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