Eye on the Triangle

Brian Jurado 0:00
The views and opinions expressed on Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or NC State Student Media.

You are currently tuned in to Eye on the Triangle here on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1 Raleigh. Hello everyone, this is Brian Jurado, the Public Affairs Director of WKNC and host of Eye on the Triangle. We are starting off today's episode with an interview of Horticultural Science professor Remi Ham. We're talking about spring gardening and how to get those seed packets into some actual veggies. Following this interview Technician news editors, Abigail, Heidi, and Emily will have some weekly news for y'all. Stay tuned.

Hey, this is Brian Jurado with WKNC and today I'm joined with Professor Ham, a teaching professor here at the School of Horticulture and Science at NC State.

Remi Ham 1:01
Hello, Brian. First, it's great to be here with you and I am Remi Ham, professor, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Horticultural Science. And I teach a number of classes in this department, ranging from Home Food Production, which I teach two courses of, and also Gardening with Herbaceous Perennials and a World to Introduction to Horticulture class as well.

Brian Jurado 1:25
Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Just wanted to get like a little bit of a brief background on what kind of led you to NC State

Remi Ham 1:31
Oh, man. First, it's no secret to you, Brian, that I love growing. I love growing fruits and I love growing vegetables. And I love people and communities. And my work has been in the realm of food gardens more specifically for kids, you know, teaching them and wanting them to be inspired to grow their own food. But what led me to NC State is the work that's being done in this department that really supports that. You know, I also have an extension role as Farm to School Coordinator. So I work with people I work with farmers, I work with insecurity or food insecurity. And NC State has a wonderful "Think and Do" model and that's really what I do here. I get to grow, I get to teach people how to grow and empowered in that way. And food connects us in a meaningful way. So also building community as well.

Brian Jurado 2:22
That's incredible. Yeah, I feel like I've kind of ventured out and explored a little bit of that like gardening community, especially with the Raleigh City Farm and WellFed that are kind of around us. How do you go about like kind of spreading out that community beyond just like being here at NC State?

Remi Ham 2:36
Well, I mean, I've had the pleasure of I mean, I work in a lot of school spaces and first working with like kids and teaching them but then also in community gardens. You know, I've worked in a number of community gardens in southern Raleigh. I think that our food in those community gardens are great, because you get to have conversations, and the community part is not only sharing the harvest, but sharing gardening tips and like, "how did you pick your watermelon? How do you grow this? Or how do you grow your squash?" Or, you know, even talking about pests or "what's the best way to cook at eggplant?" I tell everyone eggplant is not my favorite vegetable. But like the community engagement that we have, like, Okay, well, maybe we should try it this way. Or maybe we should try it that way. Food has a unique power to join us together and growing, even so, I think more so, has a great power of joining communities together.

Brian Jurado 3:27
Great, thank you. Well, we kind of wanted to focus this segment on is that "lost gardener", I was that last gardener maybe like a couple months ago, but I was have the pleasure to take Home Food Production with you, so it's been kind of a great process, just learning and just also kind of finding that community as well through or like our discussion posts, which has been very, very cool. But once again, just going back to that lost gardener, where do you think is like the best place to start? If you're somebody that has like that desire to start a garden, it can be very intimidating when you first like, set your mind to it I would say.

Remi Ham 3:59
I hear that so much about the intimidating factor. I will tell anyone who's interested in getting started: yay, I'm glad you're interested. And then also, start small. You know, it's those small victories of, you know, start with a low growing, like a lettuce or herbs and then you're like, Okay, I did it. Alright, success. Now maybe we could take a step to something else. Like maybe we could take a step to like a tomato. Or maybe we could take a step to like root vegetables like carrots. So I always encourage anyone who's interested it's very enticing to go big and like I want to start a garden. So I'm going to do this whole like raised bed garden without a little bit of knowledge. So container gardens are amazing. I grow in containers all the time, and you can get some rich harvest from just container gardens. I can grow tomatoes in containers, I grow herbs in containers. They're interchangeable. So my biggest suggestion would be to start small and those small victories are hoped that you can continue and feel empowered to grow your garden even larger.

Brian Jurado 5:08
And for someone that does want to do like that container, small garden, what resources do you recommend to like seek out for in terms of just figuring out soil, just figuring out just what kind of seeds to grow? I think that's probably one of the most intimidating things to me is like, you get a packet of seeds and it has all these instructions labeled on the back, and you're like, if you don't do this, right, it's not gonna work. And then you like, wasted so much time. So like, what do you recommend what's like the secret recipe to make sure it works out sometimes?

