The Southern Highland Reader

The New York Times asked a panel of columnists, including Western Carolina professor Bruce Henderson, just how parents should deal with the “Santa question”.

Henderson, whose research has largely been on the development of children’s curiosity and exploratory behavior, wrote, in part:

[In observation studies conducted at malls, my students] found that all too frequently parents, in their determination to give their children the Santa experience or to get a photo for the scrapbook, were insensitive to their children’s wariness or outright fear of the big man in the red suit. Smiling was rare, crying was not. Parents may act the Scrooge without realizing it.

Other columnists on the panel are psychologists and novelists, including Gregory Mone, author of “The Truth About Santa: Wormholes, Robots and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve.”

He writes, in part:

I don’t plan on supporting the notion that reindeer can fly or that Santa is immortal. Of course not. Both ideas are absurd. Instead, I’ll suggest that the reindeer are actually great jumpers, and that Santa probably has his organs replaced with artificial substitutes every decade to extend his lifespan far beyond the average human.

Read the Times piece here.

Jean Van’t Hul at Asheville’s Artful Parent interviews children’s author and poet Susan Marie Swanson.

An excerpt:

JEAN: Why do you feel poetry is important for children?

SUSAN MARIE: Poetry is part of our cultural legacy. Like visual art, storytelling, music, dance, theater, and other arts, poetry belongs to everyone. Poetry welcomes and challenges us with its rhythms, sounds, and patterns. Reading poems, we can imagine and explore different ways of thinking, feeling, and experiencing the world. Poetry maps the territory of the human heart.

JEAN: Do you have any tips you can share with those of us who are interested in encouraging our children to explore poetry as an art form?

SUSAN MARIE: Invite young children to tell you things and to play with words. Write stuff down for them, without worrying about whether it is a story or a poem or a report or something else. But be open to the thought that their words could be poems.

Read the entire interview here.

REGIONAL–The Artful Parent posts here about a new exhibit on display at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville: Building Small: American Folk Art Houses and Structures.

An excerpt from the Artful Parent:

These folk art houses are from the collection of Steven Burke and Randy Campbell, the largest such collection in the country. According to the exhibit attendant this is the first (and probably only) time this collection will be exhibited.

Here’s a promo at the Arboretum website.

Building Small: American Folk Art Houses and Structures

The New York Times’ Alex Williams wrote recently that some parents are applying the advice of television dog trainer Cesar Millan (aka the “Dog Whisperer”) to their child-rearing philosophies.

An excerpt from the story:

Indeed, Mr. Millan’s advice has replaced a shelf full of books on how to tame an unruly child. “It’s all the same simple concept: how to be the pack leader in your own house,” [said Amy Twomey, a blogger on parenthood for The Dallas Morning News.]

Certainly, an army, or at least a few divisions, of credentialed experts on human parenthood long ago stumbled on Mr. Millan’s philosophical holy trinity — exercise, discipline and affection equals happiness. And Mr. Millan does not hold himself up as a new Dr. Spock; he has never opined on how one should raise a creature with two legs in his show on the National Geographic Channel, or in his four books.

But some parents — particularly those weary of never-say-no techniques and child-rearing books suggesting that children should call the shots — say they find inspiration, and even practical advice, in Mr. Millan’s approach, which teaches pet owners how to become the alpha dogs by projecting his trademark “calm-assertive energy.”

Where does Millan stand on the idea? Writes Williams:

As a native of Mexico, he said, he adheres to a more traditional, hierarchical child-rearing philosophy, which he considers effective in both the pack and the family. There, “for thousands of years, the elder has always been the pack leader, it’s never the child,” Mr. Millan said. “In America, kids have too many options when they only need one: ‘Just do it, because.’ ”

Read the Times piece here.

Michael Pollan is author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, along with many other books and essays. His new book is called “Food Rules”.

He says “If you follow these rules, you will be purchasing and eating real, whole food most of the time.”

