inFauquier Summer 2017

SUMMER 2017

INSIDE

This county’s got a monopoly on so many things – beauty, commerce, recreation

PLUS

Special centerfold gameboard

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IN THE

THE FAU UIER-OPOLY Issue — SUMMER 2017

22 PHOTO BY ADAM GOINGS

LIFE & STYLE

22 Riding the rails is a way of life for Wendell Sutphin 26 Water, water everywhere – learn about input and output 30 Freedom isn’t free. (Neither is the parking. Not really.)

32 See inside of the jail ... from the outside 35 Summer reads to please every age 36 Top this, top hat

60 PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

FACES & PLACES

42 Liz Washington has gone to the dogs (literally) 44 Terriers: They’re big dogs in small packages 46 Khao Manee cats feeling at home in Broad Run 50 Special pull-out Fauquieropoly game board 52 Meet cover model Tony Cunningham, volunteer driver and so much more 54 Lorrie Ness combines art, science in birdwatching 60 David Fox – never too old to be playing games 62 A dose of the dowser with Dan Lewis 65 Follow the footsteps: When dinosaurs roamed the area

ON THE COVER

Fauquier Times cartoonist R.J. Matson created a customized Fauquier-opoly board for inFauquier. Matson included much of the county’s iconic skyline in his blue-line montage, and envisioned an impossibly detailed game board with suites of roads grouped by region, and even invented an amusing group of Community Chest and Chance cards.

Dancing on the blue-line sketch, see if you recognize cover model Tony Cunningham as Rich Uncle Pennybags, more recently known as Mr. Monopoly. From left to right on the drawing, find Fauquier farmland nestled behind the stylized county “skyline,” which includes the Fauquier Times building and the Fauquier Club on Culpeper Street in old town Warrenton, the old courthouse, the historic Remington bridge over the Rappahannock, the steward’s stand at Great Meadow, the WARF building, St. James Church in Warrenton (as a stand-in for the original Monopoly

EXTRAS

Find the stories in this issue...............................8 Fauquier’s summer calendar.............................14 Zip code 20128: Orlean.....................................12 Then and Now: The Plains Carnival...................16

74 PHOTO BY PEGGY SCHOCHET

HOME & GARDEN

70 Attracting butterflies is so easy, and so important 72 See the sass of the sassafras 74 You’ll love a slice of this Pye 77 Take control of your garden with these little helpers 78 Native alternatives to nonnative plants 80 The incredible, edible landscape 82 Find out what’s up in the rental market (Hint: prices) 84 Ode to the Wheelbarrow: A love story, in verse

board’s St. James Place), and the Fauquier Hospital.

On the customized game board, find the Remington watertower on the Waterworks space, Sheriff Mosier on the Go To Gaol space, the Welcome to Fauquier County sign at “go,” Dominion Power as Electric Company, the Old Gaol Museum stockade on the jail space, and a classic car with a parking ticket on the Free Parking space (we call ours “No Parking.”)

Award-winning artist Matson is editorial cartoonist at Roll Call. He has drawn editorial cartoons for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York Observer, and he has contributed cartoons and illustrations to the New Yorker, The Nation, MAD Magazine, City Limits, the Daily News, the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Capital Style and Ethisphere as well as the Fauquier Times.

Matson created art for the Capitol Steps comedy troupe, and he has illustrated several books.

Born in Chicago in 1963 , Matson was raised in Belgium and Minneapolis. He received a B.A. from Columbia University in 1985 and won a National Scholastic Press Association Award.

He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1985 to work as a reporter for States News Service. In 1986 he became the staff illustrator at Roll Call and editorial cartoonist at the Montgomery County Sentinel.

He lives in Maine with his wife and their three children.

97 PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

FOOD & WINE

88 Farm market association gives voice to the industry 90 Sausage is Lothar Erbe’s middle name 91 Think bacon goes with everything? Turns out, you’re right.

92 Follow the Monopoly board for tasty regional treats 96 It’s too hot to cook. So don’t.

94 Take time for tea 97 Cheers to the local beers

Cartoonist R.J. Matson SUMMER 2017

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Our contributors share their own Monopoly memories Published quarterly by Piedmont Media Address 39 Culpeper Street Warrenton, VA 20186 Phone: 540-347-4222 Fax: 540-349-8676 Publisher: Bailey Dabney bdabney@fauquier.com Editor: Betsy Burke Parker bparker@fauquier.com Executive editor: Kari Pugh, 540-351-0487 kpugh@fauquier.com Advertising director: Pam Symington, 540-351-1166 psymington@fauquier.com Advertising production supervisor: Kathy Mills Godfrey, 540-351-1162 kgodfrey@fauquier.com Consultants: Marie Rossi mrossi@fauquier.com Sylvia McDevitt smcdevitt@fauquier.com Laura Rehaluk lrehaluk@fauquier.com Kate Sprague ksprague@fauquier.com Liliana Ruiz lruiz@fauquier.com Heather Sutphin hstuphin@fauquier.com Patti Engle pengle@fauquier.com Design Visual design editor: Chris Six, 540-347-4222 csix@fauquier.com Page designer: Taylor Dabney tdabney@fauquier.com Ad designers: Cindy Goff cgoff@fauquier.com Taylor Dabney tdabney@fauquier.com Annamaria Ward award@fauquier.com

Midland’s Mara Seaforest is a writer, designer and, as she calls it, “champion of Fauquier County culture.” Her favorite Monopoly token was the classic iron, because it reminded her that “no matter how fabulously wealthy she became, you must always treat staff gently if you want smooth sheets.”

A physics grad of the University of Chicago, Norm Schultze spent his career at NASA. Since retirement, he’s been working on family history and genealogy.

Though it’s been 65 years since he played Monopoly, Norm recalls buying Park Place and Broadway “and hoping my sister landed on one.”

A native of New York, Connie Lyons earned her bachelor’s in English Literature from Vassar.

Avid home cook and interior designer Janie Ledyard says as a lifelong seamstress, her favorite Monopoly token is, naturally, the “classic gamepiece,” the thimble.

Peggy Schochet, a gardener more than 30 years, always chooses the wheelbarrow token.

Her favorite Monopoly memory is playing with friends some 25 years ago “when one of the guys announced that only the men at the table were his competition. I pushed the wine aside for a clearer head, and, of course, won.”

Award-winning recipe developer Tim Artz has a food blog. “Because there is no bacon token in Monopoly, I use the burger playpiece from the Electronic Banking version if I ever get to play.”

Karen Hopper Usher just graduated with a Master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University.

A post-graduation job offer means she’s wrangling real estate again this year, and says she’s worried that her Monopoly strategy of “buy everything, mortgage everything” is becoming her real life.

painting, photography and film-video at Penn State. Randy recalls once playing a continuing game of Monopoly with his sister for almost a whole summer, where they had to make their own extra money and larger bills.

Warrenton-based Alissa Jeanne Jones leads writers’ groups in the Northern Virginia area. Alissa caught onto the Monopoly strategy early, as a kid “collecting as much money as possible in the beginning and then buy railroads and utilities.” She’d often be the banker. “It made me feel wealthy.”

Editor Betsy Burke Parker has worked for Piedmont Media and its predecessors since 1990. She hasn’t played a full game of Monopoly in decades, “and never was any good at it anyway,” but her go-to token choice would be the cat. “I’ve got house cats, barn cats, some semi-feral cats. Like, ‘crazy cat lady, lite’.”

Craig Macho is a California transplant. He is a retired police officer and an award-winning journalist who has worked for newspapers in both states. Playing Monopoly with Craig “teaches that everything is negotiable.”

Robin Earl writes for Fauquier Health after three decades in journalism as an editor.

Writer Janet Heisrath-Evans is a lifelong lover of the linen arts and as a quilter, tatter and bobbin

Best Special Section 2016

Submit story ideas to managing editor Betsy Burke Parker betsyburkeparker@fauquier.com

fauquier.com 4

SUMMER 2017

Writer Nora Rice is an herbalist and owner of Melissae Herbs and Honey in Culpeper. When Nora plays Monopoly – rarely, she says, her favorite token is the recently retired wheelbarrow.

Master Gardener Sally Harmon Semple took an early retirement from her career in environmental policy and enforcement. As the youngest child in her family, Sally “would usually lose at board games -- a trend which has continued into adulthood.” She has “fond memories of family times spent together around a musty card table free from cell phones.”

Piedmont Media chief photographer and photo editor Randy Litzinger triple-majored in drawing-

Next issue, The Harvest Issue: Fall 2017

Lifelong journalist Pat Reilly is a former editor at the Washington Post and NewYork Newsday. She “never had any doubt that the Scottie token held my luck at Monopoly.” The idea of a Scottish Terrier first attracted Pat to dog-owning, though of dozens of rescue dogs she’s had, none has been a Scottie.

Tim MacWelch founded Advanced Survival Training, writes for Outdoor Life magazine and has written several survival books. His favorite Monopoly piece comes from the Lord of the Rings version of Monopoly - the tiny little pewter version of Gandalf the Wizard.

Master gardener and author Tom Baughn is historian at Marine Corps University, he is retiring this year to devote full time to his passion for gardening.

On your third year, 12th issue, plus judged

Government reporter for Piedmont Media, James Ivancic has his own Monopoly strategy: buy everything he lands on, mortgaging when necessary.

He wonders if this is why he’s in debt today.

New York City based author and editor Steve Price recalls a group of guys in his college dormitory who played marathon games of Monopoly. One went on to business grad school, and another became a real estate magnate – “so much for the benefits of a college liberal education.”

Pam Owen is a writer, editor, photographer and nature conservationist living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Rappahannock County. She says she “never really liked” Monopoly, and doesn’t remember any of the tokens, only that her older brother usually beat her.

Congratulations

lace maker, the thimble token is a natural fit. She says it saddens her the thimble was voted “out.”

Jill Palermo is a Chicago native who came to Northern Virginia the usual way – via military orders for her Marine spouse, but says she’s stayed because of the area’s many charms. When playing Monopoly as a kid, she always chose the boot because it made the most sense. “Few things in life are more essential than a good pair of boots,” Jill says.

A Catlett native, Julie Taylor was a staff reporter at the Fauquier Times 2013-2014. She and her sisters loved to play Monopoly, but they “graduated to Risk and Settlers of Catan, in which rivalries and alliances become intense.”

from One Location for 50 Years!

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Playing games

Learning a critical life lesson: Luck in the roll does make a difference

“I think it’s just wrong that only one company makes Monopoly.”

- Comedian Steven Wright

When I was growing up, Sunday night was game night in my household.

My dad would pull out a wobbly card table, mom would whip up some spaghetti, and my sister would start doling out neat piles of money. I won’t say we never squabbled over tokens, but I can honestly report there was never once a board-flipping rage.

Well, I did once clear a chess board with a swipe of my arm because my sister had my king backed into a corner.

My parents blamed me. I blamed her.

But in reality, all four of us should have recognized how playing games knitting strategy, management and cooperation was way more than just an evening of entertainment.

Experts call board games “educational tools in disguise.” You learn, early, executive functions such as strategizing and planning, social skills and money management, and at the same time you cultivate a Zen-like composure for the wild card elements of fate, chance and luck.

commensurate

A quaint throwback to the pre-internet, pre-Playstation, even pre-Atari Pong era, board games have withstood the test of time. The emperor of them all, Monopoly has been a classic more than 100 years.

Through lengthy games of Monopoly with my family that spanned many weeks, I learned of free-market wealth management and got a clear view of my dad’s beloved supply-side economics tied to the Laffer Curve. I saw firsthand the implications of disproportionate allocation of resources and learned, as in life, cash flow is critical, and it really is about location, location, location.

For this summer issue, the inFauquier team takes those ideas and turns them into a terrific package of stories. Given a single word as inspiration – monopoly – the writers and photographers dismantled Monopoly, the game, and reassembled it as monopoly, the notion, with a purely Fauquier slant. Writer Robin Earl was first to jump in – her friend Tony Cunningham has an uncanny resemblance to the Mr. Monopoly character, she said. Chief photographer Randy Litzinger envisioned Cunningham as Rich Uncle Pennybags for a themed photo shoot, and Robin got the scoop on Cunningham’s volunteer driving for local hospitals.

Jill Palermo and Mara Seaforest studied regional train travel for a railroad component, while Craig Macho and Janet Evans discovered the local waterworks. Connie Lyons found area precedent for three beloved Monopoly tokens – the top hat, Scottie dog and the cat, and Kari Pugh unearthed a local link to the brand-new T-Rex token at a quartet of regional parks with dinosaur digs.

Food writer Tim Artz connected with mouth-watering Monopoly fare, and Julie Taylor took us inside the Fauquier jail – don’t worry, just visiting. Historian John Toler pointed out that we even have a Vermont Avenue of sorts, Vermont Farm southwest of Marshall: so many Monopoly connections.

As always, there’s a full set of seasonal stories, from no-cook cooking with Janie Ledyard to food-scaping with Sally Semple. New writer John Baum found out why craft beer and microbreweries are popping up everywhere, and Master Gardener Tom Baughn tied the theme to the season with his lovely ode to the humble wheelbarrow.

Cartoonist R.J. Matson even created a fully customized pullout Fauquier-opoly game, still another way you can discover Fauquier’s monopoly on so many things – culture in a rural county, history in a modern setting, and creativity in a classic community.

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SUMMER 2017

Pearmund Cellars and Poplar Springs

Proudly Announce A Joint Venture

Vineyard and Tasting Room The Vineyard

On May 27th, Chris Pearmund broke ground on Fauquier County’s newest Vineyard on the bucolic grounds of Poplar Springs Inn and Spa. The new Traminette vines will further add to the aesthetic beauty of the Inn, while in a few short years, the vinesmanaged by Pearmund’s staff - will produce fruit made into private label estate wines.

The Tasting Room

Two of Fauquier County’s most beloved spots, Pearmund Cellars and Poplar Springs, are proud to announce the opening of a new tasting room at the Inn. The focus will be on Pearmund Cellars and other local Virginia wines, delighting their guests with the wonders of Virginia’s finest. We are all excited about the tasting rooms planned to be opened soon.

SUMMER 2017

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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SUMMER 2017

Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.

- Benjamin Franklin

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HOME & GARDEN

If you’re interested in buying or selling, or just want to know the value of your home in the current market, give us a call. We would be happy to discuss the sale of your home and any other real estate opportunities.

8078 Crescent Park Dr. #205, Gainesville, VA - 703-753-7910 85 Garrett Street, Warrenton, VA - 540-349-1221 10

SUMMER 2017

HOME & GARDEN

SUMMER 2017

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ZIPCODE 20128: ORLEAN

Small in size

Big on history

There are five communities in the U.S. with the name Orleans.

Fauquier’s Orlean is singular for its missing “s,” and for so much more.

When you say this small west county village is small, ask – how small is small?

Really small.

The Orlean Library is 2 feet by 2 feet.

The Orlean Post Office is too small even for a foldout table inside to do delivery sorting.

And the last U.S. census listed Orlean’s population as “0.”

That’s small.

But people who consider themselves “residents” of this unincorporated village suffer no complex.

Far from it. There’s room to stretch – mentally, emotionally, physically – in the farm community a dozen miles northwest of Warrenton that’s nothing but a pinpoint on a county map. There’s a full frontal of the Blue Ridge, an active local social calendar and everything you need, according to Orlean Market proprietor Kia Kianersi.

“Orlean has that quaint, small village vibe,” adds Sandy Gilliam, owner-operator of the Village Green, a garden and antiques shop anchoring the south end of the 200-yard long commercial strip comprising exactly two businesses, the midget post office and a three-bay volunteer fire and rescue.

The quintessential Virginia hamlet sprang up, like so many, around a crossroads, though in Orlean’s case even that’s fun-sized, not a full crossroad but a T-junction of Leeds Manor Road and John Barton Payne Road.

“There’s enough traffic to be interesting, but not so much to be annoying,” an area resident maintains as she exits the 15 by 20 post office building with an armful of mail, jumping in her car and taking three times to back out of her space into the main road.

PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Even the Orlean Library is small. A Little Free Library is in the front yard of ‘librarian’ Cynthia Brookman.

No one honks at her, no one is inconvenienced, even for a second. “You always see somebody you know” at the post office, says Gale Johnson, treasurer of the Old Dominion Hounds foxhunt club, kenneled north of village center near Thumb Run. Postmistress Susanna Smeal explains the secret of the big goose-egg for the population count. “There’s no postal delivery here,” Smeal says. “Not enough room for a table to sort the mail.” Pickup is from a couple hundred P.O. boxes in the small room. The action, Smeal says, happens on the equally small covered porch, with residents stopping to chat, share information and catch up with local gossip. “People talk out there for ages,” she adds.

U.S. mail for area residents is addressed “Marshall,” 10 miles northeast, but Smeal says people here consider Orlean to be home.

There’s is no official count of residents in 20128, but Orlean “feels” about the same size as nextdoor Hume, a village four miles north of Orlean with 349 people at last estimation.

“A small town post office is like old-fashioned internet,” Smeal says.

One name, two tales

The Orlean Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department responds to more than 100 square miles.

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There are two stories, both somewhat amorphous, about the provenance of the name, Orlean.

Some say the village was named after Andrew Jackson’s victory in 1815 over the British at the Battle of New Orleans. Col. Albert P. Hinckley, whose descendants still own thousands of acres of

farmland around the village, wrote an article for the newspaper declaring the Orleans-Orlean link.

Towns in the area were often named, Hinckley wrote, for men or places currently in the news.

Waterloo, closer to Warrenton, he argued, was surely so-called for the Battle of Waterloo, and Conde, towards Marshall, was named for the French village Conde-sur-L’Escaut.

The “s” was subsequently dropped, Hinckley surmised, because of confusion with the correct French pronunciation of the word, Orleans, would sound like “Orlean” since French generally don’t pronounce the final “s” in a word.

On the other hand, others stress that Orlean may have been called Orlean well before the January, 1815 battle. Triplett Russell pointed out in his own news article, “Leeds Manor Roots of Orlean,” that the Orlean House was in place in 1795.

Therefore, Russell argued, Orlean couldn’t have been named for a battle fought 20 years later.

Russell, a descendant of William Harrison Triplett, who bought Orlean House in 1877, could not explain why the grand stone and log structure was so named.

Across John Barton Payne Road, the Orlean Market had been originally established in 1870.

Like Orlean House recently remodeled, the Market has evolved with the times, owner Kia Kianersi says. In addition to offering gas and diesel to serve area farmers as well as visitors, the market has coffee, sandwiches and seating for the local farm

school and multiple residences and their ancillary outbuildings dating from the late 1700s to the mid-20th century.

Social calendar

The Orlean Post Office, pickup only, is a communications hub in the village. workforce and foxhunters riding with the local Old Dominion Hounds. A restaurant and a pub host live music most weekends, with a community jam sessions on the last Friday of each month, special wine dinners and local barbeque.

Another small part of the small community is the Orlean Little Free Library hanging on a fence post in front of Cynthia Brookman’s house on 732.

The Take a Book/Leave a Book program is “a great way to exchange books and DVDs,” Brookman says, adding she soon plans to add a “bookshelf ” set

lower on the post near a parking area on her driveway “for young readers.”

She says she gets visitors most days, and she swaps out books weekly from the hundreds she’s gotten at the White Elephants she owns and operates in Middleburg and Warrenton, and ones neighbors donate to this local chapter of the national non-profit.

The Orlean Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, encompasses 51 contributing buildings, including commercial buildings, churches, the post office, a former

In addition to hunt activities and Orlean Market functions, the Orlean Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department has a reputation as command central not only for covering a response area as large as the village is small, but also for offering regular, and hugely popular, community feeds.

The fire department, established in 1972, hosts a country breakfast the third Sunday of each month, in addition to a ham and oyster dinner, a spaghetti supper, community yard sales and more.

Response coverage includes part of Amissville, stretches nearly to Chester Gap, and covers Hume and Markham.

Orlean Fire and Rescue responded to 379 calls last year. By comparison, Catlett Fire and Rescue responded to more than 1,000.

“We have to be different to get people to come all the way out here,” says Village Green owner-operator Sandy Gilliam. The Village Green, housed in the former Russell Store, sells everything from garden plants to fresh flowers, vases to hand-drawn notecards, antiques and Baudelaire bath products. The Village Green was the only business outside suburban Northern Virginia to be placed on the Washingtonian magazine’s “Best Of ” list, Gilliam says. “People come from the city and the suburbs all the time. They love it out here.”

Have a little faith

Researcher Diane Cultura compiled an exhaustive history of the Orlean area for the 1998 Orlean Day celebration.

Contact the Fauquier Times to take a look at information on historic homes of the area, and commerce from the past three centuries: stores – Rector’s, Jeffries, Russell’s, Putnams’ and Wince Store, Mr. Moore’s shoe repair and Russell Milton’s blacksmith shop. Cultura found that Jim Settler perhaps had the most colorful of proprietary combinations – he was a wheelwright and an undertaker.

She listed Orlean’s historic churches, all still active: • Thumb Run Primitive Baptist – built 1771 • Wesley Chapel – 1844 • Orlean Baptist – 1867 • Orlean Methodist – 1881 • Providence Baptist – 1883 • Trough Hill Primitive Baptist – 1883

– By Betsy Burke Parker

Favored son Route 732-John Barton Payne Road namesake Orlean native John Barton Payne (1855-1935) served as Secretary of the Interior 1920-1921 for President Woodrow Wilson. Payne later became Director General of Railroads, and national chairman of the Red Cross.

Historic mills In the 1700s and 1800s, there were many local gristmills serving the area’s grain and crop farmers. Most of the farms raise beef cattle these days, a more profitable commodity and less labor intensive.

• Putnam’s Mill – 1740 • Piper’s Mill – 1770 • Fiery Run Mill – 1815 • Vernon Mill – 1822 • Templeman’s Mill – 1822 • Cliff Mills – 1836 • Dixon’s Mill – 1887 • Milton’s Mill – 1900

The Orlean-based Old Dominion Hounds parade through town with professional huntsman Jeff Woodall.

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COUNTY TIDBITS

Get out and enjoy the summer Our list is but a starting point. Check fauquier.com, visitfauquier.com and virginia. org for new listings posted and updated almost daily.

Local wine winners

Savor Virginia Magazine recently published their annual list of Reader’s Choice awards. Judging included all of Virginia’s 275 wineries, 140 breweries and 28 distilleries.

Warrenton’s Pearmund Cellars checked in with the gold medal as the Commonwealth’s best winery overall, with Molon Lave winning bronze for their cabernet sauvignon. Fox Meadow in Linden won silver for their sauvignon blanc, and Naked Mountain in Markham took bronze for their chardonnay riesling. Barrel Oak’s dessert wine won bronze for the Marshall winery.

