Creative Stewardship

You have a great idea for improving the environment in your community, and just the group to get it going. How could you get it funded? Healthy Community Grants up to $10,000 are available to community-based groups that offer solutions for local environmental problems -- the more creative and out-of-the-box, the better. The awards are intended to inspire people in selected counties in coastal South Carolina and Georgia to get involved.

Ward Edwards, an engineering company with offices in Bluffton and Port Royal, SC, is offering the grants for the second year. The company wants to encourage innovation and has doubled the target area. "We want to make as many people as possible aware that these funds are available," according to Kimberly Seipel-Parks, Project Director. "We are looking for projects that promote environmental sustainability."

St. Peter’s Catholic School of Beaufort was a 2007 winner, with a water quality study in a high salinity estuary. As a result of the rapid growth in their county, the Beaufort River had high surges of fresh water from storm water runoff. Their Environmental Science Program wanted to investigate the impact of the fresh water on organisms, including anemones, sea squirts, and sponges.

Another winner was the Marshview Organic Community Farm in St. Helena. Their goal was to educate youth in the community about how they could become change agents for improving their environment. The students were to receive hands-on training in the operation of an organic farm. The Town of Bluffton used its award to build a demonstration rain garden, as shown in the photo at left, for collecting and filtering rain that falls on impervious surfaces.

What if your local school could be more energy efficient with a 'green roof,' used to grow vegetables for the students?

The list of eligible counties, application forms, and further information about the grants are available on their website. Interested groups must submit an initial one-page Project Summary by September 10, 2008. Grant recipients will be announced in February, 2009. Check it out; your idea may be a winner!

Less Beetles!

Dear June Bugs,
We are glad you are not here.

Almost the end of the month, and we have seen far less of those June bugs chomping on our plants this year. We're not sure if it helped, but last year we did establish a few wild geranium plants. My sister told us last year about this plant, native to Missouri, which is toxic to the Japanese beetles. She found it while reading in a gardening book.

In Eat More Dirt, Ellen Sandbeck states that when the beetles eat it, it's the last bite they take. She says, "Japanese Beetles can not resist eating Geranium maculatum (a wild perennial geranium with tiny pink flowers), though it invariably proves to be their last meal. Other geraniums are also attractive to Japanese beetles, but they only knock the beetles out of 8 hours at a time, not permanently. If you have Japanese beetle trouble, these pretty little wildflowers should look doubly attractive."

We really haven't seen them eat it much, but it does have pretty little flowers. The leaves of the plant are nice too; although they change color to orange and get a bit brown by the end of the summer. Becoming familiar with the leaves, I thought I recognized it growing in bed plantings at the Cradle of Forestry Museum, even when it was not flowering.

I got the plants from one of the sources listed at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Japanese beetles are not present in Missouri, which is a good sign! Whether it's due to the plant, or to other efforts, we are glad there seem to be far less of them here this year. Or did they just shift to someone else's place?

Local Food - Good for You?

We've been saying that fresh, locally grown food tastes better, contains more nutrients, and saves gasoline. In buying locally as much as possible, we believe that we are helping family farmers and the rural communities where they live. Through supporting family farms, such as the one on the left, from UNC News, we are moving toward sustainable agriculture.

Some people have committed to eating a "100-mile diet," choosing food that has traveled no more than 100 miles to reach their table. Among these are a few who admit making exceptions -- for coffee, for example. We don't grow coffee in the Carolinas, but we look for the small "Fair Trade" symbol on the package. It indicates that the grower supports the small farmers in the country where the coffee is grown.

Does it really help? Public officials and others sometimes question whether these efforts really make a difference in improving our health or affecting the ideals we promote. Now the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received a two-year grant to study such questions in our state. A team of faculty and staff from UNC's of School of Public Health and other North Carolina universities will investigate agriculture and our system of food buying.

The loss of farmland and livelihood among farmers who previously grew tobacco is one concern, according to Dr. Alice Ammerman of the UNC School of Public Health. Rural communities are also affected by local manufacturing layoffs and plant closures, she said. Non-profit organizations such as the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Program will be helping on these issues.

