As the sun broke through the rain clouds recently, a Carolina wren sat on the arm of a wooden yard chair next to our big forsythia bush, singing for all he was worth. His wet and molting feathers looked bedraggled, but the sun was shining, his mate was perched nearby, and all was right in his world. I love wrens. They go cheerily about their business hunting spiders in shadowy places, tails cocked upwards, wings quivering, and eyes aglitter. Hereabouts, we have the house wren, the Carolina wren, and the winter wren. Two others, the marsh wren and the sedge wren, are less often seen. Read the Full Story >>
Economy & Environment
Charles Town’s New Fresh Food Market
October 7 saw the launch of Bushel & Peck in the historic Charles Washington Hall, returning the site to a use it hasn’t enjoyed since the 19th and early 20th centuries. Read the Full Story >>
Affordable Housing Through a Different Lens
Since the 1980s, housing has ballooned in square footage. For growing families, the standard 2,200-square-foot house may be a necessity for now. However, that range is pricing many locals out of affordable options. That’s where tiny home communities can offer unique housing solutions. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown Juggles Recycling Issues
Due to a national trend that is now affecting Shepherdstown, the state of West Virginia, along with Apple Valley Recycling Center (Shepherdstown’s recycling vendor), can no longer accept glass of any color. Read the Full Story >>
Stories in Tree Bark Announce More Than Just the Season
The big tulip tree in the front yard has beautiful bark. Like most mature trees, its bark has deep furrows or cracks, but is smooth in between. The fractures in the corky bark surface interconnect like chains in a wonderful pattern. On the widest part of the trunk, next to the ground, lichens and mosses Read the Full Story >>
Celebrate the Birth of a New Year
In the dark hours of morning, the first snow fell, unannounced and unpredicted. Barely a dusting, it whitened the ground and stuck in the crevices of tree trunks. Read the Full Story >>
Bavarian Inn Goes Green, and Beyond
Late last year, The Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown (WV) joined Jefferson County’s solar community by debuting a rooftop array of solar panels on one of their alpine-style hotel buildings. The energy system was designed and installed by Mountain View Solar (MTV) of Berkeley Springs (WV), and consists of 105 SolarWorld 300W modules. The 31.5kW system Read the Full Story >>
W-elk-ome Home
Don’t be fooled by your friends and family in the southern part of West Virginia this holiday season if they post pictures or videos of wildlife with captions like “I believe,” or #Blitzen. We are a little south of caribou territory, but it turns out that due to some recent environmental changes, and the persistent efforts of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR), we will soon be inviting some old friends back to the state. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown Teams Up With TerraCycle to Address Litter
Shepherdstown Mayor Jim Auxer cares a lot about the environment. And as one of the Panhandle’s greenest, most outdoor-friendly locations, he feels it’s everyone’s responsibility to help keep Shepherdstown clean. Read the Full Story >>
SkyTruth Wants the World to See the Facts
A major tool in tracking the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) will soon be available—and is being created by Jefferson County’s own SkyTruth. Read the Full Story >>
Eastern Panhandle Awaits Gas Distribution Lines
Mountaineer Gas recently filed an application with the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) for distribution line expansion in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties. The company expects a decision from the PSC in November, after public hearings are held in October, said Moses Skaff, Mountaineer Gas senior vice president. Read the Full Story >>
The Butterfly and the Pawpaw
I had seen zebra swallowtails before and had long admired them. Smaller than the big yellow tiger swallowtail, the zebra has sharply triangular forewings, dramatic tail streamers, and a bold, racy pattern of black and white. The white seen up close is actually very pale green. Two crimson and two blue spots adorn the hind wings just ahead of the streamers, and two crimson stripes run along the underside of the hind wings. All these longitudinal stripes enhance their streamlined look. Their beauty is unsurpassed. When half a dozen zebra swallowtails land close together in the wet mud near our mailbox, it looks like a butterfly bouquet. Read the Full Story >>
Birthplace of Rivers—West Virginia’s First National Monument?
We arrived just in time to see Roy Moose handling the timber rattlesnake. On a long, hooked pole, the rattler slithered up slowly towards Moose’s arms. Whenever he got too close, Moose skillfully shifted the balance back down towards the pole’s far end, and the snake slipped towards the hook, both ends—fangs and rattle—dangling uselessly in the air. Read the Full Story >>
Whose Bees Are These?
Consider this: every third bite of food you take, a bee is responsible for it. The reasons are pretty cut and dry. Almost every crop grown for its fruits, nuts, seeds, fiber, and hay require insect pollination. And without a doubt, the undefeated world champions of pollination are bees. Read the Full Story >>
Recycling History to Sustain the Road Ahead
Breaking ground with methods and tools not used much in our region for several generations lets us slow down to truly observe our impact on the land. We see the rusting relics of a bygone era virtually any time we travel around our county. An old Oliver plow ornamenting someone’s garden, or a horse-drawn hay Read the Full Story >>