Old Bust Head brewery at Vint Hill won silver as best craft brewery.

Oct. 17 -- Take the guesswork out of pruning Tim Ohlwiler will teach proper techniques of pruning shrubs and trees including timing, the different cuts and the tools that are necessary.

Where: Virginia Cooperative Extension Office, Warrenton The free classes start at 6 p.m.

RSVP: 540-341-9750 or email helpdesk@fc-mg.org.

August • National Golf Month • National Catfish Month • Aug. 2 - National Ice Cream Sandwich Day • Aug. 8 - International Cat Day

More than a library

Counting noses (sort of)

Residents are invited to help with the Sky Meadows and Thompson Wildlife Management Area butterfly count on Saturday, June 17.

Email baron.scott@gmail.com to get involved.

Another butterfly count is Saturday, July 29 at Airlie near Warrenton.

More information is at facebook. com/pages/Environmental-StudiesOn-The-Piedmont/187450974629829.

July 18 – Invasive plants Master Gardener Winny Buursink will discuss why invasive plants are bad, how to identify them as well as what are good alternative native plants to add to your landscape.

Where: Virginia Cooperative Extension Office, Warrenton

Horsing around

June • National Adopt a Cat Month • National Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Month • June 23 - National Take Your Dog to Work day • June 27 - Helen Keller day

Balloon festival

Aug. 15 – Planting the right trees, shrubs and perennials next to streams and ponds Tim Ohlwiler, Horticulture Extension Agent, will discuss plants good for planting in wet areas and the benefits to wildlife and water quality.

Where: Rady Park, Warrenton Sept. 5 – Plant and seed giveaway and flower seed saving Learn seed saving from Master Gardener Peggy Schochet. Share extra plants and seeds.

Where: Marshall Schoolhouse # 18, Marshall 14

SUMMER 2017

Aug. 19-20 Flying Circus, Bealeton Dozens of hot air balloons launch each morning and evening, with rides available and lots of special events planned.

Plus, regular Flying Circus airshows run every Sunday through October. flyingcircusairshow.com July • National Picnic Month • National Wedding Month • July 4 - Independence Day • July 14 - Bastille Day

• The first Friday night of each month, Old Town Warrenton’s Main Street is closed to traffic while shops stay open late with special events, wine tastings, live music and more. Dates are July 7, Aug. 4, Sept. 1 and Oct. 6.

• Free movies are shown at Eva Walker Park Friday nights through the summer. Movie nights are June 24, July 8 and 22, and Aug. 12. partnershipforwarrenton.org • The Bluemont Summer Concert Series kicks off on the Warren Green lawn in Warrenton July 8-Aug. 19. Music ranges from boogie woogie to country, bluegrass to Brazilian funk. Concerts are Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. bluemont.org

The Open Late series June 30, July 28, Aug. 25 at the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg features music, local wine and Virginia craft beer.

There are free gallery talks every Wednesday, Sunday Sketch events on the first Sunday of each month and coffee with the curator events on second Saturdays. nationalsporting.org

Summer fun Upcoming Master Gardener twilight Tuesday events

What’s new in Old Town

Dance the night away

There’s a swing dance at the Marshall Community Center, June 24, and a Summer Sizzler bluegrass concert on July 15.

Another swing dance is set Aug. 26. fauquiercounty.gov

• The Great Meadow International CIC*** is July 7-9. There’s a huge vendors’ row and special events. greatmeadowinternational.com • Great Meadow Twilight Polo is Saturday nights through Sept. 23. Three games begin at 6 p.m. Lessons are also available through the club. greatmeadowpoloclub.com • The oldest pony show in America, the Warrenton Pony Show is June 29-July 2 at the historic Warrenton Horse Show Grounds.

The 116th annual Warrenton Horse Show is Aug. 30-Sept. 3. warrentonhorseshow.com • Twilight jumper classes are set once a month Friday evenings at Great Meadow. Show dates are June 30, July 28 and Sept. 1. greatmeadow.org

Parks and rec events

• Astronomy viewing sessions, Crockett Park - July 22 and Aug. 19 • Music by the lake, Crockett Park - July 30 • Dog’s day pool party, Weeks community pool - Sept. 9 • Goldvein jubilee, Sept. 16 recreation.fauquiercounty.gov STAFF PHOTOS

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THEN & NOW

The old Carnival in The Plains was hosted by the Community League, a group that benefited Fauquier charities and schools. This historic photo from July 14, 1950 shows the view on Bragg Street adjacent to The Plains branch of the National Bank of Fauquier on U.S. Route 55.

Shot through the west window of the old Plains Pharmacy, the glass captured a ghostly reflection of the drugstore interior and the old stamped tin ceiling, still visible in the bike and coffee shop now occupying the space.

At the top left of the 1950 photo, bingo, the first booth, was a popular entry point for the carnival. The side street was filled with people that July night.

Note the buildings and streetscape in the well-preserved town are nearly identical today, same except for the crowd, shot in early June, 2017.

Carnivals were hosted by The Plains fire department starting in 1951, with the last carnival held in 1966.

Carnival in The Plains

A look back at county’s old annual rite of summer

By Norm Schultze

Win a game at this summer’s Fauquier Fair, and your likely reward is a brightly-colored stuffed animal.

At the Fair’s predecessor, the Carnival in The Plains, prizes were a bit more realistic.

At the 1930 Carnival in The Plains, newspaper ads promised grand prizes as varied as a steer, a pig, a lamb or a sack of chicken feed.

Delving into old Fauquier Democrat archives, ads and reports from the annual summer festival held on Main Street in The Plains offer a different view of a 16

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1950 PHOTO BY NORMAN SCHULTZE; 2017 PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

different era. One ad promises that the Main Street – today’s U.S. Route 55 – would be “turned into a ‘white way’,” electrically lighted by a technology not yet widely available in rural Fauquier.

In 1951, the just-formed The Plains Volunteer Fire Company took over as host for the popular summer event. Carnivals provided social function in the time before digital and social media, before most homes even had a telephone line.

A Carnival Queen was selected each year. The ad in 1930 was pretty specific: “Bring your girl, or somebody else’s girl, if you are good enough to and can get by with it. Get her there and then plunk down one dollar and enter her in the contest for the most popular girl.”

The Queen’s prize was a “handsome eight-day Westminster chime clock.”

The children’s booth became a feature in 1932, one whereby “Peter, the pumpkin eater’s wife in her pumpkin shell” saw to it “that the kiddies will get real delight,” trumpeted ads from that year’s event.

Like the county fair of today, carnivals were highly weather-dependent. In the 1930s, Main Street in The Plains – modern U.S. Route 55 – was most likely unpaved, creating circumstances for either very dusty or very muddy conditions.

Other than the annual carnival, entertainment in The Plains included movies shown at Grace Church parish hall, school operettas and minstrel shows and a very occasional country music program.

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Personalized games From astronomy to gardening, from the Bible to the Grateful Dead, even bacon, chances are good you’ll find a version of Monopoly that appeals to your favorite special interest. There are 300 versions of Monopoly, each with distinctive boards and tokens.

Animal versions include beagles, birds, cats, dachshunds, farm animals, horses, penguins and more.

Movie versions include Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings and Wizard of Oz. Sports versions include NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, fishing, golf, hunting, rodeo and surfing.

Culinary versions include bacon, beer, chocolate, cocktails and wine.

Buy low, sell high

History of U.S. real estate market tied to board game’s provenance

By Steve Price

PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Don’t take it too seriously Although the game of Monopoly provides hours of fun, an actual monopoly is a dangerous enemy to economic welfare. A monopoly occurs when an industry or a segment of the economy has only one supplier of goods or services. Without competition, customers are at a seller’s mercy.

Although monopolies occur when only one company can provide a business or service, the law has ways to prevent entities from becoming exclusively dominant. In the 1800s powerful trusts controlled portions of the economy. Two of the most famous – infamous - were U.S. Steel and Standard Oil, monopolies that controlled the supply and prices of their products.

Without competition, consumers were at the trusts’ mercy.

When an angry public demanded the government take action, President Teddy Roosevelt enacted anti-trust laws. The Sherman Act prohibits price-fixing; the Clayton Act that bars corporations from acquisitions that stifle competition.

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To bankrupt your friends wasn’t the goal of the earliest form of the game Monopoly.

It wasn’t even supposed to be fun.

In 1903, Lizzie Phillips devised “The Landlord’s Game” in an effort to explain the single tax theory of political economist and philosopher Henry George. She wanted to demonstrate the ills of concentrating land in private exclusive control.

The game involved buying, developing and selling land, marked with cardboard tokens.

Charles Darrow of Philadelphia was introduced to a similar game by a friend, Charles Todd, who had learned it while in Atlantic City, New Jersey, already a summer vacation hot-spot for tourists.

Darrow developed his own version, set in Atlantic City.

He was first to use the simplistic and descriptive name, “Monopoly.”

In 1935 Darrow sold the rights to Parker Brothers, a well-known game company. Their slightly revamped version is the Monopoly that the world came to know: 40 spaces containing 28 properties. There were 22 streets in eight color groups, four railway stations and two utilities, three Chance and three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax and an Income Tax. Four corner squares were Go, Jail, Free Parking, and the dreaded Go to Jail.

One geographic error inserted by Darrow remains: Marvin Gardens is a misspelling of the beautiful Jersey shore neighborhood of Marven Gardens. Parker Brothers formally apologized to Marven Gardens residents in 1995.

The Short Line railroad referred to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar route. Although the Reading Railroad didn’t serve Atlantic City directly, the line owned tracks that did.

Time and customer response have led to small changes since the original. Chance and Community Chest cards have slightly changed, and the top-hatted and mustachioed Mr. Monopoly character was added and given the name “Rich Uncle Pennybags.”

To the manor born

Monopoly’s growing popularity during the Depression wasn’t difficult to understand. Families suffering economic woes had the opportunity to play as if they had all the money in the world. Like the modern conceit of imagining what you’d do if you won the lottery, an evening of Monopoly provided a brief fantasy-rich escape from everyday problems.

The delights of Monopoly spread throughout the world, and Parker Brothers began licensing it abroad in 1936. Of course, street and utilities names and currencies were changed to suit specific countries. The game was especially popular in Great Britain where the British Secret Intelligence Service even devised a special edition for prisoners of war held by the Nazis during World War II. Hidden inside these sets were maps, compasses, real money and other objects useful to prisoners that managed to escape.

Alongside authentic charity organizations such as the Red Cross, the intelligence service created bogus aid organizations to distribute the games to prisoners.

The evolution of the game is reflected in the tiny play tokens that move around the board to the roll of the dice. Originally made of paper, they became metal, then wood during World War II as part of the war effort. After hostilities ceased, tokens returned to metal.

Today they’re metal or plastic depending on the set.

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Life & Style HOME & GARDEN

THE WAY WE LIVE IN FAUQUIER

When the whistle blows

Working on the railroad all the livelong day (nights, too) Photos by Adam Goings Story by Betsy Burke Parker

Inside this section: • • • • 20

Water, water everywhere Go to jail (but just as a visitor!)

When free parking isn’t really free Summer reading list for all ages

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HOME & GARDEN

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LIFE & STYLE

He’s 59 and still plays with trains

Engineer Wendell Sutphin says handling 200 tons of locomotive is NBD

The Fauquier native started out driving a fire truck, moved up to a UC army tank, and now he says he’s ‘living every boy’s dream’ handling a train locomotive. Wendell Sutphin has worked the rails more than two decades, and logged enough miles to circle the globe 40 times. We wanted to know what it’s like to have an office with an ever-changing view, what it’s like to be in charge of millions of pounds and billions of dollars worth of goods, and what it feels like to be dragging two miles of train behind you.

Growing up within earshot of the tracks in The Plains, young Wendell Sutphin was always fascinated with trains. The lonely whistle when the freight-laden locomotive slouched across U.S. 55 at the church and 626 by the old Whistlestop cafe spoke to his soul. Closer to the track that still runs behind the old depot on the northeast end of town, he could feel the diesel engines rumbling right through his heart.

Now 59, the 1976 Fauquier High grad remains obsessed, with more than two decades of riding the rails as a conductor and an engineer for Norfolk Southern Railway.

“It’s more than a job,” Sutphin says. “It’s a way of life. Sort of a gypsy lifestyle, a traveler. Really hard work, and it can be stressful” to have so much riding on your competence. But the pay is very good, with an excellent retirement package, and, “how cool is my office?”

Born to it

Sutphin attributes part of his modern wanderlust to his father’s long-haul truck driver lifestyle.

He felt that call to adventure when he joined The Plains Volunteer Fire Department at age 16, “in

part to get to drive a fire truck,” Sutphin says.

Adventure followed when he did an Army tour after school – Texas and Germany, “in part to get to drive a tank.” He was working construction sales in the mid-’90s when he applied to Norfolk Southern’s training program on a whim, he says, for the ultimate adventure – to drive a locomotive.

He enrolled in the company’s conductor school in Georgia. They call it “Choo-Choo U.” He was entranced from the start, but it was hard. And sobering. At conductor’s school, Sutphin learned “how not to get killed.”

He’s not exaggerating.

Railroad work is dangerous, extremely dangerous. Given that a typical locomotive weighs 400,000 pounds and a standard train with dozens of loaded boxcars weighs 10 million pounds, a slight misstep or momentary inattention can lead to disaster, Sutphin says. Loading and offloading at the yards – often at night – is most dangerous, but the tracks are fraught with danger, too. It takes a train three miles to stop, so seeing an animal or person near the tracks upsets an engineer, Sutphin See TRAINS, page 38

Norfolk Southern Railway engineer Wendell Sutphin has quite a view at the controls of a 200-ton locomotive heading out from the yard at Alexandria.

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Haymarket VRE taken off the table

By Jill Palermo Dreaming of commuting from Warrenton to Washington via train? Well, for now, dream on.

Or at least be willing to drive to Bristow.

Virginia’s commuter train, also known as the Virginia Railway Express, only extends as far west as the Manassas Airport, which means Fauquier County commuters need to drive to the western edge of Prince William County to catch the train. The last station on the Manassas line is the Broad Run stop, located off of Va. 28 on Piper Lane, near the Target and TJ Maxx.

VRE officials recently studied bringing the train line as much as 11 miles farther west, not to Fauquier County but at least a little closer.

Options under consideration would have added track along the existing freight line to extend commutertrain service into Gainesville and possibly even Haymarket.

But the VRE board decided earlier this year to shelve those plans because they didn’t think the $600 million price tag was worth the number of additional commuters the extension was projected to attract.

Given the more sparse population of commuters in western Prince William and Fauquier, the VRE study concluded that the extensions would add only about 1,000 more passengers.

But VRE commuting will get a little easier in a few years, thanks to a more modest expansion plan the VRE board did endorse.

They decided in March to go with a Broad Run station expansion, which will increase the number of trains to and from Washington from 16 to 22. The plan also includes building a bigger station and adding a parking garage, all for about $345 million.

Interested in trying the train now? The existing Manassas line offers trains to Union Station from 5:05 a.m. to 7:48 a.m., arriving in Washington between 6:24 a.m. and 9:07 a.m. Afternoon return trips run from 3:45 p.m. through 6:50 p.m., arriving at Broad Run between 5:04 p.m. and 8:09 p.m.

There even are a few midday trips. The latest train into Washington leaves from Broad Run at 2:45 p.m. and arrives at 3:55 p.m.

Conversely, if you want to leave the city earlier in the day, you can head home as early as 1:15 p.m. and arrive in Manassas at 2:34.

The cheapest way to commute is to buy a monthly pass, which costs about $130 for the Manassas line.

LIFE & STYLE

Railroad reflections Ride the rails through Fauquier

PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

and residential fronts that dot Route 656 and 28 past town.

The rattling of wheels over rails jostles you gently as you ride, making the walk to the dining car a little exciting, but

By Mara Seaforest you want to drink in the entire train travel experience.

“All aboard!”

The dining car is a little crowded, though you’ve already They still bark it out. It’s a comfort this most civilized noticed that people on trains are pretty nice. This is clear transport – train travel - retains its romantic cachet. from short visits with fellow passengers on your short trip.

Riding the rail through Fauquier isn’t technically imposOne young lady says she’s en route from her university to sible, though it does take some careful planning. her dad’s corporate office in Manassas – she can walk there The Cardinal, Crescent and Northeast Regional run be- from the station - to spend the weekend with her folks. tween Culpeper and Manassas on lines that span the east You see Lehigh Park as you exit Fauquier just out of Catlett coast. Board Amtrak for a half-hour novelty trip with all and a dozen minutes later, you’re pulling into the Manassas the romance and glitter of station. It took one minute old-fashioned train travel longer than advertised, but and a new view of Fauquier. you’re okay with that because Waiting at the charming you’ve already slowed down historic station in old town to railroad time. The ManasCulpeper, you see two freight sas station is as pretty as the trains chug through while Culpeper station – old, brick you watch for the 4:35 p.m. and all vintage charm.

You note, for the future as Cardinal that runs Wednesyou await your southbound days, Fridays and Sundays. train due 39 minutes later, A minute or two after the that there are half a dozen designated time, the Amtrak restaurants literally adjacent train pulls up to the platform to the tracks at the Manassas and you prepare to embark. A smartly uniformed attendant The author found train travel a relaxing way to cross the county. station. If you took the morning train from Culpeper any assists you up the little metal weekday, you see you could easily lose yourself in Old Town stairway and into the coach car.

Manassas for the day until the evening trip back to Culpeper.

You easily find a place to sit: the journey began early this There’s lots of shopping downtown, an excellent library, and morning in Chicago – and ends late tonight in New York plenty of taverns along the tracks.

On the other end, CulCity. You grab a window seat so you don’t miss a thing. peper’s just the same. You consider a repeat engagement.

Seats are big and comfortable, larger than airplane seats On the return journey, you notice the truly rural nature by a longshot, with plenty of legroom and more headroom of the Fauquier portion of the trip. Out the right-hand than a bus. There are plugs for your devices at each seat. window, there are thousands of open acres, many crop and As the train chugs through Culpeper’s light industri- cattle farms, large and small, lining the route. You see dairy al area northeast of town, you dial in to the big railroad cattle, beef cattle and acre after acre of cultivated land with sounds. Attendants pace the aisle, popping cards into slots crops at midsummer well on their way to harvest. above your seat to remind them of your destination so they It’s a beautiful and unusual, and wholly rewarding, way to can help you get there if you fall asleep. explore a corner of rarely seen Fauquier. You climb off – with It wouldn’t be hard to doze off. The seats are pretty comfy. help – at Culpeper and notice something else. There’s a tiny The train whistle – they blow at every crossing – is twinge as the train pulls away from the platform. The whistle strangely comforting. Out the windows, tree-high hedge- compresses – Doppler effect – as the Northeast Regional leaves rows part to reveal glimpses of farmland. As you cross the southbound for Richmond and Norfok. You realize it’s taken Rappahannock River into Fauquier at Remington 12 min- a piece of your heart as you recognize that all the romance of utes after departure, you see the backs of familiar business train travel is alive and well.

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LIFE & STYLE

What happens when you flush?

Sewer chief Searls follows the process start to finish at Remington’s wastewater plant

By Craig Macho

Watching Raymond Searls check his smartphone, you assume he’s checking his Facebook, studying sports scores or perhaps logging into fauquier.com for headline news.

You’d be wrong.

Searls, chief operator of the Remington Wastewater Treatment Plant for the Fauquier County Water and Sanitation Authority, is more likely checking the phone app that allows him to watch the plant 24-7.

“Technology has allowed us to monitor the plant from anywhere,” Searls says.

Ensuring the proper treatment of wastewater is a combination of biology, engineering, diligence and experience, and with almost three decades on the job, Searls is well-equipped in all aspects of escorting water from waste to taste.

Tech aids Searls and three other plant operators to ensure the Remington facility operates properly, but Searls still likes the old-fashioned model of walking around the expansive campus each morning, inspecting motors and blowers and other equipment that converts human waste into water clean enough to release into the Rappahannock River.

Searls, noting that the transducer catches some really weird items. “We’ve removed everything from toys to whatever a child might flush down the toilet.”

What remains is a slightly gross watery sludge that next enters a clarifier, where the biological part of the process takes place.

It’s there, Searls says, the magic occurs.

Blowers introduce oxygen into the units, and as solid sludge settles to the bottom, water floating on top will begin to be filtered.

Eventually, the now nearly sparkling water undergoes yet another transformation, using ultraviolet radiation that completes the wholescale disinfection process. The state of Virginia monitors the Remington plant to ensure it complies with regulations that ensure the water is safe to release.

Inorganic items are collected and taken to a landfill, while the sludge, which also becomes free of pathogens through the natural, chemical process, is treated in a digester and dried. A contractor removes the sludge, which at this point is simply dirt, and it is recycled in approved land areas of the state.

“It makes for a great fertilizer,” Searls deadpans.

Altogether, the Remington plant treats up to two million gallons of wastewater a day.

After the flush

Most Fauquier County residents, other than those in rural areas with their own septic systems, generally have no idea what occurs once they flush their toilets.

Bathwater, water from the washing machine and dishwater, the kitchen sink and, of course, the toilet, are drained via underground pipes that lace the county to any of three county sewer stations. From there, wastewater flows into a lift station and enters what is called a wet well.

Eventually, wastewater from Remington and the Bealeton and Opal areas with 2,233 connections to residences and businesses – enters what’s called a transducer, which removes grease, cloth and other solid debris.

“It removes all the inorganic solids,” explains 26

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PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER

Wastewater treatment plant manager Raymond Searls.

Plant operators watch for mechanical failures and events that can upend the system.

“When we had the recent storms I went to the plant to physically check it,” Searls says. “One of the biggest things we have to watch is the clarifiers, if the sludge blanket at the bottom comes up too high from the storms we have to address it.”

And while the smartphone app he and the other plant operators use help them to keep tabs on the plant, it is the act of physically checking the facility that heads off problems before they crop up.

“We tour the plant all day long, walk around and make sure everything is running right. We might see where a blower belt came off, or if a motor isn’t running,” Searls says.

Another issue the operators must deal with is extreme changes in the weather, especially spikes in the temperature that can affect the friendly bacteria that digests waste.

“The worst thing is the change in the weather, the two times a year we have to make adjustments for the air temperature. All these bugs rely on food and oxygen, you have to keep them alive for the process to work,” he explains.

Searls, 54, was originally hired in 1987 as a laborer for FCWSA. He worked his way up to plant operator, senior plant operator and finally to chief operator at Remington.

His favorite part of the job?

“I enjoy giving tours, showing people how the plant works,” he says. “It could be a surprise inspection by the state or a tour group, I like them all; we want people to know what’s going on.”

