EP 31: 'City People Lose Their Minds for Sunflowers'
On a summer day last year in Burgaw, North Carolina, a farmer named Michael Lanier snapped a photograph of bright new life on his family land and put it up on social media. The next day, a massive crowd beyond anything he'd imagined turned out for an in-person look. This farmer had unwittingly stumbled upon an amazing engagement opportunity, and when he tried it again this year, an even bigger crowd showed -- thousands of people. So when one of the state's biggest city governments did something similar recently, the response was off the charts. It nearly got unruly at times. But it wasn't just about civic engagement. It was more innovative, an example other cities can follow. Show notes: City of Raleigh sunflowers press release - http://www.raleighnc.gov/home/news/content/CorNews/Articles/Sunflowers2017.html WRAL story, "Raleigh's sunflowers draw crowds, but city asks visitors to stop jumping fence" - http://www.wral.com/raleigh-s-sunflowers-draw-crowds-but-city-asks-visitors-to-stop-jumping-fence/16812164/ Michael Lanier, Old River Farms - http://oldriverfarmsnc.com/
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Transcript
On this episode of Municipal Equation. I tell you what, man. City like, I I don't wanna I don't wanna sound rude or anything, man, but city people lose their minds for sunflowers.
You know, it's it's hard to get a lot of positive press at a wastewater treatment plant, so we take anything we can get.
A farmer and a city official plant a sunflower field. And then Oh,
God.
My name is Ben Brown, and this is Municipal Equation, a podcast about cities and towns and changing times from the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Episode 31.
Older Farms. This is Michael. Michael, it's Ben Brown. Hey. What's up, Ben? How you doing, man? Good. Good. I don't know why I hadn't put your number in my phone yet. I was just, like, I was just, like, texting. I was like, the number I don't know is Ben Brown. I just remember that.
This is Michael Lanier. And if you couldn't tell, he's an old friend of mine. But this is the first time I've talked with him in at least ten years. For instance, I didn't know that he was spending these days on a farm in Berghaw, North Carolina. Last I knew, he was a school teacher. And, actually, while we were catching up, I learned that he had left the teaching profession many years ago for an office job for better pay.
Which was just, miserable. I mean, it was, it it was it was a very good living for sure. You know, I got I got paid really well. The farm was a family operation, so he kinda grew up in that atmosphere. It was more natural to him. Putting somebody like me in a office was just you know, like, whenever they cage up orca whales and, like, their you know how, like, their, like, their dorsal fin, like, goes all floppy and they're all sad looking. You know? Man, that was you? That was me. That was totally me. You know? It was just it was just sad. Me, man. It was sad. Meanwhile, back at the farm, his parents were establishing an agricultural education program. So when they started doing that, I was like, man, that sounds awesome. Like, I miss teaching. Like, the the reason why I left teaching, obviously, because of the money. That's why I took the office job. So, you know, my parents were doing that, and I would literally take my PTO days from my office job to come out here and work at the farm with the kids. Nice. And just absolutely loved it. I mean, we were just having a blast. We we set up one greenhouse that we used as a classroom. We set up my mom is a retired school teacher, so she was awesome at setting up these learning stations. I mean, it's such a hands on program.
As you might guess, it wasn't long before he said sayonora to his office
job. I just I just couldn't do it anymore. And I approached my parents and told them, I was like, listen, I I've gotta get out of here. I'm not I'm not happy. I need to be back at the farm. That's where I belong. His parents let him grow and sell plants out of the greenhouse there, which really took off. So that became a great part of the overall business and even led to hiring a full time staff for it. Let me hey, Ben. Can I stop for just a minute? Because I just had a customer pull up. Of course. Yeah. Let me call you back in just, like, five minutes. No problem. Thanks, man. Mhmm.
Just a couple minutes later. Yo.
Alright. I'm back. That was a, that was somebody wanting wanting to go to the sunflowers.
Oh, oh, okay. I don't know if you heard him, but he said it was a guy wanting to come out and check out the sunflowers on the farmland. And that brings us to the focus of this episode, what happened when different people or groups, including a town government, decided to plant a large amount of sunflowers and how it kinda caused a freak out.
