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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Technorati Tags: eco friendly inn, green lodging, lodging in eastern nc, earth day, environment

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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

Technorati Tags: earth day, eco friendly inn, green lodging, environment, recycle, earth friendly

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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.

 

 

Technorati Tags: shucking oysters, raw oysters, oyster bar, steamed shrimp, Sunnyside Oyster Bar, road food, Sunny Side Oyster Bar in eastern North Carolina, Southern Living magazine, Alaska King Crab legs, broccoli with cheese sauce, oyster shell recycling program, restaurants near Big Mill B&B, restaurants near Greenville, North Carolina

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The Cypress Grill is a place you just don’t want to miss; even if you don’t like fish. Sitting precariously on the banks of the Roanoke River in eastern North Carolina, it has welcomed diners for over fifty years.  Michael Stern, who does the Road Food column on National Public Radio calls it "the last of the old-time herring shacks." Mr. Stern’s specialty is finding wonderful out-of-the-way eateries.

The original building of board and batten cypress was built in 1936 as a fish camp for the men who would go to the river to hunt, fish and tell tales; we still have fish camps, folks who like to fish and folks who like to tell fish tales.

It is all about the fresh water herring that used to be so abundant in this fast moving, turbulent river. Sally and Leslie Gardner have been the owners of the Cypress Grill for 34 years. Crystal McLaurin along with family members and a staff of eight folks help Miss Sally in the kitchen.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       This is a family business; their five-year-old granddaughter Summer will tell you right off that she is the manager and I believe her!

 

For the past few years the herring population has dwindled dramatically and currently there is a moratorium on catching herring in the Roanoke.

 

Ted Gardner from Virginia Beach grew up on Gardner’s Creek (not far from the Cypress Grill) remembers when he could throw a net overboard almost anywhere on the creek and catch so many herring that it took several folks to haul in the catch. "We thought the herring would always be there." 

 

Last year the moratorium was temporarily waived for Jamesville’s annual Herring Festival on Easter Monday. We are all hoping that might happen again.

But don’t fret: they do have fresh herring, just not from the Roanoke. Miss Sally explains how they cook their herrings. (Forget what you thought you knew about herrings floating in cream sauce from Zabar’s). 

 

At the Cypress Grill the herring are scaled, cleaned and then "notched" almost to the bone. They use a home-made scaling machine to remove the fish scales.

They are then lightly breaded and cooked either Sunny-Side-Up or Cremated. A Sunny-Side-Up herring is fried crisp and tender. A Cremated herring is super-fried. After you remove the backbone you eat all the meat and any other bones, usually without even using a fork. All that cartilage has to be good for you, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

 

 

You can also get corned herring. I remember going to Cypress Grill with my father. He would buy several buckets of herrings for a penny a fish. We brought them home and corned them in the same old crocks that we used to brine the fatback in the days when we had hog killings on the farm.

 

 

Herring Roe is a delicacy that is popular at the grill. Often the Gardners squeeze the roe out of the fish themselves. Then they "meal" it, add country eggs and fry the roe cakes until crisp. They use only Abbitt’s Corn Meal, made right here in Martin County. Locals won’t use anything else.

 

Even if you don’t think you want to try herrings, you can get fried catfish, oysters and shrimp, all lighted breaded. They also have Rock Stew, and Miss Sally was quick to let me know that stew is not the same as muddle; muddle has crackers in it.  Her Rock Stew is made from river bass caught right in the Roanoke. She starts with onions, potatoes and seasonings in a bit of water. This is cooked and then she adds the Rockfish (stripped river bass) on top. This way the fish is not cooked to a poultice.

 

 

 

When I asked what was for desert, the waitress told me they had Chocolate Pie, Lemon Pie and Coconut pie made right there in the kitchen; she added that they had pecan pie too, but it was frozen. That let me know exactly what not to order. Their chocolate pie has gotten rave reviews.

 

 

The Cypress Grill has been written up in the New York Times, Southern Living, Smithsonian Magazine, Chritian Science Monitor and Our State. Jan and Michael Stern, writers for Gourmet magazine praised the Cypress Grill on National Public Radio’s Splendid Table, just for starters.

If you go: The Cypress Grill is in Jamesville, North Carolina about 10 miles east of Big Mill Bed and Breakfast, just off US Highway 64. (About 110 miles south of Norfolk and 110 miles east of Raleigh) It is open each year from early January until the end of April for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. Take cash with you; they don’t take credit cards, but you won’t need much money. Your entire meal with sweet and a piece of that great chocolate pie will be under ten bucks. 252-792-4175

You have to experience this wonderful piece of Americana and local fare; it is who we are. We hope the Cypress Grill will always be there, but there aren’t any guarantees. For now, seeing that "Yes, we’re Open" sign makes me happy.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Cypress Grill, Jamesville, Eastern North Carolina, herring, Roanoke River Partners, Martin County, Williamston restaurants, Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Herring moratorium, Herring Festival, Cremated Herring, Carolina eateries, fishing in the Roanoke

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