2012 State Meeting
"Excitement and Enlightenment on the Carolina Coast"
June 12 - 14, 2012
Sea Trail Resort
Sunset Beach, NC
Hotel Information
Sea Trail Golf Resort and Convention Center
Sunset Beach, NC
For over 25 years, Sea Trail has provided guests with peaceful respite and a lifetime of memories among its 2,000 beautiful coastal acres. Nestled quietly just five minutes from the Atlantic Ocean in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, and only 30 minutes from Myrtle Beach, Sea Trail provides endless activity choices including award-winning signature golf courses, 58,000 square feet of meeting and event space, various dining options, and a Village Activity Center with indoor and outdoor pools - all just minutes away from the #1 rated beach in North Carolina.
Reservations for State Meeting
Reservations must be made by May 11, 2012 to receive quoted rates.
To make reservations, contact Sea Trail Resort by calling 1-800-624-6601.
Be sure to identify yourself as a member of the NC Association of County Agriculture Agents.
Room Options and Rates:
Sea Trail is a resort offering a series of villas nestled among golf courses and natural areas. A variety of room options are available to fit your needs. To download a map of the resort, click here.
Please Note:
Rates quoted do NOT include 7.75% state tax plus 6% local occupancy tax.
Rates are good for 3 days before and 3 days after state meeting dates, or June 9 – 17.
Rates are per unit, per night (no additional charges per person).
Royal Poste Guest Room - $65.90
The Resort Guest rooms are the most affordable, coziest accommodations at the resort, providing a small yet comfortable bed and bath. Each room features either two twin beds or one queen. These rooms are located a short walk to the pools and the resort Activity Center. (200 sq. ft., standard occupancy: 2)
Resort Mini Suites - $65.90
The Resort Mini suites are slightly larger than our resort guest rooms and offer a kitchenette complete with a microwave and a refrigerator. These accommodations feature two double beds. (300 sq. ft., standard occupancy: 2)
One Bedroom Villa - $131.80
The Resort One Bedroom Villas offer a living room with a separate dining area, a fully equipped kitchen, and a washer and dryer. The bedroom features a King, a Queen or two double beds. The One Bedroom Villa also features a private porch overlooking the resort’s natural surroundings. The villas are individually decorated to provide a unique experience for your stay. (standard occupancy: 4)
Two Bedroom Villa - $199.00
The Resort Two Bedroom Villas include a one bedroom room with a kitchen and living area and is connected to a guestroom which provides a separate bathroom and bedroom. Resort villas offer either one king bed, one queen bed, or two doubles and the guest rooms offers two twin beds or a queen bed. Each room is individually decorated to provide a unique experience during your stay. Villas have porches which can be used to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings that Sea Trail has to offer. These villas are just a short walk away from the pools and Activity Center. (standard occupancy: 8)
Directions to Sea Trail
Sea Trail Resort is located at 211 Clubhouse Road, Sunset Beach, North Carolina 28468 .
Schedule
Tuesday, June 12
10:00 am - Noon Registration Desk Open
12:00 pm Early Bird Golf Tournament Begins
4:00 - 6:00 pm Registration Desk Open
7:00 pm State Board Meeting
9:00 - 11:00 pm Hospitality
Wednesday, June 13
10:00 am - 12:30 pm Registration Desk Open
8:00 am - Noon Pre-Conference Tour: Holly Shelter Game Land - one year after the fire
Noon - 1:30 pm Opening Luncheon:
Pasta buffet with your choice of toppings, salad, garlic bread
Guest Speaker: Jim McDaniels, Director - New Hanover County Parks and Gardens, "Creative Ways to Develop Partnerships and Resources"
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm Registration Desk Open
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Youth Activities: Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson
Please fill out a medical release form for each child and send in with your registration fee.
