This post has been updated to include neighboring counties.

New Hanover residents without residential trash and yard waste pick-up through the city of Wilmington can recycle their Christmas trees and other natural decorations at no charge starting Dec. 26.

The program that ends Jan. 31 is a joint effort of the county’s Recycling and Solid Waste Department, the City of Wilmington Sanitation Department and Home Depot stores located at 5511 Carolina Beach Road and 210 Eastwood Road.

All natural trees, wreaths and garlands with the lights, ornaments, stands and tinsel removed can be dropped of at either of the Home Depots or the New Hanover County Landfill, 5210 US Highway 421 North. Artificial trees or decorations will not be accepted.

Residents are asked to stack items intended for recycling neatly due to limited space at these drop-off sites. Those using this service will see fenced-in areas in The Home Depots parking lots, with signage directing them to drop-off points.

“Seeing homes decked out in beautiful décor is a wonderful thing during this festive time of year, but once the holiday season ends, it’s important to dispose of natural décor in a responsible and environmentally safe manner,” Recycling and Solid Waste Director Joe Suleyman said in a release. “We’re excited to continue this partnership with the City of Wilmington and our local The Home Depot stores, which allows living Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands to be recycled and converted into mulch and compost. This material will be used in our parks, gardens and grounds, helping reduce waste and keeping our environment clean.”

In addition to trees and wreaths, residents are reminded that other holiday materials such as gift wrap, paper or cardboard boxes, holiday cards, old gadgets and electronics can be recycled at the county’s recycling processing facility, drop-off sites throughout the community or via the Mobile Hazwagon.

At this time, string lights, tinsel, foam packaging, bubble wrap, and ribbons or bows cannot be recycled and should either be reused or placed in the trash. 

Learn more at Recycling.NHCgov.com or by calling 910-798-4400, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Those living within the Wilmington city limits can learn more about recycling services and accepted items online.

The Brunswick County Landfill in Bolivia will accept live Christmas trees free of charge to Brunswick County property owners and residents Jan. 2-31.

Brunswick County Convenience Centers will accept live Christmas trees in January at a charge of $5 per tree.

Normal tipping fees will be applied after Jan. 31.

Residents are reminded to remove all ornaments, lights, and decorations prior to disposal. The county landfill and convenience centers accept string lights and cords year-round at no charge to Brunswick property owners and residents as part of the electronics recycling program.

Oak Island’s annual “Grinding of the Greens” program will kick off Dec. 26, when residents can drop off live, free-of-decorations Christmas trees in the Middleton Park Complex parking lot at 4610 E Dolphin Dr.

The program runs through Jan. 16.

Town officials are reminding residents and visitors that placing live Christmas trees on the beach and beach dunes, and burning Christmas trees as part of beach bonfires, is prohibited.

Pender County is not offering Christmas tree disposal at its convenience sites.

Property owners there may contact Wilmington Compost Company at 7336 N.C. 210 in Rocky Point and Hampstead Mulch and Stone at 12981 U.S. 17 in Hampstead for disposal details.

Coastal Review will not publish Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in observance of the Christmas holiday.

Hatteras-Ocracoke, Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach and Southport-Fort Fisher ferry routes will be on an adjusted schedule for the Christmas holiday.

All other state-run ferries will be on their regular schedules over the Christmas holidays, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday when the revised schedule was announced.

The routes will adhere to the following schedule:

Hatteras-Ocracoke Dec. 24-25

• From Hatteras: 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m., midnight.
• From Ocracoke: 4:30 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m.

Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach Dec. 25

• From Cherry Branch: 5 a.m., 5:45 a.m., 6:45 a.m., 7:45 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
• From Minnesott Beach: 5:25 a.m., 6:15 a.m., 7:15 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Southport-Fort Fisher Dec. 25

• From Southport: 5:30 a.m., 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
• From Fort Fisher: 6:15 a.m., 7:45 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 3:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.

Update 11 a.m. Tuesday: Organizers announced late Tuesday morning that the Core Sound Chow Down set for Friday night has been canceled because of the weather forecast. Ticketholders can submit using an online form their preference to refund the ticket to the event held entirely outside. Options are a full refund, transfer to 2026 or donate the cost to the museum. Festivities on Saturday and Sunday will continue as planned.

Original post:

One of the first signs that the holidays are upon us is when the two-story Christmas tree made entirely of crab pots begins to illuminate the grounds of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

The multicolor glow from the symbol of Christmas — plus all the holiday lights decorating the sizable facility — also means that the Waterfowl Weekend is just around the corner.

The museum, which highlights the heritage of the 13 unincorporated communities of Down East Carteret County, has held the annual celebration the first weekend of December for the last few decades, and are gearing up for this year’s scheduled for Dec. 5-7.

The weekend gets underway Friday evening with the Core Sound Chow Down stew competition, a ticketed event. The doors open to the public at 8 a.m. Saturday and again at 10 a.m. Sunday. During both days, visitors can meet the more than 45 carvers, artists, photographers and crafters set up at the festival.

While winding down Harkers Island Road on the way to the museum, travelers will pass homes decorated to the hilt, and residents selling crafts on the roadside.

They’ll also drive by Harkers Island School, where the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild’s 37^th annual Core Sound Decoy Festival is taking place. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, the campus will be filled with carvers, vendors and antique decoy exhibits. Carving competitions are scheduled throughout both days, and food will be available for purchase.

When the Waterfowl Weekend was in its early days, the focus was mainly on decoys, but the festival has evolved over the years and is now a part of the holiday celebration for many.

“We have turned what used to be a weekend for decoys to a season of traditions,” Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher told Coastal Review, and a large part of that is the joy and nostalgia that holiday decorations invoke.

“The museum’s Christmas lights are about Core Sound. Celebrating communities and traditions. That’s what we do every day,” she said.

The two-plus-story Christmas tree made of crab pots and the “Gallery of Trees: Telling our Story” are “part of that celebration for sure,” she explained. The Gallery of Trees features crab pot trees that families, friends and area businesses sponsor and decorate. The first was first held in 2020 and has become a special part of Waterfowl Weekend.

Amspacher said that adding the giant tree made of crab pots to the holiday decor was inspired by social media, with the first try in 2010 or 2011.

“Blame it on Facebook. We kept seeing pics from Maine where they were stacking lobster traps and Maryland where they were stacking crab baskets and we said ‘why not?’” Amspacher said. “The first attempts were a learning experience — small and sometimes more square than round — but then Abbi (Davis) and Kenny (Brennan) took on the project, and their engineering skills and a lot of rebar and zip ties made it happen.”

The small team of volunteers spent the last few days of this October building the 2025 tree, including Davis, a Harkers Island native.

Davis began working part time at Core Sound on and off the summer of 2015 and again while she was attending trade school. Now a volunteer, she helps when she can, which isn’t very often because her career keeps her on the road a fair bit, she said. She currently resides in South Carolina where she’s a lineman.

“The museum is such an incredible place,” Davis told Coastal Review.

Core Sound has captured the sense of place “that most people have a really hard time understanding if they haven’t lived it and gave them a glimpse into the culture of Down East. That is something that would have otherwise been long forgotten by the world.”

Though the tree of crab pots was part of the picture before she began working there, Davis started helping out with the tree in 2015, when the lights were powered by a generator that had to be regularly be fueled up.

“I remember I would ride down there to look at it because it was so beautiful but I also worked at the museum so I took on the job of being the ‘gas lady’ whenever I could that year,” Davis said.

There was a pause on putting the tree up for a few seasons because it became harder to borrow crab pots, compounded by the damage to the facility from 2018’s Hurricane Florence that closed the main building for a few years to undergo repairs.  

“In 2020 I started working there again and when I did, we talked about making Christmas big,” Davis continued. “That year I wanted the tree to make a comeback. I remember asking everyone I knew who had crab pots or who had been a crabber in the past, if we could get some for this tree. Everyone I talked to was excited but finding someone that had pots available and the time wasn’t easy.”

The first year that Davis took the project on, her father and sister helped load the crab pots into the back of her pickup truck and in a trailer to haul to the museum. “It took three trips,” Davis said.

Davis explained that the team likes to “joke and say the engineering is a little bit organic because it doesn’t have to be exactly the same to work.” And they’ve been working together for so long, that “at this point we just know what to do.”

Their favorite saying is that “we’re making circles out of squares,” she continued. “We always start with the same amount for the bottom. Make a ring out of pots basically and then fill it in. Each row is done the same way just a smaller number of pots until it gets to the top. The pots are secured through heavy duty wire ties and rebar.”

This year, it took 170 crab pots arranged in 12 rows to build the 23-foot-tall tree.

Once the tree is complete, a glowing handmade star is placed on top.

“The coolest part about this tree for me is what it represents. These pots are actually used by commercial fisherman in the sound. Every year they harvest and haul hard crabs. Knowing that they’re real and not something just bought for decoration,” Davis said.

New this year, the tree is being decorated with buoys hand-painted by local kids, “which is really special,” she said, “And knowing that in every way possible this tree is Down East, makes it absolutely great! It captures the spirit like many things at the museum and it’s put on display so the world can have a chance to see a small glimpse of that.”

“Because everyone loves,” the giant Christmas tree, it is being featured on the museum’s holiday apparel line, Amspacher said. “It has become a symbol of Down East Christmas.”

Waterfowl Weekend details

The fourth annual Core Sound Chow Down and Best Sweet Potato Pie Down East competition starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets, $35 for members and $45 for nonmembers, include four cups of your choice from the spread of chowders, soups and stews made by cooks from around the county. Molasses Creek will perform live music.

Competitors returning this year are D’s Island Clam Chowder, Per-Atlantic Crab and Corn Chowder, and Gloucester Mardi Gras Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. New this year will be stewed shrimp, crab-shrimp bisque, stewed scallops, chili, and Cedar Island original lima beans and crab meat. The submissions will be judged by seafood market and chefs from across eastern North Carolina.

Doors open at 8 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, and each day has special programming.

On Saturday there will be live music at 11 a.m. with Asher Brinson and Friends, noon with Mac McRoy and The South Point Band, and 1 p.m. with Molasses Creek. Preview for the live auction is at 2 p.m. and the auction begins at 3 p.m. The online auction is live now through Dec. 6.

On Sunday, a church service is scheduled for 8 a.m. and at 2 p.m. is a World War II Pearl Harbor Day memorial gathering.

Every year, the museum’s “Core Sound Quilt Crew” sew a quilt that is put up for action to raise funds for the nonprofit museum. This year’s theme is “Reflections of Diamond City.” Tickets can be purchased online for the quilt raffle, as well as the Christmas raffle. Winner takes home $5,000.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources has a full schedule of holiday events planned at sites across the state, several of which are in eastern North Carolina.