Remi Ham 5:36
Okay, first, I want to say don't be afraid to fail. Listen, I've been doing this for a long time. So I have failed a lot of times too and I learned a lot from that. That's a fun thing about horticultural science, you learn a lot in science from failures and things that didn't work out. So anyone who's listening, I would encourage you just because your lettuce died, it's okay. Try again. So that's the first thing. Second thing, I want to make a big plug for the Extension Gardeners Handbook. You know, there's a lot of great resources more specifically related to North Carolina that are great, it helps with soil, pH. The great thing about North Carolina, we can get our soil tested during certain parts of the season for free and not a lot of people take advantage of that. So Extension Gardeners Handbook is a great resource online, especially if you can't take my class. Clearly, that's a plug for the class. But that's a great place to start. And I will start with, you mentioned seeds. And it's funny that you mentioned seeds, because I have like a whole bunch of seeds that I'm sorting through right now. I would say even think about seeds that grow fast. So pull beans, or green green beans that are pull beans, those grow really fast. And you see the germination, you're like oh my gosh, it gives you that immediate satisfaction of like, okay, something's growing. So I would even suggest start with like fast growing things like basil, believe it or not, is from seed, grows really fast. I just planted some last week, and I have germination that's occurring, like I just checked today. So I know that sounds, may sound funny, but like, hey, start, start with the easy growers. That happens really fast. And I think that also helps. There's a lot that can be learned from that as well.

Brian Jurado 7:19
Yeah, I've actually planted some basil last week as well. And I've got it kind of chilling on my windowsill for a little bit and I'm starting to see some germination, which I'm very, very excited about. But even this is kind of like tips going towards me, because I'm being a little selfish here but just in general, like how do you keep that plant like alive?

Remi Ham 7:37
Yes, um, that's a great question. First, foundation is key. It is, it just is making sure that you have if you're growing in containers, making sure that you're using the proper media so like don't get heavy garden soil and place in your containers because it doesn't allow to drain if you're going to containers, please, please, please, please add drainage holes. Alright, so that's the first thing is a foundation, your soil is key, making sure you have the proper plant media, making sure that your soil drains well, and watering. One way to kill a plant really fast is over watering it, it's very tempting to just be like, "Oh my gosh, it doesn't look well, let me add some more water." Always check your soil, you know, do a finger dip test and seeing if that that soil kind of stays on your finger. Usually, if the soil or media stays on your fingers, kind of, it's okay. You don't have to, if it's damp to the touch, you don't have to re water it. And if it's crumbly, and it kind of falls off and usually you might want to add more water if the soils dry to the touch. Another note is sunlight, like for a lot of the vegetables that we're growing, even our leafy greens really need sunlight. So if you don't have access to, like if you're growing on a patio, you know making sure that you have the right amount of sunlight is really important. If you need to even, like I have grow lights at home and I actually went to the store this weekend and saw some there were like $10 or $5. So it doesn't have to be really cost prohibitive. But the big things are foundation of soil is really important. Proper watering techniques are important. Making sure you don't over water is very tempting. Plants are really resilient, more resilient than we give them credit for and the proper light is really important as well.

Brian Jurado 9:25
Great and just kind of talking more about that lighting especially if like grow lights. A lot of students here live in like very low light apartments. Those are like my first two apartments barely got any sun. What tips would you give for someone that's trying to maybe get a little bit of a garden going in a very low light place?

Remi Ham 9:40
Yeah, you know, grow lights. I won't go ahead and get into like the science although it's tempting of like the photosynthetic process and you need lights for UV rays and all that stuff. Just to keep it really simple and brief. You know, grow lights help to compensate for the low light that you may be getting, so or in the light that your plants really need to thrive. Right. So, as noted earlier, they don't have to be cost prohibitive, you can certainly, you know, maybe under even $20, get a really great grow light. Now, I say all those with the asterisk beside it, because if you're like trying to do a huge garden, like, it just depends on the price point obviously goes up if you need a larger garden, but if you're just like, I just want to grow basil, or I just want to grow, you know, lettuce in my apartment, then that's really helpful. That and they're really, you know, they're really accessible on online shopping. Or you can even go in like a hardware store and get a grow light.

Brian Jurado 10:35
And just kind of going a little bit more into the edible landscape in terms of just there's a lot of community gardens around here. What do you see like the future of that going towards?

