CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/17354
l An Eastover couple raises crops, critters and (electrical) currents By Stephanie Brigman the Darling homestead. Crops of corn, tomatoes, green beans and red cabbage are used for family meals and are canned or frozen for future use. Table scraps are discarded into a large compost bin which in turn goes right back into the land. The Darlings take pride in their harvest and receive satisfaction knowing there are no harmful chemicals in their meals. “We try to be as organic as possible,” says Randy, an Army veteran R Go Solar | The Darling’s solar panels help them create more energy than they consume. Birds and Bees | Homesteading here means beekeeping and tending to animals. now employed with the U.S. Postal Service. Anke is a nurse in the labor and delivery unit at Cape Fear Valley Hospital. For Randy, the homestead way of life is a return to his rural roots growing up in Ohio but it’s all new to Anke. “I had to learn it all,” she said. “I was a city girl and it was a big learning curve for me, you know, with learning the canning and gardening. But I enjoy it.” Their lifestyle might seem quaintly old-fashioned until you catch sight of the 6.2 kilowatt photovoltaic system in the yard. Thanks to cutting- edge technology, the Darlings are homesteaders and co-owners of a small power company of sorts, becoming the first homeowners to “go solar” in Cumberland County, thus creating more energy than they consume. Randy and Anke discovered the two-story homestead in 1993 and couldn’t help but admire the rural beauty of the residence. Cypress trees frame the three-acre property, providing privacy for the Darlings’ CityViewNC.com | 19 iving HI-TECH HOMESTEAD andy and Anke Darling never considered owning a homestead until they fell in love with one on the outskirts of Eastover. A large vegetable garden feeds them as well as a variety of animals: chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits, a delicacy in Anke’s native Germany. Nothing is wasted at