From candlelight tours of historic sites like Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site to programs at state parks, the department that manages, promotes, and enhances the state’s diverse arts and culture, rich history, and natural areas provided a schedule of festive festivities through the next month.

Tree lighting at Historic Bath 6-7:30 p.m. Nov. 29. Enjoy light refreshments, music with soloist David Harragin, and Santa. Free. 

Holiday Pops with the North Carolina Symphony at Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2. Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased online or at the New Bern Visitors Center on Front Street.

History of Santa Claus, Patron Saint of Sailors 11 a.m. Dec. 4 at Fort Macon State Park. During this family friendly presentation, N.C. Maritime Museum Associate Education Curator Christine Brin will try to answer some questions about the jolly fellow without taking away any of the magic. Visit ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com/virtual to attend the program online.

Yuletide by Lantern at Historic Halifax 4-8 p.m. Dec. 5. Visit homes, public buildings, and taverns decorated for the season with festive, all-natural décor, experience interactive historical vignettes and enjoy a warm fire in the Tap Room tavern. Tickets are required for this event on Eventbrite or at the site.

Holiday Open House: A Colonial Christmas by America 250 NC at the Museum of the Albemarle 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 6. Watch the Albemarle Express model train stop at each of the 13 counties represented at the museum, and receive a keepsake bell. A petting zoo with farm animals is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., holiday face painting from 12:30-2:30 p.m. and visits with Santa Claus from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Candlelight Christmas at Somerset Place 4-5:30 p.m. Dec. Take a self-guided tour of traditional holiday decorations illuminated by candlelight inside the historic Collins House in Creswell. Admission is $5 for adults $2 for children.

Friends of the Maritime Museum Holiday Flotilla evening of Dec. 6. Join the Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort for their annual Holiday Flotilla! Yachts, oars, kayaks and commercial vessels decorated for the season can be seen at 5:30 p.m. on the Morehead City waterfront and at 6:15 p.m. on the Beaufort waterfront. 

Island Jingle at Roanoke Island Festival Park 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6. Free event is follows the annual Town of Manteo Christmas Parade. Music will start at 6:30 p.m. with The Tilet Sisters hosting. Music by That Guy Shane, Doug Dino, The Lion Band, Jeremy Russell, plus the Mustang All Stars and Mustang Kids bands. All proceeds from concessions run by the Friends of Elizabeth II go to support the Mustang Outreach Program.

Somerset Place’s 35th Christmas Open House 1-4 p.m. Dec. 7. Explore the plantation on a self-guided tour with staff members and volunteers available to answer questions. mingle with Saint Nicholas from 2-3:30 p.m. Admission is free but donations are welcome. https://events.dncr.nc.gov/event/somerset-places-35th-christmas-open-house

Holiday Pops with the North Carolina Symphony at Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community in Wilmington 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 11. Tickets available on the symphony’s website.

A Light in the Darkest of Night at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site 4-7 p.m. Dec. 12. Self-guided exploration of the ruins of St. Philips Church. The site’s visitor center and gift shop will remain open during the evening for holiday shopping. 

The John Costlow Christmas Train Show at the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center in Beaufort Dec. 12-14. The annual train show, hosted by Beaufort Lions Club and the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, offers a glimpse into the past with antique working model trains and model trains of all sizes. Admission is free. Children ages 12 and younger will need to be accompanied by an adult. 

Holiday Hike to the Light at Jockey’s Ridge State Park 5:30-6:30 p.m. Dec. 13. Join Ranger Paul Austin for a fun and festive evening hike to the light. Experience the dunes at night with an educational tour up to the solar powered Christmas tree. Email austin.paul@ncparks.gov to register. 

Santa by the Sea at the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 13. Games and activities will be stationed throughout the aquarium. Tickets available on the aquarium’s website.

Candlelight at Tryon Palace, Farewell to our Royal Governors 4:30-9:30 p.m. Dec. 13 and Dec. 20. The Governor’s Mansion will be illuminated by candlelight while costumed interpreters present a story that relates to back to the Palace’s colonial history.

An 18th Century Christmas at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site 1-5:30 p.m. Dec. 14. Participate in an authentic period candlelit service in the ruins of St. Philips Anglican Church from 5-5:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the gate upon arrival at the site located in Winnabow.

Holiday Pops with the North Carolina Symphony at Northside High School in Jacksonville 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17. Tickets available on the symphony’s website.

Cookies and Crafts: Christmas Open House at CSS Neuse Museum 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 18. Enjoy Christmas lights, cookies, crafts, and activities at the site in Kinston.

Holiday Cheer at Historic Bath 4-7 p.m. Dec. 20. Visit Bonner Point under the marquee tent to enjoy wassail and hot cider, ginger muffins and festive music. There will be 20-minute tours of the Bonner House focusing on the 19th-century household, and a chance to visit Carrow Cottage that portrays a family of fishermen.

Twelfth Night at Roanoke Island Festival Park 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 27. Black-powder demonstrations, carols aboard the ship, archery, scavenger hunts, and more activities happening throughout the park in Manteo. Included in cost of admission.

New Year’s Eve Cannon Blast at Fort Macon State Park Dec. 31. Live entertainment starts at 6 p.m., and the cannons will go off at 7 p.m. at the site in Carteret County. Bring folding chairs and a picnic meal. Come early as parking is limited. 

It’s the day after Halloween. What are you going to do with all those pumpkins on your porch? Blow them up using Civil War technology, of course, with the staff of Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson historic site in Winnabow.

The Great Pumpkin Blowout scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, is the “unique experience” of detonating a pumpkin with the same technology used to launch Civil War-era torpedoes, according to organizers.

Visitors will be able to observe different types of torpedoes from the time period and learn the technology behind black powder and the torpedo itself.

Load up those jack-o’-lanterns and be prepared to pay $10 to detonate each pumpkin. Proceeds supports educational programming at the site. Pumpkins with minimal carving offer the best explosions, but all types will work, staff said.

Admission to the site and watching the fun is free.

The Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson State Historic Site was a major pre-Revolutionary port on the Cape Fear River, but was abandoned and burned during the American Revolution. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was built on top of the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River the Confederacy fell, according to North Carolina Historic Sites, a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Featured Image

Barbara Johnson of Morehead City carries a pumpkin Thursday across the grounds of First Presbyterian Church, 1604 Arendell St., Morehead City. Held every October, the fundraising event that benefits the children and youth ministry program is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday until Oct. 31. Photo: Dylan Ray.

Though not producer in the country, more than 30 million pounds of pumpkins are grown each year in North Carolina. In 2023, more than $18.2 million worth of pumpkins were sold in the state. A symbol of fall, “Pumpkin is a winter squash that is usually considered a vegetable. However, pumpkin is technically a fruit. It is grown from a flower and contains seeds,” according to the N.C. Cooperative Extension.

Editor’s note: This post will be updated as more towns, counties and organizations announce plans for natural Christmas trees.

Whether it’s for trapping beach sand or grinding it for fresh mulch, consider upcycling that live Christmas tree you’ll be undecorating as the holiday season comes to a close.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management has released its annual guidelines for using natural Christmas trees as a substitute for traditional sand fending on oceanfront shores.

All decorations must be removed before the tree is placed at the toe of the frontal dune or erosion escarpment, according to a division release.

The trees should not block public or emergency vehicle accesses to beaches, hinder recreational use of a beach, or be placed on private property. Trees should also not be placed in a way that impedes, traps or otherwise endangers sea turtles, nests or hatchlings when the nesting season returns in a few months. 

For more information on how to properly use a live tree on oceanfront property, contact the Coastal Area Management Act permitting authority or appropriate Division of Coastal Management district office.

New Hanover County

New Hanover County residents who do not have residential trash and yard waste pick-up from Wilmington can recycle their Christmas trees and other natural decorations at no charge now through Jan. 31.

“Decorating for the holidays is such an important tradition for so many people, but once the holidays end, it can be hard to dispose of their natural décor in a responsible and environmentally friendly way,” Recycling and Solid Waste Director Joe Suleyman said in a statement. “We’re glad to continue this partnership with The Home Depot and the City of Wilmington which allows living Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands to be recycled and converted into mulch and compost that will be used in our parks, gardens and grounds, helping reduce waste and keeping our environment clean.”

All natural trees, wreaths and garlands must have lights, ornaments, stands and tinsel removed before dropping the trees off at one of three locations in Wilmington: The Home Depot at 5511 Carolina Beach Road, The Home Depot at 210 Eastwood Road, or the New Hanover County Landfill at 5210 U.S. Highway 421 North. Residents are asked to stack recycled items neatly due to limited space at these drop-off sites.

In addition to trees and wreaths, residents are reminded that other holiday-related items such as gift wrap, paper or cardboard boxes, holiday cards, old gadgets and electronics can be recycled at the county’s recycling processing facility, drop-off sites or via the Mobile Hazwagon.

At this time, artificial trees or decorations, string lights, tinsel, foam packaging, bubble wrap, and ribbons or bows cannot be recycled and should either be reused or placed in the trash.

Onslow County

The Onslow County Landfill, and convenience sites in Midway Park in Jacksonville and Folkstone in Holly Ridge will accept real Christmas trees. The real Christmas trees are taken as yard waste. There is a charge of $3 per tree at the convenience sites, and $31 per ton at the landfill, which equals to $0.31 per 20 pounds.

Artificial Christmas trees can also be dropped off at all sites. There is no fee, and the artificial trees are accepted as recyclable metal. Please remove ornaments, lights, tinsel, and other decorations.

All Onslow County residents can recycle their used Christmas lights no matter the condition at any convenience site.

The convenience sites are open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. For more information, call for the main refill 910-989-2107, for Midway Park call 910-353-3980 or 910-327-2444 for Folkstone, or visit the website.

North Topsail Beach

Christmas trees can be dropped off at the designated area at Jeffries Parking Lot, 316 New River Inlet Road now through Jan. 13. Free mulch will be available for pick up after Jan. 16.

Carteret County

Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach will collect natural Christmas trees again this year for dune renourishment. Trees can be dropped off at the visitor center parking lot during business hours.

Ranger Benjamin Fleming reiterated that trees need to be completely free of ornaments, lights, tinsel, and other decorations before donating the tree.

“Also, we can’t accept other yard debris and anything that contains metal is not acceptable. For instance every year we get 30 or so wreaths that are made with metal backing, and we have to just throw those in the dumpster,” Fleming said.

Dare County

Residents are asked to remove all ornaments, tinsel, lights, and other nonorganic items from the natural Christmas tree. Place your tree in the right-of-way adjacent to your property and ensure that it is away from all other objects. No artificial trees or other bulk trash items will be collected.

