COOPERATIVE FOCUS
Becoming a Nature Hero
An inside look at wildlife rescue and rehabilitation April 2025 by Amanda S. Creasey, Contributing Columnist One of the greatest thrills of spending time outside is encountering wildlife. Whether it’s a box turtle or bird, fox or frog, rabbit or raccoon, seeing native...
Breeding Success
Whenever Elaine Shirley leads visitors on tours of the agricultural exhibits at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster, Md., she always stops to showcase a plywood cut-out of a dairy cow.
It’s not that the museum lacks any living livestock. Shirley, the museum’s curator, is trying to make a point. The exhibit is painted with markings matching a Sheeted Somerset — a breed that went extinct in the 1930s. She says the reason for the board bovine often catches guests by surprise.
Where Life is ‘Just Peachy’
Welcome to Fruit Hill Orchard in Palmyra, Va. August 2024 by Laura Emery, Staff Writer “Just peachy” perfectly describes life at Fruit Hill Orchard in Palmyra, Va., from July 2 until shortly after Labor Day. That’s because it’s peach season, and there are peaches...
The Industrial EVolution
Battery-electric trucks, forerunners of an electrified future, and they are already running daily routes in Southwest Virginia.
For The Love Of Matthew
Matthew was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Williams syndrome. The disorder is characterized by varying levels of intellectual disability, unique personality characteristics, distinctive facial features, and a slew of cardiovascular problems.
A Historic Mill Meets Chocolate-Peanut Butter
Water-powered ice cream helps mark community bicentennial October 2022 by Nancy Sorelis, Contributing Writer It was with great optimism that John J. Rife stood alongside the spring-fed stream in what would soon become the village of Dayton in Rockingham County, Va.,...
Until the Cows Come Home
Andora Farm is an idyllic 18th century horse farm located on Route 3 in Culpeper County owned by rancher, expert horseman and cable television personality Tom Seay and his wife, Pat.
On the Outside, Looking In
Some 70 years after Barbara Johns’ historic speech, students recall their strike for equality and the subsequent segregationist closure of public schools in Prince Edward County, Va.
A Warm and Fuzzy Feeling
A multitasking approach at Meadowgate Alpacas AUGUST 2022 https://vimeo.com/735468419 by Steven Johnson, Staff Writer When Suzy Gammell opened her Mother’s Day present, you could hear her cries of delight in just about every corner of Ashland, Va. “Andi’s mine! Andi’s...