Cheryl St. Amant, associate general manger of operations, says in addition to the Remington plant, FCWSA also operates wastewater plants in Vint Hill and Marshall. The plants process more than 1.5 million gallons of water a day between them. The authority employs 45 people, including engineers and construction workers, along with the wastewater plant operators that ensure Fauquier’s toilets continue to flush. fcwsa.org

Waterworks: So many ways to drink your fill

By Janet Heisrath Evans

Water may be the staff of life, but few consider how liquid gets from storm clouds above, to ground water below, back up to the surface to be cool, refreshing tap water.

Where does water come from? How safe are our local water sources to drink?

And, perhaps more important, who’s in charge?

Superintendent of the Warrenton Water Filtration Plant, Glenn Coppage has ensured much of Fauquier’s clean, reliable water supply for more than three decades. It’s not a simple process, Coppage says, to make sure water drawn from two Warrenton reservoirs or the backup well system is safe to drink.

But it’s his expertise.

“We are sampling every three months at sample sites within our distribution system,” Coppage explains, noting that trihalomethane testing is just one of multiple measures he and his team of experts perform to keep the water flowing.

The Fauquier County Water and Sanitation Authority operates nine water systems serving 6,700 customers, Coppage says. Treated water travels through ductile iron pipes to customer faucets.

The Warrenton Reservoir, the town’s primary surface water supply built in 1965, has about 120 million gallon capacity, Coppage says. The Airlie Reservoir, built in 1993, is the town’s secondary surface water supply with a roughly 183 million gallon capacity. Two backup wells provide approximately 72,000 gallons of ground water per day.

County residents not on Warrenton, Bealeton or Marshall town water supply get water from private wells on their own properties, which, Coppage says, offers its own particular bundle of quality checks.

The science behind the source

Surface water and groundwater supplies have different requirements to make them suitable for drinking.

Surface water from streams, lakes and reservoirs has the potential for exposure to animal waste, pesticides, industrial waste, algae and other organic materials. Groundwater pumped by

Restorative springwater

The most celebrated local natural springs are Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, formerly a resort on the grounds of what’s now the Fauquier Springs Country Club.

deep wells from underground aquifers can certainly contain the same contaminants as surface water as well as dissolved minerals rainwater picks up as it filters through the ground and rock on its way to the aquifers far below the surface.

Still, experts say that ground water commonly contains less contaminants than surface water because rock tends to filter and remove some of these contaminants.

Deep well water is typically obtained by drilling into deep fractured bedrock. Mary Sherrill of the FCWSA, says that a well digger usually “bypasses shallow groundwater, at 30 feet for example, to find the deeper fracture zone less likely to have surface interference.

“Wells (in Fauquier County) are typically 300 – 500 feet deep.”

Water testing for private wells includes many of the same tests as those required town water. Bacterial, cryptosporidium, giardia cysts, metals, naturally occurring radon and THM testing is conducted in accordance to need and regulation requirements.

“Sampling for lead and copper occurs after the water has sat overnight and is the first draw of the day. Sampling water for bacteria and other contaminants occurs through sampling stations,” says Sherrill.

For town water, raw water from the reservoirs enters the filtration plant, Coppage says, and passes through a series of both physical and chemical treatments. Coagulation, flocculation sedimentation, filtration and chlorination treatments remove contaminants by physical and chemical means.

When treated water leaves the filtration plant, it travels through ductile iron pipes to resident faucets; excess water can be stored in one of two storage tanks, the most noticeable being the large blue water tower perched over downtown Warrenton.

Sherrill recommends residents play their “own part in protecting the safe water supply by disposing of oil and other waste properly to reduce contaminants in the soil through which our water travels.

“Monitoring water usage can ensure safe water is there for us when we need it.”

The mineral-rich springwater was said to restore health.

Fauquier Springs was the location of a Civil War skirmish in August, 1862 at which time the hotel burned down.

LIFE & STYLE

PHOTO BY JANET HEISRATH EVANS

The Warrenton water tower provides drinking water for the town.

It’s a matter of taste, but which water wins?

Bouquet, body and finish are terms frequently used to evaluate wine among Fauquier’s many vineyards, but, recently, I applied the concept to water, not wine.

In an informal, blind water tasting, the editors lined up water from one spring, two private wells and three town waters for me to taste test. Water was freshly gathered, and stored and served in glass vessels at room temperature.

Crackers cleansed the palate between samples.

Tasting notes: 1. The first sample had a even body initially that carried throughout, with no mineral hints.

2. The second sample was a bit lighter in body with a clean, fresh flavor.

3. The third sample gave a clear hint of mineral flavor quite distinctive from the first two samples.

4. The fourth sample gave an immediate expression that ended with a mild earthy finish.

5. The fifth sample gave a clear, even-bodied taste of simply water.

6. The sixth sample, like the fifth sample, gave an even-bodied taste of simply water.

The identities of mystery water samples were: 1. A private well outside Warrenton.

2. A private well near Hume.

3. Orlean spring water.

4. Bealeton town water.

5. Marshall town water.

6. Warrenton town water.

Writer Janet Heisrath Evans samples water from a variety of local sources.

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LIFE & STYLE

When free parking isn’t really Jurisdictions, residents end up paying

By James Ivancic

Parking. We want it, but with very particular requirements. It should be convenient — close to the store or work so that we don’t have far to walk. For those who find parallel parking a challenge, angled street parking or lot parking is a bonus.

Parking is critical to local businesses who want to lure customers.

But most consider vast expanses of pavement an unattractive use of land.

In car-crazy America, it shouldn’t be surprising that there is a National Parking Association, which looks at parking needs and trends. Its members represent private parking owners and public parking operators, so what it has to say may have a big city focus. Still, 2016 reports indicate parking needs will increase due to projected rise in the nation’s population from 320 million in 2015 to 400 million next year.

The NPA also reports that just shy of 120 million Americans drive to work and 86 percent of U.S. commuters say driving their vehicles is their dominant mode of transportation, continuing a 15-year trend.

Fauquier’s shoppers and commuters have long felt the pinch.

Street parking with meters or with enforced time limits are ways municipalities use to provide parking yet keep a rotating supply of it available. Parking garages, either privately operated or run by a municipality, are another option, though there are none of those in Fauquier County.

Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds believes the troubles aren’t going to disappear. “In my opinion we’re going to have a parking problem,” Reynolds says, “particulary if dining

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and beverage venues follow on the heels of Wort Hog Brewery in old town.” The positives – increased dining options and more visitors to Warrenton, come along with a painful negative – a parking pinch.

Council member Jerry Wood favors recommendations included in a recent consultants’ report to change one-hour time limits to two hours, increase the fines, and equip the parking enforcer with a hand-hand device to make ticketing easier.

One Warrenton Town Council idea floated last year to allow “parklets” – temporary seating in cordoned off parking spaces on Main Street on weekends, was panned. Though it is hailed as a concept other communities have used to boost downtown visitation, the idea was decried as a waste of precious parking inventory, something of concern to so many.

By the books

Fauquier has regulations that apply to areas outside incorporated areas. In the case of a single family detached dwelling, there must be “two spaces per unit with one space having convenient access to a street,” according to code. A single family attached dwelling must have the same plus one space on or offstreet per each two units for visitors.

Even though rules and recommendations all point to more pavement and more land covered by parking lots, as long as Americans love their cars, and as long as there is no reasonable way to commute to work or shopping without an auto, there will be a need for parking. The key, council members agree, is to come up with more creative ways to address it.

PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Limits range from all day to five minutes for coveted parking spaces.

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LIFE & STYLE

Go to jail. (Or gaol, if you prefer.)

Do not pass go.

Do not collect $200.

By Julie Taylor

Imagine the unthinkable occurred. You’re going to jail.

Here in tight-knit Fauquier County, you’re bound to have old classmates booking you in. You get just 30 minutes a week to see loved ones, and double bunk in a cell among a population of up to 124 inmates.

You wish you were just visiting.

As scary as being in jail seems, there’s solace in the process, say insiders, with regulations, standards and tradition guiding the process booking to release. There’s method to the madness, something that somewhat demystifies incarceration.

According to Corporal Kristin Nicholas, in charge of transportation and work release at Fauquier County’s Adult Detention Center, there are 96 inmates living at the jail right now, and it could hold up to 28 more.

Most inmates are held two days to one year.

“We’ve had [deputies’] family members come in,” Nicholas says. “We all went to high school around here. Some joke around saying, ‘Looks like you took a better path than I did.’”

During booking, a deputy ushers inmates in from court hearings or right off the street. Officers pat inmates down, whisking away everything trendy, like jewelry and shoes, for safekeeping. They ask about tattoos, employment and residence.

Next is a mug shot and fingerprints.

After that, a deputy leads the way to the cell block.

Prisoners can take part in church services, watch television and particpate in support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous. There are lots of board games available.

Prisoners with less than a year to serve can participate in the work release program. Probation officers have a list of felony-friendly employers; local businesses include Ruby Tuesday, Molly’s and Black Bear Bistro.

The work will most likely be in the kitchen, as many as 78 hours a week. The program requires a GPS ankle monitor, which costs an inmate $126

PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

Visiting the new jail is a controlled exercise, but something critical to prisoner morale, say deputies. per week.

Up to three adult visitors can visit prisoners on weekends at the Fauquier jail. Touching is forbidden – and impossible because of a glass partition. But Nicholas said that in some cases a sense of humanity overwhelms policy, like when a new dad was allowed to meet and hold his baby for the first time.

Human nature is actually taken into account fairly often, Nicholas adds. Even though three people can come at once, Nicholas notes, deputies are careful to keep the visitations of current girlfriends and mothers of inmate’s children separate.

Visitation days undoubtedly affect morale.

“They get really excited, Nicholas says. “You notice on specific holidays, like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, if they don’t get their visit, it’s very

Just visiting (really)

Touring the Old Gaol Museum

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

The historic Old Gaol in Old Town was built in two phases. It is now a museum open to the public.

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To see the inside of a jail cell without having to stay a while, try Warrenton’s Fauquier History Museum at the Old Gaol, one of the best preserved jails in Virginia.

• After serving its intended purpose for years, the 1808 facility is literally packed with interesting tidbits. The four cells at the front of the building are part of the original structure; the initial jail design allowed up to 40 inmates.

• After the imposing brick structure was determined to be “insufficient” in 1823, another building was constructed a block south. After the “new” jail was built, the original cells were converted into a home for the jailer. The courtyard between the

emotional for them.”

Despite the deputies’ best efforts to keep everyone in line, memorably, they occasionally have to escort out female visitors for exposing their breasts through the glass visitors’ window.

Nicholas says the most likely reasons for incarceration locally are assault or possessing drugs like heroin. Probation violations are often behind lengthy jail stays.

There’s no such thing as a “get out of jail free” card in real life, Nicholas stresses. She recalls one prisoner announcing triumphantly to the prison staff as he walked out the door upon his release, that he was “going out to get high.” Nicholas expects to see him again soon. two buildings served as an exercise and hanging yard until 1896.

• It was operated as a jail until 1966, when the Fauquier Historical Society saved it from demolition and created a museum.

• The museum was known as the Old Jail Museum before it was rebranded as the Fauquier History Museum at the Old Gaol in 2014.

• It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

• The first execution of criminals condemned to suffer capital punishment in Virginia – since passage of a law requiring the sentence to be executed in private – occurred at the jail on July 11, 1879.

• Open Wednesday-Monday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. fauquierhistory.org

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LIFE & STYLE

Summer reads

Light and bright – find a perfect book for every age

By Lisa Pavlock Officially summer begins with the June solstice and ends with the September equinox, lasting a mere 93 days. Students mark the season by the last day of school and the dreaded return date.

Regardless of which marker you use, there are long, warm days ahead, perfect for kicking back with a good book.

The Fauquier County Public Library staff compiled this summer reading list for adults, teens and children. fauquierlibrary.org

ADULTS

• “The Best of Adam Sharp” by Graeme Simsion Deep in mid-life settled existence, Adam is suddenly contacted by “the one who got away” actress Angelina Brown.

What does she want from him? By the author of the popular “Rosie Project” novels.

• “The Canterbury Sisters” by Kim Wright As a last request, American wine critic, Che is carrying her deceased mother’s ashes on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Flying to England, she joins “Broads Abroad” for a guided walking tour to the cathedral.

Along the way, each pilgrim reveals a meaningful tale about their life.

A mixed bag novel of humor, life crises and ruminations.

• “Gwendy’s Button Box” by Stephen King Twelve-year-old Gwendy receives a magic box from a man wearing a black hat at the top of Suicide Stairs in Castle Rock, Maine. This is a quick summer read by the horror master.

• “No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories” by Lee Child This novella and 11 other stories is a good choice for thriller fans.

• “Same Beach, Next Year” by Dorothea Benton Frank Two married couples meet on the Isle of Palms beach outside of Charleston. Twenty summers follow the saga of their friendship as it grows through financial hardship, tragedy and life changing events.

TEENS

• “Heartless” by Marissa Meyer Long before Alice fell down the rabbit hole, Catherine had her own adventure in Wonderland. The talented baker would rather open a pastry shop and marry for love than accept the king’s marriage proposal, especially after meeting the handsome and mysterious court jester. Cath is determined to choose her own path but in this land of magic, madness and monsters.

• “North of Happy” by Adi Alsaid Carlos is a wealthy dual citizen of Mexico and the United States who rebels against his family’s strict plans for his future after the tragic death of his older brother. After he secures a job with his favorite celebrity chef, complications arise when he falls for the boss’s daughter.

• “Illuminae” by Amie Kaufman Until recently, Kady’s worst problem had been breaking up with Ezra. Then her planet was invaded.

But that’s the least of her troubles.

In this fast-paced interstellar thriller the artificial intelligence on board the escape ship turns against her and a deadly plague turns everyone into psychopathic killers.

• “Everything, Everything” by Nicola Yoon Terminally ill Maddie is confined to her house by rare and profound allergies but falls hopelessly in love with her new neighbor. The story is told through diary entries, texts and emails and after hours of instant messaging, the couple escapes on a secret rendezvous which may lead to Maddie’s death.

KINDERGARTEN – GRADE 5

• “Bad Kitty” series by Nick Bruel Bad Kitty and friends will have young readers in giggles.

Combining zany humor and fun facts, Bad Kitty will entertain and subtly educate chapter book fans as she endures baths, a new baby in the family, and even runs for president of the Neighborhood Cat Association.

• “Franklin School Friends” by Claudia Mills Each title in the “Franklin School Friends” features a kid with a specific talent, from math whiz Annika to spelling champ Simon Ellis, as they deal with everyday issues with school, friends and family. Perfect for those who enjoy friendship stories.

• “EllRay Jakes” series by Sally Warner EllRay Jakes is an everyday 8-year-old who deals with the hard lessons of learning responsibility, dealing with bullies, friendship issues and more. Fans of light realistic fiction will enjoy this series.

• “I Survived” series by Lauren Tarshis If your readers think historical fiction is dull, this series of highinterest and high-action stories set during monumental periods of history (including the Battle of Gettysburg, the 1916 shark attacks in New Jersey, and the 9/11 attacks, among others) through the perspective of a kid will convince them otherwise.

PRESCHOOL

• “The Giant Jumperee” by Julia Donaldson When Rabbit hears a scary voice resounding from his burrow, he engages his friends Cat, Bear and Elephant to investigate the unusual sound. The source of the sound will surprise and delight young listeners.

• “Green Pants” by Kenneth Kraegel Like many children, Jameson has a favorite color that he must wear, over and over again. When it comes time to dress for his cousin’s wedding, the eventual decision that makes Jameson and his family happy will charm listeners and readers.

• “Over and Under the Pond” by Kate Messner With gorgeous illustrations and an engaging read-aloud text, this has the potential to inspire boat trips and water investigations on a lazy summer day.

• “A Perfect Day” by Lane Smith Everyone seems to be having the perfect day in Bert’s backyard, including the cat, dog, chickadee and squirrel. However, their day is bested by bear, whose surprise entrance will definitely cause some giggles.

• “They All Saw a Cat” by Brendan Wenzel This 2017 Caldecott Honor recipient teaches the concept of “perspective” in an inventive and unusual way, combining both artistry and scientific facts.

SUMMER 2017

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LIFE & STYLE

Just got an invitation through the mails: Your presence requested this evening, it’s formal A top hat, a white tie and tails Nothing now could take the wind out of my sails Because I’m invited to step out this evening With top hat, white tie and tails.

– Irving Berlin

Top this

Top hats are the very embodiment of the high life

By Connie Lyons

There are lots of reasons to wear a top hat, and not all of them are practical.

From early in human history, the wearing of hats hasn’t always followed practicality. Warriors, Mongols and Samurai, Vikings and Roman soldiers wore grand hats for reasons far beyond their protective functions. Their helmets were large, fanciful affairs, some of them beautiful, fashioned of sturdy metal or leather on which decorations of gold and silver, fur and feathers were superimposed. In the hope of terrorizing and intimidating the enemy, hats were massive in size and fashioned in the likeness of savage beasts, with expressive mouth and eye holes, bestial snouts and, most often, bull-like horns and towering deer antlers.

Around 1400 things swerved off in another direction: hats became increasingly fanciful, decorative creations, with no visible utilitarian purpose. Tall hats began to appear.

The most prevalent high hat in the Middle Ages was the hennin, a tall, cone-shaped affair, most commonly worn in France by women of the nobility. The hennin was 12 to 18 inches high. It was generally accompanied by a veil that usually emerged from the top of the cone and fell onto the woman’s shoulders.

Another, the sugar loaf hat, very tall and tapering, was worn by men. Its name comes from the loaves into which sugar was formed at that time. The sugar loaf hat was a kind of early top hat, ending in a slightly rounded conical top.

PHOTO BY TOD MARKS

Side-saddle riders and carriage ‘grooms’ wear top hats in a nod to the historic equestrian and sartorial tradition.

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The hat as high fashion reached its zenith in the Renaissance. Everyone over the age of 12 was required to wear one.

Men, not women, set the fashion for hats: no fashionable outfit was complete without head covering. A hat’s expense in fabric and trimming attested to the wealth of the wearer.

The beret was an early example of a fashionable hat. As time went on, they became larger, more free form, more fancifully trimmed with feathers and jeweled ornaments. Velvet was popular, so was fur, preferably beaver often trimmed with ermine.

Also made of beaver were the bizarre creations called tricornes, popular during the 18th century. Less expensive variations were made of felt. These were worn were various embellishments, by military and civilians alike.

In January 1797 a hat maker named Hetherington appeared on the streets of London sporting the first true top hat in the shape of a stovepipe. He created such a stir that a large crowd gathered around him to see the hat.

Hetherington was arrested for disturbing public order.

Hetherington protested that a true Englishman could put on his head whatever he chose, and the London Times concurred: “Hetherington’s hat points to a significant advance in the transformation of dress. Sooner or later, everyone will accept this headwear. We believe that the police made a mistake here.”

Top hat popularity spread quickly. In 1823, another enterprising hatter, Antoine Gibus, morphed it into a collapsible opera hat. This style of top hat traveled well, and during performances it collapsed and stored flat, under the seat.

Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria and a fashion follower, wore the top hat with enthusiasm and contributed to its popularity.

The material of choice for most was felted beaver skin, since it was waterproof. By 1900 the demand for beaver skins had practically wiped out the beaver as a species.

Perhaps due to the shortage of furs, by the turn of the century the top hat was more often covered with silk. The hat itself was made from cheesecloth, linen, flannel and shellac. It was worn mainly for special occasions, such as weddings and dances.

In the 1930s, Hollywood took a fancy to the top hat, and Harpo Marx, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and, most famously, Fred Astaire flaunted the elegant headgear. Astaire, partnered with Ginger Rogers, wore a top hat in the eponymous movie.

No affluent American male would be seen without one at a formal occasion: pearl grey for morning; black for evening. Even today, men quite often still wear top hats to horse races, one of the only occasions to don such finery without appearing foppish.

Cultural icon still endures Find a hat locally

As a symbol, the top hat has permeated modern culture: magicians pull rabbits out of them, the Penguin, arch enemy of Batman, sported a fiendishly greasy looking version. Uncle Sam and the Cat in the Hat wear colorful top hats with panache.

In 21st century Fauquier, finding a top hat is a little more tricky. Some, but not all, of the wedding and formal attire emporiums stock top hats.

It’s a little easier for equestrians: Horse Country Saddlery in Warrenton carries silk top hats. The prices start at $325.

Nationally, find top hats through the Dover catalog or at Maryland Saddlery.

Gertie Edwards, owner Your Hat Lady in old town, carries top hats. “Always to men, and usually because they want to wear them in a play,” she says. “And if someone does want one for a wedding, it’s only for the reception.”

Ebay carries hundreds of top hats ranging in price from under $10 for cheap costume party attire to a real Bond Street antique for nearly $2,000.

Amazon currently has a Worth and Worth top hat, made of the once popular beaver, for $850.

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LIFE & STYLE

Like the Yardbirds said (and Aerosmith repeated,) his train kept a rollin’ Norfolk Southern

The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad with headquarters in Norfolk in Tidewater. They operate some 36,200 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and make runs into Canada. The railroad has the largest intermodal network in eastern North America.

The most common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

NS is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In early June, Norfolk Southern Corporation’s total public stock value was slightly over $34.8 billion.

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TRAINS, from Page 22

adds. “No way you’re stopping that train.”

He worked as a conductor – handling everything behind the engine from paperwork to linkage to switching – for two years, learning the ropes and getting accustomed to the weird railroad rhythm.

“At first I worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day,” says the straight-talking Sutphin, part of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union. “When Norfolk Southern sent me to engineer school, (that’s when) I learned driving the train ain’t as easy as it looks.

“When you’re learning, they put an experienced engineer in the engine with you. They can ride with they’re eyes closed and tell how you’re doing.

“It’s a feel thing. Guys can show you and tell you, but ‘til you sit in that driver’s seat, you don’t know. The train moves a certain way, you can feel the speed, feel the turns, feel the braking. You develop it.”

When Sutphin says that “guys can show you” how to operate the engine smoothly, he means it.

Railroad work is largely a man’s world, a rough life, Sutphin calls it, mostly hard work and mostly lonely. The company’s telemetry is exacting and mechanicals are in good repair, but life on the move is one part frat house, one part steel mill.

There’s no dining car, no coffee lounge, and no family to go home to at night when you’re on a run. Wife Heather says she misses her husband when he’s working, days at a time. Worse, the bathroom at the front of the engine, pretty much right underneath the engineer’s seat, is “one step below a Don’s John,” Sutphin says with a wince. “You think careful about what you’re doing. You’re on that engine a long time.”