The Dare County Public Works Department will not pick up any Christmas trees that are left on the curbside within the unincorporated areas of Dare County.

Unincorporated Dare County
Christmas trees should be dropped off at the Dare County Public Works Recycling Center located at 1018 Driftwood Drive in Manteo, at Dare County’s C&D Landfill located at 1603 Cub Road in Manns Harbor, or at the Buxton Transfer Station located at 47027 Buxton Back Road in Buxton. Trees that are dropped off at these locations will be recycled into mulch.

Manteo
Town officials request that residents place their undecorated Christmas trees on the curbside during the town’s regular Monday and Thursday sanitation runs.

Residents within the unincorporated areas of Manteo should drop trees off at the Dare County Public Works Recycling Center located at 1018 Driftwood Drive in Manteo to be turned into mulch.

Duck
The town will collect undecorated, tinsel-free Christmas trees from the curbside Jan. 6 and Jan. 13. Staff ask that trees be placed on the curbside the night before the scheduled collection dates.

Southern Shores
Residents may place their undecorated, tinsel-free Christmas trees in limb and branch piles for collection during the regularly scheduled pickup for their sector. Wreaths will not be collected.

Better Beaches OBX is collecting trees at the Hillcrest Beach parking lot in Southern Shores until Jan. 11 for dune restoration.

Kitty Hawk
The town requests that residents place their undecorated, tinsel-free Christmas trees along the curbside on normal trash collection days where they will be picked up in a timely manner.

Undecorated, tinsel-free Christmas trees can also be dropped off at the Kitty Hawk Bathhouse Beach Access in the grassy area to be used for dune restoration.

For more information about the Town of Kitty Hawk’s collection, click here.

Kill Devil Hills
Kill Devil Hills will be collecting natural and undecorated Christmas trees that are placed along the curbside beginning Jan. 8. Trees must be placed on the curbside right-of-way adjacent to your property no later than Jan. 7.

Nags Head
Nags Head residents are asked to place their undecorated, tinsel-free Christmas trees along the side of the road in front of their property, where they will be collected as part of the town’s monthly curbside bulk item/brush collection service. The town also reminds residents to set their trees in a separate pile from the rest of any bulk items that need to be collected.

As the holiday season comes to an end, the stockings that were hung by the chimney with care are back in the box along with the keepsake ornaments and strands of lights that were just adorning the branches of your natural Christmas tree.

Now, what to do with the tree itself?

There are quite a few options here on the coast for proper disposal, from putting the tree on the curb for your town to pick up to donating it for dune stabilization. All require the tree be free of any decorations, including tinsel, lights, garland, hooks and ornaments.

The trees also can be used as a substitute for traditional sand fencing.

“The use of Christmas trees as a sand fencing alternative is a long-standing practice on our beaches to help stabilize and grow the dune system,” Division of Coastal Management regulatory section chief Jonathan Howell told Coastal Review.

There are rules for how the trees should be placed. Rows should be the width of a single tree, installed at a 45-degree angle to the shoreline, no more than 10 feet seaward of the toe of the natural dune, and there should be a minimum of 7 feet between trees. Trees should not impede emergency vehicle and public beach accesses or endanger sea turtles during nesting season, which kicks off in a few months.

“Following the sand fencing rules ensures the placement of Christmas trees allows for the continued enjoyment of the beach by the public and the protection of existing vegetation and habitat,” Howell added.

Audubon North Carolina Coastal biologist Lindsay Addison reiterated in an interview that following the division’s rules or obtaining the proper permit is the only legal way to leave your live Christmas tree on a beach or barrier island.

“There are rules about how sand fencing is set up to minimize harm to sea turtles and native beach ecosystems,” she said.

She said a few years back, there were about 50 trees left on a protected island, prompting Audubon to post signs reminding visitors not to leave trees.

“People think they’re doing good when they dump their natural trees on beaches or barrier islands, and I appreciate the thought but it’s just not helpful in the long run,” she said. “I’ve seen trees washed into the marsh, out on the beach and half buried in the foreshore where it’s an impediment to sea turtles.”

Though the tree is essentially debris and can cause harm to the wildlife, “there are many things you can do with your Christmas tree that’s positive,” Addison said, including composting the tree or donating it to a dune stabilization program.

Onslow County Extension Agent Emilee Morrison agrees that recycling the Christmas tree is a great way to help the environment.

“By repurposing your tree, you could improve your garden, provide wildlife habitat, create fish habitat, or even help stabilize sand dunes. Live trees take years of care and maintenance to grow to the size you purchase them as, so why not add that resource back to the environment rather than taking them to the landfill,” she said.

Morrison suggested in a guide for recycling trees a handful of options including using a chipper to reduce small limbs to compost, place branches on top of landscaped beds, submerge the tree in a private fishpond to become a fish feeding refuge, check with area wildlife shelters to see if they can use the tree, or donate the tree for dune stabilization efforts.

Addison said Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach “is a great example of a Christmas tree program.”

The state park has collected trees since the 1960s for dune stabilization.

Park Ranger Benjamin Fleming reiterated that tinsel and Christmas lights should be removed before dropping off the tree at the designated area in the parking lot.

“We continue to receive lots of trees that have both left on and we have to spend hours pulling it all off. And usually, the lights are in working condition,” he said.

Also on the island, Surfrider Bogue Banks is collecting natural trees at the corner of Islander and Emerald drives in Emerald Isle now through Jan. 26 as part of their seventh annual holiday tree collection.

“We ask that volunteers please drop off clean, live trees for us to recycle and use in essential dune creation at The Point in Emerald Isle,” Chair Jen Welborn said, adding the request that all lights, ornaments, plastic, tags, garland, tinsel and other decorations be removed from the trees before they’re dropped off.

The dune restoration event is scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 27. Volunteers will help move and secure all of the trees at The Point, the western most beach in Emerald Isle. Volunteers are needed, including those with pickup trucks, work gloves and rubber mallets.

“Last year we collected 336 trees with a grand total of over 1,000 since this projects’ inception in 2018. We are expecting even more trees this year as many local businesses and municipalities will be participating,” she said.

Jason Holland at Gimme Some Mower Lawn Care, LLC has volunteered to pick up trees for those who are unable. He can be reached at 919-623-0653.

For a $10 suggested donation, Sea Scout Ship and Maritime Explorer Club 7730 will collect discarded trees for Fort Macon State Park or Emerald Isle.

Those interested in volunteering can email volunteercoordinator@boguebanks.surfrider.org.

Cape Fear Surfrider is working with Carolina Beach for the organization’s ninth dune restoration event. The town will collect the Christmas trees to be used for restoration during scheduled yard debris pick up.

“This event is always a great way to kick off the year by helping to stop erosion of our dunes and reduce spending on beach re-nourishment, and also helps to rebuild natural habitats, protect ocean front property, and divert old trees from the landfill,” organizers said. Coffee and donuts will be provided. Bring a shovel, tape measure and scissors.

Better Beaches OBX expect a large shipment of Christmas trees in the coming days. Organizers will announce when volunteers are needed to help place the trees on dunes through its Facebook page.

A handful of wildlife rescues can also make good use of your natural trees including SkyWatch Bird Rescue in Castle Hayne at 855-407-3728, Wild at Heart Wildlife Sanctuary in Richlands at 910-430-0794, Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary at 119 Doe Drive, Hubert, and Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter at 100 Wildlife Way, Newport.

By County

Beaufort County does not offer Christmas tree recycling but the residents can dispose of the trees in their regular yard waste.

Brunswick County Landfill in Bolivia will accept live trees at no charge from Jan. 2-31.  After Jan. 31, normal tipping fees apply. Live Christmas trees are accepted for $5 per tree at the convenience centers from Jan. 2-31. All ornaments, lights and decorations must be removed..

Camden County does not currently have a county-run program for natural tree disposal or recycling.

Carteret County officials recommend donating live Christmas trees to Fort Macon State Park or explore options provided by towns across the county that accept trees for recycling.

Beaufort collects live Christmas trees from the curb, separate from yard debris by 7 a.m. every Monday this month. Cedar Point will collect live trees free of decorations from curbsides. Both will deliver the trees to Fort Macon.

Residents of Chowan, Perquimans and Gates counties can recycle their live Christmas trees by in the yard waste containers at one of the many convenience sites or taking the tree to the PCG Transfer Station in Belvidere.

Live Christmas trees are used in the composting program, which turns trees and yard debris into compost and mulch. Compost and mulch produced through this program are available free to community members and those living in the surrounding areas.

Edenton allows residents to put the natural trees for collection at the curb. Public Works delivers the trees to the American Legion Fairgrounds for the Edenton-Chowan Educational Foundation to host an annual bonfire using the trees as a fundraiser for the school system.

Craven County Solid Waste Director Steven Aster said there are several options for disposing of a natural Christmas tree.

Residents can take natural trees to any of the seven convenience centers in Craven County which are open from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and 1-6:30 p.m. Sunday. Craven County will deliver the natural trees to the landfill for composting or chipping.

Residents of the county’s municipalities should check with their town about curbside collection.

New Bern residents can place their natural Christmas trees free of all decorations, lights and the tree stand on the curb for pickup. The trees must be no more than 5 feet in length and 5 inches in diameter so that the town’s equipment can pick them up. These trees will be mulched to use in city landscaping projects.

Currituck County has eight recycling centers and each will accept live Christmas trees with all decorations and tinsel removed.

Dare County residents in unincorporated areas can take their undecorated Christmas trees to be turned into mulch to Manns Harbor Transfer Station at 1603 Cub Road or to the Dare County Public Works Compound on Roanoke Island.

Duck is collecting trees from the roadside Jan. 8 and Jan. 15. Undecorated and tinsel-free trees should be placed on the curb the night before for their scheduled collection day.

In Southern Shores, Christmas trees may be placed in limb/branch piles for collection during scheduled pickup. All metal and decorations must be removed.

Kitty Hawk residents should place their undecorated trees on the curbside on their normal trash collection day.

Kill Devil Hills will be collecting Christmas trees beginning Wednesday, Jan. 10. Trees must be placed in the street right-of-way no later than Tuesday, Jan. 9. No artificial trees or other bulk trash items will be collected.

Nags Head will collect undecorated Christmas trees as a part of the town’s monthly bulk item/brush roadside collection service.

Manteo will collect undecorated Christmas trees from roadsides as a part of the town’s regular Monday and Thursday sanitation runs.

New Hanover County residents who do not have residential trash and yard waste pickup from Wilmington can recycle their Christmas trees for free through Jan. 31.

