An Ivy League Education

by Ruth Ann Grissom Why are so many of us in the South infatuated with English ivy?  Perhaps we use it to create a veneer of Old World charm or associate ourselves with the prestige of the Ivy League.  Perhaps we resort to using it only after other groundcovers have...

The Beautiful and Elusive Scarlet Snake

By: Crystal Cockman Last Saturday, we had our regular trail workday on the Uwharrie Trail, and a great group of folks came out to help improve the trail. This included some raking, some limb trimming, and some places where they had to move dirt and rocks to level out...

Wild Foods

By: Crystal Cockman Growing up, we had a lot of wild foods, which I never really realized were in their own special category as such, things like persimmon pudding and blackberry pie. For the past several years I have been an avid hunter of deer, doves, squirrel and...

Famous Female Scientists

By: Crystal Cockman As March is celebrated as Women’s History Month, this is as great a time as any to reflect for a few minutes on the contributions women have made to science. From biology to astronomy, mathematics to chemistry, computer science to medicine, and...

Map Turtles

By: Crystal Cockman While walking out at High Rock Lake this past week, a friend stumbled across a really nice and intact turtle shell. Since it was in such good condition, I decided to pick it up and take it back with me. It looked different than some other shells I...

Siren Song

By: Crystal Cockman “Brr… that’s cold!” US Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species biologist Sarah McRae exclaims putting on her damp gloves for day three of a week long survey for an interesting species known only from the Neuse and Tar River basins in North...