Loudoun Magazine Spring 2012

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J a n u a r y SPRING

2002

2012

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KHOVA

T Spring 2012, Vol. 11, No. 1 19301 Winmeade Dr. Suite 224 • Leesburg VA 20176 703.771.8800 • Fax: 703.771.8833

PUBLISHER Norman K. Styer nstyer@acnpapers.com EDITOR Therese P. Howe theresehowe@hotmail.com MAGAZINE DESIGNER Elizabeth Phillips Pinner GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Melanie Livingston Bill Getlein Chris Allison ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES Colleen Grayson Paula Grose Tonya Harding

Kym Harrison

Vicky Mashaw

Andrea Ryder

Susan Styer CONTRIBUTORS E.S. Biddle, Alexandra Greeley, Emily Hummel, Jennifer Hustead, Tom Knoerzer, Tracy LeBlanc, Buzz McClain, Margaret Morton, Cecilio Ricardo Jr., Lalaine Estella Ricardo LOUDOUN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1537-0356, USPS 022-697) is published quarterly by Leesburg Today and AmericanCommunity Newspapers, LOUDOUN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1537-0356, USPS 022-697) is published quar terly by Leesburg Today, 19301 Winmeade Dr. Suite 224 Leesburg VA 20176.

Advertising rates available upon request. To subscribe or obtain assistance with a current subscription, call (703)771-3328. Subscription price is $25 per year.

Single copies $4.95. POSTMASTER, SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO LOUDOUN MAGAZINE, PO Box 591, Leesburg, VA 20178-0591. Periodicals postage paid at Leesburg VA and at additional mailing offices. Copyright 2009 by Leesburg Today. All rights reserved. No part of LOUDOUN MAGAZINE may be reproduced physically or electronically without the written permission of the publisher. LOUDOUN MAGAZINE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

All real estate advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act.

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L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

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Traditional Townhomes from the Upper $300’s

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*Prices, terms, features and savings subject to change without notice. Certain restrictions apply. Not to be combined with any other offer. See community Sales Consultant for details. Lot premiums may apply and community association fees are required.

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation.

We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing S P ofRrace, I Nreligion, G 2sex, 0 handicap, 1 2 familial status, or national origin. K. Hovnanian American Mortgage L.L.C., 3601 because Quantum Boulevard, Boynton Beach, FL 33426. NMLS# 3259. Licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission #MC2661.

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Table of Contents

2012 . VOLUME 11 . NUMBER 1

DEPARTMENTS 6 CALENDAR 10 NEIGHBORS

by E.S. Biddle PHOTOGRAPHY BY CECILIO RICARDO JR.

Eric Lyles follows in the footsteps

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of his family tradition.

13 HEALTH & BEAUTY

by E.S. Biddle

Get a leg up on shorts season with tips to glam up the gams from the waist down.

20 DINING

FEATURES 8 LEESBURG FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW

by Margaret Morton

Spring into the season at the annual floral festival.

9 OLD SCHOOL CONCERTS

by Alexandra Greely

Local chefs hone the fine art of pairing food to beer and wine.

42 DESTINATIONS

by Lalaine Estella

Families can fill the senses on the historic W&OD Trail.

by Margaret Morton

Waterford historic site will rise from the ashes of 2007 fire.

28 HOMETOWN HEROES

52 AT HOME

by Tracy LeBlanc

National Wildlife Federation certifies backyard habitats.

Unsung heroes get the spotlight as we celebrate their efforts.

36 ON THE FLY

by Buzz McClain

ABOUT THE COVER “The Cathedral” section of the W&OD is

The Tattersall boys take to the Potomac for father-son bonding time.

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popular with bicyclists on the historic trail.

Photography by Tom Knoerzer PHOTO BY KELLY SENSER/NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

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L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

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There’s Only One Creighton Farms In the tranquil Virginia horse country, behind the stately stone gates of Creighton Farms, lies a private club community like no other. One with a stunning landscape steeped in history. Enviable amenities and unparalleled service. Social and Golf Memberships with divine dining and recreational offerings.

Creighton Farms will exceed your expectations of elegance, convenience, and luxury in all its forms:

• Custom Homes and Villas from $1.5M

• Private, award-winning Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course

• Brand-new 34,000-square-foot clubhouse

• Sweeping views of the Northern Virginia countryside

• Golf, social and corporate memberships

• Just 20 minutes from Dulles and 55 minutes from downtown Washington

Come experience DC Metro’s premier private club community – and visit our brand-new model home.