An American classic

Sutphin has worked out of the Alexandria yard the last two years. He goes in early on work days, gets his orders and moves out before dawn. He’s headed to Lynchburg usually, with stops along the way to pick up and drop off product – cars, wheat, lumber, delicate electronics. “I probably shipped every stick sold in this area,” Sutphin says. They ship some flammables – ethanol, propane, and all sorts of chemicals. They carry most of the coal for the East Coast, millions of reams of paper for newsprinting and thousands of tons of rock from Sanders Quarry in Warrenton.

Sutphin’s learned every inch of the route, he says.

Before the new interchange at exit 43 on Interstate 66 and U.S. 29, train drivers called the Gainesville crossing as “the shooting gallery.” Sutphin says it’s an engineer’s biggest fear, people trying to beat the train to a crossing. “If I see you, chances are you’re already dead because I can’t stop. We run 50, 60 miles an hour.

“It takes me three miles to stop.”

Sutphin says even in the 21st century, freight is still the best way to move product. “Sanders Quarry sends out 55 loads of 120 tons of rock, every single day,” he says. “A normal dump truck carries 20 tons. Times that by 55 loads by five trucks per freight car load, think about how Meetze Road would look like if the rock shipped by truck. It’d be a mess.”

Sutphin says he’s as in love with his job as he was when he started in the ’90s. “I have to use my experience … to figure out what I’m carrying, what it weighs, what weather I’m dealing with, how busy the rail traffic is,” he says.

“I’m never bored. No trip is ever the same. I’m living every kid’s dream.”

You can drive a train, too. Really!

The Piedmont Railroaders was founded in Warrenton in 1995 as an organization for railroad enthusiasts of all ages, and to provide a place where members could share their interests in railroading.

Promoting all aspects of the hobby from railfanning to history, from prototype equipment restoration to preservation and model railroading, club members have varied specialties.

The club participates in public train shows and railroad festivals, and supports the Boy Scout railroad merit badge program.

Piedmont Railroaders built a Civil War train display for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in Remington.

The club’s most visible project is the meticulously restored 1969 Norfolk and Western caboose on Warrenton’s Greenway, something that took more than 2,500 volunteer hours to complete. trainweb.org

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HOME & GARDEN

Faces & Places WHO WE ARE AND WHERE WE GO

Liz Washington Wallace fluffs, clips, snips pooches into perfection Photos by Randy Litzinger Story by Pat Reilly

Inside this section:

• Bob DiNunzio: Terrier specialist • Finicky felines making a name at Broad Run cattery

• Cover model Tony Cunningham provides transport, support • Scottie Tavish is one lucky dog

FACES & PLACES

Local dog groomer is a cut above Hear how Liz Wallace talks to the animals

Liz Washington Wallace, the groomer at the Middleburg Humane Foundation’s salon, is one of those lucky few who can say, “I do what I do because I love it. I just happen to make a living at it.”

To watch her in the cozy little grooming salon near Marshall, surrounded by furry clients from lap dogs to Great Pyrenees, is to see a master at work. “I don’t do feathers well,” she admits, “but fur, anything with fur…rabbits, foxes with mange, and any kind of dog, even cats.”

“Growing up, we had chickens, dogs, we’d bring home salamanders, birds who were injured and we’d nurse them back to health,” she recalls a somewhat idyllic childhood west of Middleburg. Her single mother raised her children on the philosophy, Wallace says, that “it doesn’t matter what you do—do it the best you can. If you are a ditchdigger, dig the best ditch.”

For Wallace, that means being the kind of dog groomer that attracts clients to the MHF salon from as far away as Arlington.

Part of the draw is the cachet of having your dog groomed “in Middleburg” – even though the MHF is actually east of Marshall.

“Liz won’t make your labradoodle look like a poodle,” is one accolade she heard recently. So popular are her services, that regular clients book weeks in advance.

Wallace grew up on Windy Hill, before it was the Windy Hill Foundation, in a large family with four siblings. They were “kind of underprivileged,” Wallace recalls, in a house that had sheltered five generations.

Still, the home nurtured the generational dynamic. Wallace describes it as a special place where everybody was family. “If you needed anything, you borrowed from a neighbor. If you acted up at someone else’s house, they could discipline you—that is before you got home and were disciplined again,” she recalls. “We grew up with rules.”

One neighbor had a big garden and would share the produce with everyone. African Americans “couldn’t go to the town pool, so we blocked up the creek and created a swimming hole,” she laughs. “Windy Hill was in Middleburg, but not of Middleburg.”

After high school in 1978, she got a job at the Middle Animal Hospital 42

SUMMER 2017

as an animal care worker. Wallace says the employment was quite by accident. She had brought a neighbor’s injured dog to the clinic. Veterinarian Dr. John Holland had heard she was good with animals. Wallace’s prior job, she says, was helping a woman who liked her cats bathed.

The doctor’s wife did the grooming at the clinic, but Wallace was hired to do baths and comb-outs.

From there she learned how to do technical work, such as taking blood samples. She realized she had an “inherent gift” for working with animals.

As the business changed management, she had the opportunity to work with a series of professional groomers. Callie Norton taught her the tricks of the trade and shared books on best practices, and the next practice owner allowed her to take over the grooming business.

Wallace moved to Middleburg Humane Foundation in 2013.

“I’d see dogs coming in looking like you can’t tell one end from the other and go out ready for the show ring.” She says that’s the most satisfying part of the job. She especially likes springer spaniels, because when she’s done with them, no matter how old they are, “they look 10 years younger.”

A special talent

A gift Wallace is specially known for is getting along with “difficult dogs.” She gives two examples. One day a woman came in with a halfclipped poodle. Naturally, Wallace’s question was, “what happened?”

Apparently another groomer found the dog so threatening, she abandoned the job mid-cut. Using the special touch she’s had since childhood, Wallace made friends with the dog and tackled the clean-up project.

The poodle never tried to bite her, and she had a client for life.

A cocker spaniel was suspended by another groomer for progressively getting more aggressive. Wallace saw the behevior herself. “He tried to eat me, eat the clippers. So I had to put a muzzle on him.” She says she wouldn’t use a muzzle unless a dog tried to bite her. “Usually, I just do what I do and they behave,” she says.

She has often had people tell her that other groomers suggested “take him to Liz,” when they can’t be handled. “I give them the benefit of the doubt,” she says.

She gives some of the credit to her workspace, which is relatively small and intimate. “There isn’t as much going on as in those big operations,” she says. She works alone, unless she needs an extra hand and brings in a tech from the rescue side of the operation.

Part of her technique is to talk to animals while working, “even if they are deaf.” You wouldn’t want to go to a hairdresser who didn’t talk to you as they worked, she points out. She also takes her time with animals.

“What human goes to a hairdresser who comes running at them with scissors? When you cut hair in a hurry, accidents happen,” she explains.

“I don’t like assembly-line grooming.

Some dogs take more time.”

Too often, she says, “people want their dog done yesterday but waited until today to call,” which leads to rushed work. “You can’t drop your dog off at 8 and expect him by 11. If it has a lot of hair, it’s going to take a (while.)

“I can take my time to do whatever it takes. Everybody gets my undivided attention,” she says. A percentage of her fees go to running MHF rescues. Once in a while, when the foundation gets a particularly matted animal, she will donate her services to get that dog looking good for adoption.

Wallace, who is a two-time cancer survivor, also survived a bad car accident in which she broke her femur.

Shortly after, she was attracted to a homeless mutt named Carlou, who came into the hospital with a leg that was broken in half. She knew what kind of pain he was suffering, yet

Dog grooming tips 1. Start grooming early. With kittens and puppies, play with their paws and ears. Don’t wait until they are adults to start clipping hair and toenails; that will be much harder.

2. If the dog is long-haired, never give him a bath before addressing matted hair, since that only makes them tighter. Get rid of the mats before the bath.

3. Use a universal slicker brush to get to the base of the hair. “You have to get down and get the bad stuff out.”

4. Too much brushing can encourage shedding; a couple of times a week is enough.

5. For itchy skin, use oatmeal shampoo with coconut.

6. Talk to the animal all the time, like a hairdresser.

7. Treat them like they are children—that’s what they are.

8. With nail clipping, you might need two people. Especially if the nails are black. You could nick the quick and end up with a lot of blood.

9. Take your time, hurrying with scissors causes accidents. he was very quiet. She brought him home with a cast and pins in his leg.

He had three surgeries in as many months and a home for life.

Next year will be 40 years working with animals, and Wallace doesn’t see retirement in her future.

MHF is expanding and moving to a new home, where Wallace will still have a small salon. mhf.org

Middleburg Humane Foundation groomer Liz Washington Wallace gets some puppy love.

FACES & PLACES

Life’s merrier with a terrier

Robert DiNunzio was only 14 when professional dog show handler Vernelle Kendrick spotted him in the show ring.

“I was showing a poodle, and she was so impressed that she called my mother and asked if I could spend the summer with her as an apprentice,” DiNunzio recalls.

That was the start of a 40-year career in the highly competitive world of dog showing. DiNunzio eventually branched off into terriers, breeding Norfolk Terriers, a small lively breed with whiskery faces and snapping black eyes. In color they are red, wheaten, black and tan, or grizzle.

DiNunzio’s dogs, which carry the Argyle prefix, have had striking success in the show ring.

The national specialty in every breed brings out the best dogs in the country, and a win there is as prestigious as one at Westminster.

The first litter DiNunzio bred produced a national winner. The female Norfolk won Best of Winners and Best of Opposite Sex over all the champions, a feat DiNunzio repeated the following two years with different dogs.

DiNunzio’s Hound’n Hair dog grooming salon in Warrenton attracts clients from as far away as New Jersey, Fredericksburg and Virginia Beach to have him expertly sculpt their dogs, whether into championship material or impeccable pets.

Grooming terriers is notoriously difficult, requiring time, care and artistry, he says. Pet owners who just want their dogs looking neat and trim usually opt for the less expensive and demanding option of clipper and scissors work. Clipping,

PHOTO BY TIN NGUYEN

Robert ‘Bob’ DiNunzio gives a full spa treatment to a terrier at his Old Town Warrenton salon.

DiNunzio explains, destroys the coat texture required in the show ring, so show quality work is done entirely by hand, using tools called stripping knives which remove dead undercoat and shape the harsh wiry top coat.

DiNunzio grooms Norfolk, Norwich, Airedale, Cairn, West Highland and Scottish terriers, as well as other breeds, including his original love, the Poodle. He grooms up to a dozen Scotties a month, he says, costs running $65 to $200 and up.

Scottie – A winning combination of pluck and charm

Monopoly model, Presidential choice

By Connie Lyons

Dogs rule, even in the competitive world of leisure amusements.

Last year, Hasbro decided that its iconic board game, Monopoly, needed a makeover. Some of the playing pieces had to go, they thought, and new ones added. They put the question to an international vote: which would go, which would stay?

The dog – a Scottish Terrier – was the runaway victor as a keeper, overwhelmingly popular, garnering 29 percent of the vote.

Why are Scotties so beloved? According to American Kennel Club registrations, Scotties rank 53rd of 184 breeds, well behind Labradors, Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds but a respectable rating.

AKC standards describe the little dogs as “independent, feisty, alert,

playful, quick, self-assured, brave and alert. The Scottie is hardy and lovable, charming and full of character. Playful and friendly as a puppy, he matures into a dignified adult.

The Scottish Terrier makes a very good watchdog. It is inclined to be stubborn, however, and needs firm, but gentle handling.”

A small, sturdy dog weighing 18 to 22 pounds and standing 10 to 11 inches tall, the Scottie has a long head and a muzzle the same length as its skull. Its eyes, small, dark and almond shaped, crackle with intelligence and curiosity. Ears, pointed and erect, are habitually cocked forward, awaiting the latest exciting development.

The dog’s tail is of medium length, thick at the base and held either straight or slightly curved. The coat is double: soft underneath, harsh and wiry on top, the better to resist harsh weather. In color the dogs are black or brindle, wheaten (grey) or cream.

The breed has its origins in the 1800s in the Highlands of Scotland, including the Isle of Skye. Terriers of

all sizes and shapes abounded, and were called, generically, Skye terriers. This differs from the present-day Skye Terrier, dating back to the same time, which is a longer-backed dog with a long, silky coat.

In 1860, a dog show in Birmingham, England offered classes for the two groups of terriers. Breed standards were developed, and four terriers were recognized: Scottish, Skye, West Highland White and Cairn.

Scottish Terriers have been enormously successful in the dog show ring. At the Westminster Kennel Club show, the Scottie has won Best In Show eight times. The Wire Fox Terrier holds the record with 14 wins.

Favored dogs of several presidents, Scotties have occupied the White House three times. First, a Scottie named Skunkie lived there with Dwight Eisenhower. George W. Bush had Mr. Barney and Mrs. Beasley. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Fala was his constant companion and accompanied him everywhere. FDR likely spent more time

with Fala than with his wife.

At a correspondent’s dinner the president complained. “The Republican leaders have not been content to make personal attacks upon me or my wife or my sons. They now include my little dog Fala. Unlike the members of my family, Fala resents this. When he learned that the Republican fiction writers had concocted a story that I had left him behind on an Aleutian Island and had sent a destroyer back to find him at a cost to the taxpayer of two or three million dollars, his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself but I think I have a right to object to libelous statements about my dog.”

Queen Victoria, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the writer Rudyard Kipling and actress Tatum O’Neill were Scottie owners. So was the famous New Yorker writer and cartoonist James Thurber, who included a Scottie story in his book, “Fables for Our Time.”

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FACES & PLACES

Tavish MacDuff is one lucky dog

By Pat Reilly

Tavish MacDuff has the hallmarks of a “classic” Scottish Terrier: wiry black fur with a silver sheen, stand up ears and tail, bushy brows jutting over brown eyes, a beard and furnishings or skirt (not unlike his kilted Scottish countrymen).

So it’s all the more surprising that the pup was born in Thailand and emigrated to the U.S. as Teng Teng with a sibling. Their owner died soon after arriving and the pair was given over to the Maryland Scottish Terrier Rescue League.

Jack Whiting of Middleburg had three previous Scotties when he went looking for his latest friend eight years ago. Two-year-old Teng Teng fit the bill, despite the immigration papers. His brother had already been adopted.

Jack Whiting and wife Meredith looked for a name close to Teng Teng and decided Tavish PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER would do. Both Shakespeare fans, they borrowed his last name, MacDuff, from the play “MacBeth.”

Jack Whiting and Thai-born Tavish.

Whiting says he likes the breed because Scotties are “very opinionated – they keep us as pets.”

They are also “independent and proud and love to play games on you,” he says. In spite of his diminutive stature and at only 28 pounds, Tavish MacDuff once treed a bear when they lived in the country.

Asked why he preferred this attractive breed, Whiting says, “If it was good enough for FDR, it’s good enough for me.” He explains that President Franklin Roosevelt’s dog, Fala, is the only dog in a presidential statue in Washington D.C. It isn’t just presidents. When Hasbro, parent company of the historic Monopoly game decided to revise its game this year, it turned to fans around the world to choose game tokens to be part of the new version of the game due out this fall. The online voting attracted more than four million votes from 100 countries on 64 playing piece options that included the eight originals.

The Scottie dog token came out strongly on top with 29 percent of the vote.

TERRIER LOOKALIKES

Specialty breeds have developed in many locales • The Cairn Terrier is about the same size as the Scottish, but shorter-backed and a little more up on leg, square rather than rectangular. Its head is shorter than the Scottie.

In color they range from tan to dark brindle. All colors except white are acceptable.

Like the Scottie, they were bred to hunt vermin among the cairns of Scotland, from which their name derives: foxes, weasels and otters.

Cairns have very large teeth to grab

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Jack Russell Terrier 44

SUMMER 2017

prey and big strong feet with thick pads and strong nails. Like the other terriers, they are intelligent, alert, lively, independent and inquisitive.

In “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy’s dog Toto was not identified as a Cairn, but the illustrator drew him as one. Accordingly, he was played in the movie version by a Cairn named Terry, which also appears in a number of Shirley Temple movies.

• Col. Edward Malcolm of Argyllshire in Scotland is credited with developing

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Norwich Terrier

the West Highland White Terrier, differentiating and distinguishing it from the Cairn and the Scottie by its color. He kept a pack of lightish colored dogs for hunting. Some of them were light reddish and one of them, emerging from covert, was mistaken for a fox and shot. On the spot he decided to breed only for white-colored dogs that would be unmistakably canines.

Like the Cairns and the Scotties, but slightly smaller in height and weight, the West Highland White is required to have

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Wire-haired Fox Terrier

strong jaws, large teeth and thick pads with heavy nails.

No color but white is permissible, and wheaten shadings to the coat are heavily frowned upon.

A Scottie and a West Highland White adorn the label of Black and White Scotch.

• Other terrier breeds include Jack Russell, Rat, Border, Airedale, Norwich, Norfolk, Wheaten, Yorkshire, Boston, Lakeland, Affenpinscher and Pit Bull.

Norfolk Terrier

PHOTO BY TIN NGUYEN

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FACES & PLACES

Consider

cat the

By Connie Lyons

Are cats greater superstars than dogs? Arguably, yes.

As pets they rate higher in popularity, coming in second only to goldfish.

They are, after all, low maintenance and relatively undemanding. Cats

don’t need a fenced yard or to be taken for walks. They are quiet, unobtrusive, and eat comparatively little. The owner can go away for a day or two, supplying adequate food and water, and safely leave a cat on its own.

The cat might not even notice.

In ancient Egypt the cat was wor-

PHOTOS BY PRESTON SMITH

Developed in Thailand, the Khao Manee cat breed is considered a white ‘gem.’

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shiped as a deity: Bastet, goddess of war. Ancient Romans revered cats, seeing them as a symbol of liberty.

In the Far East cats were valued for their role in protecting valuable manuscripts from rodents.

Dogs, on the other hand, are reviled as unclean by some religions, and are frequently disparaged in the vernacular. Calling a woman a female dog is highly insulting; to be treated “like a dog” is to be treated very badly indeed. When a place or situation deteriorates, it is said to be “goin’ to the dogs.”

Cats are prized as companions and for their prowess at hunting vermin.

There are more than 70 cat breeds; the best-known, apart from the ubiquitous domestic shorthair, are the longhaired Persian and the shorthaired Siamese. They have strong, preternaturally flexible, muscular bodies – a cat’s skeleton is so uniquely constructed that it can compress itself to fit through any opening large enough to admit its head.

Cats are as graceful and agile as any ballerina, can hear sounds beyond the ken of humans and canines, and see in near-darkness. Solitary hunters, they are nevertheless a social species that makes use of a wide variety of vocalizations: mewing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling and grunting.

The cat’s origins and status as a domestic creature go back to the dawn of history, with instances of domestication are evident in the Neolithic period, around 9,500 years ago in 7,500 BC. In 2007 a genetic study concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, greyish creatures with small heads and either stripes or black or brown spots. Remains of domesticated cats were found in human burials in Cyprus estimated to date back many thousands of years.

Grain-gathering societies recognized the cat’s talents for exterminating rodents and other pests, and welcomed them into their households.

The tide turns

Much as they were prized by the

ancients, things took a bad turn for cats in the Middle Ages. For unknown reasons they began to be associated with witches and demons, and not infrequently burned to death or thrown off rooftops, sometimes by the sackful.

In a terrible irony, scholars attribute the wildfire spread of the plague, the Black Death which raged through Europe from 1348 to 1350, to the decimation of the cat population, and the resultant proliferation of plague-bearing rodents.

Cats are notoriously prolific and promiscuous. Due to lack of neutering, and to the abandonment of former house pets by careless owners, there is a large population of feral cats worldwide. As a result, predatory cats are held responsible for the extinction of 33 species of birds.

More books have been written about dogs, as main or incidental characters, but when cats do appear they do it in style. The weird disembodied grin of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland has haunted the nightmares of many an unfortunate child. Hermione Granger has a cherished cat as her sidekick.

Rudyard Kipling’s “The Cat That Walked By Himself ” is a beloved classic. James Bond’s arch enemy, Ernest Stavro Blofeld, famously fondled a white Persian recumbent on his elegantly tailored, ample lap.

And most famously, the Cat in the Hat has beguiled generations of children and their parents.

But the real cultural icon is indisputably the feline menagerie that peoples the stage in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, “Cats.” The show opened in England’s West End in 1981 and on Broadway in 1982. It cleaned up at the awards ceremonies, with the London production running 21 years.

Local feline ardor

Barbara Rice shares her Broad Run home with eight cats and two kittens of a rare breed called the Khao Manee, which means “white See CATS, page 47

FACES & PLACES

Goodbye, thimble: We hardly knew ye’ Voters also boot the boot in Monopoly shakeup

Board game superfans cast four million votes earlier this year to decide which of Monopoly’s classic gamepieces should stay, and which should go.

Say ’bye to the thimble.

The thimble token - which has been around since 1935 - won’t be included in the “new” version of Monopoly, slated to hit stores this fall.

The thimble’s fate is the result of an online vote Monopoly parent Hasbro held at votemonopoly.com, marking the first time in Monopoly’s 82-year history that the future of the game was crowdsourced.

Voters were offered with a choice: Should Hasbro replace some - or all - of the traditional game

pieces like the top hat and shoe with more culturally relevant items like a hashtag, emoji or computer?

There were 64 options – the eight classic pieces – including the doomed thimble, and 56 new ones.

After votes were tallied, the dog, top hat, roadster, cat and battleship tokens will return. But the boot, wheelbarrow and thimble will not be included in new versions of the game, being replaced by a Tyrannosaurus rex, a rubber ducky and a penguin.

The most popular token in the voting was the Scottie dog, the gamepiece that’s passed Go since it was introduced in the

Gotta love that Rich Uncle

Rich Uncle Pennybags is the mascot of the game Monopoly. He is depicted as a portly old man with a mustache who wears a three-piece suit and top hat. It is a misconception that he wore a monocle – this is not the case.

Uncle Pennybags also appears in the related games Advance to Boardwalk, Free Parking, Don’t Go to Jail, Monopoly City, Monopoly

Junior and Monopoly Deal.

The character first appeared on Chance and Community Chest cards in 1936. He was drawn by Parker Brothers artist Dan Fox. According to Parker Brothers information, Rich Uncle Pennybags is modeled after American businessman J. P. Morgan.

Starting in 1985, the character ap-

1950s. The T-Rex was the second most popular option among the voters, followed by the top hat and racecar, both in circulation since the 1930s, when the game was released.

In 2013, the game dropped the iron token.

In a Hasbro press release, vice president of marketing Jonathan Berkowitz said the company was stunned. “We were a little bit surprised that the thimble got among the lowest votes because it’s been in the game for so long. (But) we’re always listening to our fan base.”

peared in the second “O” in the word Monopoly as part of the game’s logo.

