Crozet Gazette February 2017 by The Crozet Gazette

INSIDE TRASHED page 2 VINEYARD RULES page 3 BOARD OF TRADE page 8 IVY BRIDGE page 9 WEST GLEN page 10

FEBRUARY 2017 VOL. 11, NO. 9

Overcapacity in the Western District Schools

FREE DAYS page 11

Thirteen Hundred’s a Crowd

PROPERTY REPORT page 12

By Lisa Martin lisa@crozetgazette.com

MIND THE GAPS page 15 MIKE MARSHALL

HOMEMADE BREAD page 18 DUST TO DUST page 20

INNISFREE page 28 NEW WAY IN page 29 ROBOT KIDS page 30 BRAINIACS page 31 CYCLE CHAMPS page 32 SHE’S OUR BEST page 34 ACTIVE REST page 35 CABIN PAVILION page 36 MAKE EARTH GREAT AGAIN page 38 PINES page 42 BEREAVEMENTS page 43 PLANTS FOR ANIMALS page 45

Cub Scout Pack 79 held its annual Pinewood Derby Jan. 28 in the Henley Middle School cafeteria, forced out of its usual home at Crozet United Methodist Church by the burgeoning number of scouts in the troop. The winner this year was Ryan Muro, center, with an average track speed of 3.034. Second was Ian Moore, right, in 3.038 and third was Bennette Kim with a speed of 3.07. The three top finishers in each den are also given awards. Sixty-three cars were entered and each made four runs on the aluminum track to record their average speed. Cub scouts in Pack 79 are students at Crozet and Brownsville Elementary Schools. Last year the troop had 43 scouts, said Cubmaster Kyle Enfield, and this year it has 60.

One Address, Many Stories By Theresa Curry theresa@crozetgazette.com The Crozet community has been watching the evolution of the collection of entrepreneurs at 2025 Library Avenue with great interest. Most are open now, a couple will be open soon; Piedmont Place developer Drew

Holzwarth said he’s close to announcing the tenant who will fill the one remaining space. It’s no secret, he said, that it will most likely be an organic butcher shop. The composition of the bright new space is not random, Holzwarth noted. Although there was some flexi-

Downtown Crozet Initiative Shares Feedback on Crozet Plaza Drawings

By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com

Meeting at Crozet Library Jan. 5, the Downtown Crozet Initiative announced the results of its December Design & Dine event, which was held at Piedmont Place and intended to gather community feedback for the proposed Crozet plaza. With the buzz surrounding the

continued on page 24

continued on page 4

LISA MARTIN

WHAT WILL SCHOOLS D0? page 23

As new restaurants and merchants spring up throughout Crozet, highlighting the benefits of population growth in western Albemarle County, parents and officials are concerned about the impact of that growth on area schools. Preliminary projections recently compiled by the county show Western Albemarle High School enrollment exceeding official capacity by the start of the new school year this fall. Over a ten-year horizon, the school expects a 20 percent increase in enrollment, from the current 1,080 to 1,300 students beginning in 2024. Henley Middle School, already the largest middle school in the division, foresees almost 17 percent growth, topping 1,000 students in ten years. Crozet and Brownsville Elementary Schools are both operating at slightly above their maximums despite Brownsville’s 2009 addition. On the forefront of the growth spurt is Meriwether Lewis Elementary, which

announcement, the meeting took on a tone of excitement. This was acknowledged by the committee members’ opening statements, which praised a record-breaking attendance of around 30 people. “I’m thrilled to see that so many have come out to offer feedback and be a part of this process,” said Meg Holden, the committee’s co-chair. “As we move forward with

continued on page 22

Western Albemarle High School

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

From the Editor School Population Pressures Require Attention Now As Crozet well knows from projects such as improvements to Jarmans Gap Road and Crozet Avenue and the library replacement, the gestation of infrastructure projects is long, often very long. We now have two—the bridge needed over Lickinghole Creek to create that main road artery in east Crozet and additional school capacity—that do not yet have official standing on the county’s Capital Improvements Projects list. The 2004 Master Plan foresaw a need for a third elementary school in Crozet and imagined it would be in east Crozet. In those days the county expected to be able to trade a rezoning to higher density for the donation of a school site, but that gambit did not happen. Developers did not ask for rezoning. The school division’s procedure for predicting enrollment growth does not adequately capture housing construction that is in the pipeline. This problem has affected the county plan-

ning department’s ability to predict overall population growth as well. The county used a multiplier of 2.4 residents per unit as its guideline, but this figure appears low when compared to actual occupancy rates in Crozet’s new neighborhoods, which seem to average near 3 persons per household. The discrepancy, when applied to school capacity, produces a very different picture of the future than the county is now anticipating. Now is the time to get earnest about where we’ll find seats for more students, including the prospect that it might mean a new school. Where could it go? Even the option of occupying the old Crozet elementary school as part of Crozet Elementary once the Field School moves to its new campus will require a renovation budget that would probably go in the millions. School officials are understandably focused on capacity issues in the northern part of the county, where they think a new high school may be necessary, but growth pressures are plain in the western feeder pattern too, and those need to be addressed.

To the Editor

PETE HYLAND

Send your letters to the editor to news@crozetgazette.com. Letters will not be printed anonymously. Letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Crozet Gazette.

Trashed Roadsides My wife and I moved to Crozet in June of 2013 upon completion of our home on Jarmans Gap Road. We love Crozet and the beauty of the surrounding area. For the first three years we spent much of our time improving our land: installing a meadow, a vegetable garden, and landscaping our yard with trees and plants. Recently, we decided to take long walks, usually going west on Jarmans Gap Road because of the picturesque scenery of the Blue Ridge mountains. We were horrified at the amount of litter on the sides of the road. Beer cans, water bottles, pizza boxes, liquor bottles, styrofoam containers used for carry-out food, empty cigarette boxes, etc. Later we took the same walk but decided to bring garbage bags to pick up the litter we came across. We started from

Trash collected in one day on a halfmile stretch of Jarmans Gap Road

the front of our home and by the time we got to Layne Place, a mere half mile walk, we had filled five large garbage bags. Think about it—five full garbage bags of litter over just a half-mile span (attached is a picture of the bags sitting in our garage). Please convey to your readers not to litter. Besides being unsightly it is bad for the environment and detrimental to our wildlife. We need to enforce “no littering.” continued on page 14

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Published on the first Thursday of the month by The Crozet Gazette LLC, P.O. Box 863, Crozet, VA 22932

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: John Andersen, Clover Carroll, Theresa Curry, Marlene Condon, Elena Day, Phil James, Charles Kidder, Lisa Martin, Dirk Nies, Robert Reiser, Roscoe Shaw, Heidi Sonen, Eric Wallace, Denise Zito.

Don’t miss any of the hometown news everybody else is up on. Pick up a free copy of the Gazette at one of many area locations or have it delivered to your home. Mail subscriptions are available for $29 for 12 issues. Send a check to Crozet Gazette,

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ERIC WALLACE

Albemarle Tightens Regulations on Vineyards, Farm Breweries

David King of King Family Vineyards speaking before the Board of Supervisors.

By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance that imposes new regulations on farm vineyards, breweries and distilleries at a joint work session with the Planning Commission Jan. 18. While existing businesses were effectively ‘grandfathered’ in, the new rules were the result of complaints accusing businesses of using the farm vineyard and brewery laws as a means of operating wedding and event venues in the rural areas. “Essentially the ordinance is to prevent businesses from setting up in the rural area for the purpose of hosting events and not having an agricultural focus,” said Jennie More, planning commissioner for the White Hall District. “The county has been working on this for some time to make sure we don’t hurt our ag businesses, but stop those using the system to plant a few rows of grapes so they can have weddings on their property.” The issue came as an unforeseen byproduct of legislation passed by the state General Assembly—the latest being farm brewery law SB 430 which passed in late 2014—that allows farmers to open a brewery, vineyard, or distillery on a farm property with a residence, so long as some form of agricultural products used in making wine, beer or spirits is grown on the property. As the laws

focused on maximums such as the number of barrels brewed, or amount of wine made, they did not specify minimum quantities for production, nor did they regulate the amount of crops that had to be grown. The laws were intended to bolster agri-tourism in rural areas, and give farms a means to diversify economically. Meanwhile, as the businesses have become popular wedding and event locations, neighbors have begun to complain about noise and late-night traffic, as well as light pollution. “From our back deck you can plainly make out the lyrics to songs and it’s sometimes so loud it rattles the windows,” said Sandra Hodge, a resident in the White Hall District. “We didn’t move out here to hear loud music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening from April through October.” Citing the complaints, in March 2016 the supervisors began a process that ultimately tasked county staff with conducting an analysis of how to create ordinances that would address the issues. “We do not want to hurt our businesses that are playing by the rules,” said Ann Mallek, supervisor for the White Hall District, in addressing the board. “But we do need to establish standards that will clearly define those rules and allow us to take action against bad actors should problems arise.” County staff detailed the sug-

continued on page 33

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Piedmont Place —continued from page 1

bility in his vision for the bright new building, he had definite ideas: shops that didn’t overlap with existing, successful businesses; a mix of dining and shopping opportunities; a common area that could serve as a meeting place as well as a comfortable place to enjoy the products of the shops. Holzwarth recruited several businesses he admired, some signed on as soon as they found out about it, and one was recruited by an existing tenant. Each one has a story of hard work and hope.

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Albemarle and Blanchard’s children, 6 and 8 years old, are at Brownsville. “This was the logical next step,” said Blanchard, speaking about the opening of their spotless new kitchen on the main floor of Piedmont Place. Because the shops are surrounded by tables and chairs in the bright common area, businesses on this floor don’t need their own space for patrons to eat or drink. She sees it not just as the next step for their business, but for the community. “When we moved to Crozet, there was very little for people to do,” she said. “This type of marketplace really fits here.” The response has been great. “Our friends have stopped by to make sure we have customers, that we’re all right,” Hass said. “I feel like we are part of a team,” Blanchard said. “We want everyone to do well.” What you’ll find at Morsel Compass: Tacos and flatbreads loaded with fresh ingredients and seasoned with inspiration from all corners of the earth, with soups THERESA CURRY

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Jennifer Blanchard and Keely Hass Morsel Compass They loved to cook and were both die-hard fans of the Food Network, but it was still a stretch four years ago when the two long-time friends invested in a food truck business, the original bright green Morsel Compass on wheels. Blanchard was an ice-skating instructor and Hass had dabbled in hospitality, re-strung rackets at the Boar’s Head Inn Sports Club and served as a travel agent. Once they embarked on their mobile adventure, they kept their business plan simple and focused on the quality of their product. It worked. But after a few years of serving hungry Charlottesville workers their signature flatbreads and tacos stuffed with fresh greens, beans and meat, the Crozet residents grew weary of commuting. Hass has twin seniors at Western

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and sides. Most popular are the “Carne Asada,” (steak tacos) for $9 with one side. Other entrees, which include some vegan and gluten-free options, are $8, $4 for children’s meals. Open Tuesday Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. morsel compass.com Michael Comer Crozet Creamery Michael Comer didn’t really expect to open an ice cream shop at 21 years old, but he has the background for it. He comes from a family of entrepreneurs, including one of the founders of the venerable Virginian on Charlottesville’s Corner. When he opens his main-floor ice cream shop at Piedmont Place later this month, he’ll be a couple of months shy of graduation from James Madison University, where he commutes one day a week to finish his degree. Comer is studying marketing and political science, and his interest in communications led him to an internship with developer Drew Holzwarth. “We worked well together,” he said. “I knew that Drew had definite ideas about what he wanted there, and part of the plan was an ice cream shop.” Despite his entrepreneurial heritage, Michael was not an obvious candidate for this role: “I’ve never even made ice cream at home,” he admitted. “But I could certainly see why it was a good fit.” Like Holzwarth, he believed that ice cream would lend an upbeat, happy, family atmosphere to the collection of specialty shops at Piedmont Place. No one stepped forward, so Comer decided he would fill the

gap. Learning the process was not a problem. “Once you buy the equipment, the manufacturer provides training,” he said. His emphasis will be on wholesome, traditional ingredients, cleanliness and fun. He hopes to encourage this atmosphere by hiring the right people. “So far, I’ve interviewed 35 young people, mostly from Western. I’m looking for big smiles, engagement with the public, a welcoming attitude.” Like the women at Morsel Compass, Comer sees many ways the businesses can help each other. There are all kinds of ideas flying around: he sees people coming to the Creamery for dessert after eating at Morsel Compass or Smoked; an art show in the common area curated by Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisans Gallery, a beer and ice-cream tasting with The Bottle Shop. Comer grew up east of Charlottesville, but is now a Crozet resident. “I go back to my old neighborhood and think, “Where are the mountains?” What you’ll find at Crozet Creamery: Ice cream, including plant-based varieties, natural colors and flavors, nuts, marshmallows, fruit, cookies, candy incorporated into the ice cream rather than offered as toppings; milk shakes and “no neon colors,” Comer says. He’s still establishing prices and will offer a selection of traditional flavors and rotating specials. Opening early February. crozetcreamery.com Justin van der Linde Smoked Kitchen and Tap When Smoked opened its continued on page 6

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Piedmont Place —continued from page 5

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doors last month on the plaza level of Piedmont Place, it was immediately filled with patrons, and that’s continued almost every day and night since. As you might expect, it’s been crazy, but Justin van der Linde, its owner and chef, isn’t flustered: “You always hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” he said. “This is not our first rodeo.” Like several of his neighbors at 2025 Library Avenue, the chef is a food truck alumnus. That wasn’t his first rodeo either: he’s classically trained and has dabbled in a variety of culinary ventures. The food truck, also called Smoked, was an immediate, overwhelming success and he admits to a little surprise about that. Before that, he was the owner and chef––with his wife, Candice–– of the Carving Board Cafe, Albemarle Square’s popular bustling lunch spot, until they sold it in 2010. Holzwarth had been a steady patron and approached van der Linde and a business partner (The Fitzroy’s Kelley Tripp) with the idea of a bricks-and-mortar operation at Piedmont Place. After years of working with high-quality, perfectly-smoked meat, van der Linde has no reservations about the results of his long, grueling hours at the smoker. “We’re on to something with this product,” he said. “There is just no cheating.” He hopes to refine the other aspects of the operation as time goes by and he learns more about what Crozet customers want. Justin and Candice are the

parents of 15-month-old and newborn babies. Although van der Linde commutes to Crozet from Charlottesville, he hasn’t found it particularly grueling. “Traffic’s not bad at 2 a.m.,” he said. “In fact, it moves pretty fast.” There’s a humility about the young chef that’s surprising in light of his string of successes. “We’re working every day on getting better,” he said. “We’ve had a great response here in Crozet. I thank the community for their support.” What you’ll find at Smoked Kitchen and Tap: Slow-smoked barbecue, fried chicken: plates $9-$18; fresh, side dishes, starters and salads, house-made barbecue sauce; $9 burgers; children’s portions, vegetarian and vegan options, family friendly and lively bar. Open for lunch and dinner daily. smokedkt.com/smoked. The Rooftop Sometime in the next month or so, van der Linde will open The Rooftop. “It takes longer to do all the finish work when you’re creating a spectacular environment,” he said. The requirements of The Rooftop’s menu will allow the chef to use some of the lessons he learned at Johnson and Wales and in the chef-led kitchens of his past. “We’ll have a creative menu, some small plates, the woodfired pizza,” he said. The opening of a sky bar during the year’s darkest, coldest months doesn’t scare him. “We have a lot of indoor room, maybe space for 50 or 60 people inside.” Also available for those who want to rush the season are outdoor heaters and blankets. What you’ll find at The

CROZETgazette THERESA CURRY

FEBRUARY 2017

Third Thursday at The Lodge at Old Trail february 16 2:00 pm

6th Annual Definitive Downsizing Workshop Beth Harley of Smojo Smoothies and Juice

Rooftop: Beautiful views, small plates, craft cocktails, wood-fired pizza, indoor and outdoor seating, great ambience. Check opening date and hours on website, also at smokedkt.com. Beth Harley Smojo Forget fine dining, high-end pastry making, French cuisine, and demanding sauces. Beth Harley, the proprietor of Smojo, believes the cook’s biggest challenge is to produce delicious, healthy food every day for a hungry family. It’s not that Harley can’t handle the pastry or haute cuisine. She interned at The Inn at Little Washington, the first American five-star Mobil award winner, and worked as the pastry chef and bread maker at Duner’s. She had worked at the Virginian while she was an undergrad at U.Va., and fell in love with cooking and hospitality. Fast forward a few years, past a cooking school diploma and the years at The Inn and Duner’s. Harley’s a young mother of two in Washington State, and she’s finding that it is not easy to convince her children to eat the fruits and vegetables that are good for them, especially when surrounded by the less-than-healthy examples of “kid food” everywhere. “And when children are hungry, everything falls apart,” she said. “Children tend to love smoothies and juices, and both are able to incorporate a lot of healthy foods without anyone being the wiser.” She started making smoothies and juices for them as an on-the-spot answer to the ferocious hunger of her growing daughters.

