Graceful Entrance After Arthur
Delayed by a few days due to Hurricane Arthur, Graceful Bakery opened Monday, July 7, 2014. It is located on Back Rd. adjacent to the Back Porch restaurant. Welcome Graceful Bakery baker/proprietor Lauren Strohl.
Lauren Strohl and Graceful Bakery
Delayed by a few days due to Hurricane Arthur, Graceful Bakery opened today (Monday, July 7 2014). It is located on Back Rd. adjacent to the Back Porch restaurant. Welcome Graceful Bakery baker/proprietor Lauren Strohl.
Ces gens sur l’île d’Ocracoke
Par Tatiana Orozco-Rodriguez
Pour la plupart des gens, Ocracoke évoque des images de vacances ensoleillées, de pieds nus dans le sable tiède, de gens téméraires faisant des pirouettes sur un kite ou bien d’une table garnie de fruits de mers avec des gens qui placotent autour d’une bonne bière.
Il est facile pour moi d’imaginer l’île d’Ocracoke telle qu’elle vient d’être décrite même si j’ai passé 4 jours sous une pluie torrentielle lors de mon séjour au début du mois d’août. Eh oui ! Figurez-vous qu’en fait je n’ai profité que de quelques heures de soleil pendant la traversée en ferry à partir de Swan Quarter. Le reste du temps, il a plu abondamment ce qui nous a limité sur la panoplie d’activités offertes sur cette charmante île. Un des souvenirs que je garde d’Ocracoke c’est de m’endormir au son de la pluie tombante et des croassements de grenouilles. Ces deux sons, le premier apaisant et l’autre infernal, se mélangeaient dans une même mélodie jusque dans mes rêves avant de sombrer dans les bras de Morphée.
Vous demandez-vous comment je me suis retrouvée sur cette île de l’Atlantique ? Un de mes amis, Richard, avait conduit son Eurovan en traînant son catamaran Prindle afin de faire de la voile tout l’été. Il m’invita à aller le rejoindre avec un autre ami en nous disant que c’était un coin de paradis perdu. Là-dessus je suis complètement d’accord, même si nous n’avons pas connu la véritable Ocracoke ensoleillée.
Ne vous méprenez pas cependant ! Même si le soleil n’était pas au rendez-vous, je dois vous avouer que j’ai passé des journées inoubliables. Des journées à me promener en vélo tandem dans la ville sous la pluie avec des gens de tous les coins des États-Unis. Une de mes soirées préférées est quand nous sommes partis à la recherche de plancton phosphorescent. Nous avons pris nos bicyclettes rouillées et nous avons pédalé sous la lumière seule des étoiles et de la lune. Nous avons traversé un nuage de lucioles pour terminer à la plage à côté de l’aéroport. Nous avons marché jusqu’à la plage pour y trouver…absolument rien ! Le plancton n’était pas de la partie mais nous avons trouvé plusieurs crabes qui ont bien voulu nous divertir quelques instants.
Je n’oublierai pas non plus nos soirées passées au DAJIO ou au Gaffers à écouter de la musique live et à manger des pizzas faites sur mesure. Nous avons aussi réussi à faire un peu de catamaran sur une mer relativement calme. Nous sommes allés visiter quelques musés et galeries d’art quand les journées se faisaient trop capricieuses. Nous avons goûté à l’excellent pain artisanal de la boulangère vendu dans le Community Store. Nous avons passé un après-midi dans le local de la radio communautaire (WOVV, en ligne à wovv.org) à écouter une rediffusion de l’émission francophone à laquelle mon ami québécois a participé et partagé ses chansons préférées issues de notre province avec Peter Vankevich, un bon ami du Québec.
Pour moi, c’est définitivement les gens que nous avons rencontrées qui ont fait la différence. C’est ces gens sur Ocracoke qui ont rendu la pluie agréable et euphorisante. La bonté et la générosité de toutes les personnes que j’ai connues sont les souvenirs qui resteront gravés dans ma mémoire.
