In March, broadcast journalists from Virginia and West Virginia were recognized when the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters met to present awards for notable stories produced in 2023. This week, we listen back to some of our award-winning stories.
In March, broadcast journalists from Virginia and West Virginia were recognized when the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters met to present awards for notable stories produced in 2023.
Angelo’s Old World Sausage is available in stores in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.
Photo Credit: Zack Harold/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Zack Harold is the unofficial foodie for Folkways. Last summer, he took us to see how the sausage gets made with Angelo’s Old World Italian Sausage. The recipe originated in the Calabria region of Italy, but it’s made in West Virginia.
Make Way For The Mushroom Hunters
These chanterelles are about to be turned into a tasty treat. They were harvested the day before an unsuccessful mushroom hunt, and turned into a topper for vanilla ice cream.
Photo Credit: Wendy Welch/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Gathering foods like ramps, sassafras or blackberries from the forest has always been a part of Appalachian culture. In recent years, mushroom hunting has been having a moment.
Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch spent time with mushroom hunters in Virginia and West Virginia and brought us the story.
Winter Wassailing In Asheville
Wassailers sing outside a home in Asheville, North Carolina. Traditionally, wassailers not only sang for their neighbors, but also sang in apple orchards to ensure a good harvest for the coming year.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Not many folks are thinking about winter holiday traditions this time of year. But back before Christmas, Folkways Reporter Rebecca Williams explored the old English tradition of wassailing in Asheville, North Carolina. A group of friends there got into this old singing tradition as a way to connect to their roots. Williams reported.
Season Of The Witch
H. Byron Ballard at home.
Photo Credit: Llewellyn Worldwide
In Appalachia, witchcraft goes way back. Wise women still practice herbology or trace the patterns of the moon. H. Byron Ballard is a practicing witch in Asheville, North Carolina. She’s also the author of several books, including Small Magics: Practical Secrets from an Appalachian Village Witch. Last fall, she spoke with producer Bill Lynch about her way of life – and quizzed Bill on cryptids.
We also want to congratulate WVPB reporters and Inside Appalachia contributors Emily Rice and Breana Heaney, news director Eric Douglas and Us & Them host Trey Kay. Each of them won awards from the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting brought home 12 awards Saturday, March 23, 2024 from the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters Awards Luncheon at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Pictured (left to right) is Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch, Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch, Us & Them Host and Producer Trey Kay, Southern West Virginia Reporter Briana Heaney and WVPB News Director Eric Douglas.
Photo Credit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
——
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Christian Lopez, Dave and Tim Bing, John Inghram, Marissa Anderson, Frank George and Hank Williams Jr.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways editors Chris Julin and Nicole Musgrave.
You can send us an email at InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On a cold December night in Asheville, North Carolina, a group of about 20 people gather on a stranger’s front porch. Some of them have come together for the past decade to celebrate the holidays, build community, and, most important, wassail.
This story originally aired in the Dec. 24, 2023 episode of Inside Appalachia.
A Holiday Custom With English Roots
On a cold December night in Asheville, North Carolina, a group of about 20 people gather on a stranger’s front porch. Some of them have come together for the past decade to celebrate the holidays, build community, and, most important, wassail.
One of the wassailers knocks on the door. A woman opens it. “We’re wassailers and we would like to sing you songs,” said the leader of the wassailing group. “I’d be delighted,” the homeowner replies. The group burst into laughter and began to sing “Apple Tree Wassail” in four part harmony.
O lily-white lily, O lily-white pin, Please to come down and let us come in. Lily-white lily, O lily-white smock, Please to come down and pull back the lock. (It’s) our Wassa-ail jolly wassail Joy come to our jolly wassail
Apple Tree Wassail, Traditional, England
Saro Lynch-Thomason leads the Asheville group. At 36 years old, Lynch-Thomason wears her dark hair short on one side and long on the other. She sports a bright red scarf and a cluster of bells that ring when she walks. She explains that wassailing is a centuries-old tradition with English roots.