“We know a lot of people take great pride in decorating for the holidays, but once the season is over many don’t have a way to dispose of their natural décor,” Recycling and Solid Waste Director Joe Suleyman said in a statement. “We’re grateful for this longstanding partnership with The Home Depot which makes sure that real Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands are recycled into mulch and composted for use in New Hanover County parks, gardens and grounds. This program helps reduce waste in our landfill and keeps our environment clean.”

The yearly program is a partnership between the county’s recycling and solid waste department and Home Depot stores in the county.

The drop-off locations are at the Home Depot, 5511 Carolina Beach Road, The Home Depot, 210 Eastwood Road, and New Hanover County Landfill, 5210 US Highway 421 North.  

Residents utilizing this service will see fenced-in areas in The Home Depot parking lots marked with signage to drop-off locations. At the drop-off site, residents are asked to stack materials as neatly as possible due to limited space.

All trees, wreaths and garlands must have lights, ornaments, stands and tinsel removed. Artificial trees and decorations will not be accepted.

Onslow County will accept real Christmas trees at the landfill and convenience sites at 122 Carver Drive in Jacksonville and 320 Old Folkstone Road in Holly Ridge. 

Cost is $3 per tree at the convenience sites and $31 per ton at the landfill, which equals to $0.31 per 20 pounds. 

Used Christmas lights may be placed in the red Christmas lights bin at the landfill for recycling.

All sites accept artificial Christmas trees as recyclable metal at no charge.

Jacksonville’s sanitation crew picks up Christmas trees as part of their yard waste collection and takes them to the county landfill. 

Swansboro residents can place their undecorated trees curbside Jan. 2-19 or drop them off at the public works yard outside the fence. Pickup will occur daily, however on Wednesdays, when yard waste collection occurs, ensure that the trees are placed curbside separately from yard waste.

Hammocks Beach State Park in Swansboro will not be accepting trees this year.

North Topsail Beach is having the “Grinding of the Greens” Jan. 17. Residents can drop off live Christmas trees at Jeffries parking lot, 316 New River Inlet Road, by Jan. 14. Free mulch will be available for pick up after Jan. 17.

Pamlico County residents can dispose of their Christmas trees at the county landfill at cost of disposal.

Pasquotank County residents can dispose of their natural tree at one of the county’s convenience sites or the landfill. Trees will be placed with other yard waste and chipped into mulch.

Pender County residents may dispose of their Christmas trees at the county’s convenience centers for three weeks following Christmas.

The Rocky Point Convenience Center at 16232 N.C. 210 is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The Hampstead Convenience Center at 250 Transfer Station Road is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Christmas tinsels, ornaments, lights, ribbons, etc., should be removed from the trees before being disposed of in the designated cans.

Washington County Landfill will accept real Christmas trees with all decorations removed.

Featured Image

A strong southeast wind, heavy rains and an especially high tide combine to create a pool reaching from the ocean to the showers on the west side of the Oceanana Fishing Pier Thursday in Atlantic Beach. While not a king tide, which are the highest high- and lowest low-tide events of the year and happen when the Earth, sun and moon are aligned while the moon is at its perigee, or closest point in its elliptical orbit to Earth, Dec. 26-25 is a period of higher- and lower-than-normal tides. The the lunar perigee is Dec. 24. Photo: Dylan Ray

For the 13th year, “WinterLights” will illuminate Manteo’s Elizabethan Gardens every weekend from Nov. 25 through Dec. 30.

There will be holiday décor, and a crackling open-air fire during the weather-dependent event. Seasonal plants and holiday gifts will be available in the Royal Exchange Gift Shop.

Visitors can see the gardens be transformed into what organizers call “an enchanted wonderland” from 6-9 p.m. Nov. 25, 26, 27, 29 and 30. Dates for December are 1-4, 6-11, 13-18, 20-23 and 27-30. There will be live entertainment on designated nights. Details will be updated regularly on the organization’s website.

Timed-entry tickets are sold online only. Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for ages 6-17, $8 for 2 to 5, and under 2 are admitted free. Tickets for dogs are $5.

Tickets are nonrefundable unless the Elizabethan Gardens organization cancels the event. If inclement weather or other conditions prevent the lights from occurring, a notice will be sent out to all anticipated guests by 2 pm.

Dare County, Currituck County and Ocracoke Island residents will be admitted with a donation of nonperishable food items Nov. 27 for “Virginia Dare Night,” in support of the Roanoke Island Food Pantry.

Tickets are limited for this special night and guests must reserve their tickets online early. In addition to the food or dry goods donations, residents are required to show proof of Dare County, Currituck County or Ocracoke Island residency, such as a driver’s license or utility bill. Preopening donation collection begins at 5 p.m.

Recommended items for the food drive include canned vegetables, fruits, meats, soups and beans; tomato and pasta products; cereals; toilet paper and paper towels. There are no rain checks with these free tickets.

Guests must park in designated spaces. Overflow parking will be available at the Lost Colony parking lot. A shuttle will transport guests from/to this lot on Friday and Saturday nights.

The nonprofit Garden Club of North Carolina adopted The Elizabethan Gardens as a project in 1951 and continue to care for the 10-acre gardens today. The gardens are located on the north end of Roanoke Island at 1411 National Park Drive Manteo. For more information on The Elizabethan Gardens call 252-473-3234 or visit elizabethangardens.org.

Two ferry routes — Hatteras-Ocracoke and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach — will use an alternate schedule during the Christmas holidays to save operating costs on traditionally low-traffic days.

All other North Carolina ferry routes will run their regular schedules.

On Dec. 25, the Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach route will run depart at the following times:

From Cherry Branch: 5 a.m., 5:45 a.m., 6:45 a.m., 7:45 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

From Minnesott Beach: 5:25 a.m., 6:15 a.m., 7:15 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.

On Dec. 24, ferries will depart from Hatteras at the following times: 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight and from Ocracoke: 4:30 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

On Dec. 25, ferries will depart from Hatteras at the following times: 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight and from Ocracoke: 4:30 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Passengers are required to follow all state COVID-19 precautions when traveling on a North Carolina ferry, including wearing face coverings and practicing social distancing when outside their vehicles.

Luna, the albino alligator, is the star of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher program, “Luna’s Holiday Special.”

The virtual, one-hour program featuring Luna and her aquarium friends engaging in holiday-themed enrichment activities begins at 10 a.m. Dec. 12.

Viewers will see Luna and her co-stars while their caregivers explain some of the ways the animals stay happy and healthy year-round.

In addition to Luna, those tuning in will see Maverick the rescued bald eagle, Sprout the wood duc, and the newest additions to the Aquarium family, Asian small-clawed otters, Asta, Oscar, Ray and Titan, share the spotlight.

The program will include exclusive behind-the-scenes views and explanations in coordination with our animal care team. An Aquarium educator will also present winter animal facts and answer real-time questions.

To view the program, participants must reserve their spot at ncaquariums.com/fort-fisher. Cost is$15 per screen. N.C. Aquarium Society members receive a 10% discount.

Jane Bell was a vivacious redhead who lived in a tiny house in Greenville back when tiny houses were places where most people didn’t want to live. The kitchen was one of her three immaculately clean rooms, all set in a row and each festooned in rainbow bric-a-brac, much of it collected on flea market runs with her boyfriend, my father.

All in all, the house could not have been more than 500 square feet, maybe less, most of it dedicated to a floral-heavy living room, vanilla pink boudoir and cramp bathroom surprisingly equipped with a clawfoot tub … or maybe not so surprisingly. Jane believed in reincarnation, and one fuzzy image of a past life put her as a young lady at a grand ball, circa 1800s. She recalled wearing a bright yellow gown decorated in brown ruffles and bows. Surely, her pre-occasion primping those many decades ago began in a similar tub.

Jane thought anything was possible. She was a sparkly eyed optimist whose nose crinkled like a sprite when she smiled. Therefore, we never doubted that from the wee stove in her little kitchen Jane could pull the best damn rum cake you ever tasted. That’s pretty much how Jane put it when she told us the dessert was among her specialties.

Dad was an admirable baker himself, and one who believed any cake was better moistened with brandy. I was a student at East Carolina University, which continually made national lists of America’s best party schools. My brother was not long out of N.C. State, where he constructed an elaborate dorm-room bar. Anything soaked with rum was fine with us three.

The Duncan Hines yellow cake Jane baked was extra moist, basically pound-cake-like, thanks to the addition of Jell-O instant pudding mix. It was covered in caramelly chopped pecans baked upside-down-style into the cake. The masterpiece glistened with rum glaze Jane carefully brushed all over the cake until every drop was absorbed.

The confection looked as innocent as Jane must have in her past-life ball gown, which meant my family and I were not prepared for the straight shots of rum that were our first bites of Jane’s cake. As my Dad remarked, “Woo!”

Jane planned to bring just such a cake to a holiday potluck at the boat plant where she worked. The fact that a couple slices might render machine operators too drunk to continue their shifts didn’t matter to her.

When it comes to rum cake, no setting seems off-limits down South. Since my first rum cake experience, I’ve heard stories of rum cakes at coastal North Carolina family gatherings where spirits were otherwise taboo. Sassy bakers, women or men, were usually behind the cakes.

Somehow, teetotalers tolerate this sinful addition to dessert sideboards. Maybe it’s because of the science that says alcohol added to the cake batter burns off during baking. Perhaps, some cooks use rum extract, which, as American food company McCormick says, has all “the complex yet sweet rum flavoring minus all the alcohol.” It could be those are just the things relatives and friends tell themselves as they reach for another slice. After all, what’s a family get-together without secret giggles?

In its timeline of “The Most Popular Cakes in Southern History,” Southern Living magazine gives the year 1977 to rum cake. Bacardi gets credit for making Jane’s version popular across America. In the 1970s, the company published the recipe in its “Bacardi Party Book.” The formula continued to show up for years in magazine ads, sometimes under the headline “How to make the famous Bacardi rum cake.”

In a 1976 St. Cloud Times (Minnesota) article about the cake, the reporter wrote, “If you’re looking for a dessert that combines all of the best new ideas in cake baking and easy preparation, with fool-proof results, try a Bacardi Rum Cake.” The “real star,” the writer said, was the half-cup of dark rum that went into the batter.

Of course, it was noted that the rum cooked away, but then another half-cup was stirred into glaze brushed on the finished cake.

I doubt Jane used only a half cup.

Rum cake often shows up on coastal North Carolina Christmas tables, which makes sense considering it’s a distant cousin of steamed Christmas puddings that date to at least 17^th century England. Old pudding recipes called for 13 ingredients, representing Jesus and his 12 apostles. Typical components included suet, molasses, lots of spices and plenty of raisins and currants. Moistened with brandy, rum or other spirits, the puddings had such high alcohol content they could be aged for months, important in times before refrigeration.

