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Today's groundbreaking marked the close of one chapter and the beginning of another in the creation of an Edible Schoolyard at the Greensboro Children's Museum. About 200 people, including Mayor Yvonne Johnson, Superintendent Mo Green and other government leaders, attended the ceremony on this humid (but fortunately dry) afternoon.

Melanie Soles, who formerly served as chairwoman of the museum's board of trustees, told the crowd that the garden would enable health and wellness to become a cornerstone of the organization and potentially help reverse the county's climbing childhood obesity rate: 

"We are going to be a part of a delicious revolution, a revolution that changes the way children, parents and schools think about food," she said.

Mayor Johnson presented Waters with a key to the city and four children presented gifts from famous Seagrove potter Ben Owen: two glazed plates with smiley faces shaped from embedded vegetables.

"I'm without words," Waters told the crowd gathered outside the museum. "I'm in tears. I'm just really touched by this welcome, really touched by your commitment. I believe you're going to do this thing that will bring attention from around the world.... We're talking about teaching children the values they need to live a beautiful life and connect with everybody else that shares this planet."

Waters proceeded to literally turn over dirt with shovels and sign copies of her cookbooks. Art and Martha Nading, owners of The Extra Ingredient at Friendly Shopping Center and business sponsors of the project, said they hoped the growing interest in gardening and local foods would motivate more people to cook. 

"We cook and we think that's a good thing for families to do," Art Nading said. "I'm looking down the road. Once this thing gets going how can we be involved, personally and as a business?"

After years of planning, the museum must now finish raising the $750,000 needed to build the garden, which is the first in the Southeast to partner with Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse Foundation. The museum still seeks donors, partners and strategic alliances, and spots are still available for a Friday fundraiser dinner that Waters will attend. Tickets are $250/person and can be purchased by calling 574-2898. People can also catch Waters on Saturday at the downtown farmers market. 

By the way, I and columnist Jeri Rowe are working on more in-depth stories for Sunday, so be sure to check them out.

 Don't forget Take a Child Outside Week starts on Thursday. Here are some ideas for some kid-friendly activities.

Renowned chef and Slow Food activist Alice Waters talked with me about her work in the local and sustainable food movement in advance of her visit to Greensboro on Thursday. The Q&A will run in the Life section of tomorrow's paper, but you can also listen to portions of our interview here, which I've broken into three parts: 

Waters shares her thoughts on the school gardening movement;

She talks about defining local foods and the role of supermarkets and distributors; and 

She talks about changing her mind on grass-fed beef and counters misperceptions about the local food movement.

Forward-thinking (or is it backward-thinking?) residential developers, builders and architects see the writing on the wall for traditional, mid-20th century-style suburban subdivisions and they are coming up with some innovative alternatives.

One such alternative is "Agriburbia," a trademarked term for development-supported agriculture that started in Colorado and now includes a project in Granite Quarry in Rowan County, about an hour south of Greensboro. 

I spoke today with Paul Newton, a planner with The TSR Group that developed the concept, to learn more about this mixed-use agricultural development, called The Farmstead. 

What's interesting about this project is that the development centers around a working biointensive farm. The Farmstead will include 280 single-family and multi-family homes, as well as commercial space and a farmers market (which should open by spring) on 126 acres. Newton said a professional farmer will soon be hired to grow produce that will be sold on site as well as to area restaurants. The farmer and developer will share the revenue, some of which will go to the homeowners association.

Homeowners will also have the option of growing food privately or hiring a farmer to sharecrop in their backyards. The Farmstead will feature green homes and education about food preservation, etc. 

"The local food ideas is a solution to making all new development and neighborhoods more sustainable," Newton said.

 I also found interesting the fact that the Colorado firm was brought in about two years into the development as a way to overcome the economic slump and distinguish the Granite Quarry subdivision from others. In other words, the recession created an opening for the developers to try and market something new.

