A Reclaim Co. worker supervises as demolition work began this week at the old Hampshire Memorial Hospital in Romney – the future site of the new South Branch Elementary School.
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West Virginia University will offer additional financial assistance to incoming first-time freshmen with the launch of the WVU Pledge, a last-dollar-in aid program for qualifying Promise Scholarship recipients, set to begin with the fall 2023 semester.
SHANKS — A devastating barn fire on Abundant Life Lane in Shanks last week resulted in a total loss – and the loss of a beloved thoroughbred racehorse.
ROMNEY — The town of Romney is holding a public hearing – and final vote – next month on an ordinance that will increase its sewer rates for customers.
Hampshire County — and several others — are now governor-designated HUBZones.
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Allman, yearly Founder’s Day performer, wins golden ticket on American Idol
MOOREFIELD — The first Potomac Highlands Agritourism Summit was held on March 15, at the Misty Mountain Event Barn.
CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice just signed legislation last week establishing West Virginia’s first statewide dual enrollment program allowing more students to take college courses in high school.
ROMNEY — Some $455,000 was awarded to the Town of Romney, through the Transportation Alternatives and Recreational Trails Program, for sidewalk improvements on North High Street stretching from Main Street up to Armstrong Street.
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Romney Fire Company welcomes $210K national grant for volunteer service
ROMNEY — There are less than 40 days now before the annual County United Way campaign wraps up here, and $13,150 has been raised so far toward the county’s $30,000 campaign goal.
CHARLESTON —West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Commissioner Everett Frazier is pleased to announce that a local, veteran-initiated program honoring Purple Heart Veterans is getting statewide recognition with signs to be displayed at all DMV regional offices.
West Virginia Extension will offer three sections of virtual “Dining with Diabetes” education courses beginning in April.
PETERSBURG – Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College visited South Branch Career and Technical Center to present a check for $13,170 to their Certified Nursing Assistant Program students, and administrators Candace Kite of Therapeutic Services and Allied Health Sciences, Assist…
PIPESTEM — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources’ Becoming an Outdoors Woman spring workshop will be at Pipestem Resort State Park on April 14–16 and outdoor enthusiasts are being invited to register before spots fill up.
KEYSER — When Brady Whipkey was growing up on a little farm in Calhoun County, he knew a few things: he loved his country and wanted to serve it; he would always be a defender of the underdog and a fighter for those who could not defend themselves; and he wanted to leave his corner of the wo…
ROMNEY — The downtown area of Romney isn’t an expansive one, but these days it does seem to be bustling with new businesses.
SUNRISE SUMMIT — With the help of a $500 Teacher Mini Grant awarded by the Hampshire County Community Foundation, the Romney Middle School students were able to make more decisions with the music they learned this year.
BAKER – The body of a Christiansburg, Va. man was found in Baker yesterday after a month-long search.
Demolition of the old Hampshire Memorial Hospital building to make way for the new South Branch Elementary School finally has begun.
ROMNEY — The CEO of a bitcoin mining corporation asked the Hampshire County Development Authority Board last week for space for an installation in the Romney Business Park.
SLANESVILLE — The Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office is on the lookout for suspect who attempted to impersonate law enforcement and stop a woman’s car in Slanesville Monday night.
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ROMNEY — Monday brought bright news to Hampshire County and its school board – the School Building Authority awarded over $9 million in supplemental funding to the new school projects underway here.
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SUNRISE SUMMIT — Saturday’s ham, bacon and egg sale absolutely sizzled to another record for the Future Farmers of America students at Hampshire High.
KEYSER – “Big-The Musical” is coming to the Church-McKee Arts Center stage at Potomac State College for two weeks starting this Friday, March 24.
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ROMNEY — A new fire truck is on the way for the Romney community: Gov. Jim Justice approved the $4.874 billion 2024 budget passed by the Legislature last week, and one of the items was $500,000 for a new ladder truck for the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind.
ROMNEY — The Hampshire County Development Authority Board last week approved selling land to Aquabanq for its shrimp farm in Capon Bridge, with the sale to close Thursday (March 23), and transfered ownership of the tech park’s water and sewer systems to the town of Capon Bridge.
Make-up days are the biggest difference between the two proposed calendars for the 2023-24 school year.
CAPON BRIDGE — The Capon Bridge Town Council agreed to accept ownership of utilities in the Capon Bridge Technology Park at its March 14 meeting.
March 13-19
February saw incredible temperature swings from 70-degree to 20-degree weather a few days later. Fortunately, those swings didn’t have much effect on the orchards here.
The swift collapse of Silicon Valley Bank a week ago, followed by the closure of Signature Bank two days later, sent a shockwave through the nation, causing worry of a looming economic ripple effect.
AUGUSTA— Construction for the solar project in Augusta is estimated to begin in July and be complete around the first quarter of 2024, REV Renewables representatives said at the Hampshire County Planning Commission meeting last Wednesday.
KEYSER – The 10th annual Mineral County STEM Festival will be held at the Potomac State College campus this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. It’s free and open to the public.
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CHARLESTON — Hampshire High School DECA students made impressive strides during their annual Career Development Conference visit in Charleston, and two students made it onto the state officer team.
SUNRISE SUMMIT – Over the last three months, the Hampshire High School PTO has been amassing shoes for a fundraising shoe drive – and they collected over 2,000 pairs.
CAPON BRIDGE —The Fort Edwards Foundation held a work day on its nature Trail on Saturday, March 11.
ROMNEY — Tony and Phil Eash from Triple E Farms off Jersey Mountain Road have received news that $250,000 will be awarded to their family farm.
Since 2017, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation has operated successfully with just four staff members.