1. Don’t buy anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. Like anything orange that isn’t salmon, a carrot or an orange.
2. Avoid products containing ingredients that can’t be found in an ordinary pantry. Even better, avoid anything that has more than five ingredients. Better still, if you can’t pronounce most of the ingredients, you don’t want to eat them.
3. Don’t buy anything that lists sugar in its first three ingredients. And NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! Not even a little.
4. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay away from the middle–that’s where most processed food is shelved.
5. If it came from a plant, buy it (and eat a lot of it). If it was made in a plant, pass it by.
6. If it says lite, low-fat, or non-fat on the package, put it down. You’ll be more satisfied if you eat a little bit of the real thing.
7. Avoid food that is pretending to be something that it is not. This includes soy-based mock meats.
8. Food making health claims on the package is not food you want to buy. Don’t take the silence of the yams as a sign they have nothing valuable to say about your health.
9. Avoid food that is advertised on television. And remember, if it is delivered through the window of a car, it is not food.
10. Get out of the supermarket. Look to farmer’s markets for the majority of your food and snacks.

Pollan collected more rules from readers of the New York Times Magazine, which can be read here.

BALSAM–Hiking in the leaf-strewn woods feels colorful and messy, like a kid’s taped-together scrapbook. I am inspired to play the I Spy game. Spying the work of an industrious sapsucker drilled neatly into the bark of a tall tulip tree, I ask Sam (my six year old son) what made the neat line of bark holes.

Contributor Blair Ogburn is Senior Naturalist at Balsam Mountain Preserve. She, her husband Jon and son Sam live in Addie Community

“Woodpeckers” he says and I explain that a woodpecker did indeed tap out these little caverns. From the holes, tree sap will flow and provide nourishment to animals via sticky goo. Sapsuckers, other birds, and insects will come to the tree café and enjoy lapping some sap.

Sam takes a turn at I Spy and delights me with “I spy a tree’s nose”. I look around for a nose, perhaps nostril holes or a slimy fungus, but my eyes find only twigs and vines. Then I notice a wooden wedge pushed forth from furrowed bark of a dead standing tree (or snag). The growth Sam spied is actually a fungal shelf, appearing like a big black nose on the face of a dying tree. We take a closer look and find a pulsing web of life on the mossy shelf nose. There are beetles, scarlet colored mites, and dark spiders in webs from underneath.

Shelf fungi

Shelf fungi form dense anchors and send fungal fingers through snags and logs to weaken them. The wood then begins to rot and decompose. Wood munching insects and other recyclers move into softened wood to take advantage of a food source. Mother nature is on the job to create ‘new’ soil from old wood.

Peeking from a little nature nook in the snag, Sam and I find a golden mouse, our last discovery in today’s game of I Spy. The mouse’s fluffy fibrous nest is tucked inside the safe haven of the rotting tree. Thanks to decomposers like the shelf fungi, a mouse can find warmth and shelter from cold, wind and rain. As Sam and I are done spying on nature for the day, we turn back home to seek shelter of our own.

REGIONAL–Jean Van’t Hul writes Asheville’s Artful Parent, and in an interview with the author of the popular blog Quince and Quire, she gets at the essence of children, home and art.

An excerpt:

My two exuberant children inspire me to bring these disparate interests together in a way that shapes their learning and informs their lives. I want craft to be a daily necessity; I want the shape of letters to be apparent as art; I want the weight of history to feel like a blanket at their feet; I want the urgency of peace to find its form in their creations. I want them to be rooted at home while investigating the traditions of faraway places.

Read the entire post from the Artful Parent here.

HIGHLANDS, N.C. – The Bascom is taking its community youth art classes up a notch with a new Saturday program for elementary through middle school age children.

Saturday Art School at The Bascom begins next Saturday, Oct. 24, for kindergartners through eighth graders. Fun, hands-on, age-appropriate art classes are held every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Classes are held for two different age groups: grades K-3 and grades 4-8.

A student in a Bascom youth art class works on a project. A new program called Saturday Art School at The Bascom begins next Saturday, Oct. 24, for kindergartners through eighth graders. Registration is going on now.

The K-3rd Grade class will introduce children to all sorts of materials and methods of art making, with an emphasis on self-expression and immersion into the joy of creating.

The 4th-8th Grade class will cover the fundamentals of art while exploring a variety of media. While having fun with new materials and concepts, students will be gaining an understanding of the basic elements of art that form the foundation for future art study.

“Bring your child to art school for the morning,” said Norma Smith Hendrix, Bascom education director. “Parents can come and have coffee in The Bascom library while their child is in class, or they can drop off their child and enjoy a walk either on our nature trail or downtown Highlands.”

