The Piedmont Virginian Magazine Spring 2021

FOOD: LITTLE CHEERFUL ROLLS IN | BLUE DOOR KITCHEN BLOSSOMS

WINERIES, BREWERIES & DISTILLERIES

Sipping Back from the Pandemic

THE PIEDMONT

AWAKENS! THE BIRDS ARE BACK...

...Do You Have a Home for Them?

A GARDEN STROLL

“Spring is Nature’s Way of Saying Let’s Party!”

CAKE BLOOMS

SPRING 2021

A Botanical Celebration

“The Hunt in Belvoir Vale” by John Ferneley Sr. Photo courtesy of National Sporting Library & Museum

Historic

Middleburg Virginia

Discover our traditions while creating your own...

VA Fall Races

April

• April 1-May 9:

Foxes on the Fence, Main Street.

Jumping Rocks Photography

• Apr. 9-Aug. 22: Tucker Smith, “A Celebration of Nature” exhibit at the National Sporting Library and Museum

May

• May 15:

June

Art in the ‘Burg

• June 7-13:

Upperville Colt & Horse Show: America’s oldest horse show

Create your own

Middleburg Moment

Red Fox Inn

What’s open for business now? visitmiddleburgva.com/open-in-middleburg Jodi Miller Photography

MBPA

The Middleburg Business & Professional Association in support of the local business & retail community.

540 . 687 . 8888

VA Fall Races

www.visitmiddleburgva.com Red Fox Inn

The Hill, Madison

The Hill is located high above the FT Valley and is tucked in on the edge of the forest with spectacular mountain views and surrounded by gardens. The 3BR, 3.5 BA home has been designed as a casual & refined retreat for enjoying country living with family. The home was built in 1999 with a large addition and full renovation in 2016. The home features an open floor plan with soaring ceilings, plentiful windows and impeccable finishes. The Hill is comprised of 26 +/- AC that is already divided into two separate lots. The property includes an orchard, studio/garage, a barn and a greenhouse. $1,295,000

Shadow Ridge Farm, Washington

Shadow Ridge Farm is 531 acres of rolling pasture, mountainous forest, streams, massive rock outcroppings and dramatic topography between the Rush River and the summit of Jenkins Mountain, at over 2,000 feet. From every vantage point there are mountain views of the Shenandoah National Park and long vistas across the Piedmont that melt into the horizon. The property affords perfect privacy, yet it is easily accessible and only about 3 miles from the square in Little Washington. Property includes a 4 BR/3 BA main lodge, two guest cabins, and a tenant house plus more. This farm is protected by a conservation easement. $3,500,000

Fair Haven, Castleton

An elegant retreat on 15 acres in the heart of Rappahannock County. The approx. 5300 Sq. Ft. house features one level living with 7 BR, 8.5 BA, 4 fireplaces, a woodstove, gourmet kitchen, beautiful woodwork, interior courtyard, great room, game room, 2 garages and more. Great potential for a short-term rental. $1,449,000

Oldway Art Center, Sperryville

Oldway Art Center has a prime retail location with long frontage on busy Lee Highway just west of the village of Sperryville and about two miles from the SNPark. In addition to the excellent location, the complex includes several outbuildings and specialized studios, 7.4 AC of commercial and industrial zoning, plus 18.6 AC of RR zoning. $750,000

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| SPRING 2021

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FEATURES SPRING 2021 • VOLUME XV • ISSUE 2

PEOPLE OF THE PIEDMONT

ARTISANS

8

34

Marty Fair

Flying Home Sweet Home

Luthier

Handmade Birdhouses in Berryville

BY ED FELKER

BY JENNIFER WALDERA FOOD

ART

10

34

Little Cheerful

Off to the Races

Aimee Watkins’s Mobile Kitchen

The Art of Sam Robinson

BY KAITLIN HILL

BY KAITLIN HILL DR I NK S A ND L I BAT I ONS

FOOD

14 Blue Door Kitchen

Find Dining and First Class Hospitality in Flint HIll

22 Sipping Back from the Pandemic

Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries Recover

BY JENNIFER WALDERA

BY KAITLIN HILL THE GAREN L I T ER AT UR E

24

28

HISTORY

43

Saving Firefighter History Fire Trucks “Get in your heart”

BY GLENDA BOOTH DOGS

47

Cake Blooms Bakery

Spring is Nature’s Way of Saying “Let’s Party!”

A Garden Stroll

Lifestock Guardian Dogs

BY KAITLIN HILL

BY KARLA SEIDITA

BY ED FELKER

A Botanical Celebration

Canine Security Staff

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021 5

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Classic Design • Traditional Techniques • Artisan Made Crafted right here in the Piedmont

FOUNDING EDITOR: Walter Nicklin

CO-FOUNDERS: Arthur W. (Nick) Arundel, Sandy Lerner

PUBLISHER Dennis Brack EDITOR Pam Kamphuis SENIOR EDITOR Gus Edwards ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ed Felker FOOD EDITOR Kaitlin Hill SALES DIRECTOR Jim Kelly ACCOUNTING MANAGERS Michelle Freeman

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CIRCULATION MANAGER Jan Clatterbuck 540.675.3338 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Glenda Booth, Kristie Kendall, Pete Pazmino, Tony Vanderwarker, Carla Vergot, James Wilkinson BEAGLE MIX Angel The Piedmont Virginian is published quarterly

by Rappahannock Media, L.L.C. 309 Jett St., Washington, VA 22747 540.349.2951, pam@piedmontpub.com Subscription inquiries: 540.675.3338 All editorial, advertising, reprint, and/or circulation correspondence should use the above address, or visit the website: piedmontvirginian.com The editors welcome but accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and art. Reprints or bulk copies available upon request. Subscription rates: $29.95/one year, $49.95/two years. © 2021 by Rappahannock Media, LLC. ISSN # 1937-5409 POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Piedmont Virginian, P.O. Box 59, Washington, VA 22747.

3912 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville 22911 434-973-5641 ~ Monday-Saturday 9:30-5:30 www.fabricsunlimitedva.com 6 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

CONTRIBUTORS

Glenda Booth, a freelance writer and editor who lives in Northern Virginia, writes about natural resources, historic sites, interesting people, public policy, travel, and other topics for magazines, newspapers, and online publications. She grew up in Southwest Virginia and received degrees from Longwood University and the University of Virginia.

Ed Felker is a graphic designer, photographer, writer, outdoorsman, and Virginia native. His award-winning writing and photography have been featured in many fine Virginia publications. Ed can most often be found outdoors near his studio overlooking the Potomac River, usually with a camera, often with a fly rod, always with a dog.

Kaitlin Hill is a Culinary Institute of America trained chef with a B.A. in history from the University of Richmond. After completing her culinary degree, she worked in New York as a professional pastry chef, recipe tester for Saveur magazine, and editorial assistant to renowned food critic Gael Greene. In 2015, she returned home to Washington, D.C., where she currently runs a catering business and works as a freelance writer and photographer.

Camden Littleton is a professional photographer and digital marketing consultant who lives in Charlottesville. When not photographing and creating content, she hangs out with her poodle, Grace (@ gracelittleton on Instagram) and explores menus, music, and mountains with friends and family throughout the Piedmont. She grew up in Middleburg and graduated with B.S. in communications from Appalachian State University.

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PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

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540 540 540

PEOPLE OF THE PIEDMONT

Marty Fair LUTHIER

BY ED FELKER

F

People of the Piedmont is an ongoing portrait series spotlighting compelling individuals of the Piedmont.

Captured in genuine moments through the lens and words of Ed Felker, the subjects are portrayed immersed in the pursuits that get them up in the morning and drive them all day.

8 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

airbuilt Guitars sits at the end of a narrow, meandering lane cut through tall woods. The quaint, twostory shop shares a clearing with the home of the man behind the name, Marty Fair. Visitors to the shop may receive a friendly escort for the last hundred yards as Ethel and Roy, resident shop dogs, make sure they find the place okay. But Marty will greet you soon after.

It’s cold, and smoke drifts upward from the chimney, lingering contently around the clearing. Inside, the wood stove crackles and the smell of sawdust and smoke tinges the air. The walls of the shop are covered in a delightful, organized clutter of instruments, parts, pieces, tools, and cabinets. In between, every cubbyhole and void is filled with all varieties of wood. The place feels much bigger than it looks from the outside, and there isn’t an inch of wasted space.

Fair is working on a guitar top clamped to a stand. On the back side of guitar tops, a series of braces, mostly made of spruce, is glued. The braces add necessary strength, but their shape and configuration also determine the tone of the instrument. He pushes a chisel that looks as old as it does sharp along the edge of a brace, shaving perfect, flat curls of spruce with each pass.

“I really enjoy carving spruce braces on guitar tops,” he says. He had been up late the previous night, carving braces, lost in the peacefulness of the task until all hours. “The wood has to be figured out as you work it down to its finished shape,” he adds. “And sometimes the grain of the wood dictates the finished dimension and shape.”

Fair has always enjoyed building things. As a teenager he worked as a carpenter’s helper. In college, the only class he was really interested in was sculpture, where he got to make things out of wood, metal, and other materials.

After a year, he decided not to go back, and spent a summer in Boulder, Colo., doing more carpentry work. Back in Virginia, he found himself doing some landscape work with a musician named Slinky Cobblestone, who had a variety of old banjos and guitars. Cobblestone was interested in building instruments, which got Fair thinking about it.

“I got a guitar kit in a box from Slinky and worked on it when I could,” he says. He continued to work carpentry and woodworking jobs but kept returning to instruments. He attended Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix – four solid months of guitar building instruction – and spent a few years in New Mexico building and repairing guitars.

