Tag: Gloucester County

In anticipation of my visit today, my cousin Mark dredged up a half-bushel of oysters for us to shuck. He leases about 45 acres (18 hectares) of oyster grounds in the York River in Gloucester County, Virginia, where he is seeding and developing beds just steps away from his new home on the river. Within a few years lucky locavores may be able to buy his Clay Bank Oysters at restaurants and markets in Hampton Roads. 

In anticipation of my visit today, my cousin Mark dredged up a half-bushel of oysters for us to shuck. He leases about 45 acres (18 hectares) of oyster grounds in the York River in Gloucester County, Virginia, where he is seeding and developing beds just steps away from his new home on the river. Within a few years lucky locavores may be able to buy his Clay Bank Oysters at restaurants and markets in Hampton Roads. 

Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina), at Clay Bank in Gloucester County, Virginia. This youngster is only about 3 inches long (7.5 cm).

Please click photo for full view. 

As a boy I called box turtles terrapins – from the native Powhatan word for turtle –  though the word applied equally well locally to cooters and sliders and diamondbacks, but never to foul-tempered snapping turtles. Eastern Virginia is turtle-species rich. 

An elderly box turtle lived in my grandfather’s vegetable garden. He reluctantly sacrificed a few low-hanging tomatoes or cucumbers to the turtle each season in exchange for grub and insect control services. These turtles can live up to fifty years. Ours was a regular garden inhabitant for at least seventeen years. 

Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina), at Clay Bank in Gloucester County, Virginia. This youngster is only about 3 inches long (7.5 cm).

Please click photo for full view. 

As a boy I called box turtles terrapins – from the native Powhatan word for turtle –  though the word applied equally well locally to cooters and sliders and diamondbacks, but never to foul-tempered snapping turtles. Eastern Virginia is turtle-species rich. 

An elderly box turtle lived in my grandfather’s vegetable garden. He reluctantly sacrificed a few low-hanging tomatoes or cucumbers to the turtle each season in exchange for grub and insect control services. These turtles can live up to fifty years. Ours was a regular garden inhabitant for at least seventeen years. 

Pyromania: My cousin Mark recently had trees selectively pruned and cleared at his new home site in Gloucester County, Virginia. Note his use of a leaf blower to feed enough oxygen to get this greenwood fire blazing. The effort was smoky but successful. 

Pyromania: My cousin Mark recently had trees selectively pruned and cleared at his new home site in Gloucester County, Virginia. Note his use of a leaf blower to feed enough oxygen to get this greenwood fire blazing. The effort was smoky but successful.