| Today | Wednesday | Thursday |
|---|---|---|
 Thunderstorm 77°/59° | Thunderstorm 75°/63° | Thunderstorm 77°/61° |
Last Friday, Mount Vernon Farm moved its cattle to the lush fields adjacent to the Link community center in Sperryville, where they grazed to their hearts’ content. Later in the week, traffic on U.S.. 211 had to pause for a few minutes while they were led across to another of the farm’s pastures. And...
Read More »
A zen retreat; sheep -- and other wooly pursuits -- on Main Street; master naturalists in the Thornton; master gardeners at the Coop; and apple butter the old-fashioned way at Beech Spring.
Read More »
Wakefield Country Day School’s sixth-grade class is participating this academic year in the “Trout in the Classroom” program. The effort is being led by teachers Margaret DiDomenico and Jeff Perry. The “Trout in the Classroom” program began in New York and has made its way across many of the eastern states. In Virginia, it’s...
Read More »
The presentation on long-term changes in water supply in Rappahannock County was a bit dry, but the modest crowd at Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting erupted into spontaneous applause after hydrologist Tim Bondelid closed down his PowerPoint slide show. Not because his news was cheering — it was not — but because few had...
Read More »
“I thought it was junk mail!” said Trista Scheuerlein as she recalled receiving the first notification that she was one of three people who won Liberty Mutual’s “Local Leaders, Big Responsibility” contest on TheAtlantic.com. “I deleted the e-mail and reported it as spam,” she laughed as she cleaned a spot on a picnic table...
Read More »
Springs have dried up, wells are going dry and — until this week, at least, after an unusually dry spring and summer — the weather hasn’t cooperated by providing the kind of drenching rains that lets water seep down to replenish the supply. At its regular monthly meeting Monday, the Rappahannock County Board of...
Read More »
No security fences or border patrols keep out these illegal aliens. They come from Asia, but no one seems to know exactly how they traversed the globe and entered the United States. They were first spotted in Pennsylvania about 10 years ago. Like Yankee troops 150 years ago, they then apparently moved into Maryland,...
Read More »
The weekend ahead in Rappahannock County is the time to find out: • what “mob” grazing is, • why malting one’s own barley is important, • what heirloom apples taste like, • how to spin and dye yarn, • where to find 20,000 baby trees in one place, • where to step off along...
Read More »
Rappahannock County could be designated a drought disaster area by the state, making its farmers eligible for compensation. The county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution at its monthly meeting Sept. 8 at the courthouse requesting a drought designation so that farmers can apply for drought relief. The board received a report from...
Read More »
From contributed reports Virginians can help preserve native tree species by collecting acorns and seeds from nine species and delivering them to the nearest office of the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF). “Generally, the best time to collect acorns is the last week in September through the first week of October,” said VDOF nursery...
Read More »
Traditional Appalachian music, an apple theme and plenty of dancing and fun are on tap at the second annual barn dance benefiting the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection (RLEP).
This year's event on Sept. 25 kicks off at 7 p.m. and concludes at 10. It 'll be held at Rappahannock Central, 3 River Lane, Sperryville....
Read More »
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal has announced its fall series of free Wednesday evening lectures, which runs from Oct. 6 through Nov. 3.
Lectures are held in the training center at SCBI, 1500 Remount Road, just south of Front Royal off U.S. 522. Seating is limited.
For more information, contact the SCBI education...
Read More »
An assessment of waterways throughout the state has found that water quality in Rappahannock County is about the same as it was two years ago. The 2010 draft report released Monday by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) listed a section of the Hughes River as “impaired” for having excessive temperatures in stockable...
Read More »
Though we’re surrounded by nature in Rappahannock County, few of us can go for a walk in the woods and be able to give a name -- other than “weed,” or “that thing with the spiky white flowers” -- to the plants we will come across on that walk.
Even fewer of us will bring...
Read More »
Last week during the discussion as to scenic river designation for the Hazel, concern over our water resources finally clicked. At one time our rivers were our highways and produced all our power in Rappahannock County. But in the 1930s, electricity was brought into the county, and water power became less necessary. At one...
Read More »
State Scenic River recommendations might be entering a period of drought in Rappahannock County.
At the end of a day during which it heard dismaying estimates of drought-related crop damage in the county, and heard others caution against “giving away” river-related rights to the state for a variety of reasons, the county Board of Supervisors...
Read More »
More than 80 local farmers attended a series of workshops and lectures at various sites on Woodville’s sprawling Eldon Farms last Thursday (July 29), a successful day by any measure.
Read More »
Snow -- or Snowball, the albino deer -- in Harris Hollow, and black-footed ferrets at the Smithsonian's Front Royal conservation center.
Read More »
From contributed reports Forest landowners in Virginia will have greater access to state and federal programs and assistance as well as expanded market opportunities for their products now that an agreement has been signed that recognizes forest management plans — prepared under the auspices of three different agencies — equally. The Virginia Department of...
