The Ecology Club of Eagle Rock Elementary proudly announces the arrival of a greenhouse to be used for future growing projects. At their last meeting of the school year, the members of the club met with the Trail Dawgz from Central Academy Middle School to work on the beatification of the grounds for the summer and the planting of the vegetable beds. The Trail Dawgz are a sixth grade student leadership team that is part of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy project. The goal of the team is to lead other students to learn more about the conservation of our environment in Botetourt County. Plants were donated by Clark BeCraft of the Horticulture Technology Department of Virginia Western Community College with Laurie Harlow being the contact person for the school. Pictured with the Eagle Rock Ecology Club are the members of the Trail DAWGZ from Central Academy.
YOVASO’s Battle of the Bands at Lord Botetourt High School is one of the highlights of the spring. YOVASO stands for Youth of Virginia Speaking Out (for safety.) The event has been taking place for over 6 years. On Friday Night May 11, five groups filled the stage with everything from gospel, blue grass reggae, alternate rock and ear splitting metal!Several hundred LBHS students paid the $5 to get in for the rockin’ entertainment. The funds will go to LB’s YOVASO programs.
Doak Harbison served as MC and YOVASO members Grace Boardwine and Toni Costanza provided between- the- band quizzes on summer driving safety. For instance more teen accidents happen in the summer than any other time of the year with July and August particularly dangerous months for teen drivers. 35% of teen accidents involve drinking and driving. Driving off the road leads the cause of most teen accidents.
The five groups:
Old Dead Grass: Megan Kingery and Kendal Isbel
Zantesutsuken: Donnie Sowash, Chris Gatens, Gage Freeman, Dakota Thacker
Project 2013: Kyle Walker, Gripp Lan, Matthew Maynor and Casey Parshall
Funguy: Trey Hall, James O’Neill,
The Alter: Travis Smith, Aaron Crowder, Russell Woody, Dennis King
First place went to The Alter and runner up was Old Dead Grass. Judges were : Frank Smuz, Autumn Quin, Paul Haithcock and Heather Haithcock. Midway Music provided the sound system. Three Li’l Pigs, Lisa Witt and Amanda Beckman also contributed to the evening.
Trail ride to benefit members who lost a barn to fire.
BCHA will host a BENEFIT RIDE for John and JoAnn Dester, of Whispering Oaks Ranch in Buchanan, who lost their barn and its contents on May 5 to a devastating fire. The ride will be held on Sunday, May 20 with registration beginning at 11:00 a.m. The ride out will take place at 1 p.m. and upon return, a late lunch will be served. The cost to participate is $15 for BCHA members and $25 for non-members which includes a one year memberhip to BCHA. The location of the ride is an exclusive and privately-owned land on Lithia Road in Buchanan.
Proceeds from this ride will go towards the association’s assistance in erecting a new structure, excavation of the site, and rebuild needs. If you cannot attend the ride and would like to make a donation, please send to: BCHA, P.O. Box 282, Daleville, VA 24083. Make checks payable to BCHA and label the memo section as Whispering Oaks Barn Fund. Donations may also be given at Southern States in Troutville where an account has been set up.
Registration is required and the deadline to register is May 17. Attendees should bring their own lawn chair. To register and for directions, contact Debbie Mooty at 540-312-8393.
Thank you for your continued support of BCHA, a non-profit organization promoting interest in the equine and education towards better horsemanship. Visit www.BCHA-VA.com or Facebook at facebook.com/BCHA-VA for more information.
"At Paul Keith's farm in Fincastle, the calves nurse on dairy goats".
Goat milk? Botetourt County certainly has many diverse scenes. How about starting the week with this amusing sight near Fincastle! Many thanks to Wanda Foreman for capturing this moment and sending it in!
Have a picture that will rock our world? Send it to:
Logan Campbell, 8 years old of Buchanan, shot his first turkey while hunting on private land. He is the son of Brian Campbell and Tammy Simmons Campbell.
Free entertainment! Get ready for some fun! "You Can't Beat The House" Opens tonight.
Tired of rain and need a good laugh?
“You Can’t Beat the House,” a comedy in two acts opens tonight May 10 and continues Friday, May 11 at James River High School Auditorium at 7 p.m. The production is free, but donations are welcome.
Josh Boblett is Director. He provided a synopsis of the play:
“You Can’t Beat the House” By Pat Cook
“I’ve had trouble breaking into a house before but this is the first time I’ve had problems breaking OUT again!” So moans Merle to his partner, Howie. These two minor-league burglars have really met their match this time, it seems. They decided on a house only to find, after managing to get into the place, that it’s up for sale and before they can leave, Conrad and Glenda, prospective buyers, show up. Merle figures they have two choices – either pretend to be real estate agents or beat it, making the buyers suspect them and call in the police. Merle begins to show the house while Howie ducks out to get the car. Now the REAL real estate agent shows up and Merle has to juggle the couple and the agent. Finally, as Merle gets rid of the her and is about to show the door to Conrad and Glenda, Howie arrives with the news that their car has been towed away. Suddenly a cop shows up, saying the police are looking for two suspicious characters in the neighborhood. Next in the parade of oddball characters is Conrad’s secretary, then Glenda’s mother, then her medium, Madame Zenobia. Oh, yeah! The place, it turns out, is haunted! This screwball comedy is one wisecrack after another and proves once again that “You Can’t Beat the House.”
Students, faculty and staff at Buchanan Elementary School celebrated Arbor Day and Earth Day with several activities.
On Wednesday, April 25, Principal Debbie Garrett led students through a program to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day. The program highlighted ways students could encourage their own families to help the planet, and, highlighted the school’s HOPE (Help Our Planet Earth) Club which is led by sponsors Heather Williams and Barbara Tames.
