Home > Swampland > Archives > 2008 > July
July 2008
Haute House
Check out this Swampland video blog about the Bayside Manor Designer House open to the public Aug. 3 through Aug. 17. It’s a fundraiser for Arts of the Albemarle.
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What’s the buzz?
Check out a bee invasion and what to do about it. To view this video blog and more go to our photos and video section.
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mmm mmm mmm
OK, another photo of a tomato, only this time look deep into the meat of this fruit and ask yourself this: Do I really enjoy store bought mators or will I go find myself a farmer’s market somewhere and buy those really fresh ones that literally fell off the vine?
Of course, you may be a gardener and have your own stash at home and, well, that’s fine. I just want you to enjoy the incredibly fresh taste of vegetables grown right here at home in Swampland, that’s all.
I just ate a carrot from the supermarket. You know, the kind that comes in a bag and is whittled down to a nub? Well, I promise you it tasted like cabbage or some variant thereof. Thing is, a lot of folks don’t realize that 90+ percent of the food you purchase in a supermarket is genetically enhanced on some level or another. And, well, if that’s what you want, Frankenfood and all that, well that’s fine. But give me a fresh bell pepper any old day.
I find that there’s just something about eating food just picked from the vine or taken from the ground that’s not only tastey, but imminently more satisfying.
Now, if you don’t know where to find said food, follow this link and you can view all the available local produce sellers in the area, online, here at DailyAdvance.com. …
http://www.dailyadvance.com/search/content/features/stories/2008/06/29/0629localproducelist.html
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Gardener’s delight
I went out to Master Gardener Duane McSmith’s place this morning to interview him for a non-gardening-related story (see our Sunday July 20 edition of Albemarle Life). I had heard about the work he’s put into Hide-N-Wood Gardens.
At 91, Mr. McSmith is still hard at it, growing some of the largest tomato plants I’ve ever seen!
The other thing that I love is his creation of handicapp accessible garden beds. My wife employed a similar design at the Project Grow teaching garden located at the Food Bank of the Albemarle and it’s impressive. But to see an entire grounds populated by these beds, full of lush, fruitful plants, well it’s down right inspiring.
Duan McSmith is a wonderful, lively conversationalist and loves visitors. His gardens and walkways are open to visitors. All one has to do is drive over to 923 Wellfield Rd. in Elizabeth City. Go down Main Street Extended, take a left on Forest Park Road, then take an immediate right on Wellfield. Hide-N-Wood Gardens is just down the road a short ways, on the left.
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A summer rain
The downpour was fierce Sunday night as the lightning struck and thunder roared. Only those who don’t understand the need might have cursed the inundation of wet we received as roads flooded and water rolled into gutters and storm drains.
And needed it was, and more is needed. This is a hardy land, yet even the hardiest land cannot endure forever the absence of rain.
Our neighbors in Georgia have the worst of it. Atlanta’s prized Lake Lanier is practically no more as docks and boat houses sit on dry land where they once floated.
Yes, Sunday night’s downpour was manna from heaven yet we need more, and more, and still more. Dance if you must under the stars, perhaps even say a little prayer. Whatever it takes, the soil is dry and the heavens will hopefully open up again and again to quench our dire thirst.
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Mountain Heart on the waterfront
The big act during Friday night’s July 4 event at Elizabeth City’s Waterfront Park is this up and coming contemporary bluegrass band out of Nashville, Mountain Heart. I checked out their video on YouTube and, well, Yeah!
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Critics’ Choice Award
You have to know that the best critics are the ones who are compelled to be honest. They are innately in tune with the idea that what comes out of their mouths is nothing but the god’s honest truth. We call them children.
That said, Museum of the Albemarle may well have received the best endorsement they’re going to get last Saturday when my three youngest children, ages 7, 5 and 5, took a break from the heat that was engulfing the art festival and went inside for a bathroom break. Yeah, I thought it would be short lived, just long enough to flush and grab a drink from the fountain. Could a museum really hold their attention?
Well the answer is a resounding yes. First there was the outboard motor display on the first floor. It was aptly set up with photos of boats the engines once graced and my boys were enthralled.
“Which one do you think was faster, Dad? This one or that one?”
And so it went from one old engine to the next. I have two motorheads to be sure.
But it was the main gallery that took me by surprise. I really have to hand it to designer Don Pendergraft and his staff for laying out the “Our Story” exhibit.
Think about this for a moment: When you walk in the first thing you see are Indians. Turn the corner and there are pirates, treasure chests and a cannon. Now, if you were a five-year-old boy don’t you think those things would grab you immediately?
Well, they did and they set the tone for the entire exhibit as my boys and I walked through each display, questions coming from the left of me and the right.
Now if that weren’t enough, the boys and I went looking for their mother and sister, but must’ve passed them because once we tired of searching, the boys wanted to head back to the exhibit and that’s where we found them. Now, my wife was standing in the doorway looking for us, but my daughter was intently studying the exhibits, reading information and slowly moving from one to the next, absorbing what she say.
I can’t be more thrilled about it all. It means that there are more museums on the horizon, something I enjoy. And to the folks at Museum of the Albemarle, take it what you think it’s worth, but you just got an A+ rating from several finicky, wild-eyed kids. A job well done.