Ultimately, she missed Virginia and moved to Crozet five years ago. One of her daughters is just starting at Western: the other will graduate in June. Harley decided to use her training plus her experience as a home cook to make a living close to home, coupling the smoothie trend with the growing food truck movement to found Smojo, the traveling smoothie, juice and healthy snack dispenser. As with the other proprietors at Piedmont Place, there was some serendipity to her move from the truck to the main floor there. She parked her truck at Duner’s every Tuesday to serve the western Albemarle community. “One of my customers was Ashley (Holland) of Santosha, and she told me about the marketplace.” It all fell in place after that. Harley plans to expand her offerings a bit to take advantage of the extra space. She’s located a local grower of greens and one for tea. She’s still thinking about the best possible hours for her operation, and would like to offer something for early morning patrons of Santosha. “I’ve found over the years that it’s not only children who kind of crumble when they’re hungry,” she said. “We all do.” What you’ll find at Smojo: Smoothies, mostly $6; juices by the ounce, ingredients mostly plant-based and gluten-free, salads and healthy snacks, from $4. Limited coffee service. Open Monday - Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. facebook.com/smojosmoothies continued on page 17

Once again we are excited to present one of our most popular events. It’s time for the 6th Annual Definitive Downsizing Workshop. Be sure and make your reservations early as our presenters share information and advice on how to organize and achieve all your downsizing goals, how to understand the spring real estate market, how to prepare your home for sale, how to downsize and dispose of unwanted things, how to work with an auction house and much much more. This surely is an event you won’t want to miss. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Make your reservation early. RSVP to 434.823.9100 or rsvp@lodgeatoldtrail.com *Please note the special time

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By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com Crozet Board of Trade agreed to serve as a sponsoring organization for grants that could potentially aid the development of the downtown area and other Crozet causes at its Jan. 24 meeting at Pro Re Nata Farm Brewery. The vote came as the result of a presentation by Frank Stoner, a partner with Milestone Partners, who is spearheading the development of the Crozet plaza. Stoner informed CBT members of new developments with regard to the Crozet Plaza and provided a list of next steps for the project, as well as a generalized timeline for their implementation. Foremost of the items presented were suggestions for the plaza in the form of drawings that have been provided by retired internationally acclaimed landscape architects Warren Byrd and his wife, Susan Nelson. “They came forward gratis,” said Mike Marshall, president of

the CBT. “They were very deeply involved in the creation of the Master Plan in 2004, they know the long-term picture. And these guys are stellar in their field—Warren won three American Institute of Architects awards in one year. So we’re very lucky that we have them wanting to help out.” The Nelson/Byrd sketches were circulated as Stoner explained the architects’ main concern was how to best divide the plaza into partitioned areas that would allow the overall space to feel warm and intimate whether there were 400 or a dozen people present. “One of the current challenges is that, in its current form, the plaza is quite large,” said Stoner. “If you attended the Dec. 8 Downtown Crozet Initiative Design & Dine event you’ll recall we actually flagged off the area where the plaza would be. And one of the concerns Warren and others have expressed is that it not be so big that it loses a sense of intimacy. So the scale of the buildings

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Board of Trade Agrees to Partner in Plaza Grants

Frank Stoner presenting plans for the Crozet Plaza to the Crozet Board of Trade

around it needs to be such that it feels enclosed and not just a wide-open field. We really want it to have a unique identity, a sense of place.” Also high on Nelson, Byrd and Stoner’s concerns are the costs of maintenance for the plaza and who would assume responsibility for its maintenance. “There’s no entity that is currently identified that can

take over the maintenance of the plaza,” said Stoner. “However, there are a couple of options: the Board of Trade might be one, Crozet Park Board another, or maybe the DCI organization could be another if they became a 501(c) (3) and got more organized. But someone is going to have to maintain it and the county

continued on page 19

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VDOT Holds Public Meeting for Little Ivy Creek Bridge Replacement on Route 250

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plans, as well as their projected impacts on both traffic and the environment, with attendees. “The first option would expedite construction by closing Route 250 in both directions for two weeks with a detour in place,” said Tomlinson. “The second involves a phased approach to construction where the bridge would be reduced to one lane, with two-way traffic controlled by temporary traffic signals for a minimum of three months.” The former, called Alternative A, would feature a detour whereby eastbound motorists would be directed to Interstate 64 and, via exit 118 to Route

29 North, returned to Route 250. Meanwhile, westbound traffic would reverse the detour, using exit 107 to Route 250 to navigate around the closure. Starting at one end of the bridge and ending at the other, the detour would run about 24 miles. Additionally, local traffic would use secondary roads to get around the construction. The second option, Alternative B, would feature traffic signal cycles running for 2.5 to 3 minutes for each direction and result in “a significant disruption to traffic flow, especially during rush hour,” Tomlinson said. Both plans continued on page 44

COURTESY OF VDOT

VDOT held a public meeting in Ivy at Mount Calvary Baptist Church Jan. 10 to discuss the replacement of the current bridge spanning Little Ivy Creek on Route 250. Dating back to 1936 and carrying a traffic load of around 11,500 vehicles a day, the bridge has been deemed by VDOT officials to be in “substandard condition.” Located a quarter mile west of the intersection with route 637 (Dick Woods Road), the bridge will be replaced with a four-cell box culvert. Construction is slated for the summer of 2018 and, with roadway plans, right of way acquisition, utility replacement, and construction, will cost around $3 million. According to Howard Tomlinson, the VDOT project manager behind the replacement, the open-house style meeting was held to provide information and gather public input regarding two possible options for construction. A number of easels were set up featuring informational drawings and schematics depicting the alternatives. VDOT representatives were available to discuss the drawings and various

MIKE MARSHALL

By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com The developer behind West Glen, a new 17-acre, 70-unit housing development adjoining Crozet Crossing, has released the results of an official environmental site assessment report. “Specifically, people were concerned about the potential for pollutants in the decades of sediments accumulated behind the small dam proposed to be removed from Powells Creek,” said Charlie Armstrong, senior vice president of Southern Development. The dam removal was originally presented by the company as a solution to offset public concern regarding the construction of a bridge of three 10 by 10 foot box-culverts crossing Powells Creek and linking Orchard Drive with Cling Lane. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved the plan with a Special Use Permit in September. Supporters of the permit deemed the company’s willingness to assume responsi-

bility for the cost of environmental cleanup and restoration of stream banks associated with the dam removal as offsetting any potential damage posed by the crossing. The concrete dam dates back to the property’s former life as an orchard, when it provided water for filling pesticide sprayers. After eight lots in Orchard Acres had to be remediated by the EPA for lead arsenate in 2006, there were concerns toxic chemicals may have accumulated behind the dam. “Old orchards are often associated with pesticide pollution, specifically lead and arsenic in the soils,” said Nicola McGoff, owner and director of Wild Ginger Field Services, who conducted the assessment. “So the purpose here was to gather sufficient information and provide an independent professional opinion regarding the property’s environmental conditions— specifically the presence or absence of lead and arsenic from past land uses.” In accordance with the

COURTESY OF SOUTHERN DEVELOPMENT

West Glen Environmental Assessment Shows No Health Risk

Red outline shows the site of West Glen

American Society of Testing and Materials Standard Practices for Environmental Site Assessments, and overseen by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, soil samples were gathered throughout the property, with sediment pulled downstream from the dam directly below a broken drainage pipe and collected from three sites in the standing water above the

dam. “Within the pond we took samples from the sediment surface as well as dredged to a depth of eight to ten inches,” said McGoff. The samples were tested by Richmond-based Air Water & Soil Laboratories Inc. and a 30-page report was compiled by McGoff. Soil and pond sediment sam-

continued on page 13

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A scene from the Twinkle Project, one of Crozet Arts’ popular summer programs.

Winter Frolic Fundraiser Spotlights the Arts in Crozet Crozet Arts will host its inaugural Winter Frolic, a fundraiser for the arts academy, Saturday, Feb. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Field School in Crozet. Crozet Arts came to life seven years ago when classes began in the Old Crozet School with 30 students. Since then, Crozet Arts has grown to hundreds of students each year across a wide variety of classes, from ballet and yoga to music, art, and theater. The Winter Frolic will feature entertainment by Crozet Arts students and faculty and, in partnership with l’étoile Catering, will also feature heavy hors d’oeuvres, as well as a silent auction with enticing items and services from area artists and businesses. “Our first-ever Winter Frolic will help us better serve the demand for the arts in our community,” said Sharon Tolczyk, artistic director and Crozet Arts co-founder. “A strong turnout will make a real difference for us. We’ve experienced exciting growth but need to address issues of infrastructure and organizational support in order to sustain and build on that growth. We are also working to establish a dedicated scholarship fund so that we can extend our

outreach further into our community, and continue to support current students with financial need.” Increasing the scholarship fund is one of the organization’s three major philanthropic priorities. Crozet Arts is also focused on improving its facilities to make them more accessible and on faculty support to help attract and retain talented teachers. Auction items include a group soup class with Mark Gresge of l’étoile Catering, a home concert by Terra Voce Flute and Cello Duo, a basket of Homegrown Virginia products, wrist cuffs by Chuck Pinnell, vases by Nancy Ross and Nan Rothwell, a silver pendant by K Robbins, and a painting by Meg West. More information and tickets are available online at www. CrozetArts.org. Single tickets are $30, and duo (2 tickets) are available for $50. Limited tickets will be available at the door. Email info@crozetarts.org to reserve. Donations may also be made online. Crozet Arts, a 501(c)(3) organization, promotes life-long engagement in the arts through high quality, affordable arts instruction for all ages and abilities.

Hazardous Waste and Amnesty Days at Ivy MUC The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority will hold household hazardous waste collection days at the Ivy Materials Utilization Center on Dick Woods Road (3.3 miles south of I-64) on Friday, April 28, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday, April 29, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bulky waste amnesty days will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on: Saturday, May 6, Household Furniture/Mattresses;

Saturday, May 13, Household Appliances (refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, stoves, furnaces, water heaters); Saturday, May 20, Tires. Paint is now collected on a daily basis at Ivy MUC, so there is no need to wait until this special collection event. (Note: this program is restricted to 1 gallon and 5 gallon latex and oil-based paints in their original containers).

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Western Albemarle Fourth Quarter Real Estate Report

Sellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Market Forecast for Crozet Real Estate 2016 had the potential to be another banner year for real estate in Crozet. And for the most part, it did not disappoint. The year started with 30-year mortgage rates hovering around four percent, and went on to spend the better part of the year under that level. In fact, summer and early fall saw rates at 3.5 percent, just about historic lows. But with this financial tailwind, buyers ran into seemingly limited resale inventory and rising prices across the board. And they ran into other buyers! Increased competition led to quicker sales and fed a price rise. When the construction dust settled, there were 282 total sales in Crozet in 2016, down slightly from 289 in 2015. Ninety of these sales were for new construction, down 14 percent from 2015. The average price for a new property in Crozet rose 10 percent to

$452,000. The average time a property stayed on the market dropped 13 percent for all properties, but 15 percent for resale properties. The average resale price of $403,000 is the first time the yearly average has exceeded $400,000. There were 21 land sales for the year, matching last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total. Distressed sales dropped 50 percent. Real estate in Albemarle County as a whole bucked our local trend, with total sales rising about six percent overall (see attached chart provided courtesy of Nest Realty). Conditions in Crozet were evident in the county as a whole as well, namely properties spending less time on the market, selling for a higher average price, and decreasing inventory. An inventory rate of just over four months and a dropping year-toyear trend warrant keeping in mind. The spring market will see sellers firmly in the driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seat, and able to ask prices that

CHART COURTESY NEST REALTY

by david ferrall | ferrall@crozetgazette.com

were unwarranted just a few months ago. Fourth-quarter sales in Crozet matched pretty nearly the yearly figures. Sales dropped slightly to 66 for all properties. Fifty-four of these were for detached homes, 28 of these being new construction. These newly built homes were mostly sold in Old Trail, 15 in the quarter. Westlake and Foothills each had four sales, while Haden and Chesterfield Landing had two each. There was one new construction sale on St. George Ave.

The average construction cost in the quarter was up 13 percent to $202 per finished square foot, and the average price rose 15 percent to $585,000. The average size of the new construction rose only three percent to 2955sqft, so the price increase can probably be explained by pricier finishes and higher labor and material costs. New construction in 2017 will probably be limited to the communities that are currently being built in. That suggests that finding a newly built

continued on page 42

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Chiles Pancake 5k Raises $2,300 for WARS Chiles Peach Orchard store manager Lisa Henson presented a check for $2,371 to Western Albemarle Rescue Squad president Bill Wood Jan. 6. The money was raised in the Chiles Peach Orchard Pancake 5K. This year’s race attracted 120 runners, up from 30 in 2014, its inaugural year. Henson’s daughter, Raeanne, now a student at Western Albemarle High School, took five ambulance rides in 2013 for what appeared to be asthma but was later diagnosed as another problem. “I felt very grateful and I wanted to do more than I could personally, so we started the Chiles Pancake 5K,” she said. The race runs in September, this year on the 9th, as an annual fundraiser for the rescue squad. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of John and

Michelle Andersen of Crozet Running,” said Henson. “They’re in it because their son once had to ride in the squad. John has provided his knowledge of races and he’s set up the race equipment each year, not to mention his hours organizing the race. Michelle helps with bib pick-up and race registration. A huge thanks goes to them.” Race sponsors include Bold Rock Cidery, Prince Michel Vineyard, Greenwood Gourmet Grocery, Brownsville Market, Crozet Hardware, Blue Ridge Builders Supply, King Family Vineyards, Misty Mountain Campground, BurritOh!, and Augusta Health. Silent auction prizes were provided by Aaron Watson Photography, The Art Box, Parkway Pharmacy, Mudhouse, Fardowners, Hair Cuttery and La Vie Nail and Spa.

West Glen

sufficiently high to surpass pollution thresholds that trigger required pollution mitigation… They don’t signify any immediate human danger.” As a precaution, McGoff advised that as the site is being developed, the movement and management of soils be completed in a manner that “avoids creating conditions where there will be an off-site discharge of contaminants that could cause harm.” She said contaminated soil shouldn’t be collected and buried on-site in a way that would effectively create a landfill, however, “Managing the soil on-site per standard cut and fill management practices is acceptable.”

—continued from page 10

ples were found to have low lead concentrations, below federal and state defined limits. However, arsenic in the soil samples was found to be slightly elevated, ranging from 6 to 28 mg/ kg. While the samples fell above the VDEQ threshold of 3.4 mg/ kg, content was not high enough to require regulatory action. “Although arsenic levels are elevated, that’s not unusual for this area,” said McGoff. “Lead and arsenic are naturally occurring soil elements existing at background levels throughout Virginia, and these levels aren’t

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FEBRUARY 2017

To the Editor —continued from page 2

We intend to continue our “garbage collecting walks.” Sadly that day’s collection didn’t make a dent in the amount of litter that is on our roadsides. However, we took great pleasure in knowing the section of Jarmans Gap between Half Mile Branch Rd and Layne Place is currently litter free. Unfortunately, that probably won’t last long. Pete Hyland Crozet The Women’s March We were part of the historical march of January 21st with numerous other ladies from Charlottesville and surrounding counties. As we drove up in one of the many buses, we began to befriend the others who, like us, had chosen to participate along with the expectant thousands who would be marching that day. Excitement was contagious. We soon found ourselves in an ocean of people with similar goals, and were struck by the welcoming acceptance of each

other, marching side by side without incident. We saw all kinds of people, from the young, disabled, and elderly to people of all races, religions and beliefs. It was humbling and inspiring to see the effort that those in wheelchairs made to join the march. The widespread representation was impressive. We met women from Maine, Ohio, Florida, New Jersey and the list goes on. On the Metro we met three youths who were inspiring with their enthusiasm and dedication to political expression. They were beginning their adult lives actively participating in democracy. Voice of America randomly interviewed people, asking their reason for marching. We replied with our reasons to support women’s rights to make their own choices, to be treated equally and with dignity, and the right to live in peaceful coexistence regardless of opinion. Arriving home, the feeling of accomplishment with almost celebrity status enveloped us as our family and friends checked in with us. But the lasting feel-

ing will be the bond with strangers that will last a lifetime and the knowledge that we have been active participants in an historic event. Our fervent hope is that this march will translate into further political involvement. We must remember those who are less fortunate than we. We need to keep participating. As Lotte Scharfman, former League of Women Voters President, said, “Democracy is not a spectator sport!” Claudia Sacellary and Maria Cockrell Batesville Artisan Tour Enrollment Come on over to the “sip and learn” about the Monticello Artisan Trail at Pro Re Nata Brewery Tuesday, February 7, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It may be a boon to your business. Enrollment is open! As we embark on a reprint of the trail’s printed map/brochure, now is a great time to get on board the Monticello Artisan Trail! Those invited to attend are creative artists and artisans; agri-artisan farms, markets and spirits; gal-

leries, eclectic shops and art-related venues; locally authentic restaurants and lodging; historic and cultural points of interest in Nelson, Albemarle and Charlottesville. Learn about new trail features, connective opportunities and how you can participate in this high-profile, award-winning artisan trail. You can R.S.V.P. by email to trails@artisanscenterofvirginia. org Beer tastings for purchase. Light hors d’oeuvres provided. Please note: Should the gathering be postponed in the event of inclement weather, we will post to Facebook and email all those who have R.S.V.P.’d. Ann Mallek Earlysville

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By Phil James

The Gaps Can you name the seven wind gaps atop western Albemarle County’s Blue Ridge Mountains? They traverse the ridgeline border shared with Augusta and Rockingham Counties. For some, perhaps even long-time natives of this area, it might prove as difficult as pealing off the names of your eight great-grandparents. (When this writer was first posed with that genealogical query, he had never even paused to consider that he had eight gr-grands.) One has to step back a right smart ways to take in the entire view of Albemarle County’s western border. One such vantage point is just east of Charlottesville on Pantops Mountain. From that perspective, the undulating ridgeline of the Blue Ridge Mountains seemed a formidable barrier to those with a pioneering spirit who arrived from eastern Virginia in the early-to-mid1700s. Some began to survey the foothills for buffalo trails that might lead them to a practical route up and over what was then labeled the “Blue Ledge.” Imagine their surprise when they encountered the Woods and Wallace clans who had already arrived in that part of

phil@crozetgazette.com

Albemarle’s Blue Ridge History

Rockfish Gap on the border of Augusta and Nelson Counties at U.S. Route 250 became a popular destination for “gas, food and lodging” in the 1940s with the additions of Howard Johnson’s restaurant and the Skyline Parkway Motor Court. Those businesses thrived adjacent to the junction of Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive to the north and the Blue Ridge Parkway to the south. [Courtesy of Phil James Historical Images]

the region from the west side of the mountains around 1734. With no one close by to interfere with his settling in, Woods did not even bother to register a title to his lands until 1737, a full seven years prior to the naming of the new county in honor of the Virginia Colony’s absentee Crown Governor, Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle. The breach, or gap, in the ridgeline exploited by pioneer

settler Michael Woods was known by his name until Thomas Jarman purchased the mountain summit and, thereafter, mapmakers applied his surname to that place. Woods’ or Jarman’s Gap at 2,175’ elevation was a prominent point of reference for travelers for nearly two centuries as it was through that gap that the storied Three Notch’d Road was surveyed as a primary east-west route from Richmond to the

Master teamster Joe Wood (1871-1944) drove this load of apple barrels through Jarman’s Gap to Basic City, east of Waynesboro. The oft-acknowledged “Mayor of Sugar Hollow” also used Turk’s Gap to deliver wood shingles and other timber products to the commission house of Plaine & Koiner at Crimora on the old Norfolk & Western Railway line in Augusta County. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

Shenandoah Valley. During the Revolutionary War, a military presence gathered at Woods’ Gap to resist Tarleton’s entry into the Shenandoah Valley should his British army attempt to pursue the Virginia statesmen who fled Charlottesville ahead of his arrival there. Around that time, the Hessian soldiers who had been imprisoned at The Barracks west of Charlottesville were marched west through Woods’ Gap to prevent their release by Tarleton’s forces. Unknown to many, Shenandoah National Park lands halted at a seeming dead end, or cul-de-sac, at Jarman’s Gap. Only after President F.D. Roosevelt approved construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1933 to connect Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Parks did negotiations proceed for a 200’ right-of-way (only) through the 8+ miles of private lands between Jarman’s and Rockfish Gaps. Not until the much-improved road that would become U.S. Route 250 was laid

continued on page 16

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Gaps

—continued from page 15

through 1,900’ elev. Rockfish Gap in the 1930s did Jarman’s yield its eminent role as a primary thoroughfare across the Blue Ridge. Between Rockfish (technically not in Albemarle) and Jarman’s Gaps lie Beagle and McCormick Gaps. At Beagle Gap (notable today for its prominent communications towers), a roadway once went through that was a travel route between Greenwood (via Greenwood Hollow) and Waynesboro. McCormick Gap, above Newtown near Scott Mountain, apparently commemorates an early landowner at that place, but the primitive road that once passed through there would be considered little more than a 4WD trail by today’s standards. Prior to the closing of all public access through Shenandoah National Park within Albemarle County in the latter 1930s, travelers heading west through White Hall and Sugar Hollow had three options to choose from to cross the Blue Ridge, dependent on their destination in the Valley. Going up the South Fork Moorman’s

River Road, they first encountered the road through Turk’s Gap. The Turk family’s name was also applied to Turk Mountain in Augusta County. The old roadway passed the once-profitable Crimora Manganese mines at the western foot of the mountain, terminating at that village’s depot on the Shenandoah (later N&W) Railroad. The road through Jarman’s Gap to the town of Dooms north of Waynesboro was accessible farther up the South Fork Road from Sugar Hollow. Taking the North Fork Moorman’s River Road from

This view greets hikers on the Appalachian Trail who are southbound at Turk’s Gap inside Shenandoah National Park. [Photo by Phil James]

The moldering skeleton of a long-abandoned 1930s automobile is partially revealed during the starkness of winter nearby the once busy mountain turnpike that passed through Brown’s Gap. [Photo by Phil James]

Henry W. Rogers (1897-1973) was a native of Jarman’s Gap in Albemarle County. His grandmother Julie was born into slavery on the Jarman’s plantation and following the Civil War, she adopted the Rogers surname. Henry’s mother Anna Rogers later moved into the former Jarman house where she was remembered as welcoming to neighbors and travelers alike. [Photo courtesy of Doris Woolford]

Sugar Hollow provided access through Black Rock Gap. On the west side of the mountain, this road followed Paine Run to the village of Harriston and its railroad depot south of Grottoes. Stagecoaches once plied this venerable road, transporting passengers from the east to Black Rock Springs. That mountain resort, replete with mineral waters, a post office, hotel, cottages and bowling alley, operated from the mid19th century alongside this roadway that is now inside Shenandoah National Park in Augusta County. As with the Crimora Mines, mountain residents of western Albemarle found employment opportunities and an outlet for sales of milk, eggs and butter. A major forest fire in 1909 ended most of that resort’s glory days.