Read More »
Two decisions in the coming days, seemingly minor in the larger scheme of things, will actually reveal what kind of world we wish to bequeath to our children and grandchildren. One decision will be made at the August 2 Rappahannock Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting; the other, at the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)...
Read More »
I just finished reading for the third time the July 15 front-page article about the Rappahannock Board of Supervisors delaying a vote on a State Scenic River designation for the Hazel River in Rapphannock County, from the F.T. Valley Road to just above the river’s confluence with the Hughes. And I am perplexed. First,...
Read More »
Before delaying for a month its vote on designating a stretch of the Hazel River as a State Scenic River, the county Board of Supervisors heard some unusual testimony from a Culpeper County landowner last Wednesday night. Ben and Rita Grace, who own land along the Hazel in Culpeper County, had nothing good to...
Read More »
It might sound like a B-grade horror movie, with a title like “Killer Baby Bug Eats Victims Alive.” But it’s a true tale, and it’s unfolding now in Northern Virginia.
The insect’s prey is not human, but ash trees. The “killer” is the emerald ash borer, which is smaller than a penny and, as its...
Read More »
A senior prank, a junior who's headed to Boston for a summer theatre program, John Jackson's Rappahannock blues and a RappFLOW cleanup along the Thornton River at the Link.
Read More »
When Scrabble residents Kevin and Stacy Finch Drake learned of EarthCraft Virginia, a new certification program for sustainable building, they took the training to become “approved” builders. The owners of Drake Custom Builders wanted to stay ahead of the curve and add to their own knowledge.
“We’re all about living naturally, and EarthCraft is...
Read More »
Four wildlife-friendly farms are featured on a first-ever tour sponsored by Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) on Saturday, June 19. Meet some of the participants.
Read More »
Town, county and state officials and residents celebrated at a ceremony Friday marking the official opening of Washington’s wastewater treatment plant and sewer system. The ceremony was attended by some 60 well-wishers and included tours of the plant's facilities.
Read More »
I thought we were good stewards of the environment. We grow much of our own food, compost scraps for the garden, recycle everything the County accepts — clear, green, and brown glass, cans, newspapers, and PET 1 & 2 plastic — and have containers in the kitchen labeled “burnable” and “nonburnable.” About 25 years...
Read More »
Your story on all the bears and their bare facts was wonderful. But maybe another story is due on a certain wild animal that has none of the endearing qualities of black bears. I’m speaking of coyotes. Once associated only with the Wild West, they have apparently moved East and can, it is said,...
Read More »
Some days you eat the bear -- but most days in Rappahannock County, the bear eats . . . not you. Your stuff.
Read More »
Two rare white-naped crane chicks hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, May 12 and 14. The hatchings of the two chicks validate the National Zoo’s continued success in breeding some of the most genetically valuable cranes in the North American White-Naped Crane Species Survival Plan.
Read More »
Early last Saturday, some 30 volunteers showed up at the lower end of Cliff Miller’s Mount Vernon Farm in Sperryville for a brief trek to a stretch of the Thornton River where 230 native trees and shrubs were to be planted.
Read More »
Spring and summer mean carnage on Rappahannock roads. Mechanized, so-called civilization in the form of gasoline-powered cars and trucks collides with the very life-force that awakens and propels our still-wild co-inhabitants to get to the other side of the roads that carry the cars and trucks. Roughly 80 percent of this roadkill, according to...
Read More »
Dr. T. Allan Comp spends weekends and vacations at his Sperryville farm, but the rest of the time he is often traveling to Colorado, New Mexico, eight Appalachian states and Washington, D.C., working with groups to restore mining-damaged watersheds.
Read More »
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced an initiative to help agricultural producers trim their energy costs. State Conservationist Jack Bricker says the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is providing $2 million for on-farm energy audits in 29 states, including Virginia.
Read More »
District Conservationist Rex Rexrode says there is still time for farmers to sign up for the Conservation Stewardship Program that is administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Producers may apply at anytime for CSP; however, the second period for evaluating applications for this year’s funding runs until May 14.
Read More »
The Flint Hill area is both rural and historic, but should it be formally designated a "Rural Historic District?" The question is scheduled to be addressed next Monday, May 10, at a public hearing at the Rappahannock County Courthouse on Gay Street, by the state Department of Historic Resources. The hearing is at...
Read More »
The details of the Rappahannock Evening View benefit for RCCA, a vegetable garden for the county jail and informational Earth Day shopping bags created by students studying endangered species.
Read More »
On a sultry day last week tailor-made for cooling off in the nearest river, Gov. Bob McDonnell declared the Jordan, Hughes, Russell Fork and Blackwater the latest additions to Virginia's scenic rivers system.
Read More »
Weather forecast by WP Wunderground & Denver Snow Plowing
Follow Us!