In 1999, Pennybags was renamed Mr. Monopoly. The same year, a Monopoly computer game was released in cereal boxes as part of a General Mills promotion.

The character “in jail” is named Jake, the Jailbird, and the police officer on “Go to Jail” is named Officer Mallory.

Pure white cat breed provides good luck for charmed owners CATS, from page 46

gem.” A gleaming white cat developed in Thailand, the most prized specimens are “odd eyed”: one eye is blue; the other copper, yellow or green; although same-colored eyes are acceptable as well. The odd eyed cats are the most valued, and Rice has a waiting list for them. The Khao’s face is heart shaped with high cheekbones; they are notable for their friendly, people-oriented temperaments and playful nature.

Rice, an electrical engineer, has been an avid cat fancier since age 16. She began with Burmese, but was put off by genetic health issues endemic in the breed. She was attracted by the beauty and gregarious temperament of the Khao Manee, and intrigued by its rarity.

“My cats are totally home raised and have the run of the house,” she says. “They’re never in cages.” Khaos love people and get along famously with dogs; Rice has owned both Weimaraners and Golden Retrievers, and they live in perfect harmony with the many cats.

Despite their regal beauty, and unlike the far better known Thai breeds, the Siamese and the Burmese, Khao Manees are still extremely rare: Rice is one of only three breeders listed in the International Cat Association registry. Khao Manee was unknown in the U.S. until 1999, when cat fancier Colleen Freymouth imported Ash Knoll Cattery in Broad Run breeds the rare Khao Manee. a pair, male and female, from Thailand.

“They were kept by Buddhist monks to keep down the rodent population, and by royalty,” says Rice. In ancient times the cats were so treasured that the theft of one was punishable by death.

“The other breed I’m involved in recreating is the Suphalak,” says Rice. “It’s solid brown with gold eyes. Right now I have a Thai lilac male that the International Maew Boran Association has approved for this effort and I have a Suphalak female coming in from Thailand in June, along with another Khao Manee.”

She imports new cats in order to bring much needed diversity into the gene pool. Occasionally breeders will cross-breed with another kind of cat in order to bring in new genes, and under cat club rules this is permissible so long as the body type is the same. “(Cats) touch us with their unconditional love, stunning beauty and immeasurable amounts of enjoyment with their playful personalities,” enthuses Carly Kellog, a breeder of American Shorthairs. Deborah Lynne Curtis, who breeds the more exotic Bombays, agrees.

“The Bombay maintains the laid back personality of the American Shorthair coupled with the affection of the Burmese,” Curtis says.

“These in-your-face cats will want to be in the middle of whatever you are doing. Because they are a very intelligent, curious breed, they can be taught to fetch and trained to do tricks.”

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Pull out and play:

Fauquier County has monopoly on so much

ART BY RJ MATSON

FACES & PLACES

Part of the Road to Recovery program, driver Tony Cunningham makes life more comfortable for hospital patients and their families.

COURTESY PHOTO

Meet Tony Cunningham – Navy veteran who just can’t stay retired Road To Recovery ferries patients, and more, to treatment appointments

Who benefits most isn’t clear, says volunteer driver

By Robin Earl

Tony Cunningham gave 45 years to the U.S Navy – 25 of them on active duty -- but his sense of service doesn’t end there.

Since his retirement, Cunningham has taken the reins of the Fauquier County Road to Recovery program. Offered by the American Cancer Society and recently revived in this area, the program offers rides to cancer patients who need a lift to cancer treatment appointments.

Cunningham coordinates more than 30 volunteers in Fauquier, Culpeper and Rappahannock who donate their time and their vehicles.

He calls them generous souls. “Our

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SUMMER 2017

volunteers are amazing,” Cunningham says. “They are all trained and have completed background checks, DMV checks on their driving records and insurance verification.

Most volunteers can accommodate a patient with a wheelchair, an oxygen tank or a service dog. If a family member needs to come along too, that can be worked out.”

Cunningham says the biggest hurdle so far has been getting the word out that the service is available.

“When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, they are immediately put in touch with Fauquier Health’s oncology nurse navigator, Richard Shrout.

“Richard helps them through the process, setting up appointments, working with them on the finances, answering questions. When Richard first sees each patient, he or she is given information about resources, including info about Road to Recovery. We don’t get many calls, though.

Perhaps they are too overwhelmed to take it all in …”

Cunningham says the service can really take the burden off a cancer pa-

tient’s loved ones. “A son or daughter shouldn’t have to skip work, or lose a paycheck because their mom or dad needs a ride to their infusion appointment. All they have to do is call,” he explains. “We’ll try our best to find a volunteer close by who can meet their needs. The volunteer will contact them directly and discuss the details.

“After the first appointment, the rest of the person’s appointments can be set up in advance.”

Cunningham provides other support for Fauquier Health’s Center for Cancer Care as well. He’s assisted several support groups that were developed by nurse navigator Shrout and Sandy Shipe, director of the center.

Before Road to Recovery, Cunningham volunteered as a concierge at Fauquier Hospital, working with patients directly, visiting them, listening and answering their requests.

He’s stepped back since. “When my mom died last year – she was 98 and had had a couple of strokes – I went back as concierge once, but couldn’t do it,” Cunningham says. “It was still

too raw. This (Road to Recovery coordinator position) allows me to continue to support people who need help.”

He’s grateful to be able to stay involved. “I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t been touched by cancer in some way,” he says.

Get the help you need

Cancer Resources, Education and Wellness meets at 5:30 p.m. the second Monday of each month at Fauquier Hospital. “Fauquier Health Center for Cancer Care was accredited earlier this year, and these kinds of initiatives help maintain that accreditation,” Cunningham says.

A new prostate cancer support group called UsTOO is being organized as well. Urologist Dr. Brian DeCastro is tentatively slated to moderate the group. Those interested in cancer support may contact Richard Shrout at 540-316-CARE. Any cancer patient – or the loved one of a cancer patient – who needs a ride to an appointment can call 800227-2345 or visit cancer.org for more information.

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FACES & PLACES

Photographer Lorrie Ness captured this colorful red-legged honey creeper when on a bird safari in the mountains of Belize.

PHOTOS BY LORRIE NESS

Avid, expert birdwatcher Lorrie Ness Happiest in Warrenton, she finds solace, solidarity in her avian friends

By Alissa J. Jones

“Those who dwell amongst the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”

American author Rachel Carson captured the essence of local birdwatcher Lorrie Ness.

Awakened to wildlife and nature while growing up in rural Indiana, Ness was captivated watching birds chase bugs. “I watched what the birds were eating and then went in search of it so that I could catch it, care for it for a few hours, and then release it.

“I loved catching and releasing bugs and learning about them.”

Ness says. “There’s such an element

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of chance in nature. You never know what you’re going to see, but you’ll see strange new things. One time I observed a molting blue jay, and he looked just like a little vulture.”

Ness began to learn birds’ likes and dislikes, too. She found that, curiously, Baltimore orioles have a sweet tooth for grape jelly and love the color orange.

Ness commutes to Maryland to operate her psychology practice, but even there, Ness can see pigeons, house sparrows and sometimes a hawk from her office window. She’s happiest in Warrenton, she says, where she shares her rural home with her husband, two rabbits, a tank full of freshwater fish and a three-legged

cat named Handicat.

“I see the beauty of wildlife when I’m watching birds,” Ness says. She’s also a poet, finding beauty in words as much as birds. “I get to watch the ecosystem play out right in my own backyard. Birdwatching brings it all together, it makes me feel one with nature.

“It’s like I’m having an interaction with another species and like I’ve made a connection, it makes me very happy.”

Ness has had some very interesting animal encounters. Once, she and her husband were hiking in the mountains. Rounding a blind bend on a mountain ridge they found themselves face to face with a bear and her cubs. The mother bear raised up on her hind legs and then crashed down on all four, snorting on impact, Ness recalls. “We received this

clear message from the mother bear,” she says. “It was like communicating across species using a common language.

“It was very special and it was also very clear that this bear was giving us a warning rather than attacking.

We devised a plan to back away and down the slope to honor her space and her need to protect her cubs.”

The mother bear, Ness figures, received their clear body language signaling retreat, and she “simply watched as we followed her request to back away.

“We ended this day of hiking and birding feeling like a special gift had been bestowed upon us having had this exchange.”

No bird brain

“If you want to attract birds, plant what’s indigenous to the area,” Ness

Birding isn’t such an inactive pasttime when you’re flying right

says. Black-eyed Susans, she notes, are beau- track population changes, ranges and how birds are coping with climate change and loss tiful and attract goldfinches.

Hummingbirds “will monopolize the feed- of habitat.

Ness plans vacations around birds and ers,” Ness says. “They’re bold, they’re fighters.

I’ve seen colossal fights between humming- wildlife. She and her husband have trekked Belize, Costa Rica and birds.”

Alaska. They just returned Bucking the general ‘It’s like I’m having from 21 days in Patagonia. trend, Ness even loves an interaction with In Belize, she had to crows. “They are extremely another species chuckle at one of the park intelligent. One time we and like I’ve made a rangers. “She said she was had a bad batch of bird feed – it had (hardened). The connection, it makes looking for a really rare bird,” Ness says. “I asked crows picked out the dry me very happy.’ which one. She said, ‘a carfruit and soaked it in in our - LORRIE NESS dinal.’ birdbath so they could eat “I (told her) cardinals are one of the most it,” Ness says. “Crows will find ‘tools’ to get food – they use twigs as hooks for food they common birds in Virginia. It made me laugh.

“It’s an obsession, not a hobby,” she says. can’t reach.”

At her house, Ness has seen rare birds in- “I’m still constantly learning about insects, cluding a Peregrine falcon, yellow-crowned birds, and weather.”

Caring for her backyard birds is a yearkinglet, and, her favorite, a rose-breasted round responsibility, Ness adds. “Because grosbeak.

Ness is a participant in Cornell’s Project birds are desperate for water in the winter, Feeder Watch, a citizen scientist project. Cor- I have a bird bath (de-icer.) We are probably nell sends backyard birders a training packet the only heated birdbath in the area, so birds on bird identification and feeding. Scientists flock in and literally line up to use it.”

FACES & PLACES

Pine siskins and house finches

Tips for birdwatching * A variety of feeders brings in different birds.

• Nectar feeders attract hummingbirds from April through October. The feeder itself should feature red adornment to attract the birds, but the nectar should be dye-free as red dye can harm some birds.

• Orange nectar feeders attract orioles.

• Suet feeders attract woodpeckers and Eastern bluebirds.

• Ground scatter allows birds to scratch and forage.

• Leave a few piles of leaves under bushes when you do spring and fall yard clean-up. Insects lay eggs in the leaves and birds like the Eastern towhee and fox sparrow scratch around in the leaves eating the bugs.

• Buy “shade-grown” coffee to help: Many Virginia birds migrate to Central and South America for winter, often in areas where coffee is grown. Cutting the forest for coffee plantations reduces habitat and reduces bird populations.

• When feeding songbirds, you can see raptors that feed upon smaller birds such as Cooper’s hawks and sharpshinned hawks. While this may seem a drawback to bird feeders, raptors cull weaker and sicker songbirds, keeping the breeding population vibrant and healthy.

• If bear activity is evident at your feeders, take them down until the bears have hibernated for the winter.

• Many birds won’t eat food from feeders, but they are attracted to water. Having a bird bath in the yard will dramatically increase the variety of species in the backyard habitat. A solar fountain in the bath and the sound of trickling water attracts migrating warblers.

• Place feeders within a short flight of trees and shrubs to provide protective cover for feeding birds.

Lorrie Ness

Helpful links

Want to watch?

• allaboutbirds.org • birds.cornell.edu • feederwatch.org • audubon.org • hummingbirds.net

Lorrie Ness’ favorite local birdwatching spots: • Rady Park in Warrenton • Crockett Park in Midland • Sky Meadows in Paris SUMMER 2017

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HOME & GARDEN

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FACES & PLACES

Back to the drawing board Playing a game where the stakes are high: Will fame, fortune find this local creator?

David Fox is a math teacher; he knows the odds are against him. But still the game designer is playing the game, toying with the fickle, fiercelycompetitive – and, frankly, weird – world of board games.

By Betsy Burke Parker Local game creator David Fox makes a bold assertion: If Charles Darrow conceived the predecessor to the board game Monopoly in 2017, Parker Brothers wouldn’t have published it. Not a chance, says Fox. Today’s board gamers are less intrigued by building a real-estate empire on a 2-D Atlantic City streetscape than they are by the so-called “party game for horrible people,” 2011’s breakout hit, Cards Against Humanity.

“You look at an edgy game like Cards, and you realize it’s a sign of the times,” explains Fox, a Warrenton Middle School math teacher and inventor of dozens of game prototypes.

“Monopoly was, too. It was the Depression, and people didn’t own much.

“But they could play like they did.”

It’s a quaint notion, Fox says, and though lots of people still enjoy playing elaborately involved board games like 20th century standbys Monopoly and Risk – Fox himself was weaned on those - in the 21st century, sarcasm and irreverence seem to sell.

“People love to laugh,” he says.

It’s part of a growing trend. People increasingly choose to sit down at a table, face to face, to play a board game.

Sales of what the industry calls hobby games grew about 20 percent last year.

Whether old-fashioned parlor game like Clue, or edgy and modern like Cards Against Humanity, groupplay engages players. “Whether you’re with family or close friends, or even people you don’t know, there’s a lot of interaction, and … inside jokes,” Fox says. “It brings you together.”

Laughter, Fox adds, is his best indicator one of his game prototypes is working. “Sometimes you can’t stop 60

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laughing,” he says. “That tells me it’s got potential.”

How it happened

Fox’s father, a mechanical engineer, valued the sort of unstructured interaction fostered by parlor games.

“We were playing all sorts of games, all the time,” Fox recalls. Risk, poker, “the works,” Fox says, with Saturday nights reserved for family time.

“I got my analytical mind from my father,” he says. “He made up games and toys when I was young. It was a real inspiration.”

Though he doesn’t recall the game, Fox remembers creating his own game for a third-grade school assignment. “It really intrigued me,” says Fox, now 47. By college, he had a firm, palpable idea for an actual game, and he started the complicated process of going from idea to prototype.

Taping papers together for a board mock-up, he enlisted friends to play and help tweak a game’s design, rules and action. Fox studied finance and creative writing at Lehigh, and later earned his masters in journalism from NYU. “I always loved combining the creative side with the analytical side,” Fox says.

Back in 1997, Fox attended a toy and game convention in New York City. “I

felt like an interloper” the first time, Fox recalls. He was wowed by the colors and sounds and excitement of the $5 billion industry in action. Second time there, he brought a prototype. He was combing the aisles with something to sell.

He’d gone from a basement tinkerer to the periphery of the game world.

Fox’s biggest sellers to date are Culture Pop and Zany Chain. He co-created Get A Life, a light party game distributed by R&R Games.

“You’re always working towards the next big thing,” Fox says, noting that “you never know” what the famously fickle American public will be drawn to. “I’d never have thought Cards Against Humanity would be popular, but people love it.”

Fox lives in Warrenton with his wife of 19 years, Abbey, and their daughter and son. At 11 and 12, Madeline and Harrison are an important part of game development.

Even his cat Arthur helps. “He can sense a project,” Fox says. “I get deep into work and he flops down right on top of it.”

He still tests games on friends, neighbors and family. Neighbor Tom Rowley often attends “game nights” where Fox tests out games in development.

“The game nights are always fun

and interesting. Never a dull moment!” Rowley says. “I like being included in the early stages of a game, and seeing how a game takes shape.”

Fox’s games are available on Amazon and locally at G. Whillikers in Warrenton. Owner Elna McMann was excited when long-time customer Fox originally called to tell her he had a product to sell.

“I just love it that David has gone from being a customer to being a game creator,” McMann says. “He’s always been full of imaginative fun.

“I’m really excited to have his games in the store.”

His latest creations, Out of Order and Talking Crap, connect with Fox’s love of language. “What makes me laugh hardest are poorly written sentences and funny words,” like Mad Libs, a simple word game invented in 1958 that’s sold more than 110 million copies.

Still, something deeper drives the creator to create. More than potential fame and fortune if a game goes viral, Fox says it’s face-to-face human interaction that brings him the most joy. “Something I created brings families and friends together,” Fox says.

“There’s value to that.” winner-games.net

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ANATOMY OF: A DOWSER

Logically, an enchanted twig can’t find water

Dowser Dan Lewis believes that it can

Some call it the mysterious hand of God, others decry it as the handiwork of the devil. For centuries rural landowners relied on it, but today it’s been largely rationalized out of existence by science, and county regs.

Yet dowsing remains a beloved, widely trusted and actively practiced folk tradition lauded by many as the verifiable key to unlock what’s often a mysterious puzzle.

Dowsers rely on intuition to find What’s in a name? water deep underDowsing is an unexground when sciplained process in which ence, topo maps, a trained dowser uses a ground-sensitive forked branch or metal sonar and compliwire to find hidden objects. cated drilling maAlso known as divining chines fail. With and doodlebugging, dowsnothing more than ing is usually used to find a forked twig or a water, though it’s used to couple bits of metfind missing items as varal, time and again ied as lost jewelry to a lost dowsers often succat. It is sometimes linked ceed where engiwith ghost hunting and neers armed with fortunetelling. framed postgrad Lore has it that the verdegrees fail. nacular, “water witch,” deWhether you rives not from suspected think it voodoo, mysticism but rather from hocus-pocus or the witch hazel branches the answer to preferred by Anglo-Scottish your prayers, local immigrants who brought dowser Dan Lewis dowsing to the U.S. isn’t bothered. He truly believes in the forked cherry branch he holds softly in his wizened hands, and that’s all that matters, he says.

Intent is key.

Lewis seeks water the old-fashioned way – using a dowsing rod and an innate grasp of the earth’s rhythms he’s developed through decades of practice. Location of deep, reliable sources of groundwater, he says, has become increasingly important after years of drought in the region.

When a dowser works, Lewis explains, he walks slowly around an area, holding a dowsing rod -- basically, a stick, or thin metal bars. When he gets near underground water – otherwise unseen, the rods begin to dip towards the earth, or cross. When the dowser is in the “right” place to drill or dig, the rod points straight down, like an arrow showing the way.

No one, including Lewis, is quite sure how dowsing works, and scientists scoff at the allegory, saying there’s no evidence it works at all. But landowners regularly call on dowsers when science falls short. And, more often than not, they find what they seek.

E=MC2: It explains a lot

Einstein’s equation, E=MC2 – Energy equals mass times the speed of light, squared – may seem remote to the very down-to-earth action of dows62

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PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Local massage therapist Dan Lewis says the same principles guide his hands when he dowses for water.

ing, but Lewis says they’re tightly linked.

“Mass is nothing but a form of energy,” Lewis paraphrases Einstein, and matter, which has mass and occupies space, is not inert. It is active and alive.

“Everything is energy,” Lewis attempts to define the indefinable as he demonstrates a willow branch “seeking” the water clearly visible in a puddle on top of a well-cap covering the underground water source for a commercial building near Sperryville.

“Einstein discovered this. Solids, water, air, thoughts. All energy.

“What I do as a dowser is, first, think of what I seek. I empty my mind of other thoughts and develop intent. I try to pinpoint the energy vibrations. My body picks up my thoughts and transfers it to the rod.

“It’s kind of like a hammer is to a carpenter. The hammer doesn’t build the house, the carpenter does.

“The rod doesn’t find water; the dowser does.”

The dowser’s tools are no more complicated than a forked tree branch, a pair of metal rods, a straightenedout coat hanger, a pendulum or, in rare cases, acutely alert fingers.

Detractors say there’s no hard proof the method works.

One dry scientific explanation is that “ideomotor movements” – muscle

movements caused by subconscious mental activity – make anything held in the hands move, and move in an intended way. It looks and feels as if the movements are involuntary.

The same phenomenon is said to work a Ouija board.

Martin Luther brushed dowsing off as occultism in 1518, but the practice persisted, and grew.

Bill Northern of Warsaw, Virginia learned to dowse as a young man, and he’s taken what’s essentially energy work a step further. “It’s more than looking for hidden water with a crooked stick,” he said in a prior interview. “Learning to listen to energy is a skill you develop.” Northern focused his energy sensitivity into animal communications, and was sought after as a horse and dog psychic in the region for more than a decade.

Learned skill

Lewis, 75, was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He studied art at the University of Maryland and hitchhiked across the U.S., twice, “spiritual odyssey,” he calls it. He moved to Warrenton in 1976, trading a career in advertising for art and antiques. He’d learned to identify fine furnishings at his grandparents’ history-filled house on MacArthur Boulevard in the District.

7 BRs, 10+ Acres• Warrenton VA $749,000

He opened the Middle Street Gallery in the ’80s, then Flint Hill Vintage in 2008. His current consignment and antique shop, Ginger Hill, opened in 2011.

Lewis learned dowsing from his former father-in-law. “He was a oldfashioned Virginia dairy farmer,” Lewis recalls. “We were fixing up this old farmhouse, we were trying to figure out the old well.

“He asked me if I knew how to dowse. I didn’t even know what it was.”

He snapped a branch off a nearby tree, stripped it of leaves and began walking around the yard. Entranced, Lewis followed.

“Suddenly that stick pointed down,” Lewis recalls. “I said, ‘you did that!’

“He said, ‘no. Here you try.’

“I walked the same place he’d gone, and it didn’t work. He told me to relax, to think about the intent, to let everything (in my mind) go.”

Lewis practiced a lot, first “finding” water where he knew it was – over wells, puddles – then branched into searching for groundwater and underground aquifers.

He recalls going to a friend’s new construction project in the early ’80s to help find water on a difficult to read lot. He grabbed his stick as he got out of the car. The well driller, licensed and certified, arrived a min-

ute later. “He got out of his truck, looked around, and grabbed his stick!” Lewis recalls.

Word got around about Lewis’s skill, and he’s had years he was pretty busy dowsing for water in the area.

He hasn’t done as much recently, busy at Ginger Hill as well as doing Reiki massage. “I use the same energy flow in massage,” Lewis explains, like Bill Northern linking dowsing to other intuitive arts.

Lewis handcrafts copper dowsing rods that he sells locally and online.

Nay-sayers

The National Ground Water Association in Ohio says on their website that they “strongly oppose the use of water witches” on the grounds that the technique is without scientific merit. The association, naturally, recommends instead the use of “hydrogeological techniques for groundwater reconnaissance when water isn’t easily found by drilling contractors.”

On the other hand, there’s plenty of support. The American Society of Dowsers in Vermont has 3,000 members, and a fervent following, that follow the art. The ASD’s website reports they have a “growing base” of true believers.