“The term ‘wassail’ comes from an Anglo-Saxon phrase that meant good health, so it was a toast to good health,” Lynch-Thomason said. “Wassail itself was a drink, usually made from ale and cooked apples and a lot of spices that would be served in households, often around Twelfth Night or Christmastime or New Year’s. And coincided with a tradition in the Middle Ages of working class folk, peasants, going to the homes of the wealthy and having this customary charitable exchange, where the working people are singing to and blessing the wealthy master and mistress of the house. And in exchange, they’re being gifted food, they’re being gifted cider and wassail. And they’re often being gifted money, as well.”
Good health to your house, may riches come soon, Bring us some cider, we’ll drink down the moon. It’s Our Wassa-ail jolly wassail Joy come to our jolly wassail
Apple Tree Wassail, Traditional, England
The Asheville wassailers do not ask for money, but after singing at a house decorated with bright holiday lights, they ask for another gift.
“As you heard in the last song, we did ask for alcohol several times,” Lynch-Thomason said.
The wassailers laugh, and the homeowner asks, “Do you want alcohol?”
“You guys have some cups. I can see that,” another household member observes.
Wassailing is not your typical round of Christmas caroling. It is more mischievous. And that is something that the Asheville group takes very seriously.
“This was a really fun and rowdy tradition,” Lynch-Thomason said. “And it eventually got displaced by caroling in the Victorian era. It was considered kind of too rambunctious by the emerging culture. And so, the spirit of what we’re trying to return to is that kind of raucous, fun feeling of these strangers with a party showing up at your door.”
There was an old farmer and he had an old cow But how to milk her he didn’t know how. He put his old cow down in his old barn, And a little more liquor won’t do us no harm. Harm me boys harm, harm me boys harm.
Apple Tree Wassail, Traditional, England
In fact, wassailing developed such a bad reputation for public drunkenness, it was banned by the Puritans in England and was highly discouraged by religious leaders who settled in the United States. But recently, the tradition has had a renaissance — in both England and America.
Wassailers sing outside a home in Asheville, North Carolina. Traditionally, wassailers not only sang for their neighbors, but also sang in apple orchards to ensure a good harvest for the coming year.
Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
One wassailer, Leila Weinstein, has been with the group for about five years. She explains what draws her to this tradition. “I love the old songs. I love ballads. I love all the medieval imagery,” Weinstein said. “And then just the comradery of singing together, and you know, lighting up the night with some song.”
For Caleb Magoon, wassailing is an excuse for a really good time. And it is a way of connecting to others. “It’s just getting together with people every year that you might not see otherwise, you know. And having a fun time being silly,” Magoon said.
But members of the Asheville group are not only drawn to wassailing because of the rowdy good time and the sense of community. For participants like Erin Gahan Clark, it is also a way to connect with the traditions of their ancestors.
“I think that for me, like I was raised in the Catholic faith and so I always knew about Christmas caroling,” Gahan Clark said. “But I feel like these songs, that are older, are connecting me to my well ancestors and like more ancient roots. And I just dig it. It feels good in my body.”
Wassailing As Connection To Ethnic Identity
Most of the wassailers in Asheville are white. And wassailing seems to help them connect to their ancestral traditions and ethnic identity. For Lynch-Thomason and many of her white peers, they feel disconnected from a sense of ethnic identity. And she said that here in the United States, that is by design.
“There’s been a long and very purposeful project of making people white here. Of having people forget their ancestral identities and becoming white as a way to create racial hierarchies and reinforce white supremacy,” Lynch-Thomason said. “When you came off the boat, you know at whatever period, there was a project here of making you become white, and forget your ancestral languages and traditions. And so today, white folks in this country are experiencing a lot of grief and have a lot of yearning for ancestral practices.”
Lynch-Thomason has experienced this grief of ethnic ambiguity firsthand. And when she was in her mid-20s, she decided to learn about the traditions of her ancestors.