Back here in Virginia again, he was working full-time doing installations for American Woodcrafters, where he had previously worked and learned some woodworking skills. At the same time, he built the shop at his house, built and sold a couple of guitars, and started doing repair work. His full-time job became parttime as he got more guitar work, then he got set up to do warranty work for C.F. Martin, which brought in more repairs. He gave up the other work in 2005 and focused mainly on working with instruments.

It’s extremely gratifying to make a guitar. But there is also great appeal in the repair work Fair does. He likes getting an old guitar scarred from years of neglect or abuse and bringing it back to a playable state. “I realize that guitars are not alive, but they can outlive their current owners,” he says. “I feel like I owe it to the instrument to do the best I can to keep it strong and making music.”

Over the past 20 years, he has seen many guitars pass from one owner to another. “Sometimes as a gift, sometimes a sale, and sometimes people die and their guitars come back in different hands for repairs,” he says. With the amount of time he spends with these instruments it’s not surprising he feels a connection to them. Fair, a musician himself, likes to sit and play a guitar for a while once it’s set up nicely. “The music the guitars are capable of is what interests me the most.”

| SPRING 2021

FOOD

A Little “Cheerful” Goes a Long Way Aimee Watkin’s Mobile Kitchen STORY BY KAITLIN HILL

PHOTOS BY CAMDEN LITTLETON

M

ore than a state of being, “cheerful” is also defined as, “causing happiness by its nature or appearance”. It is perhaps the “causing” part of the definition that Aimee Watkins was thinking of when dubbing her mobile kitchen The Little Cheerful.

The adorable 1960s-era Airstream, complete with potted plants, a brightly colored awning, and doodle-decorated blackboard door, is the sure sign of a good time. But more than décor, patrons of TLC are treated to Watkins’ delicious home cooking, her solid gold heart of hospitality, and memorable musical performances from local bands and festival headliners alike.

“It was 2014, the kids were getting older and I needed to find something to do with my time,” shares Watkins of Bath County.

“So, I just put all my favorite things together. I love food. I love people. I love being a hostess. I love setting the scene for people to make amazing memories.”

Her love of memorable gatherings inspired Watkins to create a “mobile kitchen” versus a typical food truck. “I thought about, when you have parties at your house, where do people hang out? They al10 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

ways hang out in the kitchen. So that’s why I thought: let’s do an Airstream.”

She found a 1966 Airstream Safari in Kentucky and bought it partially gutted. Watkins says, “I took everything out of it. I got a pressure washer in there, cleaned the whole thing out, and just repurposed it with love into this cute little vintage traveling kitchen.”

With the airstream almost ready to go, Watkins jumped right into the business of spreading cheer and good food. She laughs,

“For my first gig, the kitchen in the Airstream wasn’t even finished yet. There was no stove in it. It was countertops and a couple of refrigerators. I was winging it. I was totally winging it the whole time.”

In August 2014, The Little Cheerful took its maiden voyage. “It was a little music festival up in Monterey in Highland County. They needed someone to do artist hospitality for the bands. My [contact] there said, ‘Just come cook for the bands.’”

FOOD

“I just put all my favorite things together.

I love food. I love people.

I love being a hostess.

I love setting the scene for people to make amazing memories.”

After her first service she was hooked, and her reputation spread. Watkins says, “I could see it in the musicians’ eyes, they just thought it was fantastic. I was sold. This was my nice little niche.” She adds, “That first festival led to another music festival, and another, all word-of-mouth.”

For Watkins, festival hospitality was a true calling that combined a love of music rooted in her childhood and a lifelong desire to be a cook. Of her connection to music she recalls,

“I have always been a lover of music. I would get off the bus and I would hear music blaring from my house. I was six and my mom would be jamming out.” She adds, “[My mom] wasn’t very good at talking about emotions.

Instead, she would say, ‘Let me play a song for you. It’s all about what you’re going through right now.’ And my dad, too. He would be out checking on the pastures and play me Willie Nelson. I saw how music affected them and I grew up with that.”

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021 11

FOOD

She also saw the effect food had on people, a powerful motivator in her decision to become a cook. “I always wanted to be a cook. I always wanted to be from this southern family who grew up with all these beautiful Southern food traditions.”

Her menus certainly express a southern influence. Backstage, band members are treated to pulled pork over mac ‘n’ cheese, chili with cornbread, Brunswick stew, maple glazed bacon-wrapped dates, and deviled eggs. She has dessert sorted too, with berry cobbler, cookies in all flavors, chocolate pecan brownies and, she adds proudly, “My specialty is banana pudding.”

But more than her decadent offerings, she embodies that southern spirit of hospitality. She says, “I love the authentic giving nature of it and seeing how food makes people feel. I would prime the musicians with sustenance, homemade treats, comfort food. It’s all they wanted after eating on the road. Maybe they want some elderberry or a shot of moonshine to make them feel better. It just makes them feel good, and when they feel good, they play amazing. It’s a win-win for everyone. I am a lover of music and food and I’ve seen that when the two combine that’s when the magic happens.”

That magical combination had Watkins averaging about five festivals a year at her peak, many in the Piedmont — a lot of work for a largely one-woman show. “At the beginning I wanted more and more festivals, and one year I was up to five festivals.

And I tell you, preparing for a festival is nuts because you don’t know how many people you’ll have back there. You might have 50 bands, which means 500 people throughout the weekend. And then you think about their entourage and you don’t want to leave anyone hungry.” To give additional perspective, when vending for artists at The Maple Festival in Monterey, Watkins prepared 30 gallons of Brunswick stew and 20 gallons of chili, all homemade in 10-gallon stockpots.

She laughs, “I was standing up on my stepladder so I could stir, and I thought ‘What the hell am I going to stir this thing with?’ So, my husband had to make me a big dowel.”

When not feeding the masses backstage, Watkins would park her portable kitchen alongside the road by the courthouse in Warm Springs. “People had never seen any12 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

“People had never seen anything like this in Bath County. They were like, ‘What the heck is this little thing?’” Aimee Watkin recounted. She led a drive to draft new local regulations that made The Little Cheerful and other roadside food vendors legal.

thing like this in Bath County. They were like, ‘What the heck is this little thing?’”

Patrons asked more pointed questions too, Watkins notes. “Then I had the people that said, ‘Wait a minute, is this legal? What’s the coding?’”

Not the type to back down from a challenge and always looking to have fun along the way, Watkins set out to make The Little Cheerful’s service legal by creating a new set of regulations and showing up in force at the courthouse. “We talked and we came up with a nice set of guidelines you have to follow in order to vend food off the side of the road.”

Beaming with pride she adds, “I had that courthouse packed on the night that the law went through. I had little buttons made and people were hooting and hollering. It was beautiful.” She concludes with a chuckle, “So not only am I a law breaker, I got to be a new lawmaker.”

With a new law and long list of festivals on her resume, more recently Watkins has been keeping The Little Cheerful closer to home, but still hosting as only she can. “I had a new vision for TLC. I started bringing live music to our property here in Bath County. We have 50 acres on the George Washington National Forest. We offer superb artist hospitality any time these bands want it. In return, they play a couple hours for a hundred of our live music club patrons. We call them field concerts because they are in our Turtle Field. We have a stage out there with a roof.”

As festivals in Virginia and across the country shuttered because of Covid-19, Watkins’ shift to her backyard venue was timely and focused on safety. She tells, “People respect each other’s space. We all have masks around our necks and if someone comes up and talks to us, we immediately pull our masks up. It’s just respect.” She adds, “Everyone feels safe, it’s intimate. And it’s intimate gatherings like this that are going to keep us going through Covid-19.”

FOOD

Part of that intimacy comes from the characters that make up the crowd, all people she considered friends. Of her guests she explains, “It’s a carefully curated list I put together of all the people that will mesh well. It’s families mostly; we are very family oriented out here.” With a large property there is plenty for her family friends to explore. “We have rope swings, trails, and a creek that runs through our property. I mean, people come out three or four hours before food is even being served just to hang out, get their spot in Turtle Field.”

And having her property as the venue has the added benefit of working with her family. “I have my daughter, Molly, she is a big help. And my husband, Andrew, he’s a general contractor and woodworker, so he outfitted the inside of Little Cheerful. They’ve been helpful. I didn’t know how I would do it, but we all just worked together and here we are planning house concerts every month and having everyone come to us.”

As for the entertainment at her field concerts, Watkins books festival headliners and highlights local talent. “This is my first time dealing with booking agents. I get in good with the booking agent and I let them know that I have a nice little oasis for the

“I am a lover of music and food and I’ve seen that when the two combine that’s when the magic happens.” artists. If they are playing a gig close by and they want a little extra pocket money, they can come play for a hundred of my closest friends, I’ll pump them back up with food and they’ll be on their way.” She adds, “I want to do local bands too. Because I want to spotlight them and they need just as much love, if not more, than the bigger ones.”

Always thinking of new opportunities for TLC, Watkins stresses, “Another aspect I love about The Little Cheerful is the mobile ambiance. I mean, I can set up a scene, a wine party, a book signing, an intimate wedding reception for 50 people.” She laughs, “And for the food, I am not just a grilled cheese person, I am whatever you need.”

Whether on the road, many times in the Charlottesville area, or in her backyard, for Watkins the reward is the same and she plans to continue with events this spring and summer. She shares, “I love to just stand back, close my eyes, and listen to the chatter. Just listen to everyone having a good time. It’s amazing to watch everyone smile. I just love it. The Little Cheerful is almost a little bit of a stage for me and I want people to come because I think we have something special out here.”

For information about upcoming field concerts or to inquire about private events, check out The Little Cheerful on Facebook and Instagram @thelittlecheerful.

A Family Legacy of Virginia Wine Excellence

4366 Stillhouse Road, Hume, Virginia 22639 | 540.364.1203 | pcwinery.com | Hours: Sun - Fri: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Sat: 11:00AM to 7:00PM Please check website and social media for seasonal hours PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021 13

FOOD AND DRINK

Blue Door Kitchen Fine Dining and First-Class Hospitality in Flint Hill

BY KAITLIN HILL

14 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

Owners Chef Andrea Pace and Reem Arbid.