British colonists carried pudding recipes to the New World. In the Caribbean, the formulas were tweaked to create “black cake,” a heavy molasses spice cake full of rum-soaked fruit.

Rum’s profitability was more important than its preservation qualities. The drink was the colonies’ most valuable industry and favorite beverage. Everyone drank rum, even kids. So did pirates who frequented North Carolina’s shores. Domestic, imported or smuggled, rum was considered potent enough to nix toxins and, thus, healthier than water.

Over time, rum consumption dropped and more delicate, although still strong, rum cakes emerged. They may have been inspired by European yeast rum babas sometimes filled with pastry cream. Italian-Americans like to celebrate birthdays with Italian rum cake. Liquor-soaked vanilla layers sit between chocolate and vanilla pastry cream, the whole thing frosted in sweetened whipped cream.

An unusual Kentucky recipe can be found in Southern Living magazine’s 1983 “The Southern Heritage Cakes Cookbook.” Rum butter cream fills the angel food layer cake and more rum spikes the meringue frosting.

Despite the documented history, Jane will always be the source of my devotion to rum cake. I envision her ball gown being rum-cake yellow and trimmed in pecan-brown ruffles and bows. Surrounded by suitors near a Christmas tree, she demurely sips rum punch with a gleam in her eye that one fellow mistakes for a wink in his direction. She’s really coveting the pound cake behind him, a treat to dip into her cup. His confusion is fortunate for Jane, as the man, who resembles my father, is there to catch her just as she is overtaken by a lightheaded feeling of déjà vu.

Bacardi Rum Cake

Cake:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1 18½-ounce box yellow cake mix

1 3¾-ounce package vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

½ cup cold water

½ cup Wesson oil

½ cup Bacardi dark rum (80 proof)

Glaze:

¼ pound butter

¼ cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup Bacardi dark rum (80 proof)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube or 12-cup Bundt pan.

Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter over nuts.

Bake 1 hour.

Cool. Invert on serving plate.

Prepare glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in rum.

Prick top of cake.  Spoon and brush glaze evenly over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat until glaze is used up.

Source: Bacardi

Reprinted from Island Free Press

The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum in Rodanthe has a wave of special events and activities planned this week as part of their annual Season’s End Festivities.

Visitors will have an opportunity to go back in time at 2 p.m. Tuesday to the Life-Saving Station’s early 20th-century heyday by watching the beach apparatus drill.

Performed by volunteers in period uniforms, the drill is an action-packed display that honors the heroes who practiced this drill every Thursday at four bells, or 2 p.m., when the original stations were still in commission. The event is free with the price of admission.

The community is invited to dig into a pre-Thanksgiving barbecue feast at noon Wednesday during the Life-Saving Station’s afternoon Pig Pickin’.

For $12 a plate, visitors can enjoy a plate of barbecue pork, baked beans, slaw and drinks. All proceeds from the pig pickin’ will benefit the nonprofit Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum.

Vsitors can meet and greet with Santa Claus at 1 p.m. Friday, who will be making a special early holiday appearance at the Life-Saving Station the day after Thanksgiving.

The first 100 children who visit will receive a commemorative T-shirt along with a treat bag, and snacks and drinks will also be available. Visitors can bring a donation to the local food pantry as their admission ticket to the historic site and museum.

For more information on these upcoming events, as well as more info on the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site & Museum, visit the website or Facebook page.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

COASTAL NORTH CAROLINA – Fresh-cut Christmas trees once decorated for the holidays are being returned to nature, now that the season is coming to a close.

Several towns and organizations are collecting the trees that will be used for dune stabilization and restoration or the trees are being turned into mulch.

On the Outer Banks, Better Beaches OBX has since 2013 collected trees for use in dune restoration projects.

Better Beaches OBX founder Donny King explained that the organization uses the trees that are dropped off at the parking lot of The Islander Motel in Nags Head and Ocean Boulevard Bistro and Martini Bar in Kitty Hawk, where King is chef and owner.

King added that this year, Boy Scout Troop 117 in Kitty Hawk has offered to pick up trees from houses on Saturday and Sunday. The Scouts will deliver the trees to Better Beaches OBX. Text the address to 252-202-4949 or 252-202-1672 for pick up and let them know where the tree is located. The Scouts are accepting tax deductible donations that can be taped in an envelope to the door.

King said that the trees, which are strategically placed at the bottom of the sand dunes or in low spots to collect sand, are buried halfway or placed against existing structures like a sand fence to keep the tree from moving.

“Better Beaches OBX also provides consulting as to how to trap sand in more desirable areas around oceanfront homes and businesses and teaching people how to plant and distribute the proper dune grasses,” he said. “Most of our time is spent planting American beach grass during the fall/winter months with a large group of volunteers.  We also plant sea oats in the spring in more established areas.”

Oceanfront owners wanting to learn simple processes to protect their property from low- to mid-level impact storms, volunteers and those wishing to donate to the organization can contact Better Beaches OBX via the group’s Facebook or email bbobxfriends@gmail.com.

“We are aware that out time on the Outer Banks is limited, and larger storms can change everything, but we believe we can make an impact (and this has been proven in recent years) by better maintaining our shoreline.  The wind blows in a lot of different directions throughout the year and using that power to build up desired areas through mostly natural means pays off,” King wrote in an email.

Nags Head and Kitty Hawk are collecting the natural trees from residents.

Ralph Barile, public works director for Nags Head, said that the town will collect the natural Christmas trees, which will be used for mulch, or a resident can request the trees be delivered to be used for dune stabilization. Curbside collection is by appointment. Call 252-441-1122 to schedule.

Willie Midgett, public works director for Kitty Hawk, said that the town collects trees and are stored at the public works building, where trees may also be dropped off. Residents that want the trees for dune stabilization are welcome pick them up. He added that Better Beaches OBX also uses the trees for their projects.

Kill Devil Hills will begin Jan. 9 collecting natural Christmas trees. No later than Jan. 8 should the undecorated tree be placed in the right-of-way adjacent to the property.

Steve Albright, public services director for Kill Devil Hills told Coastal Review Online that the trees are available for use for beach stabilization. “We sometimes have some interest in them and allow them to be recycled. Any left, will be added to the limb pile and mulched to be used for landscaping.”

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said that Dare County does not have a recycling program for trees. Residents of the unincorporated area of the county including Wanchese, Hatteras Island, Colington, Martin’s Point, East Lake and Stumpy Point are encouraged to bring their used Christmas trees to either the Buxton or Manteo Recycling collection centers, where it can then be recycled into mulch, according to a statement.

Southern Shores town manager Peter Rascoe said that that the town does not have an official program for natural tree recycling. The trees may be placed in the limb and branch piles for collection by Southern Shores, though wreaths will not be collected, according to information from Dare County.

Duck’s Waste Management will collect trees from residents Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 and Manteo residents should have the trees curbside by Jan. 10 and Jan. 15 for the town to collect.

Currituck County Manager Dan Scanlon explained that although the county has had a recycling program in the past, “We do not have a plan this year to utilize Christmas trees for dune growth and stabilization.”

Hyde County, according to Donnie Shumate, the county public information officer, does not have a program, but “I do think it is a great idea and will bring it up at our next meeting with the National Parks Service since they manage the beaches in Ocracoke.”

Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach has had a successful tree recycling program in place since the 1960s.

Paul Terry, park ranger with Fort Macon State Park, said they collect about 2,000 trees each year, and in the five years he’s been at the park, that number has been fairly consistent. The fort will wrap up collecting trees on Jan. 27.

Ranger Paul Branch explained that depending on the year and what the park’s needs are, they set aside times for individuals and groups to come help put out the trees.

“We use our own park staff, Boy Scouts, church groups, and groups of U.S. Marine and Coast Guard personnel. It is very labor intensive loading up and dragging trees out on the beach. It is so early we have not determined our needs for this year,” Branch added.

“The trees are placed in wind erosion areas to build up sand. The trees stop wind-blown sand and cause the sand to build up in and around the trees,” Branch said. “Eventually the trees will be completely covered, and more trees will be added over them in successive years to keep building up the sand. In this way, new sand dunes are created, and wind-damaged dunes are repaired.”

Terry added that the trees are usually placed in the “Sand dunes where erosion is taking place at a higher rate than normal, or where we want to encourage dunes to grow larger to protect important locations,” Terry said. “We will place the trees in these areas and they act much like a sand fence. As wind blows sand into the trees, the many branches will catch some of the sand making it accumulate around the tree. Trees that are placed in areas that see fairly constant wind can be buried so deep that you can’t move them by hand in just a week or two.”

Park Ranger Randy Newman explained that the trees also provide nutrients to the soil. As the trees decay, allowing beach grasses to claim the area quickly, the beach grasses form a root mass that helps rebuild the dunes.

He added that the park sometimes has areas used frequently by visitors, which can cause the loss of vegetation. The park places the trees in these areas to stop the wind from blowing the sand. The trees also provide cover for song birds that deposit their droppings in the soil, which contains seeds. “The tree again provide nutrients and hold some water, which cause the grasses to return. The tree decays and the final product is a vegetative dune.”

Terry said that, over the long term, this has been a very successful program. The fort has been contacted over the years by several different agencies working on copying the program.

“We started doing this in 1964 by the park staff getting trees out of the town dump to use for erosion control. It worked so well they continued doing this in successive years. Finally we needed so many we began calling for the public to bring in their old trees and it has become an annual event,” said Branch. “Other communities have contacted us over the years to get information on how to start Christmas tree recycling programs of their own.”

Newman said that they have to attempt to limit tree donation from just the local area. “We receive calls from all over eastern North Carolina where groups want to collect trees in their neighborhood and bring them to the park.”

For anyone wishing to donate a tree, Terry added, make sure to triple check your tree for ornaments. “Every year we get quite the collection of left-behind ornaments that have to be thrown away.”

Terry said that the fort is only collecting natural Christmas trees, and asks that folks not bring wreaths, yard brush or hurricane debris. He also wanted to make emphasize that the trees should be delivered intact, even if it’s cut in half or thirds. A bare trunk doesn’t work for catching sand and helping the dunes.

Pine Knoll Shores also collects natural Christmas trees to be used for dune health.

Sarah Williams with the town said that the natural trees can be dropped off at the parking lot of the Iron Steamer beach access, 350 Salter Path Road. Town staff will collect the trees to place on the beaches.

In Emerald Isle, natural Christmas trees placed curbside will be picked up as part of the weekly yard debris collection.

Oceanfront residents can place their natural Christmas trees in the dunes to promote sand accretion, and are welcome to use the discarded trees from the curbside as well, according to a release from the town. Residents are asked to be careful not to impede public access or vehicular access on the beach strand.

