Tag: Earth Day

Composting Made Easy!

Josephine ButlerBlog, Sustainability, , , ,

We’re looking forward to the Earth Day celebration at Briar Chapel this weekend (Saturday, April 21 from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.). From food trucks to BMX stunt performers, it’s going to be a lot of fun.  Stay tuned as we continue to share posts from the Briar Chapel Blog with more information about the upcoming festivities.

Earth Day is just around a corner, and some of you may be wondering, “What can I do to give back to Mother Nature?” While your options are limitless, we recently received two videos created by Best Buddy participants that we thought we’d share with you. Both are focused on the topic of composting, a relatively simple and effective way to avoid wasting useful natural resources. Simply put, the process of composting involves the combination of garden and yard debris with kitchen scraps and other organic material. Once completely broken down, the result is humus – a dark, nutrient-dense material.  Gardening not your thing? Not a problem. We bet the Green Thumb Committee at Briar Chapel would love for you to donate your composted matter to the community garden!

To make the process of composting easier, www.growinganything.com has broken it down into steps:
  1. Choose an outdoor spot that’s convenient to your kitchen to host your compost.
  2. Purchase or build a compost bin.
  3. Prepare the spot of your compost pile by turning/tilling the soil in order to allow for aeration via earthworms.
  4. The bottom of your pile should consist of a three-inch layer of brown ingredients. These items are rich in carbon and include woody material such as twig cardboard and paper.
  5. Dampen the brown ingredients.
  6. Layer in ½ inch of healthy soil or pre-made compost.
  7. As greens become available, add them in. Greens consist of kitchen food scraps and yard waste.
  8. As greens are added, make sure to keep incorporating brown ingredients, as well.
  9. Check the moisture level of your pile from time to time. If things seem too dry, add in some water.
  10. “Turn” the pile every few months using a pitch fork or something similar.
There you have it! It’s as easy as 1, 2…10! Have any other gardening questions? Yard Sprout is going to have a booth at our Earth Day Celebration. Come out and see them! We’re sure they’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Happy composting!
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Earth Day: Community Gardens

Josephine ButlerBlog, In Our Community, Sustainability, ,

We can’t stop talking about our client, Briar Chapel! In addition to announcing the winners of the Best Buddy Contest, we’re looking forward to the community’s Earth Day celebration, which will be held this Saturday, April 21 from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. Stay tuned as we reshare posts from the Briar Chapel Blog with more information about the upcoming festivities.

Did you catch our recent blog, Harvesting Community, where our Briar Chapel Best Buddy contestant Emmo Pike shared a video (see below) about the Green Thumb Committee? These individuals are dedicated to keeping things up and running in our community garden, the Briar Patch. Like so many others across the country, the residents at Briar Chapel are reaping the benefits of a community garden, and just in time: it’s almost Earth Day!

In honor of our favorite holiday, we’d like to share a few reasons why community gardens are so great for the environment, community and folks just like you! Here’s an excellent list from the American Community Gardening Association:

  • Improves the quality of life for people in the garden
  • Provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development
  • Stimulates social interaction
  • Encourages self-reliance
  • Beautifies neighborhoods
  • Produces nutritious food
  • Reduces family food budgets
  • Conserves resources
  • Creates opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy and education
  • Reduces crime
  • Preserves green space
  • Creates income opportunities and economic development
  • Reduces city heat from streets and parking lots
  • Provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections

Feeling inspired? Be sure to check out the Briar Patch this weekend during our Earth Day celebration. Members of the Green Thumb Committee will be at a booth in Briar Commons to answer any of your questions, including Emmo, who is one of the founding members of our garden. She recently professed her love for Briar Chapel on her blog, greenchathamliving.blogspot.com, and we’re sure she’d love to share even more reasons why she loves Briar Chapel with you.

We can’t wait to see you there!

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Earth Day Goodness – Part 3

Dana PhelpsBlog, In Our Community, Sustainability, ,

In working with Clairemont client, Briar Chapel, I recently had the great honor of interviewing Chef Arthur Gordon of Irregardless Cafe. As you will learn from the Q&A below, Arthur pioneered cooking with local ingredients and supporting area farmers in Raleigh. I love his food, and I think he would be as equally as successful at the comedy club next door to the cafe!

1. What’s it like to be the chef at Irregardless Café? In French, the word chef means chief, so it’s a real pleasure to be the chief, the head, the operating honcho of a group of people who are like-minded. I like to think that Irregardless Café is an oasis in Raleigh – no TV, live music, fresh food – and to be able to provide this to the community at large is a real honor. This concept is the vision I had 35 years ago, when I began Irregardless, and it’s a real blessing to see it realized.
2. When did you know you wanted to be a chef? From an early age. When my mom and dad got married, my mom said to him, “I’m going to be good in one room in this house, you pick it.” So, as a dysfunctional family, I learned how to cook. Dad was happy, and I learned to cook. French toast was my forte. We grew up in Durham, and we owned a ladies dress shop, where dad bought the clothes and mom sold them. You see the room dad picked was actually the dress shop – see, it wasn’t what you were thinking.
3. Where did you start your career as a full-time chef? In 1972, I graduated from UNC, and I wrote to the Culinary Institute of America, the CIA, about coming to be trained as a professional chef. They wanted everyone to have at least one year of experience first, so I thought I’d open a restaurant for a year or two. Well, I haven’t gotten to cooking school yet. I started here in 1974. I built the building by converting it from a laundry into a restaurant, and I just kept expanding over the years. In 1994, we had a fire, so when I rebuilt, I made the kitchen as large as the dining room. I figured if I was going to spend my life in that kitchen, I would make it big, and it’s worked out well. It’s allowed us to be able to have a catering business, and not bog down the kitchen that’s also serving the dining room. Continue reading “Earth Day Goodness – Part 3”

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Earth Day Goodness

Dana PhelpsBlog, In Our Community, Sustainability, , ,

I was going to wait until April to start blogging about Earth Day, but the Clairemont clients just have too many good things in the works to wait a few more days. This post originally appeared on Briar Chapel‘s (client) blog. Enjoy!

Celebrity Chef Perspective: Jimmy Reale, Carolina Inn

On Sunday, April 18th we will host a Celebrity Chef Charity Event featuring several Triangle Chefs demonstrating their favorite recipes using locally and healthfully grown foods in each of our model homes. Today we are talking with Chef Jimmy Reale of the landmark Carolina Inn:

Q: Tell us a bit about what it’s like to be the chef at The Carolina Inn…

A: It is very challenging but at the same time very rewarding. The Inn is a very busy place and personally I love the fast pace. I’ve been working at The Carolina Inn and our sister property for the past twelve years and absolutely love what I do.

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a chef?

A: I have always enjoyed cooking; growing up in an Italian and Lebanese family. My mom is one of the best cooks you’ll ever meet. She definitely influenced me to become a chef.

Q: Where did you start your career as a full-time chef?

A: My first cooking job was making pizza and calzones at Sbarro’s. Continue reading “Earth Day Goodness”

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