North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 10/19/1995

It's Thursday October 19th and everyone is all abuzz about the North Carolina State Fair. Good evening everyone I'm reading this RIGHT JOIN US says North Carolina now is a look live at the state fair. Hello everyone and thanks for tuning into this very special edition of North Carolina now. It was another beautiful day here at the North Carolina State Fair in fact we've had gorgeous weather all week long and that great weather continues this evening as a nice crowd is gathering here at our U.N. CTV broadcast site. Now we have a show that is just jam packed for you tonight everything from bees and honey to old time gospel music. So sit back and enjoy as we spend the next half hour bringing the

state fair to you. There are plenty of exciting activities here at the fair but there is also a quiet spot which people find to be every bit as enjoyable. Maria Lundberg takes us to the flower garden show. Welcome to the state fair Flower and Garden Show this beautiful exhibit area has been a part of the fairest since 1965. It's sponsored by the men's garden club of Wake County. This year more than 250 members of the club volunteered their time to work this exhibit. One of the most spectacular displays here is the chrysanthemum area. There are more than fifteen hundred pots of moms which have been grown by the club from scratch.

We start in December or January but already the cutting out the price we want order to ensure we have wavering on the pots. But the fill dirt soil top soil makes it much to fill the pot stick the cuttings and put them under automatic watering system so that they're under water automatic watering and fertilizer system from June up until now and the mounds are definitely at their peak right now. Another way to get lots of ideas for your own backyard is by visiting the patio gardens. The hard work these gardeners put in can certainly be worthwhile. Top prize brings $600. There are two greenhouses with lots of plants including many varieties of cactus and a pretty little corner shows off the exotic beauty of African violets. One area that's extremely helpful is the master gardeners booth where you can get answers to all your gardening questions from the experts. Not only is the flower show a great spot to enjoy the

beauty of nature that's also a wonderful location to experience some peace and tranquility right in the middle of the fairgrounds. This is the perfect spot to visit with friends. Catch a little nap or smooch with your honey. And you never know who may show up to take a little stroll through this floral paradise. Now if you do stop by Don't forget to go through the flower house where you'll see lots of gorgeous cut flowers and arrangements. You'll definitely be inspired to go home and try some new things in your own garden. If you like moms then you want to come to the fairgrounds next Monday morning at 8 a.m. when the moms at the flower show go on sale for only $4 each African violets will

also be sold. Prices for them range from six to thirteen dollars. Well among the many sweets you'll find here at the State Fair is homegrown honey. Did you know that North Carolina has more beekeepers than any other state. You may also be surprised to know that bee keeping is very important to the state's agricultural well-being. Bob Garner has a look at the state insect. The end products of the beekeepers are lovingly displayed in the fairs education building honey of every color beeswax honey wine and meat a kind of honey beer. But we wanted to show you where all this comes from. So we went to see Paul Maeder and carry one of the state's most experienced and knowledgeable beekeepers. We found him firing up his most essential tool the smoker. This is the thing you want to make sure the operative does that you're for real for when you smoke calms the bees down but their general disposition at any given moment is also important. All they ever want. But Matt Brown wasn't taking any

chances. The smoke stimulates some kind of alarm system in the bees that makes them do the same thing a lot of people do when they're stressed. Go inside and start stuffing themselves. And you notice it with smoke them and they're going to the perimeter of the brood and getting the honey and they're glutting themselves right now with honey. The larger part of each frame in the hive is taken up with the brood in three stages. A larvae and pupa the Brutus tended by a female worker bees who not only produce the honey wheat which is stored elsewhere but also the honey for internal consumption. This is honey. This is honey and they move the honey and keep the honey down around the brood. Because during the early lifecycle of the larvae it has to be fed about a were 15 minutes. The honey for collection is stored in another part of the hive. Some is very light colored like this and some is darker depending on what sort of blossom from which the nectar was gathered. Experience beekeepers obviously know how to read the mood of the bees but we couldn't help