On their menu recently: Local Wagyu Beef Tenderloin with Eggplant Puree and a Chive Potato Cake

area weekenders alike. Even more than their commitment to excellence, Pace and Arbid’s inclination for accommodation, even during a pandemic, makes Blue Door well worth a visit.

Both Italian transplants and culinary veterans, Arbid and Pace joined forces a decade

ago. Arbid shares, “We met 15 years ago, through the industry. I had a catering company and he helped me with a few big events I couldn’t handle on my own. And from there we got together and opened Villa Mozart and then The Blue Door.”

The duo owned Villa Mozart in Fairfax City for 11 years before selling in 2017 and looking for their next place and new project.

A loyal customer put Flint Hill on their radar during the search process. Arbid remembers, “A customer left me a voice message saying,

PHOTOS BY KAITLIN HILL (ABOVE) AND COURTESY OF THE BLUE DOOR KITCHEN AND INN (RIGHT)

W

ith an estate-like entry, sprawling garden, and hard-to-miss blue door, The Blue Door Kitchen and Inn in Flint Hill offers patrons a true country escape, complete with hospitable proprietors and inspired cuisine. The property is run by Chef Andrea Pace and his partner, Reem Arbid, whose shared focus on exquisite dining and firstrate lodging has made the inn and eatery a favorite of locals, visitors from neighboring towns, and greater metropolitan Washington

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021 15

FOOD AND DRINK

Amuse Bouche: Vitello Tonnato, Smoked Salmon, and Iberico Jamon

16 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

in-house, ingredients are grown on-site or sourced locally. Arbid says, “He uses a lot of what he grows, which gives him so much pleasure.”

She adds, “In the morning we go down to the garden and he gets all his vegetables and herbs that he will use in the food and we get the rest from local farms.”

Pace highlights his quality ingredients in mouth-watering dishes like “Hometown

Chilled Local Peach Soup with Elderflower Sorbet

Rye Ravioli with Mountain Cheese, Baby Leaf Spinach, Chives and Grana Shavings” and “Duck and Foie Gras Ravioli in Sage Butter Sauce.”

At the outbreak of COVID-19, Pace and Arbid’s focus on fine dining remained, but their approach to service shifted to accommodate CDC guidelines, state mandates, and customer comfort levels.

Initially forced to close their on-site dining, Blue Door Kitchen made the menu to go. Arbid shares, “We made the shift very naturally, even though we’ve never been in this kind of business, carry out, but you have to do what you have to do.”

This time, it was Pace’s turn for some skepticism, followed swiftly by reward. “He was resistant at the beginning because he did not think our food would travel and keep the same quality. But we were blown away by all the people, the first few weeks, calling us or writing to us saying that our food travels so well and it’s just like eating in the restaurant,” Arbid remembers.

More than positive reviews, the ability to continue serving offered a mental boost as well. Arbid admits, “It was very good men-

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BLUE DOOR KITCHEN AND INN;

BY KAITLIN HILL (RIGHT)

‘I know you’re looking for a place and I came upon this place in Flint Hill and it has your name written all over it. You must go see it.’”

While Pace was intrigued, Arbid was a little skeptical. She notes, “Andrea is from the Northern part of Italy, the Alps. He was intrigued to come check it out. But, I thought, there was no way I would move out there.

But [this customer] she was so correct. We fell in love with this place and here we are.”

The Blue Door Kitchen and Inn opened in May 2018, offering a comfortable country escape and Pace’s Italian Alps-inspired cuisine. Arbid explains, “It’s a different type of cuisine than the rest of Italy. It has the Austrian influence.”

Pace’s food philosophy elevates his regional inspiration.

“He was trained in Italy and continues to do everything the same way he learned.

There are no shortcuts. He makes everything from scratch. He believes in not putting too many items in one dish, maybe four or five at the most, so each item shines and you can taste it,” Arbid says.

When Arbid says from scratch, she means it. Not only are their menu offerings made

FOOD AND DRINK

tally to feel like you are still providing. A lot of places shut down and locals did not have many options to get food.”

When cleared for on-site dining, the team at Blue Door took the opportunity to continue to provide for their customers, prioritizing safety protocol and guest comfort.

“We reopened slowly, because I wanted to focus on the safety issues, training ourselves and training our staff.” Arbid says, “We seat outside and the tables are spaced.” For colder months, dining al fresco is kept cozy with overhead heaters and a fire pit.

And for indoor dining Arbid says, “We are running at 50% capacity with dividers between each table. Everyone has to come in wearing a mask until they get to their table. And we wear masks all the time and sanitize continuously. It’s for our safety, our staff, and our guests.”

The level of care taken to accommodate their visitors has not gone unnoticed, and in the fall, led to an added offering at Blue Door.

Blue Door’s Kitchen Garden

For their latest updates regarding service during COVID-19 visit: thebluedoorkitchen. com or @thebluedoorkitchen on Instagram and Facebook.

A guest came to me and said, ‘My fiancé and I were dining and we felt so safe and so comfortable. And we would love to have our micro-wedding here,’” Arbid recalls. “So, we’ve been getting a lot of this, micro weddings every weekend. We have some that are four people, some that are 30 people.

It’s great. We want people to come, feel safe, comfortable and really enjoy themselves. It makes us so happy to see people finally being able to do that.”

Whether on-site dining, curbside pickup, or even micro weddings, all experiences at The Blue Door serve as examples of Arbid and Pace’s dedication to excellence in hospitality and ability to adapt in challenging times.

Arbid perhaps sums it up best when she says, “We’ll keep doing what we are doing, but we will have to see what happens. For now, customers can expect excellent food, excellent service, and beautiful ambiance.

We want guests to come and really feel relaxed and safe, enjoy the garden, the food, the company and not have to worry about anything,” she says.

As always: widely spaced, fresh air, tranquility Multiple Gold Winner

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| SPRING 2021 17

FARM TO TABLE

A Botanical Celebration Cake Bloom of Charlottesville is family-owned and community-minded

BY KAITLIN HILL

18 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

A native of Chattanooga, Sweeney credits her childhood introduction to baking to her big sisters. She shares on her website, “They introduced me to the concept of eating, baking, and cooking slowly for pleasure. They taught me how to cook for the process, eat for the flavor, and to choose ingredients for their quality and origin.”

A cornerstone of her future business, the importance of ingredients was further ceSusan Sweeney started making cakes in her tiny San Francisco apartment as a side hustle.

mented by an undergraduate study abroad program in Avignon, and later, her culinary education in California. She remembers, “I studied abroad in France when I was in college, and just discovered farmers markets and seasonal eating. It was life changing.”

She continues, “I think that is a big part of why I moved from Chattanooga to San Francisco. In addition to having a big sister living out there, I just liked the lifestyle and was really drawn to the food culture.”

While studying at the California Culinary Academy, Sweeney also worked at the Ferry Building, a gourmet food hotspot.

PHOTOS BY SARAH DERAGON PHOTOGRAPHY

N

o stranger to the power of plants, American botanist Luther Burbank believed, “Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine to the mind.” In Charlottesville, recently opened Cake Bloom is the embodiment of that sentiment with flower-adorned, all-natural, and undeniably cheery cakes made by owner Susan Sweeney. But more than beautiful and tasty, Sweeney’s sweets are the culmination of her unique culinary education, her desire to highlight local growers, and her focus on the importance of family.

FARM TO TABLE

“Semi-Nude” Buttercream 4-inch “Baby Cake” with fresh berries and flowers

She shares, “I was working at the Ferry Building where there is a huge farmers market every Saturday and a couple during the week. I think that was a bigger part of my culinary education, even more so than school.”

During her eight years in San Francisco, Sweeney started making cakes as a side hustle. She laughs, “I originally started doing wedding cakes in my tiny little apartment in San Francisco, totally moonlighting while working a full-time job.”

Sweeney, her cake business, and her love of farm-fresh ingredients would move north to the Sonoma region where she would continue her informal culinary coursework.

“When I moved up to Sonoma, it became more of a full-time thing, primarily making wedding cakes. And, I worked for an organic olive oil farm, so I really got to know the local farms and local produce. California is a wonderland of ingredients and florals, so I got to use the bounty of Northern

California for everything I was making.

Living in California, working with farmers, and discovering horticulture really shaped me as a baker and impacted the botanical direction that I’ve found myself in.”

In 2019, Sweeney and her husband moved to Charlottesville, based on a desire to raise their daughter surrounded by

“I am a nature girl and I draw from my surroundings for both baking and styling.” family. She says, “I have three older sisters that live in Virginia, two that went to UVA, and have lived here pretty much their whole adult lives.” She adds, “We have a three-year-old and we reached a point where we were ready to be closer to family.”

Charlottesville also offered the opportunity to continue with Cake Bloom which, she relaunched from her home in April 2020. Similar to her experience in California, it also offered the chance to work with local growers when buying florals and developing flavors for her all-natural offerings. Sweeney explains, “I am a nature girl and I draw from my surroundings for both baking and styling. I don’t do any artificial food coloring or gum paste. I try to keep it as clean and flavor-driven as possible.” She adds, “Right now, to keep things simple, I have three signature flavors that I offer yearround: classic chocolate, rainbow carrot, and a seasonal citrus featuring citrus curds and fresh fruits. But I am looking forward to expanding my menu soon.”

Instead of fondant and edible glitter, Sweeney sources decorative flowers and local ingredients from her friendly farm connections. She says, “One of my sisters is a landscape architect, so she has a netPIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021 19

FARM TO TABLE

Blue Ridge Fog Buttercream inspired by colors unique to Virginia and adorned with fresh lilac and violets.

