By Stephanie Kane
Carrboro Commons Writer

Muriel Williman, right, education and outreach specialist for the Orange County Solid Waste Management Department, leads a workshop on composting March 22 at the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro.
Staff photo by Stephanie Kane

Muriel Williman, wearing a “Compost Happens” shirt at the Weaver Street Market lawn, hosted an interactive demonstration on the importance and ease of at-home composting on behalf of the Orange County Solid Waste Management Department March 22.

About 30 local residents came out for the presentation, which focused on motivating residents to compost, using outdoor and indoor methods.

“It’s phenomenal when you see the amount of waste we can reduce when we’re being conscious of the material that passes through us,” Williman, an education and outreach specialist, said after the event.

According to N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina’s estimated 420,000 tons of food waste are buried or burned each year at considerable financial and environmental costs.

Williman brought examples of compost-friendly materials to the demonstration in addition to her personal at-home compost bins. She also distributed literature to highlight the benefits of composting such as the decrease of household garbage, reduction in odor and fewer pests that arise with garbage containers. Composting also conserves water and energy used by kitchen sink garbage disposal units and waste management trucks.

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By Tracey Theret
Carrboro Commons Writer

By the end of next year, Carrboro residents who prefer to putt with a disc won’t have to venture out of town to get their golf fix.

The Carrboro Parks Project, a nonprofit that works to improve parks and open spaces in town, plans to raise money to install a disc golf course in Anderson Park off N.C. Hwy. 54.

“It’s a chill sport, but it has a competitive edge, too,” said Krista Moll, a Raleigh resident who travels to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Outdoor Education Center, the disc golf course closest to Carrboro.

Raleigh resident and disc golf fan Krista Moll lands a toss in the target at the course closest to Carrboro, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Outdoor Education Center.
Staff photo by Tracey Theret

She and three friends spent a sunny Saturday traversing the course with a golden retriever named Jackson tagging along. Moll said the Chapel Hill course is their favorite out of the five they have played and that they will try out the Anderson Park course when it’s complete.

Much like the traditional game of golf, the objective of disc golf is to complete the course with the fewest throws of the disc, according to the Professional Disc Golf Association Web site.

Players toss the disc from the starting area of each hole, or the “teepad,” with the goal of landing it in the target. Targets often consist of a pole with a metal basket attached at the top, with chains running from the top of the pole to the bottom of the basket.

The proposed course will be free and open to the public, as are most courses .

“It’s a spontaneous kind of sport,” Moll explained. “No one judges you and you can come and go as you want.”

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By Allison McNeill
Carrboro Commons Writer

Carrboro residents are taking the phrase “eat local” to heart. The trend, which encourages consumers to buy agricultural products from local farmers has caught on in the community.

The Carrboro Farmers’ Market features farmers from surrounding towns and counties who come to sell their local fare. From vegetables to wine, from basil to flowers, there is an abundance of locally grown items to choose from.

On a brisk Saturday morning, Carol Badgett (middle) purchased fresh sweet basil from Sun Meadow Greenhouses of Chatham County, N.C. Badgett beat the crowd that was soon to follow.
Staff photo by Allison McNeill

Sarah Bracklin, manager of the farmers’ market, attributed the growing popularity of buying local fare to “a combination of a lot of things.”

Bracklin says that buying local food is “community building,” and that it allows consumers to know more about what they’re eating. “People have been detached from knowing where their food comes from,” she said. Additionally, numerous books discussing the benefit of local foods and media attention are raising the awareness of eating locally.

Food scares play another large part in the trend, Bracklin said, as do concerns of using fossil fuels to transport food from different geographic areas.

Joan Holeman, a vendor at the Farmers’ Market and the owner of Flat River Nursery in Timberlake, in neighboring Person County, has witnessed and experienced the effects of the trend. “More and more people tell me they are eating locally each year,” she says.

One man told her that he rarely ever shops at the grocery store now, going instead to the markets.

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By Allie Maupin
Carrboro Commons Writer

Randy Dodd has an idea to help soothe Carrboro citizens’ worries about increasing traffic congestion and rising gas prices: get rid of your car.

Dodd has plans to develop a community program aimed at helping the environment by reducing the need for personal vehicles. Though still in its early stages, Dodd‘s initiative, entitled Carrborrow, seeks to establish a car-sharing enterprise in Carrboro.

Carrborrow hopes to link people with forms of alternative transportation and if effective could help alleviate traffic in downtown Carrboro. .
Staff photo by Allie Maupin

“Car sharing is a very interesting trend,” Dodd said. “What I want to do is establish that here in Carrboro, but with a locally driven focus.”
Car sharing started in Europe, where a group of people would buy a car together and share its cost and usage. Unlike renting a car, sharing allows many members to use the same car by allowing them to rent a vehicle for hours, rather than days.

The idea is for people give up the use of a personal car in exchange for access to a full fleet of vehicles, parked in locations around a city. Dodd said his initiative will increase the energy efficiency of cars because one can pick the best mode of transportation for a given trip.

Dodd, originally from New England, has lived in central North Carolina for 40 years. He works as an environmental planner for the Town of Carrboro, a job that he said “constantly requires thinking of ways to make Carrboro better.” The origins of Carrborrow came from combining of Dodd’s love of cycling with his commitment to the environment.

“I was into recreational riding and bike touring, and all of that started my thinking about alternative transportation,” Dodd said.

Giles Blunden, Dodd’s neighbor, who has consulted on the project, thinks Carrboro is just the right place for a program like Carrborrow to work.

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by Sean Umstead
Carrboro Commons Writer

Ninja flying through space may sound intimidating to most, but Kate Finlayson may have the answer in an alternative exercise built for anyone.

Finlayson, a Pittsboro resident, teaches Nia at the Carrboro Century Center. Nia is a fusion exercise that combines teachings of nine different disciplines including Yoga, modern dance and Tae Chi.

Instructor Kate Finlayson of Pittsboro leads the class in a “fighting cry.”
Staff photo by Sean Umstead

“The idea was to do something that didn’t impact the joints,” Finlayson said. “[Nia] works with them.”

When the music starts an older woman raised her hands slightly and the younger women threw them high above their heads. Each participant follows Finlayson’s lead but lets their bodies move and work comfortably to each individual.

Nia, neuromuscular integrative action, holds a core philosophy to offer a fitness skeleton of low impact cardiovascular exercise that allows participants to find create their own Nia to fit their own needs.

It is easy to see why she has over 40 members between her two classes. The music plunges from high energy to laid-back relaxation. Didgeridoos gently let the mind drift to wherever anyone wants to go. Finlayson molded the art into her own form, Nature Nia, which, she says, is an outward fusion of passions in her life, dancing, nature, and acting.

“Nia lets you explore yourself within the movement,” Finlayson said.

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