Remi Ham 10:45
Yeah, oh, man, you hit one that's like really dear to me. And I will say this. You've heard me say it before in class, you don't need a lot of space to grow something to harvest from it. And I think even now, we need to really rethink how we plant and how we do our landscape. You don't have to have a container garden that's formal. You don't have to have a raised bed garden that's formal. You literally can integrate strawberries and kale, and collards all within your ornamental landscape. It's a two for one. And I don't think these plants get enough credit for being really pretty, you know, strawberries, amazing ground cover. And as a perennial, you only have to plant it once. And it keeps coming back each season. Our collards and our kales are annuals but adds wonderful texture. And I really think that, you know, as a landscape designer, but even as in this department and horticultural science, really wanting students and even faculty and adults to think about how we reuse or how we use our landscapes, and they can be something that you harvest from and be equally gorgeous, you know, so there's a lot that could be still done in that space. But, you know, I think it's just small strides. If you go outside Kilgore, you'll see a whole bunch of kale that we planted. So yeah,

Brian Jurado 12:04
And just talking about campus a little bit more. I was walking through and there's a bunch of flowers already blooming. Even just outside of my house, there's got some daffodils that have risen from the dead, basically. But um, is there any spots on campus that you personally like to go to just kind of take it all in a little bit?

Remi Ham 12:21
I am. Well, I'll admit, I'm still meandering, trying to go beyond the Kilgore like a bubble that I tend to go in. But I will say I like to go near Talley. I like to walk near you know, it was even I was thinking about the Pack Pantry. And I was like, Wouldn't it be cool to like, walk by the My Pack Pantry and there'll be an edible landscape there too. Just I mean, there's power in learning how to grow your own food and it's great to also have a demonstrative way to do that as well. And I mean, shucks, you can harvest from too, right. But no, I love there's so many wonderful places of on campus. My favorite thing to do after class, I always walk to the like Bell Tower often just as like, "Hah!" And just to see what's blooming. You mentioned daffodils, I'm always looking at the different bulbs that are emerging this time of year too. But going back to strawberries, they'll be popping out near Kilgore, if anyone who's listening comes to Kilgore, and wants to harvest from those strawberries. And also behind the building in the courtyard, the fig tree that's by there, I don't know if you've ever had, seen it. But like students during the fall when they're actually harvesting, I think that brings me the best joy of like, this is a multipurpose landscape, you know, so those are there spots here and there that are wonderful, but I love the ones that are producing. And you can harvest from.

Brian Jurado 13:44
Yeah, thank you. And kind of just going into the kind of more diversity of gardening in terms of like age and just anybody can really get into it. Do you have any favorite gardening moments that have kind of like, cemented your passion for this?

Remi Ham 13:58
I often get the question. Even sometimes when students will look at me be like, "why are you doing this?" And I'm like, well, first because it's, it's just a love, like I connect with plants in such a meaningful way. Plants teach me a lot. And I think there's a lot of lessons that can be learned from that. What I do, enjoy, and I love how growing more specifically home food production and food producing crops, t doesn't matter how old you are to learn. You know, I have had 60 year old students who were like, "oh my gosh, that's how broccoli grows? Like I've never know all my life I've never known." And like the "aha" moments or the wonder. I think sometimes as adults, even like students or adults, like we don't take time to be, like have the majestic moments are the moments of wonder and I think that's what, specifically for me food production offers. Brussels sprouts, have you seen brussels sprouts? It's like, what?That's amazing! I mean, I don't know, if that's not magical to you, I don't know what is. It's like, and that's what food does and that's what home food production does. So like, I love that generationally, whether I'm teaching a five year old how to harvest peas and the magic of like you know, we can tie it to literature like beanstalks and things to my post career students who are just taking my classes just out of sheer interest. There's just a lot to be learned. And that's what I love about it. It's the garden is always teaching us a lesson even for pests and you know, even though we don't love them sometimes, but we still learn from that as well. So I think the gardens are always teaching us lessons no matter what age we are.

Brian Jurado 15:40
I agree. I think that's what been like the great part about taking your courses just kind of learning through everybody else's like process, but also learning through my own personal process and having those conversations just in general, you said that a lot of gardening comes with mistakes, but how do you like be, how are you able to like figure out what mistake you made? I know a lot of people tend to keep like a journal and that's how they kind of keep it like learning like, this is what I messed up. But for somebody that's very new to it, how do you know what you messed up?

