Click on the photo to scroll through photo gallery. (Port City Daily/Shea Carver)
SOUTHEASTERN NC When Kelly Ashline was a teenager, she worked for the now-defunct sandwich haven South College Deli and loved the experience. The owners were kind, the food was solid and the customers were loyal, according to the former employee.
Though Ashline didn’t stay in the restaurant industry too long into adulthood, a passion for cooking and baking stuck. Now, with business partner Jessica Brotherton, a love for the art of crafting the perfect sandwich is coming back full circle.
“It was weird how it happened because we had been planning our food truck, not even knowing that South College Deli was going to close [during the pandemic],” Brotherton said.
US: Cultivating beautiful flowers and greenhouse vegetables at Castle Hayne Farms
Growing up in the Netherlands, Mark Hommes was raised on horticulture and a love of Dutch iris. Current co-owner of Castle Hayne Farms, Mark always knew he would become a commercial-flower grower, learning the trade from his father, but what he didn’t realize is the amount of rich history both his farmland and his family legacy would carry in Castle Hayne, North Carolina.
Mark’s family raised him on a bulb farm in the Netherlands where he learned the ins and outs of the horticulture industry. It wasn’t until Mark’s dad started an export business to the United States that Mark decided to visit and fell in love with the land. “My father and uncle bought the farm, originally named Coastal Bulb Farm, in 1978,” Mark said, “and when my friend and I decided to visit in 1989 we both fell in love with the land and the amount of opportunities presented to us here.” Mark and his friend became co-
Prices up
Web Bostic, who works for local janitorial supply company, Croaker, in Castle Hayne, continues to witness the supply-and-demand chain wax and wane, from March and April’s panic-buying spree to leveling out in the fall. Though hand sanitizer and toilet paper seem to be back in the green, gloves and disinfectant wipes are a different story. Name brands like Lysol and Clorox continue to be sought after and in short supply, as are latex, nitrile and vinyl gloves which are widely used in healthcare and food industries.
“Disposable glove prices have gone up 300% and are on allocation from the manufacturer,” Bostic relayed. “To help with the shortage, a newer type of hybrid vinyl glove has been produced by the manufacturers.”
Plans for Driftwood Farms off Castle Hayne Road include an outdoor amphitheater and two activity centers. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy New Hanover County)
CASTLE HAYNE An outdoor event space equipped with an amphitheater might be coming to Castle Hayne, if the project can secure a rezoning bid in New Hanover County.
Driftwood Farms Event Center is the working title of the in-the-works project, which involves an open-air amphitheater and multiple event spaces, positioned on Castle Hayne Road.
The 19-acre piece of undeveloped land across from Stricks Trading Post Lane has not been sold for at least the past 65 years, and instead has moved between different trusts, most recently to one belonging to Susan Moore Skinner in 2012. Property records show Skinner’s family maintained ownership of the plot since at least the 1950s.
The Feast Congregation feeds the unsheltered community every Christmas, and though things may look a little different for 2020, they’re in need more than ever for volunteers and donations to provide the feast.
The feast will be held Dec. 25 and the dinner will be hosted outside under tents at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Diners will be served at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and the congregation is in need of volunteers to help. Each diner will be given a menu to choose what they’ll want for dinner.
This dinner is open to everyone in need of a hot meal this holiday season.