CityView May 2025

CITYVIEW

THE HOME & GARDEN ISSUE

MAY 2025

CityView MAY 2025

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Home&Garden A HEALING FAYETTEVILLE FIGHTING FOOD 2024 SMALL FARMER CAPE FEAR REGIONAL COMMUNITY GARDEN PRODUCE FARM INSECURITY OF THE YEAR THEATRE'S NEW HOME

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Cape Fear Botanical Garden. Photo by Matthew Wonderly

M AY 202 5

TA B L E OF CO N T E N T S

16

Fayetteville farmer Travis Melvin waters the young seedlings inside the greenhouse on his produce farm's land.

Photo by James Throssel On the cover: Master Gardener Sarah Faison walks through a clover field planted to enrich her community garden's soil.

Photo by Robyn Royal Pitt

COLUMNS Editor‘s Take: Valeria Cloës . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Someday You’ll Thank Me: Mary Zahran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Family Matters: Claire Mullen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 HomeFront: Aria Spears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Good Reads: Diane Parfitt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The To-Do List: Your go-to spot for local events . . . . . . . 44 Seen @ the Scene: A look at who was out and about . . . 46 2 | MAY 2025

8 The healing garden Sarah Faison struggled after leaving her corporate job to create a community garden on her family’s land, but along the way she forged new connections, found peace and discovered what it means to be home.

16 Cultivating a legacy Covid-19 closed his business, but Smoked Fresh’s owner Travis Melvin is back on his family land full-time.

24 Growing together The founder of the nonprofit Er’Body Eatz is rallying community members to plant vegetable gardens in blighted neighborhoods, taking food insecurity into their own hands.

28 Quite a buzz Jim Hartman, 2024 Small Farmer of the Year, shares the success of his Secret Garden Bees business with his wife, and the award with Patrick Brown of Warren County.

32 'Building a home' Cape Fear Regional Theatre is live in living color with shovels of confetti and glitter at expansion groundbreaking.

EDITOR'S TAKE

Gardens, farms and homes

BY VALERIA CLOËS

My late grandma had a green thumb. She did not bestow this gift to me, but I’ve been stubbornly trying to acquire it myself. I recently potted an assortment of herbs I bought from my local farmer’s market: mint, thyme, basil, rosemary and chives. And I’m trying hard to get my little cilantro stem to propagate.

While my home operation is tiny, Fayetteville is filled with actually impressive community gardens, produce farms and more if you are also hoping to work on your gardening skills. Or you can simply read about them while indoors in our May “Home & Garden” magazine, where we highlight our community’s passion for community gardening, rural farming and creating a sense of home.

After years in the corporate world, Master Gardener Sarah Faison moved to Fayetteville and returned to her family’s ancestral land in Lee County, creating a community garden to heal, grow and gather. Ida Community Garden, named after Faison’s mother, has helped her discover the meaning of home.

From college football player to owner of the farm-totable barbeque operation Smoked Fresh, Travis Melvin has pivoted once again, running his own produce farm from his family’s Fayetteville land. Melvin is developing his version of generational wealth: a self-sustaining farm, local produce for the community and a legacy his daughters will be proud of.

A Fayetteville community garden run through local nonprofit Er’Body Eatz is fighting back against food insecurity and injustice. Founder J’Kwan Fulmore is rallying the community in the hopes of creating a homestead on the Cliffdale Community Church grounds where people can grow their own nutritious, fresh food.

In north Cumberland County, beekeeper and veteran James Hartman was named the 2024 North Carolina Small Farmer of the Year, alongside a Warren County farmer.

His operation Secret Garden Bees in Linden was born as a method to manage his PTSD. And finally, Cape Fear Regional Theatre held a groundbreaking ceremony on April 7, where they will be building the theater’s new home.

Our columnists this month express their connection to home and gardens: the first highlights Mother’s Day on May 11 by celebrating strong mothers in movies; the

Sarah Faison is the owner and proprietor of Ida Community Garden near Sanford. Photo by Robyn Royal Pitt

next discusses her brown thumb despite her family’s green thumbs; the third explains creating a sense of home through routines; and the last recommends seven mystery books set in a house or garden.

Don’t miss this month’s To-Do List to fill up your calendar with activities! And were you at CityView’s Ladies’ Night Out, presented by Cape Fear Valley Health, on April 10? You might just be in this month’s magazine on page 46.

Regardless of whether you prefer to get your hands in the ground or stay in an air-conditioned house this May, this “Home & Garden” magazine has something for you.

Thank you for reading!

Valeria Cloës Magazine Editor For comments, questions, feedback, or to submit story ideas, email vcloes@cityviewnc.com.

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CityView M AY 2 02 5 Publisher Kyle Villemain Magazine Editor Valeria Cloës Editorial Assistant Maydha Devarajan Contributing Editor Katie Kosma

Photographers Morgan Casey Jamela A. Gorham Robyn Royal Pitt Jon Soles James Throssel Joshua M. Villagomez Sharilyn Wells Paul Woolverton Matthew Wonderly Tony Wooten Contributing Writers Morgan Casey Bill Kirby Jr. Jami McLaughlin Claire Mullen Trey Nemec Diane Parfitt Teri Saylor Aria Spears Mary Zahran

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SOMEDAY YOU’LL THANK ME

Celebrating strong mothers in films

BY MARY ZAHRAN

As an avid fan of classic films for many years, I have become an admirer of unflappable women who triumph over hardships with courage and grace. In the month when we celebrate our own heroic mothers, I can think of no better time either to introduce you to or, perhaps, reacquaint you with two of my favorite movie moms.

In Places in the Heart, Sally Field plays Edna Spalding, a Texas housewife in the 1930s determined to save her farm after her husband’s sudden death. She refuses to send her two children to live with relatives or to put them in an orphanage, and she refuses to sell her farm. Instead, she decides to plant cotton and sell it to pay her property taxes and keep her family together. Fortunately, she has the help of Moze, an itinerant handyman, who teaches her how to farm.

In addition to learning how to farm and handle money, Edna is also coerced into taking in her banker’s brother-inlaw, a blind man who resents being forced to board with strangers. Not long after he, Mr. Will, comes to live with Edna, a tornado damages the farm, creating yet another challenge for Edna to handle.

Through all of this, Edna remains determined to save her farm and keep her family together. When it is time to pick cotton, they all work tirelessly. In one scene, Edna is crawling on her knees, her hands bleeding, as she picks the last bolls of cotton.

Edna makes enough money from her crop to save her farm, but she learns she will have to carry on without Moze, who decides to leave. Since Edna is a stronger, more confident woman now, she knows she will survive whatever hardships come her way.

Greer Garson plays another brave and determined woman in Mrs. Miniver, a 1942 film about a housewife in a small English village during World War II. Like Edna, she displays strength and resolve as she faces threats to her family and their way of life.

Perhaps Mrs. Miniver’s greatest strength is her ability to remain calm when faced with life-threatening situations.

As their village is being bombed and she and her family are in an underground shelter in their backyard, she begins reading Alice in Wonderland to her young children as though they were in bed inside their home. How many of us

PHOTO BY MICHAEL MYERS ON UNSPL ASH

could manage to read to our children as a way to comfort them while listening to bombs being dropped nearby?

Mrs. Miniver also remains calm not only during an air attack but also when she finds an injured German pilot asleep in her yard. She is alone with her young children because her husband has gone to Dunkirk to help evacuate British soldiers, so she must handle this threat all by herself. She awakens the pilot when she tries to get his gun but soon realizes she must placate him to keep her children — who are asleep in the house — from possible harm.

Mrs. Miniver takes the pilot into her house, feeds him and gives him one of her husband’s coats. When he collapses from fatigue and blood loss, she grabs his gun, calls the police and turns him over to the authorities. Through her fright, she remains calm and focuses on the need to protect her family and her community from danger.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Miniver cannot protect a family member from the ravages of war when this loved one dies in her arms after being shot during an air attack. Although she feels great anger and grief at this tragedy, she never abandons her sense of duty to her family and her country.

