SPRING 2018
The apprentice issue Certain things you just have to learn by doing (like nursing kids!)
INSIDE THIS ISSUE n n n
Governor's School students take on intern assignments New to the zoo: welcome director Dr. Steve Monfort Join the gardening gurus in Masters program
PLUS
Zip Code 22642: Some call Linden God's country – Find out why n
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IN THE
The Apprentice Issue
27 COURTESY PHOTO
LIFE & STYLE
20 The Piedmont Symphony Orchestra brings world-class music to Fauquier County
41 PHOTO BY MELISSA HAMPTON
FACES & PLACES 38 Warrenton Pastor Derrick Rawlings breathes life into the ancient Scripture 41 Jamie Lamphier is making waves in the wild, wooly world of dog show handling
25 Who you gonna call? Try Mr. Miscellaneous for all sorts of fix-it jobs
43 New National Zoo director makes his home in Warrenton
27 Mountain Vista Governor's School urges students to 'learn by doing' in internship program 33 Just what the season ordered: A tall glass of local beer, special-selected for springtime
EXTRAS
n Tidbits ..................................8 n Then and now .....................10 n Fauquier map ......................12 n Zipcode 22642 ....................14 n Side by side ........................46 n The Last Word .....................66
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PHOTO BY PAM OWEN
HOME & GARDEN
23 Discover the inside secrets of Hawk Eye Handcrafts master woodworkers
26 Discover how a doctor becomes a doctor (Hint: hard work and dedication)
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45 Large animal veterinarian Dr. Steve White talks shop, interning and taking interns: both are important to his business model 46 Side-by-side profiles: They're hair apparent to the coveted throne of style
ON THE COVER
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54 Master Gardener program catches on in the county, with more signing up for insider tips, pro guidance 55 Take care not to introduce aggressive alien plants to your spring garden: expert Kyle Rhodes tells you how to stay in step 57 The incredible, edible egg 58 Garden like a chef this spring 62 Thought you should fear bamboo in the landscape? Tom Baughn says 'think again' 64 Beautiful butterflies usher in the season
Photographer Randy Litzinger says the Little Goat Farm cover shoot was the one that nearly got away. "We kept rescheduling the photo shoot for several weeks because of cold weather. Then finally we got the warmest day of the year, a beautiful, rich blue sky and great light. "I loved this image of them nursing the goat kids because it captures Susanne and Tia doing what they love, plus this great working relationship as mentor and student. "I have a 9-month-old daughter at home that is currently learning to drink from a sippy cup, Through my lens I noticed Tia's 'kid' drinking and making a real mess, and it reminded me of what I often see at home! The milk in the air was the perfect finishing touch for this image." SPRING 2018
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It does take a village: see how apprentice experiences shaped your writing team Published quarterly by Piedmont Media Address 39 Culpeper Street Warrenton, VA 20186 Phone: 540-347-4222 Fax: 540-349-8676 Publisher: Catherine Nelson cnelson@fauquier.com Editor: Betsy Burke Parker betsyburkeparker@fauquier.com Executive editor: Kari Pugh, 540-351-0487 kpugh@fauquier.com Advertising director: Kathy Mills Godfrey, 540-351-1162 kgodfrey@fauquier.com Consultants: Marie Rossi mrossi@fauquier.com Kate Sprague ksprague@fauquier.com Liliana Ruiz lruiz@fauquier.com Heather Sutphin hstuphin@fauquier.com Patti Engle pengle@fauquier.com Renee Ellis rellis@fauquier.com Design Visual design editor: Chris Six, 540-347-4222 csix@fauquier.com Page designer: Taylor Dabney tdabney@fauquier.com Ad designers: Cindy Goff cgoff@fauquier.com Taylor Dabney tdabney@fauquier.com Annamaria Ward award@fauquier.com
Valerie Banks Amster did her first magazine internships as a journalism undergrad in the early ‘90s. She credits an internship at Chicago Parent magazine with showing her she really wanted to be a teacher, not a magazine writer. She combines the interests teaching at Belle Meade Montessori School in Sperryville and freelance writing. Amanda Heincer is Piedmont Media news editor, having interned through high school and college at the Potomac News in Woodbridge. Former newspaper reporter and editor and government spokesperson Pat Reilly says she “learned most of what she needed to know about writing in high school. All my mentors were English teachers who were good at what they did and inspired their students.” New York native editor and author Steve Price counts among his “good fortune the opportunity to be guided by Angus Cameron and Nick Lyons, two legendary outdoor books editors.” Sally Harmon Semple is a master gardener and is recently retired from a long and “intermittently rewarding career writing and enforcing environmental law.” For three summers, Vineeta Ribeiro worked in the University of South Carolina's animal behavior lab with Dr. Patricia DeCoursey, a pioneer in the study of circadian rhythms. She recalls “progressing from cleaning flying squirrel cages to presenting research to the National Junior Academy of Science in New York City.” Today, Vineeta teaches at Mountain Vista Governor's School. Fauquier High grad Tevy Ribeiro is a second-year med student at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She credits Fauquier Hospital nurse Lisa Spitzer as her “unofficial mentor who encouraged me to pursue medicine.” Local writer Connie Lyons, who’s showed Irish Setters for 60 years and judged for 35, says she “was lucky enough to be mentored by two of the giants of the breed, Lee Schoen and Ted Eldredge.” Read about it in her book “Trend Setters: the Making of the Modern Irish Setter.”
Betsy Burke Parker has worked for Piedmont Media and its predecessors since moving to Fauquier in 1990. She first lived in Virginia's horse country (it wasn't wine country yet) in the early 1980s, when she galloped racehorses for early mentor Barbara McWade, and moved back in the late '80s for a Congressional internship. A native-born Virginian, Pam Owen is a writer, editor, photographer and conservationist “who learned to write about nature “through many educational, volunteer, work and life experiences.” Alissa Jones leads a writing group in Warrenton. She’s been published in several compilation books and is on the leadership team at her church. She says her mentors have always encouraged her to believe in herself as a writer, the most influential being her father. John Daum says he’s “spent many years as apprentice of the great beer bars and breweries of Europe soaking in all the culture and history I can from the Old World Masters.” He’s especially indebted, he adds, to the education he received in the Medieval town Bruges where his “quest for scholarship really took root in the upstairs room of the De Garre pub.” Local writer Nora Rice retired to Culpeper after serving as a federal government scientist. Mentors helped her navigate agency political nuances and organizational norms. Today, as Melissae Herbs and Honey's proprietor and herbalist, she says she “mentors others along the path to wellness.” Freelance photographer Randy Litzinger has had images in Sports Illustrated over 50 times, on over 220 football cards, and on 39 magazine covers including two Sports Illustrated covers. While in college, he assisted a New York City fashion photographer. He worked as an assistant for Sports Illustrated at the Little League World Series, which Randy calls “a big break, confidence booster and learning experience.” At 16, Danica Low began an internship at Digital Paper Corporation in Alexandria, leading
to her first post-college job at a tech PR firm. Since, she's worked in PR, writing and marketing through her own Higher Public Relations. Mara Seaforest says she’s “benefited from scores of mentors over the years, in fields ranging from stage performance and television production to economic development, arts management and, most of all, writing.” It was the late satirical columnist Art Buchwald who encouraged her the most in this field. She “credits him for teaching her exactly what others had always discouraged: to trust my own voice if you expected readers to believe you’re telling the truth.” Fauquier raised, native Virginian and physics grad of the University of Chicago, Norm Schulze helped pioneer the space program at NASA Langley, Houston and headquarters in Washington, D.C. in propulsion, systems engineering and management for manned and scientific spacecraft. Since retirement he has been working on family history and genealogy. Writer Janet Heisrath-Evans, mother of three, lives in Warrenton with husband Scott. In the early 1990s she “worked with amazing mentor Linda Linscheid,” at an oncology practice in northern Virginia. She moved to Fauquier in the late ‘90s. In an earlier career, Tom Baughn was a Presbyterian chaplain intern at Anderson Cancer Institute and Southeastern Louisiana University. After completing his doctorate in Early American Constitutional History, Tom did a Master Gardener internship in 2003. The retired professor says he loves mentoring new Master Gardener interns joining the program. Photographer Chris Cerrone says he's had "the great fortune of having numerous internships and mentorships." Ben Franklin said it well: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Twelve-year-old Roxie Beebe-Center is a seventh grader at Grymes Memorial School. She credits favorite authors J.K. Rowling and Mary Oliver for developing her interest in writing.
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Two roads diverged
… and then I took the other
With apologies to Robert Frost, I should have known I was on the wrong road long before I chose the one less traveled by. It would have made all the difference. Pursuing veterinary medicine in college was such an obvious choice for me. A farm kid with a decade and a half of Pony Club and 4-H experience, it was a natural progression. My high school counselor helped me select the nation’s top vet school (at the time – Auburn University) for undergrad, though she neglected to tell me I’d need to improve my math skills to emerge the other side. So certain I was of my future career, great board scores in English didn’t deflect me from the course. Scholarship offers from top journalism schools were round-filed. I wanted to be a vet, and that was that. First semester gave the first sniff of trouble. Underachievement caught up to me in the form of calculus. It was one of those big classes – 100 pupils in a huge auditorium with stadium seating that meant the foreign exchange grad student teaching the class looked like an ant at the lecturn. I was lost from day one but never asked for help. On the final exam I guessed at most of the answers, just throwing out numbers. Needless to say, I flunked. Undaunted, I cruised home for Christmas and an apprenticeship with our farm vet. Dr. Dewitt Owen was world-renowned – a Keeneland selection vet, he literally “wrote the book” on how conformation relates to soundness and performance on the racetrack. To me, he was just Dr. O, neighbor, friend and trusted professional. He let me ride around with him over break to get a little hands-on experience at my chosen future profession. I was at least intelligent enough to keep quiet about the calculus fiasco.
ternship We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. – Ernest Hemingway
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The first appointment on the first day, we stopped by a nearby thoroughbred farm to perform an internal blister on a young horse’s foreleg to treat a recurring tendon issue. I held the leadshank while Dr. Owen administered high-powered sedatives for the standing surgery. Ten seconds later I fainted dead away when I saw the horse’s lip droop and his eyes flutter shut. Another handler grabbed the shank from me as I fell. Humiliated, I came to, crawled to a nearby straw bale and sat staring at my shoes. There were just some things, I realized at that moment, that you have to experience first-hand before you truly understand. Granted, I redeemed myself the rest of my apprenticeship, helping with a castration, holding horses for inoculations and scribing pre-purchase exams, but it was crystal clear I wasn’t cut out to be a vet. The next semester I quickly changed majors, doubled up on the humanities and graduated in three years. I practically sprinted from lower Alabama to Virginia’s horse country in my haste to combine my two loves – horses and writing – at the Fauquier Times-Democrat (now the Fauquier Times.) Tangentially, it put me in the right-place-at-the-right-time to be present for the birth of inFauquier. In Frost’s alternate universe, my high school counselor would have adduced my paucity of math skills and directed me to Northwestern. I would have taken five years to graduate like everybody else, and I definitely would not be writing this column for this publication since I’d be 30 years deep in a career at a daily in some southern city. Maybe I owe that counselor a thank you. Reminiscing about that brief but life-altering apprenticeship was the force behind inFauquier’s inaugural Apprentice Issue. The writing team dove in, Nora Rice’s love of crafts yielding a bucketlist apprenticeship in a woodworking studio. Alissa Jones worked with handyman John Bush to see how he’s layered knowledge and skills since childhood. Mara Seaforest discovered how symphony musicians play equal with give and take. And Connie Lyons took it a step further with one of the world’s most beloved animated apprentices – Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. As always, the photo art of Randy Litzinger sets the stage – his exquisitely-timed shot of farm apprentice Tia Watkins and farm mentor Susanne Marsh feeding goat kids milk from baby bottles is a perfect tee-up for this season of growth.
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COUNTY TIDBITS
Spring forward Buckle up for Fauquier’s season full of fun This calendar is just a starting point. Check the weekly Fauquier Times and fauquier.com for up-to-the-minute event additions. Spring is for:
Steeplechase
area astronomers for a series of seminars at Big Meadows in the Shenandoah National Park on controlling light pollution. The local astronomy club will have telescopes available for stargazing and checking out far off galaxies. Events are planned May 18, June 15 and July 13. goshenandoah.com/activitiesevents/astronomy/night-skies Sky Meadows Park near Paris has a Dark Skies meteor shower viewing April 22. dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/sky-meadows
Spring is for:
Stretching PHOTO BY DOUGLAS LEES
• Saturday, March 24: Piedmont Foxhounds Point-to-Point. Salem Farm, Upperville. • Sunday, April 1: Orange County Hounds Point-to-Point. Locust Hill Farm, Middleburg. • Saturday, April 7: Old Dominion Hounds Point-to-Point. Ben Venue Farm, Ben Venue. • Sunday, April 15: Loudoun Hunts Point-to-Point. Oatlands, Leesburg. • Saturday, April 21: Middleburg Spring Races. Glenwood Park, Middleburg. • Sunday, April 22: Blue Ridge Races. Woodley Farm, Berryville. • Saturday, April 28: Foxfield Races. Charlottesville. • Sunday, April 29: Middleburg Hunt Point-to-Point. Glenwood Park, Middleburg. • Saturday, May 5: Virginia Gold Cup Races. Great Meadow, The Plains. centralentryoffice.com
Spring is for:
Stargazing
Life can be complicated: schedules, deadlines, projects, work and family. Here are three simple steps yoga teacher Monica Fernandi says will grow strength this spring. is for attitude, positive attitude. How we choose to look at what life gives us, and how we react, affects our feelings, our stories, even our blood pressure. Shakespeare once philosophized that “there are no ‘bad’ days, for it is our thoughts that create them.” Choose a positive attitude for health and emotional benefits. is for breath, what I call “free medicine” in my yoga classes. The life force that sustains us also provides energy, calm and detox. Connecting with deep, diaphragmatic breaths to expand lung capacity, relax the busy mind and invigorate your body’s natural healing ability. Depression, anxiety, heart disorders and overall wellness improve with simple, regular breathing. is for courage, which comes from the word for “heart.” Courage is what allows us to have fun, go with flow and even find some laughter to ease our way. monicafernandi.com
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Spring is for:
Trails
Local, state and national parks are refuge from city light pollution. Join 8
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The Fauquier Trails Coalition meets the second Thursday of each month at the Warrenton Community Center at 7 p.m. National Trails Day is June 2.
Love your mother
Earth Day is April 22 this year, but did you know that this international celebration was conceived at Warrenton's own Airlie at a 1969 environmental conference? The first Earth Day was held the next year. Celebrate the event April 22 at Airlie, with an open house at the Rainforest Trust, garden tours, "kitchen garden" cooking demos, kids' games, refreshments, art display, raffles, seed giveaways and more. The event is free, but guests are asked to bring non-perishable food, pet food or clothing to donate to Fauquier SPCA, the Fauquier Family Shelter or the Fauquier Food Bank. airlie.com fauquiertrails.com
Spring is for:
Fun
• The Garden Club of Virginia hosts Garden Week April 21-28. Garden Week dates to 1927 when a flower show raised $7,000 to save trees planted by Thomas Jefferson on the lawn at Monticello. Since the first statewide tour, 47 clubs have raised more than $17 million for charity. The Garden Club of Virginia is a non-profit comprised of 47 member clubs and 3,400 volunteers. vagardenweek.org • Warrenton's Spring Festival is Saturday, May 19, with shopping and activities in Old Town. virginia.org • The Piedmont Small Farm Festival is at the Archwood farmers' market near The Plains. fauquierag.com • The Upperville Garden Club holds their annual daffodil show Tuesday, April 10 at Buchanan Hall. uppervillegardenclub.org • Bealeton's Flying Circus runs
airshows on Sundays from May through October. flyingcircusairshow.com • First Fridays start in Warrenton's old town May 4, with the special weekly events continuing through the summer. The free series includes live music, dance and art demonstrations, food and wine tastings, artisans, non-profit groups and more. partnershipforwarrenton.org • The annual Hunt Country Stable Tour is May 26-27 in Fauquier's horse country. middleburgonline.com. • Delaplane Strawberry Festival is May 26-27 at Sky Meadows State Park. Call 540-592-3556.
Spring is for:
Shopping • The Southern Fauquier Farmers Market is open Saturdays at the Liberty Station Center in Bealeton. • The popular Archwood Barns Farmers Market opens in April near The Plains. Archwood is open Sundays 10 a.m.-3 p.m. • The Warrenton Farmers Market opens in April. A Wednesday morning market is open 7 a.m.-12 p.m. on Branch Street, with a Saturday market open at 5th and Lee Streets. • Year-round: Buckland Farm Market in New Baltimore, Lee Highway Nursery in Warrenton, and Messick's Market in Midland PHOTOS BY CHRIS CERRONE
COUNTY TIDBITS
Spring is for:
Contracts Fauquier’s own Smith-Midland Corporation recently got the contract to supply up to 245,000 linear feet of concrete safety barrier for the I-66 express lanes project between Gainesville and the beltway. The 22.5 miles will provide two express lanes alongside three regular lanes. In addition, the project consists of 4,000 park-and-ride spaces, operational improvements at key interchanges, and bicycle and pedestrian upgrades. Smith-Midland crews will install more than a half-mile of barrier each night during the project’s initial phases. “This is the largest J-J Hooks order in the history of SmithMidland,” says Matthew Smith, Smith-Midland’s VP of Sales and Marketing. “We are proud to be part of the team that will help alleviate the congestion on this critical transportation corridor.”