wondering how beginners get along. They get very nervous and a lot of times will make mistakes. That will be very costly in a situation like this. Is there any question in your mind what he means by that. We're not sure how they manage to hold on to beginners long enough for them to learn beekeeping. But somehow they do with a lot of help and support from the old hands will give them a high will get them started and encouraged for a year or so and teach them the tactics the new uses of the how to how to do the housekeeping in the B to the general lifestyle of the baby and you generally get them educated and people started that way. It's important to keep attracting newcomers. The honeybee is recognized as the state insect because it's the most productive little creature around. Honey production is actually secondary because bees are vital to the pollination of North Carolina's crops and this function alone is valued at around 30 million dollars a year.

Here are a few brief facts for you there are 16000 beekeepers in the state. One hundred seventy five thousand hives and I don't think I want to know just how many bees there are. Well the crowds are really beginning to grow here at the State Fair Many arrive today carrying canned goods. This is the third annual Winn-Dixie day at the fair. Five cans of Winn-Dixie products can be exchanged for free admission to the fair. The canned goods are donated to the Food Bank of North Carolina making this the largest one day food drive in the state. That will certainly help boost attendance figures yesterday more than 58000 people came to the fair and the six day total stands at just under three hundred and sixty thousand. Well many of those 360000 fairgoers have been children and I have a very special youngster on stage with me tonight what's your name and what your last name. You know where are you from. How old are you.

You're seven years old are you going to help me pull tonight's raffle drawing. OK we'll get to that in just a second. But when you're here at the fair I want to invite you to stop by our U.N. CTV compound to sign up for the nightly raffle drawing. Tonight's prizes are great for fans of the British comedy series Are You Being Served which is seen nightly on PBS. Tonight we're giving away a dictionary of British English called Britishisms and Molly Sundin mug. So tonight's winner is spin out for me please. Here lies of the candles over here. Just spin it around a little bit. There you go and stop it when you see the door. Got it. OK. Open up the door and pull out a name. You need to shut that real tight for me OK. There you go. Tonight's winner is Amy to Netty of her in North Carolina so Amy your prize will be sent to you. Now the State Fair runs until Sunday so there are still plenty of time to come out and enjoy the food rides and the many activities here is a sampling of what the faire has to

offer. Take a look as you listen to the music of Crystal Gayle who will be performing tomorrow night at Dorton Arena. And with me. Then usually the fair is filled with nothing but good news but there was word today that the winning animals at the livestock competitions are being tested for drugs. The tests were ordered after

cheating was discovered at another state fair in the Midwest. State officials say they aren't sure when the results will be received. Now let's check in with Michel Louis back of the North Carolina now news desk for the rest of the day's news much. Thanks Marina. Good evening everyone. Starting December 1st North Carolinians who qualify will be able to carry concealed weapons under a new state law but many handgun owners will find restrictions on where they can carry those weapons. Last night the Raleigh city council became the latest group to restrict concealed handguns from city property. King's Mountain High Point and Chatham County all have similar restrictions banning guns from places like city hall. City parks and area Greenways. If you're upset about proposed welfare reforms the state wants to hear from you. Beginning Monday House members will hold four public forums across the state on welfare reform. The first one will be in Raleigh. Then the group moves on to Newbern Statesville and Asheville all will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the local community college. Meanwhile Governor Jim hunts Work

First program is facing some tough criticism from one of its developers. Alicia Grimes was the only welfare recipient on the governor's work first task force. She says the plan doesn't address the toughest problem facing welfare moms how to get affordable daycare for children so parents can keep working. Local leaders of Governor Hunt's early childhood program Smart Start are facing problems of their own tonight. They're wondering how to raise the private funds required by the General Assembly in order to receive state funding Smart Start programs must come up with cash donations and in-kind contributions to match the state allotment. But the North Carolina partnership for children has yet to tell the local groups how much money they need to raise to meet the legislative requirement. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. Temperatures will vary quite a bit across the state ranging from 60 in the northern mountains to the upper 70s along the coast. Conditions will be cloudy and wet for most of the state. And business news a new recycling center in Knightdale could lessen the amount of garbage going into triangle