Call to schedule a personal tour or join us during our weekend Open House events, Sat. and Sun. 10-4.

22050 Creighton Farms Drive, Aldie, VA 20105 | www.creightonfarms.com | 703-957-4800

A Southworth Community

Juno Loudoun, LLC is the owner and developer of the project. Access to and use of recreational amenities are not included in the purchase of real estate in Creighton Farms and require separate club membership which is subject to application, approval, and payment of applicable fees and dues. Initiation fee may be waived if membership is activated within sixty (60) days of purchase. Obtain and carefully review the offering materials for The Club at Creighton Farms before making any decision to purchase a membership. This is not an offer to sell property to, or a solicitation of offers from, residents of NY, NJ, CT, OR or any other state that requires prior registration of real estate. Prices and terms are subject to change without notice. Obtain the property report or its equivalent, required by Federal and State law and read it before signing anything. No Federal or

State the merits or value, if any, of this property.

S P Ragency I N G has 2 0 1judged 2

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SPRING 2012

March

Calendar

MARCH 17, APRIL 21, MAY 19 BLUEMONT COUNTRY DANCES HILLSBORO OLD STONE SCHOOL Swing your partner around at these old-fashioned country dances that take place monthly. The dances begin at 8 p.m., with a beginners workshop taking place at 7:30 p.m. For more info, visit www.bluemont.org.

MARCH 31-APRIL 1 MORVEN PARK SPRING HORSE TRIALS

MARCH 17-APRIL 15 SPRING FESTIVAL TICONDEROGA FARMS This family festival opens the spring season with special activities in addition to the farm’s yearround attractions. Spring fun includes egg hunts, Easter Bunny appearances, baby farm animals, bird watching, animal tracking and special weekend activities. The festival is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily; visit www.ticonderoga.com for more information.

MARCH 24 LOUDOUN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: FANTASY AND ROMANCE VIRGINIA ACADEMY, ASHBURN Featuring Mark Edwards Wilson conducting his American Composer Competition winning piece “The Phoenix”, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, “Romance”, this will most surely be a fantastic and romantic evening at the symphony.

For more info, including ticket prices, visit loudounsymphony.org.

MARCH 31 EASTER EGG HUNT IDA LEE PARK, LEESBURG Ida Lee Park will be hopping this Easter, what with candy-filled eggs, prizes, and all sorts of other entertainments to delight all the children in your life. The hunts will go on, rain or shine! And don’t forget to bring your camera for a picture with the Easter Bunny! For more info or to register, call 703.777.1368.

MARCH 31-APRIL 1 ANNUAL EASTER EGG HUNT AND MARSHMALLOW HARVEST GREAT COUNTRY FARMS Marshmallow peeps don’t grow on trees, but be sure to harvest a few to roast on the bonfire! There will also be multiple Easter Egg Hunts with more than 7,000 eggs, lots of baby animals, a hayride, slides, rope swings, mazes, and an animal barnyard. For more info, including the schedule for hunts, visit www.greatcountryfarms.com.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF MORVEN PARK

MARCH 31-APRIL 1 SPRING HORSE TRIALS MORVEN PARK Spectators are admitted free in this competition featuring 200 teams of riders in dressage, show jumping and cross-country riding tests. For more info, visit www.morvenpark.org.

April

APRIL 7 ECO EASTER MORVEN PARK Families are invited to bring their kids from 10 a.m.-noon to hunt for eggs and participate in the egg roll on the grounds of “Leesburg’s White House.” The Easter Bunny will be there for photos!

Other activities include live rabbits from 4-H’s Leaps & Squeaks Club and making crafts. Families should bring mixing spoons and hard-boiled eggs for their kids participating in the egg roll. Visit www.morvenpark.org for more info including admission fee.

APRIL 21 MIDDLEBURG SPRING RACES GLENWOOD PARK, MIDDLEBURG Enjoy six exciting horse races every half hour as these noble creatures race to win $75,000. The event involves horses jumping over fences, hurdles, and timber to the finish. Gates open at 10:30 a.m.; post time is 1p.m. For more info, visit www. middleburgspringraces.com.