- By Betsy Burke Parker

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FACES & PLACES

Hardly a thing of the past, dinosaurs still seen on earth You just need to know where to look By popular vote, the mighty T-Rex this year became one of the newest tokens on the Monopoly board, while the long-loved boot got booted, and the wheelbarrow was overturned. With the new gamepiece, we wondered where, around here, you can get a glimpse of our prehistoric past.

Luck Stone Quarry Dino Walk

18244 Germanna Highway, Culpeper The Luck Stone Quarry’s Culpeper plant is home to a roughly 210-million-year-old mudflat preserved in place and exposed within the quarry containing prehistoric dinosaur tracks.

On July 15, the Culpeper Museum will host its third annual Dino Walk into the quarry pit, where you can see the tracks and hear from experts on their history, and their discovery back in 1989. culpepermuseum.com

Dinosaur Land

3848 Stonewall Jackson Highway, White Post Step into the prehistoric past with this roadside attraction in the Shenandoah Valley. Open for 50 years, Dinosaur Land takes visitors back to the Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs were the only creatures roaming Earth. You’ll find more than 50 replicas -- from meat-eaters like the megalosaurus to sauropods and armored and duckbill dinosaurs. dinosaurland.com

Westmoreland State Park

145 Cliff Road, Montross On the Potomac River’s Northern Neck, Westmoreland State Park offers more than swimming and hiking trails. Fossil collectors can enjoy hunting for ancient shark teeth along the Potomac. dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/westmoreland

Find ancient shark teeth at Westmoreland State Park, above.

Below, see dinosaur tracks at Culpeper’s Luck Stone Quarry.

Dinosaur Park

13100 Mid-Atlantic Boulevard, Laurel, Maryland Prince George’s County Dinosaur Park preserves a rare deposit of fossils from the early Cretaceous Period, about 110 million years ago.

From the Maryland State dinosaur, Astrodon, to early flowering plants, the fossils found at Dinosaur Park help scientists reconstruct ancient history. During interpretive programs, citizen scientists of all ages can take part in the ongoing search for fossils. Visitors can also explore a garden of Cretaceous-era plants and a climbable dinosaur skeleton. history.pgparks.com – By Kari Pugh

Historic Vermont Farm on Crest Hill Road a 19th century classic

Dixon family home stands in shadow of Big Cobbler Mountain

The Vermont we know in Fauquier County isn’t an avenue, but rather an historic farm near Marshall. The main house on the property was built about 1825 by the Dixon family.

The family’s claim to fame is the fact that Col. Henry Dixon was the only man in Fauquier to vote for Abraham Lincoln for president in the 1860 election. It is said that Dixon carried a pistol in one hand and a ballot in the other when he went to vote.

Col. Dixon spent most of the Civil War in Alexandria, where he was killed in a gun fight on the street after the war.

Vermont Farm, and Glenara next door, are two of the biggest estates in the shadow of Big Cobbler Mountain on Crest Hill Road.

– By John Toler SUMMER 2017

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HOME & GARDEN

Home & Garden LIVING WELL INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Flutter by, butterfly

Support your local sippers with native garden design

Story and photos by Peggy Schochet

Inside this section:

• Tracking the local rental market • Perfect companions: learn who loves who in the vegetable garden • Ode to a wheelbarrow, longtime accomplice in nurturing nature SUMMER 2017

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HOME & GARDEN

Planning your plants The rewards will be beautiful

Host plants for butterflies

American Lady - aster, ironweed Black Swallowtail - parsley, dill Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - tulip poplar, black cherry Eastern-tailed Blue - clover, legumes Great Spangled Fritillary - violet, mayapple Painted Lady - hollyhock, mallow Pearl Crescent - aster Red Admiral - nettle, hops Red-spotted Purple - willow, hawthorn Silver-spotted Skipper - wisteria, locust Spicebush Swallowtail - spicebush, sassafras Spring Azure - dogwood, vibirnum American Copper – sorrel, buckwheat Tawny Emperor - hackberry Falcate Orangetip - rock cress, winter cress Giant Swallowtail - ash, rue Monarch - milkweed Mourning Cloak - elm, birch Pipevine Swallowtail - pipevine, Virginia snakeroot Question Mark and Eastern Comma nettle, hackberry Viceroy - cherry, apple Zebra Swallowtail - pawpaw

Milkweed = Monarchs

Support the Monarch population by growing milkweed. Once so plentiful that we took them for granted, the Monarch is a victim of loss of habitat and its host plant, milkweed.

Good species to grow here include common milkweed (pink flower, 3-4 feet, full or part sun, blooms June through August), swamp m (pink flower, 4 feet, full or part sun, blooms June through August).

Milkweed can be transplanted, though cut it back first, dig deep to get the entire taproot, and plant it immediately. Water well for several weeks while it gets reestablished.

Find milkweed seeds online at prairiemoon. com or buy plants locally at Hill House Native Plants – 540-937-1798.

Monarch, above, and a pearl crescent, inset.

Enjoy the winged beauty of butterflies all summer long by creating a butterfly habitat in the garden.

As long as you provide what is needed for all stages of the butterfly’s life cycle - egg, larva, pupa and adult - they will come.

Most important and crucial to their survival is the need for a host plant. This is a specific native plant or plants that each species has co-evolved with and the only plant that their caterpillars are able to consume.

There are no substitutions for host plants.

If that particular plant becomes extinct, so does the butterfly.

The butterfly lays eggs on the host plant’s leaves.

Caterpillars grow fast and eat a lot. Normally, they will not kill perennials, shrubs and trees, though planting extras for butterflies is a nice idea.

Once butterflies mature, they strictly sip nectar.

They need nectar-rich flowers spring to fall, which means having a variety of plants with different bloom times is critical.

Some flowers have more nectar than others: tube-shaped flowers sometimes don’t let butterflies reach inside.

Flowers with flat-clustered petals that act as landing pads are best. Avoid double-flowered plants such as the newer coneflower cultivars as these will have 70

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very little nectar if any at all.

Small-ball shaped flowers like Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) are perfect for smaller butterflies such as Azures and Hairstreaks. Sugar Shack Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) is a compact cultivar. All species of butterflies flock to Sugar Shack in summer for nectar-filled flowers, and in fall red, round fruits provide winter food for birds.

Looks good enough to eat

Butterflies are attracted to bright colors like purple, pink, yellow, orange and red. When a butterfly lands, it uses sensory receptors on its feet that allow it to taste the nectar.

When choosing nectar plants for the garden, select from both native and non-native plants, but make sure to avoid non-native invasives.

Add a shallow saucer to the garden filled with sand and small pebbles to provide a safe place for butterflies to drink. Butterflies also need sodium and minerals – they get these by puddling on mud, composts, dog feces or a dry salty spot on gravel or cement.

A flat, dark rock in an open garden spot provides a resting place for butterflies to bask in the sun and warm their wings, something required for flight. oldragmasternaturalists.org

Ten nectar plants

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) Prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya) Stiff goldenrod (Solidago ridiga) Jeana garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium spp.)

Flutterby lavender butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) Anise hyssop blue fortune (Agastache foeniculum) Red torch Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) Bee balm (Monarda didyma) Cosmos bright lights (Cosmos sulphureus)

The dark morph

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is one of the most abundant butterfly species in Fauquier but many people do not realize that 50 percent of all Eastern Tiger Swallowtail females are black and not yellow. Called the dark morph, dark gray and black replaces most of the yellow area. They can be confused with the Black Swallowtail, but at close range you can see the shadow of the “tiger stripes” on the dark morph.

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12th “Above and Beyond” SUMMER 2017

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HOME & GARDEN CONSERVATION NATION

Putting water over a barrel.

Literally.

PHOTO BY BOB CONNELLEY

Right, Kathleen King works to re-purpose a barrel that formerly held olives or pickles into a rain barrel, designed to capture rainwater for use at home.

According to government records, an average of 34,300 gallons of rain falls annually on a 30-foot-by-40-foot roof in Virginia’s Piedmont region.

Some rooftop rainfall may infiltrate into the soil but most is lost as runoff.

This leads to problems like streambank erosion, flooding and the introduction of pollutants into waterways.

That huge amount of runoff could provide water for 4,287 showers, 686 loads of laundry, 6,860 flushes of a commode or 45 weekly waterings of a typical lawn.

Rainwater harvesting – capturing the free water source – can be simple or complex. The most efficient way to catch rainwater is to place a rain barrel under a downspout from one of your gutters.

By using an angled joint, the water is directed into a big barrel, ideally one that sits on a bed of gravel so overflow doesn’t splash up or cause further erosion.

The water you catch can be treated or boiled for drinking, or use it on your lawn or garden as-is. You can even create your own siphon with a garden hose to complete the recycling trifecta.

To purchase rain barrels from the John Marshall SWCD in Warrenton, call 540-422-8001.

Tips for watering your garden in summer

When to water: Experts recommend watering deeply and infrequently. This encourages deeper root growth both for turf grass and garden plants.

Water in the early morning – set your timer on 4 or 5 a.m. if you have an automatic sprinkler system. This allows your lawn and plants enough time to absorb the moisture and prevents evaporation due to daytime heat. It also keeps your plants and flowers from remaining wet after the sun sets, something that can lead to disease.

If you don’t have an auto-waterer, water at 7 a.m. or earlier.

Drip irrigation via soaker hose laid in garden beds should also be done in the early morning to avoid loss from evaporation.

How much water: MidAtlantic gardens need 1 inch of water weekly. Put a rain gauge on the lawn in your irrigation circle to determine how much is going on the garden. This eliminates guesswork, though a home gardener learns to “feel” when the garden needs a drink.

Heat stress: Avoid mowing the lawn or heavy pruning during high heat or drought. Plants under stress have limited ability to recover. Mow after rainfall or irrigation.

The Sassafras tree – a flavorful native Virginian Don’t fear these ‘leaves of three’

By Tim MacWelch

There’s a legend about the spicy scent of the sassafras tree: It’s been said that Christopher Columbus found America by sniffing out the tree’s rich aroma.

Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but the intoxicating smell of sassafras root has been captivating people for centuries.

It turns out that the earliest French and Spanish explorers of the New World were just as enamored by this unusual tree as they were by the tobacco plant. Sir Francis Drake brought sassafras to England in 1586, and a few decades later, Sir Walter Raleigh began to export sassafras as a legitimate commodity. Later, and for a very brief time, the export of sassafras was second only to tobacco as a cash crop from the British colonies.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a rough, twisting-trunked deciduous tree in the laurel family.

You’re likely to find it growing in old fields and the edges of woods, as well as an understory tree in Fauquier’s woodlands.

Even before the leaves come out in spring, you can find it by its distinctive greenish twigs that 72

SUMMER 2017

smell of citrus. Many say, actually, sassafras smells like Froot Loops cereal when broken.

The best way to identify this small, local tree is by looking for its most distinctive trait – three different shapes of leaves on the same tree. Simple oval leaves – unilobed - are the most common shape, but the sassafras tree also has leaves with two lobes resembling a mitten and the leaves with three lobes.

Some call the three-lobed leaf the “dinosaur foot,” although southern chefs know all of these leaves by another name - Filé powder. Traditionally used by southern Native American Indians such as the Choctaw tribe, dried sassafras leaves are a secret weapon in Creole cuisine. The dried leaves not only impart a subtle citrus flavor, but they can also be used to create a clear thickening agent similar to using okra in a soup. Filé can be used to thicken stew and is a traditional ingredient in gumbo.

The fresh or dried root of sassafras has an intense anise or licorice flavor similar to root beer. The sassafras is actually the original “root” of root beer.

The modern home chef can concoct an excellent and beautiful red-colored tea by steeping dried sassafras roots in hot water, and there’s enough potency to use the roots multiple times. Use one tablespoon of dried, ground sassafras root steeped in one cup of hot water for a half-hour. Sweeten

with pure maple syrup for the most traditional of American originals.

Sassafras roots contain a compound called safrole, which was shown to caues liver damage and cancer in laboratory animals given massive doses of safrole. The FDA banned sassafras for commercial use in 1960, but that was rescinded more than a decade ago since a human would have to drink many gallons of sassafras tea – per day – to reach dangerous levels of safrole.

PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE

Sassafras trees have three different types of leaves: single lobe, double and triple.

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HOME & GARDEN

Not your average Joe

Or, Pye in the sky for tall garden beauty

By Peggy Schochet

A beautiful garden plant in your garden that is unique, native and a pollinator powerhouse, Joe Pye weed is one of Virginia’s summer favorites.

Joe Pye Ivory Tower (Eutrochium fistulosum) is a white form cultivar in bloom at 6 to 8 feet tall and covered in pollinators as an impactful presence in the garden. This Joe Pye has hollow stems which when cut and left on the ground of the garden become a nursery for some species of native bees.

Ivory Tower prefers full to part sun. There are mature Ivory Tower plants at the Marshall Schoolhouse No. 18 butterfly garden.

Joe Pye Bartered Bride (Eutrochium maculatum) is another white

A piece of Pye Joe Pye Chocolate

PHOTO BY PEGGY SCHOCHET

gardenerdirect.com lazyssfarm.com

Joe Pye. As much as 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide, Bartered Bride is showstopper from all angles but perfect for the back of a flower garden. This one prefers full sun and is a magnet for butterflies.

Joe Pye Chocolate (Ageratina altissima) is not really a Joe Pye at all but a White Snakeroot. Still, Chocolate is part the Pye family and a huge hit with pollinators.

It is standout in any garden with deep maroon stems, green and maroon leaves and contrasting pure white flowers. At 3 to 4 feet high with a 2 to 3 foot spread, Chocolate fits in just about any flower garden.

This plant can live in full sun as long as it is watered frequently in Virginia’s hot summers, though it’s happier in part-shade location.

nichegardens.com georgiavines.com swallowtailgardenseeds.com

HAPPY IN THE ‘HOOD

Community of plants: Can’t we all just get along?

By Nora Rice

Companion plants improve the “neighborhood” for other nearby plants by deterring pests and disease or stimulating growth.

Common garden veggies cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, collards, kale, turnips and radishes benefit from companion mints and alliums. Before you plant, do be aware that mint can be a thug in the garden, growing wildly beyond bounds, so many gardeners prefer to grow mint in pots.

Spearmint, peppermint, common mint and mountain mint are all excellent companions. Place potted mints in the vegetable garden, or chopped mint stems can be scattered in your mulch pile to be equally effective and less obtrusive than pots.

Alliums deter many insects and slugs. Alliums include leeks, chives, garlic, onions, garlic chives and shallots.

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER Garden mint protects many vegetable plants.

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Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers also benefit from having alliums as neighbors. Basil improves the flavor of tomatoes, asparagus and peppers. For color and texture, plant both green basil and purple basil.

Another way to protect your plants, and pretty up your garden borders, is by edging vegetable gardens with nasturtiums, marigolds and petunias.

Nasturtiums deter insects that munch tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, kohlrabi, collards, broccoli, cabbage and radishes. Marigolds deter many pests, and petunias protect beans, tomatoes and peppers.

I never promised you a rose garden … but I can protect it for you

A rose garden is a buffet for devouring pests.

Confuse the pests by planting a diverse mix of companion plants throughout the garden. Lemon scented herbs, such as lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon grass repel insects that favor roses.

Calamint and tidy small bush tomato plants benefit the rose garden. Daylily and lavender are classic rose companions.

Marigolds increase the growth of roses and are a good choice for edging a rose garden.

Allium giganteum can be a protective focal point, with large round clusters of tiny purple flowers on stalks that can grow to six feet.

For variety in decorative garden design, and to incorporate delicate Virginia natives, tuck a hidden woodland garden into a shady spot, otherwise difficult to decorate with traditional garden flowers. A couple of rustic chairs surrounded by bleeding hearts and geraniums provides sanctuary from the heat of a Virginia summer.

Mayapples, columbine, snakeroot, sweet wood-

ruff and native ferns also thrive in this garden.

A delightful garden design for a sunny spot is to create a sunflower teepee. Plant mammoth sunflowers in a large circle with a break or doorway opening. When the sunflowers are budding, tie the plants together loosely just below the flower buds. Tuck a small chair inside the teepee. If sunflowers are not appealing, a similar teepee can be created with long poles supporting vines, such as cardinal beans.

Pamper your property’s original residents with a critter condo

Wildlife summering in the Piedmont will appreciate a rustic “brush pile” neighborhood. You can easily create your own from recycled trimmings from your own garden efforts.

When pruning trees and large shrubs, lay the largest branches on the ground. Lay the next largest branches on top, perpendicular to the first layer. Continue stacking smaller and smaller branches, rotating each layer to be perpendicular to the next layer. When finished, the lower layers of large branches will shelter larger critters while the top layers of smaller branches shelter small birds.

Preserve the garden bounty

Homemade purple basil vinegar takes on an unusual pink hue. To make your own, pick basil as it starts to bloom at the end of the growing season.

Place basil in a jar and cover with white vinegar.

Let steep in the dark for a couple of weeks until the vinegar changes color. Strain the vinegar through an unbleached coffee filter. Use in salad dressings or pour into a decorative bottle for gifting.

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HOME & GARDEN

Here’s to your health: Apothecary offers just what the doctor ordered

Natural remedies, toiletries now available locally

By Karen Hopper Usher

ents’ Ashby Inn. Find it: The apothecary, Paris Apothecary Many people have come around to the idea of which opened on Fed692 Federal St. eating local. But what about their medicine? eral Street in Paris in 540-592-3177 “Herbal medicine – that’s the next frontier,” February, sells “herbal parisapothecaryva.com says Susan Leopold, owner of the newly-opened oddities” such as teas, Paris Apothecary. tinctures, elixirs and Not everybody who buys herbal remedies knows soaps, among other local items made from plants. where the products are coming from, she says.

“The time is really ripe,” Leopold says. “TwenLeopold is betting people will want natu- ty years ago, nobody knew where their food was ral remedies grown locally, just as they’ve come coming from, but now organic food drives the to crave local produce, and meat and dairy from marketplace.” nearby farms. She believes the teas and balms and Ginseng is something of a flagship ingredient syrups “that soothe what ails you” are best when at the apothecary, she says. Ginseng is an incredlocally grown from producers vested in the health ible American and Appalachian plant that helps people in a number of ways, Leopold explains. “It and welfare of the Fauquier community.

That’s the idea behind Leopold’s recent ven- helps your body adapt to stresses,” she says. “Ginture, which exists under the umbrella of her par- seng can both help you relax and give you energy.

Cancer patients use ginseng to cope with chemotherapy.”

Ginseng, which is typically consumed in root and leaf form, grows wild in the Piedmont woodlands, or it can be cultivated. It’s so in-demand that some states have strict rules against harvesting ginseng on state land.

Conservation officers in New York, for example, ticketed somebody in September for illegally uprooting some plants.

Back in the day, moonshiners would drop COURTESY PHOTO ginseng into their stills to add a special “kick.”

Paris Apothecary owner Susan Leopold, right, has a vision for ‘natural health’ care in the Piedmont region. They use local sourcing when possible.

“It was definitely

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

The new apothecary is located in downtown Paris.

one of the iconic spring tonics,” Leopold says. “It helped people recover from winter.”

Many of the products on the Paris Apothecary’s shelves show you’ll be drinking your herbal medicines.

Custom-blended herbal drinks are popular, Leopold says, from traditional teas to fermented beverages.

On her own farm in Linden, Leopold grows some of the plants her store stocks from local commercial growers. She hopes to sell the plants one day.

“They take years and years to grow,” she explains. This is among the reasons why she’s keen to protect local forests and fragile native plants.

Staff of life

Leopold’s day job as the executive director of United Plant Savers means she’s very plugged-in to efforts to preserve the forest ecology many medicinal plants need in order to thrive.

She has become something of a medicinal plant expert, both through the apothecary and through Plant Savers.

“I’m deeply worried about the future of these plants,” she maintains.

“Farming” in Leopold’s vernacular doesn’t have to mean a felled forest and a plowed-over field.

Cultivation and farming of medicinal plants can happen within the forest, she stresses.

In addition to herbal medicines, the Paris Apothecary spreads other bits of eco-friendly wisdom.

The shop serves as an education hub for people who want to learn about plants and greener living.

The apothecary recently held natural sauna building and permaculture courses. In July and August, fungi courses are being offered.

Taking the PATH to serve the community’s needs through outreach

The PATH Foundation is a charitable foundation that offers competitive grants to qualifying area nonprofits and government entities.

In 2017, PATH will invest some $1.5 million to support the region’s

PATH volunteer Tom Baccei 76

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community outreach.

The core focus of the PATH Foundation, says spokesperson Amy Petty, is “to enhance the health and vitality of Fauquier, Rappahannock and Culpeper counties, specifically in the areas of access to care, childhood wellness, mental health and senior services.”

A $200 million endowment was a joint venture of Fauquier Health and LifePoint Health in late 2013. Before the joint venture, the foundation was called the Fauquier Health Foundation.

Let’s Volunteer Day in April was the first community-wide volunteer day. The PATH Volunteer Center put more than 150 volunteers to

work on 20 local projects.

National speakers come to PATH events. Last year, New York Times best-selling author Wes Moore talked to Fauquier, Kettle Run and Liberty High students about the importance of making good choices.

Dolvett Quince, trainer from NBC’s The Biggest Loser, led a crowd of 400 through a workout and spoke about staying motivated to live a healthy life. During the holidays, PATH connects through the innovative 12 Days of Kindness program.

PATH has funded more than 125 grants to 70 community organizations, including the Fauquier Free

Clinic, CADRE, Fauquier Community Child Care, flower baskets on Main Street in Warrenton, the community garden in Remington, Fauquier Food Bank and Thrift Store, Fauquier Education Farm, summer camp, FISH, Girls on the Run, Hospice and support of the Mental Health Association of Fauquier County. pathforyou.org President Christy letsvolunteer.org Connolly

Plants for bug control

By Nora Rice Summer ushers in Mother Nature’s bounty in both plants and insects. Key is to enjoy the long summer days in the garden with minimal discomfort from insects.

A deck or patio surrounded by plants that deter insects can reduce aggravation from bugs. Mosquitoes are a common problem in the notoriously humid mid-Atlantic region. Worse than the annoyance, mosquitoes carry diseases transmittable to humans.

Deter mosquitoes by planting basil, lavender, common lantana, lemon balm, lemon thyme, stone root, rosemary and lemon grass.

Other common garden plants to discourage insects – and attractive in form and fragrance, include tansy, catnip and chrysanthemums

You look delicious!

They’re oh so repellant

to deter ants, and chives, catnip and chrysanthemums to deter Japanese beetles. Four o’clocks both attract and poison Japanese beetles so it’s best to plant them away from the patio.

