Gov. Beverly Perdue did a little digging in the dirt between meetings today, planting a few collards outside the Executive Mansion.

The greens will be donated to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, reports Lynn Bonner. Cabbage is also going into the freshly tilled soil at the corner of Person and Jones streets.

The early-morning gardening publicized a national "Plant a Row for the Hungry" campaign, which encourages gardeners to plant extra food for donation.
Perdue's husband, Bob Eaves, an apparent speed-gardener, got quite a few plants in the ground.

The campaign runs until the end of the month, and collards take about 60 days to mature. But the plants do fine in cool weather, and Jill Staton Bullard, food shuttle CEO, said they'll be happy to take them when they're ready.

Gov. Beverly Perdue says she is trying to set a good example by growing a garden on the grounds of the Executive Mansion.

"I'm not the best gardener in the world," Perdue confessed to a conference today at N.C. State University designed to encourage the consumption of more North Carolina-grown food, reports Rob Christensen.

Perdue doesn't have to be an expert gardener. Prison trustees assigned to the mansion in downtown Raleigh do most of the work in growing lettuce, cabbage and other foods.

But Perdue said she helped pick some strawberries from the garden last week.

Gov. Beverly Perdue opened the doors of the Executive Mansion to some of her political supporters last week.

Among the invitees was a former Board of Transportation member who had made Perdue's path to the state's top job a bit more arduous, reports Dan Kane.

Louis W. Sewell Jr., a Perdue fundraiser, resigned from the board last fall after The News & Observer reported that in two instances Sewell had advocated for road projects near businesses that he or his son co-owned. He said in both cases he was not trying to enhance his property, but remedy road problems that were affecting general traffic.

Days after the report (and just before Sewell resigned), Perdue was unclear about whether she would attend a fundraiser Sewell was throwing on her behalf in Jacksonville.

When asked if she would reappoint Sewell to the board, Perdue said, "Lord have mercy. I'm trying to win the governor's race."

Sewell cancelled the fundraiser and resigned from the transportation board shortly after that.

Perdue has since changed board operations so that members can not approve road building contracts.

David Kochman, Perdue's communications director, declined to identify all of the roughly 25 people who attended the meeting on March 30. But he confirmed that Sewell and Lanny Wilson of Wilmington, another Board of Transportation member, were there.

More after the jump.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue already changed the governor's office by the time she arrived Monday morning. She had rearranged the furniture.

Perdue arrived at the capitol shortly after 9 a.m., though she had been working or exercising at her Chapel Hill home since 5:30 a.m.

(Former Gov. Mike Easley and First Lady Mary Easley are not completely cleared out of the Executive Mansion yet, and the mansion needs to be inspected to make sure a mold problem corrected in 2006 hasn't recurred.)

Dressed in a cobalt blue suit, Perdue welcomed her new staff, many of whom were moving boxes, learning the phones or meeting the state troopers who protect the governor. She hugged Sharon Nelson, an aide for the past ten years.

Perdue had her own desk moved in, a gift in 1990 from a New Bern friend, and had it placed on the other side of the office from where Easley and then-Gov. Jim Hunt sat their desk. The new spot looks out a window.

"You know how much I like having a view," she said, as she looked over the office. Much of the furniture was the same, just moved. A hand-operated stamp sits on a window sill, an unwieldy, lever-action device that lets the governor emboss the state seal on a piece of paper as a souvenir for guests. Perdue gave it a try for a state photographer chronicling the first minutes of the day.

The episode lent new meaning to her pledge of being a "hands-on governor."

While Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue hasn't had a lot of time just yet to check out her new home, she's already kicking around a few changes to the governor's mansion.

She said Wednesday there's an office in the downtown Raleigh home that's a tad too masculine in decor for her taste. So she's thinking about lightening it up, perhaps with a coat or two of paint, Samantha Thompson Smith reports.

Perdue also has asked the groundskeeper at the mansion to put a swing set on the grounds for when her grandchildren and the children of her staff come to visit.

"It just reflects her family values," said Chrissy Pearson, one of Perdue's staff members.

Perdue said Wednesday she hopes to walk through the house with a friend on Sunday after she takes office to see what needs to be done or changed for her personal taste.

Gov. Mike Easley turned the tables, or at least who was sitting at them, Monday night.

Easley, First Lady Mary Easley and their son, Michael, served dinner to the about 30 inmates who work at the executive mansion tending to the garden, cleaning or serving on the kitchen and waiting staff.

Former inmates who previously worked at the mansion and now are paroled also were welcomed back as alumni.

"It's a chance for us to say thanks to them," said Easley, who leaves office next month after eight years.

And how did he do as a waiter?

"I'm best on (serving) the tea," he said. "The ice cream slides off the cake when I serve dessert."

Gov. Mike Easley is not a water scofflaw.

There was speculation this morning, apparently fueled by a Raleigh radio station, that the grounds at the Executive Mansion in downtown Raleigh were being watered.

That could have put the governor in violation of watering restrictions that went into effect in Raleigh today. Those restrictions ban the use of all lawn sprinklers on Mondays, and on alternating days the rest of the week depending on whether your address is odd or even.

The state Department of Administration reports that a gardener did water some flowers and plants at the governor's mansion this morning. But he used a hose, by hand, which is allowed.

The mansion's sprinklers are set for Wednesday, Friday and Sunday — reflecting its address of 200 Blount Street.