"The whole economic situation has stalled out pretty much all development," Newton said. "It's a big problem. Around the Charlotte area there's around 50,000 acres of entitled land that is not being developed. It's becoming a city issue for Charlotte because that's where they collect a lot of revenue."

I told Newton that some suburban sprawl critics would celebrate the slowdown in building, to which Newton responded that development will continue to happen in an economic growth-dependent society.

"If you buy into that model, and that's the predominant American economic model, then there's no question that new development, new growth is going to happen," he said. "We're of the mind that it should be sustainable. It shouldn't lean so heavily on natural resources."

The Agriburbia concept also addresses two challenges, Newton said. One, It enables the developer to pay down his loan without having to rush the building and selling process. It also provides a new model for financing agriculture in an era of expensive land prices. The TSR Group is not alone in this thinking. Earthwise in Wake Forest is working on a similar concept.

"We're creating the infrastructure for the next generation of farming," Newton said.

This is the kind of synergy we need to see more of (I'm waiting to see this kind of thing in the rental sector). For example, Newton is working with the Rowan County Cooperative Extension to recruit vendors for the farmers market, and he attended the Farm to Fork summit, which was part of a statewide initiative to promote local food economies. 

Too bad we didn't see more of this 10 years ago. Riding out the recession will be no small challenge. 

I listened to the presenters at this week's urban forestry conference in Winston-Salem and couldn't help but think about how much of a geologic force human being are, a modern reality pointed out by cultural historian Thomas Berry and others.

But rarely did I think about how much control people - particularly urban dwellers - have over their natural surroundings until I started writing about green living and sustainability last year. Instead of letting trees grow and replenish themselves, city residents now have to inventory, plant, prune, cut down, uproot and otherwise manage trees throughout the community in order to ensure reasonable quality of life and habitat health. As if we humans don't have enough on our plates.

Of course, people have managed trees in a basic way for millenia, using the wood for shelter and fuel, trading this resource with others in exchange for goods and services. But the current scale of urbanization has had such a devastating effect on trees and wildlife that government agencies, utilities and civic organizations have assumed responsibility for the survival of these habitats as they try to persuade residents that our quality of life depends on healthy forests.

The N.C. Urban Forestry Council, which co-sponsored the conference, is a key regional organization that works to educate citizenry about the value of maintaining urban tree canopy. The organization has more than 200 members and aims to help communities preserve and incorporate forests during a time of rapid population growth.

I'm still thinking about what I learned at the conference, but a few things stood out to me that I wanted to share in the meantime: 

* The N.C. Division of Forest Services is working on a federally required assessment that should tell the public a lot about the health of North Carolina forests. The division and its partners have until mid-2010 complete the assessment.

* Communities might be able to take advantage of existing carbon trading markets and the potential "cap and trade" bill to offset greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere. Notice I wrote "might." Getting credit for sequestering carbon in urban forests is complicated, for one, and in some ways hard to justify since the planting, maintenance and decomposition of the trees releases carbon into the atmosphere. Also, the property owner only gets credit for sequestering carbon that would not have been stored in the first place and the owner has to protect the trees in perpetuity, which seems like a tall order in urban areas with higher property values. (Check out this site for some background.)

"We need to be honest when we're talking about this," said Melissa McHale, who is researching this at N.C. State University. "Urban trees are not going to save the world from global climate change."

* N.C. State is also studying the potential for conservation subdivisions to protect forests and habitat. Conservation subdivisions aim to keep 50-70 percent of a development as open space. These special subdivisions can reduce infrastructure costs for developers and provide flexibility in lot size. But developers have tried them out in only a handful of North Carolina communities.

Steve Allen, a masters student at N.C. State, identified these barriers to implementing conservation subdivisions:

1. A lack of incentives for developers, which can include tax breaks, density bonuses, expedited permit review process and reduced setback requirements;

2. Perception that they are more expensive to build (it's certainly the case that "green" residential developments tend to outprice low- to moderate-income families; however Blue Sky Acres is an example of a development designed for low-income homebuyers);

3. Lack of interest from elected officials to change ordinances;

4. Smaller lot sizes for homeowners;

5. Difficulty obtaining long-term management of the open space portion (HOAs are not a big fan of taking on this responsibility).

