What do we do? Those thin plastic bags, called white pollution, are killing sea creatures and cluttering our beaches. I remember walking the beach on the Pamlico River and seeing hundreds of plastic bags hanging from cypress trees; these were the bags that would end up in our rivers and eventually pose a threat to sea life.

How many bags are used per year?

The Wall Street Journal says 50 billion and they don’t biodegrade. So we still have all of them in some form. You can see exactly how many we are using every second at Reusable Bags. 

As for paper sacks, making a paper bag generates more water and air pollution than a plastic bag. But we are more likely to recycle and reuse a paper bag. Neither breaks down very well in the landfill.  

Cities and countries around the globe are struggling with these issues. Los Angeles is the first U.S. City to ban free plastic bags. Their "No Disposable Bag Day" held in December, 2007 was a great success. Bangladesh has banned plastic bags. Ireland has imposed a bag tax and thereby reduced its plastic bag usage by 90%. Even China has banned free plastic bags, so if you are heading to the Olympics don’t forget your grocery totes.

Plastic bags will be gone from the check-out line at Whole Foods by Earth Day, April 22, 2008. The Manhattan Whole Foods Store sold reusable totes by the designer Anya Hindmarch that taut "I’m Not a Plastic Bag". New Yorkers began queuing up at 2 a.m. to buy these bags that were quickly sold out.  A stampede of shoppers for these trendy bags in Taiwan injured thirty people.  

Target and Harris Teeter and many stores are selling the reusable bags at good prices, many under a dollar.  IKEA is charging a nickel for each plastic bag, hoping that folks will provide their own bags. Even Wal-Mart is introducing a reusable bag with "Paper or Plastic-Neither"  Wal-Mart,  forsooth? Guess it fits in with my quiet Green Revolution.  

What are we doing at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast?

Well, when I lived on a boat in the Caribbean, I always took my own bags to the store. When I lived in St. Barth’s we needed these strong, unbreakable canvas boat bags because we had to carry all our groceries on a small motorcycle. Thirty years later I still use these bags; you can buy them at places like West Marine , LL Bean and Bass Pro Shops.They hold more than I can carry.  

Here in Williamston, North Carolina, I take my own bags to the store and the folks at the check-out counter peer at me as if I had sprouted horns. But I keep on with my, mostly tacit, vigil to help save the Earth, one aluminum can and one bag at a time. We might go through your trash if you don’t recycle at Big Mill.

And, along with the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Wan Arun Buddhist Temple in Bangkok, Thailand and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and others across the planet, Moses and I celebrated Earth Hour on March 29th. We really enjoyed the candlelight.

None of this is new for us on the farm here in coastal North Carolina; but we are glad to have the company. Someone must have noticed that we are seriously earth-friendly; we were just voted one of the Top Ten Eco-Friendly Inns by BedandBreakfast.com.  

For now, at Big Mill B&B, we are supporting those businesses that are making an effort to help fight global warming and pollution. We reuse any plastic or paper bags that sneak into the house.

We give them to the fellow who sells watermelons and collards out of his truck. And we carry those cute totes to the store. But just when I think I have figured it out, the bubble bursts; so please don’t tell me we destroyed a wetland to make them.

And shame on all of us in the U.S. if we have to trail behind Bangladesh.

           Chloe

 

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Not one to toot my own horn, I just have to share this good news.  Big Mill B&B has been singled out as one of the Top 10 earth-friendly inns by BedandBreakfast.com.  And we are the only North Carolina Bed and Breakfast to make the cut.  WOW! 

Of course, it was wonderful to be acknowledged last year when the Washington Post ran the article about our clothesline.  And now, to be in such good company with other environmentally-friendly bed and breakfast owners … I’m just tickled. 

That said, I realize that so many of the things we do here at Big Mill are second nature.  I’m always surprised when guests thank me for sharing a green-friendly tip or trick they didn’t realize.  I have a million of ‘em I learned from my mom  Hmmm, I should post some of these on my blog. 

In fact, I’m working on a new post called "Paper or Plastic."  It should have been finished by now, but I got so fascinated learning new things retailers are doing, it has taken me longer to wrap up the article.  But, I promise to have it ready for you in the next day or so.  It’s very interesting, if I do say so myself

We save the seeds every year from these stately sunflowers; some to feed the birds, some to grow new sunflowers.

