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Archive | Possessing the Land

Reports from the Department of the Exterior; anything and everything we post about work projects, horticulture, agriculture, and property management.

Good news from WVDA!

Gus Douglas, the long standing Commissioner of Agriculture in West Virginia reported some good news in his April 2012 update. “In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court last month settled the dispute over ownership of streambeds and stream banks, ruling that landowners, not government, are the rightful owners. President Bob Stallman said farmers and ranchers […]

Rosemary Update

Rosemary in bloom

Its has already been four years since I first wrote about growing rosemary outdoors up here in the mountains! I still do not know if anyone else grows rosemary outdoors year-round in north-central  West Virginia. But the Creator has given us a treasure in the Rosemary plant with many hygienic, culinary and medicinal uses. Can […]

Horrah for Hardy Kiwi! 2011 Report

David standing under our hardy kiwi vine

Experimenting with hardy kiwi in the mountains of north central West Virginia has been an interesting experience. Also called “kiwi berries”, Actinidia arguta is a species of kiwifruit that grows a smaller, smooth skinned version of the big fuzzy ones we are familiar with in the grocery stores. As its name implies, it is much […]

Remember Spring

Spring morning

Most of you know that I enjoy the fall season. It is the middle of autumn now and we have experienced the joys of reaping what was sown, and drying, canning, pickling… and being pickled (in our own sweat!) 🙂 And of coarse we are looking forward to Thanksgiving, when “the frost is on the […]

A Flare Prayer

Success in the maneuver required an early approach.

“Lord, please make it rain NOW!” It was hoarse whisper. I was flat on my face, in the grass on the hillside. My left hand grasped my single weapon and I kept my head low. Advances had been made, but the enemy, thoroughly aroused, now swarmed through the area. I had been hit once but […]

Big McHenry Tomato 6-year Report

What I call the ‘Big McHenry’ tomato was originally bred in Middlebourn, West Virginia (Tyler County) by a Mr. Mccutchan (or Mccutcheon?) in the earlier part of the 20th century. David McHenry acquired the seeds and continued growing them along with his nephew, Neil, a friend to both my grandfather (Bud Brannon of Salem, WV) […]