The Woodlands at Davidson   is an example of wildlife-friendly development (it includes only 38 percent open space), if you want to check it out. Could you afford to live there?

From the Web site: 

"The Woodlands at Davidson is intended to serve as a model of ecological sustainability with the preservation of significant hardwood trees, the protection of creeks and wetlands, and the preservation of paths for woodlands creatures. We hope to extend this ethos of sustainabilty to each lot with a strong desire for energy-efficient home design, natural stormwater filtration and drainage, wildlife habitat protection, and the use of drought-resistant, environmentally friendly landscaping materials and practices.

"Owners are required to landscape their lots with plant material which is indigenous to the area and leave untouched as much as possible the existing vegetation and natural amenities:"

Walmart, the transnational corporation that gets so much flak, announced this summer that it will help provide consumers with the information they need to choose environmentally-responsible products by getting the green 411 from its 100,000 global suppliers. Information garnered from supplier surveys will be used to compile a lifecycle analysis database, a potentially powerful tool that could further drive improvements in manufacturing practices. 

North Carolinians have an opportunity to learn more about this initiative directly from a Walmart executive who will be in Chapel Hill later this month. I wonder if Walmart will use this data to weed out suppliers that don't meet certain standards, and if any North Carolina universities or organizations will help develop the database.

What do you think of this new Walmart initiative?

If you're involved with the tourism industry in North Carolina, you might want to check out this set of video presentations from a November 2008 workshop at the N.C. Center for Sustainable Tourism at East Carolina University. The center has not yet posted the presentations to its Web site, but you can access them by following the links in the file below (you need Windows Media Player to view). Enjoy!

Climate, Weather and Tourism in North Carolina: Issues and Opportunities

Chances are good that you've eaten meat at a local restaurant or hotel that was cut and distributed by Southern Foods, a Greensboro-based company that has served the area since 1954. The company stocks over 6,000 products at its headquarters and sells everything from Certified Angus Beef and wild game to artisan cheeses, hors d'oeuvres and vegetable trays to upscale restaurants, country clubs, resorts, hotels, grocery stores, caterers, and households in the Southeast. 

For years the company offered all-natural, organic and locally produced food products, and it has been a member of Goodness Grows in North Carolina since 2003. Many of its meat products are raised without hormones and antibiotics, said Sue James, vice president of administration.

"People are tired of the big companies of the world buying up all this beef with steroids in it," she said. "People don't want that anymore."

This year, the company took steps to go green and lower its carbon footprint. Southern Foods hired Verus Carbon Neutral, a firm third-party verified by the Chicago Climate Exchange, to conduct a footprint audit and provide offsets for Southern Foods' electricity and natural gas use. Those offsets support a 60,000 acre forest in Georgia, which helps sequester carbon dioxide, prevent erosion and accommodate wildlife.

This year the 207-employee company also: 

* hired Green Day Waste & Recycling to handle its waste and stepped up its paper recycling efforts;

* started using a 20 percent biodiesel blend in its truck fleet. Southern Foods makes about 2,000 deliveries every week and Verus estimates the fuel change will avoid the release of 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually;

* Sends its meat bones and fat to other facilities, including Carolina By-Products, for recycling;

* Switched indoor lights to compact fluorescents;

* Started using all-natural biodegradable cleaning products;

* Stocked Vegware, corn-based cutlery, drink cups and plates, for purchase by other companies, and uses biodegradable plates, cups and utensils for employee use (note: these products need to be composted to realize the environmental benefit);

* Started using a biodegradable nylon film to wrap meat products; and

* Started sending old electronics to Goodwill for recycling.