So my dad had the idea, let's do something nice for mom, and let's plant this field of sunflowers, in the front yard. So that basically, she's sitting on her porch, and her whole front yard is two acres of sunflowers. And, so that that's really how it came about. Basically, just something nice to do for mom. And we planted them, and I knew that I had read that sunflowers eventually always face east, and and they do. They're they're semiheliotropic. So they'll follow the sun a little bit, but once they're mature, they always just face east. I had no idea. Well well, the house also faces east. So so when they finally started blooming, you know, my mom was so excited about it, and all the flowers were facing away from her. And she didn't and she didn't even have any of the flowers, like, facing the house, you know, where where she could see them. And we we just got a kick out of that. We thought that was so funny, you know, because but it was not not even something we had thought about. But these sunflowers were really striking. I mean, you know what sunflowers look like, but these were amazing. And the only reason I know and the way I found Michael Lanier after a decade or more was happening across photos of his sunflowers on social media, which ends up being a big part of this story, social media. Let it was last year that we were sitting on the porch, and my mom said, you know, it's kind of a shame that that nobody else is seeing these flowers. You know, we we we're kinda you know, they're we're the only ones that are seeing them. She's like, why don't you put a post on Facebook and invite the neighbors over, say, you know, if you guys wanna come over and take pictures with the kids or whatever, y'all are welcome to.
He didn't think it was a good idea to put it on Facebook, you know, a little worried about who it might attract to his parents'
property. How how fast something like that can can travel Yeah. And and how popular something like that would be. But he ended up going for it. He put it up on Facebook. And then the next day, you know, the it kinda tells you how many people have seen your photo. And the next day, I looked at it, and 25,000 people had seen that photo. And I was like I was like, oh my god. I was like, mom, we're going to have a lot of people in your front yard. And, of course, my sweet little mother's like, would you think I need to make coffee for them? Or, you know, like Aw. Like, have some snack like, have some snacks ready for them. I was like, I don't think we can afford to to have a few snacks for yeah. Yeah. Right? So that was last year, and about 1,500 people showed up in one day.
In terms of advertising something on Facebook rather passively, that's a huge turnout. Now, think about when you see your friend's band put up a series of posts on Facebook like, hey, come out to the show on Saturday. It'll be a great time. And maybe, you know, 50 people turn out, tops. This post about sunflowers got 1,500.
So they try it again this year on a recent Saturday. And we had over 2,000 people come through. More than 2,000 people? More than 2,000 people in a tiny little family farm in Berghof. Wow. All all because of a Facebook post. And it wasn't just people driving by slowly or softly observing. I tell you what, man. City, like, I I don't wanna I don't wanna sound rude or anything, man, but city people lose their minds for sunflowers. I mean, they just they just go nuts for them. And, like right now, like I've like I said, we had just got interrupted earlier because there was a photographer coming out here to do pictures. That's true. And the local government of Raleigh, North Carolina found that out. No doubt. To the point where it was even kind of a problem.
A big freak out over sunflowers. So I headed out to where it actually happened. The Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Which, by the way, has been rebranded a bit to reflect more modern language in the industry. Wastewater treatment plants sometimes are known as water reclamation facilities.
We rebranded ourselves several years ago to call ourselves the resource recovery division because of those resources. This is Tim Woody. I am the superintendent for the resource recovery division for the city of Raleigh.
We were in his office at the treatment plant or the resource recovery center. His desk is next to a window that gives him a view not of tanks and basins, but of rolling farmland.
A tractor was cruising past. Well, we have roughly a thousand acres out here and we have, our traditional crop for most land applications is corn, wheat, hay,
corn, and beans. So, yeah. The treatment plant is growing crops.
How does that tie in with with wastewater treatment? Probably the the key part for wastewater treatment is gonna be the way you manage there's two processes, processing the liquid side, which is typically a biological process coupled with maybe filtration and disinfection, but the byproduct from those processes are going to be solids, and these solids are also known as sludge, and we take that sludge and we stabilize it. Stabilization allows us to then reintroduce it back into the public domain such as fertilizer farmland, which is a big a big use of of this product.
I know what you're thinking. Am I eating vegetables from a sewage plant? Actually,
no. Those crops are not permitted for human consumption. It's used for animal feed. Or in this case, we've now have looked at some other possible uses of those crops. Which brings us back to the majesty of sunflowers and how it caused a big public and media field day,
actually a series of field days. The city of Raleigh in late June and into July saw a big awakening of tall bright sunflowers on this farmland. Lots and lots and lots and lots of sunflowers. Like what you see in those highly produced commercial photos, like a sea of sunflowers. The city planted those sunflowers with a purpose, to use their seeds for the production of biofuel. The biosolids, that byproduct of treating wastewater, go onto the land, fertilizing what's planted there. In this case, sunflowers, which grew amazingly. That biofuel or biodiesel specifically is going back into the energy needs of the treatment plant. So it's meeting a policy of sustainability and efficiency, which is great. And it made headlines, as did the sunflower's public allure. Just like with what happened at Michael Lanier's farm, thousands of people turned out to get up close with these sunflowers. One part of it was that the sunflowers were closely visible from a popular greenway path. And the city of Raleigh, the local government, put out information as to where people could view the sunflowers. It was great PR for the city. This is actually something that happens annually, but it was definitely a big crowd this time. The problem was, it wasn't just a viewing spectacle. People started hopping the barrier and wading into the fertilized field. And if you want proof, you might guess it's all over Instagram. Selfies and group photos, big smiles, it's easy to imagine. Like Lanier said, city people go nuts for sunflowers.