20 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

BY SARAH DERAGON PHOTOGRAPHY (TOP); BY SUSAN SWEENEY (BOTTOM)

All-natural cake with ruffled vanilla buttercream and topped with fresh flowers to match.

work of growers that I have been getting [ingredients] from. I’m getting eggs from one of her clients in Stanardsville and they are growing beets and carrots for me. And when they happen to have edible flowers and herbs, I’ve been using those too.” She expands, “One of my customers mentioned she had a flower farm and reached out. She will probably be one of my primary growers. There is another [customer] that is retired and has a farm, and we trade cake, and he grows stuff for me too.” Her Floral Funfetti features organically grown hibiscus petals, blue cornflower, calendula, and thyme to achieve pops of color throughout the batter, while her Rainbow Carrot cake uses organic tri-color carrots to give it a unique sweetness.

Sweeney counts The Bluebird Barn, Blue Heron Farm, Leap Frog Flower Farm, and Monte Vista Farm, among her “local friends” that she works with when making her cakes.

She also collaborated with Three Notch’d Brewery and Vitae Spirits when developing her Wahoo Stout cake made with Three Notch’d Brewery Jack’s Java Espresso Stout and Vitae Spirits coffee liqueur.

For Sweeney, the community connection goes both ways. Her delicious cakes, desire to highlight local businesses, and helpful sisters have earned Cake Bloom the support of Charlottesville. She shares, “My sisters have huge networks here. So, I armed them with 20 baby cakes, and they dropped them off all around town and with all their friends. And that was the start. I was the new person in town, but news traveled really fast by word of mouth.” She concludes, “Charlottesville has been very supportive, and I’ve learned quickly that it is a small town and that there are a lot of ways to connect and everyone wants to help you out.”

Already well-loved for her cake delivery, Sweeney is in the process of putting together a storefront with a soft opening planned for May. The West Main Street brick and mortar is “100% sister-owned” between Sweeney and her four older sisters and, in addition to cakes, will offer all the celebratory accoutrements. Sweeney says, “It will be owned and primarily operated by women, which I think is really impor-

BY SUSAN SWEENEY

FARM TO TABLE

tant. And it will be a hybrid of everything I love.” She plans to combine a cake and coffee counter with a retail space that offers “fresh, locally-grown, organic flowers, gifts, cake stands, birthday candles, sparkling wine, along with a cozy sparkling wine bar.” She adds, “The retail space is for exploring all the ways you can celebrate from Mother’s Day, birthdays, or just being with friends.” Sweeney notes that they will open slowly in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions and continue with delivery and curbside pickup until it is safe to have guests inside.

As Sweeney settles into her new Charlottesville storefront, intent on giving her customers what she considers the “essentials of celebration,” her story serves as a reminder that there are still things to celebrate. With the support of the community, a partnership with her sisters, beautiful flowers, and thoughtfully made cakes, Sweeney has plenty to be happy about. And the best part? She is determined to share.

Cakes decorated “Garden Party” style feature edible blossoms, petals, and foliage that are locally foraged and individually pressed.

Delicious cakes, desire to highlight local businesses, and helpful sisters have earned Cake Bloom the support of Charlottesville.

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| SPRING 2021 21

OUT & ABOUT

Featured here is 3x grammy award winning, the Travelin McCourys” playing the Grateful Ball at Chisholm Vineyards.

BY JODY CARBONE

Sipping Back from the Pandemic

Checking in with some of the Piedmont’s wineries, breweries, and distilleries as they climb out of Covid

BY JENNIFER WALDERA | PHOTOS BY CAMDEN LITTLETON AND JODY CARBONE

W

hile many businesses have suffered immensely during the pandemic, certainly the hospitality industry has been hit hard.

From restaurants and hotels to wineries, breweries, and distilleries, there are a multitude of establishments that have felt the

22 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

pain of the pandemic. Yet, still, entrepreneurs and business owners have persevered through the pandemic and found creative ways to pursue their passion and entice locals and travelers while keeping workers and visitors alike safe and healthy.

In and around the Piedmont, wineries, breweries, and distilleries have been work-

ing hard to reinstate or recreate their events while finding creative solutions to ensure safe environments conducive to social distancing as well as adherence to recommendations and guidelines. We’ve rounded up a few of the local spots to sip with events, activities, and music this spring and summer, and talked to some of the owners

OUT & ABOUT

“We’re pumped to welcome guests back to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains for more beer, live music, and a one-of-a-kind concert experience unique to fans and guests of Devils Backbone.”

Top: Drone shot of Devils Backbone Base Camp

BY SKYLINE TENTS

Bottom: Guests of all ages enjoyed John R Miller & The Engine Lights play last fall at Devils Backbone in Nelson County.

BY JODY CARBONE

about their approach to creating safe spaces to visit.

At Stable Craft Brewing in Waynesboro, owner Craig Nargi immediately began to make changes at the very beginning of the pandemic, using the time during the government-mandated lockdown to craft company policies and structural changes to accommodate new needs.

“First, we grouped together on our company policies and how we would divide up our staff to remain safe, and put in place protocols for daily monitoring of individual health. We installed a touchless temperature reader and blood oxygen monitor and recorded the data. We found these procedures allowed us to take the next steps to operate”, Nargi says.

In addition to policies that would help to protect staff, new protocols were developed for guests for safety as well as to enhance the experience at the brewery and its restaurant.

“We are adding more covered outdoor seating areas, we built a covered heated PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021 23

OUT & ABOUT

LET’S PLAY!

This decades old band will perform their blend of roots, jazz, world, bluegrass and original music. Martin’s Grill Food Truck will be on hand for food, as well.

Here’s a lineup of some of the upcoming live music and events at some of the spots that are offering regular entertainment to enjoy while sipping their wine or brews: B CHORD BREWING COMPANY  The Big Hooley II May 7-8: This musical event will feature Scythian, Stevie Rees, and self proclaimed King of Celtic Funk, BenDavid Warner, Honeyday, and other special guests for an outdoor lawn party with a wide variety of music.  Pictrola May 14: Pictrola will be playing their fusion of bluegrass with blues and jazz  Railroad Earth May 21-23: This band that defies to be defined by traditional music terminology will play on the brewery’s expansive lawn.

 Festy Charlottesville: MIPSO May 1: This North Carolina based quartet will be performing for this installment of the Festy series. thefesty.com

B Chord Brewing Company in Round Hill features outdoor concerts and lots of space to spread out.

Picnic tables available and fire pits with marshmallows and s’mores included, reservations required.

BY CAMDEN LITTLETON

CHISHOLM VINEYARDS  Scuffletown April 30:

 Festy Charlottesville: David Wax Museum May 8: The Charlottesville-based band will play their Mexican inspired blend of American folk, indie rock, and roots rock. thefesty.com  Festy Charlottesville: Molly Tuttle May 29: Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and banjo-player Molly Tuttle will grace the outdoor stage with bluegrass and folk music. thefesty.com

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 Galactic featuring Anjelika Jelly Joseph May 21: As part of Devils Backbone’s ongoing music series, this event begins at 5:30 pm.  Moon Taxi with Josie Dunne May 22: This Nashville-based rock band joins with Dunne’s gorgeous voice.  Big Something and Too Many Zooz May 29: These two popular bands descend on DB for a 5:30 performance.

As always, check with individual wineries and breweries on any protocol changes, needs for reservations, or other modifications.

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DEVILS BACKBONE Find Tickets by visiting the link posted on the brewery’s Facebook page.

H o m e Ser

v

OUT & ABOUT

stage on the back of a 1952 Diamond T Truck. We added an outdoor cooking area. We also added additional fire pits and outdoor heaters. The winter months are in our fourth year with Igloos offering more seating time slots.

“We also designed one way foot traffic to our bars, require masks of all patrons regardless, installed plexiglass at our bars, provide automatic hand sanitizer dispensers, and we have also opened an outdoor bar. We separate our kitchen staff and food runner staff from our bartending staff on each shift by dedicating teams to prevent cross over.”

All of these changes have allowed Stable Craft to not only remain in operation as a destination for beer, cider, wine, and food, but also to begin to offer events again, including an oyster roast, events for Earth Day and 4/20, and ongoing Friday and Saturday night events featuring live music. Additionally, Stable Craft’s overnight suites remain operational with Covid cleaning protocols in place as well

as a new reservation system that promotes contactless check-in.

“We've not only endured, we've learned a lot about ourselves and how to best improve our facility to be a friendly, relaxing safe place to visit,” says Nargi.

In Crozet, Pro Re Nata Brewery also moved into high gear to make modifications necessary to provide a safe space for workers and guests alike.

“We have pivoted during this time in our best efforts to provide a place where our customers can spread out, relax and feel normal; and musicians can get back to work. Coming out of this pandemic successfully required that we encourage and make possible outdoor opportunities for those looking for a just a great place to visit, to experience live music again or to celebrate life’s milestones,” says General Manager, and part owner, Gena Greer.

“We have enlarged our outdoor seating options throughout the summer and fall and that continues into spring. In the last month, we have built an outdoor stage

and restyled our Farmacy Lawn space.

The beer, cider and wine are on tap in three different locations and Hops Kitchen is on-site 6 days a week with two different food truck options: Hops Kitchen and Za Spot Pizza,” she continues.

The brewery is also working with local event company Justin B Productions on a Thursday night concert series beginning April 22. Additionally, they are in the process of landscaping a new beer garden with hopes of completion by mid-April.

Devils Backbone, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Nelson County, reopened with a number of COVID19-safe protocols, as well. Now, the venue that houses the brewery, restaurant, and distillery is eager to return to providing opportunities to enjoy live music.