Spring is for:
Easter
Monroe Park Easter egg hunt Goldvein | March 24 Friends of Monroe Park and Fauquier County Parks and Rec are co-sponsoring a full day of activities. goldvein.com Three Fox Vineyards Easter egg roll Delaplane | March 31 threefoxvineyards.com Eggstravaganza event Warrenton | March 31 Warrenton Community Center recreation.fauquiercounty.gov
Of Magicians, Warlocks, Witches and Sorcerers
Mickey Mouse was the original apprentice, whether he liked it or not
Many, if not most, trades require an apprenticeship in order to become proficient. Magic is no exception. Throughout the history of the craft, warlocks, witches, magicians and sorcerers have had their acolytes, arduously employed in the arcane, mysterious skills of their future profession. The four have subtle but significant differences, though all are encompassed under the paradigm of magician. Witches are almost always female and thought of as evil, a wellknown rare exception being Glynda the Good in the Wizard of Oz. Warlocks are male witches, and fewest in number. They’re widely imagined to be evil, but society seems to tolerate them better. Victims of the Inquisition, apart from heretics, and the Salem witch trials were almost exclusively women. This is at least in part due to the erotic titillation of accusing women of sexual congress with Satan and other demons. The self-proclaimed founder of the modern cult of Wicca is Gerald Gardner, a proud warlock. Magicians, on the other hand, are mostly believed to be well-intentioned, and thus we have Merlin, Prospero and Gandalf, Dumbledore and Dr. Strange. Frequently they have their opposing nemeses, the sorcerers and sorceresses Morgan leFey, Sauron, Voldemort, Kaecilius and Melisande in Game of Thrones. History, both in the real world and in literature, is rife with these preternaturally gifted beings. A strong belief in magic and the occult appears in the earliest of the great Egyptian kingdoms: the Witch of Endor even livens up the Old Testament.
Spring is for:
Conservation Five Fauquier County individuals and organizations recently received awards for soil and water conservation efforts. The John Marshall Soil and Water Conservation District gave the top honor, the Clean Water Farm Award, to Willingham Farms manager Daron Culbertson. A Hereford operation near Remington, Willingham Farms was established five decades ago by Culbertson’s late grandfather, Alton Willingham. Culbertson has set off streams for five exclusion practices, protecting nearly four miles of Marsh Run watershed stream bank and creating 26 acres of riparian buffer. The buffer area has been planted with native trees and shrubs. In addition, Culbertson expanded his
The Norns, the three sisters Urdh, Verdandi and Skuld, appear in the Norse Eddas. They nurture Yggdrasil, the great Tree of Life, and can predict the future; and to a certain extent control it. Their later doppelgangers are the three witches in Macbeth, who shape the future of Macbeth and Scotland by predicting it. In 1797 the great German poet Goethe is best known for his masterpiece, the long poem Faust, famously fueled by a magical deal with the devil. Goethe wrote a playful poem called “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” An old sorcerer takes an afternoon off, instructing his apprentice to fetch pails of water from the well. The apprentice, who is more than a little lazy, dons the sorcerer’s hat and magically animates a broom to do the work for him. But some things, once set in motion, are hard to stop – especially stopping magic by a novice. The floor is soon flooded. The apprentice attacks the broom with an axe, but each of the pieces turns into a new broom, handily equipped with a pail, creating a veritable ocean. At last the old sorcerer returns, breaks the spell, and sternly admonishes his suitably repentant assistant.
In the late 1930s Walt Disney was worried about the future of one of his favorite and signature creations, Mickey Mouse. Donald Duck was eclipsing him in popularity with the public, and Disney decided to give Mickey a boost. He decided to annex “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” conceiving of it as a short film accompanied by music composed in 1897 by French composer Paul Dukas. With enthusiastic assistance of conductor Leopold Stokowski he started work on the project. Then, inspired by what he had created, Disney decided to expand the short film into a full length feature encompassing eight classical pieces, most of them familiar to the average lover of classical music: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain among them. Mickey was redesigned: white eyes with pupils instead of solid black, more realistic ears, no tail, and a pear-shaped body. Coupled with the newly minted Goofy and the veteran Donald Duck, he appeared in a succession of critically acclaimed movies. He starred solo in 1938’s “Brave Little Tailor,” which was nominated for an Academy Award. Despite favorable reviews, “Sorcerer” flopped at the box office. It was not until its re-release in 1969 that it became a hit and ultimately a cult classic, largely because its psychedelic atmosphere made it popular with high school and college students. It has maintained its popularity; Amazon ranks it no. 5,189 in all movies and all TV of all time. – By Connie Lyons
use of rotational grazing, which protects against soil compaction and erosion. He was selected overall winner for the Rappahannock River Basin, one of only 10 basin awards given by the state soil and water conservation group. Willingham is the third Fauquier ag operation selected for the Rappahannock River Basin award in five years. Frank Ott of Marshfield Farms won in 2014, Carla and Claude Chapman in 2013. The Warrenton-based Piedmont Environmental Council won the Conservation Partner Award for promoting conservation goals, restoring the Thumb Run watershed and establishing the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program that addresses urban stormwater issues. With assistance from the Volgenau Foundation, PEC hosted a series of community meetings in the Thumb Run watershed to share results of scientific studies
and the availability of funds for habitat and water quality improvement projects. Fauquier Education Forum’s Jim Hankins won the Edwin Gulick Conservation Educator Award. Executive director of the Warrenton farm, Hankins works to educate local citizens about agriculture. He leads the Beginning Farmer Program and conducts Getting Your Hands Dirty classes. Crest Hill Landscaping owner-operator Jason Payne won the Conservation Contractor Award for his efforts in Agricultural Best Management Practices in Fauquier. Payne and his crew have installed nearly three miles of stream protection fence in the area. Susan and Stanton Sloane’s Gone Away Farm in The Plains won the Conservation Farm Award for protecting stream banks and creating riparian buffers by installing spring-fed gravity water troughs for livestock. SPRING 2018
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THEN & NOW
SPOT THE DIFFERENCES: Old Marshall High and Elementary 1949 vs. 2018 1.
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Aerial highlights lack of change around Marshall
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Today residents know it as the Marshall Community Center and Library, the cozy grouping of red brick buildings at the northern edge of town, where Marshall ends and the countryside begins. The campus initially served for schooling. In the late 1940s photo taken from a prop plane flying over Marshall one early spring day, the so-called "Graded and High School" building on the left was school for nearly 100 students. The additional classroom building on the right was built in 1923; in 1936 an auditorium was built to connect the two. The auditorium proudly displayed a large drapery with a star showing each of the 208 Marshall High men who served in the military in World War II, including gold stars for those who died on combat. Marshall High closed in 1963 as a result of the Supreme Court’s integration dictate. The school continued to function as Marshall Elementary until 1969, when the elementary school students from Marshall and The Plains were redirected to the newly-built Coleman Elementary School. That fall, the school became Marshall Junior High, although the switch was extremely short-lived. A fire after Christmas, 1969 started when the furnace, located in the basement of the 1920s addition, overheated. The buildings burned out of control during a severe snowstorm: Snow had drifted the roads shut, making rapid access by emergency crews – even from the Marshall fire department barely a quarter-mile to the south – impossible. A marker on Rectortown Road testifies that Confederate Col. John Mosby disbanded his ranger troops in the very same field just 84 years before the old photo was made. In the distance toward the east are the villages – or crossroads – of Halfway, Landmark, Middleburg and Aldie, boxed by the natural boundary of the Bull Run Mountains. As busy as the school complex was for some 60 years of education, the Marshall Community Center and library of today are just as vibrant. The library has books, videos, audiobooks and periodicals from around the nation, and around the world. Several book clubs meet there regularly. The community center hosts sports leagues, summer camps and teen and adult dances year-round. – By Norman Schulze
What's different (and the same) 1. The view to the northeast remains virtually unchanged from
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1949 PHOTO COURTESY OF NORMAN SCHULZE 2017 PHOTO BY ROGER SNYDER
the 1940s - protected farmland stretching through the Cromwell's Run valley to Atoka, St. Louis and beyond, framed by the Bull Run range, easternmost front of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 2. Southeast, too, remains largely rural, though note in the new photo that the town of Marshall, both commercial and residential, has spilled east of the railroad tracks hidden by the trees next to the dark green crop fields just north of the Farm and Home co-op 3. The left-hand building was there before Marshall Graded and High School opened in 1910. The bigger building to the right was added in 1923. An auditorium connected the two in 1936. Notice the schoolkids playing in the dirt lot in the old photo. 4. The house that's now home to Royston Funeral Home was there in the old photo, along with the farmhouses facing each other across Rectortown Road. 5. In the old photo, a curving track led from the main road into a farm field across from the school; today, a small, residential cul de sac, Meg's Drive, follows literally the same exact arc. 6. The farmhouse and barn are still in place today, though in the '40s they were both painted white. Today, the barn and newer sheds have been painted ranch red, and notice how the hardwoods lining the road and dotting the farmland that were saplings 70 years ago are now mature shade trees. SPRING 2018
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Lots to see and do this season in Fauquier County. Find the stories inside. 12
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ZIP CODE 22642: LINDEN
3 reasons to visit Linden
Looking for an excuse for a spring getaway? How about three?
With wide choices for recreation, refueling and a rich sense of history, this barely-there village clinging to Fauquier’s northwest edge is what locals call God’s country. Find out why they love Linden.
1. Listen to Linden’s story:
At 945 feet above sea level, Linden marks the top of the Manassas Gap, a gateway through the Blue Ridge into the Shenandoah Valley. The highest peak is 2,100 feet – Blue Mountain. Goose Creek begins its northeast run near High Knob, falling 600 vertical feet in the first 10 miles before bisecting U.S. Route 50 at Atoka. In 1669 the official discovery of the Shenandoah Valley was credited to John Lederer and John Catlett at the present day site of Linden.: There's a marker at the intersection of Route 55 near Fiery Run Road. From the mid-18th century to the 1950s, Linden was home to 25 apple orchards. Linden served as a point of transit for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, a rallying and rest point for Mosby's Rangers.
The Manassas Gap Railroad was completed in 1854; it ran through Linden from Mount Jackson to Manassas Junction. Today the tracks form a part of the Norfolk Southern freight rail system. The post office and most of Linden’s commerce lie between the three east-west markers of Goose Creek, the railroad track and Interstate 66.
2. Work up a sweat (then refuel)
The area’s only ski resort, Ski Cherokee had a very limited lifespan: it opened in 1991 and closed two seasons later, victim of inadequate cash flow and a succession of warm winters. You can still see Cherokee’s trail cuts driving west on I-66. Cherokee offered 1,000 vertical feet and a single chairlift. Today, get your fitness time on the Appalachian Trail, which comes off the Blue Ridge on Fiery Run, crossing Goose Creek near the post office and heading into the Thompson Wildlife Management Area. Convergent Crossfit is at the west end of town, founder and instructor Alesha Woodrell – who runs the patented workout program with husband Robert – offering several classes a day for area residents and commuters. Marriott Ranch offers trail rides at the resort's historic Fiery Run property south of the village.
Once you’ve worked up an appetite, check out The Apple House, opened in 1963 and still famous for homemade local apple butter donuts and barbeque. The Monterey Service Station no longer has gas pumps, or auto service (cater to those on the Warren County end of Linden), but manager Joy Sutphin says she serves breakfast and lunch sandwiches and convenience items. There’s a table inside and benches outside. “People love to come in here and just sip a cup of coffee and talk,” she says. Village gossip and the weather are the most common topics, but Appalachian Trail through-hikers often stop by since Monterey is one of the closest “pit stops” to the trail for miles around. Across Route 55, the Giving Tree sells local produce, eggs, local meats, honey and more, along with cider and pumpkins in season. If you need a drink after all your exploring, try Linden Vineyards or Fox Meadow Winery.
3. They call it God’s country. “Go up to the hill country; bring timber, and build the house that I may take pleasure in it, and receive my glory, says the Lord."
– Haggai 1:8
PHOTOS BY CHRIS CERRONE
The Giving Tree sells local produce and goods, and acts as unofficial booster to the tiny, unincorporated but surprisingly vibrant village of Linden. 14
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ZIP CODE 22642: LINDEN
St. Dominic's Monastery sits near the top of Blue Mountain north of Linden. It was built in 2008 for a group of cloistered nuns. The resident nuns at St. Dominic's monastery have a sweeping 50-mile, 360-degree view from their perch on Blue Mountain. The campus opened in 2008, and some dozen cloistered sisters spend their time in prayerful contemplation in the chapel, on the order’s 180 acres, and in private 10 by 10 rooms, called cells. Sister Mary Fidelis has been in the Dominican order more than 40 years, and “she’ll be here ‘til the end,” she says, with plans to be buried in the
cemetery on the grounds. Visitors are invited to daily prayers and Sunday services, Fidelis says. The area suits the quiet order perfectly, she adds, with the closest neighbors being wildlife as varied as rabbits in the vegetable garden the sisters take turns tending, black bears near the walking meditation trails, and foxes that hunt in the wildlife meadow along the long, curved drive into the campus. She says six sisters who were working in the garden saw a female mountain lion in the old
apple orchard last spring, with three cubs. She was unaware the game department just last month declared the Eastern Cougar officially “extinct” in Virginia. “We wouldn’t lie about something like that,” Fidelis says with a wink. Linden Methodist was built in 1842, though the original building burned in 1954. Little Chapel Baptist is south of the interstate on Goose Creek. – By Betsy Burke Parker
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Making waves with some of history's apprentices
'The Apprentice' TV show: Was it practice for real life? By Connie Lyons
In the late 1990s, Donald Trump was staring down financial ruin. One after another, his gilded casinos in Atlantic City had failed and fallen. Creditors were clamoring to be paid, and the banks that had loaned him money were rumbling ominously about bankruptcy proceedings. In the early years of the 21st century, Mark Burnett was tooling around the ice at New York City’s Wollman ice skating rink, the result of a Donald Trump renovation, and a far more successful project than the casinos. A few years earlier, Burnett had been hawking $18 T-shirts on Venice Beach in California, when the germ of an idea for a new kind of TV show took root in his imagination. By 2002, he’d created and aired the hit reality program Survivor. The show attracted millions of viewers salivating over the sight of beautiful, glamorous people fighting for their respective lives in exotic locations. That day on the skating rink walls, Burnett saw ads for Trump steaks, Trump hotels, Trump airlines, and inspiration struck again. He envisioned an offshoot of Survivor, based in New York, a jungle of a different kind peopled with would-be entrepreneurs ravening to tear each other’s professional throats out. For this sort of urban Survivor, who better to serve as anchor than the king of glitz - Trump himself? In the high gilded towers of the Trump Hotel, Burnett enthusiastically pitched his proposal, but initially Trump was skeptical. He took a dim view of reality TV, and he needed to devote every waking minute to rebuilding the Trump empire. Burnett assured him it would take just a few hours of his time a week, and dangled before him the alluring possibilities of a show grounded in the Trump Tower. It would show off the elegant, gold-plated Trump apartment, Burnett said, Trump jets and hotels. Most alluring of all, Trump would be the lynchpin of the program: judge, jury and executioner. Trump was no stranger to television, having made guest star appearances on a number of comedies and late night talk shows. After meeting for only an hour, they struck a deal, which gave Trump 50 percent ownership. The show was to focus on a group of 16-18 competing job seekers. They would team up to try to outdo their rivals in a business enterprise: the first show centered on operating a successful lemonade stand. Burnett pitched the show to possible 16
SPRING 2018
Printer’s Devil: Priming the mind of Benjamin Franklin By Steve Price
backers. At first he had no luck. Fox and ABC brushed him off. Too elitist, Fox execs said, a bunch of kids from fancy suburbs brandishing degrees from posh colleges. The average TV viewer would never connect with them. NBC picked it up, dividing contestants into teams to engage in business-related tasks, such as selling products, raising money for charity or creating an advertising campaign. One corporation was selected as each episode winner. The losers attended a meeting with Trump and his advisers to discuss what they had done wrong, and the unfortunate aspirant deemed to have contributed least to the team was summarily dismissed. “You’re fired,” blared the stentorian voice of Donald Trump. The last one standing was awarded a $250,000 a year job with Trump enterprises. “I’m the largest real estate developer in New York,” announced Trump in the opening voiceover. “I own buildings all over the place. Model agencies, the Miss Universe pageant, jetliners, golf courses, casinos, and private resorts like Mar-a-Lago. I’ve mastered the art of the deal and have turned the name Trump into the highest-quality brand. And as the Master, I want to pass along some of my knowledge to somebody else.” “The Apprentice” ran seven seasons between 2004 and 2010. It was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program in 2004 and 2005, but lost both times to “The Amazing Race.” The show had a very successful first season: 20 million viewers tuned in for the first episode and by the end of the season, was up to 27 million. “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2008 involved competing celebrities rather than aspiring young executives, with the top prize a major contribution to the winner’s favorite charity. Trump left “to pursue other opportunities” in 2016, having tucked away $213 million dollars and rejuvenated his fortune. The rest, of course, is still making history.