She refuses to give in to the possibility of defeat.

In the final scene, Mrs. Miniver and her family go to church and listen to the minister deliver an inspiring sermon encouraging his parishioners to be brave and to continue the fight. I have a feeling Mrs. Miniver did just that.

If you have not seen these movies, I encourage you to watch them. If you have seen them, I encourage you to watch them again. You will probably be reminded of some strong and fearless mothers you know.

Mary Zahran, who hails from a long line of strong and determined mothers, may be reached at maryzahran@gmail.com.

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 5

PHOTO BY NIKOLINE ARNS ON UNSPL ASH

FAMILY MATTERS

The green thumb gene

BY CLAIRE MULLEN

I come from a long line of people who seem to have had no trouble whatsoever making things grow. As a matter of fact, it’s what we do. And by we, I don’t exactly mean me. Those who came before me for as long as we can trace have made good, honest livings growing things in the dirt.

As far as my dad can remember, the men on both sides of his family farmed the flatlands of eastern North Carolina.

Tobacco, corn, soybeans and peanuts. I remember visiting my grandparents’ farm in Hertford, North Carolina, as a little girl and surveying my Pop’s golden peanut trophy, earned for producing Perquimans County’s highest poundage of peanuts per acre that year, as if it were an Olympic gold medal.

A section of their family farm was dedicated to my Mamaw’s large garden, where she would cultivate her own corn, many varieties of peas and beans that would eventually be put in the deep freezer to be enjoyed year6 | MAY 2025

round, cucumbers that would become her famous sweet canned pickles that she would generously share with friends and family, watermelon, squash, beets, okra and tomatoes. If you ate a vegetable from Pop and Mamaw’s table, there was a darn good chance it came from her garden or the garden of someone who lived in their rural community.

And while my maternal grandparents were not professional farmers, they were avid gardeners in their own right. My grandfather maintained an immaculate lawn and grew the most delicious tomatoes I’ve ever tasted, year after year, in his backyard garden. He worked in his yard tirelessly, pruning this and fertilizing that, the fruits of his labor culminating in the spring and summer months when his gorgeous azaleas, giant hydrangea bushes and fragrant gardenias bloomed. My grandmother adorned their porches with beautiful sun ferns, geraniums

and mums, and planted ivy that eventually crept whimsically up their bricks. She potted African violets as centerpieces for her living room coffee table.

My parents continued this family legacy on a smaller scale with pretty little flower beds they would plant together, the occasional vegetable garden, and even a brief foray into backyard composting.

And so, when I consider the preceding generations of naturally gifted growers in my family, it is completely and utterly lost on me as to how I was born with a thumb browner than the dead-as-a-doornail plants that usually disgrace my porches and patio. I try, really I do. At the beginning of each season, I make happy little treks to every one of our local garden centers and fill the back of my large SUV to the brim with vibrant plants, XXL bags of potting soil, fertilizer, and everything else I could possibly need to set myself up for plant-growing success.

I go into each planting season with great enthusiasm and hopefulness, seemingly forgetting that year after year, I will end up surveying my outdoor spaces with great dismay. Inevitably, my front porch mums are deader than Count Dracula in his coffin by Halloween, my once-lush ferns are crispy-fried by the Fourth of July, the potted orchid my husband gifts me each Valentine’s Day is wilted just in time for April Fools’ Day, and my spring pansy beds have been gobbled up entirely by a pesky neighborhood

bunny that, in spite of my most creative efforts to deter him, seems to prefer my blooms to those of every other yard in the neighborhood whose pansies are left perpetually unbothered. There are only two plants that continue to thrive against all odds at my house: a pair of evergreen pond cypress trees in large urns that flank our front door. Trees that are made of plastic. My husband likes to joke that I could probably kill those too if I tried hard enough.

I’m not sure if I’m overwatering or underwatering my plants, giving them too much or too little sunlight, potting them in the wrong containers, not whispering sweet nothings to them often enough, or simply just neglecting them in favor of the two species of the human variety that I am also trying my best to keep alive. I have promised those children that we will plant a garden for the first time this spring. All I have to say is that I sure hope the green thumb gene simply just skipped my generation. Please wish us luck with our very first garden. You may want to say a little prayer for the plants, too.

Claire Mullen can be reached at clairejlmullen@gmail.com, especially if you have gardening tips to share.

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The healing garden COMMUNITY

Sarah Faison struggled after leaving her corporate job to create a community garden on her family’s land, but along the way she forged new connections, found peace and discovered what it means to be home.

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BY TERI SAYLOR

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBYN ROYAL PITT

When Sarah Faison set out to create a healing garden to forge community, promote beauty and soothe souls, she realized the person who needed healing the most was herself.

Along the way, she discovered what home really means.

The stars that lined up to draw Sarah to her family’s ancestral land in rural Lee County are mysterious and beautiful. She grew up near New York City and struggled with her decision to move to North Carolina. But now, it’s hard for her to imagine living anywhere else.

Sarah, who makes her home in Fayetteville, is the owner and proprietor of Ida Community Garden near Sanford.

She named the garden after her late mother, Ida James.

“I wanted to honor my mother’s life because if it had not been for her, I would not have had the land,” Faison said. “She was a woman who loved helping people, so a community garden in her memory is a perfect tribute.”

8 | MAY 2025

The east side of Ida Community Garden featuring the archway, named Archway Drive, and the food garden during early spring, before the major blooming season.

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Husband and wife, Fred and Sarah Faison, rest on a porch swing that Fred built by hand.

Situated along McDougald Road, Ida Community Garden is a cheerful oasis amid forests and farmland with its seating areas, strolling paths, swings and large pergola inviting visitors to drop by and sit a spell. Sarah’s husband, Fred Faison, is a skilled woodworker who built many of the structures. The most recent addition is a Little Free Library stocked full of books.

“My mission is to create something beautiful and peaceful, representing my love for gardening that I can pass along to others,” Sarah said. She has already held several events at Ida Community Garden, and is planning more as she continues to develop the space.

She’s aiming to teach classes on healthy eating, start an herb business and partner with area organizations, including local funeral homes, to deliver leftover flowers and plants to hospital and hospice patients.

Sarah’s grandparents, Sanker and Lucy Swann, grew up in Lee County around the turn of the 20th century and farmed. After they died, the farmland was divided among their nine children, who in turn passed it down to Sarah’s generation. Her sister held onto a portion for 30 years until she was ready to sell it, and Sarah claimed 1.25 acres.

Charles Swann is Sarah’s 95-year-old uncle and the last 10 | MAY 2025

of Sanker and Lucy’s children. He was born on that land and still lives in his own home across the street from the garden. His daughter Charlene Cameron and niece Sally Boykin live just down the road.

On a cool spring day last March, Charlene drove Charles across the street to the garden to greet visitors. Family and friends gathered in a small cottage to reminisce about the past and dream of the future.

Charles told stories about his parents who made their living off the same plot that has become the community garden.

“We grew cotton, tobacco, corn, fruit trees and vegetables out here,” he said. He recalled chickens running free underneath four tall pecan trees. One of those trees is still standing and still bearing pecans.

“That tree must be 100 years old now,” Sarah said.

Sarah did not grow up on the family farm like her cousins. She was born and raised in metro New Jersey, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers University and an MBA from St. Joseph’s University. She and her husband were entrepreneurs, and she held highlevel positions in various companies, including Wakefern Food Corporation in eastern New Jersey.

Sarah holds a photo of her mother, Ida James, in her lap and a poster collage with an additional photo of her mom, along with other significant pictures from around Ida Community Garden.

The sign greeting visitors as they arrive to Ida Community Garden, featuring the names of Sarah's siblings.

First cousin Janette Brooks, second cousin Saleemah Staten, first cousin Dannie Holland, and Sarah checking out books from the book hutch open to the public in Ida Community Garden.