“Devils Backbone is uniquely positioned to safely host an outdoor concert series during this time when live music has been sorely missed. Last year, we utilized our wide-open, 90-acre property in Nelson County to safely host our first

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| SPRING 2021 25

OUT & ABOUT

ever Walk-In Concert, implementing COVID-19 protocols and using our 10+ years of experience producing festivals to deliver a safe and exciting experience for fans. Like last year’s event, every detail of our 2021 spring concert series has been evaluated and adjusted through the lens of safety and guest experience. We’re pumped to welcome guests back to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains for more beer, live music, and a one-of-a-kind concert experience unique to fans and guests of Devils Backbone,” says COO Hayes Humphreys.

The concert series, running from May through July features bands including Mt. Joy, Galactic, Mood Taxi with Josie Dunne, Big Something, Too Many Zooz, Twiddle, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and more to be announced.

Additionally, those who have frequented Devils Backbone that loved the ambience of the outdoor fire pit with rings of chairs will appreciate the ability to reserve their own fire pit pods in a nod to social distancing.

26 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

In Charlottesville, North American Sake Brewery has been following the recommended protocols as well, but was also fortunate to be able to substantially increase their outdoor seating options.

“COVID-19 has been a difficult time for all breweries and restaurants. We are very fortunate to have been able to expand our patio in the IX Art Park which gives us lots of open-air seating in a beautiful setting located near downtown. We pretty much moved most of our operations outdoors, but we also offer spaced indoor seating as well,” says head brewer Andrew Centofante.

The sake brewery introduced individual heated tents and a fire pit for guests to enjoy the space comfortably in the winter, but going into spring the brewery intends to take advantage of that outdoor seating as well as the popularity of their “now famous” Sake Slushies introduced last summer. Visiting North American Sake Brewery is an experience all on its own, offering the unique ability to try

and learn about award winning sake in the heart of Virginia.

“We worked really hard to maintain a safe and most importantly fun environment and we plan to keep rocking out on the patio all summer long,” Centofante says.

Not far from Charlottesville, in Earlysville, Chisholm Vineyards is, like others, upping its live music game, but substantially so, by partnering with Festy, the annual music event known for featuring emerging artists and bands spanning the genres of rock, blues, bluegrass, indie, reggae, and folk.

Festy boasts that last year’s 14 shows returned no COVID-19 reports and they have even expanded this year to include shows in Charleston and Asheville. With contactless food and drink service, along with tickets sold in two-, four-, and six-person sized “boxes” with buffer zones, the event at Chisholm promises to be a festival style event in a safe environment.

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THE GARDEN

“Spring

*

is Nature’s Way of Saying Let’s Party!”

— Robin Williams-Comedian

A Garden Stroll

BY KARLA JONES SEIDITA

I

couldn’t have said it better myself!

Spring in Fauquier is indeed a party to celebrate our gardens waking from their long winter’s sleep. Splashes of color pop here and there, coaxing birds and butterflies back from their hiatus. The fragrant, warming soil fills the air with the promise of sunny days ahead. Spring fever becomes the universal itch. We’re all desperate to get back into our gardens with the hope that this year the flowers will be prettier, the vegetables more abundant, and the weeds nonexistent. And this year, because of the crippling isolation we all endured in 2020, a great big, wonderful party thrown by Mother Nature is what we all need!

Step into my garden for a leisurely stroll of memories as my little bit of Fauquier begins to waken.

Daffodils

“Bloom where you are planted.”

St. Francis de Sales – Catholic Bishop Whenever I see daffodils, I think SPRING! Some flowers, like snowdrops and hellebores, come up earlier, but, for me, it’s daffodils that mark the beginning of spring with their happy faces and sunshine colors.

You’ll see daffodils carefully planted in gardens all over Fauquier but it’s those random daffodil pop-ups in fields and pastures that really bring a smile to my face. Ever wonder how that happens?

Underground dwellers who share our gardens (like moles and voles), hungry for something tasty to eat, will take a bite of that daffodil bulb you’ve so carefully planted. They’ll drag the bit of bulb back into their tunnel to eat in safety, or to save for a bedtime snack, only to discover that daffodil bulbs are not tasty at all. So, they leave the bit of bulb where it is and return to your garden in search of their favorite snack: your expensive tulip bulbs.

The following spring, after a good, long, winter’s nap, the daffodil bits germinate wherever they were left, poking their heads up through the sod. And that’s how daffodils pop up here and there and everywhere.

Red Roses

A “ rose is a rose is a rose.”

Gertrude Stein – Writer The red rose is the universal symbol of love. Ever wonder why?

According to legend, Cupid was in charge of the rose gardens which, in those days, produced only white blossoms. Each day, he happily fluttered among the blossoms to water and tend them.

One day, a thorn caught Cupid by surprise and his blood spilled onto a bush. Magically, the white roses turned gloriously red. Awed by their incredible beauty, Cupid fell hopelessly in love with them and, for ever after, shared his undying love with the world through his red roses.

THE GARDEN

Bench

“The practice of horticulture is a wildly humbling way to pass the days on earth.”

Margaret Roach – Garden Writer

Impatiens

“I suppose that flowers, when they’re through blooming, have some sort of awareness of some purpose having been served.”

Kurt Vonnegut - Author Oversized galvanized wash tubs are perhaps my favorite containers for massive displays of flowers in shady areas. They are sturdy, age gracefully, and can be left outside in any kind of weather. They are deep so there’s tons of room for really good root production. Poking a few holes in the bottom provides drainage. As a bonus, the tubs are cheap. I like that. But perhaps the main reason I love galvanized wash tubs is that being metal, they attract nature’s root-stimulating static electricity which boosts growth and blossoms especially needed in shaded areas where the sun doesn’t have a chance to do the same. I wouldn’t recommend metal containers for planting in full sun as plant roots may get too hot.

Pictured here are my white impatiens happily growing in part shade where the ground is packed, hard and covered in driveway stone. By using these containers, I was able to add a big splash of happiness to this otherwise dreary spot.

Every garden needs a hidden spot to surprise those who visit.

An out of the way, unexpected gesture to tease and tickle. A garden statue or a showy trellis popping out of a sea of calm. A tiny table and bistro chair offering a brief respite. A splash of color. A water feature. A deeply melodic wind chime.

This vintage bench is tucked away behind a cascade of variegated English ivy. Complete the picture with a cup of tea and a cozy book for an interlude away from it all.

Herb Garden

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

Audrey Hepburn - Actress Sometimes I surprise myself. A mass of herbs and roses in pinks and whites with a touch of lavender: could any garden be more gorgeous? Well, yes, many are – well, most are actually – but this time I think I got it right on first planting.

Usually my gardening goes something like this: plant it; prune it; shape it; then pull it out and replant it somewhere else hoping it will look better, grow better, produce better. Gardens are never really finished are they? Not like making a quilt or baking bread. When you’re done with those, you’re done and you have something very nice to show for your efforts.

Not so with gardens. Just when you think it’s time to call it a day and treat yourself to a cup of tea for a job well done, the garden decides to grow uncontrollably without any regard for your feelings or overall garden design plan. Then weeds begin to pop up in matted, tangled masses of confusion attempting to strangle your most prized plants. Suddenly, everything needs pruning or pulling. Then the pests come out to play and the dog runs wild, trampling your Bougainvillea. It’s enough to make you want to throw in your trowel. But you’re a gardener. A hardy perennial of a person.

A puller of weeds and the champion of the trampled. So you live to garden one more day.

THE GARDEN

White rose

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.”

Gautama Buddha – Spiritual Teacher

Rose

A “ little flower that blooms in May A lovely sunset at the end of a day Someone helping a stranger along the way That’s heaven to me.”

Sam Cooke – Musician I love my roses. This picture may look like a few dogwood blossoms surrounding a peach-colored rose bud, but it’s not. In its bud stage, this pink “Knock Out” rose is actually salmony pink in color. Over the course of a few days, the bud unfolds into a full flower and its salmon color morphs into a tender shade of pink. As the days go by, the petals continue to open, stretching out as far as they can. Once the petals have fully extended, the pink color fades to almost white, leaving just blushes of pink to remain on the tips. Gorgeous at every stage of life, just as people are, don’t you think?

Of all of the flowers, roses have the highest level of vibration.

Vibration (also called chi or life force) is the energy that flows through all things.

Roses have long been considered sacred expressions of love, peace, and healing.

You’ll often see roses depicted in religious as well secular paintings, adornments and artifacts to symbolize love and peace. Being near a rose, tradition tells us, helps raise the vibrations of everything nearby, bringing health and wellbeing.

Flower Box

“Flowers don’t worry about how they are going to bloom.

They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.”

Jim Carrey – Actor Pansies are one of the first bedding plants available at garden centers because they thrive on the chill in the air and can withstand any weather that spring throws their way.

Seeing flats of pansies is absolutely irresistible to gardeners who are itching to get back to the soil. But gardeners aren’t the only ones snapping up flats of pansies to add color to their otherwise dreary winter landscapes. Fauquier’s commercial landscapers plant pansies by the thousands in beds around office buildings and in huge containers you’ll see around town and at shopping centers.

I particularly like my early spring deck rail planting. One solid mass of happy, smiling, pansy faces the entire length of my deck dancing to the music of spring’s gentle breezes.

I’ve heard of gardeners who grow pansies from seed and gardeners who cut back the plants after blooming so they can rebloom in the fall but neither of these gardeners is me.

I do, of course, feel terribly guilty about resigning spent plants to the compost bin when they could possibly have another go-round.

THE GARDEN

Barrel

“Love is flowers you’ve got to let grow.”

John Lennon – Musician Every garden has at least one problem spot. Most have several.

One of mine is the whiskey barrels that accent our barn doors.

For years, I have been struggling with the plantings. I have been looking for just the right combination of easy care, drought tolerant, shade and heat loving, deer resistant, tall growing plants that are beautiful to look at but not harmful to our horses should they decide to take a bite. A long list of requirements!

Over the years I’ve tried impatiens, boxwood, knockout rose bushes, vinca, daffodils, marigolds and every combination thereof…. even shrubs. No luck. They all did poorly or were eaten by my forever foraging deer.