Remi Ham 16:09
Usually for like new gardeners, they'll, I have some that are like, "I just give up, Remi, I'm just not doing it anymore." You remember your first time of like, I don't wanna say the mess up. But like, yeah, the mess up. For me, it has been the process I document, you know, I take pictures and things like that, to help me like remember or like, I'll remember past that way as well. I think the lessons to be learned and how to even like document and understand. Again, I want to put a plug out to our center and resources. That's one thing I love about NC State is not only just the doing aspect, but the research behind it. And like learning a lot about past like, well, I'm still learning even like I don't know, all the paths are available. But I think that's the part of trying to document or whatever works well for you. I'm a photo taker. So I'm always taking pictures. And I'm cross referencing it with research and usually the Extension Gardener Handbook or extension resources are what I go to, for sure.

Brian Jurado 17:14
And just kind of touching more into your own personal gardening experience. It's the spring, everything's becoming very beautiful. We got a very beautiful day today. So like what are your personal favorite crops to grow? What are you what are you really excited about?

Remi Ham 17:27
I'm most excited, okay, first, tomorrow actually, I'm going to be planting my peas. And peas, I don't know about you, but like, everyone in my family hates peas, except when they're fresh from the garden, so I'm like "I, too can make you a believer that fresh garden peas are amazing." So I'm excited about planting my peas. I think there's something magical about like how they climb up a pole, which is amazing. I'm excited about, what else, so I started a hydroponic system on my deck like about a week ago so I'm excited about that. And I just can't wait to plant the strawberries for the first time in my hydroponic system so that's the part of wonder that you know I was alluding to and then what else am I excited? I'm excited also to get my, like radishes and carrots in the ground as well. I love growing root crops so they're, kind of radishes and carrots are more of a like a set it and forget it. I mean there's a little bit of thinning and a little bit of like care that needs to happen but I love the part where when they're ready for harvest is like "oh my gosh, that's under there?" You know. So that's the wonderful part about those crops.

Brian Jurado 18:40
You know music's pretty big thing at WKNC, it's kind of what we do. What music are you playing while you, or you're out doing the work when you're out gardening? What's, what's the playlist like?

Remi Ham 18:50
The playlist is, oh my gosh, I haven't eclectic music taste, so it can range anywhere from like Beyonce to Coldplay. If it's a pest, I'm like "you won't Break My Soul", Beyonce. If it's easy, like easy breezy like I'll do old time, like Motown jams and stuff like that or like Coldplay is my go to. So yeah, I have an eclectic mix just based upon like what's happening in the garden. If I feel real good about my garden day then I might like bust a Rihanna tune or something like that. But if it's like a, if I'm having a hard time I might even putting on some gospel, like "lord help me." It's arranged, it's arranged. But no, I love as most gardeners if you'd like I like to be one with the garden and I am musically inclined. So I love putting on some jams when I'm gardening out in the space it's like me, my music, and just hanging out in nature, which is great.

Brian Jurado 19:52
Well, thank you so much Professor Ham for being on the show today. We really appreciate you making the time. Once again for those new gardeners or even for somebody that's very like experienced, if somebody has a question, where would you like turn them to? Is there any books or potentially like some departmental resources?

Remi Ham 20:07
Yeah, there are some great departmental resources. I'm kind of also looking around my office. But Vegetable Gardener's Handbook, which is a farmer's almanac resource. It's a great book. I think it's maybe less than $15. You can get it on like any kind of common store. Again, I already made a plug to the Extension Master Gardener's Handbook. And there are some other ones like plant science for gardeners, especially for those who are just trying to figure out like soil irrigation and stuff like that it gives you like the basic basic of like, what you should think about like pH understanding what that means beyond the crops. So I just will leave with you know, start small and pat yourself on the back for those small victories, right, cuz that's, that's where the fun is happening and enjoy your harvest. I'm hoping that you have a harvest.

Brian Jurado 21:02
All right, thank you.

Remi Ham 21:03
No problem. It's great being with you.

Brian Jurado 21:12
Up next, Technician news editors Heidi, Emily and Abigail run through their weekly news tidbits.

Abigail Ali 21:22
Hello, guys, welcome back to Eye on the Triangle. My name is Abigail Ali. And today I'm here with

Heidi Reid 21:28
Hey, guys, my name is Heidi. I'm the assistant news editor at technician.