Cost is $64 for an eight-week session, with all materials included. Pre-registration is required and now open.

For more information or to register, visit www.thebascom.org or call (828) 526-4949 ext. 100.

Lily’s Treasures

Loretta Womack’s toy store “Lily’s Treasures”, open for about two years now at the corner of Main and Spring, is closing.

It’s a loss for Main St., in that it will leave a big hole at a prominent location, it’s a loss for the Downtown Sylva Association, of which Womack was president-elect, and it’s a loss for local families who like a step up from the standard fare, toy-wise.

“Almost all of the toys I carry have an underlying social or educational value, and they require interaction on the part of the child,” Womack told me recently. “Our kids need to explore and develop their own superheros and princesses,” she added. “Where is the imagination if all that is done for them?”

A nurse by trade, Womack has hired on with WestCare.

Spring Street Cafe

When most recent owner Lisa Agee closed Spring Street Cafe in late summer, it ended a 15-year stretch during which an eatery filled the spot beneath City Lights Bookstore.

Ownership of the restaurant has reverted to founder Faye Holliday, but the space still belongs to bookstore owners Joyce and Allen Moore.

The three are still considering possibilities, but clearly would like to see another dining establishment in the Spring Street space — one that’s as complementary as possible to a bookstore, Joyce Moore emphasizes.

NATIONAL–The Center for Science in the Public Interest has compiled a list of foods most likely to make you sick.

Here’s a quote from the authors of the report:

“A globalized food system, archaic food safety laws, and the rise of large-scale production and processing have combined to create a perfect storm of unsafe food,’’ the C.S.P.I. writes. “Unfortunately, the hazards now come from all areas of the food supply: not only high-risk products, like meat and dairy, but also the must-eat components of a healthy diet, like fruits and vegetables.’’

Here’s the top ten:

1. Leafy greens
2. Eggs
3. Tuna
4. Oysters
5. Potatoes
6. Cheese
7. Ice cream
8. Tomatoes
9. Sprouts
10. Berries

Of course, these items will make you sick right now. Items that’ll make you sick on down the road come at it from a different angle, and the Center has some thoughts about those foods, too. They think we should tax the hell out of soda pop, for example.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center, says this: “Soda is dirt cheap and promotes expensive and debilitating diseases, which in turn run up healthcare costs at all levels of government.”

More reading:

From the New York Times
From CNN
From the Washington Post

REGIONAL–Mountain Xpress columnist and blogger Anne “Edgy Mama” Fitten Glenn holds forth on the health benefits of beer in her most recent Xpress column here.

An excerpt:

Out of 1,700 women participating in the study (average age was 48), those considered moderate beer drinkers had the highest bone density.

At this news, I jumped up and danced a little happy dance, during which I spilled some of my medicinal Scottish ale. I love beer and luckily, I live in Beer City, USA, where I could drink a different locally crafted beer every day for a month without quaffing the same brew twice. Hurrah!

The researchers, from the University of Extremadura in Caceres, Spain, found that regular drinkers tended to have better bone density than those who never consumed beer. While they only tested women, I assume this holds true for the male persuasion as well. Men get osteoporosis too, especially as they age.

Read the whole pint here.

REGIONAL–On Sunday, the Charlotte Observer’s Bruce Henderson outlined the challenges faced by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

His lead:

Having just celebrated its 75th birthday, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park finds its future threatened by wavering public support for America’s green places.

The problem passes from one generation to the next: a chronic lack of financial support in the past, declining visits now and a future shaped by today’s children who are spending far less time in the outdoors.

Another excerpt:

Kids don’t play outdoors – splashing in creeks and chasing fireflies – as they once did, numerous studies and most parents will attest. Increasingly sedentary and overweight, they’re more likely to be mesmerized by a Wii than a salamander.

“Nature-deficit disorder,” author Richard Louv called it in an influential 2005 book. Research has linked lack of unstructured time outdoors to childhood depression, anxiety and behavioral problems.

“If they don’t have those experiences, then we’re worried that it won’t be a priority for future generations to keep natural areas and a clean, healthy environment,” said Lisa Tolley, who heads the N.C. Office of Environmental Education.

The whole story here.

DILLSBORO–It’s a big weekend for the Jackson County Green Energy Park, a series of artisan studios, greenhouses and other ventures powered by captured methane from an abandoned landfill.