Brown’s Gap was the northernmost point where a mountain crossing could be made in Albemarle County. Connecting Grottoes in Rockingham County with the Three Notch’d Road at Mechum’s River, the Brown’s Gap Turnpike toll road operated from its completion in 1806 until shortly after the Civil War. It was a major crossing for freight wagons of Valley produce headed to Richmond markets. As a vital mountain crossing used for troop movements during the Civil War, sentries were often posted there, military breastworks were constructed there for its protection, and armies found shelter and rest there both before and after battles. Because of the travel inconveniences caused by closing all mountain passages through Albemarle following the establishment of Shenandoah National Park, calls persisted for legislators to reopen and improve access through Brown’s Gap. As late as 1949, the Board of Directors of the Charlottesville and Albemarle Chamber of Commerce unanimously endorsed its reopening for better access between Albemarle County and Harrisonburg. Now that you have checked off the seven named mountain gaps in Albemarle County, maybe it’s time to get cracking on that list of eight great-grandparents which most of us are purported to have had.

Follow Secrets of the Blue Ridge on Facebook! Phil James invites contact from those who would share recollections and old photographs of life along the Blue Ridge Mountains of Albemarle County. You may respond to him through his website: www.SecretsoftheBlueRidge.com or at P.O. Box 88, White Hall, VA 22987. Secrets of the Blue Ridge © 2003–2017 Phil James

CROZETgazette

Piedmont Place —continued from page 7

has a blend: fiction and non-fiction, mysteries and children’s books, young adult literature. “Something for everyone.” On Sunday, Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m., the bookstore will present Mary Ann Marlowe, author of “Some Kind of Magic,” her first book. The book’s heroine is a scientist who’s swept off her feet by a rock star. Those on hand may get a signed copy of Marlowe’s book while checking out the new space and— DeVault promises—munching on cake. Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisans Gallery also participates in Crozet’s “Second Saturday” art openings and will feature the paintings of John Golock at a reception Feb. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. What you’ll find at Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisans Gallery: a wide collection of books, mostly recently published, in every genre. Big selection of children’s and young adult books. Artisanal gifts, small items of clothing, jewelry, art work. Special events to meet the author or artist monthly. Open every day, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays 12 - 5 p.m. overthemoonbookstore.com Shawn and Colleen Miller Blue Ridge Bottle Shop Most evenings, Shawn and Colleen Miller meet and exchange their children. He picks them up as he returns from his work as a software engineer at Centurylink in Charlottesville and she’s finishing her shift at the Blue Ridge Bottle Shop, the couple’s new venture at Piedmont Place. Their children, 2 1/2 and 5 years old, go to school locally, and Shawn takes over at the continued on page 26

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Anne DeVault Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisan Gallery Anne DeVault was one of the first tenants of the marketplace section of Piedmont Place, hauling her boxes of books, fine crafts and arts from across the tracks with the help of loyal local customers who helped her pack and shelve—an indication, she said, of the strong connection between book lovers. DeVault had owned, with her sister, Laura, the store on Three Notched Road for six years. DeVault’s interest in books, though, dates back to some of her first memories as a young teenager. “I’ve known since I was 12 years old that I wanted to be involved with a bookstore,” she said. In the years since then, she’s worked in bookstores in every possible role, as well as working at a number of jobs in publishing. She’s excited to be with a collection of business owners, and believes the variety will increase foot traffic for all. Also, “It was sometimes difficult to park at the old site,” she said. The larger space will allow her to increase her selection of eclectic artisanal housewares and gifts. On display currently are some beautiful handmade kitchen tools, colorful socks, coin purses, pottery and jewelry. The new space is light-filled and made brighter by the bold colors of the artisanal offerings. There’s a standard for the local and non-local gift items DeVault chooses to sell: “They need to be high quality,” she said. “And mostly, I need to like them.” As for the books, DeVault

FEBRUARY 2017

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017 going to eat it when it’s hot— then I’m only going to make one loaf!” Everything is easier with one loaf of bread and eventually I learned what the book never told me, the little tricks that will make even 100 percent whole wheat bread light and

Homemade Bread I always aspired to bake bread. I had no role models for this; my mother didn’t bake, nor did my maternal grandmother. My paternal grandmother purportedly baked bread regularly, but she died when I was five. Family lore says that when she finished kneading the dough, and just before she set it to rise, she would imprint the sign of the cross on the dough with the edge of her hand. The romanticism of this gesture still haunts me and I never fail to emulate it. As a young mother I had no choice then but to teach myself. I got a book and set to it. The recipe I used had explicit instructions, which I most certainly needed. The yield from said recipe would produce four loaves of bread. Let me tell you, that’s a lot of ingredients, a lot

of kneading, and a lot of bread to eat. I was adamant that mine would be only 100 percent whole wheat, and consequently my first batches came out like lead bricks. My children would eat it right out of the oven if it was slathered with lots of butter, but once that bread cooled, no one would touch it. Our chickens ate a lot of whole wheat bread (bricks) till I perfected my recipe and technique. I baked bread Saturday after Saturday and, just as in the laboratory where I worked during the week, even though it seemed that you did the same thing each time (following the recipe in the kitchen, or the procedure in the lab), gradually the product/experiment became more successful. My big breakthrough came when I decided “if they are only

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One Perfect Loaf of Whole Wheat Bread 1 ½ cup warm tap water 1 ½ tsp yeast (buy a jar rather than yeast packets) 1 tsp honey 2 eggs

¼ cup dry milk (optional, but helps to lighten this bread) 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 ½ tsp salt ¼ cup vegetable oil

Put the water in a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast, mix in the honey and wait five minutes for the yeast to start to grow and bubble. Beat in the eggs and milk, stir in the flour and beat vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon for 100 strokes. Mixture will be soupy. Experts call this ‘the sponge’. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for one hour. Sprinkle the salt and pour the oil over the sponge and stir with a wooden spoon. Add 2 more cups of whole wheat flour till a stiff dough forms. Dump the dough on a floured board or counter or marble slab. Fill the bowl with warm water and soap to soak the dough remnants off the bowl—you’ll need the clean bowl for the next rising. Knead the dough by pulling the top half of the dough over the bottom half (if you imagine the ball of dough as a clock face, fold 12 o’clock down to 6 o’clock). Push the dough forward with the heels of both hands. Turn the dough a quarter turn (so that the 3 o’clock position is now at the 12 o’clock position). Repeat for ten minutes: Fold/Push/Turn. While you are kneading, think about your life, mull over a problem, or pray, if this is something you’re inclined to do. Kneading bread is a contemplative and soothing activity; everyone should experience this joy at least once. After ten minutes your dough should be springy and beautiful. Pull it together into a ball. Now wash the soaking bowl and pour in a little vegetable oil. Put the dough, smooth side down into the warm bowl, then turn it over so that the seam side is down. Cover the bowl again and set in a warm place to rise for an hour. When the hour is complete, gently punch the dough down, six or seven times, all over, to remove the gas. (The yeast is growing—microbiology at home!) Cover and let it rise again for another hour. These repeated risings also contribute to a lighter loaf. Remove the risen dough and knead again, ten times. (Not ten minutes, just ten repetitions of fold/push/turn) Form the dough into a loaf shape by rolling it with your hands into a wide log-shape to fit the pan and placing it seam side down into a greased loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 3500F. Allow the dough to rise about 20 minutes, while the oven is preheating. Cut 2 slashes into the dough with a sharp knife. Brush with beaten egg and, if you like, sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or oats. Bake for 40-45 minutes. The bread should be dark brown and shiny. Your house will smell divine. Be sure to have lots of butter. This bread is even good after it cools. Note: if you’re not a purist, this recipe works perfectly well with white flour, but is not nearly as nutritious. Or you can make the great compromise and use half white, half whole wheat. I often make partial substitution with other flours such as cornmeal, flax meal, buckwheat, rye, or raw oats.

CROZETgazette

Board of Trade —continued from page 8

doesn’t really want to, nor do they have the funds allocated— they’re just not in that business.” However, it was Stoner’s opinion the county would potentially provide a degree of supplemental funding were another organization—such as the Crozet Park Board—to assume primary responsibilities for the plaza. Overall, he emphasized the point that maintenance will absolutely require an entity to manage the space. “It’s not unlike Charlottesville’s downtown mall,” said Stoner. “There will be farmers’ markets, other markets, events, concerts and so on held here, and someone is going to have to organize all that, make it happen, and figure out how to pay for it.” Toward the end of making the maintenance burden more manageable, the Byrd/Nelson drawings focused on reducing grass and providing more hardscapes. “We want to be thinking about this in terms of how the plaza might function in a variety of different contexts,” said Stoner. “On any given day you might only have a handful of people in the plaza. So it has to be a place where people can go and feel like it’s intimate space.” Hence the partitioning. So far, Mahan Rykiel, the landscape architects contracted to design the plaza, has been provided with public feedback from the Dec. 8 Design & Dine Event as well as the drawings from Byrd and Nelson, Stoner told board members. “When do you think you’ll have a design solidified and be able to bring all this before the [Albemarle County] Planning Commission?” posed Marshall. “We’ll have sketches from Mahan Rykiel in a couple of weeks or so, and we’ll likely be presenting those at the next DCI meeting,” said Stoner. “After that, if everyone seems positive, we’ll probably have one more meeting with the community, where everyone can come to look at it and provide feedback. Assuming that goes well, we’ll formally adopt the design.” Stoner’s presentation concluded with a discussion of how to fund the plaza. “The big chal-

FEBRUARY 2017 lenge with the plaza is figuring out how to pay for it,” he said. “It’s estimated to cost $3 million and right now nobody has the money to pay for that. Next week, we’re going to meet with the county to talk about strategies for funding. One of the cases we’ve made is that, with $20 million worth of private investment in Phase 1, that’s a lot of tax revenue that will be generated. So we think we can build a pretty strong case that, over a reasonable period of time, if the county would issue bonds, they could then get a pretty heavy return on investment.” However, according to Stoner, while the practice is common for other localities, it isn’t something the county has done before, and will thus likely require an extensive amount of legwork to make it happen. Additionally, as Greg Sharer, COO of Perrone Robotics, pointed out, there’s the problem of expediency. “We’re highly invested in the plaza’s realization because, as we see it, it’s critical to the success of the square, which is, in turn, critical to our ability to attract talent,” he said. “You’re absolutely right, it is critical,” responded Stoner, addressing the room. “When Perrone was deciding to move downtown they wanted to know ‘What’s the vision, what’s the vision?’ And while we have a number of other businesses that want to move in, including two hotel developers, the plaza is a critical catalyst to making that happen. It’s not a huge leap to get there, but it is significant. The challenge for us is, when it’s all said and done, we have to be able to build space and lease it at a rate that people can actually afford.” Another funding avenue that is being explored is a variety of grant opportunities. “We hired a grant writer to work with the DCI and they’re currently looking at 15 different opportunities that would provide funding for things like planning, construction, streetscape improvements, and many more uses that would help us get this thing off the ground,” said Stoner. “Some of these grants will require different kinds of participation— some can be applied for by the county, but some will need to be applied for by a local 501(c) (3).” continued on page 42

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Local Faithful Find Meaning in Ancient Symbols By Theresa Curry theresa@crozetgazette.com It’s not a cheerful thing to ponder, the ultimate fate of your physical body. But that’s what many Christians will contemplate March 1, when they observe Ash Wednesday at local churches. In Roman Catholic, Episcopalian and some Protestant faith traditions, observers will stand or kneel to receive a mark made by ashes in the shape of a cross on their foreheads. This accompanies words the scriptures record God saying to Adam after his fall: “Remember, man, that you are dust and unto dust you will return.” Holy Comforter Roman Catholic Church “It’s the opening of Lent, the 40 days of preparation for Easter,” explained Father Joseph Mary Lukyamuzi of Holy Comforter, the Charlottesville Roman Catholic Church administering the Crozet Catholic mission. “It’s required

for us to offer the ashes.” For Catholic adults, Ash Wednesday is a fast day, and no meat is served during the day. Some fast every Wednesday and Friday, but that’s completely optional, Lukyamuzi said. Since Easter is always on a Sunday, the first of the 40 days preceding it will always be on a Wednesday. The ceremony (it’s called the “imposition of the ashes”) is always accompanied by a mass. Ashes as a symbol date back to the Old Testament, when people marked themselves with ashes as a sign of repentance, guilt, or mourning. The period of 40 days and nights as the chosen period of repentance may be even more ancient, possibly even from pagan times. And in the Bible, “The 40-day time period is symbolic and comes up over and over,” Lukyamuzi said. He explained other symbols associated with Lent. Most Catholic churches have the 14 stations of the cross, visual markers of Christ’s last hours,

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permanently installed. “In the early days of Christianity, everyone was encouraged to go to the Holy Land and follow in the footsteps of Christ,” he said. “As the church grew and Jerusalem changed hands, that became impractical, so people could use these images instead.”

As sad as any reflection on death can be, especially coming at the coldest and darkest period of the year, Lukyamuzi encourages his congregation to use the time to find inspiration as well. “It’s a good time to reflect on your life and to be conscious of what is expected of you,” he

CROZETgazette said. Ashes will be imposed at Holy Comforter at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. masses. St. Nicholas Orthodox Church Lent is observed in the Orthodox tradition, said V. Rev. Fr. Robert Holet of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Greenwood. There’s Easter (called “Pascha”) that is set differently from the West, although Holet says this year they happen to be the same day. “We do not have an Ash Wednesday per se,” he said, “since Lent begins the previous Monday.” The tradition is to mark a couple of the Sundays preceding Lent as the last chance to eat meat and the last chance to eat cheese before the fast, so that no food will be wasted. There are plenty of venerable rituals in this tradition as well: “The services actually begin with special vespers prayers on Sunday evening before the first day, when there is a special service of mutual forgiveness.” The rest of the first week, he says, is a time of prayer and penance with services every night, including prostrations asking God for forgiveness of sins. The Church also encourages charitable works during this time. On Saturdays, there are special prayer remembrances for the dead. “Great Lent” at St. Nicholas includes observances almost every day. To find times, go to the website: stnicholasorthodoxchurch.com. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ivy, Rev. Dr. Eric Liles will prepare the ashes for Ash Wednesday the Sunday before from the palm fronds handed out on Palm Sunday. “We ask those who can to return them,” he said. “You can also get them from a special religious supply house.” In both cases, there’s a ceremony involved in the burning. Without Ash Wednesday, there would be no Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), he explained. Traditionally, congregations would clean out their larders in preparation for the fasting of Lent, so in those pre-refrigeration days, feasting was called for to consume the rich foods forbidden for 40 days. Liles will display a set of sta-

FEBRUARY 2017

Tabor Presbyterian Church (USA)

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tions of the cross in frames, woodcuts made by artists at New City Arts, who printed a set for two Charlottesville churches as well as St. Paul’s. “We keep the church open during the day so anyone can come in and make the stations,” he said. There’s some argument between people of faith traditions in whether to wear the ashes all day or to wipe them off. “Some say not to advertise penance,” he said. Supporters of wearing the ashes point out that you are already in public when you receive them. “And some people want to give witness to their faith,” Liles said. There’s another interesting dichotomy he sees: “It’s fascinating that religions that stripped all ritual out of their services are adding them back in. It’s a global trend. People just crave rites of passage.” Imposition of the ashes at St. Paul’s will be at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Crozet United Methodist Church Pastor Sarah Evancho of Crozet United Methodist Church agrees: Millennials and young adults in this digital age want tangible encounters that they can document in some form. “They’ll take photos to bear witness,” she said. “This is the emergent movement.” Children in the preschool will have a chance to bear witness in an age-appropriate way. They’ll receive ashes, along with a card that explains the symbol and a prayer, she said. And those on their way to work can receive ashes in the open area near the parking lot, beginning at 7 a.m. A more traditional service will be at 7 p.m. at the church. As for the stations, Evancho says the stained glass windows in the church depict the whole life of Christ, not just the passion. She hopes to identify the continued on page 33

abor church is excited to welcome The Rev. Susie Atkinson as their interim minister. Rev. Atkinson and her husband come to Tabor from The Havre de Grace Presbyterian Church USA in Havre de Grace , Maryland. Returning to their roots in Virginia and being close to their children and grandchildren in Richmond makes this a very special move. All of us at Tabor ask you to welcome the Atkinsons as Rev. Atkinson begins her ministry at Tabor and the greater Crozet community.

