Cooperative Living June 2014 - 6

MAILBAG
ADVICE ON USING HORSE
MANURE
This is in response to the reader
requesting advice on horse manure
in the May Cooperative Living
MAILBAG.
Gardeners should generally
compost manure first for the following
reasons: undigested weeds/
seeds, too high in nitrogen/salt
until composted, and to kill
pathogens like salmonella that
might otherwise be spread to fruit/
veggies in the garden.
Some people incorporate manure
directly into the soil in the fall, and
per Cornell's Cooperative
Extension, food harvesting is safe
after 120 days if the food touched
the soil and 90 days if the food
didn't touch the soil.
However, the hottest gardeningrelated
issue with horse manure is
the so-called " killer compost, " and
savvy gardeners are beginning to
ask, " What are the horses eating? "
Or more importantly, what
chemicals are in the grass and/or
commercial feed the horse is eating?
Many herbicides are surviving
the horse's digestive tract (?!?) and
WHATZIT?
Each issue, we will
pub lish a photo of a familiar
but unidentified object.
You are invited to make
your best guess and send it
in writing with your name,
address, and phone number
to WHATZIT?, c/o Cooperat -
ive Living, P.O. Box 2340,
Glen Allen, VA 230582340;
or guess online at
www.co-opliving.com
under " Contests. " Dead -
line for entries is June 20.
All correct entries will be
put into a drawing and a
winner announced in the
August 2014 issue. The
winner will re ceive a
check for $25. 
4
horse manure contaminated
with these chemicals (picloram,
clopyralid, aminopyralid, and
aminocyclopyrachlor)
will kill your plantings,
whether the manure is
aged or not.
Kati Hornung
Powhatan, Va.
GETTYSBURG ALSO
HALLOWED GROUND
In the STORIES FROM
THE ROAD piece written by
Deborah Huso in the
March/April 2014 issue of
Cooperative Living, Tom
Lomax is quoted as saying of
the Cedar Creek Battlefield,
" We're the only battlefield left
in the U.S. where you can actually
do a Civil War reenactment
on hallowed ground. "
The reenactments done in
Gettysburg, Pa., are also done on the
old battlefields of the Civil War. My
cousin has participated in them for
many years. The reenactment there
will be July 4-6, 2014.
Marilou Schindler
Natural Bridge, Va.
WRITE US!
NOTE
EMAIL
ADDRESS
We want to hear from you - comments, opinions, suggestions.
Your letter must be signed and legible. We reserve the
right to edit for grammar, style and length, with a 250word
maximum for acceptance. Write: MAILBAG,
P.O. Box 2340, Glen Allen, VA 23058-2340; or email
mailbag@co-opliving.com. Please include your name
and city/town of residence, with MAILBAG as the subject.
MORE ON FREE
SPEECH
This is in
response to the
MAILBAG letter, " Calm
Down, People! " in
the May 2014 issue
of Cooperative
Living.
Ms. Mary
Jenkins from Luray, Va.,
applauds the editor?!?
Seriously!??
The editor published a letter
by a Dr. Fredric Berg in the
March/April 2014 issue, where he
insults, is highly uncivil and disrespectful
towards two U.S. political
officials by stating, " my
thoughts on Ted Cruz and Ken
Cuccinelli (the only poster boys
they will become is for idiocy). "
Cruz and Cuccinelli happen to
not be liberals or democrats, by
the way.
And Ms. Mary Jenkins even
offers her advice, " Let's get back
to being civil and respecting others
and their views, not calling
names and bad-mouthing others. "
Again, seriously?!?
 DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
The March/April
2014 WHATZIT? (r)
was a pretzel. Reader
Becky Bartley (left)
of Spotsylvania was
our $25 winner. Congratu lations, Becky!
Ms. Jenkins needs to understand
that, while she was stating
the obvious when referring to the
editor's responsibility with free
speech, Ms. Jenkins is highly
mistaken by applauding
someone who approves of abusive
speech.
My hope is that the editor is
fair enough to print my different
ideas and the diversity they offer.
Maria Calderon-Jimenez
Woodstock, Va.
Cooperative Living/June 2014
STORIES FROM THE ROAD
THIS YEAR COOPERATIVE LIVING IS TAKING A
ROAD TRIP ALONG THE LENGTH OF ROUTE 11 AS
IT CROSSES VIRGINIA FROM NORTH TO SOUTH.
EACH ISSUE, CORRESPONDENT DEBORAH HUSO
WILL RELATE HER EXPERIENCES ALONG THE WAY.
Story and photos by
Deborah Huso,
Contributing Writer
Hallowed Ground and
the Town Antiques Built
From the well-preserved trenches of the Shenandoah Valley's last major
Civil War battle to the " Antiques Capital of Virginia, " you'll find plenty
worth exploring along Route 11 in Middletown and Strasburg.
O
ne of the things I like most about
these road trips is the way
serendipity so often intervenes. It
suits me - this traveling, often with no
particular aim in mind, other than to ride a
certain stretch of road and stop whenever
something strikes my fancy. Such was the
case on a crisp fall morning when I pulled
into the Cedar Creek Battlefield Headquarters
just outside Middletown on the
third leg of my trip south on Route 11.
On the west side of the road stretched
a long expanse of field below the outline of
the Allegheny Mountains, the mansion of
Belle Grove standing stark and white in the distance. On the east
side of the road, where I had stopped to check out some battlefield
signage, I found myself joined by an easygoing gentleman in a gray
plaid sports coat, salt-and-pepper hair brushed back away from his
forehead, casually smoking a cigar, legs crossed as he leaned into a
picnic table outside the battlefield headquarters museum. " So where
are you from? " he asks between puffs.
After I tell him my haphazard agenda as a travel columnist, he
is intrigued, holds out his right hand to me and says, " I'm Tom
Lomax. " It turns out he's the executive director of the Cedar Creek
Battlefield Foundations as well as being a former U.S. Secret Service
agent (he pulls out his wallet and shows me his badge). More
12
Middletown's Belle Grove manor house dates to 1797.
intrigued now by his former career than I
am by the Civil War, I ask for stories about
his service. He shakes his head, telling me
he is professionally and ethically bound to
tell no secrets. He began his career in service
to President Jimmy Carter. Barack
Obama was the last president he served
before retiring in 2010.
His real love, however, is the Civil
War, and he has been a reenactor since
1961. He participated in his first battle
reenactment at the age of 11. Today he
is a member of the 5th U.S. Artillery,
Battery D. " It may be the only Union reenactment
group in the state of Virginia, " he remarks.
It is appropriate that I've landed here on the Cedar Creek battlefield
this year. 2014 marks the Oct. 19 battle's 150th anniversary.
Last year, Lomax tells me, the reenactment drew over 2,700 participants,
and he expects even more this fall.
" We're the only battlefield left in the U.S. where you can
actually do a Civil War reenactment on hallowed ground, " he says.
The Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation owns 19 core trenches from
the battle that effectively ended the 1864 Valley Campaign of
Confederate Gen. Jubal Early. One can also see original trenches and
lunettes overlooking the town of Strasburg 3½ miles south of here
on Route 11 at Hupp's Hill Civil War Park.
Cooperative Living/March-April 2014
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living June 2014