Chalking at Art at the Park, 2008

The county owned-facility, located outside Dillsboro, hosts its second annual “Art at the Park” on Saturday, from 9am until 2pm.

Family-oriented activities will include sidewalk chalk, mural painting, weaving, tile mosaics, chalk pastel drawing, take-home art projects, and more.  Adults will enjoy free horticulture workshops throughout the day.  The event will be catered by Bubacz’s Underground Cafe’, of Sylva.

Scheduled are live demonstrations of glassblowing, pottery and blacksmithing, as well as the unveiling of the park’s new glassblowing studio.

Horticulture workshops (Free, but please RSVP at 631-0271)

9:00 – 10:30 am – Basic Propagation of Woody & Herbaceous Perennials
Presented by George Thomas, Instructor, Horticulture Technology at Haywood Community College. No experience necessary – beginners welcome. Participants will learn propagation techniques for various perennial plants with a focus on native species. This workshop will include hands-on experience. Bring paper and pen to take notes.

10:30 – 11:30 am – The Art of Bonsai
Presented by Sage Smith, Horticulture Student at Haywood Community College. Bonsai, the art of shaping woody plants to look like miniature trees, has been practiced for thousands of years. Participants will learn basic techniques for shaping, watering, and re-potting plants to create fascinating living sculptures. No experience necessary.

11:30 – 12:30 – Landscaping With Native Plants
Presented by Marsha Crites, Master Gardener and Owner of Harvest Moon Gardens Landscaping. Participants will hear a short talk on landscaping with native plants, followed by a walk through the grounds at the Green Energy Park to discuss and identify the various native species. No experience necessary.

12:30 – 1:30 – Houseplant Care and Maintenance
Presented by Bo Keen, of Ray’s Florist in Dillsboro. Participants will learn about indoor/house plant care, feeding, handling, repotting and propagation. Bring your plants in for problem identification and solutions. This workshop will have a focused question/answer session.

CULLOWHEE–The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that WCU has released womens basketball recruit Kelsey Evans from the national letter of intent she signed to play at Western.

The school’s earlier refusal to do so had ignited controversy.

Here is the story from the Citizen-Times.

Here’s our previous post on the subject.

Here is WCU’s statement on the matter:

“Western Carolina University this afternoon delivered to Kelsey Evans a letter releasing her from the obligations she assumed when she and her mother signed on November 12, 2008 a National Letter of Intent whereby Kelsey agreed to play basketball under scholarship at WCU. She is now free to attend and play for another college or university.

“It is acknowledged that both the University and the Evans family entered into the National Letter of Intent with good and sincere intentions – to support the women’s basketball program at WCU and provide opportunities for Kelsey and the other student-athletes on the team to succeed. Kelsey and her parents have great respect for the WCU women’s basketball program; it was never their intent to impair the program or impair WCU’s ability to succeed. However, after Coach Harper’s departure, Kelsey and her parents came to believe that exploring Kelsey’s athletic interests at another institution to be in Kelsey’s best interest. While he understood the reasons for the Evans’s decision, WCU Athletic Director Chip Smith believed it was important to support WCU coaches and student-athletes and maintain the continuity of the WCU women’s basketball program.

“WCU’s decision to release Kelsey from the National Letter of Intent resolves the legal dispute between the Evanses and WCU. WCU, Kelsey and her parents have agreed to issue this joint statement to achieve common ground and reflect their respect for each other and their goals, neither party will issue further statements.”

REGIONAL–My family’s recent visit with friends in a Cincinnati neighborhood brought to mind all the clothesline conversations that took place down in Raleigh this summer.

NC state legislator Pricey Harrison, of Greensboro, introduced legislation that would have forbidden municipalities from outlawing clotheslines (although homeowners associations would’ve been able to continue doing so).

Her attempt died in the senate, but it got plenty of press. What goes around comes around, you see, and air-drying laundry has sort of become a thing.

From a Raleigh News and Observer editorial:

We’re not sure how the notion arose that outdoor clotheslines are something akin to a public nuisance, appropriately banned in any self-respecting neighborhood. What we are sure of is that a natural process for drying clothes that avoids use of an electricity-hogging machine dryer is one that helps conserve energy and also saves money. (Not wanting to get bogged down in aesthetics, no judgment will be passed here on the relative touchy-feely-sniffy merits of clothes dried in the great outdoors by God’s own sun and wind versus clothes dried and shriveled in a hot, spinning tin can.)