Emily Vespa 21:32
And I'm Emily. I'm the other assistant news editor at technician.

Abigail Ali 21:35
And today we have some cool news tidbits from around the triangle. And yeah, we'll get started.

Emily Vespa 21:41
Okay, so for my first tidbit, I'm going to be talking about Governor Roy Cooper's proposed budget, which includes funding for an expansion of the North Carolina Zoo, which I thought was really exciting. So apparently, the original plan for the zoo in the 1960s and 70s was to have sections in the park with plants and animals from all seven continents. But right now, they don't have that. Because apparently in the past state legislators have failed to fund additional continents like really big ones. So now they have planned finally to open the continent of Asia in 2026. That sounds like they're opening the continent of Asia, like Congratulations, everyone can go to Asia now.

Heidi Reid 22:19
Roy Cooper said so

Emily Vespa 22:21
They're finally opening the continent. But no, just the continent of Asia in the park is going to be open. Um, hopefully, if this budget gets approved. So it's going to be a scaled back version of some of the other continents like I believe it's going to be like a much smaller version than like the Africa continent, which was already made. But it's very exciting because it's gonna include tigers, Komodo dragons, King cobras, Chinese giant salamanders, and so many more. So I thought this was really cool, because I can't wait to see them. But yeah, and also fun fact, last year, the zoo had over 1 million annual visitors for the first time, so it's a big tourist destination. And I feel like this will only make it even more. So. Yeah.

Heidi Reid 23:04
You should definitely go before me and Emily get there because we're gonna release all the animals.

Emily Vespa 23:08
Exactly. So if you want to get there soon, definitely do that. Because the Tigers will come running and the king cobras

Heidi Reid 23:15
Yes. The the king cobras.

Emily Vespa 23:17
I want to see a Chinese giant salamander.

Abigail Ali 23:20
How are they gonna do Antarctica as a continent? Like what,

Heidi Reid 23:22
That's a good question. What's the like,

Emily Vespa 23:24
Penguins?

Heidi Reid 23:26
Like plant wise, like plants animals? Are they gonna dig up moss? The ones that take like 100 years to grow two inches?

Emily Vespa 23:32
Just get like a ice tray.

Heidi Reid 23:41
No, that does sound super fun. And I'm excited for the Tigers and just a little variation in zoo animals, because I just don't know. I feel like we had some pretty standard animals before. I've only been once and it was a long time ago. So I'm not.

Emily Vespa 23:54
I don't think I've ever. Yeah, I don't think I've ever been maybe I've been once when I was little but I haven't been in a while.

Heidi Reid 24:00
Yeah, it'll be good. Get excited. Thank you, Roy.

Abigail Ali 24:04
Okay, guys, for my first tidbit, we are going to be starting with farmers markets, because with the start of spring comes the urge to go to farmers markets more and they're starting to extend their hours and usually they have more produce and goods available this time of year and, or at least coming soon. So in light of this, I thought I would shout out a few around the triangle. And yep. So the first one is obviously going to be the North Carolina State Farmers Market located off Centennial Parkway. This market is in Raleigh, and it is massive because as its name suggests, it's supposed to be representative of the state. There are tons of vendors to shop from for, for produce, flowers, cheeses, baked goods, plants and more. And they have like the farmer, farmers building, market shops, truckers building, wholesale terminal market imports and three restaurants that make up the whole entire market. So yeah, it's really, really big and they have most things and honestly, you can just make a day of like going around the grounds and seeing what's happening. So yeah, and I'm pretty sure they're open from like 5am to 5pm year round. So definitely check them out, because usually they have more stuff in the spring. Yeah. The second one is the Durham farmers market and this market is located at Durham Central Park, and their main season begins April 1 with markets, Saturdays 8am to 12pm. They offer produce, artisanal goods, and handmade goods. And something really cool about them is that they prioritize making food accessible. So they do accept WIC, Farmers Market Nutrition Program, checks, and snap/EBT credits. They also have a few more programs similar to that. So check out their website at Durhamfarmersmarket.com for more information on those. And then finally, there's the Chapel Hill Farmers Market, which also offers things like local produce, fish, farm products, and crafts. Their main season also starts April 1, and it's located outside of University Place. This farmers market also accepts snap/EBT. And Farmers Market Nutrition checks as well. And they have a double bucks program. So for more information on how those work and what they are, and all that good stuff, check out their website at TheChapelHillfarmersmarket.com. And yeah, that was quick. But.