Aphids are repelled by catnip, chives, clover, coriander, dill, fennel, larkspurs, peppermint, petunia and spearmint. Many culinary herbs including thyme, oregano and garlic deter other summer insects.

If rabbits, voles and mice are a problem, plant crown imperial.

You are what you eat

While many plants deter pesky critters, carnivorous plants – literally – devour them. Place carnivorous plants near ponds, bird baths and fountains.

They like full sun and boggy soils. To mimic boggy soil, place

What a person eats or wears can make a difference on how likely they are to be perceived as “tasty” to insects.

• Tame your sweat by avoiding pineapple, banana and other pungent tropical fruit when you’re going to be outside. Your pH level changes when you eat these fruits, making you more tempting to insects.

the potted carnivore in a saucer of water or in a larger pot filled with water. Change the water every few days to avoid breeding mosquitoes.

Pitcher plant and sundew are native to Virginia. Pitcher plants feast on ants, wasps, beetles, snails, slugs, flies and bees.

Insects become trapped inside the specialized “pitcher” leaf and cannot crawl out because the inside surface is slippery and covered with hairs. The insect is digested in the bottom of the pitcher.

Compared to the passive pitcher plant, the sundew is an active carnivore by virtue of thigmonasty. A critter landing on a sundew’s long filament gets stuck on the filament’s sticky drop of “dew.”

Filaments nearby begin wrapping around the critter which is eventually digested.

• The night before you’ll be outside, eat fresh garlic or take odorless capsules to make your scent less appealing.

• Honey bees are more likely to attack a person wearing black if near a hive. Experts believe this may be because black bears feast on bee larvae, and a human looks like a black bear on its hind legs to a bee.

• Mosquitoes are poor flyers so use a fan when on

This summer, brew your own herbal insect repellant

Mix your own homemade, organic bug spray blending mint, lavender, lemongrass, catnip, citronella, rosemary, sage and-or thyme. Make sure to include at least one tablespoon of mint in each concoction.

Try these blends: 1. Vanilla vinegar: 1 cup white vinegar 4 tablespoons herbal blend 1 cup water

Stir well, cover and steep overnight. Strain out herbs. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

Store in refrigerator.

2. Clove witch hazel: 1 cup boiling water 4 tablespoons of herbal blend 2 cloves

Stir, cover and steep until cool. Strain out the herbs.

Add 1 cup witch hazel.

Store in refrigerator.

PHOTO BY JESSICA SWAN

your patio or deck to, literally, blow them away.

• Capture vicious deer or horse flies before they bite with a piece of royal blue plastic cup and tanglefoot attached to the top of your hat.

• Avoid sitting or kneeling on grassy areas and logs which can harbor ticks and chiggers. Sulphur powder helps repel chiggers when sprinkled on shoes and pants legs.

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HOME & GARDEN

TEN MOST (UN)WANTED

Invasive plants monopolize precious resources that belong to natives

By Pam Owen

Non-native invasive plants are monopolizing the native ecosystem at an alarming rate, posing one of the biggest threats to biodiversity.

These plants outcompete delicate natives for several reasons. Most emerge or leaf out earlier in the year, blocking sunlight and crowding out natives. A few invasives use toxins to keep the natives at bay, which can interfere with whole ecosystems.

And most native animals — including caterpillars, which 90 percent of our native songbirds rely on to feed their young — won’t eat leaves and stems of these plants, although some animals will eat the fruit, which, of course, only helps to disperse the seeds.

“Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas,” a guide by the National Park Service, lists many plants to watch for in this area.

Ailanthus: Growing up to 70 feet tall, ailanthus is highly adaptable. Called “Tree of Heaven” because it grows sky-high quickly, it spreads rapidly by seed and vigorous re-sprouting, especially when injured; cutting it just encourages new growth.

The skunky smell of the leaves

when crushed and the thumb-like protrusions at the base of each leaflet help distinguish it from similarlooking natives.

Callery pear: Often called “Bradford pear,” this tree is loved by developers for landscaping because of its fast growth. But conservationists disagree. It is a prolific seed producer and forms thick clumps in the wild, crowding out native plants.

Autumn olive: With its delicate spring flowers, distinctive silvery green foliage and bright-red fall berries, this shrub has been widely planted as an ornamental, wildlife habitat and erosion control and to restore hard-used lands. It grows rapidly, easily taking over habitat, with wildlife helping spread seeds.

Multiflora rose: Introduced as rootstock for ornamental plants almost 200 years ago, this non-native was later promoted for erosion control, as a “living barbed-wire fence” for livestock and for wildlife cover. It soon overran natural habitat, growing into thorny, dense clumps that deters the passage of wildlife, even bears. Birds eat its bright-red fruit, hips, spreading the seeds.

Kudzu: This vine is the bane of the southeast. It girdles and drags down

plants, blocking the sun with its large leaves and spreading, fast, by runners, rhizomes, vines and by seed.

Mile-a-minute: Easily identified by its spindly stem and small triangular leaves, this vine can also grow amazingly fast, as its name implies.

It spreads mostly by seed and can form thick tangles that shade out native plants it covers.

Oriental bittersweet: This invasive’s red berries make it a favorite component in floral decorations, which also leads to its seeds being spread by people through careless disposal. Wildlife also helps with seed dispersal, Once established, the woody vine rapidly grows over shrubs, small trees and other plants, blocking out sunlight, girdling them and pulling them down.

Japanese honeysuckle: Loved for its pale, sweet-smelling, trumpetshaped flowers and tasty nectar, it grows fast, twining around stems of any plant that offers vertical support.

In full sun, it can form large tangles, smothering vegetation, and can kill shrubs and saplings. The berries are eaten by birds, which spread the seeds within.

Japanese stilt grass: This fastgrowing grass is opportunistic,

spreading almost anywhere after a disturbance, including mowing, by rooting at joints along the stem. It forms dense patches, crowding out native plants.

Garlic mustard: This biennial plant can produce hundreds of seeds that germinate nearby or are dispersed by the wind. White-tailed deer help it spread by eating native plant species around it, giving it room to spread.

One of the earliest plants to appear each year, it’s best removed as soon as it is spotted. It occurs in a wide range of habitat except where soil is highly acidic. Some chemicals in garlic mustard are toxic to the caterpillars of the native butterflies.

Runners-up

Among the many contenders for Fauquier’s most-unwanted invasives are hydrilla, parrot-feather, bamboos, Canada thistle, Chinese lespedeza, Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, Japanese barberry, linden viburnum, privet, wineberry, winged burning bush, Norway maple, princess tree, Chinese and Japanese wisteria, periwinkle, English ivy, orange-eye butterfly bush, Chinese yam, and a new but rising threat, wavyleaf basketgrass.

Resources

• “Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas” (nps.gov) has in-depth information, including photos and management methods, for 80 of the almost 300 nonnative invasive plants identified as a threat to the Mid-Atlantic area, along with a list of suggested alternative native plants for landscaping.

• “The Invasive Plant Atlas” (invasiveplantatlas.org), a collaborative effort by 10 government and nonprofit organizations, has a searchable database with information on all invasive plants in the U.S. • Virginia government agencies: Fauquier County Extension office (540-3417950, offices.ext.vt.edu/fauquier); Department of Forestry (540-347-6305; dof.virginia.gov/locations/fauquier.htm); and Department of Conservation and Recreation (dcr.state.va.us/natural-heritage.)

Autumn olive

PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE

Managing invasives

The environmentally safest removal method for invasive plants is mechanical — using hands and tools to pull or dig them out. “Natural” herbicides, such as concentrated vinegar, can also be used, but the high concentrations that are needed can also harm surrounding native plants and organisms in the soil.

Synthetic herbicides, which pose the biggest environmental threat, can do similar harm. With any herbicide, follow instructions carefully.

For large areas, herbicides or prescribed burns can be the most-effective method of eradication but must be repeated for several years.

The best strategy for managing invasives is to catch them before they get established. Then persistence is essential or, like the Terminator, they “will be back.”

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Kudzu

PHOTO BY PAM OWEN

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HOME & GARDEN

Foodscape: Feeding yourself, pleasing the eye

By Sally Harmon Semple

Lacing traditional ornamental plants with fruits and vegetables is growing in popularity, for good reason.

Foodscaping, or edible landscaping, promotes self-sufficiency, biodiversity and a healthier environment. With more 20 million acres of residential lawn in America, tons of food – literally – could be produced locally if just a fraction of that were used for home fruits and vegetables.

Many lack time, space or will to maintain a big vegetable garden, but still crave the nutritional benefit and flavor that only freshly picked produce Learn about provides. growing edibles By starting small Free workshops this summer at the Fauquier and substituting edible Education Farm on Mee- plants for a few strictly tze Road in Warrenton in- ornamental ones, you clude a session on toma- can begin to harvest toes July 12, a session on from your own home melons July 20 an a ses- garden without allotsion on eggplant July 26. ting more than just a All classes run 6-8 p.m. few inches of space.

For more information, see Many vegetables are fauquiereducationfarm. just as lush and lovely wordpress.com. as traditional annuals, and they grow in a rainbow of colors and textures. One of the easiest plants to start with is to grow a flowering pea or bean plant on a trellis, selecting a variety of yellow, purple and burgundy pods.

Instead of coleus, home gardeners can alternate red and green varieties of leaf lettuce for spring and fall interest in spaces with dappled light. Substitute a burning bush or abelia with a highbush blueberry to net colorful fruit and beautiful fall foliage.

Yellow squash has big, tropical-looking leaves, huge showy flowers and bright yellow fruit. An easy way to landscape with squash is to sow in a tall planter on the sunniest side of your house and let the squash cascade over the rim.

PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Strawberries are a pleasing, and tasty, ground cover welcome in any area garden.

Most fruits and vegetables need a lot of sun. If the sunny spots in your yard are in front, don’t shy from using those spots for vegetables. Edibles can be added to the landscape following the same principles of landscape design that are used for ornamentals.

You probably wouldn’t put your flowers in a big rectangle in the middle of your front yard. Likewise, you need not create a big rectangular raised bed out front to grow vegetables. Instead, integrate edibles into the existing landscape, or create curving beds that soften property edges or line your front walk.

Thoughtful landscaping – traditional, or with fruits and vegetables, adds beauty and interest to the front yard, and will attract more neighbors than it deters.

Plants that become “messy” towards the middle of the season, like tomatoes, can be dressed up with shorter plantings in the foreground that hide unattractive bare stems and brown leaves. Consider supporting front-yard tomatoes with a decorative fence or trellis instead of a big crooked tomato cage.

Accept that some plants, like trailing melons, might be difficult to incorporate in the landscape and are best kept in the backyard. And if a plant

succumbs to disease, do the neighbors and yourself a favor and rip it out. Doing this limits the spread of disease.

By keeping veggies near the house, the kitchen gardener sees them more often and may take better care of them. Because you are less likely to use pesticides and poisons on something you’re going to eat, co-locating edibles and ornamentals encourages the use of organic fertilizing and pest control practices throughout the yard – good for the environment and good for you.

Read all about it: Foodscape cultivation • Edible Landscaping

by Rosalind Creasy, Counterpoint Press rosalindcreasy.com • The Foodscape Revolution by Brie Arthur, St. Lynn’s Press • Foodscaping by Charlie Nardozzi, Cool Springs Press • Edible Landscapes - ediblelandscaping. com • Virginia Berry Farm - virginiaberryfarm. com • Foodscape your landscape - vegetablegardner.com

Plants to eat and admire in Fauquier

Regular garden squash or zucchini makes a nice trailing ground cover. PHOTO BY SALLY HARMON SEMPLE 80

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• Scarlet runner bean - Brilliant red-orange edible flowers, heart-shaped leaves and edible green beans (planted by Thomas Jefferson “on the long walk of the garden.”)

• Northern highbush blueberries - White flowers, beautiful, delicious blue fruits and fall color.

• ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard - Prominent green or bronzed leaves with red, white, pink yellow and orange multi-colored stems.

• Leaf lettuce - Try ‘Merlot’ for its intense burgundy color; ‘Anatares’ for bronzed green and red frilled oak shaped leaves; ‘Salad Bowl’ for bright green lobed leaves.

• Mini head lettuces - Adorable six-inch circles try mini romaine and little gem varieties.

• Sweet and hot peppers - Many colorful varieties with colors changing as they ripen.

• Sun Gold cherry tomatoes - Bright tangerinecolored fruits with dependable yield.

• Alpine strawberries - Bunching plants with small but flavor-packed berries from spring through fall.

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HOME & GARDEN

Playing the real estate game

Advice on buying and renting from Fauquier’s own Park Place to Wall Street

By Julie Taylor

The proximity to northern Virginia and Washington D.C., paired with the abundance of fresh air, open space and vibrant business climate equals a shortage on area housing.

Before rolling the dice on home ownership, consider if it makes more sense to buy or rent.

“I nearly always recommend that you consider a purchase but it is always situational,” says Amos Crosgrove, a Warrenton-based realtor. “(Mortgage) rates have risen a bit, but they are still historically low so if you can take advantage of the low cost, borrow while it is available.”

He and his wife Faith, who handles the title work on home sales and is in the process of becoming a realtor herself, says that though the internet is a helpful tool in finding a realtor, but the best route to take is to ask friends about their buying and selling experiences.

“It’s important to find a good realtor that you trust,” Crosgrove adds. “If you know and trust somebody, and they say he does a great job, that just saves you a lot of time. A referral is a huge thing.”

Some people make the decision to buy or sell without a realtor, but the disadvantage of going in alone could end up costing more in the end.

Realtors have access to the Multiple Listing Service for a much wider selection of homes for sale and buyers that are shopping. A licensed realtor is also better situated to determine a fair sales price or purchase price, and they can manage negotiations from start to finish.

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In Fauquier’s competitive home-buying market, a four-bedroom, three-acre property averages in the mid-$400,000s, and on average sold at list price between February and May, according to MLS statistics.

A rental with the same criteria goes for just over $2,000 a month.

The average amounts don’t detail the vast differences between the northern and southern ends of the county. Ranchers, ramblers and often smaller homes can be found all over the county, but there tends to be more selection around Bealeton and Remington, Crosgrove says, and while some smaller houses come up for rent in Marshall, larger houses and estates are more often available as rentals around Middleburg and The Plains.

Most common construction is colonial style, Crosgrove says. “They are traditional homes with foyers, designated dining areas, family spaces, porches and distinctive exterior features.

“Our folks enjoy the rolling hills, ponds and pastures that have been here for generations,” Crosgrove adds. “The combination of peaceful homespace and privacy within driving distance of all that is offered in northern Virginia, is what we in Fauquier seek.”

Towns like Warrenton, Marshall and Vint Hill feature lots of new construction, he said, with small farmsteads and historic homes at sometimes surprisingly affordable prices. “Each area is individual and offers its own unique ups and downs for buyers to evaluate.”

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HOME & GARDEN

Ode to a wheelbarrow Verse by Tom Baughn Photos by Adam Goings

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HOME & GARDEN

Summer dreaming in the garden His trusty friend: she’s pure poetry

Nothing says anticipation of the long summer growing season like a wheelbarrow full of potted plants. Master Gardener Tom Baughn weighs in with a poetic tribute to the humble wheelbarrow.

of a two-wheeled chariot.

As we reconvene our slow dance, I recall so many yesterdays, beginning with a child’s unique view of the wheelbarrow.

What joy to become the payload, to ride in the wheelbarrow, to the sides desperately clutching, legs dangling.

In eager contemplation of their tomorrows, I load my old friend with flats of tiny summer blooms.

Laughing.

First on my list, cascading petunias to replace the fading spring Terrified. colors of pansies and violas.

Returning to the present, I consider her future. She seems sad, Tucked to the side of my beloved companion are mid-season and perhaps pondering the bleak, the unknown. late-season potatoes.

In wheelbarrow years, I think she is ready to retire. Season layered upon season, we’ve covered so many miles, in so many ways.

I can almost taste their earthy deliciousness.

I remember the years gone by, as I and my trusty-rusty Wheeling by a line of sentient trees, they pay silent homage to the chariot, recalling their own years-ago foray into our garden. Mature wheelbarrow head for my dreams. sweeps of flowers respectfully bow in the breeze as we waltz past.

First came high loads of shredded leaf mulch spilling out the Far too ignoble the scrap heap as a final resting place for her! sides to bring the garden to life.

Consider the beauty of her accomplishments, the gravity of her toil.

Now, as every year, follow leafy seedlings fulfilling a lovingly More fitting, perchance, to end her journey at the end of a row designed array, as my imagination bursts into bloom. of raspberries, blackberries, even better the gooseberries. There With a creaking wheel announcing our journey, my agreeable she would repose, nestling bright marigolds planted in her quietly rusting womb. companion and I wind among the garden beds.

I pause to ponder.

One wheel or two, that is the question.

Whether ‘tis nobler to have the maneuverability of a one-wheeled ‘barrow, even at the cost of a tip and errant offload.

Or to elude the slings and arrows of misfortune for the stability

There to spend her golden years in the garden, keeping silent watch over her children as they grow. The Goldcot apricot. The Gold Rush apple. The Golden Rainer cherry.

The wheel turns with a squeak.

Not yet, not yet, she implores. Summer’s just begun, and nothing says fulfillment like a wheelbarrow filled with plants.

Tool of work and war, wheelbarrow was known as the wooden ox Prime minister of Shu Han, Zhuge Liang is credited with inventing the single-wheeled cart, today known as a wheelbarrow, in 231 AD. A carved relief in 118 and a mural dated 150 both depict the wheelbarrow, predating Liang.

When he came up with his version, Liang called it a wooden ox.

During Liang’s time it was classified as secret military technology because it increased the amount and ease with which a person could transport food and munitions.

The wheelbarrow is designed to distribute the weight of its load between the wheel and the operator to enable a far larger payload and carriage of heavier and bulkier cargo than if it was carried entirely by the operator.

Use of wheelbarrows is common in construction and in gardening. Typical capacity is 4 cubic feet.

The wheelbarrow became a token for the board game Monopoly in the 1950s. The ancient conveyance was “retired” from the game this year.

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HOME & GARDEN

Food & Wine WAY BEYOND EATING AND DRINKING

New association gives voice to the farmers Community markets popular in season Story and photos by Betsy Burke Parker

Inside this section:

• Lothar Erbe shines as the region’s sausage maestro • Taking tea al fresco this summer • Bacon goes with everything (including this delicious coffee cake) SUMMER 2017

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FOOD & WINE

Marketing the market

Virginia farmers’ lobby a strong support network for local foods

Emilie Tydings knows where her food comes from.

For her, it’s the only way to eat.

President of the Virginia Farmers Market Association, Tydings is in her fifth year as volunteer market manager of the Community Farmers Market of Blacksburg. “I know how important eating well, eating local, and supporting community agriculture is,” Tydings says. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Founded in 2011, the VaFMA gained charitable status as a 501c3 in 2014.

“There’s been a huge influx of growth in farmers markets since 2008,” the year of the real estate recession, Tydings says. With belt tightening and pennypinching leading the way, many families began planting a few tomatoes in the backyard, Tidings says, or going a step further and growing small commercial crops to sell. “I think a lot of this came out of the Obama administration. Michelle Obama’s big initiative was to reduce obesity. Lots of funding got directed at farmers market promotions.”

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With development grants, farmers markets were nursed into existence where none had existed previously; fledgling farmers had an outlet for direct sales, and new markets had product and a hungry public to feed.

VaFMA helped develop a certification program, with 14 market managers checking sellers’ authenticity, and helping combat so-called “truck farmers” selling out-of-state produce.

Another side benefit of the VaFMA drive for growth is easy to see, Tydings points out. “It keeps our state rural,” she says, as more land can stay, or be put into, production. With 225 farmers markets in Virginia last year, Tydings expects the numbers to continue to grow.

“The fact that ‘millennials don’t cook’ has been seen as a limiting factor” to nurture a new generation of shoppers and farmers, Tydings says.

“They’re totally aware of the healthy benefits of eating local, but they were often brought up in households where both parents worked. Dinner was carryout or convenience foods.”

Chefs demos and educational semi-

nars conducted in conjunction with farm markets help combat it, Tydings says, and a new type of “produce box” is certain to help. The produce box idea combines a CSA, in which participants buy into a program and get a box filled with seasonal produce and herbs each week, and the popular new national food services that mail a box full of ingredients and recipes for a week’s worth of home-cooked meals.

“This takes both those ideas a step further,” Tydings explains. “Local food, plus recipes and tips.

“I think there’s an enormous market share out there for someone to capitalize on that idea.”

Tydings has farming in her blood: her grandfather taught ag science at Ohio State, and her parents helped open the first farmers market in Texas. She earned her masters in development and PR from Radford, and currently teaches communications at Virginia Tech. vafma.org va.foodmarketmaker.com – By Betsy Burke Parker

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FOOD & WINE

He’s the sausage king Guten tag Lothar Erbe: Chef with old world taste

By Sandy Greeley

From the time he made a name for himself at Fauquier’s Finest butcher shop in Bealeton, locals have learned to trust the taste of sausage maker Lothar Erbe. He’s got his own storefront now, but he’s still creating locally sourced, hand-made fresh sausages made daily as he’s done in his adopted U.S. for more than 20 years.

Erbe’s sausage career came about because of his upbringing, he says.

Erbe, from a German farming family, always had a natural affinity for the butcher’s profession. “I started butchering and making sausages in 1978” in his native Germany, he says.

“I made an internship with a local butcher. I did so well that he said I 90

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could come back whenever I wanted.”

Erbe apprenticed until 1982, receiving a diploma from the local butchers’ guild, certification that allowed him to work as a professional.

He traveled Europe—France, Spain, Italy—to learn other techniques. Much to his surprise, he found butchering techniques different from what he practiced in Germany. It expanded his knowledge, Erbe says.

“Since my work as an apprentice butcher, I was … making sausages, curing hams, making bacon, making it all,” he recalls.

When he moved to the U.S. in 2006, Erbe applied for work authorization and permanent residence.

With papers in hand, he started as a meat cutter, then worked at a country

butcher shop, Fauquier’s Finest. There the owner allowed Erbe to produce his own line of sausages, bacon and hams with his own label.

Several years ago, Erbe launched his own retail business in Purcellville with a storefront.

Erbe works 15 to 16 hours each day, often starting at 6 a.m. He also sells his gourmet sausages to several area local restaurants and has two farmers’ markets—at the Inn at Little Washington and in Winchester.

Most popular of some 900 sausages Erbe has learned to make, Erbe says, are the German-style bratwurst. A close second, he says, are the spicy Alamo Fire sausages. facebook.com/lotharsbutchershop

German potato sausages with leek purée 4 medium-sized baking potatoes 4 sticks carrot 1 bunch leeks, well rinsed 1 pack Hessian-style sausages 2 tablespoons vegetable oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 stick unsalted butter, as needed

Peel and cut potatoes and carrots into small pieces. Slice the leeks.