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Top row, family friend Kevin Mcclease, first cousin Jannie Welch, Sarah and first cousin Dannie Holland. Middle row, sister Linda Smith, uncle Charles Swann, first cousin Sharon Staten, first cousin Sally Boykin, (sitting) husband Fred and first cousin Janette Brooks. Bottom row, niece Marie Smith, brother Walter James Jr. and second cousin Saleemah Staten.

“I was interested in the family land when it became available, but I still had my corporate job, and didn’t want to move down here,” she said.

The Covid-19 pandemic changed everything and by 2022, its impact on Sarah was intense.

“I lost 10 relatives,” she said. “I was in the grocery business, and lots of people working in our warehouse also lost their lives to the pandemic.”

She ultimately decided to retire and, with Fred, made her life-changing move to Fayetteville.

To say she suffered from culture shock is an understatement.

“I loved my corporate life in New Jersey, and I was happy,” she said. “We owned multiple businesses, and I knew that retiring and moving away meant I gave up my job titles and all the things that were part of my identity.”

The upheaval sent her into therapy.

“I would go to sessions sometimes twice a week to talk about my fears over shifting my life,” she said.

She started volunteering at Cape Fear Botanical Garden, and that became the best therapy of all. She began viewing her life through a new lens.

12 | MAY 2025

“I had always worked in an office, sometimes staying past 9 o’clock at night until Fred called me to come home,” she said. “At the botanical gardens, I discovered how great it was to spend time outside in nature.”

That experience convinced her that she just might enjoy country living after all.

She remembers the first time she set foot on her new property. It had not been tended for three decades and had grown into a small forest.

Her uncle Charles toured the property with her, and she remembers being afraid of everything from poison ivy to lizards, snakes and wild animals.

Clearing the trees and curating the garden helped her overcome those fears, and today she relishes the time she spends there.

One day, the Faisons were shopping at a local farm store and met Dennis and Vanessa Kidd, a young couple from Sanford with a passion for growing plants. They struck up a conversation and quickly became friends.

On their first visit to Ida Community Garden. Dennis and Vanessa were smitten and signed up as permanent volunteers.

At the entryway of the garden property, Sarah stands in front of a sign featuring the names of all of Ida's children in order, including Sarah herself.

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Sarah tends to fresh strawberries that have already begun to ripen within the food forest.

“I don’t think they expected us to actually show up,” Vanessa said. “But we did show up, and now we’re never leaving.”

Sarah allocated a portion of the garden for Dennis to build a food forest, a multi-layered diverse garden system, designed to mimic the ecosystems and growing patterns found in nature. He tilled the soil and allowed lush clover to emerge and spread, creating a fertile ground cover. He has planted fruit trees, bushes and a variety of vegetables.

He has also started a system of grape vines.

“It’s a beautiful thing to know that in a few years this food forest will provide an abundance of nectarines, plums, apples, peaches, tons of blueberries and other fruits and vegetables,” he said. “I’ve planted so much that this food forest is going to be an amazing sight to see.”

Even in mid-March, the plants were already sprouting buds with the promise of a beautiful spring and bountiful summer ahead.

Today, Sarah has traded her corporate suits for overalls and boots and is a master gardener. She even enrolled in the North Carolina Extension Farm School, a business planning program for new or transitioning farmers to help them get their farms off the ground.

NC Cooperative Extension Lee County Center Extension Agent Amanda Bratcher helped her along the way.

“I got to know Sarah because she sat by me at the 14 | MAY 2025

Extension Master Gardener College in 2024, Amanda said. “We were chatting, and when she learned I was the horticulture agent for Lee County, she immediately wanted me to come visit her community garden.”

Amanda believes Sarah’s passion will lead to her success.

“Her love for the land, her family’s heritage and the memory of her mother is clearly very strong, and she has a will and eagerness to learn,” Amanda said.

For Fred, his wife’s dream has become his own, and he sees his role as helping her make that dream come true.

“I never thought I’d be part of a community garden where my love and passion for the land would be the same as someone else’s love and passion for the same land,” he said. “And when you are offered the chance to be a part of something so beautiful, you want to do everything you can to see it all the way through.”

Sarah’s cousins Charlene and Sally are amazed at their city-bred cousin’s transformation, and even after watching her work in the garden almost every day for the past three years, they still find it hard to believe.

“If she had grown up here, she would have been ripping and running and gardening all her life,” Sally said. “She never did any of that when she was young, and that’s what makes it so exciting for us to see.”

Charlene remembers Sarah’s summertime visits to Lee

NEW County and recalls her complaining and wondering how her country cousins could live there with the mosquitoes and gnats.

“She was always ready to go home as soon as she got here,” Charlene said. “It’s just amazing to me now that she wants to be outside in that garden all the time, even in the heat of summer.”

Sarah admits that while she loves the memories of watching her grandmother puttering around her flower garden, she never wanted to join her.

“I didn’t like going outside because of the bugs and the chickens that were always running loose and chasing me around,” she said, laughing at the memory.

Today, life in the country feels like home.

Ida Community Garden has become a gathering spot for friends and family members both near and far away. Sarah has discovered roots that run deep and learned that family is not just those you are born with but those whom you invite into your life — like Dennis and Vanessa whom the whole clan has embraced.

When Vanessa gives birth to her first child in August, Sarah and Fred will welcome a new generation into their family.

Amanda says that the value in building a public garden lies in the sense of creating a sense of belonging.

“Gardens are places for gathering, learning, healing and growing,” she said, “and we are so much richer when we consider others outside ourselves who occupy our spaces.”

And that is exactly what Sarah discovered through Ida Community Garden. She knows her mother would be proud of her.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Teri Saylor is a freelance writer based in Raleigh.

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BUSINESS

Cultivating a legacy Covid-19 closed his business. But with the ultimate goal of a self-sustaining farm, a stronger local food system and a family legacy for Melvin’s Produce Farm, Smoked Fresh’s owner Travis Melvin is back on his family land full-time.

BY TREY NEMEC | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES THROSSEL

16 | MAY 2025

Travis Melvin and his two daughters, Sanai and Lynnal, take a stroll through their farmland, sharing a moment among the flowers as they talk and learn about the land and the farm.

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 17

Behind the wheel of his tractor, Travis preps a newly registered field for squash using all-organic practices — no pesticides in sight.

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When you think of the term “generational wealth,” what comes to mind? For some, it may be millions of dollars. For others, it could mean expensive belongings passed down through the branches of the family tree.

For Travis Melvin, owner of Melvin’s Produce Farm, generational wealth looks like rows of seasonal crops, fields of cabbage and soil that’s been in his family’s hands since the late 1800s. It’s the kind of wealth you don’t store in a bank, but rather it’s rooted in the land.

Melvin is part of the new generation of farmers who blend old-school knowledge with modern practices. He’s two years into officially running Melvin’s Produce Farm, 15 acres of land off Deep Creek Road in southeastern Fayetteville that’s been cultivated by his family officially since 1976, when the land’s Farm ID number was created. It began with his thrice-great-grandfather, transitioned through his father, who once raised pigs and farmed produce and tobacco, and now it’s Melvin’s turn in the tractor seat.

Melvin recalls picking corn and okra when he was a child, something he believes was the early start to his work ethic, back when his father utilized the land mostly for his family’s needs. But the landscape has shifted, and so has the mission.

Cheribeth Thomas, who works for Cumberland County

18 | MAY 2025

as a print, mail and design manager, said his tireless work ethic, being similar to her own, felt like a magnetic pull toward Melvin when they started dating about five years ago.

“He is non-stop. If you want to get on his calendar, it better be in the time that you are going to join him on a project or in the midst of his work,” Thomas said. “He is truly dedicated to what he does. He wants to make a difference.”

Persistence and growth This year marks Melvin’s first real journey into selling directly to the local community. In the past, he sold much of his produce to nonprofits and food hubs, but funding for many of those programs has been cut or paused recently, in part due to the Trump administration’s push to slash federal funding and agencies.

