Antietam and Shepherdstown

Earlier in August I visited the Antietam Battlefield in Maryland and ate lunch at Blue Moon Cafe, an interesting restaurant in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, which is not far across the Potomac River from the battlefield.

Burnside's Bridge across Antietam Creek. The bluff where Confederates shot at
oncoming Union soldiers towers over the bridge in the upper right of my photo

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

A tiny stream runs through the courtyard of the Blue Moon Cafe, a hippy-like restaurant with a 1960s-early 70s atmosphere that offers many vegetarian options. I tried the Apple-acian sandwich (slice of baked Granny Smith apple, brie cheese, red onion, and dijon mustard on ciabatta bread). I liked the taste and trying something new to me--a sandwich with an apple slice.

Across the street from the restaurant is the Little House on the Shepherd University campus. Built in the late 1920s at a scale suitable for small children, it was closed while I was there.

Little House on Shepherd University campus. Total height of ten feet.
I wish that I had taken a picture through a window of the furnished interior.

"I'm not a weed!": Public Libraries and Gardening--Arlington (Virginia) Public Library

Near the entrance of the Arlington Central Library, which I often visited when I lived in the city, is the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) Plot Against Hunger Vegetable Garden. Besides growing food to help those in need, this kind of plot can educate patrons and encourage them to grow vegetables.

Example planting and info card in the plot--
Purslane used to grow in my community garden plot. (Purslane is just below and behind the sign, not in the foreground.)


                                                   

While there, I saw mothers with their children pause to talk about what was growing. The garden was built along the side of the library that patrons pass on their way to and from parking.  By the way--despite how grocery stores and some food processors label, sweet potatoes and yams are not the same.  What is labeled as a yam in the US is nearly always a sweet potato.