By Dawn Dickson Van Ness – Founder/Editor
Sunday, AUG 29, 2010
Petersburgh, West Virginia attracted over a 1,000 visitors with one interest: honey. Some of the attractions for the 2010 Honey Fest were the man with the bee beard, the classic auto show, and the Queen of Honey Bees, Lisa Schluttenhofer, who gave a presentation. Schluttenhofer observed most are surprised to learn that the U.S. is home of 300 varieties of honey.
Last observed, Walmart has maybe three brands of honey.
Backyard beekeepers are awesome, and intellectually curious
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Tags: backyard beekeeping, honey bees, Virginia State Bee Keepers Association
Posted in County Matters, agriculture | No Comments »
By Dawn Van Ness, Founder / Editor
dawndvn@gmail.com
@dawnvanness
Saturday, AUG 28, 2010
A little late for the lawn, setting priorities may be the best way to cope. Favorite trees, shrubs and specimens of beauty are worth the trouble of extra attention.
Water late evening and early morning if you can. If you can only water once, early morning is the best so that the plants can absorb the water and ward off sun damage during the day.
At this point in the year, even junipers, dogwoods, azaleas, and more are showing extreme stress, with browning out around the tips.
Don’t allow the damage to go but so far, or your beloved tree, bush, or perennial will go into a cold winter weakened. Leaf foliage does correspond with root health and development. Problems up top are actually are showing pre-existing damage underground. Root hairs die in extremely dry conditions.
So…
Select your priority plants and water in the morning.
Water morning and evenings if at all possible.
Mulching and The Rule of Two
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Tags: agriculture, drought, gardening
Posted in County Matters, agriculture | No Comments »
By Dawn Van Ness, Founder / Editor
dawndvn@gmail.com
@dawnvanness
Saturday, AUG 28, 2010
Brittle grass and crops across two-thirds of Virginia is the result of the drought, and what rain the other week brought, the trees retain their singed leaves and the azaleas look poorly. The season is a wash, with or without rain.
And no rain for the week, as hurricane Danielle strengthens to category 4, but keeps clouds out in the Atlantic.
Farmers get aid more quickly, but in supplies not $$$
Good news is that while farmers cut down their stunted crops, till under dusty soil, and file for relief, Virginia made getting aid easier; this is only by lifting weight and width limitations as well as licencing and registration requirements for haulers of emergency supplies.
Filing for aid is still the same, and there are hopes and prayers for next year to yield rain, not aid, monetarily or otherwise.
Vineyards yield less grapes but great red wines
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Tags: agricultural, drought, wine
Posted in About Town, County Matters, agriculture | No Comments »
By Dawn Dickson Van Ness – Founder/Editor