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Crozet Plaza —continued from page 1

this project, we hope the support will continue and gain momentum.” After Milestone Partners’ Frank Stoner recapped DCI goals and summarized for new attendees the phased development of the overall Crozet Square project, and where the plaza fit into those plans, the floor was turned over to committee chair Mary Beth Bowen. “Over the past month we’ve been tallying the results from the Design & Dine event as well as comments we’ve received via email and social media threads,” she said. At the Dec. 5 D&D event, the public was invited to view three prospective renderings of the new plaza provided by architectural design firm, Mahan Rykiel Associates. Feedback was solicited, with attendees offering commentary on slips of paper that were subsequently either taped to the drawings themselves or compiled in a large box. After the event, a Facebook thread was opened asking for comments as well. According to Bowen, opinions were offered by around 300 individuals and families. “So we basically divided the feedback by design concept, as well as the most popular features, and the biggest overall concerns,” said Bowen. Most popular of the three designs was the Railroad Roots rendering, with 49 percent in support. Second was Orchard Grove, with around 37 percent, leaving 15 percent in favor of the Industrial Heritage option. Beyond overall popularity, results for favored features were mixed and were pulled from each of the three drawings. “Much to my own personal dismay, we heard that the active water feature in the Orchard Grove design was the winner,” reported a smirking Bowen, eliciting a chuckle from the group. “Beyond that, people said they loved the idea of a water feature in general and wanted to make sure some version was included in the final design, and that while they liked the Orchard Grove option, overall, they preferred the Railroad Roots design.” Second in popularity was the

inclusion of a fire-pit. Third was the boxcar stage design featured in Railroad Roots. Additionally, many said they wanted to retain the arbor from the Industrial Heritage plan, as well as the covered area where outdoor events like a farmers’ market could be held. When Bowen finished her presentation, Stoner provided context regarding Milestone’s aims for gathering the information, as well as what they were planning on doing with it. “The intent of the design meeting was to get people to say what they liked more so than choose a particular design,” he said. “Now that we have that data, we’ll go back and revise. We’re going to request that Mahan Rykiel take this input into account and make modifications reflective of the community’s desires.” Additionally, Stoner said that while most of the feedback came in the form of verbal or hand-written notes, there was one notable exception. After attending the meeting and discussing the various renderings with Mahan Rykiel representatives, Crozet residents Warren Byrd and Susan Nelson, retired landscape architects of international renown, the founding partners in the Charlottesville / New York City-based firm Nelson Byrd Woltz—which has won over 80 national and regional awards for city parks, zoos, botanical gardens, academic and business campuses, and other public and private landscape designs—offered the DCI drawings of their own for free. “Warren contacted me after the meeting and told me he and wife had taken a personal interest in the project,” said Stoner. “They asked about the plaza and whether we were open to ideas, and we subsequently met twice, before and after Christmas.” At that point, Stoner displayed Byrd’s drawings, which featured suggestions the architect hoped Mahan Rykiel would take into account. The press and other attendees were asked to refrain from photographing the hand-rendered drawings out of respect to Mahan Rykiel. The drawings had, according to Stoner, been passed on to the firm for input. “There were several things Warren wasn’t wild about,”

ERIC WALLACE

Frank Stoner at the DCI Meeting

explained Stoner. “Specific among these was the arch in the Industrial Heritage design, which he felt was too contrived, and should have run west to east. In particular, he loved the idea of connecting in some way to the railroad, but thought all designs had too much grass and were trending away from an urban plaza into a park. As grass easily turns to mud and is costly to maintain, he felt the schemes should include more hardscapes.” Another issue was scaling. According to Byrd, the plaza should be inviting and warm regardless of whether there were 20 or 200 people. “Warren subsequently broke the plaza down to smaller pieces that would feel more intimate than the larger expansive spaces,” said Stoner. “That resulted in designs that are more sectionalized.” The apportioning approach, especially with its emphasis on trees and shade areas, was met with general approval. “Overall, the goal here is character—we don’t want the plaza to turn out like Old Trail, where it’s like it’s been dropped in via crane and actually belongs somewhere else,” said Stoner. “So what Warren was saying is that you don’t want it to be too urban— you can offer different options that are funky and localized.” In rounding out the meeting, the group discussed next steps. Among these was a request that Mahan Rykiel provide an item-

ized list of maintenance costs associated with various design options, as well as a use-based assessment. “I think we need to look at these areas and think about programming and events,” said Dave Stoner, chair of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee. “That data would help quantify all of these observations and allow us to make better decisions moving forward.” With Byrd’s designs and the D&D feedback sent to Mahan & Rykiel, Frank Stoner said the immediate next step was updated sketches. “Concerning a timeline, we’d like to have a conceptual and schematic drawing finalized in March,” he said. “In the meantime, we need to be considering financing—like, can we get grants that will allow us to maximize the private dollars that we’re putting in, and get that public investment to do as much as possible to yield the results we’re trying to attain?” Toward that end, Dave Stoner will offer a presentation of possible grant options in February. Jennie More, Albemarle County Planning Commissioner for the White Hall district, stated that all community members interested or experienced in such endeavors should either attend the meeting or reach out to the DCI to provide insight and consider taking on a role assisting with the effort.

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Progress on High School 2022 Initiative Presented to Public By Clover Carroll clover@crozetgazette.com What should high school look like in the 21st century? What graduation requirements will best prepare students to succeed in the new, and ever-changing, informationbased economy of the 21st century? What will a high school transcript look like? And how might the high school day be different than it is now? These are the questions being considered by ACPS as they plan how to redesign the high school curriculum and graduation requirements to align with new state requirements and to prepare students for an essentially unknowable future. “The leading edge of this change comes from the state,” explained Matt Haas, deputy superintendent, at a community meeting January 17, “as a result of the Every Student Succeeds Act replacing No Child Left Behind.” In June of 2016, Virginia House Bill 895 was signed into law, removing existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and verified units of credit—in other words, rethinking the role of the Standards of Learning (SOL). Additional recommendations passed down from the Governor with this law stipulated that “the Board of Education, in consultation with stakeholders representing K-12 education, institutions of higher education, business and industry, parents, policymakers, and community leaders, should develop and implement a “Profile of a Virginia Graduate” that identifies the knowledge and skills students should attain during high school. In so doing, the Board should consider the “Five Cs—critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship—and establish multiple paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing.” The High School 2022 initiative, which ACPS has been working on since August, is its

response to this directive. Haas summarized the effort by asking the audience, “How should we change our high school program to match the VDOE Portrait of a High School Graduate?” Previous work has included School Board work sessions, meetings of the High School Council—consisting of administrator and teacher representatives from all high schools and CATEC, lead instructional coaches, and a middle school principal—as well as meetings of a Community Advisory Board. As the end of phase one of the initiative—the “Visioning” phase—draws near, a “Community Conversation” was held at Monticello High School to gather input from the larger community. Hosted by Haas and facilitated by Strategic Planning Officer Patrick McLaughlin, the meeting was attended by upwards of 200 people, including parents, teachers, students, and others, indicating a high level of interest from the community. The model being developed will incorporate more community- and work-based learning such as internships and mentorships, a diverse set of student pathways, a thematic focus at each grade level, and redesigned facilities to accommodate the new approach to learning. A staff report on the initiative, which will incorporate the feedback received at this meeting and will conclude phase one of the initiative, will be presented to the School Board in February. The next phase, Facilities Planning, will carry through the fall, with the final Action/ Approval phase to conclude by April 2018. The new curriculum and graduation requirements will be implemented beginning with the freshman class of 2018—who will graduate in 2022. You can learn more about the High School 2022 initiative and share your thoughts at https://www2. k12albemarle.org/acps/division/ hs2022. You can also tweet your input to @k12albemarle.org using the hashtag #HighSchool2022. continued on page 44

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Overcapacity —continued from page 1

MIKE MARSHALL

burst through the building’s capacity in 2007 and is 45 students over this year, a surplus that is expected to persist throughout the ten-year planning horizon. Holly Stancil, mother of three children in Western district schools and former PTO president at Meriwether Lewis, expressed a fundamental concern shared by many parents. “Will there will be enough seats in the high school by the time my youngest gets there? You can’t just snap your fingers one year and have a new high school or expand one. What is our solution?” WAHS principal Darah Bonham, now in his second year, said, “right now it feels like a creeping, incremental growth,” while noting that Western has 25 more students this year than projected, drawing within three of building capacity. He said the first to feel a squeeze are the staff. “Our teachers teach six out of eight [periods], and the majority are able to stay in their classrooms for planning each day. But as we get higher in numbers, part-time teachers float and begin to occupy those spaces.” The school administrators strive to use the building’s layout efficiently. As the school’s science labs are remodeled and renovated in the coming year, Bonham will look for options, such as “whether you can change the functionality of the rooms, or use the spaces more

collaboratively by different departments.” When parents consider the impact of overcrowding, however, they first think not of staff or space, but of their children. “I think the thing that parents care most about is class size,” said Stancil. “I know teachers do their best to teach whomever they have, but it makes a huge difference in the experience.” County policy requires staffing to be set by the number of students, so the ratio should remain consistent and new classes would be added when enrollment increases. The problem remains: where to hold additional classes when a school runs out of room? Meriwether Lewis currently uses four trailers for music, counseling, and ESOL activities. Henley Middle School principal Beth Costa is sanguine. “I don’t feel that pinch yet,” she said. “Right now, class sizes are manageable at 25 students per teacher and below.” When enrollment does surge, common areas such as the cafeteria and hallways become congested, and Costa is keeping an eye on the projections. “If they believe that Henley will be close to 1,000 students [in ten years], what will they do in four, five, six years to be ready for ten?” As with most attempts at predicting the future, enrollment projections are a tricky business. The school division has historically used a method called Cohort Survival, also known as a Grade Progression Ratio. The ratio measures the change in the number of students who progress from one grade to the next (calculated by school), and uses

Darah Bonham

COURTESY ROSALYN SCHMITT

Rosalyn Schmitt

that ratio to predict future changes in enrollment. This year the county asked the Weldon Cooper Center (WCC), a University of Virginia group specializing in demographics research, to take a look at their projection methods. Hamilton Lombard, the WCC analyst working closely with county staff, is satisfied. “I’ve looked at their numbers, and the county is pretty well on top of this,” he said. Lombard is refining the measures by geocoding the Virginia Department of Health birth records so that they reflect the correct school district. The birth data is used to project kindergarten enrollment, the most difficult number to estimate in the process. For some parents, the progression ratio method raises questions. Kelly Gobble, former Brownsville Elementary PTO president and parent of three children in the district, wondered about the kids missed by using birth data. “If families move into a brand-new neighborhood, at what point do the children get counted? Not until they show up at the school.” Gobble asked a perennial question: How is housing growth, a significant factor in the Western district, explicitly incorporated into enrollment projections? The short answer: it’s not, according to Rosalyn Schmitt, Assistant Director of Facilities Planning for the county. “There is no direct way for us to factor in a particular new housing development,” she explained. “There are just too many unknown variables,” such as the builder’s timetable, the composition of new families, and the offsetting effect of slowing growth in older housing. “If we know there’s a lot of building

going on, we are more likely to choose a historical model with a higher growth rate,” to calculate future enrollment. The lack of more precise metrics frustrates parents like Gobble. “Crozet has been designated by the county as a growth area, so why not use housing data specific to that area to predict enrollment?” she asked. But Schmitt and Lombard believe their ratio model will adequately track the trends, because it already incorporates historical growth rates. “If [growth] has always happened, you will capture it,” said Schmitt. Longer-term projections are inherently more risky. In 2011, Brownsville Elementary enrollment was forecast to grow by 55 percent over the succeeding ten years—a rate that set off alarm bells and spurred discussion of an expansion to the school— but by 2016 that projection had been slashed to 5 percent. When the recession hit, said Lombard, new developments were put on hold or abandoned, and the sharpest growth did not materialize. Lombard cautions against using ten-year predictions at all. “The longer the window, the bigger the potential error,” he explains. “Five-year projections should be adequate.” So what happens next? The body at the School Division charged with planning for the schools’ future is the 19-member Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee (LRPAC), comprised of citizen representatives and division professionals. The Committee is required to look at alternatives when a school’s enrollment reaches 95 percent of its capacity, but the numbers are only part of the equation, said Schmitt. “I guarantee the West is going to be a

CROZETgazette

LISA MARTIN

FEBRUARY 2017

Albemarle High School

At a Jan. 23 meeting of the LRPAC, members suggested that a solution for the high schools could take many forms, from building a new facility to expanding current buildings to redistricting students between schools. “We never take redistricting lightly,” said Schmitt. “There would have to be a very compelling and strong reason to do it.” Indeed, after studying the problem of severe overcrowding at Albemarle High School, the LRPAC empaneled a Redistricting Committee in 2015, which advised the School Board to move more than 200 students to Monticello High School. The Board ultimately rejected that idea, deciding that redistricting did not solve the underlying long-term problem. Awaiting a permanent solution, AHS now has eight classroom cottages installed outside the school as temporary classrooms to accommodate the student body. WAHS now faces the same enrollment trajectory as that of AHS five years ago, surging to 200 students over capacity by 2023. A comprehensive solution for the high schools’ overcrowding problem in this year’s planning study will give Western district families much-needed room to grow.

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topic this coming year. We know there’s a lot of building out there.” The LRPAC sets priorities for the Capital Improvement Plan based on projected facilities needs each year. In 2016, the Board decided to fund a planning study encompassing all four high schools to make a holistic plan for the division. An outside consulting firm will be hired to conduct the study, and there will be plenty of opportunities for public comment before a recommendation is made this fall. Before that work can commence, however, there is an intermediate step, as Pat McLaughlin, the Division’s Strategic Planning Officer who also served as Henley Middle School principal for eight years, explained. “We don’t know what the buildings can look like if we don’t know what our instructional model will look like. The state is talking about changing their requirements for graduation as part of their Portrait of a Graduate within the High School 2022 project, which may change how the buildings are used.” (See story page 23). “We expect to present a draft program guide in February and that will be enough to get started on the planning study.”

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FEBRUARY 2017

THERESA CURRY

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shop to serve those who drop in after work. The worst part: “Well, we’re exhausted and I miss my children,” Shawn said. “But we’re closed Mondays and they’re often off on Mondays, so I try to do everything possible with them in one day.” The best part: “We were drawn to this by our love of craft beer.” The shop reflects his love as well as his knowledge. “We have space limitations, of course,” he says, “but most of what you see here is here because I like it.” Like Over the Moon’s DeVault, he was an early tenant, and much awaited by the growing legions who appreciate good beer and cider as well as wine. The couple wanted to be open for the holidays as well as for winter football Sundays. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the number of people coming in to refill growlers,” he said. It was a gamble, he admits. “We had no retail experience.” Colleen works in her off hours as a wedding planner, the same profession as Chloe Watkins of Santosha, Miller noted. Colleen knew something about wine, and in preparation for opening the shop, did a lot of research, he said. “We’ve got a good repeat business and hope to get better and bigger. We try to respond to what people want.” He’s in a great position to identify local trends. Right now he’s watching a kind of cult growing around the Minute Man IPA brewed by Charlottesville’s Champion brewery. “There’s a growing appreciation of what’s called the ‘New England’ style,” he said. Despite their hard work, the Millers knew that the opening of Piedmont Place was right in line with what they had been dreaming of: “I feel like the train was already going, and I just hopped on,” Shawn said.

Shawn Miller of Blue Ridge Bottle Shop

What you’ll find at the Blue Ridge Bottle Shop: Carefully curated selection of beer and wine, many hard to find locally. Rotating selection of draft beer, Kombucha on tap, snack and food items, glasses and shirts. Build your own six pack or refill growlers. Prices vary, tastings are $4. Closed Monday. Open Tuesday Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Saturday 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.; Sunday 12 - 5 p.m. blueridgebottleshop.com. Chloe Watkins and Ashley Holland Santosha Yoga Crozet Long-time members of the Crozet yoga community, Watkins and Holland have joined together to open Santosha (“Contentment”), a vinyasa yoga studio in the plaza level of Piedmont Place. Both had been seeking a place where everyone was welcome to practice. The placement of their restful studio allows students to attend class while other family members sample barbecue, buy a book or enjoy ice cream. Reached from either the side entrance or down the stairs from the main level, the studio’s offerings will expand in time to include children’s classes and pre-natal yoga. That’s a subject that interests them both:

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Watkins has a newborn baby, and Holland’s baby is almost a year old. There are other parallels between the two women who moved in the same circles but didn’t really know each other until shortly before this venture, and with others sharing their address. Watkins grew up at her family’s Veritas Vineyard and Holland’s husband is the winemaker at Afton. Holland was the one who put Smojo owner Beth Harley in touch with Piedmont Place developer Drew Holzwarth: “Yoga and fresh juices just seem to go together,” Holland said. Like Colleen Miller at the Blue Ridge Bottle Shop, Watkins has a second job as a wedding planner. Like Harley, they found their place through a thoughtful suggestion. “We’d looked everywhere and couldn’t find a suitable place,” Watkins said. Someone at Ragged Mountain Running let them know this space was open for leasing and they discovered that Holzwarth had been hoping the small space would end up as an exercise studio. “Crozet is a cool community,” Watkins said. “We’re really happy we’re here.” What you’ll found at Santosha Yoga Crozet: Classes for every level, including slow-flow, yin and heated yoga. Special offers for new students. Special events and workshops. Prices and times vary, with fees adjusted for multiple sessions. Find times and prices on website or download the free “Mind-body” scheduling app. www.crozetyoga.com.

CROZETgazette COURTESY GRAHAM MULLEN

FEBRUARY 2017

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1202 Crozet Avenue 434-823-4223 Innisfree coworkers, staff and members of the Modern Improvisational Music Association (MIMA) sing at 45th anniversary.

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Innisfree Village Marks 45 Years Innisfree is a fully licensed, not-for-profit, non-sectarian, 550-acre community located north of Crozet that provides a home for approximately 40 residents, called coworkers, in 10 residential houses in its rural village and in two residential houses in Charlottesville. Innisfree also has a program for “day coworkers,” who spend workdays at Innisfree and return to their families’ homes when the workday is finished. Innisfree is known for its handicrafts, granola, farm products, and organic vegetables, made by coworkers in on-site therapeutic workstations, including a weavery, woodshop, bakery, farm, vegetable garden, herb and flower garden, community kitchen, art studio, and pottery studio.

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Innisfree Village celebrated 45 years of offering a home to adults with intellectual disabilities and the full-time, volunteer house-parents who have lived with them in the spirit of “lifesharing” since 1971. In Innisfree’s environment, its residents and the individuals who care for them share their workweeks and their home lives as families do. Innisfree hosted a birthday party at its annual Family Day celebration Nov. 19. Almost 200 invited guests attended; many were family members of Innisfree’s residents, some of whom have been associated with Innisfree since its founding. The festivities included a craft fair, entertainment by Innisfree’s residents with the nonprofit improvisational music group MIMA (Modern Improvisational Music Association), a luncheon, and commemorative birthday cakes. A touching moment was a tribute to Tom Nicholson, one of Innisfree’s cofounders, who has been a guiding force for all 45 years of its existence. “Family Day brings out the magic in Innisfree every year,” said Innisfree Executive Director Rorie Hutter. “I feel a sense of awe and deep appreciation for the initial vision of a handful of parents all those decades ago whose dream was to create a place where their loved ones with disabilities could thrive. Innisfree today is a testament to the dedication of these families.”