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm Spouse and Life Member Tours:
Option 1: Castle Hayne Blueberry Research Farm, Commercial Cut Flower Production, Carolina Farmin' local market
Option 2: Shopping trip to Myrtle Beach
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Professional Improvement Session 1:
Track 1: Creating Online Learning Modules: The Basics with John Dorner
Track 2: Integrated Programming - County Highlights and Panel Discussion featuring:
Greene County's Ag Awareness Day
Alexander County's Taylorsville Learning Center Community Garden
Brunswick County's A Day on the Farm
Track 3: Emergency Preparedness and Recovery
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm Break
3:45 pm - 5:00 pm Professional Improvement Session 2:
Track 1: Creating Online Learning Modules: Advanced with John Dorner
Track 2: Specialists Update from Soil Sciences and the Plants for Human Health Institute
Track 3: Certified Safe Farms Program
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Cookout at Silver Coast Winery: BBQ pork and all the fix-in's, wine tasting, $6 Beer and Wine available
9:00 pm - 11:00 pm Hospitality
Thursday, June 14
7:00 am - 8:00 am Recognition Breakfast
8:00 am - Noon Youth Activities: Museum of the Coastal Carolinas and Ingram Planetarium
8:00 am - Noon Professional Development Tours
Tour 1: Horticulture - Green Swamp Nature Preserve, Milligan Turf Farm, Holden Brother's Farm Market
Tour 2: Field Crops - King Farm Enterprises and Cannady Farm (leaves 8:30am)
Tour 3: Center for Aquaculture Technology at Brunswick Community College (leaves 9:00am)
Noon - 1:30 pm Lunch: BBQ chicken, baked beans, boiled potatoes, slaw and more! (Brunswick County Cooperative Extension)
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Youth Activities: Putt Putt Golf and Calabash Creamery for ice cream
1:30 pm - 5:00 pm Spouse and Life Member Activities:
Option 1: Visit Southport and Bald Head Island
Option 2: Kayaking trip from Southport
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm NCACAA Business Meeting
6:00 pm - 6:30 pm Award Winner's Reception
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Award's Banquet: Entree options include soy ginger glazed chicken breast, shrimp and grits, and southern pot roast -- select your choice when you register online.
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Youth Pizza and Pool Party
9:00 pm - 11:00 pm Hospitality
Early Bird Golf & Pre-Conference Tour
Golf Tournament
June 12, beginning Noon
The Maples Course is a traditional southern course framed by twisted ancient oaks and tall Carolina pines. The medium-length, accuracy-demanding course opened in 1986 and features five holes that wind along the scenic Calabash Creek, with elaborate landscaping, undulating greens and refurbished bunkers. Still regarded as one of Maples’ finest, this is a beautiful 18 hole, par 72 course, with A1/A4 blended Bent grass greens. The course is also peppered with numerous waste bunkers, one of which extends the full length of a fairway.
Pre-Conference Tour: Holly Shelter Game Lands
June 13, 8am to Noon
Holly Shelter State Game Lands covers 75,000 acres in central Pender County; 13% of the counties land mass. The game lands include large areas of pine flatwoods, longleaf pine savannahs, and pocosins and are open for hunting deer, bear, doves, quail, and turkeys in season. Due to the diversity of plants and animals found in Holly Shelter and surrounding areas, the NC Natural Heritage Program ranks Pender County fourth among the state’s 100 counties in the number of rare plants and animals.
On June 19, 2011, thunderstorms ignited the largest wildfire the game lands has seen since 1986. Extreme drought allowed the fire to burn rapidly for weeks, though by mid July the blaze was mostly contained. The fire was finally extinguished by the dousing rains brought by Hurricane Irene in late August, after burning a total of 31,000 acres.
Much of the area burned was pocosin, a type of wetland dominated by deep, peaty soils. Pond pine, a small tree, is the dominant canopy in these areas and one of the very few pines that can regenerate new growth from bare wood, as seen in the canopy of this scorched specimen (picture, right). Understory species in this plant community include Cyrilla, Persea, Zenobia, Clethra, Lyonia, and Leucothoe.
The tour will provide a look at how the games lands are recovering one year after the fire. Tour participants have the choice of leaving by van from Sea Trail at 8am on Wednesday morning, or meeting the group at the game lands at 9am on your way to Sea Trail. The western entrance to Holly Shelter is not far off of I-40.
To meet the group at the Game Lands, take exit 398 (Hwy 53, Burgaw) off of I-40. Head west on I-40, towards Jacksonville for approximately 10 miles. Turn right onto Shaw Highway. The main entrance to the Game Lands is approximately 5 miles down on the left at Lodge Road. The tour will travel through Holly Shelter and exit on the eastern side, just north of Hampstead on Hwy 17.
Professional Development Tours
All tours leave from Sea Trail Resort promptly at the listed times. Following the tours, buses will take participants to the Brunswick County Extension Office and Botanical Gardens in Bolivia for lunch then return to Sea Trail by 2:00pm.
Tour 1: Horticulture
8:00 am - Noon
We'll start with an easy, flatland, guided hike (less than 1 mile round trip on established trails) of the Green Swamp Nature Preserve to experience pine savannas, pocosin ecosystems, orchids in bloom and hungry carnivorous plants including our native Venus fly trap, sundews and pitcher lants. Then it is off to the Milligan Family's turf farm to identify different warm-season species and better understand sod production and turf management practices. Finally, the Holden Brothers roadside stand will give us a glimpse of vegetable production that bridges organic and conventional agriculture. Cover crops, smother crops, trap crops and plasticulture help one brother grow the delicious produce for the other brother to sell at the indoor market (available for purchase in addition to other local goods). You'll have a great time on this tour and you may even learn some great principles and practices to share with your clients.