Curious about the other inns who won the Top 10 Eco-Friendly Inns?  Click here to read the full press release. 

                 Chloe

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If you like oysters, you cannot miss a trip to the Sunnyside Oyster Bar in Williamston, North Carolina. It is one of the few authentic raw bars in the country.

Sunnyside is an eastern North Carolina tradition and folks from all over the country come to taste these special, just-shucked oysters. Everyone sits around a horseshoe-shaped bar while the shuckers open your oysters for you-your choice: raw or steamed.

 

 

 

They do it the same way they have been doing it since 1935, when Charles Roberson, Sr. first opened his restaurant and called it Sunnyside.

 

 

 

As soon as you enter the front door, you can smell that famous Sunnyside Sauce, and it is served hot. 

Bermey Stevens, one of the owners, told me that only five people know the recipe. He grinned as he told me that it has ketchup, vinegar and a special ingredient that I could find at the grocery store.  He also told me that they paid almost as much for the recipe as they did for the oyster bar. He didn’t share the recipe!

 

I remember going to the Oyster Bar when my mother’s cousin, C.T. Roberson, owned it. Not much has changed. Each year the bead-board walls were painted a bright, gloss white, trimmed with bright green.

 

The walls are still bright, gloss white and the trim is still bright green. Actually, it has changed a wee bit, and I think that’s good. Now you can get a great glass of wine to go with those fabulous oysters. You’ll see a couple of pinball machines for the younger clients, but I do miss the Wurlitzer.

 

When C.T. owned the Oyster Bar, it was open only during the months that have an "R" in them: September through April. I figure that came from all those years before we had refrigeration; oysters spoiled easily. Now you can get your oyster fix all year. During the months without the "R", Sunnyside will be open one weekend a month.

 

The oysters come from all over the country, depending on the weather. Heavy rains in Idaho can affect the oysters in Louisiana. Most people like their oysters to be slightly salty, so the folks from Sunnyside keep a close eye on the weather. Some of the best oysters come from Apalachicola, but they also get oysters from Massachusetts, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and our own Core Sound.

 

You can get oysters raw or steamed, steamed shrimp, Alaska King Crab legs and scallops. A new concession is broccoli with cheese sauce. But don’t worry; you won’t see a trendy blooming onion or nachos in this oyster bar.

 

 

 

 

 

The oysters are steamed out back in galvanized buckets with gashes cut into them to allow steam to penetrate.

Your shucker will disappear through the back door and reappear with your peck (or more) of oysters. He then dumps them in the trough behind the bar where everyone sits. They can seat 32 oyster-eaters at a time.

The shucker then deftly opens each oyster for you, just as they have done for years.

 

 

 

 

 

Our shucker Nate has been shucking for 27 years right here at Sunnyside. Griff has been shucking for 38 years. He also has a day job with the city of Williamston.

 

Four years ago, some folks did the math and figured that Griff had shucked 1.37 million oysters at Sunnyside.

If you are serious about your oysters, you might order a Red Rooster; this is an oyster on a saltine cracker, with a dollop of horseradish, a hot pepper soaked in vinegar and a lethal dose of hot sauce.

 

 

 

Not for the faint of heart is the Oyster Shooter: in a shot glass you have a slug of beer, an oyster, 2 Tablespoons of Sunnyside sauce and a dash of hot sauce- then down the hatch just like any other shooter. Oysters aren’t really beautiful, but don’t tell all those folks at Sunnyside.

Sunnyside Oyster Bar is on the National Historic Register. It has been highlighted in the Raleigh News and Observer, Southern Living and Down East magazine.

If you go: Sunnyside Oyster Bar, 1102 Washington Street, Williamston, NC. Telephone 252-792-3416 www.sunnysideoysterbarnc.com and customerservice@sunnysideoysterbarnc.com

They are open every day at 5:30 from late August through April. Go early if you don’t want to wait for a spot at the bar. But the waiting is fun too.

For our friends in the Triangle, Sunnyside Too is now in Garner, N.C (919) 662-7994

Green Tip:  The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has launched an oyster shell recycling program and I am thrilled that Sunnyside is participating. When these shells are reintroduced into the coastal waters , they help establish new oyster reefs, thus producing more oysters and making a habitat for other beneficial organisms in the sounds and brackish waters of North Carolina. Oysters also help keep our waters clean: one oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day. I guess it is our turn to build some shell mounds or middens.

