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Volume 86 • Issue 31
Good news for great people! • Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Piedmont Homestead is a little bit of heaven We are stardust, we are golden. We are billion year old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden. Woodstock ~ Joni Mitchell By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.info
Mike and Kristina Lore getting set to tend their great Piedmont Homestead garden. The Lores sell their organic produce at the Mt. Holly Farmers Market. Photo by Alan Hodge
Mike and Kristina Lore’s Piedmont Homestead market garden and farm near Alexis is a miniature Garden of Eden. Several years ago the couple decided to plant a garden on their six acre piece of land located on Alexis-High Shoals Rd. and the banks of Sailors Branch. Now, those few rows have grown in scope to the point where they are able to have plenty of veg-
etables for themselves and enough to carry each weekend to the Mt. Holly Farmers Market for sale. “Two or three years ago I started learning about food and the more I got into it I decided to share that knowledge and the produce we grow,” Mike said. Right now, the garden has about a fifth of an acre under cultivation out in the open and another large space under a high shelter similar to a greenhouse. Goodies the Lores are growing includes melons, kale, carrots, lettuce, beets, sweet potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and several types of herbs just to
name a few things. Like most uncultivated places in our area, the soil the Lores started out with was red dirt with plenty of weeds. Mike shared his tips on how he took that situation and turned it around so that vegetables and flowers can really get going. “You need plenty of compost,” he said. “We don’t till the soil which stirs up weed seeds. We put sheets of plastic on top of the weeds to kill them then take it up and put lots of compost down. Wood chips go between the rows. We turn the compost over See HOMESTEAD, Page 4
Belmont Abbey College housing update Progress continues with the new housing facility at Belmont Abbey College. The five-story residence hall will be the Belmont Abbey College home for 136 upperclassmen – 34 students on each of floors two through five with classrooms and faculty offices on the first floor. Unfortunately, due to numerous weather delays during the initial stages, the Abbey is anticipating an October completion for the most significant housing project in the history of the College. To support safety during the pandemic and rather than providing an option to triple its residents, the College will be providing a modular unit option, at a significantly reduced rate—$2,300 rather than $3,700 for fall 2020. The modular units will offer the same amenities as existing housing options. The single occupancy 10’ x 10’ rooms will include a shared bathroom with one other
resident—the same assigned roommate for the new hall. Each room has a single bed, desk, vanity, and television with shared laundry facilities located within. The units will be temporarily located in the parking lot adjacent to the baseball field, dining hall, and the Saints residence halls. To accommodate the temporary loss of parking during this growth phase, the College is permanently expanding the parking lot adjacent to the Alumni House and Science building, which will add approximately 90 additional parking spots. The Abbey is currently developing a more detailed parking plan for fall 2020, particularly for residents of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. The modular units, while temporary, will still provide a safe, high-quality, living experience until the construction of the new hall concludes See HOUSING, Page 7
New event venue could be coming to Belmont... Deborah Baxa (right) and friend Laura Blye in the Camelot Meadows bamboo forest. See more about Camelot Meadows page 5.
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