A really touching story from the Observer

The Bryants, as much as anyone, are the faces of environmentalism in Charlotte. Now they are leaving, selling their Myers Park home and settling onto 170 acres of woods and cornfields along the Pee Dee River on the far eastern side of Stanly County. Ron and Nancy are riding the crest of an environmental wave.

What a cool couple!

At ages that entitle them to a relaxed retirement, Ron, 63, and Nancy, 66, will instead live in an energy-efficient “round house.”

They’ll stack solar panels on the barn roof. Grow much of their food. Tend chickens, beehives and, maybe, goats. Perhaps cultivate switch grass, an ethanol crop, and hemp for fiber.

To a farmer, their gently sloping acres are crop land. In the parlance of environmentalists, the land is open space that needs saving. By permanently protecting it from development and restoring its natural character, the Bryants intend to act out their beliefs.

“Ron always says this is our last big adventure together,” Nancy says.