Cabin Crafted

Tag: community

  • Earth Day

    Litter

    Mother Earth should be treated more kindly, not just on Earth Day, but everyday.  We try to do our part, recycling (even in our rural area), composting either in the compost piles or through the help of the chickens, keeping our property and the road front clear of litter, combining errands to reduce the carbon footprint by driving less.  Planting trees in the non pasture parts of the farm.

    Many rural folk have a different mindset about trash, I have blogged about this before (http://wp.me/p3JVVn-l3), but in addition to keeping junk and making trash piles, there is the roadside litter; empty soda and alcohol cups, bottles, and cans, fast food containers, cigarette packages (there are a lot of irresponsible smokers in this county).  Periodically, someone will take it upon themselves either out of civic duty or court imposed community service to walk down the beautiful mountain road and collect bag after orange bag of litter and leave them for the county services to collect.  When we lived in the city, we would see some of this too, along with the ashtray dumps in the street gutters where all of that nastiness washed down into the storm drains and eventually into the river and ocean.  Before retirement, we lived in a coastal city and often took our kayaks into one of the hundreds of canals, creeks, rivers and bays available.  After the first trip or two, we began to each carry a large garbage bag in our kayak and would collect as much as we could on a trip.  I guess this shows that it isn’t just rural folk, they just have city ordinances that prevent the larger collection of yard junk.

    How difficult is it to keep a litter bag in your car?  To hold on to the fast food bag until you reach a trash receptacle.  To think before  you throw your butt or ashtray full of butts out the window.  Recycling and anti litter are taught in schools as soon as children begin school.  This is the responsibility of all of us.  Do your part, be responsible.  Don’t just celebrate Earth Day by planting a tree, make it an everyday commitment.

     

  • Almost Heaven SW Virginia

    My apologies to John Denver, but this is a beautiful area.  For reference, this county abuts West Virginia and we live only a short handful of miles from the border.  The county is rural, agricultural; raising mostly beef cattle and Christmas trees with a few horse farms in the mix.  I have often posted about our homestead farm, but today I am taking you on a photo tour of our “town.”

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    The county boasts 3 standing covered bridges all crossing the same creek that runs about 2 more miles beyond this bridge owned by the town and then it disappears into the earth to resurface in the New River that traverses 45 miles through the county.  Two of the bridges are privately owned, this one and one private one are closed to driving across them.

    The town once had a population of about 5000 people, complete with hotels, taverns, businesses and homes.  In 1902 there was a tremendous fire that destroyed all but three buildings of the town, which was  never reconstructed as it was before.  The actual town now has a hardware store, a small restaurant, a general store/gas station, a post office, about 3 dozen houses, a heating contractor and several churches.  On the fringes, there is the old school, now a community center, the rescue squad, volunteer fire house, a plumbing contractor and the Ruritan Park.  The entire county only has about 15000 residents.

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    The farms are mostly old family homes, many built several generations ago and remodeled to add modern kitchens and indoor plumbing.  The variety of barns is a source of beauty to the area.

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    This gravel road leads through a pass and at the top of the pass, the Appalachian trail crosses the road.

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    This is the remains of a Civil War era house that though abandoned and having no windows remaining, was still standing when we moved here 7 years ago.  Time and weather have taken it’s toll and this last foot and a half of snow two days ago brought it almost to the ground.

    The top of our mountain has one of only two natural lakes in the state.  This one is surrounded by a conservancy that owns the grand stone hotel featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing” that was filmed mostly at that location.  There are many hiking trails in this conservancy and the Appalachian trail crosses again only a couple of miles from the hotel.

    The area is beautiful at all seasons, but especially now covered in snow.