Salt Marsh Diaries — Shifting Sands
In late summer of 2011, I idled into the cove behind the southwestern Morris Island spit. Right away, something wasn’t right. I’d just spent the summer swimming, crabbing, and casting for bait in this cove and knew it well. Nearly every day, I negotiated the narrow...
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Riding The Air
Before surfing, folks on Folly rode mattress covers full of air Mattress surfing was a popular pastime in the 1940s on Folly, before regular surfing caught on. Canvas mattress covers, sometimes acquired from the Coast Guard base at the island’s east end, were filled...
The Ever-present Moon and Tides
Both are integral to nature’s cyclical life Driving in downtown Charleston among construction, I glanced up to the top of a crane. Just above the crane, a gibbous moon peered down from the early morning sky. This quick glance of the two objects made me think about the...
FOLLY FISHING REPORT — May 2015
‘Tis the Season for Castnets, Shark, Spanish Mackerel, Ladyfishm, Redfish, and Trout! With its blustery and rainy days, spring roared into Charleston over the last few weeks. This change in season will trigger lots of great things in our fishery. Redfish will be more...
Transplanting
How to move mature plants to a new location In many of my previous columns I tried to provide readers with concepts of preventive maintenance and looking into the future of the landscape. However, something I run into a lot is where people already have a well...
Folly Flashback
Open Lines of Communication Power lines zig-zagged Post-World war II Center street until Hurricane hugo decided an upgrade was in order The results are still visible today: the palm trees in the median between Ashley and Arctic avenues — purchased and planted via...
‘That’ll be Two Dollars and 84 Pennies’
Eric Rowland keeps the facial hair heavy but the mood light at Bert’s “Well, that’ll be two dollars and 84 pennies, thank you and you have a wonderful day, now!” It’s really hard to stay grumpy on a Monday morning on your way in to work when Eric Rowland is working...
Salt Marsh Diaries — April 2015
You No-Good Dirty, Double-Crossing Rat As the northeast wind raged outside, I couldn’t stop thinking about the rat. Desperately, I need to visit the little island to check. Just three days prior, I found a rat’s nest inside the battery box. I also found the...
Outstanding In His Field — April 2015
Assess Before You Address What do we do with our outdoor space? Whether you pay rent, a mortgage, or even just taxes, you’ve made an investment, however short or permanent. So what do we do with our investment now that we’ve written that check this month? Outdoor...
Folly Fishing Report — April 2015
By Captain Geoff Bennett | Contributing Writer Weather remained cooler than average last month. The recent cold snap over the last few days in March hopefully the last one of the year. Looking ahead we have forecasts of sunny days in ’70s and ’80s which should really...
February’s Schizophrenic Brother Is March
Red Knots on the river bank. (Photo By Anton Dumars) By Anton Dumars | Contributing Writer Rain blasts the metal roof in spasms as windblown trees whip about just outside in the darkness. At five in the morning, another nor’easter assaults Folly Island. ...