Pasture Talk

from NRV Magazine March-April 2020

by New River Valley Magazine

Bluegrass in Narrows

P. O. Box 11816 Blacksburg, VA 24062 o: 540-961-2015 nrvmagazine@msn.com www.nrvmagazine.com

PUBLISHER Country Media, Inc. Phillip Vaught

MANAGING EDITOR Joanne Anderson

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Sabrina Sexton

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Kim Walsh

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Dennis Shelor

WRITERS Joanne Anderson Karl Kazaks Krisha Chachra Emily Alberts Jennifer Cooper Becky Hepler Melody Warnick Nancy Moseley

PHOTOGRAPHERS Kristie Lea Photography Kevin Riley Always and Forever Photography Tom Wallace Silver Pebble Photography Nathan Cooke, CBM

© 2020 Country Media, Inc. Country Media, Inc. will not knowingly publish any advertisement that is illegal or misleading to its readers. Neither the advertiser nor Country Media, Inc. will be responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints, or typographical errors. The publisher assumes no financial liability for copy omissions by Country Media, Inc. other than the cost of the space occupied by the error. Corrections or cancellations to be made by an advertiser shall be received no later than 5 p.m. the 20th of each publishing month. No claim shall be allowed for errors not affecting the value of the advertisement. Paid advertising does not represent an endorsement by this publication. Content cannot be reproduced without written consent from Country Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Real Estate advertised in this publication is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968.

EEvery day I walk in the woods with Patton [inset photo] and watch the unfolding of spring before my eyes. Some buds take their time to grow, and others seem to flourish overnight. Tree bark caught my attention one day, so I’m taking along the National Audubon Society’s “Field Guide to Trees”. The leaves aren’t out yet, so I’m learning trees by the bark. I often consult their other guides on wildflowers, birds, reptiles & amphibians, mammals, insects & spiders, and the night sky. My animal tracks book is a Peterson Field Guide.

All those books are in my kitchen, and there are more. I don’t have the ones on mushrooms or fossils and other things I don’t see often. If you’re in need of a gift idea for someone of any age, these are entertaining and educational with great photos for under $20. Challenge yourself, your kids and grandkids to learn 20 flowers or trees or insects or constellations. I’m going for 20 trees that I can recognize with certainty by the bark.

This is the second year we have included an Education theme in MarchApril, also still our Home Improvement issue. To make it extra interesting, we chose to look at SOL testing and homework, plus agriculture appreciation. I’ve chosen four questions from the 1895 8th grade test in Kansas for fun. The entire test is here:

• What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods? • Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. • Give nine rules for capital letters. • Find the interest on $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

At the recommendation of two friends, I started reading books by Bill Bryson like “A Walk in the Woods” and “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid”. I think I would be a better writer if I had read these earlier. To be a good writer, one needs to be a good reader. To be good at anything, it’s wise to look around and see what others are doing. Study successful people or businesses in your field of interest.

As an armchair traveler, I’m enamored with “Visions of Italy” and “Visions of Britain” (including Ireland, Scotland and Wales), checked out from the Blacksburg public library. These are stunning aerial tours with classical and other music, informative commentary, gorgeous views and hours of wonderful entertainment.

Speaking of looking at what others do, I read several magazine editor’s letters. Most of them, I find, they talk about what’s in the pages of the current issue and how great it is. I figure you are holding the magazine. You can find out what’s inside and how great it is all by yourself. Happy Spring!

Joanne Anderson ManagingEditor jmawriter@aol.com

As outdoor spaces are being cleverly transformed into casual living areas, New River Valley homeowners are raising the bar on furnishings, cooking options and accoutrements. Once a concrete slab patio, now multi-level wood decks and stone paver areas with fire pits and hot tubs. Once a charcoal grill, then a gas grill, now a built-in gas range and a masonry bake oven.

One does not have to be a homesteader living off the grid or a bonafide chef to make and enjoy delicious wood-fired oven food unrivaled for flavor and taste. Masonry bake ovens have

Text by Joanne M. Anderson

been found in archaeological digs in every ancient civilization, and brick ovens are as common today in Italy and parts of Europe as the outdoor grill is in American backyards.

Ovens using wood for heat have an oven chamber with a floor or hearth, an arc-shaped roof with sides like a dome and a front door or open entry point. "Black" ovens burn the wood in the same space as the cooking takes place either while the fire is going or after flames and coals have been removed. "White" ovens, on the other hand, are warmed by heat transfer from a fire in a separate chamber.

This oven stays white for not ever having ashes or fire residue inside. Masonry ovens are ideal for their heat retention.

Oven temperatures up to 1,000 degrees are possible. Stone holds heat evenly, and food is cooked from all sides including conduction from the hearth. Home cooks and bakers can use this oven for different things as the temperature declines because stone ovens stay warm overnight and even a couple days. Of course, things cook very fast in ultra high temperatures, and they are especially popular for pizza because one can cook lots of pizza when it takes just two to three minutes for each one. Both Brick House

Pizza in Radford and Dogtown Roadhouse in Floyd use wood-fired ovens for pizza. Local stone mason, David Conroy of Stone Age Masonry, builds outdoor bake ovens. The one for the Blue Ridge Institute and Farm Museum, part of Ferrum College, is used frequently. “We have an 1800 German American Farmstead here,” relates Rebecca Austin, coordinator of education outreach and interpretation. “David crafted a wonderful, authentic, beehive bake oven like what would have been used by the farming family in this period.”

The Farm Museum bakes black bottom bread every Saturday in the summer and for several special events. “The dough is placed directly on the oven floor where the fire is burning,” she says. When asked how she knows the right temperature, Austin explains: “Historically to check temp, one would throw in a handful of flour or cornmeal and watch the color for how fast it scorched. I’ve heard the same method using a chicken feather, but if I can hold my hand inside for 3 seconds before having to draw it out for the heat, I know it’s between 350 and 375 degrees.”

Radiant heat from the fire and the heat bouncing off the inside walls of the oven crisp the outside of pizza very quickly. Moisture in the dough is sealed off, which prevents the base of the dough from becoming soggy. It results in a flavorful crust that’s puffy, soft and chewy. Only a wood-fired brick pizza oven delivers a smoky flavor that cannot be duplicated. High temperatures produce other flavors not achieved by slow cooking. Vegetable toppings will be crispier than using a traditional oven. This quick cooking also allows vitamins and other nutrients in the vegetables to remain. Cheese does not burn and has good color and a smoky flavor.

The moist heat of burning wood can be credited for the enhanced flavor of food from wood-fired bake ovens, which use all three forms of heat - convection, radiation and conduction. Wood contains hydrogen and oxygen, the same components of water, so wood burning generates moisture. Anyone who bakes artisan bread at home from a book like "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François,

knows that the baker adds one cup of very hot water to a broiler pan under the stone which holds the bread at the beginning of baking. This creates the luscious crispy crust of Old World breads.

Having a backyard bake oven opens all kinds of new entertaining and cooking options for the whole family to cook excellent meats, pizza, bread and more. Blurring the lines between indoors and outside is easy for summer entertaining, cooking and relaxing, and with an outdoor masonry bake oven, you may even eat more healthy and be more healthy.

Blue Ridge Institute & Farm Museum www.ferrum.edu/blueridgeinstitute