What would young Benjamin Franklin be when he grew up? In the 18th century, young men had very little say in the matter – it was chiefly their fathers’ decision what they’d do with their lives. Josiah Franklin first thought that young Ben should be a preacher and sent him to school. But when the school proved too expensive, his father took him out of school after only two years and him to work at the family business of soap- and candle-making. The decision did not please Benjamin, who loved the ocean and dreamed of working aboard a ship. However Josiah would not permit it because one of his sons had died at sea. When another son, James, returned from England to set up a printing business, Josiah had the answer. In the words of Benjamin: “From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. My father's library consisted chiefly of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have since often regretted that…more proper books had not fallen in my way. “Plutarch's ‘Lives’ there was, in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great advantage.” In 1717 Ben’s brother James returned from England with a press and letters to set up his business in Boston. “I liked it much better than (the plans) of my father," he wrote, “but I still had a hankering for the sea. To prevent the apprehended effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient to have me bound to my brother. “I signed the indentures when I was yet but 12 years old. I was to serve as an apprentice till I was 21 years of age, only I was to be allowed journeyman's wages during the last year.” The business printed books on a variety of subjects, from almanacs to sermons. As an apprentice, or “printer’s devil,” as such youngsters were nicknamed. Benjamin set type, cleaned the press and the rest of the workroom, made deliveries, and did anything and everything else that needed doing. “In a little time I made great proficiency in the business, and became a useful hand to my brother,” he wrote in his memoirs. “I now had access to better books. “(It) enabled me sometimes to
borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night.”
Newspaper drama
In 1721 James decided to start a newspaper. Unlike the two existing papers that reported on European events, his New England Courant focused on local news with clever and often controversial reporting and contributions from its readers. After several especially controversial stories two years later, the Massachusetts legislature found the publisher guilty of mocking religion and the government: James was imprisoned and forbidden to print the newspaper. But James and his friends came up with a way to circumvent the order. They simply published the paper under the name "Benjamin Franklin." To make sure it looked legitimate, James officially ended his younger brother’s apprenticeship at age 17, but he replaced the apprenticeship contract with a new secret agreement. It did not take long before Ben guessed that James would not want to reveal the secret agreement and so he took advantage of the situation and left Boston to set up on his own. He did just that, eventually opening his own printing shop in Philadelphia. The business printed all kinds of things including his own newspaper that he called the Pennsylvania Gazette, Poor Richard's Almanac and even Pennsylvania's paper currency. Regardless of his other accomplishments throughout his long life, Ben Franklin always said he considered himself first and foremost a printer, something he credited the early apprenticeship for developing the requisite skillset. Franklin went on to help draft the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and in 1752 conducted his famous kite-and-key experiment.
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SPRING 2018
LIFE & STYLE
Life & Style
THE WAY WE LIVE IN FAUQUIER
Orchestra musicians
Nobody learns in a vacuum Photos by Randy Litzinger Story by Mara Seaforest
Inside this section:
n Taking up the woodworker's craft demonstrates lifelong craftsman skill n Meet Mister Miscellaneous, your go-to guy for fixing just about anything n Spring break is here. Cheers to the season with local beers. SPRING 2018
19
LIFE & STYLE A DIFFERENT DRUM
Rocker finds sweet spot in Piedmont Symphony It is the beating heart of Stravinsky, Mahler, Copland: the array of gleaming copper kettledrums in a symphony orchestra. Behind them stands the timpanist in his formal concert garb, mallets in hand, eyes fixed both on his music stand and the conductor beyond. Symphonic music makes hearts soar, and sometimes break, its emotional excesses boring deep into the soul as few other forms of music can. Some musicians trained in other genres find their desire for drama and artistic expression better served by playing with an orchestra. So it was with Matt Case, principal timpanist with the local Piedmont Symphony Orchestra. He played drums in high school, and continued at Berklee College of Music in Boston, a school known for contemporary and jazz programs. Exposed to the wider realm of music in Boston, Case knew he wanted more drama in his musical life. He fell in love with the legendary sound of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and spent time at BSO concerts and rehearsals, until he knew he was meant to play a different drum: the timpani. He sought out a Boston University adjunct professor, PSO Principal Timpanist Matt Case provides the undercurrent of drama in much of the orchesRichard Flanagan, a men- tra’s repertoire. The kettledrums have a hallmark sound that keeps beat with other players.
tor to help him explore the new instrument’s capabilities, and continued his work at Berklee. After graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in music composition, he moved back to Fredericksburg to become principal percussionist with the Rappahannock Pops. Case has since performed as percussionist or timpanist with Maryland Lyric Opera, Friday Morning Music Club and Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic. He now teaches younger drummers in bands, ensembles and orchestras. “I love ensuring that music stays within the culture at a professional level,” Case says. “There is more than just an activity behind music or drums. It has to be a more profound experience, and students can make that leap only with help. “There is personal reward in taking a student just learning and turning them into a pro. I have yet to experience a greater feeling.”
Time for timps
Timpani, or kettledrums – informally called timps, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper.
Orchestra mentoring program hooks professional musicians to high school band members
PSO’s active mentoring program grew from music director Glenn Quader’s appreciation of a similar program started by Capital Wind Symphony conductor George Etheridge, one of Quader’s early mentors. The goal is to enhance young musicians’ talents, individually and as a unit through friendly interaction with professional musicians who play the same kinds of instruments. Launching the free program for Fauquier schools last month, Etheridge and 15 professional Capital Wind musicians met in the band room at Liberty High. The professionals took seats in the sections beside LHS musicians and band director Ben Lombardo turned his baton over to Etheridge. Early in the session, Etheridge asked how many of the nearly 50 band members were taking private 20
SPRING 2018
lessons outside of school. Only one hand went up. “That speaks volumes about why this mentoring program is so valuable,” Quader says. The kids just won’t get this kind of support on their own.” Etheridge had the band play a piece they knew well. He then suggested a few nuances for the brass players and winds, and taught some breathing techniques. A gray-haired percussionist showed a young bass drummer how holding back a bit actually gave the drum — and the entire band — more cohesive power. Playing the piece again, the band sounded brighter, more energized, more professional, students reacting happily to the crisp performance. Later in the session, in a more contemplative piece based on a folk tune, the students transformed
what had been a dirge into a lyrical expression of longing that left one observer in tears “These kids are terrific,” Etheridge says. “You feel how much they love music and how excited they are about this.” Quader agrees. “We were there once. Time to pay it forward.”
LIFE & STYLE
Play on: Glenn Quader learned his craft from musical mentors
Glenn Quader works with musicians of the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra, which includes some high school students as well as seasoned professionals. “I would not have found classical music were it not for my Greek father,” he says. “I listened to him play the violin from my infancy, so I grew up with music at my core. My mother, aunt and uncle and all my siblings played instruments. It was inevitable that I would, too, and I was surrounded by mentors to help me learn.” He’s never forgotten how important that mentoring was to him, and the influences of mentors throughout his career. He brings that gratitude to the PSO’s mentoring program and Young Artists Competition to be that circle of support and inspiration for Fauquier musicians. Composers express nuances of symphony musicians in writing every part, but it’s never enough. The orchestra conductor must communicate his interpretation of the score to the musicians. Before concerts, most conductors and orchestra members need to be left alone to get into their concert
PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER
Piedmont conductor Glenn Quader zeroes in on his orchestra to link dozens of musicians for a singular performance. headspace. During a break in rehearsal for a recent PSO performance of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,”
Quader explains the feeling. “We know we are about to create an experience as indelible as a painting, one that cannot be revisited,” he says.
“Even recordings lack the energy of a live performance. It will be forever remembered just as it was performed. Like a first kiss.”
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LIFE & STYLE
A cut above: Woodworker Dustin Walls Mastering the ancient craft links a lifetime of learning
By Nora Rice
I’d always wanted to craft my own beautiful and useful wooden items. While browsing at craft shows, I linger at artisans' booths stocked with carved spoons that fit just perfectly the hand, and cutting boards made from multi-hued woods. Guided by the steadying hands of Dustin Walls, owner of Hawk Eye Handcrafts in Markham, and with the gentle encouragement of apprentice Ryan Pirault, I finally got my wish. They work with many materials, including metal and stone, creating items as different as massive tables to small cutting boards. Recently, the duo mentored me to create my own handmade butcher block cutting board. It was an eyeopening experience. We used only “earth-friendly” materials made from reclaimed pallet strips, planed and held together with waterproof glue. Walls and Pirault stress safety is a major concern, so before we got started, they outfitted me with hearing protection and safety glasses. The work started simple: Walls showed me how, and I planed the board using a big table planer. My previous "wood working" experience was outdoors chain-sawing. As an eager novice at Hawk Eye, I was amazed at how smooth and finished the board looked after a single pass through the planer. Though hand-planing is truer to the ancient craft of woodworking, it would have taken 10 times longer. After planing, I used the hand random orbital sander to smooth out my wood’s edges and snipe, a word for an uneven surface caused by hard wood and old planer blades. Learning the nuanced ways to hold the sander – gently for the edges and firmly for the snipe – was part of the joy of the hands-on learning. Walls set out sandpaper for me in the order I was to use it, similar to the French culinary practice of "mise en place." First, I used 80 grit sandpaper, so
PHOTO BY KATHLEEN CLARKEN BUSCHOW
Writer Nora Rice apprenticed – one day – with woodworker Dustin Walls to design and create her own custom-crafted cutting board. abrasive it could skin your knuckles. I got the hang of it as I worked, using finer 120 grit and then even finer 220 grit to smooth the wood. When I was done, stroking the silky warm surface of my grownup craft
Hawk Eye Handcrafts history Dustin Walls, 31, grew up in Northern Virginia. He learned to work with his hands as a boy, alongside his father and grandfather. He started swinging a hammer young, pulling and straightening nails to build treehouses. He gained aptitude for design and nurtured what he calls a "fix it, don't replace it" and "do it yourself" attitude. After high school, Walls worked at a local flooring store. About six years ago, he and his girlfriend Nellie Barber took a camp hosting job in Maine. As they drove north, he noticed hawks
project was both gratifying and amazing, having started just a few hours earlier with rough, uneven strips of wood. Walls routed the edges for me with an bullnose bit – this was too complicated a skill for a novice. He added an
flying in the same direction, almost as an escort saying "follow us, you are going the right way.” He found hawks a recurring theme, an emblem he kept in mind for a future business. For more than two years, Walls worked as a camp host at campgrounds around the nation, taking reservations, cleaning sites, digging fire pits, chopping firewood, mowing grass and raking leaves. The lifestyle included free sewer, water and electric hookups for his camper, often with salaried pay and lots of free time to learn new skills. While in Maine, Walls and Barber performed their expected tasks as well as unique perks like host-
edge profile making the cutting board easier to grasp, warmer to the hand and less likely to be damaged. Routers can create different edges depending on the bit: rounded out, rounded in or a curvy ogee edge like found on higher end marble countertops. He handed it back to me, and I cut a hole in the board with a benchtop drill press using a 1-inch bit. Walls and Pirault clamped the board in place for me: I would have been nervous if the board shifted while I was drilling. The nerd in me appreciated the fact that I now knew the difference between a quick release fast grip clamp and a standard clamp. The realist in me knew I’d started the process earlier in the day barely knowing that a clamp was a thing. This was the point at which I started to feel like a real artisan – it was exciting when the wood began to smoke from the bit's friction. After a final hand sanding I rubbed in a food-grade conditioner with a cloth rag. It was a loving motion, sort of an admiring caress, and one that Pirault and Woods do to each and every one of their wood creations. The transformation from humble, raw wood repurposed to a lovely, finished tool was inspiring. Watching wood grain come to life gave me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, the same feelings both Woods and Pirault say they have when at this stage with every project. Before I use my cutting board, I’ll rub in at least four more coats of conditioner. Walls says once my board becomes dulled with knife scars it’s easy to refresh with a special oil he gave me. My finished cutting board is edged in walnut and cherry, maple in the center. I’ll use it in my private herbal apothecary to chop herbs for simples, tinctures, teas, elixirs and salves. Its creation was a labor of love under the patient guidance of Woods and Pirault, and I’ll treasure it for years to come and plan to pass it on to the next generation.
ing nightly lobster boils for campers. Campers would choose their own lobster from the camp store's tank. They’d pluck it out, cook it and deliver it by golf cart. Walls and Barber got their dog there, too. Maple Kevin Bacon is so named, Walls explains, because maple is his favorite wood and since he and Barber both love maple bacon. They were lured next to California by family stories of life out west. They moved with the seasons from the Sierras in summer to the Big Sur coast in winter.
Continued on Page 25 SPRING 2018
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LIFE & STYLE
If Mr. Miscellaneous can't fix it, it probably can't be fixed Grateful homeowners know who to call 'for just about anything' By Alissa J. Jones
John Bush earned his nickname, Mr. Miscellaneous, by honing a wide set of skills ranging from woodworking to plumbing. A retired firefighter who worked as a Navy medic, Bush attributes the base knowledge to an old family motto: “learn as much as you can about everything you can.” The Arlington native knew he liked engaging his hands as well as his brain as early as high school, enrolling in elective architectural and mechanical drawing classes. He got an after-school job as a mechanic's helper for Sears in automotive electric and air conditioning and learned his way around retail working at a hardware store. Hardware store owner Jim Rhodes, Bush recalls, taught Bush the valuable lesson of having confidence in trying situations, and imparted the importance of serving. “Retail was hard,” says Bush, “but Rhodes was adamant that our job was not to upsell, our job was to serve.” He still lives by the principle. “I may tell someone that if I owned their 30-year-old machine needing repair, I’d replace it, but I also tell them they can get by with a 15-cent washer, if that was the case,” he maintains. “Knowledge is not immediate recall, but rather knowing where to go to find the answers, a back to basics principle both my grandfather and father instilled in me from very young.” Bush’s Navy journalist father taught him to seek the who, what, why, when and how in everything. “He told me that if someone doesn’t understand the historical piece in something, they will make the same mistakes over again. “That’s how I earned my nickname, Mr. Miscellaneous, by not being afraid to ask the questions,” Bush says, adding that his father, like Rhodes, also instilled in him an honor for the jobs people do and to do everything in the spirit of excellence. “He used to say, ‘I don’t care if you are a trashman, you be the best trashman you can be’.” Bush enlisted in the Navy in 1973. In submarine school, Bush learned about electric, control wiring, air handling, hydraulics, the effects of water,
Continued from Page 23 Walls started making furniture at a shop he set up in the Sierras, building furniture from trees that had fallen during a forest fire a couple of years earlier. He opened another shop in the San Francisco Bay area, and built docks on Lake Almanor. After more than three years in California, Walls felt drawn back to Virginia, returning to Markham in February, 2017 where he opened Hawk Eye Handcrafts named in honor of the hawks that escorted their travels. Walls says the hawk is also a reminder to use a hawk's eye when looking at pieces of wood or material, picking out little details. Walls says he’s had help along the
atmosphere control, quality of air, even refinement of food handling and sanitation. “As a corpsman on the sub,” Bush recalls, “I acquired a vast and incredible insight into many areas because it used to be that corpsmen were able to go anywhere, learn anything and do anything, if they were willing. “I was willing.” He learned construction skills watching and helping the Seabees. “Since I was willing to help them, they were willing to teach me,” Bush says. “On the submarine you wear many hats and play many roles. You’re the doctor, psychiatrist, the food storage guy, the nuclear engine guy, and the field sanitation person. You also must make sure everyone is properly hydrated and properly clothed.” In 1977, Bush joined the Reserves, taking a job for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Santiam engineering zone in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon, doing road maintenance, land surveying and wildland fire fighting. There, he said, he learned more about land management, conservation, stewardship, water in motion and how it works. He reenlisted in the Navy, working as chief warrant officer, in 1992. He retired in 2000.
His tool kit is full
Now working as one of Warrenton’s most soughtafter handymen in his active “retirement,” Bush gets many chances to combine a lifetime of learning. He dug deep in his tool kit when he designed the waste water management system for Verdun Adventure Bound in Rixeyville, a project that began in spring, 1997 and completed in fall, 2010. He used what he’d learned from the Seabees to manage waste and water, and how to install a septic tank. Electrical he credits to his Navy training. Blueprints were easy because of the mechanical drawing classes back in high school. “If you understand how to read a blueprint, you can figure everything else out,” he maintains. As magical his skills may seem, Bush remains humble, saying he doesn’t “own” knowledge. “I rekeyed some locks for a guy a while back, and he sat and watched me. Months later he called to tell me that he was able to fix a broken lock (all by himself) because of what he saw me do.”
way. Jim Johnson and Yvonne Warner provided his first tools and work space in the Sierras. Michael Schmiedicke, partner and original owner of Strong Oaks Wood Shop in Front Royal, mentored Walls and helped him find the Markham shop space. Walls was able to help return the favor after Strong Oaks burned down last April. Schmiedicke’s inventory was destroyed, but Walls jumped in to help with projects in his new shop so Schmiedicke could keep commitments to clients. Walls is "a talented wood and metal craftsman with the eye and soul of an artist, (and) a talented sketch artist able to show clients ideas on paper," says Schmiedicke. "Dustin built the top of (a) ping pong table from
PHOTO BY ALISSA JONES
Warrenton's John Bush is widely sought after in the area for his extensive range of handyman skills.