landfills Square D Company just open the recycling center which is expected to save about twenty one hundred and sixty cubic yards of landfill space a year. That's enough space to handle an average family's trash for 27 years. The center was the brainchild of an employee run recycling Committee. The stock market was mixed today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 25 points at forty eight point forty five 407 million shares traded hands. The Standard Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite indexes were both up as well. And now for some stocks of North Carolina interest. But

that's it I'll see you down the road tomorrow Merida. A great mission looking forward to it. OK. You know there are all types of contests taking place at the state fair including competitions for apprentices in the building trades. Today was a chance for apprentice carpenters to show their stuff. The 10 contestants had a little more than four hours to build a four foot by four foot structure complete with roof rafters and window frame. Each of these men have been working as licensed apprentices with a construction company. The winter get winner gets a check for two hundred and fifty dollars. Well throughout the fair we have been showcasing the state's largest agricultural industries we've discussed tobacco and hogs and now it's cottons turn. Despite the weather problems earlier this season North Carolina cotton farmers are still enjoying the recent resurgence in this old time crop. Ted Harrison

has that story. It has been many years since cotton was considered King. But lately because of increased consumer demand domestically and declining from production the fluffy fiber plants are back on top as a major agricultural play. Here North Carolina farmers are enjoying part of that prosperity. Last year 1994 we had an excellent yield we got about eight hundred twenty pounds per acre out of the crop this year because of weather problems and some other conditions our yields been a little bit lower we're looking probably around five hundred fifty five hundred forty pounds per acre yield this year North Carolina farmers planted over 800000 acres of almost 50 percent more than was planted last year. One of the nearly 29000 farms in this state is this farm in North Hampton County when cotton was down and 70 now like 32000 acres in the state. The majority of that was all in all happen and how fast can a and dying around in the lawn Bagheri in the southern part of state decide.

France is a soil and his area doesn't suit other crops such as corn but that cotton is profitable in the soil. In fact farmers in 63 of the state's 100 counties find cotton worth growing at 20 of those counties have 300 or more cotton farms. Many of these farms have flourished for decades but not without problems. It was the pest known as the boll weevil that destroyed cotton production in the southeastern United States. The boll weevil first showed up in North Carolina in 1921 and it was not until 1987 that it was considered that this state had eradicated the boll weevil. It was only then that cotton production began to increase. Twenty years ago our routine was to spray from twelve to fourteen times every acre that we had every year beginning in late June at the latest and continued if only in order to continue until the crop to a whenever that was way is

today after all we've been eradicated. We've practically eliminated that very average less than two applications for you know for the whole community over recent years. Well this farm the Shiah we sprayed less than one fourth of a huge one time is all of this spring would be it. Ironically the United States over to China last year as a leading producer of cotton because of China's problems with bowl weevils. Cotton was once a very labor intensive crop planting spraying cultivating and harvesting being done by hand. Today's cotton farm has modernized his methods and increased the capital expenditures. For instance a cotton Harvester may cost $150000. Farmers do enjoy the fact that cotton commands a 57 percent share of the entire fiber market and in the last fast 670 as they say some tremendous changes in that. We've gone from Tehran to contact us to or rather contact us

and like 80 percent of the crop now as it is dumped into a module below instead of a trial on the lines with these cotton gin invented just before the eighteen hundreds. Doesn't look anything like this. But the principle is the same. Cotton is transported to the genes that are often owned by farmers cooperatively. They are the fibers separated from the seed the seed maybe so today farmers are crushed into cotton seed oil and the fiber. Well it's all around you in the wildly popular trend for more cotton clothing. Sissy Elmer buyer for the provision stores says lifestyles mean a lot when the customer comes with an idea of what they want. Clothes something comfortable something casual something they can wash and wear and look at em for dress up or for play cod and that means they're willing to pay for it and the producers have the capacity to produce it all and they will just show it through price how much it will it'll