Combine the vegetables in stockpot with water to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender. Drain the vegetables, reserving the cooking liquid. Combine the vegetables in a food processor, and add enough water to blend until smooth.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet, and heat the sausages for 2 to 3 minutes. When warmed, remove them from the skillet, and slice. Reheat the vegetable purée, add to serving bowls, and top with butter and the cut-up sausage.

FOOD & WINE

Some call our bacon coffee cake You can call it a slice of heaven

By Janie Ledyard

Buying local pastured pork by the half or whole yields 50-100 pounds, or more, in a wide variety of cuts.

Often, it overwhelms the home cook, some more unusual cuts requiring vision and scope to create recipes to suit the flavors.

To the rescue is my favorite version of bacon coffee cake. I find this a great way to use up the often oddly-shaped pieces of pork jowl and pork belly that usually come unsliced along with a “half-hog” or “wholehog” purchase.

Use kitchen shears or a very sharp knife to sliver off small pieces from this delicious bacon meat – regularity of your slices isn’t required in this

delicious

recipe. Alternatively, purchase thickcut bacon from the store, though this is one of those recipes that really does warrant top-quality grass-fed artisanal meat.

Make this a truly home-grown treat by using local free-range eggs in the cake, and you can even make your own homemade buttermilk from raw milk available through cow share programs at several area farms.

Bacon-topped coffee cake For the cake:

1/2 cup butter 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 cup buttermilk 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the crumble: 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup brown sugar

Candied maple drizzle adds a hint of sweetness to the bacon coffee cake.

3/4 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 3-5 thick-cut slices of bacon

For maple drizzle:

1 cup powdered sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons strong coffee 1 tablespoon butter, melted 1 teaspoon maple extract (substitute pure maple syrup if you don’t have maple extract)

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs with a spoon or electric mixer. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Put half the flour mixture into the butter and stir. Pour the buttermilk into the batter and mix together for about one minute then add the rest of the flour mixture. Mix well.

Pour into a greased 9-inch cake pan.

For the crumble, melt the butter and add flour, cinnamon and brown sugar. Mix with a fork or

your hands until it forms a crumble.

Sprinkle on top of the cake batter and place in the oven. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center.

When done, remove pan from oven and allow to cool.

While the cake is baking, cut bacon slices into small pieces and fry until cooked evenly. Place on paper towels to soak up excess oil after cooking.

In a bowl, mix maple drizzle ingredients.

Once the cake has cooled, slide a knife around the edges of the tin to loosen the cake. Place a plate over the cake pan and flip to remove the cake from the pan. Take another plate and flip the cake back to it’s upright position with the crumble back on top.

Place the cooked bacon pieces on top of the cake and generously drizzle with maple icing.

PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE SUMMER 2017

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FOOD & WINE

Eating around the world Dinner inspiration from Monopoly properties

By Tim Artz

Even though Mediterranean and Baltic avenues get a bad rap on the Monopoly board as low-rent, in reality, there’s delectably upscale cuisine coming out of southeastern Europe.

Tim’s Tennessee Avenue barbeque rub

Baltic Avenue bass pasta

1–2 lb. striped bass 2 small onions 1 carrot, peeled 1 stalk celery 1 bay leaf 6 cloves garlic Sprigs of fresh thyme and parsley ½ teaspoon black peppercorns Salt to taste 2-3. chopped tomatoes Fresh basil 1-2 tablespoons olive oil 1-2 tablespoons dry vermouth 1 tablespoon butter 1 box Paccheri pasta

Fillet the fish with skin on. Save the head and bones for stock.

To make fish stock, throw fish bones and heads into a stockpot. Cover with water. Add an onion cut in half, a carrot cut in one inch pieces, a celery stalk, four cloves of garlic, bay leaf, a few black peppercorns, some salt, sprigs of thyme and parsley.

If you have shrimp heads or shells or lobster shells, add them, too.

Simmer several hours. Adjust the seasoning if needed. Strain.

Put a quart of fish stock and the tomatoes in a saucepan and set it to a low boil to reduce.

Reduce to half the original volume until it begins to thicken.

Salt and pepper the fish fillets. Sauté them in a pan with olive oil, skin side down first.

When just cooked through, remove to cool.

Remove the skin and break into bits to add to the saucepot.

Add a bit more oil to the pan and sauté the other onion, finely chopped, and two cloves minced garlic.

When they are soft and just starting to brown, add them to the saucepot.

Finish the sauce with the vermouth and then the butter. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the pasta.

Cook the pasta al dente. Drain, and dress with a small amount of the sauce. Plate and top with a generous serving of sauce.

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2 cups New Mexico mild red chili powder 1 cup Pasilla chili powder 1 cup chipotle chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon habanero powder (optional) 1 cup sea salt 1 cup sugar ½ cup granulated garlic (not powder) ½ cup granulated onion (not powder) ½ cup ground black pepper ¼ cup cumin seeds, toasted in a dry skillet and then ground

Mix everything in a large bowl. This makes about 2 quarts of rub.

Stored in a glass jar, it will stay fresh in the pantry for up to a year.

Peel the membrane from spare rib racks. Rub generously with the spice rub.

Prepare smoker or barbecue for indirect cooking at 225 degrees. Place ribs on the grill.

Mop every hour or so with a mixture of beer, apple cider vinegar and some of the rub, just enough to keep the top surface moistened.

Cook 4-6 hours until tender and juicy.

Pacific Avenue ceviche

2 lbs. small Gulf shrimp 1 lb. octopus 2 cups lime juice 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt 2 ripe tomatoes, diced ½ red onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 bunch cilantro, minced 4 Haas avocados, diced 5 serrano chiles, sliced 1 habanero chile, minced (optional)

PHOTOS BY TIM ARTZ

Wash, peel and devein the shrimp. Fill a pot halfway with water, add the juice of one lime and a teaspoon of salt.

Bring to a boil.

Prepare a bowl of ice water. Put the shrimp in the boiling pot for a minute, drain and put them in the ice bath.

Cool and cut each shrimp into 2-3 pieces and place in a one gallon acid-proof container with the other cup of lime juice.

Poach octopus in the shrimp water. Cook until barely cooked through.

Thinly slice and put in the container with the shrimp.

Refrigerate at least one hour.

Remove from fridge and place the seafood in a large stainless bowl. Fold in the remaining ingredients.

Serve with corn chips.

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WILD INSTINCT Northrock Shopping Center 524 Fletcher Drive, Warrenton, VA 20186 540.341.8840 |www.warrentonjewelers.com SUMMER 2017

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Take time for tea Summer’s perfect for a traditional treat using flowers and herbs from your own garden

By Nora Rice

Classic cucumber sandwiches

Enjoy your summer’s bounty at the height of the season with an al fresco garden party.

A shady spot in the garden with a breeze is ideal. Set your table with bright linens and china for a festive gathering.

Decorate with a fragrant herbal centerpiece. Rosemary, lavender, mints and chamomile blossoms hold up well on a warm summer day. For the best results, gather your herbs in the morning after the dew has dried and before the sun bakes the essential oils from the leaves and flowers.

4 teaspoons fresh dill, divided into 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 teaspoons 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 8 slices white bread, thinly sliced 1 medium cucumber, seeds removed or 1 seedless cucumber Salt and pepper to taste

Mint tea 4 cups fresh mint, stems and leaves coarsely chopped 10 cups water

Bring water to a boil. Stir in mint, cover and remove from heat.

Steep, covered, for five minutes.

Strain and sweeten to taste with sugar or honey. Allow to cool and refrigerate.

Serve over ice with a sprig of mint.

Rosemary lavender tea 4 tablespoons rosemary, chopped 4 tablespoons lavender blossoms and leaves, chopped 8 cups water

Bring water to boil. Stir in rosemary and lavender, cover and remove from heat.

Steep, covered, for five minutes.

Strain and sweeten to taste with honey or sugar. Allow to cool covered and refrigerate.

Serve over ice with a sprig of fresh lavender or rosemary.

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Summer green herb spread

Serve with thinly sliced crusty bread or rye thins.

6 oz cream cheese 4 tablespoons chopped chives 8 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 1/2 cup finely chopped Boston lettuce or fresh spinach leaves 3 to 4 tablespoons dry white vermouth or wine

Salt and pepper to taste Mix well and refrigerate overnight.

Mix 1 1/2 teaspoons dill and softened butter. Spread dill butter thinly on each slice of bread.

Peel and slice cucumber thinly.

Generously cover 4 slices of buttered bread with cucumber.

Salt and pepper cucumber to taste.

Cover with remaining slices and trim off crusts.

Cut each sandwich into four triangles.

Dip the edges of half of the sandwiches in the reserved fresh dill.

Place on a serving plate and cover tightly. Refrigerate.

Rose petal trifle 2 cups rose petals trimmed of bitter white at base 2 cups banana pudding 1 cup currants or white raisins 1 orange, juiced or orange flavored liquor 1 small pound cake Whipped cream and rose petals for garnish

Combine banana pudding, currants and rose petals.

Cut pound cake into thin slices, place upright to line a glass bowl.

Sprinkle the cake until moist with the orange juice or liquor.

Mound the banana pudding, currants and rose petal mixture on the moistened cake.

Cover and refrigerate.

Stuffed nasturtium blossom salad 16 nasturtium blossoms 4 cups chicken salad or egg salad 4 cups salad greens Lemon vinaigrette dressing

Rinse blossoms gently and drain on paper towels.

Spoon chicken or egg salad into each blossom.

Toss salad greens with lemon vinaigrette.

Place blossoms on the bed of salad greens.

Rosewater party favor Red rose blossoms Water

Collect eight small decorative bottles with stoppers or corks.

Fill the bottles with water, then pour the water into a measuring cup. Pour water into a pot.

For each cup of water, put petals from two roses. Put petals in the pot with your water.

Heat the water and petals gently until the petals are translucent.

Strain, pour into bottles and refrigerate.

Rosewater can be used as a delicate flavoring in recipes or as a refreshing skin spritzer.

PHOTOS BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

SUMMER 2017

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It’s too darn hot to cook? Then don’t.

By Janie Ledyard

I’ve been entertaining for 35 years, longer, if you count the years I helped my mom prepare everything from family feasts to dainty garden club luncheons.

You could always count on mother to make everything from scratch, and that meant hours in the kitchen, chopping, dicing, roasting, basting, kneading, stirring and more.

When I started entertaining as a young adult in my own tiny apartment, I spent plenty of time in my tiny hot kitchen chopping, dicing and more. I cooked my way through two “Silver Palate” cookbooks, made and took advice from the various domestic goddesses of the 1980s and 1990s. I’ve made pounds of pate brisee, cured a whole salmon, wrangled countless turkeys and crown roasts, not to mention the bushels of vegetables I’ve whipped, pureed, and roasted. I even copied Martha Stewart’s idea of making little brushes from fresh rosemary with which to apply herbed butter to roasted corn on the cob. It was only then, when I noticed one of my dinner guests looking quizzically at the tiny raffia tied rosemary brush, and begin to chew on it ever so delicately that I had taken the whole idea of “made from scratch” too far.

It’s 17 years into the new millennium, and that tiny apartment is a faint but pleasant memory. I now have a house with a proper dining room and the outdoor living area I always dreamed of entertaining in.

Alas, my kitchen is still tiny, and hot as blazes, especially in the summertime.

I’ve learned that guests don’t really care if everything is made wholly from scratch. All they care about is sharing some good food, drink and the company of friends.

Summer menu ideas

Provencal, y’all – search your local delis, specialty food shops and farm stands • Salade Nicoise - fresh salad greens, tomatoes, blanched green beans, hard boiled egg, fancy oil packed tuna filets and nicoise olives with a lemony vinaigrette • Assorted country pates and terrines • Ratatouille (this can be your one cooked item, and a great way to use your garden vegetables) • Assorted firm cheeses and olives • Soft goat cheese drizzled with local honey and finished with cracked black pepper • Crusty artisan bread, homemade if you have time • Perrier, assorted wines and beers • Fresh berry parfait made with local berries and store-bought custard Rustic Tuscan - search local delis, groceries and ethnic markets • Antipasto platters with assorted salamis and cured meats, firm cheeses, olives, roasted red pappers, marinated artichoke hearts, jardiniere, dried figs and apricots • Chilled shrimp with spicy marinara sauce

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Refreshing sangria, made with local peaches, is a perfect summer sipper.

• Caprese salad platter with local or homegrown tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil • Prosciutto wrapped melon wedges • Assorted breadsticks, crackers and crusty bread • Seasoned olive oil for dipping • Pellegrino, assorted wines and beers • Gelato or ice cream with amaretti cookies or biscotti All menu items are delicious served chilled or at room temperature, so no cooking is required.

Here’s another one of my favorite ways to cool off this summer with an adult beverage:

PHOTO BY JANIE LEDYARD

Taste of summer

Rosy peach sangria

1 750 ml bottle of rose wine 1/4 cup raspberry vodka 1/2 cup peach schnapps 2 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced 1/2 lemon thinly sliced 1/2 orange thinly sliced

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and chill for several hours.

At time of service, add 16-20 oz. of Sprite, or your favorite lemon-lime soda.

Serve over ice, with a few pieces of the fruit in each glass.

Makes 6-8 servings.

FOOD & WINE Find it local • Wort Hog Brewing Company Warrenton • Old Bust Head Brewing Company Vint Hill • The Farm Brewery at Broad Run Broad Run • Tin Cannon Brewing Company Gainesville • Far Gohn Brewing Company Culpeper • Beer Hound Brewery Culpeper • Pen Druid Brewing Sperryville • BadWolf Brewing Company Manassas • Heritage Brewing Manassas • Backroom Brewery Middletown

Warrenton’s Wort Hog is on the cutting edge of regional microbreweries.

PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

Summer adventure is brewing

And this year, we mean that quite literally

Take time to tour a host of local, regional and national sippers that make the U.S. the envy of the beer world

By John Daum

If you’re a beer drinker these days, then congratulate yourself. We’re living in the Golden Age of Beer, and you’re on the cutting edge.

The 21st century is something of a renaissance of beer, all around the U.S., and – especially – right here in Virginia.

A revolution has taken place that has makes domestic beer the envy of brewers all around the world. Gone is wholescale world domination of German brews. Mexican beer is fading into the history books. Today, it’s all about small, and boutique when you’re talking about beer.

Local microbrews are as popular around the nation and around the globe as Heineken was a couple decades ago when it was considered the apex of sophistication.

Don’t feel bad if the news is late arriving at your doorstep. No doubt many people passed through the Sistine Chapel soon after Michelangelo was done, looked up, shrugged their shoulders and muttered “Eh...too much color.”

It’s in history’s rearview mirror that we see things more clearly.

But that doesn’t have to be the case. This is the perfect season to sample a liquid masterpiece from artists all over the country, especially from around Virginia.

In good taste

Summertime is beer time. Start with something

fresh and local, because just like summer vegetables, beer wasn’t meant to ship thousands of miles or to sit on a shelf. Warrenton’s new Wort Hog Brewery offers a host of selections, from regional and national microbrewers. Their Great American Ale is a local take on a traditional blonde ale with sweet malt overtones and a crisp finish. Try it with a steak or burger, a good protein balance to the fragrant local brew that holds up well to a full American summer feast.

Down the road at Vint Hill, Old Bust Head Brewery offers Sonic Charm Double IPA, something to put you in the mood for barbeque and fireworks, and the sip is easy enough you could take a bottle to the backyard for a nice long nap in the hammock.

Both Wort Hog and Bust Head offer dozens of selections on tap, and both offer tiny sips in a flight of beer so you can easily pinpoint your own favorite.

Can’t get to a brewery? No problem. Pick up a sixpack of Singel from Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in Richmond. This is a traditional Belgian golden ale that pairs well with any picnic menu, and is a perfect starter beer for someone ready to be liberated from the clutches of the traditional commercial brewers. Golden Ox Pale Ale from Old Ox Brewery in Ashburn is another choice to compliment a summer cookout. Pair it with local corn and Atlantic shrimp on the grill.

A little more adventurous is Blue Mountain’s Dark Hollow, a barrel-aged imperial stout from Afton. It smooths out raw or steamed Chesapeake or Carolina oysters.

Raising the bar With 164 breweries across the state, the Old Dominion currently ranks 13th in the nation.

According to the Brewers Association, the impact of these and other breweries has been enormous, contributing $55.7 billion to the U.S. economy last year alone.

It has also been a large driver of job growth, accounting for more than 424,000 jobs, and growing.

In Virginia, the growth in microbrews and regional breweries is attributed to state legislation that allows breweries and brewpubs to sell beer directly to customers without selling food.

According to local brewer Matt Tolley, Senate Bill 430 was another game changer for local beer makers. “430 basically said no local ordinance could exclude a farm brewery as long as they met the regulations of the local health department,” Tolley says.

The legislation opened the door for Virginia’s farmers looking for another way to maximize property values – especially with land unsuitable for crops or livestock.

Currently, craft brews account for 12.3 percent of total beer sales in the U.S. SUMMER 2017

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Channeling Chevy Chase’s ‘Vacation’ on annual road trip As usual, the best views aren’t always planned

ter and her family. We decided to drive across the country and select a place to live around here.

We taped a U.S. map to our living room wall, marking states and sites we wished to see and experience. I’d never seen the Grand Canyon. We both had family in Texas we wanted to visit. DonBy Craig Macho nelle wanted to see Four Corners, the spot where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet.

We wouldn’t be camping this trip, but I was firm on not making hotel reservations until the end of a driving day.

On the road again After all, as I pointed out to my wife, we had Goin’ places that I’ve never been no idea where we might end up.

Seein’ things that I may never see again We watched the sunset over the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, visited a small whiskey distillery And I can’t wait to get on the road again in a converted schoolhouse in Tennessee, stood atop – WILLIE NELSON, “ON THE ROAD AGAIN” the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains and Donnelle completed a lifelong dream to sit in I love going on road trips. four states at once, but it was a problem with our car The hours spent in a car with friends or family, in Colorado that probably led to the most interesttaking in the sights, listening to music, becoming ing, but completely unplanned, part of our trip. involved in lengthy conversations where we solve After a day spent at Four Corners, we made the world’s problems. Road trips are not about the our way into Cortez, Colorado, where we planned destination, but how you get there. to spend the night. As we pulled into the hotel And as singer-songwriter Willie Nelson points parking lot, the radiator on our car blew out, raout, there is a sense of adventure and freedom on diator fluid steaming and hissing as we watched. a great road trip.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to do that,” I said I grew up in northern California at a time to Donnelle. when gas was cheap. With an ocean on one side It was a Saturday afternoon, and Cortez is a and mountains on the other, I took many sumsmall town. But I discovered a Ford dealership mer road trips with my friends. I was a teenager nearby and caught the weekend crew at the dealwith a car and a few bucks saved up from partership.

We made arrangements to have the car time jobs. I’d scrounge camping equipment from fixed on Monday. family members and disappear with a few friends We had an extra day on our hands. I asked the hofor a two-week expedition into the Sierra Nevada tel desk clerk what one did for excitement in Cortez. mountain range.

“Mesa Verde?” she asked, eyebrows arched, We might have a map. Or not. Some of the looking at me as if I was a knucklehead. best places we discovered would simply become a Ten minutes later, after a quick peek at Google, memory, as we’d seem to never be able to locate I understood why she thought I was an idiot. the same trailhead or fire road the folPeople fly here from all over the lowing summer, but that was OK. world to visit Mesa Verde National After the trip, all of us smelly, Park, a concentration of ancient Puebhungry and broke, we’d return home lo Indian cliff dwellings built from the with stories to tell until the next year.

6th to the 12th century.

My wife Donnelle, on the other It was one of the most remarkable hand, is more comfortable with a firm things we had ever seen. And although travel plan. She talks of family trips I’m confident we would have stumbled taken when she was a child, where across the national park when we motel reservations were in place and planned our next day’s drive even if the route sketched out months ahead our car hadn’t broken down, we very of time, everything planned down to well might have missed it and missed the number of hours traveled in a day. the sun setting behind the red cliffs.

“That’s not a road trip,” I’d point A broken-down car, ancient cliff out. “That’s just driving somewhere.” dwellings and the most amazing sunWhile Donnelle indulged me in a set I’ve ever seen with the love of my couple of road trips early in our marlife at my side.

That’s the kind of road riage, once we had children all bets PHOTO BY CRAIG MACHO trip you tell stories about. were off and we reverted to her style The Four Corners, part of the Macho family ‘summer trip of a lifetime.’

The Last Word

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of travel. Thus, most of the trips we took when our kids were young were pretty well planned out.

That is, until I talked her into going on a “real” road trip one summer.

Spontaneous and unplanned, I said, as most good road trips are.

“You just need to pack stuff for yourself,” I told her as I loaded up the dog, food and camping supplies in the SUV. Donnelle, as I said, likes her adventures organized with checklists and itineraries. She asked where we were heading.

“East.” I waited a beat. “Into the mountains.

Or somewhere else.”

She didn’t say a word as the kids and I finished packing. We were in the car, ready to leave.

“Um, are we camping?” she asked, as I was backing down our driveway and the garage door began to close.

“Maybe,” I answered. “Depends on where we end up. Relax.” I finally let a hint of exasperation sneak into my tone.

“Well,” she said levelly. “Shouldn’t you pack the tent poles along with the tent?”

OK, so I forgot the tent poles.

But it turned into a great road trip, (once I retrieved the tent poles), an adventure our nowgrown kids still mention when we reminisce about favorite summer stories.

Not all road trips involve camping, of course, and many don’t even require an overnight stay. But talk to a road trip aficionado and they will agree that that any great adventure must involve time away from the interstates, a dedication to stopping whenever something catches your eye, and possessing a penchant for gas station beef jerky.

Two summers ago my bride and I took the road trip of a lifetime.

We had both retired, sold our home and were planning a move to Virginia to follow our daugh-

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At Highland School, we can customize your tuition based on your family’s ability to pay.

Introducing ‘Indexed Tuition’ at Highland School.

At Highland, a Pre-K2 to Grade 12 independent day school in the heart of Warrenton, we know that managing the cost of tuition is a consideration for every family interested in an independent school education. To help, we’re introducing an easy and accessible approach called ‘Indexed Tuition’ that bases the cost on how much a family can contribute toward its child’s tuition.

Interested in learning more about affording a Highland

Donna Tomlinson Director of Admission & Tuition Assistance 540-878-2740 dtomlinson@highlandschool.org

education through our new ‘Indexed Tuition’ program?

Contact Donna Tomlinson at dtomlinson@highlandschool.org, call 540-878-2740, or go to highlandschool.org/affording.

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