The NC Department of Health and Human Services will be helping to gather statistics, along with county and regional partners. For further information, see the website of the UNC School of Public Health.

SC Festival of Flowers

A gift for us, and for the bees! This weekend continues the 41st South Carolina Festival of Flowers in Greenwood, South Carolina. A celebration going on through the month of June, it offers many activities this weekend, including Flower Day, June 21st at the Park Seed Company’s Trial Gardens. These nine-acre gardens feature over 1000 varieties of annuals, perennials, and vegetables. They will be open to the public. Professional horticulturists will give guided tours of their many varieties of beautiful plants at their peak. Park Seed (and Greenwood) is also headquarters to Wayside Gardens, a source for new, unusual, and hard-to-find plants in the mail-order gardening business.

The Festival of Flowers also gives us beach music, jazz, bluegrass performances and much more. You might enjoy the day strolling through one of the beautiful gardens on tour. Interesting topiaries are all around...I love the lion! Check out all the other attractions of the Festival of Flowers.

Mulch Matters

We've collected the water we used to rinse fruits and vegetables. As we go out into our yard with a full bucket, we have to decide where to offer it. In these hot and dry days, which of our ornamental plants should get the water?

Our trees are beautiful and provide needed shade and oxygen; their roots have to look for water far down in the ground. Azaleas and other bushes and shrubs also take time and effort to establish. We appreciate the perennial flowers and grasses that come back every year, without much effort on our part. All need water, but drought conditions are especially difficult for the colorful annuals that are so hard to resist in the spring.

No matter which plants seem thirstiest at the moment, we're seeing a big difference using more mulch right now. It's helping our plants to retain the water they get by protecting the soil around them. In the forest, nature forms a protective layer over the soil with fallen leaves, needles, twigs, pieces of bark, spent flower blossoms, fallen fruit and other organic material. We are giving the same assistance to the plants in our landscapes by mulching.

You may not have to make a trip to the store to buy bags of mulch. The Clemson Extension Office Home and Garden Information Center has a Mulch fact sheet that tells how to use materials you may have available.

Electric Car Conversions

Sweet car! Oh, it's electric?

Mike Moore of AmpMobile Conversions adapted this 1979 Fiat Spider to run on electric batteries instead of gasoline.

The Lake Wylie, SC auto expert is converting small cars and trucks to electric power. The process recycles vehicles which have a useable body. It uses parts made in America, and gives new life to an otherwise non-running car.

Let's see what's under the hood. A clean engine, in more ways than one! Moore teaches people how to convert vehicles to this system in four-day workshops. He's already converted about 16 vehicles, and his workshops spread the knowledge he has gathered in his research. He is an engaging instructor, and will not resist an opportunity to share what he has learned, even to the smallest student (below). His wife Paula is also very knowledgeable about the process, helping with purchasing, planning, trade shows, and development in their mission to put cleaner cars on the roads.

The system is customized to each vehicle, considering power requirements, available space, center of gravity, and body structure. For a pickup, the truck bed is equipped with a hydraulic lift, making it easy to access the batteries stored below it.

Moore points out that the electric cars are so quiet that people don't really look out for them. It's amazing to ride in them, or watch them slide by; practically all you hear is the tires on the roadway. Ah, also there is no noxious exhaust! They are more efficient in their use of energy, comparing them to gasoline engines; ask Paula to tell you how much.

For more information check out their website, or call: 803-831-1082, or toll free 1-866-831-1082. You can write the Moores at info@ampmobiles.com.

Wind Energy Forum

Last month, a public forum on wind energy was held in Surf City, NC. Royal Builders of Topsail Island worked with the NC Solar Center, the State Energy Office and the North Carolina Wind Working Group to bring a discussion on this renewable energy to the area. They invited people to learn about the benefits of wind energy, voice their concerns, and ask questions of environmental and technical experts.

Chris Hunter of Royal Builders said the presentation was very successful. Attended by 60-70 people, the forum answered questions from builders, officials from towns and power companies, homeowner's associations, wildlife watchers, and homeowners seeking better power options. Primary concerns were noise, views, threat to birds, and power capacity.