Guest speaker Catherine Carter spoke about ways students can recycle at home, including how to reduce waste, recycle materials such as plastic, paper and aluminum, and creative ways to reuse everyday materials for new uses. Garrett read two books to the students: one about the life cycle of a mighty oak tree from an acorn and a second accompanied by Louis Armstrong’s 1968 version of “What a Wonderful World.”
The morning’s activities culminated with students, teachers and staff proceeding outdoors to the track area where they planted a Yoshino Cherry Tree with Downtown Revitalization Program Manager Harry Gleason. The cherry tree was purchased with funds donated by the nonprofit organization Valley Beautiful. Valley Beautiful gave the town a grant of $1,600, which was used to purchase and plant trees on the Town Park and at the elementary school.
– Submitted by Harry Gleason, with photos submitted by Kathleen Sloan of Buchanan Elementary
Our wildlife enthusiast Ben Shrader saw few animals on the cameras this trip up Tinker Mountain. Here are his thoughts:
I have now maintained trail cameras in Tinker Mountain for 5 years. My offer still stands to share the data with an environmental science or wildlife student that needs a project. I have observed several changes in patterns of wildlife there but this series represents the least number of photos and the least number of species of any I can recall. This period had no bear, bobcat, nor coyote photo. I am at a lose to adequately explain the dramatic drop but it underscores the complexity of wildlife balances and or mini migrations in the area. I have attempted to brainstorm possible reasons as follows:
Fewer cameras, I brought in a malfunctioning camera again today, that makes 3 in the junk heap. Maintaining the fragile China made electronic technology in the outdoor exposure is challenging. I am considering abandoning the Cudebacks for a more reliable brand but it is costly going from about a $300 camera to $700.
Being post hunting and trapping season, wildlife may be licking wounds and laying low in fear. We are now several years into much more liberal seasons for deer hunting. Deer populations had gotten so high that action was necessary to control so fewer deer could be a very good thing indicating some success of deer management policies.
Bears had also become a nuisance to local agriculture to the extent that justified kill permits and liberalized hunting. Although Carvin’s cove is closed to hunting, the hunting policies of the private lands also impact all bears in the whole area.
Wildlife food supplies, the top of Tinker Mountain being all forested area produces less wildlife food than the lush cultivated farmland and is especially impacted this year in which there was little or spotty mast crops in the mountain areas. Maybe the deer and bears have just moved to where the find food more plentiful. I hope it is not your trash can or vegetable garden.
Decades of overpopulation of deer have almost eliminated some plant food sources. This may be a deficiency that will take years to partially recover even if deer numbers could be held down. Deer, a natural prey species, were dramatically restored into our landscape without restoration of their natural predators, mountain lions and wolves. Maybe focusing on these small trends blinds us to the more gradual trends that take centuries to re-adjust to a natural balance.
One seasonal food deficiency has a domino effect on other species. For example bobcats and coyotes feed on deer and bears eat both some deer and depend on some of the same foods as deer. When deer move out to the farmlands the coyotes and bobcats follow but in some way most other species are also affected in some way.
Posted at 10:00 by Cathy Benson | Category: nature | 1 Comment
The Rhododendron is about 7 feet tall and twice as wide!
Audrey Rogers of Cloverdale called with a big flower story. Indeed this giant Rhododendron bloomed loud and full this year at her home. The bush is over 20 years old and seems to like the warm winter past and in the effect look at the size of the blooms!
With the melodic natural sounds of wetlands wildlife like bull frogs, robins and red wing black birds, the Read Mountain Middle School Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience took place on Friday May 4 at Greenfield property. The Cherry Blossom Trail, the Greenfield pond and the creek that bubbles past the trail were all part of the scenario. Erica Moore, the TMDL Technician/Education Coordinator of Mountain Castles SWCD coordinated the programs for the second year in a row. Last year, Central Academy 6th graders participated in similar activities.
Approximately 235 6th grade students (in 12 groups) visited 14 stations (two of each theme below). Students filled out journal pages for each of the 7 stations they visited – the activities were prepared ahead of time and community volunteers helped complete the projects with student assistance and in put. The amount of knowledge was incredible and shared by those in the community who could teach as well as impart water quality information. Three community volunteers, Sandy Hunter, Cathy Charity and Louise Jargowsky, led a team of sixth graders through the chemical testing of pond water to see the general health of the pond at Greenfield.
At the water quality station, a bit of chemistry was performed. Measurements included turbidity, Ph, oxygen level and temperature. A group of four 6th grade boys Charlie Dooley, Zach Heldreth, Benny Ford and Matthew Benson quickly and efficiently performed the testing under the watchful eyes of not only the three volunteers, but also Math teacher Tracey White.
Dooley was quick to provide answers for the tests. After shaking a vial for four minutes he reported, “The oxygen level is “4.” Heldrith announced the PH level at 7. Both numbers are indicators that water quality is good. Perhaps the most fun was watching the micro biotic life dashing around in the bucket- full of pond water dipped to use for testing.
The station themes were:
Wetlands (soils and wildlife)
Water Quality
Riparian Forest Buffer
Bioassessment/Macroinvertebrates
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle
Land Use/Watersheds
Impermeable Surface
Students brought bagged lunches and enjoyed a day in nature learning what helps and what hinders clean water –one of the Earth’s most precious resources!
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Welcome to The Notebook, the community gathering place for news and tidbits from The Botetourt View, by community journalist Cathy Benson (that's her on the left). You'll be able to find the most up-to-date news, events and stories in Botetourt County here at this blog.
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