“In my case, I have ancestors from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Scandinavia, kind of all over the place. And there are several hundreds of years of separation from any of the traditions from those places. So I’ve sought out and learned from other people, English folk songs, Scottish ballads,” she said.
Lynch-Thomason said that connecting with these English and Scottish folk songs has had a big impact.
Wassail wassail all over the town Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown Our bowl it is made: Of the white maple tree With the wassailing bowl we’ll drink to thee
Gloucestershire Wassail, Traditional, Gloucestershire, England, Lyrics published Oxford Book of Carols, 1928
“There’s something really powerful to me about speaking words and singing songs, holding those vibrations, those words, those forms of knowledge in my body,” Lynch-Thomason said. “And knowing that people in my ancestry also sang these songs and held these words.”
Saro Lynch-Thomason (third from left) leads the wassailers in rehearsal. One of the songs the group performed, the “Boar’s Head Carol” was first published in 1521.
Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The boar’s head as I understand Is the rarest dish in all this land Which thus bedecked with a gay garland Let us servire cantico (‘let us serve with a song’)
Boar’s Head Carol, Queens College version, Oxford, England, first published 1521
It is not always easy to learn songs and rituals that haven’t been passed down from generation to generation. There are challenges to singing a 700-year-old song.
During a rehearsal at Lynch-Thomason’s parents’ house in Asheville, the wassailing group struggles with Latin pronunciations.
“‘Servire’… I’m sure this is wrong. ‘Let us servire…’” Lynch-Thomason said to the group. “I’m changing this as I do it. ‘Let us servire cantico.’”
The wassailers repeat the phrase in unison, sounding unsure of their pronunciation.
“That’s some Lat-English right there,” declares Magoon.
It is messy trying to reconfigure a 15th century English tradition for 21st century Asheville. But Lynch-Thomason said it is important that white folks make the effort to learn about their ethnic identities and the practices of their ancestors.
“When we aren’t able to connect to those practices, we end up appropriating and attaching to other cultures, indigenous cultures, and African American cultures,” Lynch-Thomason said. “And it’s really important to understand that in Indigenous history here, and in African American history, song and dance traditions, and many spiritual traditions were illegal for a very, very long time. We have to think about how painful that is for white folks to then be trying to borrow or utilize those traditions without much context for them. When we as white people actually have those traditions in our ancestry that we can be seeking out in a healthier way.”
A Toast To The New Year
Old Christmas is past Twelfth Night is the last And we bid you adieu great joy to the new
Please to See the King, Traditional, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
Back on the porch, as the group finishes singing, one of the people in the house returns with a bottle of wine. One of the wassailers slips on a costume that looks like it was made out of red and blue rags. She wears a wreath on her head that is wrapped in fake ivy, with battery-operated candles on top — a sure cue that we’re no longer in the Middle Ages.
The wassailers begin to stomp and sing.
The ‘Spirit of the New Year’ toasts a household member while Saro Lynch-Thomason opens a bottle of cider. The ‘Spirit’s’ costume was modeled on a traditional mumming costume from the British Isles, which featured torn strips of fabric on the sleeves and legs.
Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Spirit of Earth and Light, traveling through this winter night Will you bless those here with fortune in the coming year?
Spirit of Earth and Light, Lynch-Thomason, 2016, Asheville, NC
The Spirit of the New Year emerges from behind the singers and dances up to the owners of the house to make a toast. She tips her glass against the bottle of wine and people cheer.
“Did everyone get wine?” asks the woman in the house.
The wassailers shout goodbyes and thank yous as they leave the porch, their voices fading as they walk away.
“I just think we so badly need community. And there are so many ways that our current culture divides us from each other. And isolates us from each other. And when you get people together to sing together, something really, really powerful happens for us. And it happens in our bones, it happens at like this molecular level. And we need it,” Lynch-Thomason said. “And so to create that with a group of people, and then bring that as a gift to others, to say, even if you’re feeling isolated in your home or isolated in your community, we show up and we sing to you. That’s a powerful gift.”