In North Carolina, The News & Observer reported that massive cuts have been implemented by the United States Department of Agriculture. In order to “align the initiatives with current Trump Administration priorities,” according to USDA, cuts totalling over $30 million have been made to federal programs that the state has participated in since 2022.

Surrounded by green in the heart of the greenhouse, Travis tends his crops with quiet dedication.

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 19

Travis proudly displays his pepper seedlings in the greenhouse, ready for planting.

Some of the axed initiatives include opportunities that purchased crops from local farmers and gave the produce to people in underserved communities, food banks, and schools, as reported by Reuters.

Randolph Keaton is the executive director of Men & Women United for Youth and Families, a nonprofit organization that works to provide resources, including a food hub in Delco, to underserved communities in North Carolina. He told CityView that funding cuts affect the nonprofit’s ability to reimburse farmers for their produce as payment.

“Funding cuts have affected a lot of nonprofits, and it hurts the farmers,” he said, explaining that when nonprofits are limited in their ability to reimburse farmers for their crops, those farmers lose a sales market.

Keaton explained that some of his nonprofit’s missions focus on economic development and food insecurity, helping farmers to find avenues to sell their harvests and get that produce in the hands of people who need it.

The importance of ensuring fresh, healthy food is available to those in need is something that Melvin, Thomas and Keaton all believe in.

“If you have healthy food, you have healthier lifestyles,” Keaton said.

Recent funding cuts have shifted Melvin towards selling 20 | MAY 2025

directly to the local community in person.

“This is going to be new for me, this year, getting people coming down and selling to the actual public,” Melvin says.

Melvin’s approach to farming is rooted in community and long-term sustainability. He wants to make healthy, local produce more accessible while building the farm into a self-sufficient operation, and hopes to get a certified organic designation within the next few years.

Back to the land Melvin didn’t go straight back to the farm from college.

After graduating from East Carolina University in 2009, where he played football, he tried his hand at everything from managing housekeeping operations for a contracting business, to long-haul trucking, to running a restaurant.

Cooking has always been a passion, and at one point, he owned the popular farm-to-table barbecue operation, Smoked Fresh, sourcing some products straight from Melvin’s land. But like many businesses, Covid-19 hit hard and Smoked Fresh closed its doors.

Melvin regrouped. He still had the land and still had the knowledge. He decided to go all in on the family farm. This isn’t just a nostalgia project, though. It’s a business, and like any business, it’s had its share of growing pains.

“It’s been, I guess you could say, humbling, for sure. Life

will beat you up,” Melvin said, talking about the challenges his businesses have faced in the last few years, from Covid-19 to building up his produce operation. “But you have to just stay focused on what’s positive in the growth, in and out of the field. That’s kind of my motto: grow as much as you can, put your all in it, and see what happens.”

Rows of crops, rows of goals Melvin’s Produce Farm hopes to be the home for a variety of seasonal crops like tomatoes, okra, corn, watermelon, cucumbers, peppers, cabbage and broccoli.

This spring, Melvin planted several hundred cabbage and broccoli plants, and they’re already flourishing.

Each day begins the same way, by walking the land, checking the crops and planning what to plant next.

Farming on a small scale means strategic thinking is important. There’s no time or energy to waste.

“Before I just go moving and doing stuff, I kind of have to think it out,” he said. “What needs to be done first? What’s next?”

He’s currently in the process of applying for programs through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help build irrigation systems and a high tunnel greenhouse, something that Melvin says he wouldn’t be able to do on his own. Programs like these are of great importance to local farmers because they help reduce the costs of building, maintaining and operating a farm so the farmer can focus on what really matters — the crops.

Irrigation ponds and high tunnels aren’t just things that are nice to have, they’re complete game-changers. With better watering systems and controlled environments, Melvin could grow year-round and experiment with new crops that typically can’t thrive in the open fields of Fayetteville.

“My dad and grandfather didn’t have this kind of help,” Melvin said, talking about these NRCS programs. “I found out about it last year, and as soon as I did, I jumped on it.”

If these opportunities go through, it could take Melvin’s Produce Farm to the next level.

It’s a lifestyle Melvin doesn’t want people to just buy his produce, he wants them to understand it. Eventually, he’d like to open a small market on the farm, welcoming kids from local schools to see how food is grown, and maybe offering learning opportunities on home gardening.

“I want it to feel like anybody can come down here,” he said. “I’m not trying to be exclusive. I want people to feel like they can come here and learn about what I’m doing.”

Melvin and Thomas want to show the local community where their produce comes from and share the unique sense of tranquility that being on the farm offers.

Thomas told CityView that time on the farm is full of hard work, but also feels like a retreat from the busy dayto-day life in Fayetteville.

“The transition from the office to having your feet

A bag of chicken manure sits out as Travis explains that it’s one of the best nutrient boosts for the soil, thanks to its high nitrogen and phosphorus content — and of course, it’s all organic.

literally in the dirt,” she said, “you just feel grounded after a while — able to be free and in nature.”

Melvin also hopes to bring animals to the farm, like chickens and goats, for agricultural support. Along with animals that can help with things like brush control around the land, he wants to raise honeybees and offer local honey, fresh from the farm.

Melvin says there’s just something about having honeybees and learning about them that makes him excited, his face lighting up at the mention, from the potential honey collection to the welcome help in pollinating his crops.

“I’m not trying to be the honey guy with labels everywhere, but I want a good product for people,” he explains.

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 21

Travis' father, Rodney Melvin, lends a hand on the farm, especially when it comes to beekeeping. He puts on his bee suit to check the hives and ensure they’re set to produce quality raw honey for the season.

Rodney and Travis check the bee hives for any signs of irregularities. Travis shares that each day working alongside his father is an opportunity to learn, as his father continues to pass down knowledge and experience with every moment they spend together.

22 | MAY 2025

Sanai and Lynnal proudly hold up the flowers they picked during a walk through their father’s fields.

Something to leave behind Melvin’s ultimate goal is clear. He wants to build something that lasts and something his children can inherit. Whether they choose to run the farm themselves or hire someone to do it, he wants them to have options, to own something real, and to carry forward the work of generations of Melvins.

Melvin also sees farming as a piece of the larger puzzle for the community. Food security, health and well-being for the community are all aspects he considers while doing his work.

“The main thing is just having something for people, and they know where it’s coming from,” he told CityView.

He wants people to understand the difference between produce grown in local soil versus something flown in from across the world.

Farming isn’t just a job. It’s a lifestyle, a legacy and a mission. Every seed Melvin plants is a step toward a bigger dream: a self-sustaining farm, a stronger local food system, and a future his kids can be proud of.

When Travis Melvin walks the land at Melvin’s Produce Farm, he’s not just tending to crops. He’s cultivating a future that’s been generations in the making.

He may be just a couple of years into running Melvin’s Produce Farm full-time, but he’s already redefining for himself what success looks like in the world of agriculture.

It’s not about flashy equipment or giant yields. It’s about purpose, community and building something that lasts.

At the end of the day, that’s what generational wealth really is. Not just what you leave behind, but what you grow, season after season, lesson after lesson, root after root.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Trey Nemec is a senior at Fayetteville State University, majoring in communication and media studies. Along with interning for CityView, he serves as the editor-in-chief of FSU’s The Voice, a student-led newspaper.

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 23

HEALTH

Growing together Feeling let down by local government, the founder of the nonprofit Er’Body Eatz is rallying community members to plant vegetable gardens in blighted neighborhoods, taking food insecurity into their own hands

A

BY MORGAN CASEY

About 15 volunteers pulled into Cliffdale Community Church’s parking lot on Thursday, April 17. It was a muggy, overcast day, but the volunteers were ready to work.

For two hours, they mixed and poured concrete, dug a mulch pit, backfilled the bottom of an old barn, and sprayed used tires with lime.