This picture was my most recent attempt which worked out okay but I’m not crazy about its looks. The leafy purple plants are perilla, a sort of a spicy, basily, minty herb used medicinally and for cooking in Southeast Asia and India. The perilla showed up around the barn last year (its seeds no doubt blown in on the wind) and took up residence. Turns out they self-seed so I now have a never-ending crop. I figured that since they picked the spot, they might do well in my barrels so I pulled some up and stuck them in along with some purslane I found growing nearby.

I had a few vincas left over from a sunny planting so I stuck them in too even though I knew there wouldn’t be enough sun for them to do much of anything.

Like I said, the planting is just okay – at least no one wants to eat it.

Vase

“I always have flowers on the table.

I think they make it look special.”

Ina Garten – TV Chef and Cookbook Author Food and flowers just naturally go together, don’t you think?

While elaborate, professional arrangements are always lovely, tousled displays of home grown flowers appeal to me more.

There’s just something gracious about flowers from the garden.

Traditional vases are nice, especially if they are heirloom, pass-me-downs from family or friends but anything can become a charming vase. In this photo, I used a silver pitcher as the vase for my loosely-bunched garden roses.

Vintage teapots, cans, and crockery all work well as vases.

Tea cups and mugs make good vases for smaller arrangements or for short-stemmed flowers. I know one hostess who saves the tops from aerosol cans, spray paints them to match and uses them as “vases” for individual, dinner party place setting arrangements. The guests love it, and at the end of the evening they get to take their miniature arrangements home as a remembrance.

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THE GARDEN

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| SPRING 2021

Water

“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers.

Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.”

Luther Burbank – Botanist A water feature adds movement to a garden. Movement is important because movement brings a calm you can see.

That may sound contradictory but watching water trickle from a spout, or tiny toads hopping in and out of water filled saucers, or butterflies fluttering their wings as they sip from the edge of a waterlily filled pond are all very soothing things to see.

A bird bath is probably the simplest water feature to add to any garden. Classic cement birdbaths are not expensive and last forever, taking on a classy patina as the age. They are easy to clean and you don’t have to take them inside in winter.

Close plantings around your bird bath give birds and butterflies places to land while waiting their turn and quick places for retreat if they feel threatened. Frogs and toads will appreciate the damp ground around the birdbath and find shelter under the plantings.

Watching the birds from my kitchen window enjoy their morning bath as I sip my just brewed coffee is a calm that gently jumpstarts my day!

THE GARDEN

Field

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

er y

Henri Matisse – Artist

I have no idea what these field flowers are but they come up year after year spreading happily throughout my un-mowed areas. The flower stems don’t last very long in the field and they don’t do well as a cut flower so I have to enjoy their brief appearance wherever they happen to grace me with their presence. Seeing them grow so carelessly makes me smile. In my efforts to identify them I have only come up with “Blue Toadflax” but I’m not sure that’s really what they are. I’ll keep looking. Maybe you know their name and can let me know.

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ARTISANS

Flying Home Sweet Home

F

34 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

BY JENNIFER WALDERA how to use a plasma builder. So I was cutting and welding steel and from there it sort of morphed into creating super usable birdhouses,” says Reuling.

Reuling worked on her own to craft and sell the birdhouses for about ten years before she met and eventually married Clark Hansbarger, a teacher at the time. Hansbarger, still teaching, began to travel when possible with Reuling to the art shows where she sold the birdhouses.

The two were inspired to approach the business as a joint venture.

“We both felt like we just could explode the business if he stopped teach-

ing, and he had been teaching for a long time,” explains Reuling.

After Hansbarger retired from teaching, the two began to build the business further, traveling the country year-round to attend high-end art shows while also expanding their selection from six to twenty or more birdhouses.

“We designed a house that’s really structurally sound and functional. It’s a whimsical, cartoony style, but it’s prettier than it sounds. Ginger’s got a remarkable talent that she can hand cut using a torch so she can make anything,” says Hansbarger.

On their farm in the Shenandoah Valley, Reuling creates the roof and all of the shapes that are cut from solid copper with a plasma cutter. Hansbarger focuses on woodworking and they design together.

PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH GRAY

or many, during a time when staying at home has been encouraged, it has become a priority to create more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing spaces in and around their homes.

Fly Home Birdhouses’ hand-crafted, niche products, specifically designed to attract small songbirds, can do just that.

When Ginger Reuling first moved back to Virginia from Montana about two decades ago, she began to design and craft rustic, earth-toned birdhouses from barnwood. Eventually Reuling progressed to creating her artsy homes for birds in a funkier and more functional style, incorporating bright colors and copper roofs, employing some of the skills she had perfected in Montana.

“I started doing art about twenty years ago. I was doing metal work and I learned

A Berryville couple creates artsy hand-crafted houses for our feathered friends

ARTISANS

“Like a painting, I put together the canvases. The ornamentation that Ginger does is what makes it unique. Each birdhouse is one of a kind,”

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| SPRING 2021 35

ARTISANS

36 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

Clark Hansbarger and Ginger Reuling make their birdhouses from locally sourced materials.

BY ELIZABETH GRAY (TOP); COURTESY OF FLY HOME BIRDHOUSES (BOTTOM)

“Like a painting, I put together the canvases. The ornamentation that Ginger does is what makes it unique. Each birdhouse is one of a kind,” Hansbarger explains.

Materials to make the birdhouses are locally sourced. While they often shop around, their copper comes from The Roof Center and the wood from various local spots.

The couple has learned much from birders about how to attract specific types of birds and what designs are most effective and preferred.

“It’s all about the hole size — the cavity size. Chickadees, tree swallows, and others — all the tiny cavity-nesting birds — are attracted. A robin or cardinal is not. They like to nest on ledges,” Reuling says.

ARTISANS

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Additionally, the two refined the design for cleaning purposes. Previously, the roof needed to be removed to clean the birdhouse while the newer construction features a front door that allows it to be cleaned from the front. The change allows for other birds, like bluebirds who need an empty box, to be attracted.

While the birdhouses themselves will attract about 20 species, Hansberger also designed a pole that is a colorful addition, and critical to attracting bluebirds.

“Over half of the people who buy them are attempting to attract blue“People are birds. Lots of people said bluebirds looking for won’t use them, but we have hundreds beautiful of photographs of people using them. things. There’s They are a nice height for a birdhouse sit, and have a wonderful bracket been a swell in to situation,” Hansbarger says. birdwatching For those not choosing to purchase a pole, the couple includes a wire and these are hanger so they can instantly put the particularly birdhouses in a tree. functional for “Birds do really move into them and really use them and people have that.” started to put them in their yards. The birds love them and they can serve as a habitat or nesting box.

People are looking for beautiful things. There’s been a swell in birdwatching and these are particularly functional for that,” says Hansbarger.

Though art shows have dissipated to some extent over the last year, the couple is fortunate to have a devoted following and the many connections they have created over the last fourteen years of working and traveling together for the business. Additionally, they welcome online purchases or visitors to their five acre farm and studios.

Fly Home Birdhouses, Berryville flyhomebirdhouse.com

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ART

Off to the Races The Art of Sam Robinson

BY KAITLIN HILL

P

38 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

his artistic roots. “I just kept drawing and I would get positive feedback. So, I knew early on that I had a talent for it and received constant encouragement.”

Robinson, the son of medical missionaries, grew up in South Korea’ where he received his earliest artistic training. “Since I was in Korea, the first formal lessons available were in Asian ink brush painting. That is what I started with and it is a great thing because I’ve always had a really strong interest in what you can do with a brush,” Robinson remembers.

Back in the states, Robinson continued his education at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) where he focused on the Western approach to painting and refined his skills with life drawing and figurative sculpture classes.

Though his father offered to help and encouraged Robinson to get a master’s degree, the young artist was eager to “get going.”

“I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher.

And the only thing a master’s degree offered, from my perspective, was a document that would qualify me for a college level teaching job.” He adds, “I knew instinctively that’s not what I wanted to do.

Learning painting is a very pragmatic practice and it’s very much about making progress on your own.”

For Robinson, developing his own style meant identifying as a Western painter but using those early Eastern roots. He notes, “The Impressionist movement was strongly influenced by, in particular, Japa-

IMAGES PROVIDED BY SAM ROBINSON FINE ART

icasso once said, “Every now and then one paints a picture that seems to have opened a door and serves as a stepping stone to other things.” More than an open door and stepping stone, Sam Robinson offers his audience full immersion into the equine world of the Piedmont region. From fox hunting to spring races, Robinson captures equestrian scenes with both accurate detail and poetic expression. His masterful pieces are the culmination of his Eastern roots and Western training, an obvious fascination with his subjects, and a desire to push the limits of his craft and see where he ends up.

“I don’t recall what initially attracted me to art. Drawing was just something I did from an early age,” Robinson shares of

ART

BY RICHARD CLAY PHOTOGRAPHY

“Working from life adds a lot of vitality to the work that I do.” nese woodblock prints. You can cite some French painters or American painters that look to the prints for simplicity of design, a certain kind of flatness, and an appreciation for silhouette. I am a living example of that, really trying to get the appearance of something by its gesture and silhouette.

Each brush stroke is put down with a lot of thought to get the most expression out of it.”

Robinson blends the importance of brush stroke with his mastery of light.

He adds, “While all those things are still completely true in my work, I’ve gravitated more towards the European tradition, which is understanding how light appears to be falling across, say, a field of horses.”

Not a rider himself, his interest in equestrian scenes comes from a family connection to the area and a love of both landscape and portrait work. Robinson says, “It is a background and tradition that was connected to me that I really hadn’t paid much attention to.” Robinson and his family live in Green Spring Valley, Md., just a short drive from a lot of equestrian action.

