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Getting More on the GroundGetting More on the Ground
Getting More on the GroundGetting More on the Ground
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Riparian Buffers

Home Riparian Buffers
Surf and Turf – The Movie

Surf and Turf – The Movie

Jun 24, 2025

“Here’s a toast: That we may learn the connection between land and water.” That’s the last line in Surf and Turf, a Chesapeake Bay Watershed Story, a short documentary showing that what we do here in the Shenandoah Valley, how we farm, profoundly and inextricably affects the water leaving our...

Buffers, Buteos, Bugs, and Burs: Whiskey Creek Almanac Fall 2024

Buffers, Buteos, Bugs, and Burs: Whiskey Creek Almanac Fall 2024

Oct 2, 2024

The Bs have it this fall. The riparian forest buffers at our River Farm are 20 years old. The buffers at Whiskey Creek Regenerative Farming are three years old and have survived two consecutive years of extreme drought. Buteos are a genus of raptors with large bodies and broad wings....

Spring Surge at Whiskey Creek

Spring Surge at Whiskey Creek

May 30, 2024

Spring Surge at Whiskey Creek Regenerative Farming Note: This post was written by a real person: me. There are no popups, paywalls, ads, or AI. All photos are by me unless otherwise noted. The energy of life surges this month. I can feel it in the sun’s warmth, smell it...

A  Walk Along Middle River–Swoope Almanac Winter 2024

A Walk Along Middle River–Swoope Almanac Winter 2024

Feb 15, 2024

We have a small farm in Swoope along Trimbles Mill Road. The Middle River flows through it for half a mile. We call it the River Farm. The cows were fenced away from the river in 2004, and we planted trees along the banks. Sycamores Hold the Line I walk...

Riparian Buffer Walk 2023

Riparian Buffer Walk 2023

Oct 23, 2023

October is Riparian Buffer Month. How Could I Not Write About That? Note: This post was written by a real person–me. All photos by R. Whitescarver unless otherwise noted. Walking under the shade of the trees we planted along Middle River, I look up and see abundant acorns. I smile....

Every Tree Matters

Every Tree Matters

Aug 21, 2023

Every Tree Matters­: A Rant on Riparian Buffer Maintenance Note: A real person wrote this post—me. I’ve been planting trees professionally for almost 40 years. I’ll bet I planted half a million trees before most of you reading this post were born. In addition, Jeanne and I have our own...

Our Turf Affects the Surf: Land and Water are Profoundly Connected

Our Turf Affects the Surf: Land and Water are Profoundly Connected

Jul 12, 2023

Our farm in Virginia’s legendary Shenandoah Valley affects the waters of America’s largest estuary over three-hundred miles away—the Chesapeake Bay. How we manage our land profoundly and inextricably affects groundwater and surface water. In other words, our turf affects what’s in the surf. Surf and Turf It was a special...

Conservation Vouchers, Making Farming Safer and More Efficient

Conservation Vouchers, Making Farming Safer and More Efficient

Jan 9, 2023

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay has a program that helped us be more efficient and safer farmers with conservation vouchers. It’s called the Healthy Streams Farm Stewardship program. It awards $3,000 worth of conservation vouchers per acre of riparian forest buffer up to $20,000. In addition, the program allows...

Protecting the Farm Forever–Chapter Three, Recording the Easement, Costs and Benefits

Protecting the Farm Forever–Chapter Three, Recording the Easement, Costs and Benefits

Oct 14, 2022

A Historic Day for Farmland Staunton, Virginia: It was a hot summer day on August 4. We met the senior easement specialist with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation at our lawyer’s office to walk the four blocks to the courthouse. Our lawyer, Alan Garrison, said he could have recorded our conservation...

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Fence Cattle Out of Streams

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Fence Cattle Out of Streams

Aug 31, 2022

Note: The text of this post was published in the Virginia Mercury on 9/1/2022. My wife and I are beef cattle farmers in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Two years ago, we enrolled in Virginia’s Agricultural Best Management Practice Cost-Share program. We used this state funding to fence our cattle...

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First Place Award for 2020 Outstanding Column & Blog from Virginia Outdoor Writers Association View All Awards
  • In his e-book, Bobby shares his invaluable knowledge and findings drawn from years of field experience. His tips for how to improve water quality and protect livestock are a true win/win. Please read it. And please share it.

    Will Baker
    President Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Recent Posts

  • Ode to Black Locust Trees
    Ode to Black Locust Trees
  • The Battle Against Two Invasives: Tree-of-Heaven and Spotted Lanternfly
    The Battle Against Two Invasives: Tree-of-Heaven and Spotted Lanternfly
  • Whiskey Creek Almanac: August 2026, Climate Change, Mycofiltration, and the American Barn Owl
    Whiskey Creek Almanac: August 2026, Climate Change, Mycofiltration, and the American Barn Owl
  • Greed, Lies, and Lack of Oversight Led to the Kepone Disaster of 1975
    Greed, Lies, and Lack of Oversight Led to the Kepone Disaster of 1975

Blog Post Categories

  • Atlantic Coast Pipeline
  • Birding
  • Cattle Farming
  • Chesapeake Bay
  • Climate Change
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  • Electric Vehicles
  • Endangered Species
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  • Herd Health
  • Hydrofracking
  • Invasive Species
  • Nature
  • Nutrient Management
  • Quail Habitat
  • Renewable Energy
  • Riparian Buffers
  • Riparian Forest Buffers Ebook
  • Soil and Water Conservation
  • Soil Erosion
  • Solar
  • Stream Fencing
  • Swoope Almanac
  • Trees
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  • Val Our Border Collie
  • Water Pollution
  • Watershed restoration
  • Whiskey Creek
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  • Whiskey Creek Angus
  • Whiskey Creek Regenerative Farming
  • Wildlife

BLOG TOPICS

Atlantic Coast Pipeline . calving . calving season . Chesapeake Bay . Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint . Chesapeake Bay Foundation . chesapeake clean water blueprint . Clean Water Act . Climate Change . Climate crisis . Conservation easement . Conservation Reserve Program . CREP . Dominion . Earth Day . endangered species . EPA . feral cats . Green Ash . livestock exclusion . loggerhead shrike . Middle River . native prairie . Northern Bobwhite . Princess of Swoope . quail . renewable energy . riparian buffer . riparian buffers . riparian forest buffer . riparian forest buffers . Shenandoah River . soil erosion . stream fencing . Stroud Water Research Center . swoope . Swoope almanac . tmdl . water pollution . water quality . Whiskey Creek . Whiskey Creek Almanac . Whiskey Creek Angus . Whiskey Creek Regenerative Farming . wildlife habitat

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Contact Information

  • Bobby Whitescarver
  • Whitescarver Natural Resource Management, Inc.
  • 164 Whiskey Creek Rd Churchville, VA 24421
  • 540-280-7134
  • bobby.whitescarver@gettingmoreontheground.com

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