By sundown, they had laid the groundwork for what J’Kwan Fulmore hopes will become a homestead for residents to come together for farm-to-table meals, learn to grow their own food, and participate in activities like yoga. Everything will be free of charge so all Cumberland County residents have access to a community space and fresh, nutritious food.

The homestead is a project from Fulmore’s nonprofit Er’Body Eatz, which combats food injustice through gardening. Through the nonprofit, Fulmore is gathering community members to help build gardens that feed the thousands of residents who go hungry every day.

“This garden is here as a resource for those who suffer from food insecurity and food injustice,” Fulmore said.

“It’s a silent fight. Most of the time, people don’t even know that they suffer from food insecurity.”

Hunger in Cumberland County Food injustice is the unequal access to affordable, fresh, nutritious and culturally relevant foods. It’s a broader movement that spun out of efforts to address food insecurity, which is when a household can’t afford enough food to live healthy lives.

Feeding America found that about 17% of Cumberland County residents suffered from food insecurity in 2022.

As of February, 35,959 Cumberland County households receive SNAP, a federal benefit for low-income families to help them afford groceries. Shannon Gettings, Cumberland County Food Policy Council member and supervisory nurse at Womack Army Medical Center’s Department of

24 | MAY 2025

Public Health’s Public Health Clinic, said approximately 75% of the county’s public school students receive free or reduced-price meals.

Food injustice also includes food swamps and food deserts. Food swamps are areas with more fast and junk food than healthy alternatives. Cumberland County has over 92 fast-food restaurants per 100,000 residents, about 15 more than the state average, according to the county’s 2024 community health needs assessment.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as low-income census tracts with limited access to retailers selling affordable, fresh foods. Gettings said over a quarter of Cumberland County’s census tracts meet this definition.

“Some of the most affected areas include the Murchison Road corridor, parts of Spring Lake and Massey Hill,” she said. “Additionally, Cumberland County has a number of rural communities that face unique food access challenges. These areas are also considered food deserts, and residents often have to travel long distances to reach grocery stores and other food resources.”

More than food After just one meeting with Fulmore, Cliffdale Community Church’s Senior Pastor Dale Paschall offered the church’s grounds as the location for the Er’Body Eatz homestead.

The pastor’s buy-in stems from Fulmore’s vision for the homestead: a community space for everyone to enjoy and access nutritious food. Fulmore and the pastor discussed incorporating gardening into the church’s substance use recovery program, Recovery Alive.

Fulmore also plans to host farm-to-table meals using the food grown onsite and in surrounding areas. He wants people to host fitness classes under the canopy he plans to install. He hopes youth programs will use the space as an outdoor classroom.

Er’Body Eatz founder J’Kwan Fulmore. Photo

by Jamela A. Gorham of Mela Jay Photography

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 25

Precious McKendall sprays down donated tires in a mixture of lime and water to prevent them from overheating and molding. Photo by Morgan Casey

“We want this to be more than a place where you just grow food,” Fulmore said.

Fulmore is working to get a transportation company or volunteers to shuttle residents to the homestead from areas like the Murchison Road corridor, who are most in need of fresh food.

“These things don’t just happen overnight,” he said. “But we want to become that resource for you, and so that’s just what we’re working on doing.”

‘Bring the village back’ Fulmore’s Crashout Gardening Project is another way Er’Body Eatz fights food injustice in Cumberland County.

The project is part of the nonprofit’s From TrapHouse to Greenhouse initiative, which turns foreclosed, abandoned and otherwise dilapidated properties into gardens producing fruits and vegetables for neighbors to enjoy.

The first Crashout Gardening Project gardens are in a trailer home neighborhood off Rim Road.

Homeowners don’t need to do anything besides agree to host the garden and enjoy its fruits. Fulmore and volunteers take care of the planting, harvesting and processing. For those interested, Fulmore will hold 26 | MAY 2025

cooking classes using the produce grown in their gardens.

He and his volunteers can also educate homeowners about urban agriculture and garden maintenance.

“We want to teach people how to garden and how to grow their own food, but we want to do it from the comfort of their own neighborhoods,” Fulmore said. “Have neighbors helping neighbors, growing food within your backyard that you can share with your neighbors. It’s bringing the village back.”

Fulmore said a lot of door-knocking and neighborhood engagement went into getting the homes in the Rim Road neighborhood to agree to host a garden. He wanted to earn the right to put the project in the neighborhood rather than imposing it upon them.

Fulmore is still working on getting gardens in the Murchison Road corridor.

The power of mutual aid Er’Body Eatz is why Fulmore is back in Fayetteville after working as a personal chef for current NFL Denver Broncos wide receiver Trent Sherfield.

“This is supposed to be my legacy that I leave to the city,” Fulmore said. “My parents raised me to be an upstanding

Krista McGuire, a first time volunteer, helps push dirt to fill in under an old barn at the Er’Body Eatz community garden.

Photo by Morgan Casey

citizen, and this is what I want to do.”

Fulmore is funding this legacy primarily with his own money. His parents are also helping where they can.

Many materials for the homestead and gardens come from donations. As Fulmore grew his network of volunteers and more people heard about his efforts to address food injustice, they connected him with sources of soil and space to grow seedlings, and donated seeds, PVC piping and used tires.

The network also donates knowledge that Fulmore doesn’t have, such as composting with worms and hydroponics.

While Fulmore has brought his From TrapHouse to Greenhouse initiative to county, city and town government officials for support, the governments’ slow movement pushed him to ask residents for help.

He is still open to working with local governments, but couldn’t stand waiting any longer, knowing residents were struggling to access food.

The mutual aid methods Er’Body Eatz operates with have their own struggles. Fulmore was nervous that no one would show up to volunteer on that Thursday in April.

But at the end of an evening’s work — with double the

number of volunteers he expected asking when they could come next — Fulmore knew it was the right decision. And he answered: every Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. and every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

“I’m learning that the people of Fayetteville are the ones who are going to make the most change,” Fulmore said. “If I could change anything since moving back to Fayetteville, I would have started with coming straight to the people first because they love their city.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 27

THE KIRBY FILE

QUITE A BUZZ “We worked at it,” says Jim Hartman, who is the 2024 Small Farmer of the Year for his Secret Garden Bees business in Linden. He shares the success of the business with his wife, and the award with Patrick Brown of Warren County.

F

BY BILL KIRBY JR.

Former soldier James Hartman will tell you life is about as good as it can be out north Cumberland County way.

He’s grateful to fellow soldier Eric Grandon, who lives in West Virginia.

And he’s grateful to those honeybees who bring him happiness every day, and what has become quite the lucrative business on his 23-acre farm in the past five years.

“We bought some land in 2014 and put a house on it,” Hartman, 49, said about him and his wife Christi. “In 2018, my PTSD started catching up with me.”

Call it the post-traumatic demoralization syndrome stress of 10 years of military duty from 1998 to 2008, where Hartman twice was deployed to Iraq as an Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer. Disposing of enemy improvised explosive devices, you only can imagine, would fray anyone’s nerves.

“Just time in the bomb squad,” Hartman said. “There are things your brain adjusts to, and you can’t get rid of it. I get hyper-anxiety.”

It was Grandon’s suggestion that led Hartman to what today is Secret Garden Bees.

“He said it would be good therapy for my anxiety,” Hartman said. “I had nothing to lose.”

So, Hartman says, he and his wife launched Secret Garden Bees in 2020.

Jim Hartman is keeper of the bees.

Christi Hartman manages the business at 6930 Moray St. “She does all the packing of the honey,” Jim Hartman said.

And the honeybees, Jim Hartman says, are just loving this spring pollen.

“It’s their protein,” he said.

28 | MAY 2025

As for business, well, it’s booming.

“Now, we distribute to 180 stores across 27 states,” he said, including the Fresh Market grocery chain.