We have traveled many miles Over hedges and stiles In search of our king Unto you we bring
Please to See the King, Traditional, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
——
This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council.
The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we go a-wassailing in Asheville, North Carolina. We also visit Kentucky’s Minnie Adkins. She’s had a long career as a folk artist, which began with a pocket knife. And, family recipes bring generations together. But what happens when you’ve got grandma’s potato candy recipe, and it doesn’t have exact measurements?
This week, we go a-wassailing in Asheville, North Carolina. It’s kind of like Christmas caroling, with a kick.
We also visit Kentucky’s Minnie Adkins. She’s had a long career as a folk artist, which began with a pocket knife.
And, family recipes bring generations together. But what happens when you’ve got grandma’s potato candy recipe, and it doesn’t have exact measurements?
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Wassailers gather on a porch in the Montford neighborhood of Asheville, North Carolina in December 2022. It was customary in England and Wales for wassailers to be offered food and drink in exchange for singing.
Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
It’s the time of year when merrymakers roam the streets to sing and bring good cheer. In Asheville, North Carolina, one group of friends has taken up the English tradition of wassailing to connect to their roots.
Folkways Reporter Rebecca Williams has this story.
A Visit With A Matriarch Of Folk Art
Whittler Minnie Adkins.
Credit: Randy Yohe/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Minnie Adkins has elevated whittling to an art. In fact, some people have even described the 89-year-old Kentucky woodcarver as “the matriarch of Appalachian Folk Art.” But Adkins? She says she’s just a whittler.
Randy Yohe sat down with Adkins to talk with her about her craft.
Reverse Engineering Grandma’s Candy
Brenda Sandoval testing the consistency of the potato mixture.
Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Treasured family recipes get passed down, but not all of these old recipes used standard measurements. So how do you know you’re getting the mix right, especially if you’ve never tried it?
For Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, an old family recipe involved some trial and error – and an assist from a cousin. Folkways Reporter Capri Cafaro has more.
Story Wars
Over the holidays, lots of people break out the party games. West Virginia native Harrison Reishman has developed a card game he’s hoping becomes a favorite at your next get-together. It’s called Story Wars, where players try to come up with the wildest, craziest story. Bill Lynch has more.
——
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by The Sycomores, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Cappella Bell Choir and Bob Thompson. Special thanks to Roxy Todd for recording Jim Bartlett playing the pipe organ with an assortment of goats.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
The Cass Christmas Train, West Virginia’s version of the Polar Express, chugs along the Greenbrier River at around five miles an hour. Big white plumes of steam interlace with black torrents of smoke and sink down to the river hovering just above the surface.
The Cass Christmas Train, West Virginia’s version of the Polar Express, chugs along the Greenbrier River at around five miles an hour. Big white plumes of steam interlace with black torrents of smoke and sink down to the river hovering just above the surface.
The train cart smelled like cinnamon and petrol. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Inside, the train cars are decorated with garland and ornaments. Families come prepared to this event with bags full of goodies and thermoses filled with hot chocolate. The families in the train cart sing along to Christmas songs, while elves pass out warm cookies and juice.
An orchestrated snowball fight broke out on the train after employees passed around fake snowballs. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Later there is a bake-off in town and a bingo night for the hundreds of weekend visitors to this little town — which has a year-round population of 30 people.
Expanding The Season To Christmas
This is all part of an effort to keep Cass open later in the year and keep a steady flow of tourism through the town, to generate revenue for preserving the town’s history.
The Train Station has been there for over 100 years. It now sells hot chocolate, snacks, and souvenirs. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
J.T. Arbogast has a long family heritage with this town. His great grandfather owned the grocery store that rivaled the paper mill’s company store. Now he works to keep this town alive year round.
“There wasn’t anything past the fall really. Once the leaves were done, the state shut things down,” Arbogast said. “So the houses and the town were pretty dark to come driving through here.”
Arbogast is the third generation of his family to keep Cass’s history alive. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The trains used to only be open for scenic rides in the summer and fall.