Bush says he’s been blessed being mentored by individuals who inculcated him with equanimity and the confidence to act when and as appropriate. “This past August, I observed a young lady choking,” Bush says. “I was able to assess the situation, go to her, pick up and hand off her daughter, administer abdominal thrusts and avert disaster. Total elapsed time was 20 seconds, it was one of the best days of my life.” Bush and his wife live in Warrenton. He’s run Mister Miscellaneous LLC for 20 years but says what makes him happiest these days is being “Dodad” to his 2 grandkids. Bush says, “Life is a journey, maximize your experience, strive to meet highest ideals and gain wisdom whenever possible.”
solid dark walnut with the demarcation lines made of inlaid bright white maple.” The four-foot wide, eightfoot long table tops 500 pounds. The client uses it as a dining room table when not playing ping pong. Walls says he and apprentice Ryan Pirault, a friend since before high school, often reclaim wood from pallets and old barns. “It’s a lot of work to reclaim wood,” Walls says, since so much time and effort is involved. Walls loves working with 200-year-old white oak since it is denser and harder than plantationgrown oak, while Pirault’s favorite is American chestnut, reclaimed from old barns and from American Chestnut Foundation culls. In addition to apprenticing with
Walls, Pirault operates his own business, LivityWorks, growing saplings, herbs, mushrooms, vegetables, perennials and native plants using edible landscape design, biodynamics and permaculture, and works as a tree surgeon. Walls says he especially loves restoration, refinishing “an old dusty heirloom piece and seeing a client's delight.” He can also take an heirloom and re-purpose the wood as an entirely different piece of furniture. His most unusual handcrafted item is a banjo made from curly mahogany, figured maple and goatskin. In addition to his wood work, Walls plays banjo, ukelele, guitar and harmonica. Hawk Eye Handcrafts: 571-277-5053 SPRING 2018
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LIFE & STYLE
Medical training started early for second-year student Scientist dad instilled curiosity in this former Fauquier candy-striper By Tevy Ribeiro
On a dusty shelf in my family’s living room, there is a particularly well-loved home video, stored on a grainy VHS tape. Fast-forwarding between poorly acted renditions of Little Red Riding Hood and the ritual feeding of the local ducks, is 4-year-old Anatevka – now I prefer Tevy, rolling around on the carpet while my father patiently points to different areas of the body while leafing through his own copy of Netter’s Anatomy. “Patella!” I yelled spastically while grabbing my own knee. This ritual continued every evening until I could name all the major bones of the body. When I was 6, I remember my mother bent over the sink, diligently washing dishes while her shirt, stretched over her protruding abdomen, soaked up most of the water. She explained to my sister and me that there was a baby growing in her stomach, simplification of something she thought was beyond her young children. “But mom,” I protested. “The baby would be digested!” My parents didn’t realize the fire they had lit in me. Kid-sized scrubs and an official-looking black medical bag containing a stethoscope I’d use on our pet rabbits whenever I got the chance fanned the flames, and I’ve been obsessed with medicine ever since. Lifelong interest in the life sciences and natural curiosity, coupled with the early encouragement from my parents, led me to pursue a biology major at the University of Virginia. I begin my first year in 2010, graduating with distinction in 2014. I’m currently pursuing an M.D. at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine Class of 2020.
Taste of the real world
“So, what brings you in today?” Since I began my trek towards earning an M.D., this phrase has become as familiar to me as any greeting. The past two years as a medical student at VCU have whirled by between coursework and learning basic physical exam skills. My life had changed forever, and taken a slightly different track, during my first semester of college. I awoke to a frantic phone call from my mother. My father suffered a major cardiac event. “Your father collapsed this morning and isn’t breathing,” she sobbed. “I had to start CPR and the EMTs are taking him to the hospital.” My parents had visited me at school just the night before, and I had turned down their offer for dinner at Chipotle because I needed to study. I was stunned, stranded in Charlottesville without a car or a driver’s license and had no idea what to do. So, I did what I knew my father would want me to do: I went to class. A week later, my father was still intubated and had gone through therapeutic hypothermia. I wanted to understand what was happening but was too scared to research the ominous words surrounding his heart condition for fear of what I might discover. The medical terms were like a foreign language which none of my family were comfortable deciphering; we usually counted on my dad for that. It was there, surrounded by all five of my sib26
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PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER
Second year med student Tevy Ribeiro.
lings and mother in that starkly lit hospital room at INOVA Fairfax, that we witnessed my dad waking up for the first time after a week. His mental faculties were completely and miraculously intact. The cardiology team in the ICU, who had diligently cared for my father, surrounded his bed, positively beaming. It was the same team who gave my family the initial hope that this innovative yet experimental hypothermia treatment could minimize the damage done to my father’s body. Through this I experienced the truly human element of medicine that further ignited my passion for the field. When I returned to school the next fall, I knew I wanted to be a doctor but knew there were countless tasks ahead. After volunteering at Fauquier Hospital for two summers during high school which continued into college as a patient advocate, I cherished the time I spent holding patient’s hands, making them comfortable with something as simple as a blanket or a song, or just conversing about times when things were better. But I wanted more: I wanted to be part of the team. I fortuitously came upon the UVA Medical Scribe Program and decided to submit an application.
Learning on the job
What sound does a drill bit make as it bores into a human skull? My younger self couldn’t have imagined asking or knowing the answer to a question like that. However, situations like these weren’t entirely outlandish at my job as a medical scribe in the University of Virginia’s Emergency Department. Obtaining clinical experience is vital for any medical school applicant. I worked amongst other premedical undergraduates as well as students in the post-baccalaureate program who had entirely different careers before following their true calling – medicine. Entry to medical school is a rigorous process. In
addition to pre-med classes, applicants must seek out shadowing experiences, clinical hours and research in order to be a competitive applicant for medical school. Pre-med students fufill these requirements in a variety of ways, including but not limited to shadowing physicians, volunteering, medical missions, or working with the local rescue squad as an EMT. Clinical experiences vary greatly between applicants, but working as a scribe for three and a half years during my undergraduate education in a busy emergency room gave a completely different angle on medicine. “In the ER, emergencies will seem to repeat themselves,” I later explained to a scribe trainee, as an intubated 45-year-old female with an intracranial epidural hematoma rolled in on a stretcher. This wasn’t the first time I had seen a head bleed, but a few hours after her arrival, I witnessed something completely novel: an emergent craniotomy. My trainee and I peered wide-eyed from the slits between our masks and caps as the neurosurgery team cut a small flap of skin and peeled back a portion of her scalp. It sounds barbaric, but the room had an air of deliberate calm. Every motion was measured and every person present was vital to the operation. We were at once relieved and enthralled when the neurosurgeons used exacting precision to form a burr hole to relieve the pressure building inside her skull. The energy that radiated from the constraints of the room was soon subdued by the realization of the grim outcome that the procedure often had. Seeing the distraught expressions of the family members around me, I knew my job was, and would be, more than a daily eight-hour shift.
Critical care
Scribing transformed me in a way that pre-medical classes never could. Like an old-fashioned apprenticeship at the knee of a medical master, it released me from my naivete. The time I spent scribing at UVA hospital gave me a glimpse into both the harshest and most beautiful realities of medicine. My journey continued as a Paraoptometric Technician at Primary Eyecare, Drs. DiGirolamo and Associates in Charlottesville where I conducted and documented independent preliminary tests for routine eye care visits as well as specialized work-ups for other eye diseases. After enduring rigorous coursework, countless lab reports, and taking the dreaded MCAT exam, I entered the tumultuous, year-long medical school application cycle while working. Now settled in as a second year medical student, this past semester provided introduction to the clinical world. Previously we interviewed specially-trained paid actors, some which are acting students pursuing careers while others are community members with a passion for medical education, called “standardized patients” to hone our clinical skills. This program, called preceptorship, allows medical students to practice interviewing real patients and performing pertinent exams under a mentoring doctor known as a preceptor. Although my experience thusfar is relatively limited, I have found that lifesaving interventions don’t have to be as dramatic as those featured on television
Continued on Page 27
LIFE & STYLE
Capping it off – Mountain Vista Governor’s School senior capstone projects By Vineeta Ribeiro
From rehoming honeybees in Brazil to arranging a dentists’ conference to benefit Fauquier Free Clinic, Mountain Vista Governor’s School students were all over the map this year. Governor’s School pupils complete a Senior Capstone Project which may include an internship, designing a solution to a current issue, or research in science or engineering for publication, presentation or competition. The school, located within Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, is a one of 19 regional magnet programs in Virginia focused on math, science and technology. Mountain Vista serves students of Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Frederick, Rappahannock and Warren Counties. More than 100 students, grades 10-12, take classes during their regular school day.
Caroline Yi
For her Capstone project, Caroline Yi combined science, medicine and education, spending last summer in the University of Virginia Medical School’s research lab working on a cure for HIV. Working under mentor Dr. Steven Zeichner, Yi researched a possible new HIV vaccine that expresses the membrane proximal external region. “Aside from learning a little about immunology and standard microbiology lab techniques, I learned many practical tips about living by yourself,” Yi says. “I stayed in an apartment with my brother in Charlottesville and had to navigate the transportation system. On one occasion, I rode the wrong bus for more than an hour. “I’m not sure what’s worse: having such a terrible sense of direction or not having the common sense to use
Google Maps.” Yi’s headed to Yale to study molecular, cellular and developmental biology.
Charlotte Paulussen
Another world traveler, Charlotte Paulussen volunteers at Fauquier Free Clinic which provides emergency and preventative dental and medical care. Her link to dentistry goes much deeper: as a child, Paulussen’s lateral teeth were misaligned. Starting in 2011, she had laser procedures by a world-renowned cosmetic dentist to remove excess gum tissue along with a bonding technique that prevented the need for implants. Inspired, Paulussen created a continuing education program through Dr. Ron Jackson as her project, channeling nearly $1,500 to the free clinic. “The process of having my teeth fixed inspired me to want to pursue a career in dentistry,” Paulussen says. “I (will) be able to give the same experience to someone else.”
Ali Kyle
Social barriers to healthcare were the focus of Culpeper student Ali Kyle’s program research. She compared social determinants of health, unearthing many barriers that healthcare providers must overcome to help patients: monetary, transportation, mental and language barriers. “I was able to open up my eyes to the struggles patients experience outside a doctor’s office,” Kyle says. “Sometimes patients had to wait longer than expected for medicine deliveries due to lack of pharmaceutical cooperation. Considering that healthcare is an inelastic product, it was heart-rending to see patients struggling to receive care, however, it inspired me to strive towards reaching potential healthcare solutions … for those who need it most.”
Caitlin Roy
Interning with Ladona Gorham, Fauquier County Instructional Supervisor for Advanced Programs and
Continued from Page 26 medical shows. At the beginning of my preceptorship, I spoke with a woman in her upper 50s who was struggling with overwhelming depression and anxiety in a seemingly hopeless social situation. After sitting beside her and just taking a few minutes to listen with a box of Kleenex, I spoke with my preceptor who was able to prescribe her a higher dose of a medication she was able to afford, as well as helping her find community resources for support. It didn’t seem like much at the time. A few months later, as I stepped out of a patient’s room, a cheerful greeting and bright eyes surprised me in the lobby of the small family
Connor Culbertson Fine Arts, Caitlin Roy studied Governor's School programs across Virginia. Interested in a career in business management or finance, Roy says she learned a lot, digging deep into the history of the magnet program. For instance, she found “the summer regional Governor's School that Fauquier participates in has received the same dollar value from the state as it did when it started 30 years ago.” The hardest part was the reality of paperwork, Roy says, and having to tabulate data from nearly 200 surveys. Still, she was “grateful for this opportunity.”
Connor Culbertson
Connor Culbertson spent a month in northeast Brazil last summer. Having learned Portuguese on two previous trips to Brazil and selfstudy, Culbertson completed an Eagle Scout project in an impoverished area of coastal Maceió. Culbertson stayed with a family with seven “host-siblings.” He helped one of them working with Africanized honeybees with Mel Cortiço, one of the largest exporters of honey in Brazil. He says it was an adventure: one night their truck broke down at midnight while they were relocating nearly 100 hives of the extremely aggressive bees from the coastal area to an arid interior region timed to sea-
medicine clinic. There she was, leafing through a magazine, looking rejuvenated and content. She was barely recognizable from the crumpled, tearful woman who sat slumped in a chair in the doctor’s office just six weeks earlier. She thanked me, but, I wondered, what for? Although these past two years have been consumed with relentless coursework, what really keeps me (and other medical students) focused on the end goal is the human connection with patients. The trust between a physician and her patient is a unique one which leaves both parties vulnerable and humbled. The intimate connection serves to help the provider as much as the patient.
sonal rains and bloom period. The Rappahannock resident is no stranger to beekeeping. He bought two hives at age 14 with proceeds from egg sales. Honey sale profits maintain and expand his operation. He knows how to divide hives, rear queen bees and control pest populations. In Brazil, Culbertson says, “virtually no recreational beekeeping exists.” He plans to major in international studies.
Eve Costanzo
Learning about learning was what Eve Costanzo did during her internship at Grace Miller Elementary School. “I was privileged to work with children” there, she says, “watching them develop and succeed. “I learned that in the teaching profession, communication, patience, compassion and multi-tasking are vital.”
Jo Quinn St. Ledger
“It was a life-changing experience,” says Jo Quinn St. Ledger of her internship with Habitat for Humanity Fauquier. “I loved seeing the smiles people had when they left the office. Habitat gives people hope, and I think that is really important in today's society.”
Brooke Athelli
She plans to become a surgeon, so interning at Warren Memorial Hospital was “a great first step towards my dream job” for Brooke Athelli.
As a third-year medical student, I will start my clerkship where I will continue to learn from patients under the tutelage and guidance of attending physicians, residents and other medical staff on many different rotations throughout the hospital. Most days, I hope to leave my job with renewed passion and curiosity, inspired by the amazing work accomplished by medical staff around me in patient lives. And even on days when I won’t, I realize that the beauty is in the hope for tomorrow. This is the hope I found glimmering in back of once-tearful eyes; the hope that was present in the cardiology team surrounding my father’s ICU bed, a hope I strive to be part of, someday. SPRING 2018
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PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER
Getting back to basics through Goat Farm apprenticeship
Working the land may have skipped a couple generations, Tia Watkins says, but now she’s all in By Betsy Burke Parker Her great grandma was the daughter of sharecroppers in southeast Virginia, toiling not as slaves as their ancestors did, but living nonetheless in a sort of modern-day servitude. The family worked someone else’s land, giving up most of the harvest to the owner before eking out a tiny profit from their hard labor. It gave her a bad taste for farming, and the minute she had the resources, Nancy Snowden fled with her family "for a better life" in the city. “She never wanted to go back,” Tia Watkins says. Today, Washington, D.C.-born and -raised Watkins is by her own volition turning back away from the city and heading down to the farm. A farmer apprentice at the Little Goat Farm in Nokesville, Watkins is learning animal husbandry and crop production, sales and marketing, trading work for experience with farm owner Susanne Marsh. “It’s not the same as my great grandmother,” Watkins explains, saying Marsh is freely sharing knowledge equally as much as Watkins shares her labor. “It’s a great relationship,” one based on generosity, equality, and a commitment to education. Watkins, 24, admists she'd never “touched a pitchfork or a chainsaw” before going to work at Little Goat Farm. “I had zero farm experience – I grew up in a rowhouse on North Capitol, but I learned to love the outdoors at camp on Lake Champlain” in the Vermont wilderness, Watkins
says. “It planted a seed. I learned about what the environment had to offer, and I wanted more.” After graduating Stanford University with a degree in human biology, Watkins taught fourth and seventh grade science a couple years in the district, but she quit in December to work in Nokesville. “I wanted to learn about farming,” she says. “I don’t know why, but I felt like I was being called.”
