Adkins Mystery Monday: Found in Wet Leaves on the Forest Floor?
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The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
Happy March Mystery Monday! With the warmer weather, the frogs have become more active! Do you know what kind of frog we found along Blockston Branch?
Last week, we highlighted the Eastern parson spider (Herpyllus ecclesiasticus). This spider is pretty ordinary in terms of its behavior, but has a very unique pattern on its abdomen. This pattern is said to look like a cravat or ruffled neck tie of a clergy, hence the name parson spider. Part of the ground spider family, the parson spider is primarily a nocturnal hunter of insects. If found in your home, it should be of no concern, best just to let it be or release it back to its natural woodland habitat.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
Old Wye Mill has just released a study by the Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory which dates the historic mill structure to the winter of 1753-1754. OWM commissioned Oxford to conduct the study as part of a comprehensive upgrade of its visitor experience, funded by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority through the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area. Old Wye Mill is one of Maryland’s most remarkable places: the historic grist mill is the oldest continuously operated water-powered mill in America, and Maryland’s oldest continuously operating business.
Dendrochronology is the science of dating events or artifacts using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in tree trunks. While long-known documentary evidence shows that a mill on the site in Wye Mills has been grinding grain since the 1600s, this study is the first to pinpoint the year that most of the structural timbers in the mill were harvested.
The study further examined some of the wooden components of the milling equipment, which were found to date from approximately 1841. In fact, OWM still uses milling equipment dating from the period 1790-1810, which was invented and possibly installed by Oliver Evans, America’s first great inventor and pioneer of industrial engineering. Also on the grinding floor is a roller mill for producing refined white flour installed by Winthrop Blakeslee, the last commercial miller, in about 1918. Thus Old Wye Mill demonstrates the continuity of grist milling from the early colonial period into the twentieth century.
“Old Wye Mill is a fascinating example of vernacular, industrial architecture of the mid-1700s,” said Michael Worthington, co-author of the study with Jane Seiter, “and its wooden framing has now revealed new information about the building’s construction.” Worthington took samples of twelve of the Mill’s structural timbers – all white oak — under the supervision of the Maryland Historic Trust, which holds an easement on the building, in September 2020 and January 2021.
The findings of the study, which can be found at [https://www.dendrochronology.com/WMMDx1.htmlwill be incorporated into the historical interpretation of the Mill. Visitors will learn about the processes of milling, the history of the building and its equipment, and how the Mill fits into the history of Maryland and America. Old Wye Mill will re-open after a year of closure due to the pandemic on May 1, 2021. Please check the website, oldwyemill.org, for updated information on hours and admission.
The dendrochronology study is part of a project which was financed in part with State funds from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, an instrumentality of the State of Maryland. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.
For more information, please contact Old Wye Mill Administrator Rhonda Corder by telephone at 410-827-3850 or by email [[email protected]].
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.
The immortal Rogers Hornsby – the Jazz Age second baseman who cleared the .400 mark three times and retired with an unthinkable lifetime average of .358 – was once asked what he did in the winter. “I’ll tell you what I do,” said Hornsby. “I stare out my window and wait for spring.”
In this, the COVID winter of 2021, it’s not hard these days to relate to the seasonal ennui expressed by “The Rajah.” Fortunately for us, however, we have a few comforts of the modern age to see us through these days and weeks of gray quietude.
I am not referring to Facebook, because I am tired of learning how many of my old slow-pitch softball teammates believe one can hear the voice of the Anti-Christ whilst backmasking Anthony Fauci’s latest interview with Don Lemon. Nor am I referring to Netflix, because I do not believe that losing “The Office” and gaining “Bridgerton” is a net-zero transaction.
I am, of course, referring to Maryland craft beer. Specifically, dark, full-bodied porters and stouts that work just perfectly on a cold, blustery February night with a heavy blanket and that ubiquitous Creighton-Seton Hall game that always seems to find its way on TV.
Here is where I, as an amateur beer enthusiast, must make a confession. When authoring this piece, it occurred to me that I wasn’t sure I could explain the difference between a porter and a stout.
Thankfully, as it turns out, I’m hardly alone. My friend Brendan O’Leary – founder and owner of the amazing True Respite Brewing Company in Montgomery County, reminded me that the name “stout” was initially used as an adjective to describe a particularly big, strong porter.
Today, their lines of distinction remain blurry at best. Many brewers and style experts will describe the typical stout as somewhat heavier, darker and roastier than porters. In the next breath, though, they will also acknowledge that variations within style guidelines, and the seemingly infinite variations of malted barley available to craft brewers, can make the difference between certain porters and certain stouts virtually imperceptible.
In other words, it’s complicated. And at day’s end, who cares? This isn’t a column about agricultural genetics. Let’s just talk about the beer.
So let’s talk about just a few that are out there, if but for a few weeks, during these cold weeks of winter.
For me, this conversation must begin with Siren Noire, a big, boozy and extravagant imperial chocolate stout produced by Heavy Seas Brewing in Halethorpe. This was one of my first “gateway” beers into the craft scene, and it will forever remain one of my beloved mainstays of winter.
Just think of vanilla beans blended in the brewing process with three pounds of Belgian coco nibs per barrel, and then aged for five weeks in bourbon barrels. The result of all of this is a big pour that is not for the faint of heart – a 9.5 percent ABV – and a soft, chocolatey and boozy impression that each pint glass feel like a special occasion. It just has to be experienced to be believed.
Less than 15 miles up the road on Baltimore’s W. 41st Street, in a 140,000 square foot industrial building that once was home to a Sears distribution center, one can find another legend of the winter – Pajama Pants, produced by UNION Craft Brewing. Co-founders Adam Benesch and Jon Zerivitz believe that each beer they produce should touch select emotional chords of ritual and memory.
For them, to drink Pajama Pants – a winter oatmeal stout that is brewed with locally roasted coffee from Baltimore’s own Vent Coffee Roasters – is to remember the lazy contentment of weekend mornings from both yesterday and today. The satisfying blend of oats and coffee, a beautiful nose and a mouthfeel that is creamy and not excessively bitter, is testament to both the creativity and striking consistency of this amazing brewery that is at the forefront of Baltimore’s restoration.
I’ll conclude by going back home – which, for me, is the Eastern Shore. Where one can drive to the City of Salisbury, a model of civic renaissance under the transformational leadership of its Mayor, Jake Day, and visit Evolution Craft Brewing. Just as UNION Craft Brewing transformed a relic of the old economy into a hub of 21st century manufacturing, so, too, have John and Tom Knorr transformed a forgotten industrial building from the obsolete to the ebullient.
There, one can find one of their longtime favorites – the Lucky 7 Porter. One need not be a brewer to appreciate the balance and subtlety required to pull off a beer of this complexity. To enjoy the Lucky 7 is to search for and find, within each sip, those notes of chocolate, coffee, toffee and, yes, the smoky flavor that truly separates it from so many of its counterparts on the shelf. I could be away from the craft scene for a decade (and how miserable would that be!), and yet be able to identify the Lucky 7 because of that aroma, flavor and impression of smoke which ties together the entire sensory experience.
Enjoy these and other amazing winter beers while they are on tap and on the shelves. As was the case with the great Hornsby, Opening Day – and with it, the sunshine and warm breezes of longer and better days – will be here before we know it.
Len Foxwell serves as principal of Tred Avon Strategies, a political and communications consulting firm based in Easton. As Chief of Staff to the Comptroller of Maryland, Foxwell regulated the state’s alcohol industry for 13 years. In 2017, he led the Reform on Tap Task Force to modernize Maryland’s craft beer laws.
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