Wild onions or leeks, more commonly known as ramps (Allium tricoccum) in our area are in season by late April in our area. Ramps can have a strong pungent flavor - some people consider eating ramps to be a spring tonic. If you pick them you should make sure to harvest lightly and leave the remainder for following seasons. In some locations ramps have been over-harvested and are now in short supply. Ramps are popular in West Virginia, where several communities have annual ramp festivals. Richwood, WV has had an annual ramp festival for the past 77 years. Posted April 27, 2015.
The white flowers are one of the first trees to blossom on our area. There are several nice single stem serviceberry trees planted at Memorial Park in Indiana Borough. Several of the tree species in the park have identification tags that were provided by the Allegheny Arboretum of Indiana University of PA.
As part of the geotechnical study of Cummings Dam a number of core samples are being taken at various points around the dam. In this photo the core samples show that at 69 feet a layer of coal was encountered. The coal seam lies underneath and around the perimeter of the lake and was never mined. The seam is about 4 feet in thickness.