Emily Vespa 26:40
I love that you're highlighting this because also one thing I love about the North Carolina farmers market is the restaurant. Like every time, if someone brings it up. I love to talk about it because their biscuits are so good. And like if you guys don't even like care about going to a farmers market and just want to go to somewhere to eat. Like it's so amazing. Everything's like fresh and yummy. And I highly recommend getting their biscuits because they're amazing.

Heidi Reid 27:03
Yeah, a lot of the vendors are super sweet and most likely let you try things if you ask.

Abigail Ali 27:08
Yeah, yeah, it's the best honestly, farmers markets are superior.

Heidi Reid 27:12
You can have a main character moment, you can bring your little tote bag and wear a cute outfit and put vegetables in your bag.

Abigail Ali 27:17
Yeah. And buy flowers.

Buy flowers, you get dinner or like lunch with your friends. It's, it's so good. It's amazing.

Heidi Reid 27:27
Okay, so the great Raleigh yard sale is happening everyone.

Abigail Ali 27:31
No way.

Heidi Reid 27:31
I know, I just want to mention the first thing that caught my eye. But this article, it began with the line Spring has sprung. And I really related to that.

Emily Vespa 27:41
love that, so true

Heidi Reid 27:43
So true, Spring has sprung. Immaculate. Great writing. And anyways, it's April 1 through 2 from 9 am to 5 pm, excuse me, 9 am to 5 pm. And I was thinking you guys, so you guys could go to Dreamville one day and the Yard sale the other day. And it's at the Raleigh market in a special section and you can sell and shop all in one place.

Abigail Ali 28:09
That is so much fun. It reminds me of like, there used to be communities in my hometown, where they would just have like, one day every year where everybody can have a yard sale. And you could just like walk around the neighborhood and check everybody's stuff out. And I think it's such a fun thing to do. And like, I don't know, it's fun to get rid of your stuff. But doing a yard sale at least you can get a little bit of cash back. And then the way it's designed with that you have like that sense of community and you get to see people and talk to people and it's a lot more fun that way. So yeah, I think it's cool.

A social event. It's not just buy and sell and like

Exactly

Heidi Reid 28:43
When talk to people. And it's fun. And I bet a lot of people have really cool stuff there too. Since like, you, like yard sales. I'm sure there'll be like some actual vendors there as well.

Emily Vespa 28:52
Yeah, that'd be really cool. And I had the same thing where I was like my neighborhood did them and it was always so fun and like, also the benefit of like going to a yard sale is you can kind of like negotiate on stuff with people. Sometimes the prices aren't set so you can get some good deals. So you should go

Heidi Reid 29:06
I lived in a loser neighborhood we never did that.

Emily Vespa 29:11
Rip. Alright, so some of you guys may know this, but April is Earth Month. So looking forward to April um, and April 20 is Earth Day. So in honor of Earth Month, the Gregg Museum, which is the art museum at NC State is doing an eco film series with three free screenings of nature films. So the first one is going to be on April 4 from three to 5pm. And they're going to screen a film called the human element, which sounds really interesting. It chronicles the quest of an environmental photographer to show how the four elements, air, earth, water and fire are being altered by the fifth element of human activity. So I thought that was really interesting and I really want to see this film because I think it's gonna be interesting but if you can't make it to the first one, you can also try and attend, there's gonna be two others on April 5 and 6 and all the infos on the Gregg museum website. But I thought this was cool because it's a free film screening. And I think these are all supposed to be like, kind of smaller ones. So I think it'd be interesting.

Abigail Ali 30:09
Oh, that's so cool. I love like environmental stuff. And I also love a good movie. So that sounds really cool. And as we've mentioned before, we are stans of the Gregg museum. So.

Heidi Reid 30:20
I am in fact an advocate of the Gregg museum, we love her. That sounds really cool.

Abigail Ali 30:26
Yeah. For those of you who don't know, we did, in fact, make it to the power of women in country music exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History. And we are here to tell you to check it out before it closes for good on April 2. And if you're feeling super spicy, you can attend on April 1 as the museum closes the exhibit out with a concert featuring Eliza Meyer, Alice Gerard, Kay Justice and Ginny Hawker. This was a really, really cool exhibit. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to get through. So I highly would recommend taking advantage of it in the last few days if you are able to.

