“Randy’s Favorites” …

Keep an eye on “Randy’s Favorites” for his best ideas and creative insight on a variety of subjects! He’ll talk about stylish home decor and gardening how-to’s, or share trivia on day-to-day sustainable living. You might find his favorite new restaurant, a must-have new product or a chic new wedding trend. Or, maybe just his thoughts about what’s going on around Greensboro and elsewhere in the universe!

For starters:

~ Offer to collect old coffee grounds from your local coffee shop (they’ll be happy to get rid of them!) and spread them around your garden to enrich the soil. Are you facing unpleasant pet smells in your car? Place a dish of coffee grounds in a dish overnight to absorb the odor.

~ When moving “sweaty” terra cotta pots indoors for the winter months, place everyday, stainless steel burner covers underneath the messy pots. They don’t sweat and they do hold water.

~ While pulling up annuals and trimming perennials to ready them for fall and winter, think about an alternative to planting pansies. I recently planted lettuce and spinach in my own yard and am happy to report a beautiful marbelized mix of chartreuse and dark green – pretty to look at and right there when I’m ready to pick them to add to a favorite dish!

Lettuce planted in Randy's yard.

~ Savvy gardeners know not to overlook the hardy and versatile dichondra, most popular in California because it can tolerate drought conditions well, and is versatile enough to plant between stones and walkways or as a covering for bedded areas or even on a sod roof (where I have it planted!)

Dichondra is perfect for beds or between stones and walkways.

~ Squeeze in time to do something nice for yourself, even at the least likely times. This past Halloween I applied a mud mask to my face just before giving out candy to trick-or-treaters … something good for my skin and quite a scare for my young callers, who thought it was cool that I had created a scary mask for the occasion!

- It’s no secret that we love Jack Russells! And these clever, energetic dogs are perfect companions to keep rabbits, chipmunks and other critters out of your yard and away from what you’ve worked so hard to plant in the garden!

Frida keeps an eye on Randy's dichondra.

Frida, Nate and Hopkins: garden warriors!

-Take a look at another of my favorites: succulents!  They are beautiful and versatile … I’ve used them on my roof at the mountain house, in my garden, for wreaths (which also make great centerpieces with candles in the middle), as underplanting and any almost any type of pot! They’re also year-round plants, ideal for a variety of climates. The large photo below is at my mountain home.

Beautiful succulents are easy-care, low maintenance options.

Succulents planted in the ground, ideal for year-round climates.

Foggy Ridge Cider – Nature Stories

Chuck and Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider

Randy’s good friend, Diane Flynt, is co-owner of Foggy Ridge Cider in Virginia.  Her orchards are not far from his cabin in Dugspur, VA.  Diane’s beautiful property has inspired her to write essays on life  on her farm.  Diane’s audio essays are featured on WVTF public radio in Roanoke, VA.  Take a moment to listen to her reflections online if you have the time.   You can enjoy farm life without all the tractor driving.

Go to http://www.foggyridgecider.com/visit/audio-essays.php

Another “Buy Local” Business Effort Emerges

All kinds of “buy local” initiatives are bubbling up from the Greensboro grassroots and business community these days. I learned this week that a group of business owners are organizing a local version of the 3/50 Project, which encourages people to spend $50 a month at three or more locally-owned “brick and mortar” businesses in their communities.

Organizers of the “Buy Triad First” project plan to hold its first public organizing meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Proximity Hotel. About 12 business owners currently serve on an advisory committee, said participant Betsy Gauthier, owner of Loco for Coco Gourmet Chocolates. Gauthier is also a member Velocity Trade Exchange, a bartering network I wrote about previously.

Gauthier said she expects at least 100 business owners to attend Monday’s meeting. Buy Triad First aims to start out with a Greensboro chapter and expand to High Point and Winston-Salem, she said. I’ll follow this to see where it goes.

