60th annual North Carolina Dairymen’s Conference

The 60th annual North Carolina Dairymen’s Conference will be held Feb. 17-18, at the Hickory Metro Convention Center, Hickory, N.C. The event draws dairy producers from North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, South Carolina and southern Virginia. This year’s event is combined with the North Carolina Cattleman’s Conference, creating a larger trade show. Conference speakers will include: Scott Whisnant, North Carolina State University, addressing beef and dairy reproduction; Monty Kerley, University of Missouri, discussing carbon credits for beef and dairy producers; Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois dairy nutritionist, discussing dairy nutrition; Scott Brown, University of Missouri, who will provide a dairy policy and economic outlook; and Jake Martin, dairy engineer, discussing dairy design and engineering. Other events include a dairy industry dinner and the annual meeting of the North Carolina Dairy Producers Association meeting. For an agenda and registration information, contact Matthew Lange, Dairy Development Coordinator, North Carolina Dairy Advantage Program, phone: 919-740-1762; or e-mail: mlange@ncdairyadvantage.com

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Hart Square - The Largest Collection of Original Historic Log Buildings In The US

Today we visited Hart Square. We were able to snag two tickets to the "sold out" event. It was a great experience! The weather was perfect - - sunny with a good breeze and temperatures in the 70's. For more than thirty years, Dr. Robert Hart of Hickory has rescued and restored Carolina life of the nineteenth century, recreating an entire village, Hart Square—the largest collection of original historic log buildings in the United States. Each year on the fourth Saturday in October, Dr. and Mrs. Hart open this restoration project to the public. Dating from 1782 to 1873, the seventy log structures—chapels, barns, houses, shops, and more—are all furnished, and around 220 volunteer artisans demonstrate the period techniques of flax breaking and hackling, spinning, weaving, herb dying, open-hearth cooking, broom and shoe making, shingle riving, wheelwrighting, tinsmithing, and moonshining. Visitors from across the country attend the one-day event, some inspired by the three-part series The 1840 Carolina Village narrated by the late Shelby Foote that airs on PBS stations. View a gallery of Hart Square. For further reading, see the October 2005 article "Cabin Fever" in Our State magazine: 1, 2, 3.