Emily Vespa 31:06
Yeah, I actually went back this, I guess like right before spring break. So like last weekend, and I took one of my best friends because we wanted to go through it. And it was just as good the second time so guys, I highly recommend it. They also have other cool exhibits at the museum of history that I really liked. So like while you're there, you can make a whole day of it. And yeah, it was amazing. Definitely check it out.

Heidi Reid 31:30
I think about those boots every day. Yeah.

Emily Vespa 31:33
And the Banjo. Dolly Parton's banjo is so pretty.

Abigail Ali 31:35
It changed my life. I'm not gonna lie.

Emily Vespa 31:37
Yeah, it was amazing.

Heidi Reid 31:38
Yeah, I just, the whole Dolly Parton exhibit I think about, it was it was amazing. And like, I don't even like, I'm not a huge country music person. But like, I don't know, I'm a feminist. So I guess that counts. I love women.

Emily Vespa 31:49
It's like, you're a fan of women or you're a fan of country music. You'd love this exhibit.

Abigail Ali 31:53
Yeah, for sure.

Heidi Reid 31:55
Okay, so, next I'm going to be doing it's, I guess it's a bit stale, but I'm going to be showing out some of the best live music venues for students. It's sort of in the triangle area kind of focuses on Raleigh. Sorry, I'm a little biased because that's where I am. Like the vibes of each place because even if the music is good, you still need to like the energy to be right. So first up, we have trailer park, it is kind of far away. It is about a 20 minute drive from NC State campus. And that's not great. But it is also good because that means usually people leave you alone. There's not as many (inaudible) and things like that. It is well worth the track is an outdoor venue and the bands are always really cool, as well as the people attending. It's always a really interesting crowd there. It's $5 to get in you don't need an ID or anything. And showtimes can be found on their Instagram if you do end up going make sure you wear shoes you don't care about at all because it gets very muddy there. So up next is bowstring pizza and brewing. And this venue is a bar and but they have an outside section for a stage that like opens up during the summer and I think sometimes during like springtime since you know, spring has sprung this time, it's a lot less rowdy and muddy than trailer park like there's like turf there it's kind of cleaner. And having a bar is nice. You, on the other hand, you need to be 21 to get into the actual inside venue. Usually outside you can just kind of wander over and they're not going to like ask for your ID unless you try to buy a drink. The crowd is a little different. It's kind of older and more millennial and fraternal if that makes sense. Vibe of the crowd there but still a lot of good bands come through there so definitely check it out. Um, next up is kings and kings is always a little more expensive usually a $10 cover instead of the normal 5, but the shows I've seen they're always unmatched because a lot of the musicians that play there do it as like their career, and so they're crazy talented. I saw one of the best bassist I've ever seen ever there, he was insane but um they tend to feature more genres than the regular indie rock bands as well because I feel like a lot of the other venues they have like college students playing so it's like rock and so if you're looking for other genres, like (inaudible) is an experimental noise thing that's going on there, not my vibe but maybe someone else's, I don't know. But it was interesting and most ages are, most shows are all ages but there is a bar as well so party. Okay, sorry, everyone was done. Pour house gets a little shout out because it looks cool and some good bands play there but I have never personally been so I can't like technically give my stamp of advocacy for it. But I'm gonna go soon when I turn 21 and it's gonna be great. And then lastly Q house which is on Dixie, super convenient to walk to you and the people who run it are super cool. They've had a lot of great bands there and the crowd is always super fun. The crowd is similar to the trailer park crowd. A little more fratty, I guess. Not millennial though. So um, cover's usually $5 and the line can get long, so go around the time the show starts. But those are my favorites in my experience.

Abigail Ali 35:01
Cool. I've heard most of those. I don't know much about kings. But I've heard the trailer park is really, really cool. And from the pictures I've seen, it looks really cool. And I have been to the pour house and I really liked it. It's a little small, at least the downstairs part is a little cramped, but the vibes are still really cool. So it doesn't really matter that much. But yeah, I think this is really cool.

Emily Vespa 35:24
Yeah, we went to kings for the WKNC-

Abigail Ali 35:27
Oh, I didn't know that's what that was.

Emily Vespa 35:29
And I love that as well, because they had Nadler and Waldorf there, which I think is the coolest venue addition I've ever seen at any, anywhere I've been. So you

Heidi Reid 35:38
Nadler and Waldorf are, they're our muses.

