As Boxerwood celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, we’re marking the occasion by growing an even healthier and more resilient landscape for our community. Thanks to support from the Virginia Trees for Clean Water Grant through the Virginia Department of Forestry, eighteen new native trees and shrubs will soon take root along Boxerwood’s streams and ponds. To help make this project possible, Boxerwood is seeking volunteers to assist with planting as part of our grant matc

Originally published in the May 6, 2026 issue of the News Gazette. Recently several members of the Green Hills Garden Club attended the Virginia Federation of Garden Club’s Shenandoah District spring meeting at Culpepper. They came home with five first place awards that the club earned for activities in 2025. Four of these awards went on to win blue ribbons at the state level. The district awards were for Youth Environmental Education, a joint project with Boxerwood helping f

Throughout our 25th year, we’ve shared stories of young people whose Boxerwood experiences shaped their passions and vocations. This is the last in our series for now, and how fitting that it ends with a recent graduate for this month's theme of culminations. This time last year, 2026 Parry McCluer High School graduate Nikki Carroll expected she’d be preparing for cosmetology school. As a self-described “girly girl” – and recently crowned prom queen – cosmetology always made

“What I enjoy from Nature Photography Club is being able to freely express so many things in one photo . . . and the overall freedom of being able to express myself . . .When taking photos I like to convey macro shots, or close-ups in other words. As well I enjoy capturing the raw weather, like reflection on water, or light-to-shadow contrast.” – Artist statement, Maury River 6th grader Each year, Boxerwood educator – and professional photographer – Brittany Klinger teaches

Kicking off our 2026 season this Friday, May 29th, is Dennis and Steve. Dennis Thorne is a Virginia native with a lifelong career in music, beginning in church and expanding to clubs, venues, and stages across the country. Joining him is acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Steve Hoke, known for his soulful, virtuosic playing. A former member of Ironhorse, Loco Pony, Walker’s Run and more, Hoke’s style blends country, rock, and bluegrass with technical precision and taste. Honest

This month, Boxerwood received an unexpected honor. Out of all the environmental education initiatives in the state, the Virginia Department of Education selected Boxerwood and its school partners as the Commonwealth’s featured “Bright Spot” during a high-level education summit held in Richmond. A biannual conference of the regional Chesapeake Bay Program, the Education Summit sets goals and strategies for promoting environmental literacy and related workforce development acr

Eight weeks into this year's Backyard Compost Challenge, many of our participating households are gaining confidence with the composting process. How do we know? They've already diverted almost 3,000 pounds of food waste from our landfill. This made us curious about an upstream question: What can we do to prevent food waste to begin with? This past week, we asked the 2026 Slop Superstars for their advice, and they delivered: Laudable Leftovers Many participants noted that wh

In 2024, when Zola Brookman first joined the Tree Team internship – a Boxerwood-led initiative for Buena Vista high schoolers – she doubted she’d enjoy it. “I thought we were gonna get really dirty and really sweaty and muddy, and that wasn’t my thing,” she said. “At the beginning, you would not catch me outside, I did not like bugs, and I could not care less about plastic,” Zola explained. While that first summer was more fun than she expected – “It was so much more amazing

After months of swimming around in a glass-enclosed home, 100 native brook trout rode a school bus to Collier’s Creek earlier this month, and discovered a whole new world. Raised from eggs in a Rockbridge County High School Agriculture classroom, the fish entered their new stream with considerable trepidation, but their student handlers encouraged them forth. Congratulations to all the students in Ms. Gwen Gosney’s Ag/Foresty program for a successful launch! This is the firs

Earlier this spring, a bounty of youthful volunteers got to know Boxerwood from the ground up—literally. In mid-March, nearly 80 middle schoolers from both the LDMS and MRMS National Junior Honor Societies joined forces to plant almost 100 pine trees along Boxerwood’s golf course boundary. In response to changes in that property, these new plantings help protect natural ecosystems. Once grown, this strengthened buffer will help slow stormwater runoff from the uphill landscape

Throughout our 25th year, we’re sharing stories of young people whose Boxerwood experiences shaped their passions and vocations. Have a young friend to recommend? Contact Catherine Epstein: catherine@boxerwood.org When Chris Young was entering his sophomore year at Virginia Tech, he had no idea what major to pursue. “I’d just been taking a bunch of Gen Ed courses,” he remembers. He went to meet with his advisor, where an unexpected sign appeared. “They had an Environmental Sc

This winter, after-school students in Enderly Heights Elementary School’s BEST program got a challenge from Boxerwood educators: Could they make works of art, useful objects, and even games out of only recycled materials? Over the course of six weeks, the dozen children responded with an indisputable answer: Yes! In this “Recycled Art” Club, these young Buena Vista artists used their creativity to turn cloth scraps into dog pull toys, paper towel rolls into fantastic creature

There’s a reason they call compost “black gold” — and for the 6th straight year of our Backyard Compost Challenge, the gold rush is on. This year, more than 150 non-composting households vied for one of 80 slots in our annual Backyard Compost Challenge. “We were amazed that there’s still so much demand,” said Boxerwood educator and Compost Challenge facilitator Catherine Epstein, who noted Boxerwood had to select households by lottery after giving priority to those with child

This month, Boxerwood's Board of Directors adopted guiding priorities for BEA for the next three years. This map, our strategic plan, helps focus energies and resources as we aim for that “pot of gold.” For Boxerwood, that “gold” is a vibrant organization ably advancing its Earthcare mission for the benefit of all of us who call Rockbridge home. This new plan outlines three major goals: 1) Maintain Programmatic Excellence, 2) Advance Organizational Sustainability, and 3) Inte

Throughout our 25th year, we’ll be sharing stories of young people whose Boxerwood experiences shaped their passions and vocations. Have a young friend to recommend? Contact Catherine Epstein: catherine@boxerwood.org Growing up in the small town of Palmyra, Pennsylvania, Sarah Hollen loved every opportunity she had to get out of the classroom and explore outdoors. “Getting the chance to hold little critters, touch the snakes, all of those things…a highlight was macroinvertebr

Woods Creek in December 2025 after a brief rain. Credit: Amy DeHart. A note from our Executive Director, Ben Eland One of Boxerwood’s longstanding neighbors is the Lexington Golf & Country Club. Our shared property line meanders several acres alongside a small spring-fed creek that enters our wetland pond, then flows further downhill as an unnamed tributary of Woods Creek. With our neighbor in the midst of significant relandscaping, this shared boundary presents both an oppo

Throughout our 25th year, we’ll be sharing stories of young people whose Boxerwood experiences shaped their passions and vocations. Have a young friend to recommend? Contact Catherine Epstein: catherine@boxerwood.org This past November, when Jake Osella was surveying the border between our Woodland Garden and the golf course, he found himself in an unexpectedly familiar position. “There was a Boxerwood kids’ program going on,” he explained. “They were walking through, so I wa

Registration is now open for Boxerwood’s annual Backyard Compost Challenge, a 10-week program in which participants receive free large-volume composters in exchange for adopting new stewardship habits. This citizen-science project poses the question: “How many pounds of food waste could Rockbridge County households keep out of the landfill if given the chance?” Last year, the 100 participating households diverted 4,179 pounds of food waste in just ten weeks. “That’s ultimate