Folks also can deliver trees to the Eastern Ocean Regional Beach Access, 2810 Emerald Drive, until Jan. 11 to be used by the Surfrider Foundation’s Bogue Banks Chapter. The group will use the trees to help restore structure to the dunes in Emerald Isle.

Volunteers of all ages can join in the effort by meeting at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 11 at the Eastern Regional Beach Access.

In Surf City, natural trees with all the lights and ornaments removed can be brought to 214 N. New River Drive through Jan. 25 and stacked neatly beside the garage in rear parking lot. The trees will be used to promote dune system health and improvement, according to a post on the town’s Facebook. For more information, call 910-328-4131.

North Topsail Beach residents, property owners and visitors can bring their trees to the New Jeffries lot at 315 New River Inlet Road for three weeks following Christmas. Once the trees are collected, town staff and volunteers will place the trees along the oceanfront to facilitate and promote sand accumulation, according to a release from the town. Volunteers should contact Cameron Kuegel at clkuegel@gmail.com.

Pender County residents can bring the natural Christmas trees with all lights and ornaments removed to the Rocky Point Convenience Center at 16232 N.C. 210 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays or the Hampstead Convenience Center, 250 Transfer Station Road, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1-7 p.m. Sundays.

“We will accept Christmas trees through Jan. 15,” said Kenny Keel, Pender County Public Utilities director, in a statement. Christmas trees left in storm-related debris piles will not be accepted by the contractor.

Onslow County Solid Waste & Landfill will collect the trees, which will be used for mulch, for a small fee, or trees can be delivered to 415 Meadowview Road in Jacksonville from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary in Onslow County’s Hubert is accepting real Christmas trees without decoration to be used in the animal cages for insulation and enrichment, per the organization’s Facebook. Trees can be dropped off from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. any day of the week at the at the facility, 119 Doe Drive.

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune announced via Facebook that it will not be accepting recycled Christmas trees for Onslow Beach.

Surfrider Foundation Cape Fear Chapter has coordinated with Carolina Beach to rebuild dunes using natural Christmas trees. The annual project is set this year for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 26. Volunteers should bring a shovel, tape measure and scissors and meet at the Ocean Grill and Tiki Bar in Carolina Beach.

Cape Fear Surfrider Foundation has collected trees for the past five years and average about 100 a year, Kevin Piacenza, the organization’s chairman, told Coastal Review Online. Coming up on the program’s sixth year, he estimates the organization has placed 500-600 trees.

“Last year we did nearly 150 and we are expecting to increase that number this year to 200,” he said. Carolina Beach delivers the collected trees to the beach access.

Piacenza said that the organization relies on volunteers to bring a hammer and shovel.

“We had about 120 people last year and based on interest may have even more this year,” he said. “It’s popular with families.”

The volunteer will place the trees about 10 feet apart, just on the front slope of the dune field. Then, the tree is staked and tied off with twine, with the front third buried in the sand, he explained. The trees are angled to catch sand moving from north to south, because the northeast is most effective wind direction. Sea oats are planted in the late winter or early spring in rows along the line of trees.

“It’s really been very effective, and most of our work has remained in place despite the impact of northeasters and hurricanes,” he said, adding that the town and residents have been very appreciative.

Through the New Hanover County Environmental Management Department, in collaboration with the Wilmington Sanitation Department and Home Depot, residents can recycle their natural Christmas trees, with the lights and decorations removed, through Jan. 15.

“We want to provide residents who live in the unincorporated areas of the county, outside of city limits, with the option to recycle their live Christmas trees,” said Environmental Management Director Joe Suleyman in a statement. “They are biodegradable and we are able to recycle them into mulch or compost.”

Trees can be dropped off in Wilmington at Home Depot, 5511 Carolina Beach Road; Home Depot, 210 Eastwood Road; and New Hanover County Landfill, 5210 US Highway 421 North. The trees collected by the county will be used for mulch and compost, said Jessica Loeper, communications and outreach manager with the county.

If you know of a natural Christmas tree recycling program that should be added to this list, email the details to jennifera@nccoast.org.

The Christmas season is a time full of traditions, each with its own unique history. We decorate trees, sing carols, string lights, stuff stockings, give gifts, send cards, light luminarias and, of course, ignore the dreaded fruitcake. A few hundred years ago, candy canes were given to children prior to lengthy Christmas church celebrations to keep them quiet during the nativity services.

Near the end of the 19^th century, hunters participated in a popular Christmas tradition known as a “side hunt.” The hunters would establish teams or “sides” and go out into the woods and fields and blast away at anything that moves. The team that killed the most birds and animals was declared the victor. This unnecessary and wasteful practice alarmed many conservations, biologist and nature lovers.

At this time, a fledgling Audubon Society was beginning to spread its wings. In 1900, one of its officers and members, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, came up with a great idea. In a magazine he published called Bird-Lore, Chapman suggested “a new kind of Christmas side hunt, in the form of a Christmas bird-census.” This would be a “hunt” to count bird species and numbers rather than a meaningless slaughter. On Christmas Day, 1900, 27 people hiked the countryside and counted 18,500 individual birds representing 89 species. Twenty-five count areas were canvassed in 13 states and two Canadian provinces. More than 100 years later, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count is still going strong.

Since the original bird count, the protocol for the surveys has pretty much remained the same. Volunteer birders, from seasoned academic ornithologist to greenhorns, search the forests, fields, beaches, lakes, oceans and rivers for anything that flies. The search, or “count” area, is a circle 15 miles in diameter from a center point. This area must be searched on one chosen day only, midnight to midnight, during Dec. 14 through Jan. 5. The birds must be visually identified or recognized by their song or calls. Any bird seen outside the count circle cannot be included on the tally sheet.

The birding community really gets up for this. Prior to their count day, they will conduct practice runs, scouting the areas that will hopefully produce the most bird species or an unusual sighting, possibly a snowy owl! Like the side hunters of old, the birders compete for bragging rights for the most species in a count circle or the most species identified by an individual. Anytime a count area can add a new species to their circle it is a cause for celebration. The distribution of the laurels is, however, usually decided by the weather leading up to and during the count day. Wind, rain, snow, temperature, hurricanes, drought and even wildfires play a role on the distribution of birds.

In 2018, there were close to 2,600 count circles in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Pacific Islands and the Caribbean. Nearly 77,000 people counted close to 60 million birds representing 2,673 species. In North Carolina, this included 51 count areas counting over a million birds of 224 different species. The Morehead City and Wilmington count areas tied with the highest number of species identified, with each circle counting 164 species.

This year will be the 119^th Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Walker Golder, director of the National Audubon Society’s Atlantic Flyway Coast Strategy, states that the “Christmas Bird Count is a tradition for birders across North Carolina and North America, and an exciting time for birding.  As the longest-running bird census in North America, the data from the Christmas Bird Count provides a snapshot of winter birds and enables conservation scientists to study the long-term status and trends in bird populations.”

The Audubon count may also be the nation’s, if not the world’s, longest-active, community-based science research project. For many of the people participating in the bird count, it is just a good excuse to get outdoors and enjoy a day of recreation. However, to scientists, biologists and conservationists, this is serious data that has been piling up year after year. Many researchers have been sifting through this treasure trove of data, resulting in hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and articles. Articles written from this information include broad-ranging topics related to the population and distribution of birds. The data has also been narrowed down to study specific issues such as the effects of the West Nile virus on loggerhead shrikes.

More recently, the Christmas count reports, along with other studies, have contributed greatly in the study of the shifts in winter ranges of birds due to climate change; habitat protection strategies; how birds respond to habitat recovery; and the overall health of individual bird species.

As the Christmas bird count for 2018 is underway I am reminded of the Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The composer of this carol must have been a bird lover, since six, and perhaps even seven, of the gifts are birds.

In North Carolina, I think we have an equal substitute for each bird to include them in the Christmas count. One “partridge in a pear tree” can be a ruffed grouse, since the old-timers refer to a grouse as a partridge. Two mourning doves will be suitable for “turtle doves.” “Three French hens,” that’s a tough one, but a wild turkey might be as close to a French hen as we can get. “Four calling birds” will be black birds since the early versions of the carol reference “collie” or “colly” birds, which means black. Now bear with me, the “five golden rings” may not actually be a reference to jewelry. Some interpretations of the song think the rings refer to the ring-necked pheasant. The “six geese a-laying” is an easy one, as we can pick from a Canada, cackling or snow goose. Finally, with the “seven swans a-swimming,” we have our choice of tundra or trumpeter swans.

Take Part in the Count

• Get involved and be part of this amazing citizen-science endeavor. To locate an active Christmas Bird Count circle in your area check out Audubon’s interactive map.
• Learn more about the Audubon Society

NEW HANOVER COUNTY – One North Carolina county is offering residents a place to drop off their broken and burned-out holiday lights.

New Hanover County’s Public Library and Environmental Management Department are partnering with Keep New Hanover Beautiful for a second year to recycle holiday lights.

Residents can bring unusable lights to locations around the county to be recycled, with proceeds benefiting Keep New Hanover Beautiful, from Wednesday to Jan. 4, 2019. Lights can be recycled at all four New Hanover County Public Library locations, the county’s mobile HazWagon and Household Hazardous Waste Facility, and the Wrightsville Beach Recycling Center. Each location will have a large blue recycling cart designated for lights.

“We collected more than 1,860 pounds of holiday lights in our first year, and I call that a success,” said Environmental Management Director Joe Suleyman in a statement. “We hope even more residents take advantage of this program in our second year, so we can keep even more holiday lights out of the landfill.”

Learn more

• Holiday Lights Recycling Program

If you listed the definitive pies of North Carolina, you would surely start with sweet potato. Pecan might be next, or take top billing, depending on your personal taste. Scuppernong grape, maybe even grape hull pie, deserves a place, as do blueberry and fresh strawberry.

Along the state’s shore, you’d add one more pie, as Jessie Lee Babb Dominique made clear to me years ago when we sat down to talk about her Christmas memories growing up on Portsmouth Island.

Born in the late 1920s and living on Portsmouth until the early 1940s, Dominique remembered what she called “cream pies” playing a huge role on the holiday table. She didn’t mean coconut cream pie or the famous Down East lemon cream pie in a Ritz cracker crust.

Dominique described a custard pie filling in which the baker could fruit if desired. Cream pies were prized among the many desserts Dominique’s single Aunt Elma “Addie” Dixon baked in a kerosene stove for Christmas.

“Mama would say, ‘Addie, why are you making all those pies and cakes? There’s nobody but you.’ And Addie would say, ‘Well, I want to make sure if somebody comes in that I’ll have it so I can give ’em a piece of it,” Dominique said.