 

 

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I saw my first Brown Bag Cookie Mold in the early eighties in a tiny shop in Virginia Highlands, a small Yuppie neighborhood in Atlanta, where I was living.

This love affair has never ended. I have St. Nicholas from the 1983 collection, which was the first year they were made. The Brown Bag name comes from the philosophy that small, ordinary things can be wonderful works of arts.

With these clay molds you can make gorgeous cookies, cast beeswax ornaments and hand cast paper. From what I have read it seems the originator of these clay molds now only creates one a year and she donates the proceeds of the sales to charity.  For 2007 the mold is a gingerbread house and any monies will go to Habitat for Humanity.

I have about 20 of these Brown Bag Cookie molds, some made by hand, and I cherish each one of them. Many of the molds are now collected and you can find them on EBay and other sites on the internet; they are no longer sold in stores.

If you buy beeswax directly from the beekeeper, it is cheaper, but it can be dirty, so you will have to clean it.  I used to keep bees; I even had bees in my early Innkeeping days here at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast. I had a great teacher, my cousin Bobby who was blind. I was his "eyes" when he checked the hives. I ordered my first colony of bees from Sears & Roebuck and they came by mail in a small screen box. My rural mail carrier was a wreck. En route wild errant bees had attached to the outside trying to join my bees.

Beekeeping is really a science, and without Bobby around, I couln’t protect my bees from all the dangers. But I still find them fascinating. Did you know that all the bees in a hive are women? There is even a book Beekeeping For Dummies. There are many good websites and books out there now, so if you want a fascinating hobby, you won’t be bored.

My bees knew me and could tell when I was upset or nervous; the pitch of the hum in the hive went up an octave. Bees have taken a bad rap. They are not naturally aggressive like wasps, hornets and yellow jackets. Please don’t kill them; we really need all the bees here on the farm at Big Mill. They are one of the reasons our blueberries are so prolific!

 

Recipe for Cast Beeswax Ornaments
(Download the Brown Bag Idea Book for more projects)

• Brown Bag Cookie Molds
• 1 pound beeswax (this will yield about 6-8 ornaments)
• Small amount of thin wire (like in a twist tie)
• 1 yard very thin ribbon
• A small amount of vegetable oil, 1 Tablespoon or thereabouts
• Small paint brush to apply the vegetable oil to the molds
• Old double boiler and ladle (or 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup if using microwave*)
• Wooden spoon or paint paddle for stirring

Chill the cookie molds at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator.

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler over medium to low heat, checking often to make sure the water does not boil out.  Remove the mold from the refrigerator and brush or rub a wee amount of vegetable oil onto the inside of the mold. Place the mold on a flat surface covered with some protective covering of waxed paper. This allows you to reuse any spilled wax. The mold MUST be flat and level.

Using a lipped ladle, gently pour beeswax into the mold. At this time you can tell if the mold is level. If not, correct this.  

The wax will immediately pull away from the mold and dry quickly. When it is cloudy, insert a twisted piece of very thin wire into the back of the mold at the top. This will be your hanger. If you forget you can heat the wire and do this later. Or you can use ribbon. You do not have to wash the molds between pourings; but you may have to add more oil.

 

To remove from the mold, turn it over and rap gently on a table. Do this before the ornament is completely cold. If you have any "over pour" you can trim off the edges using a heated knife blade. If you make a bad pour, don’t fret. Just put the wax back in the pot and reheat. This is true if you break an ornament…they are very fragile.

Now for the cleanup: Call the National Guard. But DON"T let any of this wax get into your drains…or you will rue the day. Actually, a hair dryer and paper towels work well.

 

 

The Rocking Horse design is from 1984, the second year of production for Hill Design’s Brown Bag Cookie Molds. Gingerbread Man and the Cherub are from 1992. These delicate ornaments are translucent and the tree lights glow through each one. The beeswax aroma lingers and is not lost through the years.

I store these treasures flat, with sheets of waxed paper between each one. They must be kept in a cool place.

I still have my hive, my bee suit and my pith helmet!   Chloë

 

 

*You can use the microwave to make these ornaments, but I prefer the stovetop because it allows me to keep the wax at a steady temperature.

 

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