Category Archives: Uncategorized

05.14.2020 Scrabble, Virginia – “In a normal year…” So many conversations begin with or include that phrase. In a normal year here in Rappahannock County we would wait patiently until May Day to place our herbs in the ground.  But, of course, this is in many ways a most abnormal year.  Climate change brings withContinue reading “THYME AND TIME”

04.24.2020 Scrabble, Virginia – The variety of tree species in Rappahannock County is an aspect of its rural beauty that I find so rewarding. Poplar, maple, oak, pine, magnolia, cherry, dogwood, locust, ash, redbud and willow dot the county. Some of us have added non-native varietals, such as the myriad types of Japanese maple. Indeed, the largestContinue reading “FOLIAGE AND INTERIM”

04.20.2020    Scrabble, Virginia – Perhaps I have never paid as much attention to them before, but I do believe the Spring flowers in Rappahannock this year were unusually beautiful. Or maybe it was just that any sign of color, beauty, or promise seemed more needed and more welcome during this period of the plague.Continue reading “BULBS AND BYTES”

04.14.2020 Scrabble, Virginia —Wind ripped at Rappahannock and much of the southeast last night. The unofficial rainfall counter on the farm across the road indicated that three inches of precipitation had fallen in twenty-four hours. However much it was, it caused the pond to overflow, pushing water down the sluice and into the tributary of theContinue reading “CLEAR AIR AND LEITMOTIFS”

04.07.2020 Scrabble, Virginia — We are planting trees where we used to hay, my neighbors and I, hundreds of little trees so small that you could step on them if you weren’t looking. We decided to stop growing hay because, frankly, we didn’t like the ecosystem to which haying was integral. Hay is grown in Rappahannock toContinue reading “OMISSION AND COMMISSION”

04.06.2020 Scrabble, Virginia — My neighbor on the farm across the road and I had a conversation on the shore of his pond yesterday. We kept a safe distance from each other, but enjoyed sitting in the warm sun together and comparing notes, including on the rate at which various trees and shrubs have bloomed this Spring.Continue reading “EMERGING AND EXCESS”

04.03.2020 Scrabble, Virginia — It sometimes takes us a while to notice when certain things stop happening. We slowly become aware that something is missing, that somehow things are different. With me yesterday it was con-trails, the elongated white clouds that form from condensed (the ‘con’) and heated air being ejected from jet engines in the coolerContinue reading “EMPTY SKIES & EMPTY WALLETS”

04.01.2020 Scrabble, Virginia — The redbud trees are opening. Tulips, daffodils, and forsythia have been in full bloom for almost three weeks. The tree pollen has not peaked yet, but you can see it in the air when a beam of sun hits at the right angle. In short, its early Spring in Rappahannock County, Virginia, orContinue reading “THE FIRST NOTE”