Today marks Epiphany in the Christian Calendar, the day the Magi brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. Around Davidson offers news about gifts of a different kind: the gift of family for J.B. and Ruby Stroud as well as Angela and Ladd Baucom, and the gift of Mother Nature in the form of fall leaves.  There is also a note about the upcoming Horticultural Symposium and its focus on “Rediscovering Home.”

CELEBRATING AT THE STROUDS

Stroud grandchildren gathered for Christmas: l-r: Ellyson, Clara, Jon David (in back,) Timothy, Emily, Pryor, and Carlyle (Brion and Robert were out of the country)

Pancakes aplenty

Imagine having 14 family members for breakfast during Christmas week – when you live at The Pines!  Granted J.B. and Ruby Stroud have a lovely two-bedroom apartment, but kitchen space is limited.  Ruby cooked bacon and sausage and left J.B. to the pancake flipping, which seemed never ending – especially when he found out that the grandchildren were having a pancake eating contest.  With much laughter and refilling of plates, the winner was declared to be 18-year-old Clara Stroud, who polished off 19 three-inch pancakes!

Indeed it was a busy Christmas holiday for the Strouds.  Their son, Jonathan Stroud, came from Mt. Vernon, Iowa, on Dec. 23 with his three sons, Jon David (19), Pryor (17) and Tim (14) and stayed 10 days.  Jonathan is a vice president at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon.  The Strouds’ daughter, Cindy Stroud Glance, came after Christmas from Macon, Ga., with her husband, Jonathan, and their children, Carlyle (19), a sophomore at Davidson College, and Ellyson (17).  Their older son, Tim Stroud, lives in Davidson with his wife, Stella, and their four children, of whom only Emily (19) and Clara (18) were in town.  (Bryon Stroud (26) is a Captain in the Air Force and currently serving in Iraq.  His brother, Robert Stroud (24), left for Japan early in December where he will be teaching English as part of Pepi’s Kids program there.)

For Grandma and Grandpa Stroud the days were full of good time visiting, catching up, playing games and stepping over coats, shoes and duffel bags from the visiting children and grandchildren.  Some meals were served at the Dogwood Lane home of Stella and Tim and sleeping quarters were traded off as well.  There was also wonderful opportunity to visit with Stella’s mother, Grandma Blanche Parker, who also lives at The Pines.

Davidson residents for 50 years are Ruby and JB Stroud

Fifty Years in Town

J.B. and Ruby came to Davidson in 1960 when J.B. joined the Math Department at Davidson College.  He retired from active teaching in 1994 but continued for two years as interim chair of the Education Department and found time as well to do some part-time teaching.  Ruby was an active mother raising three children but taught in the preschool program at the Presbyterian Church, spent some years as an assistant at Davidson Elementary School and worked in the Davidson College bookstore.  Both are “fully” retired now and since 2004 have lived at The Pines, where they’re active in Bridge Club, Welcoming Committee, and Learning in Retirement, to mention a few of their “retired” activities.  They have a wealth of knowledge of 50 years of Davidson history making visiting with them a distinct pleasure.  Happy New Year to J.B. and Ruby – and to long naps now that calm has returned to their Pines’ apartment.

Happiness is Jack Baucom with his Lightning McQueen electric race car on Christmas morning.

BUSY BAUCOMS

Ladd and Angela Baucom’s home in River Run was bursting with activity for a week at Christmas.  Their sons and families live in Chapel Hill and decided to gather with Gran Laddie and Nana for the holiday.  Martin Baucom and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons, Sam (6) and Jack (4).  Brian Baucom and his wife, Emily, have two sons, Lewis (5) and Joe (2½).  Four little grandsons, six and under, will quickly overwhelm any quiet – but what fun they all had!  Sorry to report that they were moving too fast to get all four in one photo but we did catch Jack with his new  sports car!  (Drivers beware!)

We know that Angela and Ladd are excellent cooks and they passed their love of good food on to their sons.  During their week long visit, Martin and Brian did a lot of gourmet cooking and Ladd prepared a delicious Boeuf Bourguignon for Christmas Dinner.  (We now know where to go for future recipes!)  Gran Laddie and Nana miss those four beautiful grandsons already but since Chapel Hill is only two hours away, we know they will be visiting often.