Written by Morgan Josey Glover

It’s Angels Work

 

A group of gardeners in North Carolina formed Friends with Flowers to bring bedside bouquets–and some compassion–to hospice patients.  Here’s how you can, too.

It’s just a few pretty flowers in a simple, inexpensive vase.  That’s what Friends with Flowers–a Greensboro, North Carolina, homegrown effort that provides fresh bedside arrangements to terminally ill patients–says it’s all about.  But what the group actually delivers, three times a week, 156 times a year, is comfort. 

Local floral designer and garden accessories shop owner Randy McManus began Friends with Flowers two years ago as an effort the recycle flowers left over from events.  ”I love flowers and hate to see them wasted.” he says.  ”So I would drop off large arrangements in huge vases to different care facilities and then wonder if I was doing them a favor since they’d tehn have to break them down to make bedside arrangements.  It seemed that I could do that for them.”

He contacted Paul J. Russ, director of resource development at Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro, and offered to create and deliver small tabletop bouquets once a week for three of its hospice programs.  In order to have enough fresh flowers.  Randy reached out to fellow gardeners who agreed to grow extra blooms.  What couldn’t be grown would be bought wholesale through private donations.  All the work–harvesting flowers, making and delivering the dozens of arrangements–is done completely by volunteers who come into Randy’s shop three days a week. 

Says volunteer Gail Miller, “I got it instantly.  The minute Randy told me what he planned to do, it just sounded so easy and so important.  I had to be part of it.  The things about a beautiful idea is that , in the long run, roadblocks go away when the idea is right.”

Randy explains,”Friends with Flowers brings fresh flowers to terminally ill patients, many of whom have no family or friends, to life their spirits and brighten their final days.  Our goal is to show these new friends that someone is thinking about them even as they leave this world.”  The response was immediate and compelling.  At one hospice, nine of the 12 patients being served had been homeless most of their lives.  One, in his forties, kept asking if the flowers were really for him.”

“It’s angels’ work, says Paul.  ”none of us could have imagined the impact this has had on our patients.  It’s a beautiful gift from someone they don’t even know.  What always amazes me is how consistent the deliveries are–like clockwork–and how consistently beautiful the flowers are.”

Every arrangement, from homegrown hydrangea to discounted Ecuadorian roses, is fussed over until it’s perfect (one volunteer hod to redo an arrangement three times), and because they’ve raised patient expectations, deliveries are made even in the deepest winter.  ”This is not a summertime project,” says Randy.  ”By working with local florists and local suppliers and doing some fund-raising, it’s possible to do this, inexpensively, year-round.  That’s the commitment we made.”  

Their other commitment is one to anonymity.  Vases come with neither cards nor visitors.  Randy says, “Patients aren’t preached to or intruded upon.  We’re not promoting or asking anything.  It’s completely about each recipient.”

There’s a lot of love in these little arrangements.  ”When I’m cutting flowers from my own garden or working on a delivery, making something pretty and cheerful for someone I’ll never meet,” says volunteer Theresa Palmer.  ”I alwasy hope getting fresh flowers will make a difference–that someone who’s sick or lonely or afraid will feel a little better knowing I’m thinking about them.”

In a world where the challenges seem so huge and many of us feel disempowered, community efforts like Friends with Flowers remind us of the possibilities.  ”Rather than becoming overwhelmed, we decided that we could make a difference here in our own little corner of North Carolina,” says Randy.  The group plans to expand this year from serving three facilities to five, including new hospices in Winston-Salem and High Point,k North Carolina, and hopes this idea will blowwom all across the country. 

It all seems to come down to doing something good–just because. “Randy’s heart is so big and his vision is so clear, “says Gail.  ”He truly believes in the power of flowers, beauty, and nature to heal the spirit and nourish the soul.  If a vase of flowers brings even a few minutes of happiness, we’ve done what we set out to do.”  

Written for Cottage Living by Kate Karam.  

Photos by Josh Paul.