‘It’s a big honor’ Jim Hartman’s passion for honeybees and his farm has not gone unnoticed in this agriculture community, and beyond, as he was honored during Small Farms Week held here March 23-29, and where Hartman was recognized as the 2024 Small Farmer of the Year, an award he shared with Patrick Brown of Warren County. The celebration was held March 28 in Cumberland County in partnership with the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Cooperative Extension.

“I considered it to be an honor,” he said Thursday. “It’s the first time in Cumberland County we have one. It’s a big honor for me and the county, and we worked at it.”

Lisa Benzaquen Childers is the county extension director and has worked to assist Hartman in his beekeeping journey.

“Mr. Hartman operates an apiary in Cumberland County that sells raw honey to several local businesses and to over 180 stores across 27 states,” she said. “Cumberland County Cooperative Extension works closely with Mr. Hartman through the N.C. State Extension Soldiers to Agriculture Program. Mr. Hartman has provided tours, served as a guest speaker, mentored, provided internships and employed soldiers and veterans interested in joining the agricultural industry. He is dedicated to helping the local agricultural community.”

Hartman’s success is not lost on Kirk deViere, a military veteran, who is chair of the Cumberland Board of County Commissioners.

Secret Garden Bees owner James Hartman speaks at his honeybee farm in Linden during the 39th annual Small Farms Week festivities on March 28. Photo by Jon Soles/Cumberland County Government CITYVIEWNC.COM | 29

30 | MAY 2025

Opposite, baby beehives, bottling tanks that process over 13,000 pounds of honey annually, Secret Garden Bees products, Hartman gives a tour of his honey packing facility (Photos

by Jon Soles/Cumberland County Government), and Cumberland County Commissioners' Chair Kirk deViere congratulates 2024 Small Farmer of the Year James Hartman (Photo by Joshua M. Villagomez/Cumberland County Government).

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“Cumberland County is truly blessed with generations of farmto-table knowledge, creating a place where both tradition and innovation can thrive,” deViere said. “It’s especially encouraging to witness the success of businesses like Secret Garden Bees, where dedication, entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to sustainability are shaping the future of agriculture. The achievements of family and veteranowned businesses like Secret Garden Bees showcase our community’s commitment to supporting veterans and providing hands-on experience and training in agriculture.”

Epilogue Jim Hartman knows the stress of handling, disarming and disposing of enemy IEDs, aka improvised explosive devices of war.

It’s not like dealing with honeybees.

But …

“If you work with bees, you have to be super calm,” Hartman said. “If not, they get mean. But it is very calming.”

And Jim Hartman is loving being the keeper of his bees in north Cumberland County.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bill Kirby Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent 49 years as a newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He can be reached at billkirby49@gmail. com or 910-624-1961.

Time to Save, Time to Conserve!

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• Use the PWC Online Account Manager to learn about your usage history and reference the Energy Resource Center for more ways to save.

The power to save is in your hands!

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CITYVIEWNC.COM | 31

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

'BUILDING A HOME' Cape Fear Regional Theatre is live in living color with shovels of confetti and glitter at expansion groundbreaking

BY JAMI MCLAUGHLIN

Board members and supporters of the Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville fling shovels full of confetti into the air during a groundbreaking ceremony for the theater's $23 million expansion, on April 7, 2025. Photo by Paul Woolverton 32 | MAY 2025

W With brightly colored confetti and glitter flying on Highland Avenue, theater supporters, board members, donors and staff on Monday officially celebrated the next phase of Cape Fear Regional Theatre, breaking ground on a historic expansion and renovation of the Hay Street facility.

With “Act 2,” as the next phase of the renovation is called, the capital project will increase capacity from 20,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet. The regional performing arts theater will also be able to expand youth educational offerings with two studios for programming. Other features of the renovated theater include a new lobby with a mezzanine for private events and a rooftop event space with a bar and second stage for live music. The expansion will also allow more space for scenery and costumes, according to theater officials. The new building is being designed by local firm SfL+A Architects with general contracting by Samet Corporation.

Demolition on the 1209 Hay St. building began earlier this year, with the new facility expected to reopen in winter 2026.

Artistic Director Mary Kate Burke said the project was where vision met determination at the groundbreaking held at noon on Monday.

“Every show, every season, we are overwhelmed with the love that you have for CFRT,” Burke said. “This community has done more than sustain this theater for 63 years. You have tended it, loved it and grown it into the incredible institution it is today.”

Burke said that 116 children were turned away last year from summer camp due to space constraints, which was why this project was necessary.

“We believe that every child can find their place here,” she said. Sutton Hammond, an 8-year-old student at Village Christian Academy, was the theater’s youngest donor and spoke at the ceremony.

“I saw my first play at 2 years old and I’ve seen 20 since,” Hammond said. “When my pastor asked me to

Demolition crews began tearing down the old Cape Fear Regional Theatre on the morning of March 25, 2025.

Photos by Morgan Casey

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 33

The demolition site of the Cape Fear Regional Theatre took up much of the Haymount section of Hay Street and a section of Highland Avenue.

Photo by Morgan Casey

A worker sprays water onto the debris created from the demolition.

Photo by Morgan Casey

34 | MAY 2025

do something good with the money he gave me, I knew this was where it needed to go.”

Hammond, who has attended summer camp at Cape Fear Regional Theatre and performed in the annual Best Christmas Pageant Ever show, encouraged those attending the groundbreaking to donate as well, and was met with a standing ovation.

Ralph and Linda Huff, longtime Fayetteville residents and local business owners, were among the earliest donors of the expansion project. The Huffs, who spoke at the ceremony, said the expansion was for Hammond and all of the other children who will grace the doors of the educational classrooms and participate in the artistic opportunities available at the Fayetteville theater.

“It’s going to be a landmark in our city,” Ralph Huff said. “When you build, you are building for the next generation.”

Cape Fear Regional Theatre Board President Bill Hedgepeth agreed, calling the theatre “a cultural powerhouse in the state of North Carolina.”

Also part of the event were highenergy performances from Alannah McMillan, Greg King, Cara Chumbley, the theater’s education director Marc de la Concha and Emir Garcia. Garcia led a rendition of “Live in Living Color” from musical Catch Me If You Can to close the ceremony.

Several local elected officials were present, including N.C. Rep. Diane Wheatley, Mayor Mitch Colvin and Commissioner Chair Kirk deViere, who all gave remarks. N.C. Sen. Tom McInnis and Sen. Val Applewhite, Fayetteville Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen and Council Members Malik Davis, Mario Benavente, Lynne Greene and Derrick Thompson were also in attendance, as well as Cumberland County Commissioners’ Vice Chair Veronica Jones, and Commissioners Henry Tyson and Pavan Patel.

Rep. Wheatley said that the groundbreaking symbolized the

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Artistic Director Mary Kate Burke describes the expansions and improvements underway at the Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville.

Photo by Paul Woolverton

We are not just building a theater; we are building a home.

– Artistic Director Mary Kate Burke “continued vision coming to life where extraordinary talent and leadership exist.”

“Good things endure when you have good leadership,” Wheatley said, referring to Hedgepeth, Burke and all of the board and committee members who had worked to raise over 70% of the roughly $20 million needed for the project in less than two years.

All speakers, including Clay Thorp, son of founding theater director Bo Thorp, revelled in what the Cape Fear Regional Theatre meant to them, their children and what it will mean for future generations in Fayetteville.

“This is taking what my mom started to the next level,” Clay Thorp said.

Burke also paid homage to Bo Thorp and those who came before with the Fayetteville Little Theatre in the 1960s to now, saying, “this was a place that time and heart had created.”

“We are not just building a theater; we are building a home,” Burke said. “We are not just breaking ground. We 36 | MAY 2025

are breaking through. And we are saving you a seat. Thank you for believing in us.”

Currently, Cape Fear Regional Theatre is performing on an alternate stage at 1707 Owen Drive in Fayetteville.

Performances for Steel Magnolias run through April 19, with 7:30 p.m. performances Wednesday to Saturday and 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.