What what are the what's the problem with that? Well, the fields again are permitted. They're permitted for the land application of biosolids and the state requires us to control the public access. Now the truth of the matter is, this material, this these solids have been processed, and we've applied them in, you know, thirty, sixty days prior, and we've incorporated it into the soil. So the real the danger actually from biosolids or the the rheus, I should say, is pretty much nonexistent. However, we still are required, by law to control public access.
The other potential risk is a little more obvious. You're in a field of tall vegetation in the summer. So you might imagine, for instance, getting bit by something like a snake.
So the city of Raleigh put out public reminders about that, and the media helped to communicate that message. Enjoy it from a distance. We really do welcome the attention. You know, obviously, people get out here and see the beauty and they wanna get into it. However, these fields are controlled, and we don't want people in them. We want them to view them preferably from the safety of these greenway paths so they can see them. But, it's only a couple weeks.
I was a bit heartbroken at my own ignorance about the lifespan of a full bloom sunflower. Just a couple weeks. I timed it wrong. I went out there hoping for backstage access to a Vincent van Gogh field swishing with gold, orange, and green.
Instead, I got to see them. Wither on the vine, dry on the field, a group of,
we hopped in the car for an up close look anyway. Anything. So And so these are the sunflowers? These are the sunflowers. You can see what happens. This is
that, you know, a week ago, they were prominent. And then they what they do is they start to droop over, and that's what they look like. And, it's just the natural process. So you were just a little bit short, when you got out here as far as and, you know, if you've been here, we could go there. It's been prominent right there. Yeah. It's kinda depressing looking down, but Yeah. That's what and it's just yeah. This is what happens. They just look kinda Yeah. But they're when they're in bloom, they're pretty amazing.
I bet. Which is cool. That's fine because I got to learn more about what happens next, which really sets a great example in the conversation of sustainability. Basically, the sunflowers are left in the field to dry out. Then we can harvest some traditionally, like, with a combine,
and we will gather the seed, and then we'll process the seed accordingly. So
And you process the seed, and that leads to biodiesel? How do you process it? Is that done on-site? Does that take a long time? Or Yeah. It it's
we were fortunate to be recipients of a grant to the NCDA, and this grant allowed us to design, build, and, purchase and build equipment for a biofuel processing unit. And it's inside of a trailer that we have all this equipment, housed in, and you take this seed and make sure it's at the proper, you know, moisture content and all that. And the first step is cleaning, and so there's a process for cleaning it. The next step is crushing, which is getting the oil out of it. And then, you take that that oil, and then you combine with a catalyst like methanol, for example, and the end result is biofuel.
Where does that go? Does that power things on-site here? What's the the purpose of the biodiesel here? Well, we have lots of different applications for bio for diesel.
And we have generators, standby generators. We have pump station generators. And then we have our own rolling stock trucks, backhoes, dump trucks. We have our own farm equipment. You mentioned the the tractor earlier. Those are all just examples. We, right now, are concentrating on off road diesel. So these are this is all equipment that doesn't necessarily, enter into the, onto the roadway. So it's farm tractors and backhoes.
The function of the farm itself is an overall statement of sustainability with the wise use of the byproducts from the resource recovery plant. We've made this decision many, many years ago
to find sustainable, options to, reuse this product over and over and over again. And and North Carolina is a strong agricultural state, and we're actually in about 33 counties in North Carolina distributing different biocellus products. So So when you said the decision was made,
is that a proper policy, or is it just the best practice towards sustainability?
We we made this decision back in the early two thousand. We were undergoing some a lot of, a lot of improvements to our infrastructure here at the plant. And we were faced early on with, do we wanna invest into processing equipment that's going to make biosolids, or do we wanna leave it and put, you know, put in a, incinerator and not necessarily process it, but just simply stabilize it in a way that you can burn it. So we made that very consciously made that decision thinking, like, again, the agricultural background in North Carolina, we're very accessible to, you know, Eastern North Carolina, which is strong agriculture. So that was that's what drove us.
