It interests me how trees are so often intertwined with our culture and history. The July celebration of our independence is a good time to review the history of the Liberty Tree, a symbol for individual liberty and resistance to tyranny.

The first American Navy consisted of six schooners paid for and pressed into service by none other than General George Washington in 1775. He pleaded with the Continental Congress that he needed a Navy immediately, but true to form, the Congress endlessly debated on the need for a Navy, how to organize and fund ships, and so on until Washington’s patience was at an end, so he funded the ships himself.

Everyone knows the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), which is usually found somewhere in your lawn unless herbicides are heavily used. This European import is probably enemy number one on the lawn weed list, but it is still an interesting study, being both an edible and a medicinal.

My Uncle (Cas Newton Day) remained a kid at heart to his last days. I loved him for it, for I think (and hope) a little of it rubbed off on me. To illustrate, he and I, both grown adults, were helping hang tobacco in a barn that had very dusty soil in front of the doors. We noticed funnel shaped indentions in the soil and asked what it was.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap Historical Park

Summer tends to up activity levels with most folks, such as hiking or working in a garden. Sometimes these activities lead to a blister, which is your body's way of telling you to ease off on what you're doing. They are of course the result of too much friction, possibly from poor-fitting shoes or not wearing work gloves. There are several opinions on how to treat them.

If you’re outside much at all you will likely have a yellow and black bee-like critter fly up to you and just hover in midair, staring at you. Growing up I was told they were news bees and that they were trying to tell me something. Another name for them is hover fly, highlighting their amazing ability to hover perfectly still like a hummingbird or helicopter.
I’ve seen two different kinds of news bees, a small skinny one that flies silently, and a bigger one that resembles a yellowjacket. Both belong to a group of insects called “flower flies.”

I may be writing this for myself because I am a bona fide Type A person. I’m always engaged in some activity, making lists to check off, with my mind constantly engaged in problem solving or accomplishing some goal. And worthy things do get done for church and family, but it can come with the cost of exhaustion, burn out, and self-imposed stress. One way to improve things is to take time to get away to a quiet place and be still for a little while.

Spring has moved on from blooming wildflowers to trees in bloom, and so I’ve been trying to catch native trees and shrubs in flower. While observing American Holly flowers I was reminded that some trees do thing different. Several species like the holly produce flowers of one sex only, and so there are literally boy and girl trees, which is not common in the plant world.

We have several pine species in our area, and one of the more uncommon ones is Pitch pine (Pinus rigida). It is mostly found on dry slopes and ridges in association with other pines and oaks. It has little commercial use today but was very useful in pioneering days.

Pitch pine has dark green needles that are around 3 to 8 inches long and form in bundles of 3. Tufts of its needles stand out upon the twigs nearly at right angles, and sometimes are found growing directly on the trunk. The tree has ...

A family tradition my mom kept was to seek out young poke sprouts in the spring and make poke salad, a king of cooked greens. Back before grocery store chains and refrigeration, country folk came out of winter craving a fresh green to eat, and poke was one of the newly sprouted plants that were sought out, along with “creesies” or spring crest. The lack of fresh green vegetables during the winter months ...