But then President of the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad Incorporated, John Smith, had the idea to start offering a Christmas train experience. Arbogast said this inspired him to start hosting events during the winter as well.
“We thought, well, if we’re going to be doing that, like… what’s a way that we can create an experience for people who are coming into town?” Arbogast said.
Cass’s History
The town of Cass is an old lumbering town. Every home has the exact same build, and all the town buildings are painted white. There are three rows of identical homes, a community center, a barber shop the size of a shed, the rail station, and a large house on the top of a hill where the mill owners lived. The town was founded in 1900, and the first houses were built a year later.
A single person barber shop sits along the river in the little town. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Tammy Shoemaker grew up around Cass, and now works as an information specialist for the Convention and Visitors Bureau at Snowshoe Mountain and Cass Scenic Railroad.
She says the town was founded by the Virginia Pulp and Paper Company- which is now the multibillion-dollar paper company, MeadWestvaco. They chose to set up in Cass because they needed Red Spruce to make paper. It grows several miles from Cass, in small circles in some highest country in the state, around 4500 feet in elevation.
The Red Spruce was carted down by train and processed at the sawmill in Cass. The whole operation went on like that for around 50 years and created a bustling economy for the area. At its peak, the town had more than 2,000 residents.
“Yeah, that was a busy town — and that’s not counting the woodhicks that lived up in the mountain,” Shoemaker said.
The mountain men responsible for timbering the wood only came down to Cass every six months. They would cash their paychecks, head across the river and party for a few days before heading back up the mountain.
Arbogast said sometimes older visitors will get emotional when they visit the town because it so closely resembles their childhood in a old industry town, that now no longer exists. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The Track Forward
All this history from the trains that went up and down the mountain, carrying timber and the occasional “woodhick” to the company store is preserved in Cass.
In 2018 Cass, and the scenic railroads around it became a state park. Superintendent Marshall Markley says it takes a lot of work and collaboration to keep this park going, but he says the park is unique.
“There are other historical parks, but there’s none quite like Cass,” Markley said. “Cass is probably the best example of a historic railroad logging town, in its most complete version. You notice that we have the railroad portion, of course, and the company houses, and the company store, the depot and all the supporting buildings, which, you know, in a lot of company towns, only a few pieces of that survive.”
This old church is now a Community Center in Cass where the cookie bake off was. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
All this history, and more, is preserved, which Arbogast says is an uncommon fate for little towns like Cass.
“Cass was destined to become what so many of these towns become, which is a memory. Right? Gone,” Arbogast said.
However, Cass remains fully intact. It takes constant repairs to the quickly built, aging homes, special engineering of the steam-powered trains, and a group of people who keep finding creative ways to push this town forward.
“We’re the only place in the country that has these three kinds of steam locomotives working. That’s worth celebrating,” Arbogast said. “The fact that these buildings, these houses, the history — that’s still here, that’s worth preserving and celebrating and figuring out the ways in which you honor that history but carry it forward in a new way for another generation.”
The old company story now has a buffet, a miniature Christmas train, and a photo opportunity with Santa. Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Beginning in January the oldest logging locomotive in the world will be running, there are other holiday-themed trains like a Halloween train during October, and through the summer and fall there are scenic rides through the mountains.
Reporter Chris Schulz spoke with Dave McGill, a WVU Extension forest resources specialist, about how best to give trees at home the same level of care as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
The selection of this year’s U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from the Monongahela National Forest is drawing attention to the classic holiday decoration.
Reporter Chris Schulz spoke with Dave McGill, a WVU Extension forest resources specialist, about how best to give trees at home the same level of care as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Schulz: What is the first thing that they should do as they’re bringing that tree into the house to ensure that it is healthy for the longest amount of time?
McGill: Whether they purchase a tree out of a big box store, off of a lot, or go out to the Christmas tree choose-and-cut farm, once they get it home, the most important thing is to get that in water. Before you get it in water, you want to make sure you take another new slice off that trunk, the base of the trunk to kind of open the little tubes that conduct the water up the stem of the tree. Make sure those are open and flowing and then get it in the water as soon as you make that cut.
