What we're about to address here is a serious subject though this is not supposed to be a serious column. I'll treat the subject of drug addiction and drug related crime as lightly as I can.

MORGANTOWN — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development is accepting applications for its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) to help strengthen the bottom lines of rural West Virginia businesses and agricultural producers. 

I spun the globe until the British Isles came into view.

I collect old high school social studies and science textbooks. Few journals can more accurately depict a time period than these. As an example, when Madeleine Albright described waiting out the Blitzkreig as a child in a London basement, she expressed little chance of surviving a near-direc…

Pests are a pain, so WVU Extension is reaching out to growers and gardeners around the state about the dangers of pesticides and how to incorporate safe alternatives — such as barriers, insect traps and introducing predatory insects that feed on pests.

If the work is done and the day still young, a ride through the back roads in an antique truck is often in order. Since my work truck is only months short of being 50 years old, the antique factor is already built in. All that’s needed is some time, gasoline, curiosity and a camera.

Part of the purpose of this installment is to assure our new neighbor to the west that we are not in the least bothered by his monster dump trucks starting at first light on these frigid mornings.

During the 103rd annual Farm Bureau, longtime Hampshire County Farm Bureau member Garry Shanholtz was presented the 2022 Distinguished Service Award. Garry Shanholtz is a lifelong resident of Hampshire County, where he owns and operates Shanholtz Orchard along with his wife, Sandra and son, …

More than 200 members and friends of the West Virginia Farm Bureau (WVFB) gathered on November 13-15th at the Oglebay Resort & Conference Center in Wheeling, WV, to conduct their 103rd Annual Meeting. Among those attending were Hampshire County Farm Bureau members David Parker (Region 1 …

I guess I've gotten into the habit of borrowing titles lately.

West Virginia University researchers are working to improve soil health and increase economic gains for Appalachian cattle farmers by bringing nutrients, like carbon, to the soil while decreasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Commercial red meat production in West Virginia this past October totaled 1.10 million pounds – down 7 percent from last October.

Following a decades-long tradition, Thursday, Nov. 17 was the annual Old Hippie Orchard Day. Which annual, we can only guess. If there had been a 1st annual Old Hippie Orchard Day, we could have counted, but events that take on a life of their own are seldom announced in this manner. One day…

I'm thinking about my grandfather's Winchester Model 42 .410 pump shotgun. It's somewhere else in the extended family, jealously guarded by some of those who hoard keepsakes and mementos. Fortunately, I never inherited that gene.

The holidays mean turkey time, and although you will find plenty of farm-raised turkeys in your neighborhood grocery store, the wild turkey population is struggling. In fact, it’s disappearing in many states, and a West Virginia University researcher is working to find out why with help from…

Tiny North River Mills has become quite the music, arts and history venue. Of course, the Ice Mountain phenomenon has brought this little ghost town some fame through tourism and university studies of this unusual feature. 

I’m afraid that I’ve gotten out of the habit of deer hunting. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is one complication. Additionally, the kids have grown up and flown the coop. We’re no longer in need of the meat as we were when they were still at home. As one older fellow said, “I raised my family…

Veterans and community members are gaining career knowledge and tools through agriculture as part of a cooperative effort between West Virginia University Extension and Operation Welcome Home, a project designed to support military members moving from active-duty service to civilian life.

It was around 6:30 a.m. and I had just dropped off the Old Hippie school bus driver at her bus in Capon Bridge. It was raining an uninspiring rain; Neither the fury of Summer thunder nor the deep, contemplative state inspired by a winter ice storm.

This story might read a little like my story “About a Bus.” About a Bus first appeared here and later in Vintage Truck and Farm and Ranch Living magazines under various titles. 

I guess I should change the sign on the North River Mills shop that reads "Thursday and Saturday — noon till 5" to read "by chance or appointment." We'll see. The idea for a shop there started around 2006 when the economy was going full bore. That economic feeding frenzy had been going on wi…

Luke 21:11, 25

The Hampshire County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting and Banquet was held at the Augusta Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, Sept. 24 after being canceled for 2 years.

I was first introduced to the term “hand hole” at Baker Equipment, the Massey Ferguson dealership in Capon Bridge, now the home of Bent River Wood Works. Like so much of the terminology used in West Virginia, “hand hole” has its roots in antiquity. Another example might be “water pump” pliers.