Continuing education
Through the international work-share WWOOF program, at Little Goat Farm Watkins is perfecting skills as varied as mucking stables to milking goats by hand, from nursing rambunctious goat kids on a rubber nipple suctioned to a soda bottle to erecting four-board wooden fence. “All of it’s hard, but I love it,” Watkins says. Watkins completes her Masters in Education at American University this fall. She intends to put the organic farming experience to use, though she’s not sure where she’ll end up. Right now, she’s planning a sunflower field at the farm; later this summer Watkins will sell the flowers at a D.C. farmers market. “It’s my project,” she says, taking a previously fallow field from planning stages through planting, from harvest to retail. There are hundreds of vendors at dozens of farmers markets in the city, she explains, and she’ll decide which suits the farm's mission best. “People love the idea of buying local,” she says. “They’re
becoming more aware of where food comes from.” “Tia has been wonderful,” says Little Goat Farm owner-operator Susanne Marsh. “She’s great help, has learned fast, and isn’t afraid of hard work. She doesn’t mind getting right in there with all the projects we’ve got going on. I like the apprentice program (through WWOOF,) and Tia has been a great fit.” Watkins helps create all Little Goat Farm’s value-added products – from goat milk and goat cheese to goat lotion and goat soap. They grow microgreens in a greenhouse, and raise chickens for eggs. The goat yoga program, using gentle Nigerian goats, is a crazy-popular offshoot. Watkins feels connected to the land in the city these days, too. She has a tiny plot in a community garden, a two by four foot space she tends with her
Continued on Page 31
Farm apprentice Tia Watkins, with chainsaw above, is learning how to run a livestock and organic veggie operation from Little Goat Farm owner Susanne Marsh. 30
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LIFE & STYLE
WWOOF apprentice program Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, sometimes called Willing Workers on Organic Farms – WWOOF – is an international service operated by a loose network of organizations in 201 nations that facilitate work-stays on farms. Australia with 2,600 hosts has the most host farms, followed by New Zealand with 2,340 and the U.S. with 2,052. There are 70 Virginia farms working with WWOOFers, two in Fauquier. WWOOF program manager Samantha Blatteis explains the program provides volunteers “first-hand experience in organic and ecologically sound farming methods, to help the organic movement,” she says. “These farms allow volunteers (to) experience life in a rural setting, often in a different country.” WWOOF volunteers generally do not receive money in exchange for services, instead working for their room and board, Blatteis says. The host provides food, lodging, and opportunities to learn, in exchange for farm work. Visits range from a few days to years. WWOOF farms range from small private farms, sharecropping allotments to big production farms. Examples of WWOOF experiences include harvesting cup gum honey from Ligurian bees at Island Beehive in Kangaroo Island off the Australian coast to harvesting coffee beans from coffea arabicas in Thailand. “I didn't grow up on a farm,” explains Little Goat Farm owner Suzanne Marsh. “I'm from very cold northern Minnesota where the growing season is short. We learned early on that you've got to work hard and fast.” Trading a double doctorate and a government career for the Little Goat Farm in Nokesville, Marsh has learned by necessity, and is sharing her knowledge with a rotating crew of WWOOFers. “I'm absolutely no expert (at horticulture or animal husbandry,) but I'm an avid reader, and a quick study, so reading weed science, rotational grazing, biology, botany and environmental restoration material has been a focus as we set up the farm a couple years ago. “I'm still learning.” Marsh appreciates the symbiotic relationship between WWOOF apprentices and Little Goat Farm. “Basically, if I can inspire a young person to conserve, respect our planet and learn about healthy natural alternatives, then my hope is they might teach other people,” Marsh says. “No farms, no food.” wwoofusa.org
No kidding about goat yoga in Nokesville By Amanda Heincer
At a lakeside farm near Nokesville, a group gathered to practice yoga under the direction of instructor Beth Wolfe. They came for the view, the exercise and the goats. Yes, the goats. Wolfe led a “goat yoga” class she called “Naaamaste” at Little Goat Farm by the Lake, a goat farm in Nokesville with views of Lake Manassas. A couple dozen people gathered with yoga mats, bread to feed the goats and their cameras. “Hi goat yogis,” Wolfe, who wore brightly colored goat-print yoga pants, said cheerfully at the start of the class. Some of the class participants were beginners at yoga and Wolfe reassured them that this class is mostly about the goats. “I told them this will be about 20 percent yoga, 80 percent goats,” she said before the class began. So, what is goat yoga? “It’s kind of what it sounds like. It’s yoga with goats,” Wolfe said with a laugh. “The goats don’t do the yoga, the people do.” While the participants in Wolfe’s class practiced their poses and stretched, goats ran around, sometimes jumping on their backs or crawling across their stomachs. Alpacas also roamed around, watching the class for a while before they retreated to graze nearby. The goat yoga trend has been spreading throughout the country. Goat yoga got its start at the No Regrets Farm in Oregon last summer after a visitor to the farm, who happened to be a yoga instructor, suggested that owner Lainey Morse hold a yoga class there, she said. “I told her sure, but the goats will be all over the humans,” said Morse. Goat yoga was born. “I'm a photographer and so we did a promo shoot and videos of the goats on [the yoga instructor’s] back and I started marketing it as goat yoga,” Morse said. The rest is goat history.
Continued from Page 30 grandmother. They bond over the soil as sure as Nancy Snowden turned from it. “I love for people in the city to be able to get their hands dirty in a garden.” Watkins plans to seek further ag education after finishing her masters, likely heading west to a bigger, commercial organic farm in California or Oregon. But she thinks urban farming might be in her future, maybe in D.C. It’ll be “a space where kids learn where their food comes from.
The first class sold out and Morse sent photos to Modern Farmer Magazine. The magazine wrote a story and since then news outlets across the country and throughout the world have contacted Morse to write about the growing trend. A handful of other farms are officially licensed to hold goat yoga classes and the official classes have inspired many others to also pick up on the trend. It’s simple, and maybe a little odd, but relaxing, said Morse. “It's really my form of animalassisted therapy,” Morse said. “Goats have a sense of calm about them but yet they are also very funny, social and loving. It's really no different than taking your dog for a walk. You're bonding with an animal, out in nature and exercising.” Silver Maple Farm Goats in Berryville began hosting yoga classes last spring, said owner Alisha McMaster. “We have only been doing this for a month and it’s crazy how popular it’s gotten,” she said. The goats are also fans, McMaster said. “The goats love people, so of course they are enjoying all the extra attention,” she said. “They all love the yoga mats too, which is really funny. They will each claim a mat and fall asleep on them. “It’s a win-win. More attention for my goats, which makes the babies even more friendly, and very therapeutic for the humans.” Like many, Wolfe first heard about yoga with goats when her friends sent her videos and links to articles about it on social media. Wolfe regularly teaches a kitten and adoptable animal yoga class
“When kids plant seeds themselves, and grow actual food, they feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. They’ll probably even try something ‘they don’t like,’ because they grew it.” The challenge, she realizes, is making fresh and organic affordable. “Not everyone has the privilege of ‘eating local,’ because you know food from a farmers market, or through a CSA, is more expensive than a big box store. “You’re paying more, but for good reason.” Throughout her apprenticeship, Watkins has
at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington and other specialty yoga classes like wine yoga and beer yoga. “I’m always looking for new and innovative ways to help people relax,” she said. When she heard about goat yoga she knew she wanted to try. “I got out of the car and the goats just surrounded me” when she first arrived at the Little Goat Farm, said Wolfe. “They’re just really friendly and they love crawling on you.” Having such friendly animals around can be calming for people practicing yoga. “People interacting with animals can be extremely therapeutic for them,” Wolfe said. At Wolfe’s recent class, the class frequently took breaks to take photos of the frolicking goats and the usual meditative calm of a yoga class was often interrupted by bursts of laughter as the goats explored. “Oh my gosh we have some jumpers here,” Wolfe said as one of the goats took advantage of a yogi’s bridge pose to hop up and get a better view. “I love yoga and I love goats,” said Jennifer Downing, of Lorton, who attended the class with her sister and some friends. “I just thought this sounded creative, interesting and fun.” Dawn Barr, of Manassas, and Ellen King, of Haymarket, wore blue shirts to the class, after Internet research told them goats like the color. It seemed to work. Goats were crawling all over the pair. “It was definitely a different experience,” said Barr. “I’d recommend it to anyone,” said King. Morse said she hopes goat yoga will help people. “It causes happy distractions and it’s impossible to be sad or depressed when doing goat yoga,” she said. “I've had so many stories of people that are sick or stressed or going through a hard time and they say even watching the videos online makes them happy.”
found farmwork, though physically challenging, a nice break from teaching. There’s less stress for one. “I dealt with anxiety” in the classroom, she says. “You’re responsible for 100-plus kids. You’re a social worker, an educator, a motivator. And these days, you’re a security guard too. “I love working with the animals, and working the land to produce healthy food. On the farm, you’re able to be introspective, get into the natural world. Even shoveling poop is more relaxing than city life.” SPRING 2018
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Magnolia Vineyards & Winery is located in Amissville, just off scenic Route 211 in Rappahannock County, approximately 10 miles west of Warrenton. Owned by Glenn and Tina Marchione, we are a family-run boutique winery and vineyard, making small lots of mostly Bordeaux varietals. Quiet country peace, tranquility and great mountain views. Come relax in our cozy farmhouse tasting room or surrounding grounds. Our regular tasting is paired with cheeses and chocolate. The Tasting Room is open year-round on weekends, holiday Mondays and Fridays from April through November. We also offer events on select weekends such as Paint & Sips, local artisan exhibits, as well as live acoustic music with great local musicians. Check our website (www.magnoliavineyards.com) or Facebook page for current hours and events. Make an afternoon of it and visit Magnolia, Gray Ghost and Narmada Wineries, all within a few miles of each other on the eastern end of the scenic Route 211 wine trail. For more information on all venues on the Route 211 trail visit www.skylinewinetrail.com. The prettiest tasting trail in Virginia!
200 Viewtown Rd., Amissville, VA • 703.785.8190 • magnoliavineyards.com 32
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LIFE & STYLE
Was beer brewing behind the start of civilization?
This spring, you be the judge By John Daum
All cultures throughout history have marked the coming of spring with rituals and celebrations. Then, as now, most of these organized public festivities included adult beverages, including beer. The Ancient Sumerians were the first to stumble upon the magic of fermented beverages as evidenced by chemical tests of pottery shards dated back almost 7,000 years ago. Ninkasi was the patron goddess of brewing in Sumer, with beer was brewed by female priests in Sumerian temples. A 3,900 BCE cuneiform from Sumer contains the oldest recipe for beer. Of course the need to plant and harvest the barley needed for brewing beer required farmers to settle down and organize agricultural practices, yielding a strong argument that it was beer that truly inspired the start of civilization. The Egyptians also brewed beer, widely considered an appropriate offering to the Pharaoh. You had to be careful who else you served it to, however: if a man offered a woman a sip of his beer in ancient Egypt they were automatically engaged. The ancient Egyptians considered beer much more than a tasty treat: ancient texts from 1600 BCE contain more than 100 medical prescriptions using beer. The Romans also enjoyed beer, preferring a type of wheat beer. Modern beer aficionados con-
sider this ancient wheat libation possibly a distant cousin to the Hefe-Weizen beer from Bavaria today. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River and invaded Rome, he’s said to have toasted his troops with beer. Monks living in Medieval abbeys traditionally brewed beer to help them survive the myriad religious fasts they took. During ancient times beer truly was a “liquid bread” providing them all the nutrients they needed during times the eschewed solid food. A perfect springtime link from ancient times to modern is a recent release from Aldie’s Quattro Goombas Brewery. They just tapped a delicious Belgian Dubbel called “Friar Nuts.” I’ve tasted it, and it rivals any contender from Bruges or beyond. Friar Nuts has a much lighter profile than you might expect from a dark beer in this style, and its candied sugars
work their magic on the palette masking any hint of the 9.5 percent alcohol lurking beneath the surface. For something a little lighter, the Lemon Balm Wit from Fauquier’s own Powers Farm Brewery has the spicy notes of a traditional Belgian white beer with an infusion of refreshing lemon balm that goes down easy. Another spring favorite, the Farm Brewery at Broad Run has created a delicious Belgian staple, a Tripel. In ancient times, this style was traditionally reserved for the Bishop as it contained three times the malt of normal beer. Tripel style was pioneered by Westmalle, a classic Belgian brewery in the Trappist tradition. Broad Run’s Wes Maul is a popular beer released from the local microbrewery that hits all the right notes of the style. I’m going out on a limb and calling Wes Maul the best beer Broad Run has created since opening in 1998. So many breweries shy away from Tripels since they often end up a cloying mess on the palette, or, worse, are way too heavy on the alcohol notes. Wes Maul is balanced and pleasing to the tongue, with the lingering taste of Belgian yeasts that make the style so appealing. My suggestion this spring is to plan your own seasonal visit to these three forward-thinking local breweries to sample a little taste of Belgium right here in Virginia. goombabrewery.com farmbreweryatbroadrun.com powersfarmbrewery.com
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FACES & PLACES
Faces & Places WHO WE ARE AND WHERE WE GO
Rockin' the Word
Warrenton pastor Derrick Rawlings delivers a modern message Photos by Randy Litzinger Story by Alissa Jones
Inside this section:
n Warrenton's own Steve Monfort made head of the National Zoo n Veterinarian Dr. Steve White: Ride along for a day in the life of an animal doc n Find out how dog show handler Jamie Lamphier overcame a decided 'age bias' SPRING 2018
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FACES & PLACES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
Breathing life into the Scripture
Baseball and ministry were the clash of opposites Derrick Rawlings faced early in life. Growing up in Ashburn, he fanned the flame of both passions, ultimately choosing his love of the church over his love of the game. Once he’d decided, he recalls taking up full-time ministry was a series of ebbs and flows. Rawlings picked up his first baseball at age 3. He joined Fauquier High’s baseball team after moving to Warrenton as a sophomore in 1997. Even then, he felt torn. Rawlings grew up attending Living Faith, a nondenominational church in Manassas, where, he says, Jesus became real to him at 11. He started in ministry at 14, and while most his age were surrounded by their peers in the youth group, Rawlings found himself surrounded by 25 adults on the “Praise team.” “These adults were influencers in my life,” he says, “but it was my pastor, Barry Lubbe, who had the most influence.” Baseball had a role to play, though, as Rawlings pitched his way into Virginia Wesleyan College after graduating Fauquier in 2000. His junior year, scouts from major league ball clubs were approaching him. Rawlings says he seriously considered signing a free agent contract to play in the San Diego Padres organization. So even when he got an opportunity to tour with Christian songwriters, Donny McGuire and Reba Rambo, he declined. “It came down to – wanted to play ball,” he recalls. 38
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Still, Rawlings says, he hungered to share his ardor for the ministry. “I remember when I was 15, Pastor Barry prophesied over me,” Rawlings says. “God told him I would ‘preach the word ... and it would shake nations. “At 15, I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but my pastor told me I would preach … with fire and passion, and it would change the lives of many. What that meant to me was that I would get to walk the walk the apostles had, and that was huge.” Rawlings refers to his four years in college as a hiatus in the wilderness. “It was wild times for me,” he says. “It’s amazing how quick you can run away from the call on your life.” But he knew he wouldn’t play ball forever. “I knew I would eventually walk out the call of God.” It took a hard life lesson to turn Rawlings back to his original path. “In 2006, I fell flat,” he explains. “I was a pitcher with dead arm, I was burnt out, and I was coming off drugs and alcohol. “I gave my life back to Jesus, knowing my way wasn’t working.” Rawlings recalls a 2 a.m. waking dream that became a game changer. “As fast as I could write I was recording what I was hearing,” he says. “I still have it today. He told me I had been called for such a time as this, and that I would lead people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds, through praise, worship and sermon, and that there would be a fire in my belly to preach.” He was briefly distracted in 2007
when he met Ashleigh Paolicelli in Warrenton. It was a Friday; he was set to begin ministry school in Harrisonburg on Monday. Again, Rawlings says, God intervened, altering his course somewhat, maintaining he “heard God say, ‘Here’s your wife!’ I (didn’t go to school,) instead, I made a decision to chase my wife and nine months later we were married.” With their first child on the way in 2010, Rawlings decided at last to pursue the ministry. Most of it, until 2013, he attended Virginia Wesleyan n Norfolk and studied online through Liberty University, but he transferred to Life University just before graduation. Rawlings, who intends to pursue master’s degrees in both pastoral ministry and theology, says the Freedom Worship Center he formed in 2014 will eventually be an extension campus of Life Christian University. “Ministry education is not for degrees to hang up on the wall,” says Rawlings. “It is to prepare you for service. Education prepares you for service, the spirit empowers you for it.”
Life as outlined
Rawlings’ worship service started small. Five people gathered in their Warrenton living room in 2014 to form the core of their fledgling nondenominational Freedom Worship Center. A year later, with what he says could have been a scene out of the movie “Field of Dreams,” Rawlings heard God speak clearly to him again. “If you let me build it, they
will come,” he recalls the message. They’d been looking for a larger church home to accommodate their growing congregation. Soon after, a building became available. “Vacant for two years, bushes all around it, it was a mess,” says Rawlings. “It was our diamond in the rough. We had everything we needed, spaces for a sanctuary, children’s church, and even classrooms. Rawlings says that he meets with his original mentor Pastor Barry almost weekly. They differ in some beliefs and approaches to ministry, Rawlings says, but Barry’s critical lessons in faith, and patience, remain. “He imparted that to me, and I am grateful. “People are looking for two important things in a church, the power of God to be manifest in their lives, and a feeling that they belong, like a family.” A member since 2014, George Fletcher appreciates the familial embrace. “Before I came to know Pastor Derrick and Freedom Worship Center I was walking what I thought was a normal Christian life,” he says. “But I’ve found through them that the Christian life is fire, passion, commitment and family."
Freedom Worship Center 578 Waterloo Road, Suite 4A Warrenton myfreedomworship.com “Power with Purpose” tour scheduled for June.