“And this is why they made so many. Because people did visit.”

Dominique has since passed away. Every year, at Christmastime, I envision the cream pies she so lovingly spoke about.

North Carolina’s bygone barrier island communities didn’t invent cream pies. The desserts started with coastal natives’ British ancestors. The Brits had a penchant for puddings that cooks eventually began baking in pastry-lined pans. That happened occasionally in 1600s and more frequently by the 1700s.

Canned evaporated milk set the stage for American cream pies in the first half of the 20^th century. Old-fashioned custard pies remain cherished recipes throughout the southern United States.

Dating to the mid-1800s, canned milk fueled Union soldiers during the Civil War. By the late 1800s, the public could buy it, too. The well-known Carnation brand of evaporated milk brand debuted in 1899, but evaporated milk was not widely available until the 1920s.

Shelf-stable and far richer-tasting than milk, canned milk was a dream come true for early 20^th century households without refrigeration.

In 1931, the popular Borden Co. offered homemakers $25 for their original recipes using Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, which is evaporated milk thickened with sugar. More than 80,000 recipes were submitted, the company reports.

Canned milk could be transported by boat to the North Carolina barrier islands and stored for long periods. Evaporated milk lands in quite a few popular coastal Carolina creamy pie recipes, including raisin pie and that Down East lemon pie. Canned milk is also in pineapple pie, another Portsmouth Island holiday favorite that Dominique pointed out. The filling contains canned crushed pineapple stirred into egg yolks, sugar, butter and evaporated milk.

A basic cream filling like the one that goes into pineapple pie is offered by cook Pat Lane in “Island Born and Bred,” a community cookbook collection of Harkers Island recipes, lore and history compiled in the late 1980s by the Harkers Island United Methodist Women. Lane suggests adding either grated lemon zest, coconut or crushed pineapple to the filling.

Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center executive director Karen Willis Amspacher’s old-fashioned egg custard pie recipe requires a similar list of ingredients, minus the fruit.

Cream pies weren’t just for holiday time. Another recipe in the book is akin to a peach version of Dominique’s family’s cream pies. Flour and evaporated milk are heated together and then mixed with fresh peaches, sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla.

Dominique clearly recalled the desserts in screened cool houses. Island residents used the little house-shape structures to cool or keep foods cool. How anyone walking by resisted nabbing a slice pie could well be one of the greatest mysteries of Portsmouth Island.

Basic Cream Pie Filling

2 cups sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 egg yolks, beaten

3 cups evaporated milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ stick margarine

In the top of a double boiler, stir together sugar and flour well blended. Add egg yolks. Pour in milk and mix well. At this point, you may add the zest of 2 lemons, a 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple drained or 3 cups of sliced fresh peaches. Add vanilla and margarine. Place on top of double boiler and cook over low heat until thickened. Divide filling between two 9-inch baked pie crusts. Cool in the refrigerator for several hours before serving. Makes 16 servings.

Source: Based on a recipe in “Island Born and Bred” (Harkers Island United Methodist Women, 1987)

On New Year’s Day 1802, President Thomas Jefferson, just 10 months in office, received a grand gift of support from the town of Cheshire, Mass. It was a cheese that weighed 1,235 pounds.

Stories of its 13-foot circumference and how it was rolled across the White House lawn to Jefferson’s waiting arms has caused some interpreters of history to bill that “Cheshire Mammoth Cheese” America’s first cheese ball.

The declaration is one Southerners know to be absolutely wrong.

It’s not just that the big cheese was likely a wheel of something like cheddar painted red rather than the ball of spreadable cheese coated in chopped pecans that Southerners claim to be all their own. The cheese ball’s fabled Southern pedigree is not by virtue of true history or special recipes but by the kindness and generosity with which the globes are shared.

Cheese balls became a Biro family favorite when the kindly lady who lived next door gave us one in the early 1970s. Hers was a store-bought, port wine cheddar number rolled in chopped pecans, a perennial favorite across North Carolina’s coastal plain. My European parents, not long on the North Carolina coast by way of New Jersey, had never seen anything like the neon-orange round streaked raspberry red.

From that first bite on a Ritz cracker forward, a Christmas cheese ball was part of our holiday tradition. As a teenager, I became the family cheese ball maker. Even now, when gourmets and top chefs ridicule the cheese ball as a Velveeta generation relic, I brave bringing one to even the most foodie-centric parties. Invariably, at least one person shares a happy memory about their own holiday cheese ball experiences, and a few people request the recipe. No matter their disco-era reputation, cheese balls taste good.

Cheeses soft enough to spread date back at least 5,000 years, but the cheese balls we know down South started, I think, with British potted cheeses and the German’s love of soft white cheeses. In the late 1800s, tavern owners in America’s Midwest and upper South mashed together one or more cheeses into paste with cream, seasonings, beer or wine, vegetables and nuts. They laid out these so-called “crock cheeses” on the bar for patrons to enjoy.

Mass-produced cream cheese arrived around 1873. By 1918, Florence Kreisler Greenbaum’s “Jewish Cook Book” (Bloch Publishing, New York) included a cheese ball recipe calling for one cake of Neufchatel cheese, an equal portion of butter, a tablespoon of cream, a dash of salt and six dashes of Tabasco sauce. New York-based Greenbaum suggested forming one large ball or several small ones and rolling them in chopped pecans.

Cheese ball recipes are easy compared to fussier holiday favorites like cookies. Still, they are extravagant enough that they qualified as once-a-year indulgences in days past down South. Before household refrigeration arrived, soft cheeses would not hold for long. Nuts were either expensive to buy or time-consuming to pick from their shells. To share such special ingredients spiked with a fine port amounted to an exceptional symbol of love, friendship and good will.

My cheese ball recipes vary year to year, but the one I fall back on most often honors the cheese ball that hooked my family all those years ago. Port wine cheese spreads available at the supermarket don’t compare to the dried cherries I soak in good-quality port wine and then fold into a little cream cheese and lots of extra-sharp cheddar. Should anyone imply that my recipe is neither authentic nor Southern, I’ll pass him or her a generous portion of that cheese ball on a Ritz cracker and suggest they hush their mouth.

Port Cherry Cheese Ball

1 cup whole dried cherries or cranberries

¼ cup good quality port wine

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

5 cups shredded extra-sharp orange cheddar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons good quality port wine

4 cups coarsely chopped toasted pecans

Place cherries or cranberries in a small bowl. Pour port over cherries or cranberries. Soak, stirring occasionally for several hours or overnight until the cherries have absorbed the port. The cherries should be sticky. Coarsely chop cherries and set aside.

Place cream cheese and cheddar cheese in a large, heavy bowl or the bowl of a stand-up mixer. Use a sturdy wooden spoon or the mixer’s paddle attachment, with mixer set on medium speed, to blend cheeses until well combined. When the mixture is smooth and pale orange, add chili powder and Cajun seasoning and blend well again. Gently fold in cherries and their juices plus 2 tablespoons of port wine using a sturdy wooden spoon. Do not use the mixer for this step. Cover the bowl and place cheese mixture in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Spread pecans on a large board. Using a large serving spoon, scoop one-third of the cheese mixture onto the pecans. Using your hands, roll the cheese in the nuts, forming a ball, until cheese is coated. Shape the cheese into a ball and place in a covered container or wrap in plastic. Place on a flat surface in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Repeat with remaining cheese mixture.

Makes three 5-inch cheese balls, each providing 8 to 10 servings.

Source: Liz Biro

NEWPORT – Never in her wildest imagination did Kim Nead think the little piece of land she and her Marine husband, Russell, bought would turn into such a bountiful blessing for them and countless others.

Back in 2006, she and Russell took ownership of six acres outside this Carteret County town.  For starters, a small shelter was erected, and they were given a goat. Then came gifts of chickens. Fast forward 10 years … to where The Barnyard is now home to more goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, cows, rabbits, a donkey and turkeys.  And it’s a place where all sorts of memories are being made.

In 2010, Kim enrolled in an entrepreneur class at Carteret Community College. She pitched her small farm idea and vision to the class, got lots of encouragement to forge ahead and soon afterwards did just that, becoming a member of the ever-growing N.C. Agritourism Networking Association and the rest became the genesis of the farm’s history.

As I set out on my quest to simply find a local source for a farm-raised turkey to serve during the holidays, I came across this little farm, tucked down a short path, with a story that became much bigger than just a turkey for the table.

It was late afternoon, second feeding time of the day, on a dreary rainy day when Nead graciously welcomed me. Sitting at one of the colorful picnic tables, we chatted underneath the event pavilion while Russ busied about us, feeding up all their critters. Birds gobbled and clucked around us, while Abraham the donkey brayed behind the shelter. Mallard and Pekin ducks waddled about, cows mooed and pigs squealed. The goats were most amusing, several climbing high on their surroundings, “crying” like babies as if saying, “Hey, over here, look at us!”

But my heart melted when I met Esau. This little red Angus calf nudged me when I first walked up, purely by accident. Because, you see, Esau is both blind and deaf. He was adopted by the Neads and is a darling of the farm. While Nead and I talked, Esau had the entirety of one of her hands in his mouth, slobbering profusely, as if suckling from his mama.

Having been raised on and around farms, I’ve always had a special love for cows. I love to hear them, watch, smell and pet them. I’ve even ridden a cow or two in my youth. So it didn’t take much for Esau to quickly capture my attention.

I asked if he was a “pet,” but Nead said their animals are raised for food as was to become plight of little, but soon-to-be-big, Esau.

“We haven’t had to buy meat or eggs in 10 years,” she said. “Our farm feeds us and continues to grow into a food source for others around our community too.”

As our conversation continued, I found so much more at The Barnyard than just turkeys. What I found is a couple with such a kind spirit of giving. Now retired, Russell served in the Marines for 22 years as an air wing mechanic. His time was mostly spent at nearby Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, but he also completed a few tours in Japan. Meanwhile, Kim held down the home front, raising their three children, all grown and now flown the coop, so to speak.

Russ grew up on a dairy farm in Florida, but Kim’s experience in farming was nonexistent, with exception to the few pet horses and rabbits they had over the years. Amber, their daughter and now a Havelock resident, is now the farm’s social media manager but she enjoyed showing animals in her youth. These days, The Barnyard has a horse, Traveler, who entertains there and travels about to events and birthday parties.

The farm also offers horseback riding lessons. As the afternoon turned into a dark and dreary wet evening, a warm glow came about Kim as she started sharing tales of some of their riding students and something near and dear to her heart. She and Russ donate time to the Carteret County Autism Society and hold events where portions of the ticket sales benefit the society.

