Chilled, it was President George Washington’s favorite dessert. Today, rural folk throughout the eastern U.S. hunt this delectable wild fruit each fall, keeping their favorite pawpaw patch as secret as they would their best spring morel mushroom woods.
Chris Chmiel first became interested in pawpaws while in college at Ohio University. “I like to hike, and I began noticing pawpaws on the ground in the woods, just rotting, going to waste,” he says.
If a leisurely, relaxing train ride, combined with watching wildlife — particularly bald eagles — sounds like fun, you might want to head east to Romney, West Virginia, where, in the spring, summer and fall each year, the trains of the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad leave Wappocomo Station for a three-hour, 35-mile round-trip deep into the mountains.
The tracks parallel the south fork of the Potomac River, and the highlight of the trip is a wild stretch of stream where eagles soar.
For once, I was there “yesterday.” If you’re an angler, you know what I mean. How many times have you heard, “Well, the fish aren’t biting today, but had you been here yesterday (or last week, or last month), well…”
Putting me on the fish that magical late-summer morning a few years ago was veteran fishing guide Dave Rose. We were fishing a small river in northwest Michigan from a drift boat, casting minnow-imitation lures for king salmon (also known as Chinooks) that were migrating upstream from Lake Michigan to spawn.
Over the past decade, it has steadily grown to become the largest privately owned recreational shooting facility in the country. The numbers alone are impressive: Fifty-two trapshooting fields sit side by side, stretching a full mile, alongside 14 skeet fields, 14 pistol and rifle ranges, two sporting clays ranges, and an archery range.
Buckeye Chuck, Ohio’s official weather-prognosticating groundhog, does not live what anyone would consider a tough life; after all, he’s called upon to work only one day a year.
But oh, that one day: Groundhog Day, February 2 — the day the entire world watches with bated breath to see what he sees when he comes out of his den.
Even though Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine has circulation of 300,000 subscribers, I’m still often surprised at the publication’s “reach.” For instance, recently, after my May 2024 Woods, Waters, & Wildlife monthly outdoors column was published, I heard from Sarah Paul, who lives in Virginia. Her parents, Gordon and Jo McDonald, live in Radnor, Ohio, and receive the co-op magazine. They had read my story titled “Snakes on a Plain,” about the Buckeye State’s three species of venomous snakes, so when they received a photo from Sarah of a copperhead, they suggested she send
Jennifer Wilkes, The Frontier Power Company
Q. Hello, Chip: I read, with interest, your article (“A Glimpse of the Past”) in the October 2024 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living magazine, and thought you’d be interested to learn that we now have our own Native American Center in Ohio. It is called NAICCO, which stands for Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, and here is their website: https://www.naicco.com/.
Ohio Cooperative Living magazine readers are fascinated with wild birds. I know that because each time I write an “Ask Chip” column about birds or birding, questions/comments from readers abound. Last month — May 2023 — was no exception. My monthly Woods, Waters & Wildlife column featured orioles and how to attract them to backyard birdfeeders in a story titled “Looking Good in Orange.”
Nancy Drake