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FACES & PLACES
Lamphier: Living the dog show dream
Local championship handler started young By Connie Lyons
Jamie Lamphier was 4 when she first took one of her mother’s Irish Setters into the show ring. It was a comical sight: The dog’s head came nearly to her shoulder, and trotting around the ring, she could barely keep up with her. “I stacked her [dog show lingo for posed] like a hound, with her nose pointing toward the ceiling and her tail up over her back,” Lamphier recalls. She may not have won that day, but Lamphier persisted, and today at 23 is considered one of the most promising young handlers in the nation. Still small, Lamphier is strong, lithe and lean, with shoulder length dark brown hair and a fondness for elegantly tailored St. John suits. Her mother, Mary Lamphier, founded Erinfyr Irish setters almost 30 years ago, with increasing success, due in part to her daughter’s prodigious show handling talent. “We were counting up the other day, and to date we have over 75 champions,” Jamie Lamphier notes. Three of these dogs, all males, have been successful in winning multiple sporting groups: Champions Erinfyr Cormac, Night Game and Sports Talk. When she was 10 Lamphier began entering junior showmanship classes for handlers 8 to 18. The handler alone is judged, rather than the merits of the dog. “I was showing Erinfyr Sweet Dreams (in junior and) novice classes,” defeating the far more seasoned, and older, competitors in open competition, Lamphier recalls. It was the start of an impressive career: for several consecutive years she was top junior handler of Irish Setters, number five in all breeds Three times she won best junior at the Irish Setter Club National Specialty, was best junior at both the Gordon Setter and English Setter Nationals, and qualified five times for the Westminster Kennel Club show. Despite the fact that she was showing dogs every weekend, Lamphier also excelled at academics, and she was accepted to the highly competitive Governor’s School for the Gifted, which takes a very small percentage of Virginia students. The work is grueling and demanding: juniors and seniors take college level courses and are awarded credits toward future college degrees. While she was still in junior show handling, Lamphier apprenticed with well-known dog show handlers. It was tough, she says. “You’re doing all the groundwork and a lot of the prep work for the handlers, who are running around showing lots of different breeds in lots of rings. Up at five, exercising and cleaning up dog poop, feeding, washing, brushing out.” Apprentices bring show dogs ringside for the handler, who are often operating on a tight schedule and have to race from one ring to another. “The day ends at 11 p.m., and then you go through it all
PHOTO BY MELISSA HAMPTON
At 23, dog show handler Jamie Lamphier has already accumulated dozens of championships.
"No one told me I was supposed to lose." – JAMIE LAMPHIER
on winning Best of Breed
over again the next day,” Lamphier recalls the fun, and educational, but stressful, work. Occasionally, senior handlers will let an apprentice show a dog, sometimes with surprising results. When a senior handler has two dogs vying for a championship, they mean to show the one most likely to win, giving the other to an underling to handle. “So they sent me in (the finals) with what they hoped would be the loser, figuring I wouldn’t do a very good job,” Lamphier says. “No one told me I was supposed to lose. “So I did my best, and ended up winning Best of Breed over 12 champions,” an unheard of feat for one so young and inexperienced. For a while Lamphier apprenticed with a handler specializing in poodles. “Never again,” she
says fervently. “He would have six to nine poodles at the show, and they take hours to clipper and scissor and brush out,” Lamphier says. She thinks terriers are the hardest to show. “You never know what they’re going to do – they have minds of their own,” she says. “And the grooming is almost as intricate as the poodles.” Once she aged out of the junior division, Lamphier began showing dogs for clients of her own. She works with English Setter and Golden Retriever breeder Kristen Lyons, and learned a lot about stripping the coats of sporting dogs. One of the Goldens she shows has been in the top 20 in the country for four consecutive years, and she has won, with her own Irish Setters, best ownerhandled dog at a number of shows. Lamphier says like any handler, she hopes for “a big win at Westminster, but even more, I’d like to win the Irish Setter National Specialty handling a dog we bred and own. “Maybe I’ll finish college, but right now, this is where my passion is; this is what I want to do. You have to love what you’re doing, you have to love the dogs. And I do.” SPRING 2018
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FACES & PLACES
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FACES & PLACES
Local resident has a global reach in the animal kingdom Warrenton’s Monfort named director of Smithsonian zoo
By Pat Reilly
The new acting director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo is Warrenton’s own Dr. Steve Monfort, longtime chief scientist and director of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal. In November, he was asked to step in to direct the Washington D.C. facility. Trained in reproductive physiology, endocrinology and veterinary medicine, Monfort joined the zoo as a research veterinarian in 1990, Since, he’s helped SCBI develop its mission from research to conservation, connecting what scientists learn in Front Royal to saving the species through science-based practices throughout the world. Headquartered on 3,200-acres, SCBI works with other countries to help them sustain habitats of endangered species and reintroduce animals to areas where they had disappeared. “Nature is composed of biodiversity,” he says. “Humans are part of that. We derive benefits from nature—economic, health and security. All of the aesthetic things we think of as the beauty of life.” Monfort and his wife, Lori, and their two daughters, have lived in
Steve Monfort Warrenton since 1991. Originally from California, Monfort began his career as an intern at the acclaimed San Diego Zoo. After taking degrees in zoo and wildlife medicine and physiology, he interned at the Smithsonian Zoo. He sees zoos as critical to conservation. “Zoos have evolved from menageries to creating natural environments
for the animals,” he says. “They are a window into biodiversity for people who will never go on safari in a foreign country.” He points out that more people go to zoos in the U.S. than to sporting events. The Smithsonian Zoo hosts 2-2.5 million visitors a year. “We hope they leave awed and inspired to make changes in their personal lives,” he says, whether through volunteering, donating money or deciding to recycle. The Smithsonian has trained professional wildlife managers from around the world for 40 years. Monfort counts among his most important accomplishments the founding of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, which has its campus at SCBI. Pupils in college credit courses get hands-on experience with hundreds of endangered species, many going on to leadership roles in conservation. A PhD graduate of George Mason in environmental science and public policy, Monfort is dedicated to sustaining the next generation of zoologists and wildlife managers. “We won’t solve the problems of biodiversity in one career or one lifetime,” he says. “To solve ‘forever problems,’ we must create an army of welltrained people to create solutions.”
Among many initiatives Monfort has helped start are the Sahara Conservation Fund, Conservation Centers for Species Survival and the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project. The Global Tiger Initiative, which he co-founded with the World Bank and other tiger conservation organizations, aims to double the number of wild tigers from about 3,200 to more than 7,000 by 2022. Closer to home, SCBI saw the need to share the benefits of its knowledge of land management with its neighbors, and learn from them. The program Virginia Working Landscapes has convened regional landowners and other stakeholders to learn from each other how to make the most productive use of their land. “We have common values and goals,” says Monfort. SCBI grows all the hay for the zoo and manages 2,000 acres of second-growth forest. They assist the area’s landowners by surveying their operations for biodiversity. SCBI works with the Piedmont Environmental Council and Shenandoah National Park Trust to encourage the planting of native species and monitor native wildlife. nationalzoo.si.edu PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE LAYMAN
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute south of Front Royal manages captive breeding programs for many fragile populations, including the Przewalski's horses. SPRING 2018
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FACES & PLACES
Life of a country vet: Prepare for long hours, blood and tears. And piles of paperwork.
Riding along with Dr. Steve White proves veterinary work isn’t just about the medicine By Roxie Beebe-Center
“If you don’t like the sight of blood, stand back.” says Dr. Steve White as he takes to Katie the quarter horse’s stomach with scissors. I have always been interested in horses and what can go wrong with them, so I stare rapturously at the surgery. I’m supposed to just be “riding along” with the vet during Christmas break, but he’s making it more of an unofficial internship than just an observational role. I hear the scissors squeak as the veterinarian cuts off several lumpy sarcoids — a horse version of warts — and drops them on the ground without ceremony. He stitches up the wounds and tells the horse’s owner, a middle-aged man with a Virginia drawl, how to take care of the incisions. Katie is as unconcerned as Dr. White is. After the vet is done with what’s called a “standing surgery,” she plops her head down and promptly begins to chow on the green grass below her feet. I’m off of school for winter break, and I’m riding along with Dr. White to observe a day in the life of an equine vet. My interest in learning and my love of horses compel me to do this. I observe as he does a lameness test, gives shots, and, of course, removes the sarcoids at this first stop of the day.
From my point of view, veterinary medicine looks hard, and complicated. I ask what he learned in vet school, and what he thinks you can’t learn from a book. “Surgery,” Dr. White says simply. Just like everything else in vet medicine, he maintains, it takes practice. Dr. White says school books tell you “how” to do surgery, but, he adds, a vet just starting out needs to see how it is done “before you get out in the real world and do it.” Being a vet is one of the only jobs you still have to apprentice for, though that’s not what it’s called. Vet students work during their three years of school doing short externships seeing which branch of vet medicine they would like to focus on. After graduation, they do an internship, a year working at a clinic or school of their choice, to really learn the trade. But Dr. White says it starts way earlier than that. Practice working with animals as young as you can, he recommends, and try and watch what your vet does – even ask to ride along with him or her, like I’m doing – to help yourself decide if the vet lifestyle is right for you. “Vet school isn’t the real world,” Dr. White says. “(Students) don’t see things in vet school you’d see out in the real world.” But that’s not the biggest difference between being in school and out in the field. When you start work, he warns, you’re usually alone.
“The biggest difference is that you didn’t have someone standing right there to help you work through the problem. You had to figure it out on your own. You could go ask someone about it later, but you still had to make a decision right then and there when you’re looking at the animal.”
A day in the life
Our first appointment is at Wayward Springs Farm, where they have three horses that need flu-rhino shots for an upcoming trip to Florida. Dr. White enters each stall with a syringe full of vaccine. He feels along the neck until, somewhere near the base by the shoulder, he pinches the skin, and pushes the needle in, sending the liquid into each horse. Other than wide eyes and alert ears, the horses don’t seem to mind. Some horses loathe shots – like some people I know – but these could not care less. The main thing I notice about what Dr. White is doing is the amount of paperwork. For only a few shots, there are many forms. Keeping good records is important for the clients and also lets Dr. White see if there is a reoccurring problem. After a long drive, we arrive at the second appointment. At Bakersfield Farm, a beautiful flea-bitten mare named Zowie is getting a lameness test. She is also going to Florida. The trainer leads Zowie at the trot, first headed away from Dr. White and then back. Dr. White picks up her front left leg and bends
the ankle tight for a “flex test.” She trots again, away and back. He flexes the other hooves in sequence. Zowie is pronounced sound. Dr. White did a lot of informal apprenticing himself, he says, learning how to do all this. He rode along with other vets, did an internship, and worked at a small animal clinic as an emergency tech. Dr. White also had to learn “by doing,” he says, the business aspects of running a clinic. When he attended vet school at the University of Florida, business wasn’t part of the curriculum. He figured it out, but Dr. White likes that today’s vet schools teach business classes. Knowing what you’re doing and answering all of a client’s questions help clients trust you, says Dr. White. So does the way you talk to them and treat their animals, he adds. “If you don’t know what wrong with their horse, (be prepared to) refer them to someone who can.” The informal apprenticeship aspect of just riding along with your vet gives you insider information so “you know what you’re getting into,” Dr. White says. Strangely enough, nobody who has ridden with him has gone on to become a vet. They decided it was too hard, he says. My day riding along with Dr. White was extraordinarily interesting. My favorite part was definitely watching him perform surgery. I learned about being a vet and about being an apprentice. PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER
Local veterinarian Dr. Steve White examines the molars, and tattoo, of retired racehorse Commonwealth Chrome to determine age for reporter Roxie Beebe-Center. SPRING 2018
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FACES & PLACES
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SIDE BY SIDE
Hair
Hairdresser by day, rocker by night: Meet Rik Janowitz By Betsy Burke Parker
Neil Peart, Vidal Sassoon and Warren Beatty make an unlikely team, but Rik Janowitz credits this strange trio for composing the soundtrack for his life. Part-time rock-and-roll drummer and fulltime salon stylist, the Warrenton resident says, at long last, he’s pursuing all his dreams. He’d unearthed his talent for music in grammar school, and discovered a surprising skill, and taste, for hairdressing in middle school. It’s taken the better of four decades, but at last the 54-year-old Janowitz feels like he’s giving his passions equal billing. Janowitz has been a stylist at The Secret Garden salon in Old Town some dozen years; he helped form the Sonic Suds classic rock trio early last year. They play local bars and parties, building a devoted following much like the groupies at The Secret Garden that request him by name. “I’m aging right along with my clients,” he says with a laugh. “But we’ve still got it. I guess it's the natural order of life.”
Janowitz the hairdresser
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Janowitz recalls the very moment he knew he craved a career as a women’s hair stylist. He was far too young even watch the movie, much less pattern after Warren Beatty’s lewd and free-loving character in “Shampoo,” but “when I saw him finish Julie Christie’s hair into a bob, I was hooked.” Though a kid would never be allowed in a movie that’d be rated NC-17 – at least – today, back in 1975 no one blinked when his Air Force dad brought the 12-year-old boy into the base theater. “I didn’t understand all the language and action,” Janowitz cringes recalling Beatty’s foulmouthed, womanizing portrayal. “But I understood one thing: all the girls love him.” He tucked the information away, bringing it out again when he turned 14 and saw “cosmetology” offered as an elective at Stonewall High in Manassas. His family was back in the States, and for the first time he got to choose his course curriculum. “My buddies were signing up for shop,” Janowitz remembers. “I chose hairdressing.” The presumption of a male stylist skews homosexual, and Janowitz knows it. He's part of the 7.6 percent of male hairdressers at women’s salons, but this straight, twice-married father of four sons isn’t troubled by the paradox. “Women wear their hair, a lot of times, to impress or attract men, so having a man’s eye on it helps,” Janowitz says as he works, brushing a client’s deeply chestnut hair across his palm to snip unruly frayed ends into a stylish sweep. In general, he says, women like having a man’s perspective, straight or gay, on their appearance, hairstyle, clothes and relationships. “You wouldn’t believe the conversations we get into sometimes,” Janowitz says in a conspiratorial whisper, letting another layer of the freshly-washed red hair drop from a clip before snipping more.
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SIDE BY SIDE
apparent
Master stylist: 'It's all in the timing.' Meet Heidi Lyons By Val Amster
I arrived at Hair Cuttery in Warrenton at 11 a.m. that Thursday to thrust myself into the hands of master stylist and color specialist Heidi Lyons. I trusted she’d be gentle on me, her ersatz apprentice for the day, as gentle as she is on clients’ hair. I knew I would not be allowed to work on any actual hair cutting or hair styling, but since the full extent of my hair-styling knowledge came from watching Lyons cut my own and my daughters’ hair for the last 12 years, anything I learnedby-watching – in the old-fashioned apprentice model – would be an improvement. It was time to learn a few things. When I arrived, Lyons had already been on the job – and on her feet – for two hours. In fact, it took her an hour and 10 minutes to delicately wrap the hair of her first client onto rollers for a spiral permanent. That client was now sitting at one of Lyons’ two stations, waiting patiently for the perm solution to take effect. In the meantime, Lyons cut Addyson Baggetta’s hair, lifting small sections between her fingers and snipping the ends straight. A timer went off, and Lyons retrieved an available stylist from the back, who removed the shower cap from the head of the client getting the permanent and squirted two tubes of hair product all over her head. The timing is critical, she says. Get it wrong, and the hair can get damaged or, worse, literally fall out. Lyons pumped hair gel into her hands, gently finger-combing it into Addyson’s hair and proceeding to blow it dry. As much as the perm client wants curly hair, Addyson wants hers straight. Lyons used a round brush and hot air to straighten her hair, section by section. The rest of the hair looked like a helmet held by hair clips that were previously hanging on Lyons’ sleeve. “To get a good blow out, you have to use a round brush with very high heat,” Lyons explained while she worked, still on her feet. Before she finished, she glanced at her watch. She left Addyson briefly in the chair while she rinsed out the permanent solution from her other client. She left her to drip dry in the sink as she returned to Addyson. “Were you looking at your hair when I walked away?” Lyons asked. Addyson, who is 10, nodded. “Are you afraid it is too short, or is it ok?” Lyons asked. “It’s ok,” Addyson said. Addyson’s mother, Kristina, arrived to pick her up. “I took my daughter to another stylist for a drastic cut, and it just did not work,” she said. “I came here and Heidi came to the register, and I told her I just needed help. She fixed it and would not take any money for it. This is Addyson’s second haircut with Heidi, and we will be back.” At 11:55, Lyons returned to her client at the
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The Lyons file Heidi Lyons: Master Stylist and Color Specialist Husband: Married for 24 years to Rick, who works in IT at Fauquier Health Children: Kendra, 14, and Zoey, 12, both students at Marshall Middle School
Hometown: Clifton, New Jersey Current home: Broad Run for 14 years Experience: Almost 13 years at Hair Cuttery in Warrenton; 34 years hair styling Pets: Oreo, a rescued Lab mix; Louie, a cat; three birds; and a guinea pig Hobbies: Knitting, crochet, cooking, painting SPRING 2018
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FACES & PLACES
Janowitz perfected his craft at the internationally renowned Vidal Sassoon school in Santa Monica and Arlington’s Graham Webb Academy. His first job was at the old Bill Hair Designers in Tackett’s Mill near Woodbridge. There, he became briefly entangled in the weird world of hair styling competition; he still has his second-place trophy to prove it. He trained with Goldwell, and later Matrix, perfecting the chemistry of hair coloring and becoming certified to teach others. Today benefiting from his continuing education, Janowitz’ clients say he’s good, real good. “I find the conversations of many stylists, mostly women, to be laborious – the last thing I'm looking for when I get my hair done,” says Jane Homeyer, who’s entrusted her blonde locks to Janowitz for years. “It’s different with Rik. He remembers I love golf, knows how I like my hair done, and reiterates without prompting my main concern is that he's attentive. If (the stylist) isn’t careful, highlighting my hair has a tendency to make it red. “I know I’m in good hands.”