March 6-12
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AUGUSTA — Frigid temperatures and blustery winds didn’t keep folks away from the fairgrounds last weekend for the first-ever Potomac Highlands Sports and Outdoor Show.
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ROMNEY — It has been three months since the Romney Unity apartment complex caught fire and displaced around 30 residents.
SUNRISE SUMMIT — The annual FFA ham, bacon and egg sale is coming back this Saturday, March 18, starting at 4 p.m., but folks are welcome to arrive slightly earlier to rummage through the hundreds of products the FFA students will present at the Hampshire High School gym.
The next West Virginia Humanities Council mini-grant deadline is approaching – and fast.
ROMNEY – Representatives from McKinley Architecture and Design and the Hampshire County school board opened the bids for the construction of the new Ice Mountain and South Branch elementary schools last Wednesday.
CUMBERLAND — Hampshire County’s northern neighbor across the border into Maryland, Allegany County, is losing a big employer.
Who we are: celebrating the history of the South Branch Valley
Last Monday, I made an emergency tractor repair run to Clarke County, Va. Well, it wasn’t really a tractor, but a hay wagon that isn’t currently a hay wagon but a sprayer pulled behind a John Deere 5065 tractor.
Weather during the month of March has been a mix of warm and cooler temperatures with winds and rain. High winds caused some damage in parts of the region. Farming activities for the month included watching for frost on fruit trees, calving and lambing.
“Spring Begins”. That’s what our calendar says about today. However, to paraphrase the late Harley Fultz, it’s just a cheap calendar — it’ll just tell you anything.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making $31 million in grants available to help farmers and ranchers gain access to new and better markets by adding more value to their products.
CHARLESTON– West Virginia’s honey production from producers with five or more colonies totaled 273,000 pounds in 2022, up 6% from 258,000 pounds in 2021.
FARMERS Livestock
ROMNEY — Tony and Phil Eash from Triple E Farms off Jersey Mountain Road have received news that $250,000 will be awarded to their family farm.
FARMERS Livestock
We bought a bottle of Carlo Rossi Paisano wine. Somehow the seal had been broken — it happens — and the wine was bad. A call to Rossi Vineyards at their toll-free number brought immediate compensation with minimal hoops to jump through for verification.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) is pleased to announce the return and expansion of the West Virginia Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).
There seems to be no end to what folks will name their farms.
CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) has launched a West Virginia Grown Partner Program to incorporate supporters of local agricultural products into the branding program.
FARMERS Livestock
Last Wednesday, Washington’s Birthday, was pretty-remember? Our Lenten Rose is blooming and since Monday was the beginning of Eastern Orthodox Lent; it’s right on time.
FARMERS Livestock
The Farm Credit Knowledge Center will host its annual Farm Management Institutes at the West Virginia State Fair Grounds in Lewisburg, WV on March 28, 2023, and at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA on March 29, 2023. Events will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on both days.
CHARLESTON — The number of farms in West Virginia totaled 22,500 in 2022, up 200 farms from 2021. The total land in farms was 3.50 million acres, unchanged from 2021. The average farm size was 156 acres, down one acre from 2021.
Our local farms are vital to West Virginia’s food system, but despite the growing demand for locally sourced foods, our small farm community still faces plenty of challenges.
WASHINGTON — Farmers and ranchers still have time to be counted in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Although the deadline for submitting the ag census has just passed, NASS will continue …
A young man may leave home to seek his fortune or future or, as in my own case, more freedom and prettier countryside. Unlike most of the “back to the land” types active in that time period, I grew up in farm country that was being gobbled up by so-called “development.” I was thus seeking wh…
FARMERS Livestock
The West Virginia Division of Forestry announced last Friday that nominations are open for the next round of honorees for the state Agriculture and Forestry Hall of Fame.
Review Staff
In the Food Lion checkout line, I was paying for the usual 30-pack and making light conversation regarding the price.
FARMERS LIVESTOCK
I can’t remember what became of the small farm trailer that I purchased from Audra Croston in 1982. It was the same one that Bruce Miller used to pull through North River Mills behind the old Ford 9N tractor. This time of year, the trailer would usually contain seasoned oak firewood, cut and…
FARMERS Livestock
CHARLESTON — Commercial red meat production during December 2022 totaled 900,000 pounds. This was down 10 percent from December 2021. Commercial red meat production is the carcass weight after slaughter including beef, veal, pork, lamb and mutton. Individual commodity production is total liv…
FARMERS LIVESTOCK
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.
Charleston – All hay area harvested in 2022 totaled 565,000 acres, up 47,000 acres from 2021. The average yield in 2022 was 1.91 tons per acre, up 0.18 ton per acre from 2021. Production totaled 1,080,000 tons, up 186,000 tons from 2021. December On Farm Hay Stocks were 780,000 tons, down 10…
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.
FARMERS LIVESTOCK
I spun the globe until the British Isles came into view.
The deadline is quickly approaching for farmers and ranchers to fill out the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
CHARLESTON — Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt said he wished for more enthusiasm toward rebuilding ag laboratories in the state following his review of Gov. Jim Justice’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024.
CHARLESTON — Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt and the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) are encouraging all farmers and farm operations to participate in the 2022 Census of Agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Servic…
FARMERS LIVESTOCK
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.
FOUR STATES LIVESTOCK
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.
WASHINGTON — As of Dec. 1, there were 73.1 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, down 2% from December 2021 and down 1% from Sept. 1, 2022, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published on Dec. 23 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
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 …
This will be the last installment of this column in 2017. The next will be on Jan. 3, 2018. Such an occasion is commonly thought to be a time of reflection — another year gone by (sigh).
Four states livestock
I guess I've gotten into the habit of borrowing titles lately.
WVU researchers counting on cow cooperation for improvements in soil health and carbon sequestration
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.
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