“There is The Green Spring Valley Hunt and the kennels, and The Hunt Cup, the top race in the Maryland Timber Racing Triple Crown. They are all right there. My mother’s cousin, Ned Murray, would always invite us to come out to The Hunt Cup to watch the races. It was really a family affair,” he recalls.

His family’s familiarity with the events provided Robinson with an awareness of the equestrian world, but it was a commission that cemented his focus on the activity.

He says, “The direct involvement with the subject was a result of my interest in portrait painting.” Robinson was hired to paint George Mahoney, a master of foxhounds with The Green Spring Valley Hounds. He remembers, “I thought, ‘Well, I could just do the usual thing and stick him in a chair, but I might as well go see what this fox hunting thing is about.”

Facing page: “Curve of Stones”, 18 x 24, Oil Above: “Step Lively”, 24 x 30, Oil

Robinson is the official artist for the Montpelier Races, as well as National Steeplechase Association events in Middleburg and The Plains.

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| SPRING 2021 39

ART Left: “Bedford Barn”, 6 x 8, Gouache Below: “Masked Rider”, 11 x 14, Oil

Robinson was captivated. “I found this fantastic subject that, I think, is inexhaustible and it combines beautiful landscape, the individual people who are fascinating, beautiful animals, the thoroughbreds, and the hounds are equally interesting.” He expands, “I was interested in painting the landscape and portraiture, and those came together. Those are the two threads for what is broadly termed ‘sporting art,’ in this case particularly equestrian.

And I found this new enthusiasm for the subject that combined it all. There was just so much there, and I just jumped in and painted several scenes.”

As in his childhood, Robinson was spurred on by positive feedback. He recalls, “Mr. Mahoney was very encouraging, and he told me to go show them to this travelling exhibition, organized by the Crossgate Gallery, that marked the centennial year of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America.

They were very enthused with the work and took three paintings I had just done 40 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

and put them on this national tour.” He finishes, “That was in 2007, and I’ve just continued from there.”

Over time, Robinson developed a system to tackle the challenges of capturing an ever-changing scene.

Robinson laughs, “When I first started this, I didn’t know what I was looking at. I didn’t know what was going on. I can paint the landscape, but then all the people and the horses moving around was

just completely overwhelming.

“So I realized that in order to paint a horse from life, I pretty much had to memorize the horse. I put myself through a selfstudy program, which included doing some sculptures. Because when you make something with your hands, it helps you understand the shapes more thoroughly and for some reason you retain it in your memory.”

With the anatomy of a horse committed to memory, Robinson was off to the races, literally.

“Working from life adds a lot of vitality to the work that I do. I usually set up by the paddock. It’s a good place to be because there is constant turnover and yet, in a way, it’s the same thing happening over and over. And I generally take a medium called gouache. It’s a watercolor basically, but it’s an opaque watercolor that looks a lot like oil painting.” He elaborates, “I generate a whole bunch of sketches in a day and use my camera to record information for more ambitious projects or oil paintings that are then created in the studio.”

ART

Having covered many of the Maryland events, he expanded into Virginia and his reputation grew among equestrian bigwigs in the Piedmont region. In 2018, Robinson was named the official artist for the Montpelier Races. “They have continued the tradition that other races used to do, where they have an annual poster artist. They pick an artist they want to work with, and they recruit you. You paint the Montpelier Race, and they auction off the original piece. You go to the dinner and you’re included in the festivities. It was very fun,” he says.

Robinson is also the official artist of The National Steeplechase Association with events in Middleburg and The Plains. He notes, “One of my most consistent fun racing experiences is Glenwood Park in Middleburg. They run the spring races and the fall races. I almost always get down for the fall races, which are uniformly fantastic.

Another one I love is the Piedmont Hunt club. They have their point-to-point races and that’s a really nice race.” He finishes, “Plus, I love anything that has the Blue

Ridge in the background. It adds this gorgeous, lovely kind of ultramarine blue note back in the distance that is nice to have.”

More than his talent and well-deserved titles, the equestrian community is what keeps Robinson coming back. Of the experience he shares, “I really have a relationship with the audience, and I think that is kind of unique. It is a huge welcoming community of people in the horse world.

They have really embraced what I do, and they seem to genuinely appreciate the fact that I make the effort to get it right.” He concludes, “To me, that is the rewarding part of it. They’re very supportive.”

With many 2020 events cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Robinson used the time to explore his artistic expressions on a deeper level.

He shares, “The lockdown period has been useful to me. It has allowed me to step back and look at the paintings. To look at what the creative, expressive potential of this piece is, beyond the interest of an audience who loves the sport.

“I think I’ve earned my stripes. Most of the people who know me and know my work from the horse world, they know that I’ve put in my time and done my homework. And that I do it accurately. Now what I would like to do is show you the poetry, step beyond that and look for what I call the universal expressive elements. I think people who are watching my work will see me moving towards the direction of [painting] things that I find compelling and beautiful versus just memorializing that horse that won in that race in that year.”

Admirable though his ambitions may be, Robinson’s audience will argue his art needs no adjusting. His keen eye for interesting scenes, his purposeful brushwork, and mastery of capturing the unique energy of equestrian events result in works of art that are beyond beautiful and unquestionably compelling. With plans to return to the field for the 2021 season, it’s safe to say equestrians can expect more excellence from his easel this year and for years to come.

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| SPRING 2021 41

HISTORY

Saving Firefighting History Fire trucks “Get into your Heart”

BY GLENDA C. BOOTH

A

FIRE TRUCK FANS Virginia’s ODHFS is determined to preserve fire service history. Members collect and save firefighting records, photographs, artifacts, memorabilia, operating manuals, 42 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| SPRING 2021

apparatus, and fire trucks. Many collectors maintain their trucks themselves. Members can expound at length on motor types, tank sizes, valve types, and fire service arcana like pike poles, pickheaded axes, quints, and aqueous film-forming foam.

In non-pandemic times, firefighters, former firefighters, and fire apparatus buffs participate in over 200 events like the Ber-

A 1941 bucket with a rounded bottom.

ryville, Leesburg, and Purcellville Christmas parades, the Winchester Apple Blossom Festival, and “Pride and Polish Day” near Richmond. During the COVID-19 pandemic, members had drive-through events, like July 4th parades through towns as people applauded from their front yards.

They drive in fire truck rodeos, competitions in which drivers maneuver their shiny behemoths around orange cones and are timed for their efficiency and driving talent.

Founded in 1978, ODHFS has around 300 members and collectors all over Virgin-

ia. The organization is a chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America.

Tommy Herman, its president, is a retired Richmond firefighter whose start with one truck has mushroomed to 20 road-worthy rigs housed in a barn he has expanded twice. “Collecting fire trucks is a disease,” he chuckles. “My wife calls them my children.” One is a pre-Civil War, 1859, hand drawn, creamcolored beauty with fancy gold leafing and fine pinstriping.

MANASSAS GEMS Volunteer guides at the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company Museum gladly delineate the details unique to each of their four, antique fire trucks. The 1909 Howe has a 25-horsepower, gas motor to run the pump, but the truck was pulled by horses. Its predecessor trucks had hand pumps.

Attached to it is the hose cart and hanging on the side a lantern for looking around inside buildings.

Gleaming nearby are two Buffalo Triple Combination pumpers, a 1929 and a 1947.

The 1929 Buffalo, the first fully-motorized fire truck in Prince William County, has a 50-gallon water tank; the 1947 Buffalo, a 200-gallon tank. Today’s fire trucks typically can carry 750 gallons of water.

The 1929 has no roof, windshield or doors. The 1947 has all of those.

Positioned “ready to respond” is the “modern,” diesel-fueled 1966 Seagrave which still runs. With no roof, firefighters could get a 360-degree view. It has a manual transmission and clutch in contrast to

COURTESY OF MANASSAS VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY MUSEUM

beat-up, rose-red-and-gray metal bucket with a rounded bottom dangles from an iron hook at the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company Museum. In black capital letters, it bears the word, “F-I-R-E.” Because of its rounded bottom, it teeter-totters and spills its contents if you try to sit it upright. The bucket has this design to deter thefts, if a firefighter in 1941 should leave it unattended. It is one of hundreds of precious firefighting artifacts proudly displayed in the museum by the company, established in 1892.

There’s more: a 1940s breathing apparatus for surviving in a smoky building and several pre-siren-days alarms.

In 1910, a firefighter stomped on a pedal on a 1909 Howe truck’s floorboard to sound a gong. How to catch victims jumping out of buildings afire?

There’s a life net with a red bullseye dot onto which, ideally, the panicked jumper would safely plop. There’s also a Stokes basket, an elongated, chicken-wire-type “stretcher” for evacuating people. A mannequin sports a 1970s fire-resistant uniform made of nomex.

These are a few of the treasures of the museum and members of the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society (ODHFS), devotees who collect antique fire trucks and fire apparatus.

COURTESY OF ORANGE VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY; COURTESY OF MANASSAS VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY MUSEUM

HISTORY

“It was so cold the driver had to pry his hands off the steering wheel,” said Lorris “Buckshot” Clements, an expert on the roofless 1931 custom-made fire truck.

The 1909 Howe firetruck that was pulled by horses and had a hose cart.

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HISTORY

The Rodgers hand-pumped suction engine which Friendship bought in 1851.

today’s automatic transmissions in all fire trucks. Young firefighters today cannot operate manual transmissions, veterans muse.

ORANGE’S PRIDE The pride of the Orange Volunteer Fire Company is a custom, 1931 truck made by the Seagrave Company of Columbus, Ohio. Of five made, this is the only survivor, but its future was once at risk. The fire company sold it to a museum that neglected it and left it in a scrap yard. In 1994, Dennis Moser of Wilkesboro, N.C., rescued and restored it. An Orange-area farmer, John Ellis, bought it and donated it to the county.

Lorris “Buckshot” Clements, who started as a volunteer firefighter in 1955, extols the truck’s virtues and history.