Janowitz the rocker
Daytime Janowitz and nighttime Janowitz are pretty different, but they share a key trait: steady hands. He’d played drum – snare and kettle Rik Janowitz has learned to be precise with his hands, in drumming for – in middle and high school, concert and Sonic Suds, working at The Secret Garden salon, and in his golf game.
Continued from Page 49 sink. “Now to neutralize!” she said. “This is going to feel freezing.” Lyons blotted the curlers with a towel, wrapped fresh cotton around the client’s head, and applied two tubes of neutralizer to the rollers. While the neutralizer worked, Lyons cleared empty bottles of product from her stations and offered the client a cup of coffee. It took Lyons just 10 minutes to remove the rollers from her client’s hair, after which she squirted another bottle of product over the nowfree strands and rinsed a final time. Back at the station, Lyons dried and styled the spiral curls. “With color and a permanent, you really have to be gentle with your hair,” she implored the client. “Keep a big comb in your shower, and comb out while it's wet.” The client, who had to be in Gainesville at 1 p.m., made it out the door with time to spare, although she left her scarf behind. “The clock is the enemy,” Lyons said. “Sometimes the shop may be empty and we will be bored. Then six people walk in, and we have an hourlong wait. Other times, color takes longer to set than you think it will, and then your appointment book can get behind all day.” For Lyons, that appointment book is important. After almost 13 years 50
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at the salon, she has an 83 percent request rate. “The most rewarding part of the work is talking to people,” Lyons said. “I have customers who used to be in booster seats, and now they are driving!” Lyons’s 1 p.m. appointment was Patricia Pumphrey, who came in for a corrective color. Lyons listened attentively as Pumphrey explained that she had been coloring her hair at home for years, and then found a coupon, so she came into the salon to try having it done professionally. The problem, she said, was that the stylist added red color to the mix, and Pumphrey wanted a warm brown. “I do not want any red in my hair,” Pumphrey said. Taking a comb in hand, Lyons peered through the layers of Pumphrey’s hair. “Did you want the back to be this dark brown?” Lyons asked. “I think it was caused by putting color over color over color at home.” Lyons left to retrieve a book of hair color samples. “She is so personable,” Pumphrey said. Back with the samples, Lyons and Pumphrey examined the swatches together. Lyons held them against Pumphrey’s head to see how they aligned with her existing color, and together they decided on a mix of three tones. In the back of the store, Lyons
marching band, and helped form a rock group as a teen. They played Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, “pretty much same as today.” Janowitz idolized Eagles’ drummer-vocalist Don Henley, and fantasized about the precise percussion of Rush’s Neil Peart. “Drummers do more than keep time,” Erik Stams wrote in Rhythm magazine. “The drummer is the backbone of a band. Neil Peart is perhaps the most revered – and airdrummed – sticksman in all of rock.” Like his other passion – golf – Janowitz had given up music when he married just out of school and had his first child. He divorced, remarrying in 1990 – “one date and it was true love” – and had sons three and four. It was his youngest who encouraged him to pick back up his sticks. “The free time had sort of evaporated” with the kids, Janowitz recalls missing music but having neither time nor energy. When his youngest turned 16, he wanted to play drums in the Fauquier High band. Janowitz brought out his old drum kit, the passion reignited, and he reunited with his fifth-grade love. Last year, Janowitz partnered with guitar and bass player Damon Lomison and Classic Axe Guitar Gallery owner Russ Craig to form Sonic Suds. They play classic rock at local clubs, pubs and parties, and tamp it down to acoustic for afternoon sessions at local wineries and breweries. “We’re living the dream,” Janowitz says.
showed me a chart that categorized the color gels available by color and formulation. Only one covers gray, so she made sure that product was included in the mix. At the mixing station, she combined the three colors with a volume agent and color accelerator. While she applied the color to Pumphrey’s roots, Pumphrey chit-chatted, talking about the five horses that live on her property, as well as the cat and the raccoon who come to visit. With the color applied and needing time to set, Lyons went to the computer kiosk in the back of the salon and entered the formula she had used for Pumphrey’s color into her file. “I like doing colors,” Lyons said. “They are fun to do because they create the biggest transformation.” At 2 p.m., Lyons brought Pumphrey a book of hair styles, wanting to know how she would like it cut. None of the styles appealed to Pumphrey. Instead, she requested a cut like Lyons’ own. When Pumphrey’s color was set, Lyons rinsed it out and brought her back to the station for a haircut and blow dry. Pumphrey was concerned about the color, but Lyons reminded her that she would not know exactly how it would turn out until after the hair was cut and dried. Lyons cut long layers and blew the hair dry. Pumphrey examined it
critically in the mirror, squinting as she moved sections of hair to get a good look at the roots. “It’s not too dark, or too red, or anything!” she said, sounding surprised. “Do you feel more like you now?” Lyons asked. “Yeah,” Pumphrey said with a smile. Pumphrey checked out at 2:50 p.m. Lyons cleaned up her stations and packed up her tools. Her shift ended at 3. She hadn’t sat down all day – not even for a minute – during her six-hour shift. For my part, I’d done my hairdresser apprenticeship by just watching the activity from one of the comfortable spinning chairs, and that was enough to wear me out. “People don’t realize how physical this work is,” Lyons said.
Giving back In February, Hair Cuttery donated haircuts to the homeless in its 19th year of Share-A-Haircut. For every haircut purchased one February weekend, one free haircut certificate was donated to a homeless adult or child in need. Hair Cuttery donated thousands of free haircut certificates across Virginia and across the U.S. Last year, more than 76,000 free haircuts were donated.
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HOME & GARDEN
Home & Garden LIVING WELL INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
Masters of their universe
Master Gardener program provides key to the wild kingdom Photo by Chris Cerrone Story by Sally Harmon Semple
Inside this section:
Find out why Kyle Rhodes cares so deeply about your shopping choices at the garden store (Hint: because it matters) n Learn the ways of the wild with butterfly magic n
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Master Gardener internship program turns out experts Learning by doing By Sally Harmon Semple
You may have seen the Fauquier and Rappahannock Master Gardeners in their bright blue shirts answering questions at the Warrenton Farmers Market, volunteering at schools, tending one of several demonstration gardens in the county, or giving a free gardening seminar. But what makes a master? As with many master trades, becoming a Master Gardener involves a formal program combining education and internship. A Master Gardener is a volunteer educator with specialized training in environmental horticulture provided under the auspices of the Cooperative Extension system. The program was created to meet the public's need for unbiased,
His and hers: Twin Masters By Danica Low
Quietly and inconspicuously seated in front of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Office in Old Town is a meticulously cared-for garden that anchors a 30-by-30 piece of Warrenton’s earth. Sherry and Dennis Pillow are Master Gardener volunteers and part of the team that oversees this garden. “In this community garden, the Master Gardeners grow vegetables in all but the coldest months of the year,” Dennis explains. The garden is open to the public to show organic growing techniques that can be used in any backyard vegetable garden. It features 12 raised beds, two elevated beds and two “square-foot” beds. It is a threeseason, organic garden showing which vegetables, herbs and flowers 54
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research-based horticultural information. Locally, it is the role of the Fauquier Office of Virginia Cooperative Extension to "extend" this information from Virginia's land-grant universities – Virginia Tech and Virginia State University – to the public. Advice on plant selection, vegetable and ornamental gardening and yard care are available through Master Gardeners. The program includes 50 hours of classroom time plus 50 hours of hands-on internship to be completed in one year. Interns are exposed to and trained in multiple aspects of the Master Gardening program, and are given the flexibility to concentrate in the established community assistance activities that are most aligned with their own interests. Interns may have an assigned mentor as well as access to gardeners eager to share their knowledge and special interests in horticulture.
grow in this region. Produce grown in the plot is donated to the Fauquier Food Bank. The most productive year to date was 2015, Dennis adds, with 736 pounds of vegetables. The Pillows have worked with the program since 2011. Along the way, they have learned many lessons – of what works and what doesn’t. They’ve implemented practices like companion gardening and interplanting to enhance the fruitfulness of the demonstration garden. “Don’t engage in plant apartheid,” Dennis jokes. “Mix them up. Plants like it better that way.” For instance, cheerful marigolds, he says, are good companions for tomatoes and many garden vegetables. They help keep bugs like aphids, squash bugs and nematodes away. Plus, they’re pretty. Flowers attract pollinators like
Upon completion of the full program, an intern becomes an Extension Master Gardener. Graduates complete at least eight hours of continuing education and 20 hours of volunteer work annually. Master Gardeners staff a horticulture help desk at the extension office in Warrenton, and man a booth at the Warrenton and Little Washington Farmers Markets spring through fall. The group puts on free garden seminars, teaches school programs and offers free home visits. This year, 26 participants completed coursework. Fauquier County demonstration gardens • School House #18 Marshall • VCE office Warrenton • Arboretum at Rady Park
bees that in turn provide pollination for the plants at the flowering stage. Interplanting is a gardening method that goes back hundreds of years. The classic interplant of sweet corn with beans, squash vines running along the ground around the taller plants, is a garden standard. The practice saves space and makes for a more productive plot. Interplanting has another benefit: it helps achieve a no-spray garden. “No chemicals are used on the plants in the demonstration garden, and these practices are successful in keeping the plants healthy,” Dennis says. “I love to see plants grow in an organic ecosystem, and eat what I know to be healthy foods,” Sherry adds. Lasagna gardening is a program favorite, a soil enrichment practice where various organic materials are layered on top of the garden soil at
Warrenton • Remington Community Garden Remington fc-mg.org
Sherry and Dennis Pillow season’s end and covered with a tarp until spring. “It gives the garden five months for the soil to 'cook' down new organic materials - resulting in a richer soil for next spring's garden,” explains Dennis.
HOME & GARDEN
PLANT SMART
SCBI land manager Kyle Rhodes shares his gardening top tips By Julie Taylor
These days, a trip to the big box store’s garden department could do more harm than good. Places like Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Home Depot market trees, shrubs and flowers locally, but, in fact, many of those plants are actually terrible for Piedmont’s ecosystem say experts. Kyle Rhodes, land manager and biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation and Biological Institute in Front Royal, devotes his life to bettering the environment through his work in ecology. Putting the right plants in the right area is critical, he says. “The best thing people can plant is something native,” Rhodes says. “Most people have a smartphone these days. The quickest way is to use [USDA’s] plant website to look at a map to see whether it’s native or introduced.” The simplest way to avoid invasive plants in your yard or community is to just not plant them, he says. “They still sell Japanese barberry at Home Depot,” he notes of the thorny shrub. “Nobody ever needs to plant that ever again. Nothing really eats it, and birds spread its seed through the forest.” He also cautioned against Wavyleaf Basket Grass which has infiltrated parks, and even the SCBI campus. Oriental Bittersweet, a vine, and Russian Olive, a shrub, are also flagged as destructive, and Rhodes urges anyone with those on their properties to remove them immediately.
Kyle Rhodes Not only do the invasive plants damage the ecosystem in your yard, but humans and animals unwittingly transport the seed, creating a situation that’s no longer under control. Though he’s passionate about eradicating invasives, Rhodes works on many other projects as well. Since starting at the SCBI in 2006 as a volunteer, Rhodes has been working on a project called BiodiversiTree. So far, the project is responsible for planting 9,000 native trees, on which Kyle says he’s had about 3,000 hours of volunteer assistance. “I also like native meadows, and I’m trying desperately to make more of them here,” Rhodes says. “Right now we have about 60 acres of native grass
fields, of those only have about 20 meadows.” He says funding is a difficulty, since they rely heavily on donors. The primary difference between meadows and grass fields is the diversity in plant species. “A meadow is more of a mix; it has flowers, broadleaf plants and grasses,” Rhodes explains. “They’re both important, but I’m more into meadows right now because they tend to be more productive in the breeding season.” And a bit of diversity during planting leads to a much more interesting outcome. “We planted 14 different species: five grasses and seven flowers, went to ‘ID’ the plants, and came up with 100 different species,” Rhodes says. “If we had planted purely grasses I think we would’ve had 25-30 opposed to 100.” SCBI has been a global leader in conservation biology since established in 1974. “Out of our center we do work all around the world.” Rhodes says, “We’re constantly doing new and interesting things.”
Check twice, plant once
Tempted to pick up a new plant during your next grocery trip? First, use your smartphone to determine whether it’s a good fit for the area. Go to plants.usda.gov and click “See a list of plants in my state.”
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HOME & GARDEN
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HOME & GARDEN
Nature's perfect invention
Splendor in the shell: High praise for incredible eggs
By Connie Lyons In all of nature, no more perfect object exists than the egg. Its shape is a perfect rounded oval, gleaming white or warmly brown. Broken open, it reveals the richly golden sphere that dwells at its heart. Its history is unfathomably ancient, its symbolism diffuse, and its uses manifold. Signs of using eggs for food go back to prehistory, where there is evidence that hunter-gatherer societies found and consumed the eggs of wild birds. Eventually wild fowl were captured and domesticated; scholars think this began in China in 6000 BCE. East Indian history indicates the presence of domestic fowl as early as 3200 BCE. Chickens were brought to Sumeria and Egypt by 1500 BCE, and arrived in Greece around 800 BCE. The ancient Romans derived methods of preserving their eggs, and a typical Roman meal often began with an egg course. Traditionally eggs are symbols of fertility and rebirth, most significantly for the early Christians in the celebration of Eastertide. Easter eggs symbolized, then as now, the empty tomb of Jesus. Eggs were stained red in memory of Christ’s blood, a tradition that can be traced to Christians in Mesopotamia. This later spread into Russia and Siberia through the Orthodox churches, then through Catholic and Protestant churches across Europe. Eggs were dyed and decorated at Easter, a practice that has evolved into an art form. Most famously, Russian jeweler Fabergé created his eponymous eggs. The House of Fabergé made about 50 of these, of which 43 have survived. Two more were planned for Easter 1918 but were not delivered due to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. The first Faberge egg was crafted for Tsar Alexander III to give his wife, the Empress Maria Fedorovna, in 1885 for their 20th anniversary. The Tsar’s inspiration was an egg owned by the Em-
press’s aunt, Princess Vilhelmine Marie of Denmark. The resulting creation was crafted from gold. Its white enameled shell opened to reveal a matte yellow-gold yolk, which in turn opened to reveal a multicolored gold hen that also opened. The hen contained a minute diamond replica of the imperial crown from which a small ruby pendant was suspended, but these have been lost. Each year thereafter a new egg was commissioned by the Tsar and created by Fabergé for the Tsarina. The eggs became increasingly more elaborate, more bejeweled, each conveyed historical meaning and each had at its innermost heart a hidden surprise. Historically, ostrich eggs were sometimes blown and hung in churches and in mosques as ornaments; all kinds of legends came to be attached to them. In the Middle Ages it was usual to place a colored egg in the representation of Jesus’ tomb during the Easter liturgy. Today in the U.S., egg shows are held where artists show their egg art. Until recently one eggart submission from every state was exhibited at the White House during Easter. Eggs have long had a presence in the arts. Egg tempera painting is a long-lasting medium created by blending egg yolk with various pigments. Surreal paintings of Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch feature a figure a part egg, part man, its cracked body presenting nightmare glimpses of the deformed depraved creatures imprisoned within.
Eggs in literature
Fantasy fiction provides a feast of eggs as well, from children’s books like “The Enormous Egg,” middle school – in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” a clue is hidden inside an egg, and in adult literature – “Game of Thrones” shows three beautiful eggs presented to Daenerys Targaryen at her wedding, each holding a baby dragon. On a more elevated plane, two contrasting communities in “The Great Gatsby” are named
West Egg and East Egg, one filled with success already achieved, the other roiling with longing and possibility. On a more mundane level, eggs have infiltrated contemporary conversation in various ways, complimentary or not. “We call one another good eggs, tough eggs or rotten eggs, depending on which of the egg's natural or acquired conditions best mirrors the assessment of the character in question,” says Episcopal priest and writer Robert Capon. “We walk on eggs to spare fragile egos; yet when such caution fails to prevent damage we blithely point out the impossibility of making omelets without breaking eggs. “We even find the bestowal of an egg to be expressive of widely divergent emotions: handed over graciously it betokens favor; delivered at high velocity it plainly indicates disgust.”