Tour 2: Field Crops
8:30 am - Noon
The field crop tour will be visiting the following two farms:
King Farming Enterprises farm, 2,800 acres in Brunswick and Columbus Counties. This father & 3 sons operation produces corn, soybeans, wheat, and greenhouse flue-cured tobacco transplants. In 2011, a large grain drying/storage facility was added. In the past, they have produced flue-cured tobacco and cotton.
Cannady Farms, owned and operated by Dallie Cannady. Dallie tends 1,000 acres in Brunswick County, Columbus County, and Horry County (SC). The operation produces flue-cured tobacco, corn, soybeans, and pickling cucumbers. Banana peppers will be added to the crop mix this year. Dallie participates in the H2-A guestworker program.
Tour 3: Aquaculture
9:00 am - 11:30 am
Brunswick Community College offers the only AquacultureTechnology program in North Carolina at their state of the art facilities in Supply, NC. Students completing this program are guaranteed acceptance into the Marine Science program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The Aquaculture Program focuses on research on a variety of fresh water species including Channel Catfish, Hybrid Striped Bass, Yellow Perch, Tilapia, Large Mouth Bass, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Kio and other ornamental fish. During the tour, we will visit their 8,500 square foot Center for Aquaculture Technology which includes classrooms, computer lab, and wet labs along with a 1,400 square foot hatchery room with troughs and tanks for holding fish and hatching eggs. We will also see their 25, quarter acre ponds, 4 one-acre ponds and one 3-acre pond for research.
Youth Activities
For children ages 5 and older - Parents are welcome to participate!
Please fill out a medical release for each child and send in with your registration fee.
Wednesday, 2:00 - 5:00
Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson - Take a walk in time to learn about the history of Brunswick County along with some outdoor time as we visit colonial kitchen ruins, and other artifacts that date back to pre-Revolutionary War period.
Thursday, 8:00 - Noon
Museum of the Coastal Carolinas and Ingram Planetarium - Have fun learning about shark jaws, model ships, wave machines and more at the Museum of the Coastal Carolinas then experience science, astronomy, physics hands-on at the Ingram Planetarium!
Thursday, 2:00 - 5:00
Putt Putt Golf and Calabash Creamery - Following lunch on Thursday at the Brunswick Extension office, we will play putt putt golf then enjoy homemade ice cream at Calabash Creamery.
Thursday, 6:00 - 8:00
Pizza and pool party at Sea Trail
Spouse & Life Member Tours
Wednesday, 2:00 - 6:00
Option 1: Fresh Fruit, Fresh Flowers and Fresh Produce
We start the tour off by visiting the NC State University Research Farm at Castle Hayne where we will have the opportunity to sample fresh blueberries off the plants in the field. You will be able to taste some of the latest research offerings from the blueberry breeding program from NCSU's Horticulture Department and learn about how new varieties are developed. Then we travel a short distance to visit one of largest flower producers in North Carolina. At Castle Hayne Farm, we will have a short tour of the production facility and see flowers growing to be shipped to markets locally and regionally. The Dutch settled in this area because of the rich farmland and this area became famous as a flower growing region of global importance. We will then travel to Carolina Farmin' a new concept for farmers to sell their produce. You will be able to enjoy some gelato before our drive to the cookout that is being held at the Silver Coast Winery.
Option 2: Shopping Trip to Myrtle Beach
Thursday, 1:30 - 5:00
Option 1: Visit Southport and Bald Head Island
Option 2: Kayaking trip leaving from Southport
Area Attractions
Learn about all there is to see and do along the South Brunswick Islands - http://www.ncbrunswick.com/
Visit the beach - just 5 minutes away! Read more about Sunset Beach.
Find out more about what there is to see and do around Sunset Beach: http://sunsetnc.com/
Visit Bird Island - This natural area is one of 10 sites that make up the North Carolina Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve. Preservation of the Bird Island Reserve allows this coastal ecosystem to be available as an outdoor laboratory where scientists, students and the public can learn about processes, functions and infl uences that shape and sustain the coastal area.
Check out Calabash, the seafood capital of the world!
Visit the Battleship North Carolina!
Visit Wilmington, only 45 minutes away
Committees
State Meeting Chair
Charlotte Glen
Registration and Program
Charlotte Glen and Bryant Spivey
Professional Improvement Sessions
Amie Newsome
Professional Development Tours
Curtis Fountain
Early Bird Activities
Mark Seitz
Spouse and Lifetime Member Activities
Eileen Coite
Youth Activities
Amanda Hatcher
Opening Luncheon
Nicole Sanchez
Cookout and Thursday Luncheon
James Parsons
Awards Banquet
Anne Edwards
Award Winners’ Reception
Cyndi Lauderdale
Door Prizes and Silent Auction
Roy Thaghard
Hospitality
Walter Earle and Norman Harrell
Decorations
Susan Brown