Est-ce que j’y retournerais ? Bien sûr ! Mais je regarderais la météo avant cette fois !
Ocracoke soap: homemade, gentle, restorative
July 2014
Text and photos by Ruth Fordon
Among the many artisans sharing Ocracoke Island, we are fortunate to have two who make soap. Milk Street Soap and Andromeda Soap follow the tradition of value-added, pure natural ingredient products made and sold locally.
Inspired by history and fueled by determination, Kim and Roger Meacham have big plans for their fledgling Milk Street Soap.
It started as an experiment to treat their young son’s eczema.
“I thought I would try my luck at a restorative, gentle homemade soap,” Kim explains. “Much to our delight it worked wonders.”
Then soap-making became a hobby and lots of recipes were tried, passed around at parties and wrapped for holiday gifts. Now, after years of research and testing, the Meachams have developed a winning formula for bars of nurturing soap that has grown into a well-tooled business in a steep growth curve.
The aromatherapy of the soap is very appealing and each bar is uniquely crafted for nurturance of the skin using a variety of organic premium oils, including olive and castor bean, and shea butter. Organic essential oil blends are combined to produce healing and rejuvenative effects.
Kim arrives in her soap studio every morning at 3:30 a.m. and works until it’s time to wake the children and begin their home-school program. Around 3 p.m. there is a break and time for another round of work in the studio before an evening shift at Dajio restaurant.
This venture is about more than just making soap.
“We have always wanted to make a difference and contribute to good community, good friends and the greater good,” Kim says. “Our soaps are meticulously and methodically created for the environment and people. We strive for sustainability, conscientious manufacturing, post-use water quality, rain forest protection, animal care, fair trade wage respect and general good stewardship of the planet.”
Roger also has a demanding work schedule outside their home. Working together as a team is in their business plan and they hope to be able to sustain themselves entirely from their business in a few years. Goals for the future include a website.
Wonder where Milk Street is located? Philadelphia is the answer, statesmen Benjamin Franklin, also a soap maker lived his adult life there and each Milk Street soap package includes a wise and common sense quote from Ben.
Milk Street Soaps are available at: Ocracoke Coffee Co., Salt Creek Studio, Bella Fiore Pottery, Halo Hair Studio, Black Schooner Nautical Shop, Down Creek Gallery, the Community Store and the Variety Store.
Andromeda Soap
Looking for something he could do on his own time, Ocracoke resident Frank Brown bought the already-established small business “Andromeda Soap,” improved the formulas and started soap making. Making soap offers a “good time to sit back and contemplate things,” according to Frank who has now been making and selling Andromeda soap for 13 years. “I do it by myself in the quiet.”
There is more quiet and time since he and his wife, Jude, retired the island hemp shop “Natural Selections” last December. Frank is committed to making a natural product using pure essential oils, all-natural preservatives and hemp seed oil as an ingredient in every bar of soap. There are 17 different fragrance combinations available. Exfoliates added include oatmeal, ground clove, clays and barley grass.
Using the old net house behind his home, he can make 80 bars of soap in one batch and last year sold a total of 2,600 bars at his local retail shop, the Village Craftsmen, the KDH Gallery in Kitty Hawk and online at his website ocracokeislandhemp.com.
Twenty percent of the fragrance combinations I make account for 80 percent of what I sell,” reports Frank noting that lavender, patchouli and clove seem to be the favorites. “I make as much as I can handle and sell all of it.” This year 3,000 bars is his goal.
Frank has a lot of repeat customers.
“Their comments to me are great and very rewarding,” he says. “It’s nice to make a product people enjoy and is healthful for them.”
Our skin is the largest and fastest growing organ in the human body. Nourishing and rejuvenative skin care is a primary factor in physical health.
Ocracoke baseball teams have great season, await completion of their own ball field
July 2014
By Ruth Fordon
Ocracoke baseball fever has returned! More teams and broader horizons fuel the enthusiasm of coaches, players and families. Coach Vince O’Neal talked about highlights of the season while feeding balls into the new pitching machine just donated at the Ocracoke School. “After four years, it is like we are jumping up to the major leagues now, starting from playing in Keith McDermott’s yard to now being part of the Hatteras Island Babe Ruth and Outer Banks Cal Ripken leagues,” he said.