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After fifteen years of practicing veterinary medicine, I’ve got a lot of moments burned into my memory. Naturally, some of the most deeply engrained moments involve highly emotional events, and in my line of business, performing euthanasia on a beloved family pet is always an emotional affair. I have to admit that over the years I have learned to put up a wall to protect myself from what they call “compassion fatigue.” Dealing with major events like someone losing a cherished pet takes a lot of energy and emotion. Sure, some folks don’t really get too emotional, and frankly that makes it a bit easier on me. However, for most people, going through the loss of a pet is a pretty emotional event on many different levels. It’s not just the act of the euthanasia itself. It’s the sometimes very long process from diagnosing someone’s best friend with a terminal process, managing that process, then finally coming to a decision that it’s time to let them go, and, finally, performing that very hard but necessary act. That really does take a lot of emotion, and you have to care, not just for the pet but the people and what they are going through. But what about when you have four euthanasias in one workday? Or when you are continuously juggling seemingly endless cases of terminal diseases and difficult decision making? Let’s face it, we can only endure so much emotion before the flames start to flicker out. If I let myself get too emotionally invested in everyone’s heartwrenching loss, I’d eventually burn out and would no longer be emotionally present for anyone. So here is where the wall

comes into play. Can you go from putting an animal to sleep that you have known for its entire life, while its family is present and mourns, and then 10 minutes later be excited and happy for the parents of the new puppy in the next appointment? Well, yes. Perhaps it’s a bit of a mental art—being totally emotionally present for people when they need it, but being able to move your own mental state quickly forward to whatever the next need is. There are some moments that sneak behind that wall and linger, but not in a bad way. Some of the more common moments to do this are when I see kids lose their pet. Whether young kids, or the college kids who have come home to see their lifelong friend off, kids are so completely honest in their emotions that they can cut through any wall you may have. One recent moment involved the euthanasia of the old family retriever. We did this at their home, on the back deck, and all the three kids were there, all in their late teens and early 20s. They had known this dog since they could remember anything. One of the girls was completely silent, but welling with tears the entire time. The son’s emotions were less obvious, but his withdrawal to a bench on a distant part of the deck showed how much he was struggling. Then there was a moment when before being sedated, the old dog starting licking the oldest daughter’s face. She started bawling, makeup streaming everywhere, while the dog just kept licking her face and the tears, so happy to be doing so. I asked her if he always tried to lick everyone’s face, and she cried, “yes!” as she continued to let him kiss away, so happy not be told to stop. Another moment from years ago involved a single mom and

continued on page 39

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

By Clover Carroll clover@crozetgazette.com

MIKE MARSHALL

The independent Miller School of Albemarle, a co-ed, independent boarding and day school serving grades 8-12, is rich in history. For example, it was among the first institutions in the country to have electric lighting installed by Thomas Edison himself! When building began in 1876 following the bequest of Samuel Miller, building materials were hauled the five miles from the Crozet train depot down the first hard road in Albemarle County, now Miller School Road, and up “The Hill” via a steep, winding road that has remained the school’s entrance road ever since. This road, never intended as a permanent entrance, is too narrow for safe two-way traffic— including school buses—with sharp side drop-offs reinforced with concrete posts. The idyllic 1,100-acre campus is crisscrossed with pathways—some paved, some graveled—that do double duty as both walking and driving spaces. As part of its 2005 Strategic

Plan, the Board of Trustees developed plans to finally move the school’s entrance to a long-envisioned, safer access point less than a mile further south on Miller School Road. After working extensively with Albemarle County on critical slopes, drainage, and the like, the contract was awarded to Brad Booker Excavating of Charlottesville. Work on the project got underway in early 2015, and is expected to be completed later this spring. The new, straight, two-way entrance road will climb more gradually up the hill and open up to a stunning view of the front of Old Main, the campus centerpiece which is on the National Registry of Historic Places, and the rare lotus pond with its imposing central fountain. “The road could be paved tomorrow if the weather were warmer,” said Headmaster Rick France. “We need to wait for an extended period of warmth to lay the asphalt. The road will loop behind the baseball field and tennis courts to a student drop off point, then join up with the current entrance road,

MIKE MARSHALL

New Entrance to Miller School of Albemarle to Open This Spring

Miller School entrance road construction

which will become exit only.” This will have the added benefit of reclaiming all the existing campus pathways so they can become pedestrian only. The new configuration will dramatically increase safety for students, faculty, parents, and visitors— both driving and walking. The new entrance will feature brick pylons that will complement the historic architecture of the school, a staffed gate house, and electronic gates that will be opened with a keypad code after dark (except for special evening events). There will also be lighting along the roadway. The total cost of the project, funded by investments and donations, is around $800,000. Expanded parking areas are also planned for the future. Samuel Miller’s original goal was to provide an education to orphans and other needy children, which he had been himself before becoming, with his brother, a successful businessman. The school’s vision to educate students’ “Mind, Hands, and Heart” is still alive and well today. With a current enrollment of 189, of which 45 per-

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cent are girls and 45 percent are day students, the college preparatory curriculum provides students ample opportunity to design, build, and tinker, with electives in electronics, agriculture, woodworking, and fine arts. Miller welcomes students from 12 states and 16 countries, some of whom come to join the number one bicycling team in country, and the only high school team recognized by USA Cycling, sponsor of the U.S. Olympic team. All 36 members of the co-ed team learn to build, maintain, and repair their own bikes. The 14 miles of student-created mountain biking trails on the campus allow the school to host 20 major mountain biking events each year. A huge woodworking shop provides the tools and space students need to build their own kayaks, turn wooden bowls, and complete major projects such as turning wood downed in the 2012 derecho into tables to furnish the dining hall. Students are currently involved in building a solar charging station as well as restoring Edison’s original generator.

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Western’s Robotics Program Booms

COURTESY WAHS ROBOTICS CLUB

In the Western Albemarle High School cafeteria well over 50 students gathered in huddles around tabletops strewn with nuts, bolts, sensors, wheels, toolboxes, laptops and, yes, robots as the WAHS robotics club hosted a scrimmage and collaborative get-together for area schools Jan. 23. Chattering and chuckling, the kids tinker with what look to be Erector Set behemoths. Standing about a foot-and-a-half long, high, and wide, the units are sophisticated and complex, featuring cameras, motion sensors, drive chains, pulley systems, batteries and a slew of other technological gizmos. Attending are the high school’s three teams, two squads from Henley Middle School, and three teams bussed in from Albemarle High School. Cupping his mouth, an adult administrator called out over the din: “Plaid Peacocks!” A trio of Henley middle-schoolers— girls dressed in matching bright blue shirts with peacock feathers in their hair—carried their robot to an arena-like 12 x 12 foot square setup near the door of the cafeteria’s lunch-line. Surrounded by a foot-high foam wall, the square has ramps in each of its corners, big push-button sensors on all sides, and two pronged, spin-able, upward-facing plastic buckets resting side by side atop a twofoot stand in its center. Placing the robot in the arena, one of the girls switched it on—with a whirring sound, a pair of metal arms extended from the unit’s

body, revealing cupped cymbal-shaped appendages designed for grabbing. Meanwhile, another Peacock scooped up what looked like a video-game controller and commenced to steer the wheeled robot toward a large medicine ball sitting alongside the buckets. “So normally there are four teams competing at once,” explained Caroline Bertrand, the program’s administrator and coach of the WAHS varsity robotics team, Her Majesty’s Engineers. “Matches are timed and the robots start in corners, with teams scoring points by completing tasks like pushing buttons, picking up and transporting smaller balls, or placing larger or smaller balls in the buckets.” Back in the arena, the Peacock’s controller moved the team’s robot into position and, with the push of a button, the cymbals clamped together, grasping the ball. Another button-stroke and wheels situated in the unit’s shoulder region began to spin, contracting hundreds of tiny tendon-like rubber-bands, raising the mechanical arms and ball to a height just above the buckets’ prongs. As the robot rotated toward the bucket, things got tense. The controller narrowed her eyes; her teammates clenched their fists muttering, “Come on, come on…” Other students wandered over to observe as the ball inched its way over the opening—only, at the last possible moment, it slipped. With a metallic clang the cymbals crashed together. The girls spun on their heels, rolled their eyes, flung their hands into the air. A

Nerd Herd, Henley: Zoe Gardner, Aditi Prakash, Rose Bittle, Jay Gardner, Daniel Karpovich, Moe Greenstein.

collective sigh rippled through the room. “Our season starts in September and, for the better teams, can run into late-February, so that gives our students the opportunity to evolve their robots over time,” said Bertrand, seeking to contextualize the display. “If you were here early in the season, you’d see most teams steering their robots around the ring trying to push the four buttons. At this stage in the game, they’ve mastered that skill and are going for the big points, which entails lifting the large balls into the buckets.”

COURTESY WAHS ROBOTICS CLUB

By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com

But wait, isn’t this supposed to be a scrimmage? And aren’t scrimmages, well, competitive? “The really amazing thing about FIRST programs is how collaborative they are,” said Martinez. “It’s not so much about winning or losing as it is working together to learn, get better, and create a functional design. At any given event you’ll see a robot break down and other teams chipping in to offer parts and tools and even assistance to get it back up and running. Everybody supports everybody and wants to see everyone succeed—which I think is really different than other competitive environments.”

Her Majesty’s Engineers, WAHS: James Krasner, John Eichelberger, Corey Richardson, Jessica Novotne, Spencer Burtnett, Aaron Poulter-Martinez, Nathan Glover

Outside the arena, WAHS senior and robotics club president Aaron Martinez approached the Peacocks. Delving out high fives, he offered pointers he believed would help better their device’s grasping capabilities. “Aaron’s like this creative problem solver who spends all his free time teaching himself how things work,” said Bertrand. “He’s a great leader and an excellent communicator, and is passionate about the competition. He loves to teach his peers and will happily share his excitement with an engineer, player, or even a child at a fundraiser.” As Martinez discussed ways to strengthen and stabilize the Peacocks’ grasping mechanism, a pair of students from AHS joined the conversation, seconding Martinez’s ideas while adding insights and experiential anecdotes of their own.

Martinez was alluding to an inbuilt component of the international organization that sponsors and lays the rules for these competitions, FIRST, (“For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). “FIRST focuses on developing something called ‘gracious professionalism,’ the willingness to work well together and to help others even if they’re not on your team,” said Bertrand. To facilitate the development of these skills, FIRST matches are played in a two v. two format where, in the opening rounds of any given competition, each team is paired with a randomly selected ‘alliance partner.’ The alliance partners’ robots square off in the arena, working together to score as many points as possible and win the match. At later stages in a competition, the top four teams choose whom they’ll partner with in the finals.

CROZETgazette

COURTESY WAHS SCHOLASTIC BOWL TEAM

COURTESY WAHS ROBOTICS CLUB

FEBRUARY 2017

Loose Screws and Geek Gods, WAHS: Shaunak Sarker, Gus Hankle, Wes Beard, Spencer Montiel, Chris Enfield, Sean Henegan, Isaak Nathan.

producers, team organizers, community outreach specialists, and more. “I knew nothing about building or programming, but I got really excited about the Engineering Notebook and decided to join,” said Jessica Novotne, a member of Her Majesty’s Engineers. While it’s mandatory for each team to keep an EN—which Novotne described as a kind of combined pictorial and textual diary documenting the team’s progress over the course of a season— before she came along the notebook was basically perfunctory. “At competitions we’re actually judged on it; they like to flip through the notebook and see how we arrived at our design and figured things out and progressed throughout the season,” she said. “So I thought I could change the formatting and add photos and headers and pull quotes, things that’d make it more personal and just more of an aesthetic experience—like a continued on page 47

COURTESY WAHS ROBOTICS CLUB

“This means that an important part of competitions is communicating with other teams about what your robot can do,” said Bertrand. “It really changes the dynamic, integrating the teams and making everything more interactive and collaborative.” This emphasis on personal development within community is a theme with FIRST. Indeed, while programs are centered about tech skills, their aim is much broader. “There are so many aspects to this competition that we aren’t just looking for technical people: creative types, good communicators, big picture thinkers, organizers and leaders are all needed,” said Bertrand. “The idea is really to teach kids how to work together in a team environment to pursue a collective goal.” With support from volunteer mentors, students largely govern themselves, performing designated roles such as builders, computer-aided designers, programmers, engineering notebook

Plaid Peacocks, Henley: Caroline Quist, Ella Taylor, Annabeth Stancil. Not pictured: Sophia Park.

From top row, left to right: Coach Eric Strzepek, Jack Emery, Harry Cowen, Cole Weis, Caroline Koester, Russell Hunter.

WAHS Varsity Scholastic Bowl To Make a Run at State Champs By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com Teams of competing high schoolers sat at two rows of desks facing one another, their thumbs resting anxiously on buzzers as they listened to the moderator’s clue: “This 20th century author loved to use footnotes. In fact, his first best-selling novel featured over 300 of them.” A student jolted in his seat; a beep sounded. “David Foster Wallace,” he blurted, scoring for his team. Such was the scene at a recent Scholastic Bowl event hosted at Western Albemarle High School. An official Virginia High School League sport, teams participating in Scholastic Bowl compete against one another by answering questions on a variety of topics ranging from pop culture to history, physics, science, literature, and so on. Each event features three rounds, with a directed round of ten questions, where team members consult with one another and answer as a group, as well as two ‘toss-up rounds’ where, in the vein of Jeopardy, 15 questions are offered by a moderator with competitors buzzing in to answer. The sport may sound like a more formal version of barroom

trivia night—indeed, the boys wear ties, oxford shirts, khakis; the girls dresses and heels. Teams battle through a rigorous regular season schedule vying for slots in regional and state tournaments, with matches rife with tension and, as WAHS varsity coach Eric Strzepek puts it, demanding hard work and killer instinct. “A good player has strong background knowledge on a wide variety of topics both academic and pop cultural in nature,” he said. “They can specialize in certain areas and must be able to answer under pressure faster than their opposition. Good memory, fast processing and the ability to react quickly when called upon are crucial to success in Scholastic Bowl. Really smart kids who freeze under pressure don’t cut it— they need to be buzzer-hungry sharks.” To prepare for these intense contests, in the offseason students are assigned “You Gotta Know” study-lists gleaned from the National Association of Quiz Bowl Tournaments. “The lists feature information that consistently ends up getting framed in one way or another as questions during games,” said Strzepek, a history teacher at Henley Middle School. He also encourages players to read quescontinued on page 44

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

By Eric J. Wallace eric@crozetgazette.com

COURTESY ANDY GUPTILL

Last fall the Miller School of Albemarle’s endurance cycling team had a big season: They won the state championship in Roanoke Nov. 6 and in early January star rider Laurent Gervais signed with Aevolo Cycling Team, a professional under-23 squad directed by Michael Creed, who is a former professional cyclist at the World Tour level. According to coach Andy Guptill, the key to the team’s success began in the offseason. “In an endurance sport like cycling, offseason training is the most important piece of the puzzle for making improvement,” he said. “Varsity riders are on the bike between two and five hours a day, and in the weight room before classes several mornings each week. Once the season begins, we are traveling and racing so often that time for constructive training blocks are very limited, so you really need to go into the season firing on all cylinders from the gun.” The first weekend of school the team traveled to Vermont to compete in the Green Mountain Stage Race, which Guptill described as a “premier, fourday race featuring some of the most challenging climbs in New England.” After that, the 19 varsity and junior varsity riders turned their attention to the National Interscholastic Cycling Association’s Virginia League mountain races. “This is a fourrace series with venues around the state,” said Guptill. “Student-athletes accumulate

points at each event—the better your results, the more points you’re awarded. Then, at the final race of the series, an overall winner for each category is crowned, as well as an overall winning team.” The sport of interscholastic endurance cycling is growing. Only 15 states in the U.S. currently have leagues for competition. Founded in the fall of 2015, the Virginia League is one of two on the east coast, and features 18 teams—that’s around 256 riders—from around the state that compete against one another in mountain biking races both on and off the road. “We travel around the country to some of the largest competitions so our top varsity riders can compete against the top junior cyclists in the country,” said Guptill. “This allows them to challenge themselves and improve while getting to see how they stack up against their peers. Furthermore, results at these premier races are what professional teams and college coaches are looking at, so it opens doors beyond high school for our cyclists looking to continue in the sport.” Beyond winning the team competition, the MSA team had some major standouts. First was Evan Clouse, a junior from Park City, Utah. “Evan is one of the top road and cycle-cross racers in the country,” said Guptill. “He will be spending a good part of his summer competing in Europe and is a podium contender at any race he enters. On top of being a dedicated athlete, he is also a very good student who

Laurent Gervais riding in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

COURTESY ANDY GUPTILL

Miller Endurance Cycling Team Wins State Championship

Coach Andy Guptill, Thomas Mariutti, David Yang, Gus Myers, Gentry Jefferson, Pedro Martins, Laurent Gervais, Evan Clouse, Lucas Mariutti, Coach Peter Hufnagel.

puts in the work on and off the bike.” Then there’s Lucas Mariutti, a sophomore from Sao Paulo, Brazil. “Lucas punches above his weight in every way,” said Guptill. “Despite being so young, he races in the varsity category on the mountain bike and is gifted with incredible bike-handling skills. His dedication is truly impressive.” Cassy McPhee is a junior from Bermuda. “She’s an up-and-coming female cyclist who’s made tremendous improvement in her first year as a team member. She has a laser focus when racing, and every week is becoming faster and more skilled on the bike.” Laurent Gervais is a Canadian who came to the school specifically to pursue cycling and has since accumulated numerous podium and near-podium placings in several top-level professional events. Considering the fact that Gervais is only a high school senior, that’s pretty darn impressive. “His strengths on the bike are many. He’s more of an all-around rider as opposed to a one-trick pony, and is just as comfortable in a 40 mph technical sprint as he is on a 40 minute climb in the Blue Ridge Mountains,” said Guptill. “He also has the ability to read a race and put himself in the right place at the right time, which is something that can’t be coached. This is a rare gift and one that’s difficult to acquire.” According to Guptill, Laurent caught the eye of the Aevolo Cycling team’s director this past fall at the Green Mountain Stage Race where he competed in the professional

field and finished a remarkable fourth place in one of the most difficult stages of the four-day race, beating many of the top professionals in the U.S. “Aevolo is one of the premier U23 teams in the world, so signing with them is a huge honor,” said Guptill. “Laurent will be teammates with other talented cyclists his age from around the world and will benefit from one of the sport’s best directors, Mike Creed.” “Our cycling program has a rich history with numerous state and national champions in the disciplines of road, track and mountain biking, and we’ve graduated four cyclists into the professional ranks,” said Guptill. Adding to those accolades, the school’s endurance program is recognized as an official “Center of Excellence” by USA Cycling, the national governing body of the sport, and is the only schoolbased team to have earned this recognition. Guptill said prospects are unusually bright. “Team camaraderie is at an all-time high and everyone is pushing everyone else in a very constructive way, which all coaches know is not always the case,” he said. “We just finalized our spring 2017 race schedule, and everyone is getting fired up and excited for their favorite races.” With a schedule featuring races that favor climbers, sprinters, technically advanced riders and everything in between, Guptill says there’s a venue for all of MSA’s endurance cyclists to shine. “One of our greatest strengths as a team is that we don’t just have one superstar,” he said.”

