8/30/2010
CAIRO, W.Va. – Nature Wonder’s focus at the 2010 Nature Wonder Weekend at North Bend State Park takes a leap backward to explore a time in West Virginia’s history when nature was the grocery store. This year, the 43rd wild foods weekend targets free foods from the land that was available during the time of the Civil War.
- Noted West Virginia generals of the Civil War, Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson and Thomas M. Harris, enjoyed wild foods. “Wild foods in the mid-1800s were a way of life,” said James Miracle of Vienna, W.Va. Miracle, a cousin of Civil War Union Army General Thomas Harris, is the founder of the re-enactment group Carlin’s Battery of the 1st Virginia (WV) Regiment and was instrumental in the development of Fort Boreman Park in Wood County. Miracle will present the opening program the evening of Sept. 17 - “Free Food, the Civil War and My Cousin the General.”
- Naturalist-author Janet Lembke of Stauton, Va., will show how both Southern and Northern soldiers in the Civil War used foods as they tried to hold control over such places as the Stauton- to-Parkersburg Turnpike and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Lembke, author of “Shake Them ‘simmons Down,” “River Time” and other books, describes living off the land, fishing and gathering free wild foods in the area where the Civil War once raged. Lembke is special guest speaker Saturday evening, Sept. 18.
A full schedule continues the tradition established by naturalist-author Euell Gibbons. “Gibbons changed our ‘make-do food’ into enjoyable wild food when he appeared as guest naturalist at our first Nature Wonder Weekend,” says organizer Emily Fleming. This year the format includes learning about Confederate Dandelion Ale, Yankee Blackberry Flummery and dozens of wild foods offered from the land and the connection with the years during the Civil War.
North Bend is in the land where Bushwhackers, Guerrillas, and Home Guards protected their bit of western Virginia. “Survival and finding food was an Appalachian talent and the weekend includes assisting wild food scouts searching for useful nuts, berries, and fruits as pioneering soldiers may have done during the Civil War,” says Fleming. The scouting for food is turned into a wild foods social and foods tasting as part of the learning experience.
The weekend registration begins at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, at North Bend State Park Lodge, and activities continue through Sunday, Sept.19. Activities include three contests that attendees may enter. Those are the Hazel Wood Commemorative Wild Food Contest, The Best Wild Cake, and the Maxine Scarbro Wild Friendship Cup for the person making the best wild drink. Prizes are awarded.
Sunday includes a morning service with a musical tribute featuring Civil War songs with participants joining food balladeers Mike Anders, Ron Boone, John Fichtner and others, followed by a wild food workshop lead by Don Gartman, Janet Lembke and John Fichtner.
The weekend package includes two nights lodging, all activities, five conventional meals prepared by North Bend Restaurant, wild foods tasting event, contests, and special 2guest presentations. The two-night package, with five meals and all activities, is $153 per person based on two individuals in a room. There also are packages for Saturday-only activities.
Pre-registration is required and the reservation form and additional information about the weekend is online at www.northbendsp.com under the Events tab.
For registration and reservation information, call the WVDNR Director’s Office at 304-558-2754. Registration deadline is September 9.
Contact Information
Emily Fleming
304-558-2754
emily.j.fleming@wv.gov