It wasn't until we drove around the farmland that I actually got a real appreciation for how massive the operation is and how much farm production actually comes out of it. We own it here. You can see that's all corn over there,
and over here on the left, and you can see we baled hay over here. Okay. So we got a lot of lot of activity going on. That's beautiful out here too. Oh, it is gorgeous. And we sell all this. These farm local farmers buy our hay from us. We, you know, sell it for cow hay. It's not like it's not for horses. It's really cow grade. But, we sell it relatively cheap and because we don't wanna keep it. We we want it gone. And,
so we have a pretty high demand for it. We rounded over to the part of the sunflower field near the Greenway where people were taking advantage. And Woody began to talk about his reluctance with all of this until the angle on public education and awareness won him over. Think about it. How often does a municipal wastewater treatment plant gain popularity?
From my from my standpoint, this has done really well for us because it's it's raised some awareness as to what we do out here. You know, For many, many, many, many years, if you're in the world of wastewater, you operate on the back nine, under the radar, you don't wanna be in the news, you kinda do your thing and go on. We sort of challenged ourselves to be more, proactive and be and put ourselves out there. And, that helps us when it comes time to, you know, request funds to do things the way we wanna do it and be be responsible in doing it. And that, you know, it it helps us with our own city council when they know we've been doing big things, and I think that helps our whole image and everything, in the long run. They there have been people that have visited this plant just because they wanna see what we're doing with this biofuel or with bioenergy or biodiesel or whatever. And that's we don't get that kind of attention very much and we welcome it.
Amid all of this, they just won the EPA Southeastern Diesel Collaborative Award for 2017 in leadership and sustainability. I don't know why, but I decided to quiz Michael Lanier on what the lifespan of a sunflower field is. Maybe I was hoping for a longer answer so I could live my Van Gogh dream down at his sunflower field. We've got about two weeks.
So probably by this coming Saturday, they'll be looking pretty bad. I couldn't make it. But we've got we actually planted two more fields so that we staggered the plantings. So that we'll hopefully have one field blooming in September and another field blooming in October.
Nice. But there's another opportunity closer to home too. So, yeah, there'll be another field that should be in bloom about mid to late August. So right now, although with a bit more guard against general public access. It's not
accessible from the greenway, but it's accessible from you can see it from the main road. So it's not quite as accessible as the last group. But
And even if people are breaking the rules, Woody and Lanier both understand it's not really deeply malicious. And people might wander where they're not supposed to, but, you know, this is happy stuff. You know, you don't see sunflowers on the cover of a Slayer album.
No offense. Yeah. I mean, it's bringing people out here and and more than anything, it's just making people happy. It really is. And and people remember us for that, I think. Everybody's been just super nice. You really can't. You can't be a jerk in the middle of sunflower field. You really can't. So, it's been it's been a really great experience for us.
Did, you get a sense of how far people are driving?
Yeah. Yeah. People are coming, tons of people from Wilmington, obviously. 35 miles. Jacksonville. 40 miles. Swansboro. 60 miles. I remember there was a family. They told me they came all the way from Emerald Isle. 75 miles. Because apparently Emerald Isle had a sunflower field that the city had planted, and it was already over. And they were looking looking for more sunflowers, so they drove all the way out here.
So there's a pretty obvious takeaway here for places that do want foot traffic.
I've been contacting other people and and encouraging them to plant sunflowers. There's a little farm near Porters Neck, Scottsdale area right outside of Wilmington. A good friend of mine owns a farm called Humble Roots. Mhmm. And it's an awesome, awesome organic farm, where they raise, pork and and, turkeys, chickens, all kinds of different vegetables. And and he's got a really great business out there. And I called him up. I was like, man, you need to plant some sunflowers at your farm. If you if your business is starting to slow down in this hot part of the season, plant them and they will come. And he did, and and he had a great season too with them. Had a really great experience with with doing the sunflowers, and that was bringing people out to his farm. And, of course, once the people are out there, he had, you know, chicken and pork and stuff for sale and, increased his business by a little bit. So it is it is excellent advertising for sure. Yeah. It's like a a farm hack. Yep. Exactly. Exactly.
Or a city hack or whatever. If your band is playing on Saturday and if you're imploring your Facebook friends to come out, you know what might help. Thanks for listening. I'll have links to photos and materials from this episode, including information from the city of Raleigh about their sunflower and biodiesel program. That'll be at sound cloud dot com slash municipal equation where you can get all the past episodes. Really excited for the August 29 episode. It's gonna be a favorite. A lot of people involved with it, and I'll put out a teaser next week. Keep up to date by following us on Twitter at muni equation. That's at muni equation. And look us up on Instagram. If you'd like to pitch an episode or give any kind of feedback, email me at bbrown@nclm.org. And if there's anything you've heard and enjoyed on this podcast, any episode, please take a quick moment to tell us why in a brief iTunes review. We love seeing them. This podcast comes to you from the North Carolina League of Municipalities online at nclm.0rg, and I'll talk to you next time. This is Ben
Brown.