Emily Vespa 35:47
All right. So I'm starting this tidbit off with an interesting fact. In the United States, one in 14 have missed class due to lack of period products. And two in five people struggled to buy period products due to lack of income, which I knew that period poverty was definitely an issue, because we talked about it in my high school a lot. But I didn't really know that one in 14 have missed class due to that. So um, in 2021, the general, North Carolina General Assembly approved a grant program to give $250,000 to schools for period products. And it took less than a week for the money to run out completely. So two high school students in Cary started a nonprofit called period project North Carolina to help address period poverty and get high school students the period products they need. And so I just thought this was interesting to highlight. And it, I can't believe it's just two high school students. It's so cool. Um, they set up dispensers and bathrooms. So students don't have to go to the front desk to ask for a period products, because that can sometimes be embarrassing, and also takes away from class time. And now they have about 95 ambassadors and 21 different schools. So it's really grown. And I thought this was really cool. Because at my school we did, in my high school, we did like something similar. I think it was like a different nonprofit. But it was something along the lines of like, period poverty or like something like that, period project or something. But um, this is like really cool that it was started by high school students, because the people at my high school, it was teachers who started it. So I just thought this was cool.

Abigail Ali 37:12
Yeah, that is really cool. Especially because, like, I know, NC State is a little behind on this. Like, they just started doing that, too. But it's really cool to see, like high schoolers advocating for something like that, because it is such a big need. And I know, a lot of people can be uncomfortable with like, asking their peers for products, or maybe their peers don't have products to give them for the similar reasons, you know, so I do think that's really cool. And we love to see it just because I don't know, I'm a huge advocate for taking care of, yeah, I don't know, people with uteruses.

Heidi Reid 37:48
Yeah, I agree. And also like doing things like this, I feel like it's really important over like, there's still a stigma surrounding periods, right. So stupid. I cannot stress that enough, like, get over it. And like advocating for things like this kind of like kind of helps overcome that, I guess.

Emily Vespa 38:02
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. What I thought was interesting is like, this article is from North Carolina health news, if you want to check it out. They talked about that. But then they also talked about how it's like the grant has really helped a lot of schools and like, especially schools in rural areas where I'm pretty sure there's still a period products like shortage right now and like, a lot of their students don't, who aren't able to get the period products they need and they said that like, it's not only like, not coming to class because you're on your period and you don't have products but like, you know, if you like have a stain on your clothes, you don't want to get made fun of by your classmates-

Heidi Reid 38:35
Yeah.

Emily Vespa 38:35
-and stuff. So it's like, it lasts longer than just one week of the month like it can last for longer. So I thought this was good, because now people don't have to miss class.

Heidi Reid 38:43
I can't believe people, it's so sad people are missing class. It's like medieval times.

Emily Vespa 38:48
No, it is.

Heidi Reid 38:48
That's ridiculous.

Emily Vespa 38:49
Yeah.

Abigail Ali 38:51
Okay, we're ending on a high note. Yoga in the park is back at Dorothea Dix. So the weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, as you probably all know, and it's a literal crime if you don't spend as much time as possible outside. So a great way to extend your hours outside is to attend yoga in the park. Yoga in the park happens every Monday at 6pm at The Chapel in dorothea dix park. It is free, but you do have to register in advance. So keep that in mind. But yeah, be prepared strap up with your Claritin and the views and the vibes will prepare you for a great spring season. I highly recommend going to this.

Heidi Reid 39:34
Wait the whole, that was so good. That was so nice. Listen to the views and the vibes and the whole Claritin. Wow, I enjoyed that.

Abigail Ali 39:42
It's almost like she's going to journalism school or something. But yeah, it's cool.

Heidi Reid 39:49
That'll be fun. We should, we should go

Abigail Ali 39:51
Yeah, I kind of really want to. Vibes.

Heidi Reid 39:53
Yeah, maybe we can bird watch while we're there too.

Abigail Ali 39:56
Yeah, yes, we should bring our binoculars.

Heidi Reid 40:01
Okay I'll bring a yoga mat and binoculars

Abigail Ali 40:08
Okay guys, that is all we have for you this week. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time. Bye

Brian Jurado 40:22
Well that is all for today's episode of Eye on the Triangle. I want to thank Professor Ham for joining us today. And good luck to anyone that's trying some spring gardening this year. I hope everything that you plant grows successfully. As always, you can catch more episodes of Eye on the Triangle on WKNC/podcast. I hope everyone has a lovely week and enjoys this great spring weather

Music for today's episode has been green green garden by Chris Hogan, licensed under the YouTube Audio Library

Transcribed by https://otter.ai