“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...
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 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...
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...
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: 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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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.