Teams start young and are all co-ed. With 28 children the T-ball team of four to six year olds, coached by Matt Devan, Jason Wells, Adam Burleson and O’Neal, is the largest. They play no games against other teams. Rather, they learn about the game, equipment, how to play together and build basic skills. he undefeated Blue Claws, ages 7 to 9, playing in the Hatteras Island Babe Ruth League, are with Coaches David Scott Esham, Jason Elicker, Ed Fuller, Newt Sharber and Kelley Shinn. They have won 10 out of 10 games this season with eight new players.
According to Blue Claw player, Daymon Esham their wins can be attributed to their coaches. “It’s the kids,” David Scott (Daymon’s dad) corrects. “They are learning to focus, to watch and move their feet to the ball and get it in their glove.” “They are learning sportsmanship, being a team and they get really, really close,” notes Shinn, whose son Silas plays for the Blue Claws. “The social skills are huge.”
The Raptors also in the Hatteras Island league are 10- to 12-year-olds coached by Tyler Gilbert, Ernie Doshier, Roger Meacham and Jarett Werley with a 6-4 record this year. When asked about the challenges facing this age group, Gilbert said, “Translating practicing in a yard to a full size field—there are a lot of timing issues.” They also practice a lot of hitting, throwing and catching skills. “In tournament play during the last week of their season, they had parents on the edge of their seats,” says Darlene Styron Doshier, parent to Raptor player Alan. The team lost its groove until the last inning before winning 10-9 against the Hatteras Thunder.
During the academic year, the Ocracoke school middle school grades 7 to 9 also play as the Dolphins coached by Bill Cole and Vince O’Neal. Along with Brian Samick and Doug Eifert, O’Neal also coaches the 13- to 15-year-old team of 12 kids playing in the Outer Banks Cal Ripken League. Competing against four teams from Dare County, they play on the Manteo, Hatteras and Kill Devil Hills ball fields.
Sponsored by the Ocracoke Variety Store, this is their first year playing in the Outer Banks League. This group comprises most of the original 10- to 12-year-old Raptor baseball team that started play four years ago in the Hatteras Island Babe Ruth League. They continue to pave the way for future generations of kids on the island and will be a part of the first Ocracoke High School team.
“Next year we will have true home games on our own baseball field at Ocracoke Community Park,” continues O’Neal. “We hope to be playing on it by early fall of this year.” The park is being built at the end of Maurice Ballance Road.
Parents who make the field trips to games with their children are looking forward to less ferry and travel time, especially for the younger children on school nights. It has taken a great deal of dedication from all to practice almost every day plus travel to games.
Ocracoke’s commitment to the game of baseball is unwavering. “I never played baseball as a youth,” Esham said. “Maybe some softball and that was it.” “In the 70s and 80s, we played softball on the beach or wherever we could,” O’Neal added. When the Ocracoke Youth Center joined the Hatteras Island Cal Ripken League four years ago, many dreams were realized. Vince’s son Carson, pitching for the Variety Store team, always loved baseball and wanted the chance to play.
It’s for the children that the coaches turn out on the McDermott’s front lawn along Silver Lake Road, or on the school playground to drill and teach a game that was never possible for the island parents.
It is not luck that makes the Ocracoke teams perform so well. It’s the passion for the game and the dreams the parents carry for their children.
Future plans include a community team, a women’s softball team, co-ed adult rec softball league and a JV school team in 2015.
Moonlight kayaking: magical moments
Health & Wellness
July 2014
By T.L. Grace
I just returned from leading a full-moon kayaking tour and am reminded of how much kayaking contributes to one’s health and wellness, especially on Ocracoke. Sitting in a safe and stable kayak, close to the water and feeling the ease of paddling and gliding in the fresh salt air is reason enough to give this experience a try.
