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After the long Labor Day weekend, the unofficial door-slam of summer, some thoughts on food and nourishment. ...

Sweet potato muffins

Like many, I worried about the future of the historic Old Mill of Guilford. It’s easy to understand why.

Heidi and Charlie Parnell, husband and wife, had operated the mill since 1977. When they both died last year — within five months to the day of one another — Heidi’s two elderly brothers inherited the operation.

Earlier this year, the brothers put it up for sale. And everyone I know wondered whether the mill’s days were numbered.

They’re not.

A Greensboro couple, Amy and Darryl Klug, bought the mill two weeks ago. Darryl works in marketing, and Amy has been shopping at the mill since they moved here nine years ago from Memphis, Tenn.

Both want to keep it going. So do their three sons. And that’s a good thing.

The Old Mill of Guilford has ground grain at nearly the same place where British soldiers commandeered the operation days before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781.

And in our age of dizzying technology, the mill uses the same centuries-old process the British found. It must work. Try the sweet potato muffin mix. You’ll see.

Canned peaches

That’s all you need Saturday night to see the Souper Bowl.

Or is it the Gate City Soup Bowl?

Whatever.

A can of peaches — or two, or three — will get you into Guilford College’s Armfield Athletic Center to see Guilford’s Fighting Quakers play the Greensboro College Pride in a 12-year-old football match that’s a blast to watch.

If you go, expect a ton of offense. Some scores of past games: 41-35, 36-35, 36-30.

The Quakers hold a 6-5 edge. And there are major bragging rights on the line. The winner snags a yearlong prize for its trophy case: a 12-inch silver bowl, awarded to the winner of the Souper Bowl.

Or the Gate City Soup Bowl.

Whatever. The game starts at 7 p.m., and it’ll round up a few thousand pounds of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank of North Carolina. So, bring a can of something.

Or two.

A jar of jam

A few weeks back, at least 1,000 music fans descended on Greensboro’s Sunset Hills neighborhood to hear some jazz and raise money for the Marcus C. Rizzo Center for Musician Enrichment.

The center needs $500,000. The fundraiser brought in $7,200.

Organizers say they’re optimistic. They plan to gather big dollars from corporate donations and foundation grants. Plus, supporters believe in the nonprofit’s mission: an incubator to help musicians bear musical fruit in a building off South Elm.

For more information, visit www.rizzocenter.com.

A bountiful harvest

Maybe you remember him, Terrace McKinnon. Everyone calls him Tee.

I wrote about him last month. He’s 39, a street-fighting former felon, who turned his life around and started working with kids, teenagers and parents from Greensboro’s low-income rung to help them get on track.

Since 1989, he’s been in and out of N.C A&T. He could only complete a semester here, a semester there because he ran out of money.

Well, that’s changed. After reading about Tee, local folks gave him enough money to take two classes online this fall — as well as more next spring.

Tee also snagged a full-time job. He’s now a community organizer for the city’s anti-gang initiative known as the Hope Project.

Hope. That’s a good word. Especially for Tee.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com