CROZETgazette

Wine & Beer —continued from page 3

gested regulations. These included requirements for growing at least 5 acres of crops used in beverage production on site, to be able to prove that beverages are being produced and bottled on site, and to have an on-site tasting room with advertised regular hours. Additionally, setbacks for parking and portable toilets were established—125 feet on the sides and rear of properties, with 75 feet at the front; as well as rules concerning the hours that establishments may have outdoor amplified music at events, with a Sunday through Thursday cutoff of 10 p.m., and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (decibel levels will continue to be regulated through the county’s sound ordinance). A public hearing followed. Thirteen speakers took the podium, with most being representatives or owners from local farm breweries and wineries. Concerns ranged, but mainly had to do with honoring existing contracts, setbacks, proposed curfews and a general disdain for what were deemed as costly and time-consuming regulatory procedures. “We care about our neighbors and employ noise baffles and directional speakers to mitigate the impact of sound on them,” said Al Schornberg, owner of Keswick Vineyards. “Currently, 20 to 25 percent of the events we do are on Sundays and most of them are weddings. In the summer, the sun doesn’t go down until around nine, so our weddings generally go to 11 p.m. Impose this curfew and our business is going to go to our competitors, who don’t have to comply with these restrictions.” Similar concerns were echoed by Candace Hark, who is in the process of developing a farm vineyard in Earlysville with her husband. “We’ve owned the property for three years, we planted this past spring, and now all of a sudden these setbacks are changing. I think we should be mitigating the sound with the sound [regulations], not with the setbacks.” While they supported the regulation, both Mallek and Scottsville supervisor Rick

FEBRUARY 2017 Randolph emphasized the importance of evaluating future applicants on a case-by-case basis, and suggested the county begin a process to revisit the rural sound ordinance. “Every site is different, and for the most part we have a really high performance bar that the majority of our wineries and breweries already adhere to,” said Mallek. Randolph added, “We want to create a process where new owners can get information from staff and figure out solutions for how to easily comply and maybe deal with sound through natural barriers and so on.” Considering the relevancy of the matter, the owner of King Family Vineyards, David King, who worked closely with the board in developing the ordinance, urged the county to consider weighing in on such issues at the state level. “As we speak, legislators are considering modifications to these laws similar to what we’re doing here tonight,” he said. Stating that the board had “already done the research,” King urged supervisors to “reach out and seek to play a major role in that process,” thereby protecting the county’s businesses. Ultimately, the ordinance passed by a vote of 5 - 1. In dissent, Rio District supervisor Brad Sheffield quoted the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, saying: “This is a missile to kill a mouse.” The county’s 32 farm wineries, three cideries, two breweries, and three limited distilleries now in existence will be exempted from the new regulations, except for setbacks for parking toilets and tents.

Ash Wednesday —continued from page 21

ones documenting the journey to Calvary for those wanting to use them as a focus of meditation during the season. All services, including the imposition of the ashes, are available to all, she said: “You don’t have to be a church member.” Informal imposition of the ashes will begin Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. outside the church; the evening church service will be at 7 p.m.

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FEBRUARY 2017

The Power of Hope by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com “’Hope’” is the thing with feathers,” by E m i l y Dickinson, is a favorite poem that has been much on my mind lately. The first stanza, which I know by heart, never fails to cheer me when the world begins to look bleak. Dickinson uses an extended metaphor in her attempt to define the complex and elusive concept of Hope. By placing the word in quotation marks, she acknowledges that it is an intangible abstraction. Her choice of the deliberately ambiguous word “thing” in the first line sets our minds to speculating, and emphasizes that since it is essentially indefinable, any comparison to what we know will be inadequate. Undaunted, she sets out to define it by comparing it to a living being. The “thing” has feathers, implying lightness and airiness; but is it a bird, an angel, or something else entirely? Be it bird or angel, this feathered friend “perches” in the soul, like a small, flying spirit who is a visitor rather than a resident. With one master stroke of concision, the word “perches” conveys a world of meaning: lightness, natural greenery (where things typically perch), balance, and strength. The host soul barely feels it alight, but is made aware of its presence when it “sings the tune without the words.” Hope’s message is communicated

through melody, like birdsong; but the poet’s focus on the absence of words suggests that this music has meaning, even though we can understand it only emotionally. Next we learn that the presence, once it arrives, becomes a constant companion, which “never stops – at all.” This highlights a paradox; Hope is both fleeting—characterized by flight and perching—and constant, because once it arrives in your soul, it stays. That constancy is a source of comfort. Although in the second stanza the poet does refer to the object of her definition as a “Bird,” by this time she has established Hope as a unique mystery, like a bird but not a bird. Its song is most welcome during a severe storm, the kind with gale-force winds, symbolizing any painful or harrowing event that might produce fear or despair. The next line assures us that only the most drastic storm might “abash” the tiny spirit, who has comforted countless victims. “Abash,” related to bashful, means to embarrass or shake the self-confidence of—but is a word not typically used to describe a bird. Here we have another paradox: the small creature, as delicate as a bird, is yet strong enough to stand up to the most powerful of assaults without losing its courage. A good friend to have on your side, for sure! In the final stanza, the poet relates her personal experience with this enigmatic creature and its comforting song. The situations which have called it forth are described in terms of climate and land“Hope” is the thing with feathers scape: “the chillest That perches in the soul land” implies emotional or even And sings the tune without the words - coldness absence, and reinforces And never stops - at all Hope’s ability to keep “so many warm.” And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard Similarly, “the Strangest And sore must be the storm Sea” suggests alienation That could abash the little Bird or loneliness. No matThat kept so many warm ter how extreme the poet’s need, however, I’ve heard it in the chillest land Hope has been there to And on the strangest Sea provide succor without any expectation of recYet - never - in Extremity, ompense. The word It asked a crumb - of me. “crumb” returns us to Emily Dickinson, 1861 the bird metaphor by

expressing possible repayment in terms of a bird’s food, and indicates that Hope can survive with little or no sustenance. At the same time, this line distinguishes Hope from a bird by endowing it with the capability to ask a question. The poem ends on a spiritual note: Hope is a precious blessing that sustains us in our darkest hour, while expecting nothing in return for its gift. The majority of Dickinson’s poems are written in what is known as “hymn meter,” because so many Protestant hymns use it (Dickinson was a product of Puritan New England). This meter consists of alternating lines of 4 feet and 3 feet, where each iambic foot has one unstressed and one stressed syllable (da-DAH, da-DAH)—a pattern which to some extent mimics natural English speech. “A-MAZ-ing GRACE how SWEET the SOUND” contains four iambic feet, followed by “that SAVED a WRETCH like ME,” which has three. Compare this to “And SINGS the TUNE withOUT the WORDS / And NEV-er STOPS at ALL,” and you can readily hear the similarity. While the majority of the poem follows this meter, the first line departs from it, which has the effect of setting the word “Hope”—the poem’s central subject—apart and emphasizing its uniqueness. Dickinson was also a pioneer of “slant rhyme,” which ends the line with words that share consonants, but often have slightly different vowel sounds, for example soul/all or room/storm (from a different poem). She preferred the simple and emphatic dash over other punctuation, which causes us to

pause and think. For example, the dash after “stops” causes “at all” to stand out more strongly, and similarly adds extra emphasis to “never.” Emily Dickinson (18301886) is one of the most beloved, most original, and most important of American poets. The fact that she was a woman, writing at a time when the literary landscape was dominated by men, adds a unique sensibility to her poetry. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a prominent family, she may be considered part of the New England Renaissance that included contemporaries Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathanial Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott (all of whose work she no doubt read but whom she probably never met). She lived as a recluse most of her adult life in the family home—now a museum—with her father, who was involved in politics and served a term in Congress, her sister Lavinia, and her brother Austin and his wife, who lived next door. Her poems, numbering close to 1800, were hand-written and sewn into small booklets she called “fascicles,” only discovered after her death and published posthumously in 1890. As reported in the Dec. 5, 2016 issue of The New Yorker, many additional “envelope poems” were only recently published, and are accessible digitally through Harvard’s Emily Dickinson Archive (www.hup. harvard.edu/features/dickinson). To learn more about this brilliant poet, visit www.poets. org or www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org. As Dickinson wrote in a letter to her friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” Her own work definitely rises to this high standard. This breathtaking poem conveys in few words both the lightness of heart Hope can give us, even in dire circumstances, and the wonder we feel that this gift is so freely given. Her dying words, like her poetry, expressed the ineffable in natural terms: “I must go in; the fog is rising.” Her epitaph says simply, “Called Back.”

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

by John Andersen

Physical Therapy For this month’s column, I interviewed Daniel FreedPastor, one of the physical therapists from PT Plus Physical Therapy here in Crozet. Dan received his Doctor of PT from Columbia University and enjoys working and living here in Crozet and helping people achieve their fitness goals. John Andersen: Okay, so this is the time of year when a lot of people are resolving to get back into shape. Since this column is called “Back to Fitness,” what would you say are the main things that limit people’s easy return to fitness? Dan Freed-Pastor: We do a lot of education on this because a lot of the barriers to returning to fitness are usually a combination of physical and mental. We see a much better prognosis when people return to full activity after a period of injury or inactivity in a gradual manner and modify as they go. Being able to modify is key because a lot of times we can’t go right back into what we want to do, but rather need a “stepping stone” to help prepare our body to take the stress of the full activity we want to do. We call this “active rest.” Sounds like an oxymoron, but compared to full rest, where you stop doing everything, active rest is basically working around an injury, like cross-training. It’s like the person who has some shoulder pain and stops going to the gym altogether. They could be rehabbing the shoulder and continuing to go to the gym and avoiding aggravating exercises. JA: I think a problem a lot of people get themselves into is following a somewhat rigid “back to fitness” program, like a couch-to-5k plan that says “do

this on this day…” and so on. So, I’m hearing you say, “just be really, really flexible” if following a specific plan? DFP: Yes, there is a big difference between pushing yourself and just not listening to your body and ignoring signs that things are headed in the wrong direction. Modification doesn’t mean you’re taking the easy road, just a different one that may be better for you. JA: When I think of some initial “get off the couch” things that people do, I think of running, boot camp, and the gym. Can you name some exercises or activities that you think would be great for someone who is just starting to get back in shape? DFP: When I look at any activity like running or boot camp, I picture the types of stresses that will go through their body and the most likely injuries they may incur if they do not prepare well enough. For things like running and boot camp, which may include jumping, I like to prep people with light impact activity, a lot of which we do on an agility ladder (side steps, side-to-side hops or diagonal shuffle) and preceding this with a good dynamic warm-up like high knees, butt kicks, body weight squat, skips. Statistically, PTs see the highest percentage of neck and back pain compared to other joints. I think the dynamic warm-up on agility ladder work would help, but I would also include some yoga moves like child’s pose, cat-cow and cobra pose to help make sure the spine is moving through the full range of motion. As far as strengthening to avoid injury for activities continued on page 36

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FEBRUARY 2017

Fitness

—continued from page 35

like running and cycling and boot camp, I would focus on glute strengthening and core control. We have a lot of exercises that we tailor to the individual person’s needs/issues. JA: I know that most people don’t see you until they are injured and are prescribed physical therapy from their doctor. It seems most people are only doing PT exercises when something is injured. How can you get people motivated to do these when they are healthy? DFP: Yes, this is a good point. I am just as guilty of this as other people are—only taking the time to do “corrective exercise” when you have a reminder, i.e. pain. I am not usually the person that spends 20 minutes stretching after working out at the gym or running because I go to the gym at 5 a.m. and I have only 45-50 minutes, so I want to get the most out of it. What I recommend to people is to incorporate corrective exercise like a stretch you know you need to do or side steps with a band around your ankles for glute strength into your circuit. If you like to keep moving while you work out, like me, you can use four stretches at 30-second holds and two minutes’ rest to recover for your next “working set” of whatever you are doing at the gym. If you are doing interval running, you may be able to stretch while you rest/ recover/hydrate. This can sometimes take more planning, but you can potentially get the same workout and proactive stretching/strengthening in the same amount of time. We do actually see a lot of patients on “Direct Access,” which means they don’t need a prescription from their doctor, and is one of the reasons PT is now a doctoral degree, because we need to be able to screen patients and know when to refer them out when appropriate. JA: Let’s talk about sitting. I’m a believer that a lot of our barriers to being fit people and barriers to easily getting back to fitness are from a life of sitting. If we didn’t have desk jobs and cars, and if we had to walk a mile to the water well, starting running would proba-

bly be a lot easier. Why is sitting so much bad for us and what are your recommendations to counter this? DFP: Yes, I completely agree. Our muscles adaptively shorten to the positions we spend the most time in. Tight hip flexors and hamstrings from sitting all day are a good example. When I look at getting someone back to or into something like running, I look at the stresses the body needs to be able to manage and gradually introducing these to the body. I think I’ve heard you and Michelle talk about training and it being more about time on your feet than the distance you go. I think this is true for anyone starting running. When someone’s body is only taking the stress of standing for a short period of time (walking to their car, from their car to their desk, etc), it takes longer for them to adapt to the stress of running and they’re more likely to get injured if they ramp up too quickly. I usually recommend standing desks if necessary or, at the very least, getting up and walking to get a drink of water every 30 minutes throughout the day. Sometimes this means setting a timer on their watch, fitbit or phone, because I know how easy it is to get distracted with work and forget to get up. JA: Let’s talk about that sensitive subject of extra weight. Let’s face it, significant extra weight is extra stress on the joints. DFP: Yes, this is a sensitive subject and emphasized to varying degrees at PT. I always try to remind myself that although with some people it seems obvious that if they lost weight, it would help their injury, I don’t assume it will take care of the issue just by losing weight because there are few injuries that are solely caused by extra weight. With that said, for our joints that get injured from the increased load of extra body weight, i.e. lower back, hips, knees, and feet, just losing a small percentage of weight can significantly decreased the stress on these joints. The most inspiring stories I’ve seen are the people whose injury and subsequent rehab have been a wake up call and they actually make a lifestyle change, starting a gym/ exercise program and losing weight as they finish PT.

COURTESY ABRHP

Plans for the new ABRHP structure, designed by Larry Lamb.

Exciting Next Steps for Albemarle Blue Ridge Heritage Project By Sally James Winter may be trying to slow down outdoor activities in central Virginia, but just like the preparations for spring happening underground and out of sight, the Albemarle Blue Ridge Heritage Project is getting ready to burst into action again. Plans for the next phase of the memorial recognizing the families displaced to create Shenandoah National Park are becoming a reality. In part with donations from generous supporters, and with grants from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR) and National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Bama Works Fund at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, and with a matching grant promised from the Perry Foundation, the ABRHP will begin Phase Two of the memorial at Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve Park. Within fifty feet or so from the memorial stone chimney and plaque dedicated in November of last year, a post and beam shelter reminiscent of a traditional mountain cabin will be erected. The building has been designed by Larry Lamb, and will be built by SalvageWrights Ltd of Orange, Virginia. Concrete for the pad has been donated by Allied

Concrete. The concrete finishing will be done by Dallas Hite, and the roof installed by Greg Herring. Once the shelter is complete, the final portion of the memorial will be placed inside. Several informational panels will tell the stories of the families who lived on the land that has become Shenandoah National Park. With photographs from descendants, documentation of properties condemned, maps, and stories passed down from the displaced families, ABRHP hopes to inform, educate and inspire present and future generations by teaching the background and heritage of Shenandoah National Park. Additional funds are still needed to create and build the panels. For those interested in helping with donations, please contact Paul Cantrell at aftonbcrozet@gmail.com, or checks can be made out to Blue Ridge Heritage Project—Albemarle, and mailed to PO Box 88, White Hall, VA 22987. There are links to donate on the Blue Ridge Heritage ProjectAlbemarle website (www. blueridgeheritageproject.com/ albemarle/) and on the ABRHP Facebook page, www.facebook. com/groups/AlbemarleBRHP/. Together, our community will honor the hundreds of people who once called that mountaintop “home.”