State senators had a chance to stand tall for the venerable clothesline. But members of the Commerce Committee — were certain senators’ machine-dried knickers too tight? — decided that the state shouldn’t presume to override local anti-clothesline rules.

More recently, the Asheville Citizen-Times has picked up the ball and run with it, publishing this piece in today’s paper.

Here’s an excerpt:

Switching to low-tech drying saves energy but can get residents in hot water with associations, landlords or towns that see clotheslines as eyesores. Now states from Maine to Hawaii are stepping in to override local laws and rules.

“What we’re talking about here is a cultural shift,” said Alexander Lee, founder of pro-clothesline group Project Laundry List. “It would be nice to go from community association to community association to have this discussion and change the rules, but there are 300,000 of them, and we need to hurry along now if we’re going to cope with climate change.”

Vermont, Maine and Hawaii this year joined Florida, Utah and Colorado in passing laws with varying levels of protections for clotheslines.

As for our Cincinnati friends, theirs is a pretty bungalow in a century-old neighborhood. All the lots on the street are about the same size, with small front yards and long, narrow back yards. And while most of the homeowners keep their back yards neat, they do so in a practical way.

The neighbors on one side, for instance, are into archery. The folks on the other side have let the woods grow back in.

Our friends’ yard, meanwhile, is home to a nice garden, a tree house, a hammock tree, and — you bet — a nice clothesline rig. It runs on its own made-for-the-purpose pulley right off the back porch, and its use has become part of daily household rituals that Tara and Dave enjoy — and profit from.

“There aren’t many appliances more expensive to run than a clothes dryer,” Dave says.

The Nourished Kitchen with an overview of the five top problems associated with vitamin D deficiency.

A recent study showed that an amazing 70% of US kids don’t get enough, and adult rates are dropping, too.

Vitamin D is critically important to overall health and, sadly, most of the population suffer from deficient or suboptimal vitamin D levels.  Indeed, a recent study indicated that a whopping 70% percent of US children (no, folks, that’s not a type-o) suffer from deficient or insufficient vitamin D levels1.   Similarly, adult men and women average suboptimal vitamin D levels and these average levels seem to be decreasing year by year2.  Remember: the terms “average” and “normal” do not necessarily equal “optimal.”

Chalk the deficiency up to poor eating habits and lack of sunshine, yet, regardless of the reason behind this epidemic-level vitamin deficiency, the general health of the public is suffering.  Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is associated with many and varied diseases as well as increased overall mortality.  Conversely, researchers in human aging have found an association between optimal vitamin D levels and increased longevity.

CULLOWHEE–Last year, Raleigh high school basketball star Kelsey Evans signed a national letter of intent to play womens basketball for dynamic coach Kellie Harper at Western Carolina.

But when Harper left for a job at NC State in late spring, Evans, who is very good, but presumably not good enough to play at State, decided to go to school closer to home, at Elon.

Here’s the catch, though: Western hasn’t released Evans from her letter of intent. And Evans, interestingly, has sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The implications for the NCAA could be far-reaching, because it is under growing pressure to reconcile its lofty ideals of student athleticism with the high-dollar, often tawdry realities of college athletics.

The impact at Western could be substantial … Both the Raleigh and Asheville daily newspapers have taken Western to task for making things difficult for this young athlete. Keith Jarrett, the senior sportswriter at the Asheville Citizen-Times, was apoplectic yesterday, winding up his opinion piece with a rhetorical question that shouldn’t have made it past any editor who’d ever even met a lawyer.

The impact at Western could be substantial, too. Both the Raleigh and Asheville daily newspapers have taken Western to task for making things difficult for this young athlete. Keith Jarrett, the senior sportswriter at the Asheville Citizen-Times, was apoplectic yesterday, winding up his opinion piece with a rhetorical question that shouldn’t have made it past any editor who’d ever even met a lawyer.

My first take on the subject was this: why on earth would WCU risk the bad publicity of playing tug-of-war with a kid who was obviously never going to attend Western Carolina? It wouldn’t be good for the young woman (who should be the priority) and certainly nothing good could come of it for the school. I wrote as much.

