HILLSBOROUGH - With the economy in the shape it's in, this may seem an unlikely time to launch a new business -- and a nonprofit one at that -- but the two local women releasing their new publishing company's first book had no way of knowing that when they set out.

Elizabeth Woodman and Gita Schonfeld, the entire staff of Eno Publishers, have just published "Rain Gardening in the South," by Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford. It is the culmination of a process they began almost three years ago, when times were considerably sunnier. Creating a publishing company, even a small one, isn't the kind of thing that happens overnight.

"Book publishing has always moved at a snail's pace compared with other forms of communications," said Woodman, the publisher. "It took time to establish a strategy and organize the publishing process, and it always takes a long time to develop a title, regardless of format.

"Obviously, this is a very different time. When we started, the economic climate was very different. It was not apparent then how fragile the situation was. It seems like a very risky thing to do now, but at that time it wasn't even a part of the equation."

Looked at another way, though, their first book comes along at just the right time. Due partly to the economy and partly to concern over global warming and other environmental issues, interest in green living, in sustainability, recycling, reuse and conservation of resources has never been higher. "Rain Gardening in the South," subtitled "Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge and Everything in Between," is right up the green alley.

"Water quality is an important environmental issue," Woodman said. "A primary source of water pollution in North Carolina is stormwater runoff, coming off streets, roofs, driveways. Rain gardening is an effective way to capture that, to filter it and use it. It can dramatically reduce toxic runoff.

"I was looking for a book on that, especially one geared toward the South, with its particular climate and soil and plants. I couldn't find one. There are some good brochures and things for planning departments and so on, but nothing really targeted for the home gardener. We brainstormed and came up with this."

She approached Kraus and Spafford, both horticulturists at N.C. State, and the project was on.

The book fits neatly into the category that Woodman and Shonfeld decided they wanted Eno Publishing to represent. They're not looking to put out the next John Grisham blockbuster. Both women have had long careers in the publishing industry -- in Woodman's case, more than 30 years, including co-founding Ventana Press -- and they've built their company to publish regional niche publications, targeted specifically to the Carolinas.

"We're not interested in mega-level publishing," said Schonfeld, who does the company's marketing and promotion. "We've always loved publishing and books, and we love this region, and so we thought about doing something to promote the culture and history and environment of the Carolinas and the South."

Eno Publishers has its office in a second-floor loft above the Gulf Rim restaurant on Churton Street in downtown Hillsborough. The town, of course, is famous for its well-known authors and its reputation as a literary-minded place, which makes it perfect, Woodman and Schonfeld say, for a small publishing house.

They set the company up as a nonprofit, planning to seek support from foundations and grants. The slumping economy, of course, has made that more difficult, but Eno Publishing has entered into an agreement with John F. Blair Publishing company, based in Winston-Salem, which will handle distribution.

"It's a little daunting, but it's very exciting," Shonfeld said. "We've gotten great response to our catalogue."

Their next two books from Eno Publishers focus specifically on Orange County. Coming out in late summer will be "Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle and a Yankee General," by Suzy Barile. It's the true Civil War story of Ella Swain, the daughter of UNC President David Swain, who fell in love with and married a man named Smith Atkins -- who happened to be a Union general whose troops occupied Chapel Hill in 1865. Their relationship was a great scandal of the age. Barile, the author, is the great-great-granddaughter of Swain and Atkins, and her book will include never-before-published excerpts from Swain's letters.

Following that, Eno Publishers will release "Twenty-seven Views of Hillsborough," a compilation of essays, fiction and poetry about the town by local writers, many of them very well known, others less so.

"That's going to be a lot of fun," Schonfeld said. "Hillsborough is such an incredibly arts and writing community, we're thrilled to be a part of it."

dave.hart@nando.com or 932-8744