The panelists said that wind turbines were not noisy; the sound levels of a small turbine is lower than the sound of most living rooms. Regarding danger to wildlife, Hunter said, "Of all the birds killed by man-made objects, less than one percent are caused by windmills. Cats are much more deadly to birds."

Hunter said the panel stated that North Carolina does have renewable energy in solar systems and in biomass sources, but not wind. "Most states have some wind turbines producing electricity to supply their power. North Carolina has none." That's really surprising, considering that the state is famous for launching the birth of flight because of its consistent wind. Although wind turbines would not work everywhere, surely some installations could add to our energy supply in a safe and renewable manner.

Hunter also suggested more information could be found at a web site produced by the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). This Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) contains information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The North Carolina Wind Working Group is a coalition of agencies collaborating on wind energy issues here. The NC Solar Center is one partner, providing more information on their Coastal Wind Initiative page. Another Public Wind Energy Forum will be from 7-9 p.m., on June 19, 2008, in Nags Head, Outer Banks, NC in the Jockey's Ridge State Park Auditorium. If you'd like to join the conversation, you can get the poster here, TownMeetingPoster_OBX.pdf or on the NC Solar Center web site.

Energized by the Fair

"The Green Energy Fair last Saturday was a great success," reports Dennis Robison of the Chowan/Edenton Environmental Group. "While we haven't received the final count, we believe there were between 250 and 300 attendees."

The group served 175 lunches provided by the Town of Edenton, North Carolina. The Fair had 20 exhibitors, ranging from high-end solar panels to vermiculture. The exhibitors were pleased with the attendance, and many people commented that they appreciated the information. The Green Energy Fair offered several short classes, on topics such as weatherization and landscaping with drought-resistant plants. In the photo here, a local science teacher shows people how to compost with worms.

The group gave out a number of door prizes, and energy saving light bulbs were given to everyone as they left the hall. "This was the first major effort of the Chowan/Edenton Environmental Group. We'll probably make this an annual event," says Robison. Congratulations on your efforts to help the community be more energy-efficient!

Got to Be NC

The first "Got to be NC Festival," celebrating local farm products, will be held June 5th through the 8th at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. The Food Expo will feature tasty foods to sample and buy. The official NC Barbecue Cooking Championship will begin there on Friday.

The festival will present a display of antique tractors, draft horse and antique tractor pulls, carnival rides, live music, a petting zoo, pig races, and nightly fireworks. The scheduled flea market, boat show, cattle show, horse show, and a roller derby match will be held as usual.

Gates open Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. to midnight; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to midnight. General admission is free, and grandstand events are $5. The Festival is produced by the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Other sponsors include the NC Pork Council and Kids Green Earth. For more information, see Got to Be NC Festival.

Biofarm Internships

The Piedmont Biofuels Cooperative is now offering the only biodiesel internship program of its kind in the world on their organic biofarm. They are accepting applications for their first internships at their pilot biodiesel plant, one to be held this year from June through August and another from September through December.

"Prospective candidates for the internships should want to leave a legacy," according to Matt Rudolf, the Cooperative's Executive Director. Past projects have included fuel making, a blog aggregator, a constructed wetland, a presence at the farmer’s market, and a wood management center. The interns selected will receive a small stipend and free housing at the co-op's site in Pittsboro, NC. There are many other benefits, including class credits, nearby hiking and mountain biking trails, and a unique resume entry.

Piedmont Biofuels, a cooperative started by some continuing education students at Central Carolina Community College, has grown substantially over the years. In addition to researching and producing diesel fuel from waste vegetable oil, they have implemented a variety of green building strategies and deployed passive solar, active solar and solar thermal. An active agritourism program welcomes thousands of visitors each year to see their organic farm, composting program, and oilseed experiments, and an information-packed Web site describes their ongoing projects and results.

Intern Power was used in the construction of this off grid, straw bale, passive solar biodiesel distribution point, at left, at their Industrial facility. Interns will have ample opportunities for participation in the co-op's extensive education and outreach, so strong communications skills and public speaking experience are preferred. Also, Rudolf says that preference will be given to those individuals without vehicles, or who arrive in diesel vehicles. Interested applicants can learn more at The Cooperative Internship Program.