Add the surprises along the way of kayaking in mostly shallow water where you are able to see the abundance of natural life and your body, mind and spirit are in for a real treat.
This particular full-moon tour I witnessed happy and satisfied smiles on the faces of two young women who couldn’t believe they not only got the hang of kayaking for the first time, they led the group all the way.
When we stopped for a stretch with nets in hand everyone caught something of interest to examine: baby shrimp, flounder, hermit crabs, blue crabs, shells of all kinds, minnows, sea weed, before releasing them back into the water of the Pamlico Sound.
As we kayaked back, following the full-moon beams, a dolphin surfaced in the channel, and another one followed us into Silver Lake and surfaced just feet away from a very pleased young man.The memories from this trip were many and possible because of the beauty of Ocracoke and accessibility of kayaking.Of course, the full-moon tour only happens a couple of times a month, but there are many daily tours to choose from if you want a guided kayak trip: early and mid-morning, sunset and even a tour that introduces you to yoga and tai chi.
If you want to go exploring on your own, you are given instructions and suggestions from the shop you choose to rent from. And, yes, you can bring your own kayak to the island and put in at the public dock or on the National Seashore.
Someone asked me, “Do you ever get tired of leading kayak tours since you’ve been doing them for over eight years?” and my resounding answer was “No!”
Every time I go out on a kayak it is a new adventure and I come back glad that I’ve taken the time to be in nature this way.
I expect you will too.
Terrilynn Grace West leads kayak tours with Ride the Wind Surf shop and provides warm water massage.
Praise for the Ocrafolk Festival
Editor:
Thank you to the organizers and to all of Ocracoke for hosting the Ocrafolk Festival in which it was hard to say if the performers or the audience
was having the better time. The musicians kept having guest musicians from the other bands join them for much excellent jamming.
We are still buoyed up from so much music, song and dance in one weekend. Here are some highlights from Saturday. Clyde Jones made one of his “critters” out of storm-harvested Ocracoke cedar. Clyde didn’t say, but I think it was a moose. The rest of the day we spent listening to music, attending workshops, watching the parade. We kept saying to each other, “It doesn’t get much better than this,” but it just kept getting better. Saturday evening we joined the crowd at the Community Square. To the music of a live band we learned some traditional Ocracoke dancing as the moon rose and the stars came out.
Right after that, Ocrachicks came together at Live Oak Stage and made music and magic. Spirits rose to a swell of celebration that sent us out into the cool June night with light hearts. Thanks also to Lauren Strohl for a most fantastic loaf of sourdough bread that I bought from the table of the newly opened Community Store. If I lived on Ocracoke (wish I did) I would campaign for Lauren to have a CSB (community supported bread) in the style of CSA (community supported agriculture). We will be back for next year’s festival and looking forward to it all year long.
Thanks again,
Elizabeth Dyer
Hillsborough
The Pelican Family
By Morgan McBride (age 10)
We arrived at our house on Ocracoke Island on Sunday July 6. My dad and I unpacked the car. While we were climbing the stairs with the last bag from the car, I saw something moving on the rocks. At first, I saw one pelican…then I got closer and saw two more. They did not fly away when I walked onto the rocks to get a better view. It looked like they were watching something. My dad went to the front of the house and saw what they were watching…a baby pelican! Actually, I think it was a yearling. He had mostly white feathers and I named him Arthur. We discovered that it was a pelican family and they were living under the deck. They did not fly, but hopped from rock to rock and followed Arthur as he was trying to spread his wings. We think that Hurricane Arthur’s winds blew the pelicans onto our property. We watched them for two days, and then on the third day, we saw that Arthur was missing. I looked for him, and saw that he had hopped along the rocks to another house where there were small kids who didn’t know how to be gentle with a baby pelican. My dad went and tried to get Arthur into the water, so he’d hop or swim back to our house. I herded Arthur to where his parents were. The next day, the mom, dad and Arthur were gone. I think Arthur learned to fly. Now there are two adult pelicans living under our deck. Maybe it is Arthur’s mom & dad!
This is a true story.
