face yesterday!

    http://2008ncstatefair.blogspot.com/2008/09/fair-fan-lisa-jeffries.html

    (Note: Fall 1987 was just before the first appearance of my younger sister, Mandy.)

    Check out some of our family’s fair pictures from the 22+ years we’ve been going together (18 since my sister was born) in the following slideshow.

    The NC State Fair – definitely one of my favorite family pastimes!

  • Update: Hot Sauce Festival

    Remember my surprise (and enjoyment) at how NC event boasts a Hot Sauce Festival?

    Triangle Brewing Company has a cool video on their blog with pictures from the event… take a look!

    Looks like it was a beautiful day in Oxford for it – would’ve been nice to check it out in person!

  • Hot Sauce Festival?!

    No, not the Buckhead band (who still manage to amaze me with their on-stage shenanigans on Friday and Saturday evenings), but the real hot sauce!

    From today’s Boss’ Planner, Jonny mentions September 13th as the date for the NC Hot Sauce Festival… further proof that we’ll have a festival for anything! But hey, I’m not complaining.

    While I probably won’t be at that event (darn you, acid reflux), I still think it’s a fun idea.

    Clarification: apparently it’s the “hot sauce contest” as Google search results would have it.

  • Facebook vs. MySpace

    Dear facebook,

    You are SO much better than MySpace.
    Just wanted to make sure you are aware of that.

    Love,
    Lisa

    While yes, I do have MySpace (it’s necessary in the marketing/social media/bar industries unfortunately), I hate it. It’s so abused and full of crap, spam, and people who don’t know how to write literate messages thanks to text messaging that it’s nearly impossible to use without frustration every time you log on. UGH.

    Clearly, everyone else is starting to see things the way I do. Even the venues and associations are starting to take notice and respond accordingly!

    Proof? Previously referenced events (many times over): Beer, Bourbon & BBQ on facebook and NC State Fair on facebook with a profile and concert events.

    Yay!