The local fire chief, Dr. Roush, designed it for fire and rescue with a rectangular set of boxes that house five equipment compartments. It was unique at the time because it had an inside water tank with a portable pump that could draw water from ponds and creeks. Other trucks had chemical tanks. It has a starting crank, double clutch, 12 spark plugs (most then had six), dual ignition, and 90-horsepower motor that gave it a top speed of 45 miles per hour.

Two men sat in the seat, two hung onto the back, unstrapped. It still has its original ladder, pike pole, stretcher, and lights.

The truck was used for building fires, train wrecks, and airplane crashes and volunteers did first aid, too. With no roof, “It was so cold the driver had to pry his hands off the steering wheel,” said Clements.

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sit in a bar. Collecting fire trucks is not as dangerous.”

Chuck Malone, a Frederick County firefighting buff, quips, “A fire truck is a big squirt gun.” He restored the engine, water pump, fenders, and transmission of his 1951 Jeep brush truck, which holds five gallons of water. “Once you drive a firetruck it gets in your heart. I’ll always drive a truck.”

“I can’t get enough,” says Rocky Keplinger, owner of Round Hill’s Keplinger Repair Service, which specializes in repairing and restoring fire and rescue vehicles. In business for 35 years, Keplinger does expert chassis component repairs, electrical work, body repairs, preventive maintenance, tool mounting, and more. He’s a fixture at truck shows and Society events.

THE GRANDADDY In the 1700s, people-powered bucket brigades put out fires, visitors are reminded at Alexandria’s Friendship Firehouse Museum. In fact, in the 1800s, Alexandrians were required to have a bucket in their homes. If an alarm sounded, everyone ran to the scene with their bucket and helped. They also filled water tanks in the first fire engines.

Locals established the Friendship Fire Company in 1774 and later four more companies. Today, the company’s building is a museum presented as in 1871, displaying a hand-pumped, suction engine built

by John Rodgers in Baltimore that got water from wells and wooden hydrants. Its hoses were an innovative step up from the

COURTESY OF ALEXANDRIA’S FRIENDSHIP FIREHOUSE MUSEUM

BRUSH TRUCKS Some enthusiasts, like Frank Hoppes, collect brush trucks, vehicles with a front-end spray bar for putting out fires in fields or forests. Hoppes first volunteered at age 16, served in the Flint Hill Volunteer Fire Company, and ran the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department before becoming Middleburg’s Police Chief. He owns five trucks, including a 1973 Ford F-250a brush truck built by Stinebaugh which holds 200 gallons of water and is made of aluminum, unlike most that were steel. Why does he collect fire trucks? “I can preserve firetrucks or

A fireman’s parade hat, th late 19 The y. ur cent clasped hands symbolize friendship, the name of the company.

HISTORY

Rocky Keplinger is an expert at maintaining, repairing and restoring firetrucks. Here he shows off his 1982 Ford L-9000 firetruck.

COURTESY OF OLD DOMINION HISTORICAL FIRE SOCIETY

HOW TO BUY A FIRE TRUCK

A 1952 Mack L Model firetruck.

bucket brigades. John Muir, company secretary, described the vehicle as “the most substantial construction, having a mahogany box, balloon shaped vessel, levers and arms of best style and wheels of unusual strength, as best suited to a rapid movement over our rough streets – the whole constituting an engine of decided beauty and efficiency.” The museum also has an 1830 hand-cranked pumper with a rotary

engine, dubbed the “Coffee Grinder.”

Whether it’s racing to a blazing building, squirting out a brush fire, or taking on “daring missions” like extricating kittens from trees, firefighting is a noble profession with stories that members of the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society gladly tell and are dedicated to preserving. Some take “their last ride” in their trucks to the cemetery.

Used fire trucks are the cheapest of any antique vehicle, notes Herman, adding, “Motorcycles sell for 20 times more than fire trucks.” A typical antique fire truck costs $2,000-3,000.

“That’s a deal,” Herman maintains. Fire departments must dispose of old fire trucks and most go to junk yards where tires and engines are often saved, but the rest gets crushed. Today’s sales are mostly via the internet, for example, at government surplus auction sites like govdeals.com or on eBay. “You don’t have to be rich to own a historic fire truck,” offers Herman.

For more information: Old Dominion Historical Fire Society, odhfs.org. Anyone can join.

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DOGS

Canine Security Staff Livestock Guardian Dogs

BY ED FELKER

F

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Andrew Crush of Spring House Farm in Hamilton was also losing chickens to predators at an alarming rate. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I went in the chicken coop and 24 chickens were stacked up in a pile with two little holes in each one’s neck with no other trauma noted,” he said. They lost over 150 birds that year.

These stories are not unique to this region, or this time. Livestock loss to predators has been an unfortunate reality for as The goats at Georges Mill Artisan Cheese are protected around the clock, all year round from predators like coyotes.

long as there has been livestock. And one of the most effective solutions to the problem has been around for thousands of years.

The use of Livestock Guardian Dogs has been recorded as early as 150 BC in Rome.

After losing hundreds of chickens, the Bakers quickly got their first dogs, one young Maremma and an older one needing to be rehomed. “They were perfect and allowed us to sleep again,” Jessica said. Currently they have Bernese Mountain Dogs, who Jessica says, are a good, well-rounded pet and farm mascot. Their presence deters predators, and barking is a big part of that.

“People need to know that LGDs do bark a lot,” Jessica said. “That is their first line of defense!”

COURTESY OF GEORGES MILL

arming, it may go without saying, is fraught with challenges. Unseasonable weather, untimely equipment failures and unwanted pests can wreak havoc on a precious growing season.

On top of all that, there are threats to livestock from a long list of predators. Badgers, mink, foxes, raccoons, hawks, and coyotes can inflict costly damage to a herd or flock.

When Sean and Jessica Baker began farming Day Spring Farm in Middleburg, their current house was not yet finished. In just a few weeks they lost 500 chickens to predators. “My poor husband had to camp out on the vacant property to keep the raccoons away,” Jessica said.

DOGS

COURTESY OF LOST CORNER FARM AND GEORGES MILL

“You can hear them at night barking at god knows what, but it has translated to fewer chicken murders in the night when no one is around.”

But from a strict guardian standpoint, she recommends Maremmas. However, people want different things from their dogs and there are many options. Many want their LGD to double as a pet, but in most cases that compromises their effectiveness against predators. “You want them used to children and other people, but they really don't belong in your house,” Jessica says. “They need to know their place is in the field with ‘their’ animals.”

Spring House Farm currently employs two LGDs. Four-year-old Ranger and a new addition Clove are both Karakachan, a breed originated in Bulgaria. “Ranger deters predators each night, and the hawks during the day,”Andrew said. “You will often see him watching the sky during the day looking for hawks, and he will go stand among the birds if there is a hawk flying around.” Ranger gets paid in meat scraps and belly rubs, Andrew says. “He loves them both the same.”

Charlotte Cooper, CSA Coordinator and Field Manager at Lost Corner Farm in Leeesburg, works alongside Gus and Major on the farm. Both four-year-olds, Major is a Central Asian Shepherd and Gus, a rescue from Texas, is a beautiful mix of Akbash and Anatolian Shepherd, with possibly some Great Pyrenees thrown in.

“Gus takes his job as chicken protector very seriously,” Charlotte said. “Chickens (about 300 of them) are the only livestock on the farm we currently have and wow, do they need looking after.” Between foxes, racoons, and birds of prey they are always being hunted, and Charlotte points out that the chickens don't help themselves all that much when it comes to staying safe.

“Most often you will find Gus laying around the field, but as soon as any bird – and I really do mean any – he will jump up

Billdogg, a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, shares the water trough with his charges at Lost Corner Farm.

Reba, a Great Pyrenees/Karakachan mix, and Loretta, a Great Pyrenees, with the goats at Georges Mill Artisan Cheese.

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DOGS

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guard, from the age of eight to 16 weeks, and they imprint on those animals.” They live out with the goats from then on, sleeping outside or in the barn. Georges Mill currently has an experienced Great Pyrenees named Loretta, who shows their new, young Great Pyrenees/Karakachan mix Reba the ropes. The Georges Mill security staff protects the goats from a variety of predators, but the primary threat comes from coyotes.

Dogs were first domesticated so long ago no one can really agree on when and where. Since that time, though, they have been so much more than companions.

Watching a dog work, using innate abilities bred into their DNA over countless generations, is a remarkable thing. From helping a hunter in the field, to supporting a law enforcement officer on the streets, to calming an anxious soul, to protecting a farmer’s interests, dogs prove their incalculable value every day. Have you thanked a dog today?

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no one is around,” she said. and run full speed barking An added bonus is they also until the bird flies away,” she chase off deer and eat voles said. He will also herd the from time to time which is chickens back together if any always helpful during the of them stray too far from growing season. Charlotte’s the houses. No one taught dog Billdogg has taken to Gus to do these things, he Vole hunting and has shown just does them. both Gus and Major how Individual work ethics rewarding it can be. “It's vary, of course, and apparpretty funny to watch the ently Major takes his job three of them all trying to of napping quite seriously. shove their faces into one “Until a new car drives tiny hole, tails wagging.” past the field you will most Molly and Sam Kroiz likely find him sunbathing Clove, a female Karakachan, is a new at Georges Mill Artisan or completely conked out,” addition to the Spring Cheese in Lovettsville have Charlotte says. But the dogs House Farm security been using LGDs for years tend to stay in the fields day staff, helping keep to protect their goat herd. and night, and it has made predators away from They place the dogs as pupa huge improvement for the the chickens. pies with the herd. “It’s safety of the chickens.

“You can hear them at night barking at pretty much all instinct, the guarding beGod-knows-what, but it has translated to havior isn’t trained,” Molly said. “You put fewer chicken murders in the night when them in with whatever they’re supposed to

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