Southern Foods also plans to have an energy audit completed by Duke Energy to see how it can save electricity, James said.

 A new initiative by the MillerCoors brings brewery employees out to streams and riverbeds across the country this month. The company has adopted September as water stewardship month and on Saturday, about 45 employees and family members of the Eden brewery planted vegetation at the new Island Ford Landing of the Smith River Greenway. MillerCoors employees also worked on projects at the other nine breweries in the U.S., said Kristi Mallow, community affairs manager for the company.

"If we didn't have good water we couldn't have great beer," Mallow said. "This is a big focus for us."

The Eden brewery worked on the project in collaboration with city officials and the Dan River Basin Association. Wearing yellow T-shirts and "I volunteered for water stewardship month" buttons, the families planted 15 6-year-old crepe myrtle trees and several juniper bushes, which will help prevent erosion of sediment into the river. Children also worked on crafts, making flower blossoms out of plastic bottles and "rivers in a bottle."

Drew Lucas, the Eden brewery's environmental coordinator, said the company has worked to reduce both its water consumption and waste generation. While the United Nations recommends breweries use no more than five barrels of water for every barrel of beer, the Eden brewery is set to reach a goal ratio of 3.5 to 1. The brewery recycles 95 percent of its waste, including ash, oil, stretch wrap and foam, electronics and spent grain. The brewery also has reduced both its landfill tonnage, both as a total amount and waste-to-beer ratio. For example, the brewery generated 30 tons of waste this July compared to 50 tons in July of 2008. Read more about the company's initiatives here. 

It's stirring to watch North Carolina agriculture transform and evolve in real time, from multiple ground zeroes in Guilford and surrounding counties. Today I visited Peacehaven Farm in Whitsett to follow up with the creators of a new farm residential program for people with disabilities. There I talked with Buck Cochran, Chas Edens and Ben Wright who, like other people I've interviewed over the past year, see agriculture as more about building and restoring person-to-person relationships than starting a money-making enterprise.

Peacehaven Farm is located on 89 acres, its entrance announced by a small white sign and old steel-walled barn on N.C. Hwy 61. Edens and Wright, farm managers who graduated from N.C. State in May, started in late July the physical work of prepping the farm, obtaining sheep and chickens, and repairing the sole building on the place. They studied landscape horticulture (with a permaculture emphasis) in college and cultivated a passion for addressing food and hunger issues by volunteering with Anathoth Community Garden in Cedar Grove and the Piedmont Interfaith Network of Gardens (PING). They met Cochran, Peacehaven's executive director, at an Anathoth workshop and Cochran later hired them to work on the farm. 

Peacehaven aims to ultimately house 30 to 35 residents who will raise and sell meat, fiber and produce, and live in homes powered with renewable energy. A master plan features a greenhouse, perennial fruit shrubs, hog shelter and biodiesel tank. But the men are taking a relaxed, go-with-the-flow approach to accomplishing each task. The non-profit will lease the property for 40 years at virtually no expense.

"One thing I think is a hallmark of what we're doing is learning as we do it and moving at a pace where we're not getting ahead of ourselves and not making huge mistakes in terms of how we use the land," Cochran said.

Cochran, a former associate pastor with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, noted that the project's lack of strategic planning is different from what he is used to. They don't yet know what cover crops they will plant in the fall nor exactly when the first residential house will go up.

"I was fearful of it at first because it's not how I was used to operating," he said. "But I've found it kind of freeing and I think it's a faithful way to approach a project."

High on the farm managers' priority list are holding regular potlucks with whoever will attend and letting volunteers and interns experiment with creative ideas. In August, they held an ice cream social for the neighbors. A group of volunteers will come out on Sunday to build vegetable beds and Wright and Edens plan to construct yurts to live in until more permanent housing is built.

"I'm not interested in selling a cucumber for x amount of dollars," Edens said. "Personally I think we need to get away from thinking of food as a commodity. I get excited about thinking of food, good food, as a vital part of life."