For more information on the Cape Fear Regional Theatre, visit cfrt.org.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jami McLaughlin is a freelance writer for CityView. She can be reached at jmclaughlin@ cityviewnc.com or at 910-391-4870.

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CITYVIEWNC.COM | 37

HOMEFRONT

Finding ‘home’ in routines

BY ARIA SPEARS

When it comes to creating a beautiful and peaceful home, rituals can help create a sense of stability in the midst of a mobile life. Instead of identifying “home” as a place, I’ve adapted it into more of a practice. These “rituals” or routines can look like a daily steaming coffee on the porch, a weekly quiet hour on a garden bench, or any practice that promotes a feeling of rootedness. Many military individuals and families adopt a similar approach.

The budding dogwoods, lush green grass, and toasty-sunny days mean spring in Fayetteville is in full swing. And this means it is the perfect weather for walking outside — my personal “homemaking” ritual.

Luckily, there are quite a few places in the area that are filled with trees, flowers, birds, and other natural beauties. Some also include lakes!

The Cape Fear River Trail is probably the most popular trail for a reason. It is a 7-mile paved trail that is easy to access and covered by a canopy of trees. And of course, the Cape Fear Botanical Garden is perfect for both springtime walking and garden relaxation.

But there are many other lesser-known places perfect for spring walking, too.

I want to highlight three walking trails that I think fit the criteria for a perfect walking place: a loop trail, water views, easy to access, easy to navigate, and filled with trees, creatures, and all things nature.

Whether you like a daily power walk or prefer an occasional family stroll, here are reviews of my favorite walking places to enjoy both water and spring views in the Fayetteville region.

38 | MAY 2025

The Butler Gazebo at Cape Fear Botanical Garden.

Photo by Tony Wooten CITYVIEWNC.COM | 39

Cape Fear Botanical Garden employees tend to the many plants and vegetation within the garden.

Photo by Sharilyn Wells

Mazarick Park is nestled just north of the Haymount area. Though adjacent to an active neighborhood, I was pleasantly surprised by the quiet trail. There is plenty of parking available and the trails were very visibly marked.

The one-mile loop trail runs along the serene, pine-lined Glenville Lake for part of the distance. The golden green foliage and clear sky reflect onto the still water, serving as a great centerpiece for spring-inspired photos. Along this section, you will find a dock that can be used for fishing or observation, as well as other water access points.

Benches are strategically placed around the path perfect for outdoor reading. The rest of the trail weaves in and out of the trees and along the winding frisbee golf course and well-kempt children’s playground.

There is more to explore at Mazarick Park, but I will certainly return to this trail for the stunning water views and sparsely populated, peaceful walking trail.

The Lake Rim Park in West Fayetteville offers not only walking trails but an aqua park, tennis courts, a volleyball court, a story walk, and sports fields, too. Upon arriving at the park, you pass the aqua park on your left and find the main park building. Next to this building, you can begin the 0.7-mile walk down the Border Trail. On this tree-lined walk, you slowly descend the hill, eventually ending up at 40 | MAY 2025

a creekside boardwalk inlet. Here, you can stop to hear Carolina chickadees and cardinals chirping amongst the dense foliage. Though you can hear some of the traffic from distant roads, the cascading leaves and wetland scenes still create a peaceful environment in which to recharge.

Initially, you think this path is only a down-and-back trail, but while walking, you soon discover there are many alternate paths that can form a number of loops through the park for walking or running.

Down the road, you can find a paradise of geese, ducks, and more birds at the Lake Rim Boating & Fishing Access dock and the John E. Pechmann Fishing Education Center right across the fence. Though the walking paths do not coincide with these places, it is easy to walk or drive to these locations before or after you head home to get a water view.

Reservoir Park far exceeded my expectations. The 165acre park is nestled in the woods almost an hour north of Fayetteville in Southern Pines, Moore County. Winding through the entry road, one can catch glimpses of the serene lake spread within the pines. Upon arriving at the parking area, you can see a wider view of the sprawling 95-acre lake. Though there are over 12 miles of biking and walking trails, the most easily visible trail runs along

the perimeter of the lake to make a 2-mile loop.

The trail is partially paved, partially sandy ground, complete with water access points, docks, and waterside benches along the way.

Depending on the time you go, it may be quite busy as people frequent the park for running, biking, disc golf, walking, kayaking, and more. This park has the benefits of a hike, with densely forested trails, but with the convenience of an urban greenway — easy parking, easy-to-follow trails, public safety, and a central location.

Friends and families can make an afternoon of the visit by packing a picnic lunch and enjoying the lovely pavilion areas available for reservation.

I’ll return to Reservoir Park for the longer loop and expansive water views.

Conclusion Creating a home amid military life doesn’t have to be limited to the four walls of your house. Sometimes feeling grounded in military life starts with literally exploring the grounds on which we live.

You are invited to explore the many blooming landscapes of the Cape Fear region in your pursuit of creating a home here. Claim them as part of your own rituals, your own homemaking routines. From the simple beauty of a dogwood tree to the vivid colors of daffodils, this region offers many opportunities to find a sense of rootedness through nature. As you walk their grounds, these outdoor trails invite you to take a cozy, familiar front-row seat to the seasonal beauty of the region all throughout the year.

Garden Season Means Growth, Beauty & Resourcefulness!

Cultivate your garden this year with help from these Career & Community Enrichment courses: • • • • • • • • • • •

Composting with Vermiculture Daylilies Floral Design (Beginning) Gardening for Dummies from A to Z Gardening in the Sandhills Grow What You Eat Herb Gardening Hostas: How to Find & Grow Plant Selection Tips Organic Gardening Succulent Gardening

Visit the Summer 2025 Course Schedule or call (910) 678-8386 for more information!

CORPORATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION

SCAN CODE

Register now for summer f l

y n www.faytechcc.edu

Aria Spears is a freelance copywriter and civic leadership enthusiast. She can be contacted at hello@aria-writes.com CITYVIEWNC.COM | 41

GOOD READS

Home sweet home? Sure, just don’t stay alone in one!

BY DIANE PARFITT

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Houses and gardens often appear in mysteries, and it is there where scary things always seem to happen. The house can even be considered a character in the book. Anyone who has read Rebecca

by Daphne du Maurier cannot forget Manderley, the omnipresent home that is the setting for this classic story.

Contemporary mystery writers also use homes and gardens as settings for their books. What is scarier than a garden that harbors an unseen threat? How about a home, which usually represents safety and security? When a book is set in a house that is dark and scary with hidden secrets, it just grabs us and won’t let go. If you like mysteries and scary stories, here are a few that will send tingles down your spine.

1. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters Dr. Faraday, a country physician, is summoned to the Ayres family mansion, Hundreds Hall, in postwar Warwickshire, England.

As the once-grand Georgian mansion succumbs to crumbling decay, the family grapples with their shifting fortunes and personal turmoil, drawing Dr. Faraday into their eerie tale. Is it merely the decline of their ancestral home and way of life, or is something more sinister haunting them?

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2. The September House by Carissa Orlando Margaret refuses to abandon her haunted Victorian home despite its terrifying manifestations, including blood-dripping walls and ghostly apparitions that appear every September. When her husband Hal leaves due to the hauntings, their grown daughter Katherine visits to search for him, unaware of the house’s dark secrets. With the onset of September, the hauntings intensify, revealing the house’s need to keep certain secrets hidden.

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3. The Moonlight Gardening Club by Rosie Hannigan In a quaint Irish village, Ruby, a widow, and Frankie, a single mom, forge an unexpected friendship through the Moonlight Gardening Club. This unique club was established to remind its members that beauty can be found even in the darkest of nights.

As Ruby and Frankie plant flowers under the moonlight, each discovers what they truly need. However, their bond is tested when past secrets emerge, compelling them to confront their fears to preserve their friendship.

