2007 Summer Tour Week Five Journal
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
On Friday, June 22nd, we browsed Waynesville, NC and nearby Sylva. In Sylva we met Kelly Timco, Herbalist & Hula Hoop Instructor, at Your Herbalist Health Store. Kelly gave us a brief lesson and explained that “hooping” is currently one of the hottest worldwide exercise crazes. It’s supposed to be a great way to enhance libido, jumpstart your metabolism, and help you get great looking thighs. Sign me up!
On Saturday we spent the day signing books at Osondu Booksellers which is located along the bustling Main Street shopping and dining section of Waynesville, NC. The street is lined with coffee shops, cafes and unique shopping. Osondu is one of those perfect little shops that just does it right. It’s clean, cozy and inviting. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, there’s a great selection of books and gift items- which are all displayed in an easy to browse manner. The cafe offers a wide variety of teas, organic wines and homemade truffles. Our event was very successful and we hope to visit again soon.
On Sunday we left for Fair Play, SC. We are hoping to visit nearby Ramsey Creek Preserve to learn more about eco-friendly burial systems. On our way out to the Preserve we made a quick detour when Bill caught a glimpse of a raw milk sign. Since raw milk happens to be illegal in about half of the country it’s like winning the lottery when you can actually find it. So we headed down the road until we came across M & M Dairy and pulled into the farm. A teenage boy pointed us to the self-serve, honor system store where we stocked up. The dairy is located at 460 Dairy Farm Road in Westminster, SC. They’ve been in business for twenty eight years. For more info about raw milk visit Real Milk.
We finally made it out to the Preserve and we’re lucky enough to run into Dr. Billy Campbell, the pre-eminent voice in green burial. Learn more about this concept in our next book, The Health Chic Guide: Cradle to Grave, It Just Got Easier to Be Green.
On Monday we went to Atlanta and got the scoop about going “Beyond Fair Trade” as it relates to coffee, from roaster Steve at Java Vino. Bill is already planning to tag along with Steve on a coffee expedition to Nicaragua to visit the Selva Negra Coffee Plantation, a Rainforest Alliance certified provider. After coffee we headed over to the Little Five Points Neighborhood where I purchased a great outfit at Rag-O-Rama Consignment Shop- reused, fabulously hip and under $15.
On Wednesday we met our friends Rich and Brett from Airstream Life Magazine for lunch at Pie Bar. We had a delicious goat cheese and tomato pizza with a fresh garden greens salad. The food was a pleasant surprise because I must admit that I chose the restaurant based purely on the fact that I was intrigued by it’s design. Once a bank, this odd, circular, sci-fi type building looks as if it came straight out of a Jetson’s Cartoon. It turns out the building was once on the endangered list until the Concentrics Restaurant Group bought and renovated it. The Airstream Boys loved it but the real fun was in watching them trying to photograph it. I doubt those photos will make the magazine but their efforts will be immortalized in Bill’s Photo Journal.