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

BY DR. ROBERT C. REISER

crozetannals@crozetgazette.com

Transfer to America I wrote this back in August 2016 when the idea of a ban on Syrian refugees and others was just a campaign promise. Now that the ban on Syrian refugees and others has been enacted by Executive Order I decided to revisit it. I am a primary care doctor working in a quaternary care hospital. Primary care doctors see all sorts of undifferentiated patients and decide if they need referral to secondary care, i.e. a specialist such as a cardiologist or a neurologist. The specialist then determines if they need referral to tertiary care i.e. a subspecialist such as a cardiac electrophysiologist or a neurologist specializing in movement disorders. Quaternary care is provided by a subspecialist of a subspecialist, who performs rare cutting-edge medicine or surgery such as gamma knife brain irradiation surgery for hard-toreach brain tumors. Working at a quaternary care hospital is a luxury and a burden. It is an obvious luxury in that I can usually get patients the care they need relatively easily. It is a burden as it is sometimes cumbersome to actually identify the proper service to take on the care of the patient with so many different routes to go. Does the patient with the brain tumor go to neurosurgery or neurology or oncology or general medicine if a definitive diagnosis has not yet been established? I am also a secondary care doctor. I am the doctor that office-based primary care doctors refer their patients to when the problems cannot be safely managed in an office setting: things like chest pain, severe infections, lacerations, and potential surgical conditions like appendicitis. I am also a tertiary care doctor to other ER docs in other

hospitals when their patients need more than the secondary care that their hospitals can provide. This is another burden of working at a quaternary care hospital. On a daily basis I am besieged with calls from other ER docs wanting to send their patients to my hospital. I field dozens of these calls every shift. The calls often disrupt my patient care and resident teaching and are generally resented by patients, residents and our staff, but they must be answered. My most remarkable referral until recently was a doctor in Israel who wanted to refer a patient to my hospital’s ER in Connecticut where I was working at the time. It was so farfetched to me that I actually agreed that if he could get the patient here we would of course see him in the ER. Two days later I got a call from one of my partners to come down and see “my” patient, newly arrived from Israel with a litany of long-standing non-emergent symptoms. I paid a social call but left his disposition to the docs on duty, who promptly discharged him. These transfer requests do give me a unique insight into the patchwork quilt of the U.S. healthcare system and its challenges, but also its incredible strength and potential, just like America itself. I was idly reading through the stack of referrals my colleagues had accepted on a recent shift when one caught my eye. The patient was coming to my ER from Syria to get a needed procedure. Not the town of Syria in Virginia, but Syria itself via a refugee camp in Turkey. I sought out my colleague who just shrugged his shoulders and said it had all been arranged and he had been told to accept the patient. What the heck?

continued on page 39

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FEBRUARY 2017

Make Earth Great Again By Elena Day elena@crozetgazette.com My dear friend carried a poster with the message “Make Earth Great Again” at the Women’s March Jan. 21. It was an apt response to the red baseball caps manufactured in China or another Southeast Asian country emblazoned with “Make America Great Again.” The red hats somehow brought to mind the baby flounders (and perch and striped bass) I saw flapping in the shallows of the Potomac River in the Northern Neck in the early 1960s. They were trying to stay alive during oxygen-depleting algal blooms called “red tides” that were becoming frequent in the late ’50s and early ’60s. My father happily hand netted the oxygen starved and dying fish, which we ate. We should have been worried about the toxicity of the Potomac, but we were uninformed. The late 1950s to the early 1970s marked the peak of pollution in the mighty Potomac. The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s wastewater and storm water inputs resulted in large migratory fish kills in the early 1960s. In 1962, thousands of striped bass and white perch died in the Potomac. In September 1965 an estimated 3 million-plus menhaden died and formed a huge decomposing mat on the Anacostia, a Potomac tribu-

tary. That same year Lyndon Johnson declared the Potomac River a “national disgrace” and an embarrassment. The attention focused on the waterway resulted in the enactment of the Clean Water Act to regulate pollutant discharges into the “waters of the United States” in 1972. By then the shad fishery in the Potomac was collapsing because of pollution, overharvesting and the blocking of spawning habitat with dam construction. Shad had been the Potomac’s most abundant and economically important fish from colonial times. The American shad is an anadromous fish, and like salmon, mature anadramous fish migrate from salt water to spawn in the freshwaters where they hatched. Every spring the shad, “the fish that fed the nation’s founders” was harvested from our East Coast rivers from Nova Scotia to Florida. Barrels of salted shad are credited with saving the Continental Army from starvation at Valley Forge. In the early 20th century, 17.5 million pounds of shad were harvested annually from the Potomac. In the early 1970s the harvest fell to less than 2 million pounds. In 1980 Maryland closed the fishery. By 1982 the entire Potomac watershed was closed to shad harvesting. A moratorium in all the other rivers in Virginia was in place by 1993. Like salmon, shad is a “keystone” species. A keystone species is one that is “crucial and unique” to the function of its particular ecosystem. The annual spring spawning of shad was the e n e r g y source that provided food for bald eagles, osprey and black bear. Shad roe was a favorite food of catfish, striped bass and minnows. Blue crabs dined on

shad that died of “spawning stress.” It became clear that American shad had to be restored to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. A coalition of federal, state, regional, and local agencies and nonprofits initiated shad restoration in the Potomac in 1995. Over a couple of decades water quality in the highly polluted Potomac had improved. As part of the restocking effort, dams were breached and/or fish ladders were provided. Sixteen million shad fry were stocked in the Potomac at Great Falls by 2002. Today the shad population is rebounding and populations are approaching those of the 1940s and early 1950s. Restocking efforts with Potomac shad fry have moved on to the Rappahannock River. The American shad story illustrates how people working together and changing their habits can re-enliven an ecosystem. Currently the Chesapeake Bay watershed is endangered/ stressed/not right. Because ecosystem organisms are interconnected, the trajectory of the shad story may change. Currently, fish killing red tides, or harmful algal blooms (HAB’s) as they are now called, are increasing along U.S. coastal waters, including the lower Chesapeake. In fact, they are occurring with frequency in freshwaters. Note the bluegreen algae (cyanobacteria) bloom that wreaked havoc in Lake Erie in summer 2014 and the three-day “Do Not Drink” water advisory for Toledo and suburbs. Blue-green algae blooms increased from 13 per year in the 1990s to 23 per year in the 2000s in the Bay watershed. Algal blooms in the Bay are the result of nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) overload. Increases in population in the Washington-Baltimore corridor and concurrent increases in sewage/wastewater and lawn fertilizer runoff contribute to nutrient overload. Forty percent of the nitrogen and 50 percent of the phosphorus entering the

Bay and its tributaries is from agricultural runoff from crop land and factory farms.Vehicle exhaust and power plants contribute one-third of the nitrogen. Algal blooms themselves deplete oxygen. They also cloud waters, blocking sunlight to underwater grasses. When these die and decompose, more oxygen is depleted. Dead zones of low or no oxygen stress or kill fish and shellfish. Increased HAB’s are more likely to occur in summer when water temperatures are higher. Rising water temperature is a result of rising air temperature: i.e. climate change and global warming. The Bay has lost 98 percent of its underwater grasses, 80 percent of its oysters and 50 percent of forest buffer. The James River and the Rivanna are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Getting back to the red hats, it is unfortunate that they support an administration that denies that the climate is warming and that it is the result of myriad human activities that could be controlled and reversed. It is disheartening that Sonny Perdue, friend of agribusiness and industrialized food systems, has been named Secretary of Agriculture. It is unlikely that there will be efforts by the Trump administration to back away from a pesticide-laden agricultural system that generates increasing amounts of CO2 and nitrous oxide. Regenerative agricultural practices, food labeling, and denying new GMO’s with ever more toxic herbicides to which they are resistant apparently aren’t on the Trump agenda. The slogan “Make America Great Again” denies the interconnectedness of humans of all nationalities within all ecosystems of planet Earth at this juncture in human history. Perhaps that is why my mind bounced from red hats to flapping flounders. We are all in this together. We have to work hard to restore our planet or….

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CROZETgazette

Medicine —continued from page 37

I guess word of my discontent filtered upstairs because the Chief of the hospital paid me a visit accompanied by a social worker. They explained that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) had contacted UVA’s Family Medicine Refugee clinic about this patient and had crafted a plan over several days to get the patient here from Turkey to get the life-saving care he needed. As a refugee he qualified for emergency Medicaid insurance on arrival; so not only would his medical care be provided, but it would be paid for. That was not really my concern but I did think it was kind of cool that such a law existed. As I thought about it more and more I became enamored with being part of this extraordinary demonstration of

Gazette Vet —continued from page 28

two young kids around 7 and 9. You could tell that the mother would rather not have had the kids present, but she had no other choice than to bring them along. Perhaps it sounds cliché, but she was so strong for those kids, being so calm and sure despite her own heartbreak, as this was the dog she first got back when life was more simple. The young boy just sat on the bench, hugging his knees, tears in his eyes, but silent. The older sister was clearly the caretaker in the family and was doting all over the old dog, being positive, and telling her how everything was going to be okay. She showed such maturity in such an emotional moment. But she broke down once the dog took its last breath, and I

FEBRUARY 2017 America’s wealth and generosity and decency, not to mention the logistical forethought that had gone into this transfer. The IRC had arranged for housing for the patient and his family in Charlottesville and going forward he would receive his care from the Family Medicine Clinic and our subspecialists. I met the patient and his family in the ED, accompanied by an Arabic interpreter, an Iraqi who had served with U.S. forces in Iraq and had been resettled here after the war. The patient was quiet, the family humble and grateful, the interpreter patient and supportive. I welcomed them all to Charlottesville. This was met with weary tentative smiles. I know there is much to debate about America’s standing in the world and our policies toward immigration and refugees. But I have to tell you that caring for that patient felt like the right thing to do.

still remember seeing her tears landing on her old friend’s face as she cried from real, honest sadness. There are many, many more “moments” and I am glad for those that from time to time make it through my wall. If we build our walls to be completely impenetrable, then we lose the ability to hurt with other people, which is such an important part of our humanity. Additionally, I always find myself envious of the unspoiled emotions of children during these times of loss. They have no reason to pretend they’re not hurting, nor do they overdo it. They just react openly, honestly, and with appropriate measure. Witnessing that is an inspiring glimpse into the human soul.

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FEBRUARY 2017

CHARLES KIDDER

inthegarden@crozetgazette.com

Pines: In the Landscape and in Your Garden A trip across the southeastern U.S., from the head of the Chesapeake Bay, down to Florida and across to East Texas, will quickly convince you that this is indeed the Land of the Pine. Depending on exactly where you are, various pine species will predominate, but the overall presence of the genus Pinus in the South is astounding. Given their natural abundance, how can they fit into your landscape? And going beyond your own property lines, what role do pines have in the overall ecology of Albemarle County and Virginia as a whole. Let’s look first at the native pines that grow around us. The Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana) would probably get the prize for abundance, if not for ornamental value. It’s sometimes called Scrub Pine, owing to its rather scruffy appearance. It tends to hang on to its lower branches, even after they have dropped their needles and died. The small cones, only about 1 ½” to 3” long, hang on to the tree long after they have shed their seeds. The short needles turn a sickly yellow in cold weather. So, what’s good about this tree? Well, it will grow in some of the worst conditions you can throw at it. If you have some bare, compacted, red clay where nothing else wants to grow, Virginia Pine will soldier on. And what about those yellowish needles in winter? In a noteworthy example of making lemonade when you’re dealt lemons, the cultivar ‘Wate’s Golden’ has needles that turn a golden yellow in cold weather, a bold contrast to plants like a red-twigged

dogwood. And any Virginia Pine will serve as a good screen if given full sun and room to grow outward. Also abundant locally, Shortleaf Pine (P. echinata) lends an architectural character to the landscape with its upright growth habit, scaly bark, open crown and sinuous lateral branches. It is a fast grower and puts down a long taproot, allowing it to tolerate very dry sites. Given the difficulties associated with growing a taprooted plant in containers, you are not likely to find this plant for sale at your local garden center. The South’s most abundant pine is the Loblolly (Pinus taeda), although its native range barely reaches Albemarle County. With its rapid growth, tall straight trunk, adaptability, and prolific seeding habit, loblollies seem to be proclaiming, “Here we come, so get out of our way!” If you want to create a quick screen, plant two or three rows of loblolly pines. The downside: as they get taller, the lower branches will drop off, removing your screen. The solution: plant shade tolerant species like azalea and holly among the pines. They’ll assume the screening function as the pines grow up. You’re most likely to find loblolly pines either at a nursery specializing in native plants, or buy them from the Virginia Department of Forestry. Growing throughout most of western Virginia, the Eastern White Pine (P. strobus) is a northern tree that has adapted to cooler parts of the South. In our part of the world it is the sole representative of the white pine group. Also known as soft pines, these trees have five nee-

Virginia Pine on the right, Loblolly Pine at the left edge, serving as a screen

dles in each cluster (fascicle); the yellow pines discussed above have harder wood and two or three needles in each cluster. Needles on white pines tend toward bluish-green in color, opposed to the more yellow-green of the hard pines. White pines appreciate moderate moisture and good drainage, and given adequate water they will grow rapidly; two feet or more per year can be expected from established trees. Another significant difference between the white pine and all its yellow pine cousins: its perceived landscape value. I will grant you that value in the garden is pretty much a personal opinion, but the white pine’s blue-green needles and soft, graceful appearance definitely make it stand out in the sea of yellow pines. (Presumably this “standing out from the crowd” factor wouldn’t hold as much in New England, where the White Pine is abundant.) The numerous cultivars available for White Pine also are a major factor in its popularity. Depending on whom you consult, there are a few dozen out there; below are just a few: ‘Compacta’ and ‘Nana’ are catchall terms for dwarf plants, generally low and mounding. You might see a ‘Compacta’ white pine at one nursery that is somewhat different from another of the same name at another nursery. ‘Contorta’—an open, irregular tree with twisted needles,

only 18’ high at 40 years; ‘Fastigiata’—upright and columnar when young, becoming somewhat broader with age, with branches at a 45-degree angle; ‘Glauca’—various cultivars with bluish needles; ‘Minima’—dense and low-spreading, growing about 1” per year, needles very short (1”); ‘Pendula’—a weeper with long branches that will sweep the ground unless staked or trained, somewhat resembles a wooly mammoth with age; ‘Angel Falls’—another weeper that appears more restrained and elegant than ‘Pendula’. All of these cultivars will cost more than the straight species, especially the dwarf/compact forms. Slow growth equals more time growing in the nursery before the plant is ready to sell. And not to sound like an arbiter of taste, but weeping plants need to be placed carefully in your landscape. Otherwise your garden can look like the local freak show. Our native pines have value as pioneers that colonize open spaces, later to be followed by the hardwood species. All pines provide evergreen cover for wildlife, with birds and squirrels feeding on the seeds. Deer can browse the branches—not exactly a good thing if you just plunked down hundreds of dollars for a choice cultivar! There’s still a lot to say about pines. More to come in March.

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

community events FEBRUARY 9

Crozet Jam Band at Starr Hill

The 13th jam session by the Crozet Jam Band will be held Feb. 9 at Starr Hill Brewery from 7 to 9 p.m. The theme of this session will be a tribute to the Dixie Chicks. The Crozet Jam Band will also play songs from past jam sessions requested by attendees including songs by The Eagles, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Leonard Cohen and The Band. Song books will be available. Crozet Jam Band sessions are open to everyone who likes to sing and/or play an instrument at any skill level. Jam band sessions have included choral group members, guitar players (acoustic and electric), bass players, keyboard, accordion, violin, harmonica, trombone and those who simply love music. Jam sessions are held at Starr Hill Brewery on the second Thursday of every month. The objectives are participation and fun with music. Any musicians who are interested in participating and wish to receive the music in advance should contact Jim Pyles at 812-2124 or (410) 703-9897.

FEBRUARY 11

Innisfree Featured at Crozet Artisan Depot

The fine crafts of the residents of Innisfree, the Crozet community for adults with intellectual disabilities, will be featured at the Crozet Artisan Depot in February with an opening reception Saturday, Feb.11, from 3 to 5 p.m. Although the products of Innisfree’s wood shop, bakery and looms are found at the depot year-round, the designation of the village as featured artist draws special attention to the important work being done at this community, where staff, volunteers and other residents live and work together. Miriam Picus, head weaver, said 20 weavers work four days a week to produce the totebags, placemats and dish towels sold

at the depot and other fine craft shops. Also on hand will be beautiful cutting boards produced by the wood shop, with a number of small wooden trivets as well. Head baker Graham Mullen said that granola and breads––a Parmesan pesto and country white loaf––will be available for sampling at the reception as well as for sale. Innisfree’s Emily Vanderlinden said the crafts program is important to the community in several ways. For one, money from the sale of Innisfree products goes back to the workstations for more tools and materials. “Meaningful work is therapeutic on a lot of levels,” Vanderlinden said. “It’s also important that the work is seen and appreciated by other people.” The Crozet Artisan Depot is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 to 5.

FEBRUARY 24

Red Hill Grand Re-Opening

Red Hill Elementary School will host a “Grand Re-opening” Friday, Feb. 24, to celebrate the completion of recent renovations to the school, which has 122-year history. The day will begin at the flag pole at 8:30 and guests—the community, parents and alumni—will move indoors for refreshments and tours. Students will wear red and white that day, and visitors are asked to as well. The school is interested in displaying artifacts from Red Hill’s history and the community is asked to bring (or drop off ahead of time) memorabilia of the school. For more information, call the school office at 293-5332.

MARCH 3

Art Fest Fundraiser

Arts students, parents and teachers in Albemarle County schools will host the 5th annual ArtFest in the West fundraiser Friday, March 3, from 6 to 9 p.m., in the Western Albemarle High School cafeteria. The event’s theme will be a

Magical Medieval Night of Family Fun, based on the upcoming WAHS musical “Once Upon a Mattress” and will feature music, food, student arts performances, a silent auction and a medieval costume contest. ArtFest in the West is organized by the non-profit group Arts in Western Education (AWE). Organizers hope to raise $10,000 for arts education in the six Western Albemarle County public schools: Murray, Meriwether Lewis, Crozet and Brownsville Elementary Schools, Henley Middle School and Western Albemarle High School. “This event is designed to be both fun for kids of all ages and a fundraiser supporting the kind of excellent arts programs that will be on display at ArtFest, from student jazz bands and ceramics demonstrations, to a preview of the upcoming WAHS musical,” said Colette Sheehy, president of the AWE Board of Directors. The event’s emcee will be Jody Kielbasa, Director of the Virginia Film Festival and a western Albemarle county parent. There is no entrance fee. Families with kids from elementary to high school are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities from ceramics, to decorating crowns, a photo booth, great food and musical performances by Henley and Western groups. There will be a Silent Auction, with funds going directly to arts programs in the schools. Families will be able to bid on music lessons, an SAT prep class at Georgetown Learning ($700 value), gift certificates to local restaurants and more. Any business interested in being a sponsor for ArtFest or making a donation to the Silent Auction is urged to contact Ellen Beard at (434) 984-2266.

MARCH 11

Sugar Hollow Bridges Run

The Sugar Hollow Bridges 5 and 10 K Run will be held March 11, starting at 8 a.m. The race is sponsored by the White Hall Ruritans. Proceeds will aid the restoration of the White Hall Community Center, a historic building in western Albemarle County, and for the

many community services provided by the organization, including scholarships to area college bound students, 5th grade achievement awards, highway clean up and many other projects. Both a 5K and a 10K course will be available on beautiful Sugar Hollow Road alongside the Moormans River. The course is measured so that the 5K runners will run over 2 bridges to the iconic sycamore tree. The 10K course will incorporate all three bridges with a run to the Sugar Hollow reservoir. The starting line is 1.5 miles west of Piedmont Store at 5275 Sugar Hollow Road. Join the Ruritans for a pancake breakfast after the race from 9-11 a.m. at the Community Center, 2094 Brown Gap Turnpike. Pre-race registration is $30. To register go to www.white hallva.org Onsite registration is $40.00, cash or check only. No refunds. Race will occur rain or shine.

MARCH 19

CCO Concert

The Crozet Community Orchestra Spring Concert will be held Sunday, March 19, at 4 p.m. at Crozet Baptist Church. Directed by Philip Clark, the program features flute soloist Elizabeth Brightbill in Chaminade’s Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 107. Other highlights include two movements from Hansel and Gretel, by E. Humperdinck and Mazurka and Waltz from the comic ballet, Coppelia by Leo Delibes. Orchestra registration remains open for experienced musicians wishing to play in the March concert. Or register for the April-June session. Strings, bassoon, trumpet and other openings are available. Visit the CCO’s website for more info: crozetcommunityorchestra.org The CCO is in need of volunteers—great community service opportunity, especially for students (ushering, handing out programs) email: crozetorchestra@gmail.com. The CCO is a 501(c)(3) Virginia nonprofit. All contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. Mailing address: P. O. Box 762, Crozet Virginia.

