The State Folklorist’s Notebook: “People need to know about plants”: Herbarist Marion Harless

The State Folklorist’s Notebook is a regular column written by state folklorist Emily Hilliard for Goldenseal magazine. This article appears in the Spring 2019 issue.

  

New Halloween event coming to Weston (West Virginia) this October

“We wanted to do something this fall to get the community involved,” social media manager Whitney Orsburn said. “We wanted to have something family-friendly. We haven’t done anything like this, but we’ve already gotten so much attraction.”

  

Smoke Camp Crafts receives grant from USDA

“She made West Virginia proud.” - Kris Warner, USDA Rural Development West Virginia State Director

2018 Master Artist & Apprentice Feature: Marion Harless & Kara Vaneck, Green Traditions

On Green Traditions by Kara Vaneck

Science recognizes 391,000 species of vascular plants in the world, according to a report by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom.  Nearly all of them are green, with the exception of the saprophytic and parasitic ones that feed on dead and living tissue, respectively, instead of sunlight. Traditions, in the context of this apprenticeship, shrinks this number considerably, narrowing the focus to those plants native to West Virginia and used by West Virginia inhabitants…

  

Smoke Camp Crafts – Everything Elderberry

We love selling our products at the Wild Ramp Consignment Farmer’s Market in Huntington, West Virginia. Here is one of our blog posts that they posted on their site.

  
Pregnant Kara Vaneck on her farm.

Smoke Camp Crafts at the Public Market in Wheeling, WV


Smoke Camp Crafts, featured at the Public Market in Wheeling, is dedicated to sustainable and self-sufficient farming. Emphasizing permaculture and natural growth, Smoke Camp Crafts follows a no-till, pesticide-free philosophy, engaging with the community to foster an appreciation for the origins of food.

    

Ohioan comes to W.Va. as engineer, but now sells produce, herbs, spices

“The guys on the History channel’s “Mountain Men” are known for their creativity, their ability to make the most out of a little and their affinity of a free outdoor life.

Kara Vaneck doesn’t profess any desire to join the show. Even so, the 33-year-old Weston woman appears to have all that it takes to live the same kind of life as “Mountain Men” Tom Oar, Marty Meierotto, Eustace Conway, Rich Lewis, Morgan Beasley and Jason Hawk.

Vaneck wasn’t always on this path. In fact, she came to West Virginia from Cleveland, where she grew up, to work at an engineering job in Buckhannon.” - Matt Harvey, Weston Democrat