Children’s Gardening Program Cultivates Lifeskills from SCRATCH

By Megan Northcote When state legislators arrived at an annual conference at West Virginia State University last year, a 7-year-old girl marched up to numerous government officials, pointed to a brochure photograph of herself holding a tomato, and proudly announced, “I’m famous because I grew this tomato and I’m going to give you my autograph.”…

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Volunteering in West Virginia

Big Laurel Learning Center Along the beautiful Tug Fork River near Kermit, W.Va., this rural community center offers environmental service opportunities to educate and assist communities affected by mountaintop removal mining. “The coal mines are right next door and people suffer from this fall-out of the coal society,” says Gretchen Shaffer, Big Laurel’s volunteer program…

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Creepy, Crawly Centipedes (at a Halloween Party Near You!)

By Jillian Randel They’re creepy, they’re crawly and they give you the heebie jeebies. As you gear up for Halloween, consider one of Appalachia’s scariest, most squirm-inducing invertebrates: the centipede. These nighttime crawlers may not be the cuddliest creatures, but they are beneficial to our eco-system — especially to those who garden. Although centipedes come…

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