be for the 1993 con prices in North Carolina averaged just over 57 cents a pound. By 1994 that was just over 72 cents per pound. The most recent spot cotton prices based on Friday the 13th price is just right at 78 to 82 cents a pound. So remember to get the state fair you have to say that it's not just for candy anymore. Much of the state's cotton and other crops are grown on family farms which are unfortunately becoming a dying breed as large corporate farms are taking over much of the nation's fertile farmland. But here in. North Carolina there are at least thirteen hundred family farms which have been in the same family for 100 years or more. That achievement was honored today at Dorton Arena as the North Carolina Agriculture Department held a century farm family reunion. This event is held every five years at the state fair to pay tribute to the families who have managed to overcome the challenges of farming and changing times to keep their farms alive for

more than a century. And joining me now is a member of the 100 year club he is a Chatham County farmer his name is James Mobley. And thank you so much for being here tonight sir. Thank you. Now you and your wife have this farm that you live on now has been in your family since the 7900 So yes 1779 to be exact. Tell me a little bit about the history of your farm. Actually my wife's great grandfather acquired it from a cousin which acquired it from the land grant of the king in 1779. He moved down the creek which is Brush Creek and assuming all the things that are the problems occurring around the creek and everything he moved inland and build a home in 1779. My wife and I Katherine do live in the same home at this particular time. Home The sped up since the seventeen hundreds. Yes. However her grandfather was really the ramrod of the whole farming

situation and he expanded the home and rebuilt are actually at build on to it. And about eight hundred forty five hundred fifty. Then he went off to war came back brought up some machinery from Wilmington and proceeded to farm the land. Has it been a struggle to keep this farm in your wife's family for all those years. Yes it has it's as a matter of fact there's a very interesting story there as I search back through the records. James Vestal was the original cousin that acquired the land from the King and I also know on the last notice on the land grants that it was paid in shillings for a per hundred acres and fifty shillings is what it was. And the other thing is I they have about two children buried about six hundred feet out in just a field that's RockPile so there's no doubt sorrow and suffering down through the years the farm and then at one time it's

always been in the vestal family in a Vestal name however. His daughter married someone and they farmed it for a while and the son along parent Lee gave up and went off to another state. And eventually they just went off and left it and it was sold back to what happened to be my wife's great grandfather. Wow must be awfully difficult to keep track of all that. A couple of times of art about walking off myself. Really we're very understanding very anticipating on reviving it and also and purchasing more Rand land the Jason that that has been you know divided in the family and now you came back to the farm as my understanding you were living in Kansas City and I wanted a yes and then came back to take over this this family farm where it's so important to get this back into the family. Well as I've mentioned it is been

the vestal name in every sense from day one that is from acquiring it from the King. And so my wife is. That's her true. We have looked around at country clubs and things and she said I wouldn't trade even. So it's very important for Stu and I love the rural area and so it's very important for us to continue the tradition of farming. So it's a tradition while it's very hard to pack 200 years of history into a very short interview. But we do appreciate your time and thank you for being here. Thank you very much. I wanted to mention he gave up the Eddie rabbit concert to be here tonight so we really do appreciate that. There is a church on the fairgrounds that's been along around for just as long as some of these century farms. The historic chapel in the village of yesteryear was built in 1857 it was moved to the fairgrounds in 1983. Inside you can sit on the original pews and listen to some old time gospel music provided

by the Moore family of Wilkes Barre. What a beautiful note to end the program on. Thanks for tuning into tonight's show. Tomorrow is our last day at the fair as we wrap things up tomorrow our guest will be a professor of youth development with North Carolina's forage Cobbs. And we've shown you the state fair through the eyes of a child but what about the animals. Bob Garner takes a look about what the animals think about all this. And Audrey joins us at the fair tomorrow she'll show us what it's like for the people who work at the fair. Michel Louis finally returns to the fairgrounds he's been missing out on all this so tomorrow it's straight to the Midway for meche to see you tomorrow at the fair and tune in at 7:30 for another live edition of North Carolina now

at the fair. Good night everyone.