Schulz:A lot of families have had the tree stand that they’re using this year for many, many years. What are some things to look out for as far as ensuring that you’re putting that tree into a stable position?
McGill: That is something that you take some time with. I’ve had my stand for many years, it’s a cast iron LL Bean and, not promoting any kind of brand, but it’s it’s one of these you crank the screws into and it really really grabs on and it’s a long lasting one I’ve had it for a couple of decades now. Every stand is different, but it is something that you will know if it is stable. Usually once you get it fixed kind of straight up right and you kind of either screw it in or fix it in one way or another, you kind of shake it a little bit you can feel whether it’s loose or not.
There’s also opportunities out in some Christmas tree farms to get a hole drilled in from below the tree as it stands straight and a particular type of stand that there’s a little peg that you stand it up on and I know a number of the choose and cut farms have those available.
Schulz:What are the water needs of a tree?
McGill: Once you bring the tree in and water it, maybe even for the first four to five days, you’ll probably want to water it maybe even twice a day. You want to check closely because it really draws up water initially. While we say you have to water it once a day, you want to pay close attention right when you get that into the stand.
I’ll water it in the morning and check in the afternoon, and usually it’s ready for some more water. So for about four or five days, you want to water it, at least pay closer attention to it in that early part of the season.
Schulz: If you under water or don’t water a tree, you run the risk of the needles falling off of it becoming dry and perhaps a little unappealing to the eye. But are there any other risks that you run with having a dry tree in the home?
McGill: Of course, if you have a dry tree in the house, and there’s an ignition source, it can catch on fire. But that’s why we, as part of our safety awareness, we make sure we put it in a place that’s away from any kind of heating, or even air conditioning that can dry out a tree. Any kind of thing that blows over the surface of the needles will tend to dry it out.
When you go out to a tree farm, for example, or even at the lot, one of the things you kind of want to look for is the freshness of the tree. There’s even some preparatory observations you can make as you’re out on the farm. Generally, the trees that are standing, growing are the healthiest, the freshest, the most vigorous. Then, as you get farther and farther from the time it has been cut, it tends to become drier, obviously. When you’re choosing, especially from a lot or a big box store, you want to check the needles. You want to take the end of a little branch in your hand and kind of tug on it a little bit, as if you were trying to pull the needles off. If you use enough force, you can pull needles off, but you just kind of want to gently tug and see if they’re dry.
Now, when you’re at the farm, sometimes it’s very natural to have dead needles in a tree. It’s just part of how a tree grows. We think evergreens, the needles are gonna stay there forever, but they don’t. Typically, especially like the spruce and the firs will retain their needles for two to three years. Then the older ones will die off and the newer ones will have kind of bushed out the tree more. It’s real obvious in white pine. Every year, the white pines turn yellow, and everyone thinks “Oh my gosh, they’re sickly and there’s something’s wrong, we have to fertilize them.” But that’s just the two-year-old needles upsizing, they’re falling off the tree, and it can create quite a mess below the tree, but it’s actually a beautiful golden color as some of these needles really carpet the ground beneath these white pines.
Schulz: How long can someone reasonably expect a tree to survive in their home?
McGill: Well, the reality is, as long as you want to keep it there, if there’s no ignition source, it will continue to dry out. It’s not living, really, any it’s not going to be growing and the needles are not gonna be getting any healthier. As long as it looks nice and you’re enjoying it you could leave it in your house, but just know that when you’re ready to take it out, you’re probably going to get some debris falling off of it. I know I do every year.
Schulz:What about the safety of decorations? I know we’ve come a long way since the original tradition of hanging lit candles on the ends of tree limbs. But what should people look out for in their lights, for example, to make sure that that doesn’t become an ignition source?
