North Carolina
North Carolina Peaches are Abundant Despite Dry Weather – Perishable News
RALEIGH – Peak peach season in North Carolina is well underway, and many farms are expecting an extended season through October this year. “Due to the warmer winter, many farms didn’t get a freeze after peaches began budding this year,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “That, combined with the sandy soil and good drainage where they grow best means our farmers have plenty of peaches at their farmstands, farmers markets and in the grocery store.”
Between 2017 and 2022, the number of peach farms and total peach acreage increased in North Carolina. As of the 2022 Census of Agriculture, North Carolina had 356 peach farms on a total of 1,273 acres. “North Carolina grows more than two dozen varieties of peaches. Growers are harvesting clingstone peaches now and will begin harvesting freestone varieties near the end of the month,” said Khaila Daye, marketing specialist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The Sandhills region is kicking it into high gear in celebration of all things ‘peachy’ with N.C. Peach Week, July 18-28. The North Carolina Peach Festival runs July 18-20, in Candor. Additional events through July 28, include: Princess Peach Night at Red’s Corner, Peach-A-Palooza at James Creek Cider House, a free peach wine tasting at Watering Can Wines in Carthage, food and drink competitions throughout the week and more. To see the full event schedule, visit https://homeofgolf.com/peach-week/.
The Robert G. Shaw Piedmont Triad Farmers Market in Colfax will host Peach Day Thursday, Aug. 1. Visitors will be treated to free peach samples, face painting and more. The Piedmont Triad Farmers Market is open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. offering shoppers locally grown fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, wines and specialty foods, plus seasonal products from N.C. nurseries, greenhouses, Christmas tree farms, turf grass and sod. The market is located off Exit 208 on Interstate 40, west of Greensboro near the Piedmont Triad International Airport.
To find local peaches near you, download the Visit NC Farms app at https://visitncfarmstoday.com/.
North Carolina and NC State, scheduled to meet just once in the men’s basketball regular season for the second consecutive season, are working to schedule a nonconference meeting in Greensboro in December, WRAL has learned.
The Atlantic Coast Conference rivals had played annual games in Raleigh and in Chapel Hill for more than 100 years before last season when the teams met just once in Raleigh. This season, the ACC scheduled just one meeting between the schools in Chapel Hill.
The additional meeting, which is not finalized, would be played Dec. 15 in Greensboro, according to a source.
The 18-team ACC moved from 20 conference games to 18 before last season in an attempt to improve the league’s NCAA Tournament credentials. It worked as the league received eight bids to the NCAA Tournament in 2026, but it also created some scheduling changes, including the elimination of a second game between NC State and UNC in most seasons.
The current conference schedule dictates that each school plays two teams twice (a primary partner and a variable partner), plays 14 teams once and misses one school altogether. In 2026-27, UNC will play Duke (primary) and Louisville (variable) twice and won’t play Clemson. NC State will play Wake Forest (primary) and California (variable) twice and won’t play Syracuse.
Greensboro was the longtime home of the conference office. The ACC men’s basketball tournament has been held at First Horizon Coliseum, formerly the Greensboro Coliseum, 29 times – the most in league history.
For decades, the ACC played a true round robin among its members — a format that became unworkable as the league grew to 12, 15 and, now, 18 basketball-playing schools.
State lawmakers have pursued various measures to force schools in the UNC System to play each other, citing the economic impact of such meetings. North Carolina and NC State are UNC System schools.
A 2024 bill would have required the two ACC schools to play each other and other in-state public universities in football and basketball. A 2025 bill, aimed at potential conference realignment, would have required that NC State and UNC play each annually in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball. The Senate’s 2025 budget proposal would have required more basketball games between UNC, NC State and smaller schools across the state. The budget would have added UNC and NC State to the schools that receive annual distributions from sports betting tax revenue.
None of those measures have become law.
NC State and North Carolina have been conference mates since 1911, first in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association, then in the Southern Conference and now the ACC. Both have been members of the ACC since its 1953 founding.
There is some sad news from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s popular Barn Owl Live Cam.
Wildlife officials say a Great Horned Owl entered the barn Wednesday around midnight and killed one of the barn owl owlets. Biologists have not been able to determine which owlet was lost.
They have confirmed it was one of the three youngest birds in the nest. The Wildlife Commission says the incident is heartbreaking but also a natural part of life in the wild.
Great Horned Owls are one of the main predators of Barn Owls, and encounters between the two species do happen. The attack was captured on the live camera.
Officials say the video also shows an extremely rare moment when the adult female Barn Owl fought the Great Horned Owl on top of the nest box. Despite the loss, the surviving owlets are expected to continue growing over the coming weeks.
They will lose their fluffy down feathers, begin exploring outside the barn, and continue developing hunting skills.
The Wildlife Commission says some of the young owls could leave the nest as early as July.
After leaving the nest, they usually travel alone and may eventually move hundreds of miles from where they hatched. The Barn Owl Live Cam remains available for the public to watch.
(WLOS) — In a tragic update, one of the baby barn owls being monitored by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has died after a great horned owl entered the barn and killed the owlet. The barn owlets had attracted worldwide attention through the wildlife commission’s ongoing observation efforts.
Officials with N.C. Wildlife said it is not yet clear which owlet was killed, but confirmed it was one of the three youngest.
The wildlife commission said it captured a photo of the great horned owl and the adult female barn owl fighting on top of the box, calling it an “extremely rare encounter to capture on camera.”
PHOTOS: OWLETS ‘HOO’ GAINED WORLDWIDE FAME ARE GROWING QUICKLY INTO YOUNG ADULTS
The wildlife commission said that while this loss is tragic, it is a common encounter because great horned owls are a top predator of barn owls. Officials also said this will likely not be the last encounter.
Over the next few weeks, the commission said viewers will likely see the remaining owlets start exploring, leaving the barn and learning to hunt. The fledglings may leave the barn as early as July to start hunting on their own, according to the commission.
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