Orange County NC Website
Kara Brewer: 36. And then we’re doing 40 more in the spring. 1 <br /> 2 <br />Andy Petesch: And do you already have bees and apiary on the property? 3 <br /> 4 <br />Kara Brewer: We do. We have three beehives currently on the property and we’re adding two every spring 5 <br />until we get up to 20. 6 <br /> 7 <br />Andy Petesch: And you had some test flower beds? 8 <br /> 9 <br />Kara Brewer: Yes, while we were under construction. 10 <br /> 11 <br />Andy Petesch: But you’re going to start… And I would ask the Board to turn to tab 15. Could you describe 12 <br />what this is? 13 <br /> 14 <br />Kara Brewer: Yes, this is just an overview of our farm plan and how we have everything situated. So you 15 <br />can see where the apiary is, where we’re going to have our hives, where we’re putting the chestnut 16 <br />orchard. You can see the barn. Up to the barn there, that’s where our cut flower beds are going to be. Just 17 <br />above the parking area and then off to the side. I want to start growing the flowers to see what does well 18 <br />and what I might want. Also, in that area one of those buildings will be a cooler. Probably a converted 19 <br />shipping container because we will need a lot of cold storage. And there’s cold storage in the barn as well 20 <br />because the chestnuts have to be refrigerated, as do the flowers. 21 <br /> 22 <br />Andy Petesch: And would you talk about the processing portion of the chestnut business? 23 <br /> 24 <br />Kara Brewer: Sure. So the way we process the chestnut is we collect them from the field. We have to take 25 <br />them out of the burr, you rinse them off and then you actually have to dip them in a hot water bath at 120 26 <br />degrees for 20 minutes and then you take them back out, you dry them off and you package them up per 27 <br />pound, depending on who you’re giving it to and what your poundage is. So essentially we’d be putting into 28 <br />15-20 pound bundles. 29 <br /> 30 <br />Susan Halkiotis: The forestry certificate is a very handy thing for people who have over 20 acres of land it 31 <br />can save you a lot of money in taxes. And so I just wondered. I see that the letter came from the N.C. 32 <br />Forest Service on January 25th. Did you apply in January? 33 <br /> 34 <br />Kara Brewer: It might have been right around there or just before. I think I contacted them maybe a month 35 <br />or two before hand and then it just took a while to get the process started. 36 <br /> 37 <br />Susan Halkiotis: Does the USDA off similar property tax cut whenever a property is deemed to be 38 <br />farmland? 39 <br /> 40 <br />Kara Brewer: I’m not 100% sure. I don’t know that. 41 <br /> 42 <br />Barry Katz: Can you locate the septic field on this property? 43 <br /> 44 <br />Kara Brewer: Sure. That is where the wild flower and meadow habitat is. 45 <br /> 46 <br />Barry Katz: And that’s not for commercial use? 47 <br /> 48 <br />45