Republic Waste contributes to this mountain of leaves at the Recycling Center

BLACK GOLD ALL AROUND US

Black Gold is another name for compost, because of its value in improving garden soil and because finished compost looks like wonderfully rich soil.  For months now we have seen plastic bags full of leaves piled along the curb awaiting the Republic Waste truck to haul them off.  (This past July 1, the Town of Davidson stopped vacuuming leaves and adopted a leaf-bagging policy.)  A check with Republic Waste indicates that the trucks empty the leaves into the bin, take the leaves to the Recycling Center on U.S. 21 south of Huntersville and discard the plastic leaf bags later in the landfill.  The environmental impact of all these plastic bags in the landfill is enormous.  “Use paper bags,” suggests the Town of Davidson.  Ace Hardware on a recent search was out; Lowe’s had none.

Let's resolve not to do this in 2011!

Around Davidson asks all our readers with a small amount of space to make a New Year’s resolution to compost their leaves and make their own Black Gold.  Four foot T-posts at Lowe’s are $2.80 each; 50 feet of 36 inch welded wire is $30.  Make your own leaf containment area for under $50 and add grass clippings, vegetable peels, coffee grounds, sawdust, straw, shredded paper and garden waste.  Add additional fertilizer, lime, or water as you will.  There are dozens of Internet sites providing recipes.

The Davidson Community Garden composts with the 3-bin method

Check out the Davidson Community Garden on Potts Street, which has a three bin composting area with simple wire and a mound of leaves for future use.  Our Urban Chicken Farmers, the Colemans, let their chickens work their compost and maintain a large pile of leaf and paper compost with their neighbors, the Wrights.  The Internet will provide plans for fancier composting bins; a speaker at the upcoming Horticultural Symposium writes about composting.  It is a hot topic.  Time for each of our readers to get on board.  As Scott Denham wrote in an earlier DNN comment, “The whole idea of removing leaves from one’s yard is incredibly stupid.”  (Read full comment here)

Tim Mitchell (l) displays a shovel of Black Gold while homeowner Colin Shaw looks on

Meet Composter Colin Shaw

Driving down Avinger Lane one cannot help but notice the well kept yard of Ruth and Colin Shaw and their sturdy three bin compost area.  Colin, retired from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and Ruth, retired most recently from Duke Power, built their home 13 years ago.  Their compost bins, ten years old, are anchored by cedar posts left over from the house building.  Al Hawkes helped Colin build the compost area initially.  Now the Shaw’s are assisted with yard work by Tim Mitchell of Denver (who also helps his mother with Mitchell’s Greenhouse in Sherrill’s Ford).

Tim gathers bags of leaves left at curbs from all over Davidson but first looks around to make sure no gumball trees are near.  (Gumballs are not an asset to your composting, as they sprout.)  Tim has a head start on his composting with the Shaws by using a grinder to accelerate the composting process.  He uses the resulting “black gold” all over the Shaw’s yard especially to encourage grass growth where there is bull tallow.

Okay, your correspondent will get off her bandstand, for now. But why not try to humor those of us who are trying to help Mother Nature just a little and stop stacking by the curb those non-biodegradable plastic bags filled with tomorrow’s rich compost.  Scott Denham and I, among others, will thank you!

Robin Wilgus's painting is featured on this year's symposiuim's brochure

PLAN NOW FOR March 1, 2011

Can it be 27 years?  This March 1, the Davidson Horticultural Symposium XXVII will open its doors on the Davidson College Campus for yet another marvelous day of classes and lectures to reconnect you with the roots of Southern Gardening.  And while we are on the subject, one of the speakers, Barbara Pleasant, will address Organic Edibles and if you go to her personal website, www.barbarapleasant.com,  you can learn about her compost gardening.

Registration is limited to 400 with a deadline to sign up being Feb. 22.  For general information, go to the website www.davidsonsymposium.org or contact Mary Wilson Stewart at 704.655.0294.  Kudos to the Davidson Garden Club for hosting this marvelous meeting and to Davidson resident Robin Wilgus for decades of providing the painting used on the brochure.

Send us your news

Have news for Around Davidson? Write to Brenda Barger at hbarger@bellsouth.net.