Nature’s perfect food
At the heart of the matter is the egg’s use in the culinary arts. As a bulwark of good health, they have unparalleled virtues now that their bad rap as sources of artery-plugging cholesterol has been debunked. Eggs are low in calories – 75 to 100, and are free of sugar and gluten. Amazon lists 1,567 cookbooks devoted to the cooking of eggs. They can be prepared solo: fried, poached, scrambled, boiled hard and soft, or turned into omelets and soufflés. They pair well with all sorts of edibles: ham, steak, grits, bacon, sausage. Baking without them is virtually unthinkable, as is the making of crepes and breakfast casseroles. Yolks thicken sauces, whites aerate cakes and icings. In Tennessee Williams’ play “Baby Doll,” one character instructs another on the creation of Eggs Birmingham. Another egg dish, Toad in the Hole, is cooked in the movie “Moonstruck.” PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE
A symbol of new life and fertility in spring since Pagan time, eggs have been co-opted by many world religions as a sure and visible sign of the return of spring. SPRING 2018
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HOME & GARDEN
How does your garden grow?
In Fauquier, it grows fast and furious as long as you treat it right
Top tips for a delicious, and beautiful, harvest By Nora Rice
Garden like a chef this year. Your palate will thank you. Go as far as to harvest fresh greens without a garden by sprouting seeds in your kitchen, and your family will think you’re a genius. If you’re direct sowing in the garden bed, remember that early-harvest spring greens require sun and rich soil. Follow spacing directions and keep the soil moist until germination. Repeat sowing every two weeks until frost for a continuous supply of homegrown taste and nutrition. Cover tender leaves during the hottest summer days with light sheets or a sprinkle of straw to keep the sun from baking them. Mizuna, arugala, mibuna, tatsoi, mesclun, cress, swiss chard and loose leaf lettuce grow quick, with harvest as early as 20 days after planting. Human family members aren’t the only ones who can benefit from careful spring garden planning. Treat your cats to nutritious cat grass, Hordeum vulgare, which can double as a
living Easter egg basket. Amaranth makes a statement in any garden. The Hopi Red Dye Amaranth produces seed in 100 days on plants as tall as six feet. Saute the leaves with minced garlic in avocado oil and a dash of sea salt. For an ornamental statement, allow a few plants to go to seed: the long red feathery strip is stunning. Crush the red seeds in a mortar and pestle and add to cornbread to tint it red. Grind the seeds for a gluten-free flour. Another garden favorite, sunflowers provide both beauty and nourishment. Sunchoke tubers – the root of the sunflower – taste like globe artichoke mixed with potato. Harvest by digging it out of the ground, scrub well and cut into one-inch pieces. Toss sunchoke slices in avocado oil with salt and pepper to taste. Roast at 400 degrees about 20 minutes until tender. For showy yellow flowers and seeds, plant Mammoth Grey Stripe which grows eight to 12 feet tall with flowers up to 12 inches across. Rub the seeds off once petals have withered and the seeds are loose. Spread seeds on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes in a 300 degree oven. Check periodically until seeds are crisp and dry.
Once cooled, shell and eat plain or toss first with salt and sunflower oil. Papaver somniferous, Pepperbox Breadseed Poppy, bears mauve pink flowers with dark centers and the prized poppy seeds used in desserts and breads. Direct sow these in very early spring and harvest the seeds from the pods after the blossoms die. Sprinkle on bread dough after an egg wash. Radish seeds should be direct sown in moderate soil weekly from early spring until fall frost. Cover with a thin soil layer, tamp and water. Harvest the Flamboyant French Breakfast Radish after 25 days, wash and slice thinly. Spread crusty French bread with unsalted butter and a layer of radish for a classic French treat. Tomatoes are a must in a culinary garden. Plant bedding plants in full sun deep in rich soil, covering the lowest leaves for sturdy roots. Intermingle with basil as a companion plant. For a drying tomato, plant the Principe Borghesi plum tomato. To dry any variety, cut off stems and spread on a rack in the sun. Cover tomatoes with a thin cloth and dry until wrinkled and leathery. Refrigerate in a closed jar, adding extra virgin olive oil and a few basil leaves if desired. Chop and toss in cooked pasta with
extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, salt, pepper, and Romano cheese. Plan ahead for the 4th of July by planting edible red, white and blue flowers. Grow Bachelor's buttons, Centuarea cyanus. The heirloom Blue Boy Cornflower sports one-inch blooms on three-foot stems. The Monstrosa English Daisy, Bellis perennis, bears red and white pompons and grows to six inches. Both the cornflower and the daisy are best direct sown in early spring. Plant the cornflower behind the daisy to stagger the heights. Garnish strawberries and cream with petals and buds. If you feel you have no time to garden, you can sprout Mung beans in a jar. Cover the bottom of a glass jar with beans that you’ve thoroughly rinsed. Cover the jar top with cheesecloth using a rubber band. Let beans sit for about 12 hours. Rinse and drain again. Continue every 12 hours until they’ve sprouted and are ready to eat. After a final rinse and drain, spread on paper towels until dry and refrigerate.
Seed and plant catalogs
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange southernexposure.com John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds kitchengardenseeds.com PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER
Tender spring grains can be planted early – now – for fast continuous harvest. Think outside the box for flavors, colors and textures to decorate the spring table. 58
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HOME & GARDEN
Beauty (without the beast)
Don’t be frightened to introduce bamboo to the garden, as long as you do it right By Tom Baughn Used as living screens in the garden, the bamboo plant group has few rivals. It is a year-round beauty, especially with a new growth this season. Not all varietals are invasive, though some bad actors in this species have unfairly branded the entire genus. Thus, I suggest at least consider inviting an exotic element into your Virginia garden. You can safely have temperate bamboo in your garden without it taking over. Key to understanding bamboo, and avoiding invasive behavior of some in the species, is to learn about the rhizome. A rhizome is an underground stem that puts out roots at each node. Select the wrong species of bamboo – namely, running bamboo, and it means your plant will grow up to three feet of long rhizomes each year and become a hated invasive. On the other hand, many temperate species of clumping bamboo grow just an inch or two per year, normal, and controllable. To put the growth of clumping bamboo in perspective, consider that even house plants should be repotted into larger containers over time. And since bamboo rarely flowers, it lacks the ability to “seed out” into the rest of your garden. Bamboo is generally evergreen, so green and variegated canes lend exotic elements to the garden all year long. Temperate bamboos can survive to negative 20 degrees. Lowland bamboos are the most versatile, and reliable clumping bamboos are thamrocalmus and fargesia. A favorite, especially tall, bamboo used in many cities is semiarundinaria fastuosa. For information or advice, contact anyone in Virginia’s Master Gardeners program, or author Tom Baughn at tbpublius@comcast.net.
That’s ancient history
• Bamboo appeared in Chinese gardens in 2000 BCE, in Japanese gardens in 1000 CE. • DNA evidence of hardy evergreen bamboo indicates a 26-million-year existence.
Hug a tree on Arbor Day
Warrenton and Middleburg have both long held the title Tree City USA, so designated by the national Arbor Day Foundation. Arbor Day was started April 10, 1872 by Sterling Morton, secretary of the Nebraska Territory and avid nature lover. Prizes were offered to counties and individuals planting the largest number of trees that day. An estimated one million trees were planted that day alone. Arbor Day went national in 1882. Arbor Day 2018 is Friday, April 27. The Tree City USA program was started in 1976 in cooperation with 62
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the National Association of State Foresters and the U.S. Forest Service. In its first year, the Tree City USA signs went up in 42 communities. Today, some 3,400 cities, towns and communities in every state, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico hold the designation. Middleburg was designated a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in 2002; Warrenton was so recognized in 1999. Trees are famously useful for more than just beauty. Urban tree canopy reduces stormwater runoff by 65 percent. Realtors report a property value
‘Each generation takes the earth as trustees.’ – STERLING MORTON
By the numbers PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE
increase of between 7-20 percent for properties with healthy trees. Strategically planted trees reduce home energy consumption by up to 25 percent. arborday.org – By Betsy Burke Parker
Virginia has 56 Tree City USA communities • At 39 years, Falls Church is Virginia's longestrunning Tree City • 44.75 percent of Virginians live in a Tree City •
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HOME & GARDEN
Taking flight
Get a jump on spring with colorful harbingers of the season
Butterflies aren’t picky when it comes to food as the ‘lean time’ of year begins to blossom By Pam Owen Ever been out on a warmish day in March, with no flowers in sight, and spot a butterfly flying around? With no flower nectar available, what are they eating? While most of the butterfly species in the Piedmont don’t emerge or migrate back here until later in the spring, a few overwinter in Virginia as adults, chrysalises or last-stage caterpillars and become active early in the spring. Being cold-blooded creatures, butterflies depend on external temperatures being warm enough to support flight, which takes a lot of energy. Their optimum, favored temperature is about 82–102 degrees, but they can fly at external temperatures that are 20 degrees lower by converting the sun’s radiant energy to boost their internal temperature. Temperatures in the Virginia Piedmont can reach the 60 degrees required for flight pretty much any time of the year, but only a few butterfly species emerge before sustained warm spells arrive. Most butterflies feed on flower nectar when available, but early emergers mostly depend on food sources other than wildflowers. A butterfly survives on a liquid diet, which its body has adapted for efficient intake. It feeds by sipping liquids, such as flower nectar, through its proboscis, a long tube in its mouth that it can curl up into a tight spiral when not feeding. Flower nectar is high in sugar, which gives adult butterflies the energy to fly and reproduce. In early spring, other sources of sugar are available. These include tree sap, honeydew (sugary liquid waste from aphids, which some butterflies also secrete) and even the sugar water in hummingbird feeders. Later in the year, rotting fruit may be added to the butterflies’ diet. Among the early-emerging butterflies that overwinter here as adults is the mourning cloak — a large, mostly dark-brown butterfly with blue spots running along the inner edge of the creamy wing margin. It is often seen seemingly taking a break in a sunny spot on a tree in early spring. While it could be basking, resting or waiting for a potential mate, it could also be feeding
Mourning Cloak
PHOTOS BY PAM OWEN
on the tree’s sap. While a mourning cloak doesn’t come equipped to drill for sap, other animals — such as the yellow-bellied sapsucker — do, and their efforts start a drip that the butterfly then takes advantage of. Early-arriving hummingbirds also dine on tree sap. Not surprisingly, the host plants which feed butterfly larvae of many early-emerging butterfly species are among the earliest to grow in spring, providing leaves and stems for caterpillars to feed on, and blooms for adults. Early hosts include mustards, violets and some tree species. With a miniscule wingspan of 0.9-1.4 inches, tiny spring azures are among the first to emerge that do not overwinter as adults. Although adult spring azures dine on a variety of flowers when available, groups of them are often seen early in the spring fluttering over puddles or muddy patches of soil. They’re “puddling,” dipping down to suck up minerals and salts in the water. This behavior is also common in other butterfly species. These nutrients are important in the butterflies’ diet. Butterflies lose a lot of salt during reproduction, and scientists think that salts factor into producing pheromones that help males attract females. Similarly, animal carcasses and dung are also rich in salt and attract early emergers like the eastern comma.
Early-spring butterflies in Fauquier
Eastern Comma 64
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Overwintering as adults: Cabbage white Clouded sulphur Eastern comma Mourning cloak Orange sulphur Question mark Red admiral
Overwintering as larvae or pupae: Cobweb skipper Elfins (some species) Falcate orangetips Juvenal’s duskywing Spring azure
Butterfly “puddlers” Butterflies — along with some moths and other insects — gather to feed on salt, minerals and other materials rich in oxygen that are in mudpuddles. Clouds of butterflies may appear in puddles along muddy roads and trails in forested areas, or in pastures where livestock dung adds nutrients. One way to attract butterflies early or late in the year is to put a sheet of white paper near the edge of a puddle, as Elizabeth Lawlor and Pat Archer suggest in their book “Discover Nature in Water & Wetlands: Things to Know and Things to Do.” As the water in a puddle evaporates, the salt becomes more concentrated in what remains. Even salt that remains on soil after the puddle dries up can be used by butterflies, which first turn it into a solution again using their saliva. Ever had a butterfly land on you? While it’s nice to think they’re trying to make friends, it’s more likely they’re attracted to salt in your sweat. The following butterfly species are among the most common puddlers in Fauquier: • American coppers • Blues (such as spring azures) • Buckeyes • Cabbage whites • Eastern comma • Great spangled fritillaries • Hackberries • Question mark • Satyrs • Sulphurs • Eastern tiger and spicebush swallowtails
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A lawyerling’s apprenticeship The senior partner's hair-trigger temperament and an 'error of judgement' during an unfortunate pipe tobacco incident drive young attorney into publishing career.
I woke one morning of my senior year in college thinking I ought to decide what I wanted to do after graduation. Whereupon I fell back to sleep. When I rewoke, the nagging notion of life after college remained, and so I explored some avenues. Having achieved among the lowest possible science scores in New York State Regents Exam history, I realized that a career in science, technology or medicine was out. I was certain that I didn’t care to teach. Then there was law. Relatives and friends of my parents included attorneys, all of whom earned decent livings while seeming to enjoy the practice. Although I had some reservations about my interest in American jurisprudence, I applied to several law schools, got lucky on the admission test, and was accepted at a leading national law school. One feature of national law schools is that they don’t teach the day-to-day practice of law or the law of any specific jurisdiction. Instead we explored and examined broad principles, a philosophical approach that I found highly appealing. Nothing, however, nothing at all in that schooling prepared me for my summer job between my second and third years. A friend of a friend knew an attorney, hereinafter referred to as Mr. Senior Partner, who was one of the leading copyright lawyers in the nation. He had a small firm – two young lawyers (often in revolving-door succession) plus a legal secretary and a receptionist. They worked in a small suite of midtown offices near Grand Central Station. Phone calls were made, and I found myself being interviewed by Mr. Senior Partner. Now, there may have been times in that man’s life when he wasn’t on the telephone, but I don’t remember seeing him without a receiver in his hand with its cord close to becoming wrapped around his neck in this era before cordless handsets. My interview, such as it was, began with the receptionist ushering me into a corner office where Mr. SP glared up at me from his call. I stood waiting while he went back screaming into the receiver. Several minutes later, he placed a hand over the mouthpiece and inquired into why I was there. 66
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The Last Word By Steve Price, Esq. “A summer job,” I began to explain. “Start on Monday,” he rasped and, going back to saying unkind things to the party at the other end of the call, he waved me toward the door. But there was unfinished business, and I didn’t move. After a few minutes, Mr. SP again covered the receiver. “What do you want now?” he snapped. “To know about my salary,” I stammered. He frowned, mentioned a paltry sum and shooed me away. “Monday,” he repeated. As I descended back into the street, a wellknown song from Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore echoed in my head. “As office boy I made such a mark That they gave me the post of a junior clerk. I served the writs with a smile so bland, And I copied all the letters in a big round hand — I copied all the letters in a hand so free, That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!”
Order of business
My summer chores turned out to be a bit of both office boy and junior clerk. Although I didn’t copy letters, I kept the photocopy machine in good repair. I filed letters and other client-related items. I went out for sandwiches on rainy days, and – just as a reminder that I had professional aspirations beyond errand boy – I toted legal papers down to court and was even occasionally dispatched to the Bar Association library across the street to research one or another fine point of law. It was a result of such a mission that I made my first error of judgment (lawyertalk for “oops, my bad.”) I had spent the previous day searching for precedents at the law library, then typed my findings into a memo for Mr. SP to read before a meeting with an important client the following morning. Except Mr. SP arrived late that morning just a few steps ahead of said client. There was no time for him to read my memo and question me about any points I had missed or misinterpreted. For me, it was about to be show time. I was told to join the meeting and reveal my findings. The client, a very recognizable show biz personality, smiled warmly. Mr. SP flashed his trademark scowl and ordered me to begin. I don’t know what possessed me to smoke my pipe as I began my monologue, but I did, casually unrolling my tobacco pouch. Promptly and gracefully, the contents spilled all over my lap and the floor. The client smiled sympathetically. Mr. SP removed his eyeglasses and glared. Whereupon I stuttered and stammered through my presentation. When I was done, Mr. SP dismissed me with a nod, but as soon as the coast was clear, I returned with the vacuum cleaner to remove all traces of my error of judgment. Nothing else that summer quite approached the tobacco incident, and I must have done at least something right that summer because I was invited back to the firm after graduation. I did return, but I eventually became so disillusioned by the routine and Mr. SP’s hair-trigger temper that I left to become assistant house counsel at a publishing company. As it turns out, book publishing so suited me that I moved from the legal department into the business and finally the editorial side of that far greener pasture. From there it was just a short hop to trying my hand at becoming a full-time writer. Forty-plus books later, I’m grateful that I didn't continue on the trajectory I'd started. As I reflect back on my career, I cheerfully acknowledge that this mercifully brief apprenticeship at that law firm taught me a valuable lesson: like smoking a pipe, my future as an attorney had risks that were better avoided.
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ROSS REAL ESTATE FOR SALE 4 Bed | 2.5 Bath 5897 Moore Road, Marshall
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