Well, nothing good will come of it for the school, that’s for sure, but the story is a little more nuanced than it might seem.

Here’s a simplified version: when a scholarship student-athlete wants to leave one college for another, that athlete must petition his or her current school for a release. When a student is enrolled, this is a relatively straightforward process. The athlete petitions the athletics department for a release, and if the department says no, she makes her case to a school committee, and ultimately a final decision is reached. It’s been implied by other sources that these releases are most often a formality, but apparently not so.

Complications, one of them being that a transfer to a rival school is a no-no, can interfere.

Things are a little more murky when a student — like Evans — signs a national letter of intent, but has a change of heart before she enrolls. She’s free to go to school wherever she chooses, of course, but unless WCU gives her a release, and if she goes to another NCAA Div. 1 school, she has to wait a year to play basketball. And she loses a year of eligibility. This is a NCAA rule.

Evans, her attorney and her parents are taking exception to this rule, saying, in essence, that if coach Kellie Harper can break her contract, Evans should have the right to do the same. Evans’ lawyer says the rules are geared to protect college athletics departments, not kids. This point of law is where the NCAA has its work cut out for it.

Meanwhile, WCU Athletics Director Chip Smith would argue that a lot of time and money is spent recruiting players, and that the letter of intent is a contract, reserving the student a place on the team and a desk in the classroom.

Evans asked to be released from her obligation to Western because the coach she wanted to play for was gone. But she wants to play for Elon — in fact is already enrolled there — and the Phoenix are in the Southern Conference along with WCU.

That’s why Western said no.

Newspaper coverage has implied that Western more or less forced the frustrated Evans family to sue. It is possible, though, that after the initial “no”, the family’s contact with the university has been minimal — the appeals process for non-enrolled students is through the NCAA, not the school. This being the case, it is clear that the newspapers are taking the student’s family’s word that Western is being difficult.

Maybe, maybe not. WCU isn’t talking, playing once again its familiar role of an ostrich in the media headlights.

But if it is true that the Evans asked only once, the suggestion that WCU is going out of its way to make things difficult for Evans is a trumped-up charge. In fact, if it is true, and if Evans and her parents expected to be automatically released from their agreement no questions asked, then we’re left to wonder whether they were taking their obligation a little too lightly.

STATEWIDE–Homeschooling is growing in the Tarheel state, writes David Joy in the Cashiers Crossroads Chronicle.

The crux:

Across the state, 41,042 home schools were operated during the 2008-2009 school year, a seven percent increase from the previous year. Of these schools, 66 percent classified themselves as religious schools.

In the past five years, N.C. has experienced a 24.7 percent increase in the number of home schools, with 9,512 new schools, and an increase of 31 percent in the number of home school students, with 18,285 new students.

Jackson County has mirrored or exceeded this growth.

Read Joy’s piece here.

In an Asheville Citizen-Times piece, Asheville doctor Joshua Bernstein reviews the most common causes of death for kids — accidents.

His lead:

This time of year I am asked to “sign off” on many physical forms from camps, schools and day care centers.

I often fill in the circles stating that there are no heart murmurs, abdominal masses, abnormal lung findings, etc. Although this seems reassuring to schools, parents, patients, and perhaps society, it is not the important part of the physical exam visit.

Leading causes of death in children are not from cardiac disease, abdominal problems, hernias or scoliosis. Worldwide, accidents lead the causes of death in every age group from 4-18.

He goes on to review the most common types of accidents and how to prevent them.

(He also reminds us that most accidents occur close to home. As comedian Steven Wright suggested, maybe we should move).

REGIONAL-This well-written eastern Kentucky blog offers plenty of thoughts about off-the-grid Appalachian living and parenting.

And in the case of one of her most recent posts, a time-honored point of caution.

An excerpt:

I have been taught since childhood about the importance of watching out for snakes.  I learned how to identify the different species and the ones that were the most dangerous.  I was told what to do if I saw a snake, or if I was bit by one.  It comes with the territory being a child of Appalachia.  One of the things that I have always remembered is – where there are blackberries, there are snakes.

I don’t know if it is the brambles that attracts them, or the plethora of little critters coming to eat berries.  If I were a snake, I’d say it is a little of both.

Here’s the whole post.

Copperhead