Author: Jeremiah Knupp
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Jeremiah Knupp, Senior Contributor
Planting for the future: The resurrection of the American chestnut
In his poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, Wendell Berry offers the following advice: Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
You could say Loren Hostetter’s passion is an East Coast version of that charge. The down payment he is placing on future centuries comes in the form of the seedlings that spring from a chestnut.
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The foragers shall inherit the earth
I never looked at the world around me in the same way again. My garden became an “Edible Weed of the Year” club, with a new surprise each spring (this year, it’s producing an overabundance of mugwort). I developed the ethos of a hyena. I contemplate things and ask myself, “I wonder if I can eat that?”
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DN-R building under contract; redevelopment planned if city approves rezoning
After spending ten months on the market, the Daily News-Record building at 231 South Liberty Street is under contract. The pending sale, to Matchbox Realty & Management LLC, could see the historic building join the growing list of downtown structures being repurposed as commercial and retail space – while continuing to house the DN-R.
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Volunteers step forward to provide childcare for hospital staff
As schools shut down and daycare centers operate under new restrictions – precautions meant to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus – parents who are still required to go to work every day could now be facing months of childcare challenges. At one crucial area institution, Sentara RMH Medical Center, this has prompted a call for volunteers to meet that need.
Okinawa Joe’s: Zen and the Art of Resurrection
The kitten just showed up on the doorstep at 690 North Main Street, his physical defects obvious, and probably the reason his previous human had abandoned him. But where others may have only seen a terminal case John Garasimowicz saw potential, feeding the little cat, taking him in and dropping the cash at the vet to get his health problems fixed.
Mennonite Groundhog Day
The groundhogs are everywhere. They are stuffed toys sitting amongst dishes of sauerkraut and jars of pickled eggs laid out on tables. A portrait painting of one is propped reverently on the piano in the corner, beside a makeshift shrine where an opened can of birch beer sits in offering. There’s a crockpot of barbecued groundhog, according to the handwritten sign.
Sentara RMH restructuring doctor compensation, closes two rural clinics
Doctors at Harrisonburg’s hospital could be facing pay cuts in
2020 as a result of Sentara Healthcare restructuring its compensation program
for physicians at its hospitals. A representative for Sentara confirmed in a statement to The Citizen that the company is restructuring doctor reimbursements through what it calls a “simplified and flexible Provider Compensation Plan.”
Planning Commission continues tinkering with “Airbnb” ordinance, with eye on loosening some restrictions
City officials’ year-long struggle to create fair, equitable regulations for short-term housing rentals plodded on during a Planning Commission work session on Wednesday afternoon, where a two-tiered system for permitting was discussed again.