McGill: Properly plugged in plugs, make sure they’re secure. Most lights these days are not big heat generating lights. They just don’t get real hot. If your lights get real hot you want to look for some that don’t get hot and just replace those. But for the most part they are fairly low heat lights and are not generally a problem. I have not looked it up honestly, what most ignition sources are with Christmas tree fires, but lights probably are an ignition source, but probably a rare event.
Schulz:I’m sure that’s changed in even the last two generations, because you used to hear a lot more about tree fires.
McGill: Oh my gosh, yeah. Well, when I was a kid, the lights we put on those things, you would go up and “Oh, man, that’s really hot.” So, I’m sure that we’ve done better and better with our Christmas tree fire statistics.
Schulz:I don’t know if this is happening in West Virginia, but in other locations, people can buy trees with the root ball still attached. Do you have any experience with that in the home?
McGill: I don’t have any experience with that. Although I have to admit that this year, I’m going to right after we talk here in fact, I’m going to get a little northern white cedar or Arborvitae. It’s living in a pot, you can plant it out afterwards. It’s small scale for my house, and so it’s a little kind of a festive decoration. It’s not as big as some of the grown trees that take lots of our family ornaments. Which is why you want to get the nice trees up if you have a collection of ornaments, which it’s always nice to get your ornaments on and think of the people that you bought them with or for or whatever.
Schulz: What is your suggestion that people do with their trees?
McGill: What I usually do is leave it out to be taken to the landfill. That’s the easy way. These guys who collect our landfill waste are great, because they take a lot of grief from us.
But you can also leave it in the backyards. It’s one thing I’ve done in the past because we’ve had bird feeders that the birds come in and kind of allow some protective habitat for them to land and check things out, “Is it safe to go to the birdfeeder yet or not?” And there’s a little bit of cover for them in the backyard.
Schulz:Is there anything else about bringing a tree into your home that I haven’t given you an opportunity to discuss with us today?
McGill: Just in terms of selecting the tree there’s all sorts of different types and they all have different kinds of leaf retention expectations. Some trees are expected to drop their needles quicker than others. Generally the firs are ones that really hang on like Canaan fir, Frasier fir you’ve heard those names, those hang on to their needles longer. The spruces, they kind of dry out a little bit. They’re the prickly ones that if you roll a little needle in your finger, you can feel that it has four sides on it. The pines are kind of intermediate. So the most common ones, I think, are the firs and the spruces for Christmas trees around here.
But I encourage people to go out and to go to a farm. It’s a great experience, it’s healthy, it’s restorative. I had a colleague at WVU recently do a research study on shopping for trees: artificial trees, big box stores and trees out on forest on Christmas tree farms. And found that it’s very, very much more restorative in many ways to be out on the farm and smelling the fresh air and feeling you can cut your own tree down and have that whole experience. So I encourage people to try and go out and find their local live Christmas tree, choose and cut farm and have a great time, a great holiday season.
The State Christmas Tree, a 50 ft Balsam Fir harvested from Randolph County’s Kumbrabow State Forest, was lit on Lincoln Plaza at the state capitol Tuesday night by Gov. Jim Justice and First Lady Cathy Justice.
The State Christmas Tree, a 50 ft Balsam Fir harvested from Randolph County’s Kumbrabow State Forest, was lit on Lincoln Plaza at the state capitol Tuesday night by Gov. Jim Justice and First Lady Cathy Justice.
The West Virginia Division of Forestry, the General Services Division and the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) all participated in the cutting, transporting and positioning of the tree.
During the event attendees heard a special reading of a Marc Harshman Christmas poem by Winfield High School student and creative writing contest winner Braylee Smolder.
Additionally, Philip Barbour High School Band, Capital High School VIP’s Show Choir, and the Barboursville Elementary Choir performed and the girls basketball team from Greenbrier East High School read ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting will broadcast an encore of the celebration on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. on The West Virginia Channel.
Credit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public BroadcastingCredit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public BroadcastingCredit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public BroadcastingCredit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public BroadcastingCredit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public BroadcastingCredit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