“I am just so amazed when I see a child come here, and somehow, the animals change their lives,” she said. “I have seen children start speaking while on the back of a horse. One child went from not speaking, to showing goats. They just seem to blossom physically as they ride the horses and play with the chicks.”

She went on to tell me about their volunteer work with the Newport Road Runner 4-H Club and had, just the week before my visit, taken the kids to Raleigh to set up their exhibit at the N.C. State Fair.  The club also participates in Cookies for The Troops, works with Veteran’s Affairs and participates in the Veterans Day parade, the Newport Christmas parade and many agricultural events. They have “Ag Days” at their farm, which are open to the public as fun, educational experiences for families.

The Barnyard is also mobile. In addition to holding birthday parties and year-round seasonal events on the farm, the Neads love taking some of the animals out and about to teach new generations to appreciate where their food comes from and how it gets to the table. Recently, they again were at the Old Beaufort Farmers’ Market with their petting zoo. More family fun can be had during summertime at Friday movie nights and day camps. More than 600 friends of the farm recently enjoyed their annual Fall Festival, and their Winter Wonderland Tours are now underway, with Russ as Santa.

Thanksgiving and Christmas, though, are turkey time. Turkey poults, or chicks, come to The Barnyard at just two or three days old from here in North Carolina.

“Our chicks have been here with us since late spring and are ready,” explained Kim. “We have turkeys in a variety of sizes.”

Their birds are fed a nutritious grain diet while assisting with pest management by grazing on all sorts of insects and bugs there on the farm.

The Neads raise a couple of different breeds of turkeys.  They taste the same, but grow to different sizes. Their Broad Breasted Bronze birds dress out to about 15-25 pounds, while the Domestic Black and Golds dress out somewhat smaller, around eight pounds.

“We take orders in advance until our annual supply is sold out,” Kim said. “The weekend before Thanksgiving, we process the birds. We allow volunteers to come help if they would like to be a part of that.”

As with most turkeys, brining the bird before cooking is recommended. This is a process that tenderizes while making for a really juicy turkey. Many store-bought birds have been injected but you won’t find that with a bird from The Barnyard.

“For those who want something besides turkey, we can have a duck dressed for them with 48-hour notice, and our freezers are stocked with lamb (limited availability), goat meat (mostly in spring), beef and pork coming soon,” Kim added.

Not all the farm animals are raised for eating. “Our chickens provide us and customers with farm fresh eggs, and they too, help with pest management by eating bugs but are not processed for meat,” Jim said. “Our rabbits are considered domestic and although we do not raise them for consumption, we do sell their babies.”

Other products the farm produces are wool from their lambs, manure, some compost and one group comes to harvest gumballs for crafting.

A few turkeys were still available at this posting. How fun it will be to let your guests know their juicy brined turkey came from just down the road this year, while you can feel great knowing you are supporting a local, N.C. coastal, family farm.

Visit with Santa at The Barnyard today and Saturday. Enjoy the barnyard animals and have some warm hot chocolate too.  Find all the details on their website and Facebook page.

Round out your holiday meal with fresh produce from the family-owned and operated Garner Farm also in Newport. Cabbage, collards, cabbage collards, sweet potatoes and more are available depending on the weather.

And also in Newport, pick up fresh pecans for your pies and cakes at the Willis Farm, owned and operated by Alan and Rodney Willis.

 Learn More

• The Barnyard website and Facebook page
• Garner Farms
• Willis Farm
• Olde Beaufort Farmers’ Market
• Newport Road Runners 4-H Club
• N.C. Agritourism Networking Association

On Jan. 3, Emerald Isle resident Jim Craig will be trampling around out-doors, somewhere in the vicinity of Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville, looking for birds and probably snapping photos of some of the ones he sees.

Those are not, by any means, unusual pastimes for Craig, a geology professor emeritus at Virginia Tech University and an avid amateur ornithologist who writes the weekly “Notes from Nature” column for the Tideland News, a weekly newspaper in Swansboro. But on that particular Thursday, Craig will be part of a much bigger picture: He’ll not only be viewing and photographing his avian friends and acquaintances, he’ll also be counting them as part of the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count.

Walker Golder

Jim Craig

According to Walker Golder, deputy state director for Audubon North Carolina, thousands of others will be involved in the count, which runs from Friday through Jan. 5 at various locations throughout the state, the nation and much of the world.

“It’s a lot of fun, a great social event and yet it’s very important,” Golder said. “The Christmas Bird Count is one of the longest-running bird monitoring programs in the world. It’s been going on since 1900. And what it does is give us a snapshot of the diversity and abundance of birds in specific areas and in the country.”

The first counts in North Carolina will begin Friday in some locations, and will get under way in the coastal region on Saturday in Kitty Hawk and Sunday in Morehead City. Other coastal counts are scheduled for Dec. 27 at Cape Hatteras, Dec. 29 at Lake Mattamuskeet, Dec. 30 on Portsmouth Island, Dec. 31 on Ocracoke Island, Jan 4 in Southport and Bald Head Island and Jan. 5 in Wilmington.

If counting birds and playing a key role in understanding the trends in the world of our beautiful feathered friends are things you’ve always wanted to do but have put off, there’s no excuse this year: For the first time in decades, there’s no $5 fee to participate in the Christmas count. Click here to find a count in your area and to sign up. Either call the leader or click on the email address to send a message.

Craig has been involved in the bird count for close to 30 years, the first 24 in Blacksburg, Va., where he was a professor at Virginia Tech, and the last three on the Crystal Coast.

“It gives you a chance to see birds you might normally see, in places you might not normally go,” said Craig, who added that many geolo-gists, by nature, also become birders. “You expect to see the normal ducks and woodpeckers and nuthatches. But you almost always see something unexpected.

“For example, two years ago, just as I was finishing up, I saw a wood-cock. I hadn’t seen one in 15 or 20 years. And there’s a pretty good chance to see eagles and ospreys and harriers (both the military and the avian versions of the last two).”

The count in Morehead City last year was typical. Thirty-six people par-ticipated on a day when the temperature ranged from 38 to 44 de-grees. Those intrepid counters put in 131 hours and identified 156 species.

The most numerous bird was – no surprise – the starling, at 1,884, and the ubiquitous ring-billed gull was next, at 1,637. There were nine bald eagles, three piping plovers and zero, not one, black skimmer, despite it being the namesake for a street in Emerald Isle. Nor was there a par-tridge, in a pear tree or elsewhere.

Common grackle

Little blue heron

Eastern meadowlark

Field sparrow

Common tern Birds in Trouble These birds are either permanent residents of the N.C. coast or are common winter or summer visitors. They are also on the National Audubon Society’s list of Common Birds in Decline. The annual Christmas Bird Counts and other data show that the 20 birds on the national  list lost at least half their populations in just four decades. Some species nose-dived as much as 80 percent. The findings point to serious problems with both local habitats and national environmental trends.

The numbers, Golder said, are considered accurate, both within indi-vidual count circles and in total, and the count is well-respected; many count leaders do it year after year, bringing a high degree of dedication and professionalism to a task that results in data that are useful to scientists and, on occasion, to public policy-makers. The counts have influenced Congressional decisions.

“This is not just about counting birds,” Dr. Gary Langham, Audubon’s chief scientist, emphasized in a news release about this year’s count. “Data from the Audubon Christmas Bird Count are at the heart of hun-dreds peer-reviewed scientific studies and inform decisions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of the Interior, and the EPA.

“Because birds are early indicators of environmental threats to habitats we share, this is a vital survey of North America and, increasingly, the Western Hemisphere.”

Indeed, Golder said, one thing that experts are watching closely is whether global climate change will affect the ranges of birds. The key is that the count looks at the same areas each year, and the data set is very long.

“I have not analyzed the data for that myself, but I know there are peo-ple who are looking specifically for shifts related to climate change,” he said.

It does appear, he said, that more hummingbirds are staying in North Carolina through the winter.

Another noticeable trend, he said, is an increase in the number of bald eagles in the area. That mirrors the recovery of the bird, the very sym-bol of the nation, which had been on the Endangered Species List until 2007.

Another change in recent years, Golder said, has been a significant in-crease in counts of the Eurasian collared dove. The collared dove was introduced into the Bahamas in the 1970s and spread from there to Florida in the early 1980s. It’s now being seen all the way west to Cali-fornia and as far north as the Great Lakes, Nova Scotia and Alaska.

Birds, of course, are marvelously adaptive; the starling, among the most numerous species in America, is itself an invasive species, from Europe.

Audubon officials say the Christmas count also has helped reveal seri-ous declines in some species, including the Northern Bobwhite quail, and has aided in the comeback of some waterfowl, as conservation measures began or intensified after poor numbers in counts.

Craig, like Golder, said that the counts involve everyone from newbies, who know next to nothing about birding and might not recognize a common bluebird, to experts like John Fussell, an author of a definitive bird guide who leads the count in Morehead City. It’s serious science all the same, Craig said.

“It’s true that it’s a one-day snapshot, but it’s a snapshot that has been taken for 112 years now,” he said. “When you line up all of those ‘snap-shots’ of more or less the same places … you are able to get a pretty clear picture of a lot of things, like species that are on the increase or in decline.

“It’s ‘flawed’ science – all science is flawed – but it does a lot to increase our understanding of birds and habitat,” Craig continued.

The Christmas count, Craig said, also brings in new birders each year, and they become new “citizen-scientists” who become dedicated stakeholders with personal investments in preserving and protecting not just birds, but the natural habitats of the region. They learn quickly.

Golder said it’s not too late to get involved, as count circle leaders will accept volunteers literally until the last minute. Those who want to participate in the count do not need any training or any special skills. Nor do they have to be particularly physically fit.

“It can be as easy as a walk down the beach,” he said. “Or you could be in the marsh or the forest, or in the urban setting. There will be people on the water in boats, inshore and in the near-shore ocean.”

Generally, there’s something for everybody, and the count leader will work to make sure a person is assigned to an area he is capable of handling comfortably.

There are also safeguards, Golder said, to ensure the counts are as ac-curate as possible. The count leader looks at all the data before turning it in and will question anything that looks out of the ordinary. For example, if someone in Carteret County noted 50 black skimmers when there had been none the previous year, that would raise a flag. So would a precipitous decline in a common species or a sudden appearance of a species far out of its normal range. Once the count leader turns in his or her report, that data is similarly reviewed on the station and national levels.

All of the data is publicly available on the Audubon website, and is used daily by countless researchers, including those in government.

In 2007, the data were instrumental in the development of two Audubon State of the Birds Reports: Common Birds in Decline, which revealed that some of America’s most beloved and familiar birds have taken a nosedive over the past 40 years; and WatchList 2007, which identified 178 rare species in the continental U.S. and 39 in Hawaii that are imperiled.