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Real Estate

Kids’ Crossword 1

by Louise Dudley 4

6 7

10 12

11 13

14 15

16 17

20 22

21 23 24

35 30

37 32

36 31

Solution on page 47

Vegetable Soup ACROSS 1 Sliced salad ingredient with green skin, white inside 5 A princess could feel it under her mattress 8 A vegetable with “eyes” 9 Taxi 11 _____ and butter are tasty with soup 12 “_____, myself and I” 13 Frozen water 15 Carve this orange gourd on Halloween 17 First president of the USA 22 President Lincoln’s nickname 23 Message on a candy heart 24 Opposite of shut 25 Walk on a hilly trail 26 You might cry when you chop them 28 This grows on a cob 30 Dark-red round roots 31 Spicy dip for Tostitos

DOWN 1 Snowman’s nose 2 President George H.W. Bush’s least favorite vegetable 3 Street 4 What Horton hears 6 Pink slice of pork 7 Similar to a sweet potato 10 Jack and the _____ stalk 14 Popeye’s secret for muscle-power 15 Small dog with a flat face 16 Card to send on Feb. 14 18 This grows on your head 19 Red fruits that seem like vegetables 20 National vegetable of Wales 21 Word on a red octagonal traffic sign 23 “What do you want to _____ when you grow up?” 27 A bird’s home 29 Zero in a soccer score

—continued from page 12

detached home for less than $500,000 will be difficult. The West Glen neighborhood that sits between Crozet Crossing and Orchard Acres holds promise for some more affordable options, but it is still in the approval process and probably won’t be built on in 2017. There were 12 attached homes sales in the quarter, down from 17 at the same time last year. For the year there were 20 percent fewer townhouse sales then in 2015. The average price for a new three bedroom townhome in 2016 was $394,000. Currently, there are 10 such properties under contract at an average price of $419,000. Townhouses have long been considered an affordable first or downsizing type home, but this is presently not the case in Crozet. While the local townhomes do cost less

Board of Trade —continued from page 19

As the CBT is a 501(c)(3), Marshall proposed a vote wherein the majority of board members agreed they were open to sponsoring grants. None dissented. Closing the meeting was a discussion of the finalization of an upcoming community-wide scientific survey. “The survey will essentially give us the ability to go to the county and provide them with scientifically verified information concerning the collective opinion of our residents,” said Tim Tolson, president of the Crozet Community Association. “Also, as there’s a Master Plan revision that will soon be coming up, we’ve developed questions that will seek input on that matter as well.” The survey will be available both online through the CCA’s website, at the Crozet Library, by mail, and in print copies of the Crozet Gazette. It will be about 40 questions long and take less than 20 minutes to complete. “Last time we did this over 1,200 comments came in,” said former Albemarle County Planning Commissioner Tom

than similar sized and featured detached homes, their escalating price exceeds most definitions of affordable. And in a nutshell, “affordability” will be the key heading into 2017. According to the crew at KCM, the Housing Affordability Index, which measures average affordability for a typical home for a typical family, remains at a better level than any of the prior 19 years before the Great Recession that started in 2009. This may be challenged in 2017 by rising interest rates, which Kiplinger and others expect to increase to close to 5 percent for 30-year mortgage rates by year’s end. Time will tell if continued “affordability” applies to Crozet, as we are already seeing higher than expected prices for properties currently coming on the market, and lots of interest generated with each new listing. The coming months will almost certainly see a seller’s market in the area.

Loach. “I knew as a planning commissioner that that information was invaluable to helping me make decisions that I felt represented my community. However, while the prior survey was ultimately deemed non-scientific, as a scientific survey, this one will sample from each of the geographic areas and increase our credibility exponentially.” The CBT agreed to raise funds for the survey, which Marshall estimated would cost around $4,000. The survey is slated to be issued in March. Additionally at the meeting Greg Scharer, COO of Perrone Robotics, and Cor Carelsen and Jennifer Blanchard—owners of the new Crozet Bike Shop and Morsel Compass restaurant respectively—introduced themselves to the board. “We’re so happy to be a part of this community and to watch it grow through the years along with our business,” said Carelsen. The next meeting of the Crozet Board of Trade will be Monday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the event room at Crozet Pizza. All Crozet-area business owners and interested citizens are invited to attend. For more information visit facebook.com/ crozetboardoftrade.

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Glasselle Branham Jenkins Glasselle Branham Jenkins of Crozet, died peacefully at home on January 8, 2017, after a lengthy illness. “Gae” was born in Charlottesville, Va. on February 23, 1932. She was the daughter of Byron W. Branham and Ruth Via Branham of Free Union, Va. She was predeceased by her husband of 65 years, Thomas H. Jenkins, Jr., and her only sibling, Samuel W. Branham. Gae was raised in Earlysville, Va. by her maternal grandparents, Reverend Jacob Wood Via and Carrie Crenshaw Via, after her mother died when Gae was 7 years old. She attended Broaddus Wood High School, and was a member of the Brethren Church in Free Union. She attended Bridgewater College, where she studied Choral Arts and met her future husband. They married in June 1950, and had one child, Thomas H. Jenkins, III, of McLean, Va. She was blessed with three grandchildren, Marissa R. Boynton of Arlington, Va., Brandon T. Jenkins of Washington, D.C., and Tessa T. Jenkins of McLean, Va., and one great-grandchild, Boden R. Boynton. Gae was a career woman, and she began working as soon as she left college at the National Savings and Trust in Washington, DC. She and Tom moved to Crozet a few years later, where she worked as an executive assistant at Acme Visible Records from 1958 to 1997. Thereafter, she worked as an executive assistant for Carl W. Smith, President of Amvest Capital Corp., from 1998 to 2007. Throughout her life, Gae was active in church and charitable activities. She was a member of the Crozet United Methodist Church for 60 years, where she taught Sunday school, served as Treasurer and a member of the Finance Committee, was an active member of the Joybelles Circle, provided flowers for the

altar, and acted as a caretaker for the Church grounds. Gae demonstrated her charity in countless ways. She cared for her aunts as they aged, and she regularly assisted others in her family and the community when in medical, financial, or spiritual need. In her “spare” time, Gae enjoyed family gatherings, gardening, handcrafts, cooking, and traveling. She was devoted to her son, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, and she organized the Jacob and Carrie Via family reunion for many years. Her flower gardens were immaculate and included many cherished heirloom flowers passed down from her aunts and great grandmother. She was an excellent seamstress who made quilts, and she made Christmas wreaths, peach jam, and orange marmalade that were stars at every Church bazaar. She also loved to travel, and she and Tom visited virtually every state and several foreign countries. She will be remembered as someone who was hardworking and independent, with high expectations for herself and everyone around her, but who nonetheless was kind, selfless, and gracious, respected by her colleagues and co-workers and beloved by her family and friends. A memorial service and reception was held on January 14 at the Crozet Methodist Church. Anderson Funeral Services assisted with the arrangements. A private family internment will be held at a later date at the Church of the Brethren in Free Union. The family wishes to express its deep gratitude to Gae’s caregivers, and second family, during the last year of her life: Sharon Middleton, Michelle Hodges, and Erica Hodges. The family suggests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Hospice of the Piedmont or to the donor’s preferred charity.

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BEREAVEMENTS Guntis Ultis Baltins, 77

February 18, 2016

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January 1, 2017

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January 1, 2017

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January 2, 2017

Donald Lee Morris, 71

January 2, 2017

Shirley Bellomy Baltins, 81

January 4, 2017

Jessica Elaine Taylor, 38

January 7, 2017

Mary Catherine Bryant Davis, 97

January 8, 2017

Glasselle Branham Jenkins, 84

January 8, 2017

Lewis Wayne Collier, 63

January 15, 2017

Derek Charles Oppen, 68

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January 15, 2017

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January 24, 2017

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January 26, 2017

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FEBRUARY 2017

Scholastic —continued from page 31

tion sets from old state, regional and conference matches, which are available online. They also scrimmage against other players online. Having coached for over a decade, Strzepek has many state Scholastic Bowl championships under his belt—including leading an undefeated team with a national ranking of 4th that, in 2014, not only won states, but set a record for the highest team score. After working with so many successful players, Strzepek says he’s developed a knack for recognizing talent. And this year, suffering only one loss during the regular season—and that coming down to a final gut-wrenching question—and beating regional powerhouse and rival Albemarle High School, he’s confident the WAHS varsity squad has what it takes to make a run at the state championship. “One of my key players is junior starter Caroline Koester,” he said. A captain, Koester has been playing on school teams since the 8th grade. “I brought her up early to compete at nationals because she was simply too good to leave at the middle school level.” Heralded as fiercely competitive and hav-

Ivy Creek —continued from page 9

the fastest option was the best,” said Jim Sofka, a member of the 250 Task Force and the property owner closest to the bridge. “They’ll come in with a crane, take the thing out in one piece and get it over with. Otherwise, it’s jackhammers and time-consuming piecemeal construction. Plus, the former gives you a better end product.” Indeed, according to Tomlinson, Alternative A would yield better results. “Both have the same end in mind, but it is ideal to install a product like this all at once,” he said.

MIKEMARSHALL

would be implemented in early July of 2018, just after Independence Day. With an estimated 75 to 100 people cycling through the meeting area, public opinion ranged. However, based upon a survey of the crowd, most seemed in favor of the all-atonce approach. “I met with area business and property owners earlier today and it seemed like we all agreed

ing broad content knowledge, Koester routinely clocks in as the team’s highest scorer, and, with her natural grace under pressure, serves as the squad’s psychic anchor when the heat is on. Then there are sophomores Jack Emery, Harry Cowen, and Cole Weiss. “Jack specializes in history and has earned the nickname of ‘Big Game Jack,’ because he consistently steps up when the game is on the line,” said Strzepek. “Cole is more of a science and math guy, and has really focused on learning material that fills in gaps in our general knowledge and helps this team succeed. Harry likes pop culture and classical music and is by far our most improved player. His confidence has grown by leaps and bounds and he continues to get better every time he plays.” After winning the Conference 29 tournament at Fort Defiance on Jan. 23, the team will play in the state championship tournament at the College of William and Mary Feb. 25. “We’re going to focus on playing smart Scholastic Bowl—making no careless mistakes, being aggressive on the buzzer, and being confident in our individual and team strengths to carry us through,” said Stzepek.

Little Ivy Creek bridge deterioration

LISA MARTIN

Western Albemarle High School

2022

—continued from page 23

One approach to re-envisioning the basic structure and curriculum of high school was illustrated in the 90-minute documentary Most Likely to Succeed (2015) (www.mltsfilm. org), the viewing of which framed the meeting. The film began by contrasting current educational practices—characterized as preparing students for the industrial age—with the innovation-based demands of, and skills needed to prepare students for, the 21st century economy. It featured a charter school in San Diego, California called High Tech High, which emphasizes innovative thinking, “passion-based learning” driven by student interest, community internships and mentoring, and capstone projects presented to an authentic audience. The belief that “we all learn in different ways” leads teachers to become facilitators who pose thematic questions that drive student research, and support their individualized learning. Is it important for every Virginia high school student to read Herodotus, Chaucer, or Shakespeare? The film asked. Should calculus or biology be taught as discrete subjects, or integrated into real-world applications? Is content best retained when learned in the context of hands-on, work-based projects that align with a student’s passions? Based on the simplistic assertion that most current education is based on boring drudgery and that content is best learned in the context of vocational or even avocational needs, this film featured major players like Thomas L. Friedman, Ken

Jennings, and Salman Khan of the Khan Academy, but had a propaganda feel. More information is available at imdb.com. During the film’s intermission, the audience attended breakout sessions to hear how local high schools are already incorporating the five C’s and project-based learning into their curricula. WAHS Principal Darah Bonham described the more hands-on, student-directed nature of learning in the Environmental Sciences Academy, with its support by local organizations such as LEAP, as well as the interdisciplinary Humanities curriculum in junior year, which combines history and English to allow student choice in hands-on projects, field trips, and guest speakers. Seniors Julian Waters and Meg Richey spoke enthusiastically of the new “maker space” in the WAHS library, calling it a “center of student creativity.” “The maker space is a place for students to interact with what they are learning and to pursue their passions,” Meg explained. Meeting attendees were also encouraged to use sticky notes to post answers to questions such as, What skills will students need in the 21st century? What opportunities exist in our community for students to practice work skills? Although advertised as “A Community Conversation,” the actual meeting schedule allowed little time for discussion. As one sticky note pointed out, “This meeting was better for disseminating information than for gathering input.” It was primarily an opportunity for ACPS to share their rationale for the changes to come and progress in implementing them.

CROZETgazette

45 MARLENE A. CONDON

FEBRUARY 2017

A Native Plant Guide for Helping Wildlife If you are interested in helping our wildlife by creating new gardens, or adding native plants to your current garden, the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District has a book that could help you decide which plants to grow. Piedmont Native Plants, a spiral wire-bound guide loaded with color photos of native-plant recommendations, is available for just $10.00 (call 434-975-0224). The focus is on Piedmont and Blue Ridge native plants that will add wildlife as well as beauty to your yard. It includes examples of wildflowers, ferns, vines, edibles, shrubs, groundcovers, grasses, and trees, short and tall. The layout of the book is wonderful, with pictograms making clear quickly the amount of light and the degree of soil wetness required by each plant. The type of soil, the ultimate height of the plant, the color of the blooms and/or fall leaf color, the blooming dates, and even the plant’s natural habitat type are included in list form. A brief write-up manages to convey a wealth of information about each plant’s usage by wildlife. For example, I noticed that Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus) was listed in the index. I was surprised because I had always thought I must be the only person in the world to appreciate the beauty and usefulness of this plant that comes up in areas of poor soil in my yard. But when I turned to the correct page for more information, I read that its fall and winter color was “incredible” and that it hosts 11 species of native caterpillars. The authors mention cater-

pillar usage for almost every plant write-up in this guide. It is somewhat unfortunate but true that the focus of landscaping-for-wildlife efforts these days is almost totally upon growing native plants to feed caterpillars as food for birds. The problem is that people then think that caterpillars and birds are somehow more important in the natural world than other kinds of critters, which simply is not true. Birds may feed their chicks an awful lot of caterpillars, but they also feed them a variety of other kinds of organisms as well. The reality is that everyone should be creating naturefriendly gardens to sustain the entire spectrum of wildlife, not only caterpillars. I do not like to see nature organizations putting out there such a limited view of the natural world. Regrettably, these groups feel the only way to get folks to do something positive for wildlife is to appeal to their obvious fondness for birds. However, if folks don’t grasp the big picture, they may take action that is actually detrimental to the natural world, and that can be far worse than taking no action whatsoever. For example, butterfly (and other) organizations continue to suggest that folks plant Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) to help the Monarch butterfly. They do it because they know that people love the beauty of this plant and are more likely to want to grow it in their manicured gardens than the tall and ungainly Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Unfortunately, Butterfly Weed is usually too small a plant to support one Monarch caterpillar, let alone several. (Please see The Blue Ridge Naturalist column, “Butterfly Weed Won’t Save Monarchs,”

Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) may be too tall for most gardens, but the author allowed this volunteer to remain. It hosts Silvery Checkerspot butterfly caterpillars (seen here) along with many other kinds of insects.

w w w. c r o z e t g a z e t t e . c o m /2015/03/blue-ridge-naturalistbutterfly-weed-wontsave-monarchs) But if only Butterfly Weed is available to a female Monarch, she will indeed lay eggs on it instead of moving on to find the Common Milkweed plants that would better serve her progeny. No one wants to decrease the Monarch butterfly population, yet that can be the unintended consequences of growing Butterfly Weed. Piedmont Native Plants does include, as would be expected, Butterfly Weed. As with virtually all nature organizations, the authors selected the plants in this guide with aesthetics in mind. However, if you truly wish to help wildlife, you cannot base all of your decisions upon beauty alone. If everyone followed this course of action, an abundance of life forms would go extinct. Many kinds of animals depend upon plants that do not possess the beauty humans give so much priority. All native plants help wildlife, and you should welcome volunteer plants to your garden. For example, you will not find False Nettle (Boehmaria cylindrica) listed in this guide, perhaps because it does not have showy flowers. A native plant that came up one year in my yard, it coincided with an obvi-

ous increase in the number of Red Admiral butterflies, which I noticed seemed to be around those plants a lot. To other gardeners, the False Nettle would have been a “weed” and undoubtedly pulled out. But by letting it stay put, I was able to identify the plant and discover that False Nettle hosts Red Admiral butterfly caterpillars—a revelation many years ago that netted me an invitation by an entomologist to speak at a butterfly conference at Penn State, and to write an article for the magazine, American Butterflies. There are always discoveries waiting to be made in nature. I would suggest that if you feel the need for curb appeal, you could grow lovely plants in your front yard, but grow less attractive ones along the sides of your house and in the backyard. In this way, you can reach out to all kinds of wildlife (not just caterpillars, butterflies, and birds) which is, after all, supposed to be the reason for “going native”. I highly recommend Piedmont Native Plants as it can certainly get you going down the right path. But please remember that a properly functioning environment depends upon a variety of life forms— both plant and animal. Diversity isn’t just for human neighborhoods!

CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Crozet Gazette Business Card Ads

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CROZETgazette

FEBRUARY 2017

Robotics

Crozet Gazette Business Card Ads

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magazine, or a scrapbook, or a really good website.” The team welcomed Novotne’s innovations and, according to Bertrand, the revamped notebook has since won a number of design awards. “Jessica’s work is at the heart of the team’s energy and spirit,” said Bertrand. “And she’s developed skills in writing and video editing which will help her in her chosen field of communications.” At WAHS and Henley, with five teams and over 30 total participants, the FIRST program is booming. While teams typically meet four after-school hours per week, this season Her Majesty’s Engineers asked to meet for a whopping eight hours per week. “It’s a huge time commitment, but it’s so worth it,” said Martinez. “The robotics club isn’t just somewhere you can build and program robots, it’s a place where you meet people who are passionate about the same things that you are. Without it I know I would’ve never met my closest friends and I would’ve never challenged myself to take harder classes and get better grades, much less decide to pursue an education in civil engineering learning under the best professors in the world.” Out of 160 teams in Virginia, fewer than a third qualify for the state tournament. Her Majesty’s Engineers is one and will be competing Feb. 25 at the Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg. According to Bertrand, there’s a good chance they’ll go even further, potentially competing nationally and maybe in the world competition.

Solution to Kid’s Crossword, page 42 CUCUMB R P EA Y PO R BR EAD C I C O M T O V L WA S H I A S L B EM I N T R OP EN P T ON I ON S E N B E E T S T

E R W O H T A TO D E S P UMP U I NG TON O A E M C A H T CORN E I S A L

H CA B ME A K I N L B E E I K E

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