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4. The Lake House by Kate Morton Alice Edevane, a bright and precocious 16-year-old, lives with her family in a lakeside estate in Cornwall, England. After a party one midsummer’s eve, her youngest brother, Theo, disappears without a trace, leading to the family’s disintegration and the abandonment of their home. Decades later, Alice becomes a successful novelist in

London. A young detective, Sadie Sparrow, visits Cornwall and discovers the crumbling Edevane estate. Her curiosity about the past intertwines her life with Alice’s and unveils long-buried secrets surrounding Theo’s disappearance.

5. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Opal, an orphan and high school dropout, is determined to create a better life for her younger brother Jasper while living in the unlucky town of Eden, Kentucky.

Obsessed with the mysterious author E. Starling and her long-abandoned mansion, Opal seizes the opportunity to explore Starling House for extra cash. However, as dark secrets and sinister forces emerge from the mansion, Opal realizes that her quest for a brighter future may be complicated by the haunting history of Starling House and its reclusive heir, Arthur.

6. The Forbidden Garden by Ellen Herrick Sorrel Sparrow, who has a gift for nurturing plants and flowers, is given an exciting opportunity to revive a long-neglected Shakespearean garden at Kirkwood Hall in England. Upon arrival, she discovers the garden’s desolation and the emotional weight it carries, leading her to explore the estate’s history and her connection to its inhabitants, particularly a very interesting pair of siblings. As Sorrel works to restore the garden, she feels a deepening bond with it and its secrets, suggesting that her

fate may be intertwined with the garden’s revival. Like the book says, “Every garden is a story, waiting to be told … .”

7. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix Hendrix seamlessly blends horror and comedy. When Louise returns home after her parents’ suspicious deaths, she must work with her brother Mark, who wants to cheat her out of her share. Amid their personal dramas, they face a common enemy in Pupkin, a beloved puppet from their mother’s doll collection. Beloved as he may have been, Putkin now expresses his grief through rage and homicide. This book is perfect if you crave a Stephen King-esque horror-drama with family dysfunction and a comedic twist.

“The walls of a haunted house hold more secrets than a thousand-year-old library.” — Unknown Diane Parfitt owns City Center Gallery & Books in downtown Fayetteville. She can be reached at citycentergallerybooks@gmail.com.

A CARIBBEAN RETELLING OF THE “LITTLE MERMAID” FAIRYTALE!

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW! CFRT.org | 910.323.4233 CITYVIEWNC.COM | 43

May 20 82nd Airborne Division Memorial Ceremony 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum Building C-6841 Ardennes St., Fort Bragg distinctlyfayettevillenc.com

May 22 CityView’s 5th Annual Ladies’ Night Out. Photo by Tony Wooten

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THE TO-DO LIST Here are just some of the things happening in and around Fayetteville this month. Scan the code with your phone for more events, additional information and to post your event on our website. Events are subject to change. Check before attending.

April 9–May 28

May 10

The Fourth Grade Project Arts Council of Fayetteville/ Cumberland County 301 Hay St. wearethearts.com

Mommy & Me Pop-Up Click’s Nursery 4181 Barefoot Road clicksnursery.com

April 30–May 11

May 11

2025 Fort Bragg Fair Fort Bragg Fairgrounds Howell Street and Bragg Boulevard, Fort Bragg bragg.armymwr.com

Mother’s Day at the 1897 Poe House Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex 801 Arsenal Ave. distinctlyfayettevillenc.com

May 10

May 18

2nd Saturday on Trade Street Fulfillity Books & More and Artist Village 5548 Trade St., Hope Mills distinctlyfayettevillenc.com

Adult Workshop: Petals and Pigments — An Intro to Natural Dyeing Cape Fear Botanical Garden 536 N. Eastern Blvd. capefearbg.org

May 10 and 24 City Market at the Museum Fayetteville History Museum 325 Franklin St. distinctlyfayettevillenc.com

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May 18 3rd Annual Mental Health Festival HEAL Holistic Journey Services Blissful Alchemists 414 Ray Ave. healholisticjourney.com

Woodpeckers Baseball: Arts in the Ballpark with Cap Giveaway Segra Stadium 460 Hay St. milb.com/fayetteville

May 23 4th Friday: The Nerd Market Cool Spring Downtown District Downtown Fayetteville visitdowntownfayetteville.com

May 24 Fayetteville Pride Prom Arts Council of Fayetteville/ Cumberland County 301 Hay St. fayettevillepride.org

May 24 Woodpeckers Baseball: Military Appreciation Night with Camo Jersey Giveaway Segra Stadium 460 Hay St. milb.com/fayetteville

May 31 Adult Workshop: Mosaic Stepping Stones with Brian Tyler Cape Fear Botanical Garden 536 N. Eastern Blvd. capefearbg.org

May 31 Nate Bargatze Big Dumb Eyes World Tour Crown Coliseum 1960 Coliseum Drive crowncomplexnc.com

The Carolina Barn Wedding & Event Venue

Matthew Wonderly Photography

Heather Gunter Photography

Your perfect day deserves the perfect place. Immerse yourself in the beauty and rustic elegance of The Carolina Barn, Wedding & Event Venue. This picturesque estate offers alluring indoor and outdoor spaces for weddings and receptions, lavish occasions, holiday festivities, corporate gatherings, and more. We recognize that your wedding is as unique as your love story. We believe there is no better place to exchange vows than at The Carolina Barn. This wedding venue was truly designed just for you and your fairytale day. The Carolina Barn makes a magnificent backdrop for memorable celebrations and functions. Every aspect of our venue is designed for effortless events – large or small. Whether hosting a corporate meeting, fundraiser, or a special anniversary – you won’t find a more comfortable or accommodating venue.

Morgan Caddell Photography

7765 McCormick Bridge Road Spring Lake, NC 28390 www.TheCarolinaBarn.com

Trinity Warren and Julie Walker

SEEN @ THE SCENE CityView’s 5th Annual Ladies’ Night Out CityView held its 5th Annual Ladies’ Night Out, presented by Cape Fear Valley Health, on Thursday, April 10, at The Carolina Barn at McCormick Farms. Photography by Tony Wooten Want CityView at your event for Seen @ the Scene? Email us at cmalson@cityviewnc.com.

AvaLondyn Martina and Zenola Watkins

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Claudia Zamora and Yeniz Parton Demetria Davis

Alana Johnson and Bobbie Johnson Brittany Jackson Lockamy

Jasmine Ridgway and Angela Williams

Michelle Dean Karen White and Antonella Scibilia

Claudia Zamora

Karen Nordberg and Stephanie McCullough

CITYVIEWNC.COM | 47

YOUR FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHTER AS A BRONCO.

Apply today! www.uncfsu.edu

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Cape Fear Botanical Garden - a natural escape Embrace the beauty of nature with 3+ miles of walking trails, both natural and manicured

Step back in me to the 1800s in the Hazel McCauley Heritage Garden

Immerse yourself in play and wonder in the Eleanor & Ray Manning Children’s Garden

Learn with us - programs and classes for all ages

Experience community events, music and more

536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayeeeville, NC 28301 - capefearbg.org Call or text at: 910-486-0221

“I would definitely recommend Cape Fear Valley Health for a total knee replacement.”

Knee pain can be debilitating, especially when it reaches the point of bone-on-bone discomfort. Bettye Marable experienced this firsthand in 2023, when a gradually worsening condition led to constant pain that interfered with her daily activities, from work to walking her dogs. After trying cortisone shots with limited success, Bettye sought help at Cape Fear Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, where she was introduced to James P. Flanagan, MD. Dr. Flanagan performed a successful knee replacement, and Bettye was amazed at how quickly she recovered.

Nine months later, when pain began affecting her other knee, she returned for a second procedure. Now, Bettye is pain-free and back to enjoying life with two new knees.

If you’re struggling with knee pain, don’t wait until it impacts your quality of life.

For more information, visit capefearvalley.com/ortho.

Your health, our specialty.