APRIL 21-22 22ND ANNUAL LEESBURG FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVAL DOWNTOWN LEESBURG The entire Historic District of Leesburg turns into a full-fledged garden, filled with landscape displays, fresh flowers, trees, furniture, and more during this amazing event! Enjoy all this and live music while your kids visit A hands-on education area, featuring puppet shows, story telling, and art projects! Rain or shine, tickets are $3 per person and children under six attend free. For more info, visit www.idalee.org.

APRIL 22 EARTHDAY@LOUDOUN FAMILY FESTIVAL CLYDE’S WILLOW CREEK FARM Bring a picnic and come learn about ways to protect the environment at Earthday@Loudoun!

This family-friendly event has live music all day; a beer, wine and spirits garden; and more than100 exhibitors to teach you about energy efficiency, water conservation, holistic health, gardening, clean air, and buying local. The Kids Zone also has a petting zoo, live animal exhibits, and plenty of games to keep little ones entertained. Admission is free and activities will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more info, visit earthdayatloudoun.org.

APRIL 23 GARDEN TOURS- HISTORIC GARDEN WEEK MIDDLEBURG AND UPPERVILLE The Garden Club of Virginia presents its 79th L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

annual Historic Garden Week, showcasing some of the most beautiful gardens and estates all across the state. This year, homes include Oakwood, Edgewood, Poke and Woodslane Farm. For more info, visit www.vagardenweek.org.

APRIL 29 LOUDOUN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHAMBER CONCERT FRANKLIN PARK ARTS CENTER Members of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra come together to perform a concert of beautiful chamber music, made even more beautiful by the excellent acoustics and ambiance of the Franklin Park Arts Center. For more info, visit www. loudounsymphony.org.

APRIL 29 WATERFORD CONCERT SERIES: AFIARA STRING QUARTET WATERFORD OLD SCHOOL, WATERFORD Come celebrate the opening of the Old School auditorium with this highly-decorated Canadian quartet! Tickets are $25 by phone or at the door; subscriptions for all four concerts in the series are $80 and can be purchased online. For more info, visit www.waterfordfoundation.org

May

MAY 5 87TH VIRGINIA CUP GOLD RACES GREAT MEADOWS, THE PLAINS

Join the approximately 50,000 people who will gather to watch the 86th anniversary of one of the nation’s largest steeplechase races. The race features six hurdle and timber horse races, Jack Russell Terrier races, contests and more than 30 vendors. For more info, visit www.vagoldcup.com

JUNE 2 VIRGINIA WINE COUNTRY HALF MARATHON DOUKENIE WINERY, HILLSBORO The idea of a Wine Country Half Marathon originated in Sonoma, California; the Marathon in Virginia begins and ends at Doukenie Winery in Hillsboro and winds its way past historic farms, alongside vineyards and farmland, and under quaint country lanes. Afterwards, there is the Wine and Music Festival with food, entertainment, wine tasting, and the awards ceremony. For more info, visit www.run4virginiawine.com.

MAY 19-20 LOUDOUN COUNTY SPRING FARM TOUR LEESBURG Farms and wineries all over Loudoun County are open for visitors to buy seedlings and plants, see baby animals, tour wineries, learn about food and food processing, and much more. This is a selfguided driving tour, so admission is free. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more info, visit www.loudounfarms.org

JUNE 2-3 STRAWBERRY JUBILEE GREAT COUNTRY FARMS, BLUEMONT To celebrate the largest strawberry festival in Northern Virginia, this Jubilee will be jam-packed with live music, farms contests, great food and, of course, strawberries. There will also be a PieEating Contest, Tart Toss, a 60’ slide, mazes, rope swings, and a Diaper Derby in which babies four to nine months crawl to the finish for prizes. For more info, visit www.greatcountryfarms.com.

MAY 19-MAY 20 HOTTEST COOL JAZZ FESTIVAL CHRYSALIS VINEYARDS, MIDDLEBURG What do you get when you add fantastic jazz from the area’s hottest bands; delicious wines, cheeses, and chocolates; gorgeous designer jewelry and other things; and fine art from renowned artists? One of the most hip, cool, lively events in Loudoun County. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more info, visit www. chrysaliswine.com.

JUNE 9-10 WESTERN LOUDOUN ARTISTS STUDIO TOUR Talk to artists, watch them work, observe their techniques and exercise your own creativity in this special self-guided weekend of art fun and education. The tour is free and open to the public.

For more info, visit www.wlast.org.

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Leesburg’s

BY MARGARET MORTON

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ne of the rites of spring in Loudoun is the annual Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival, which returns to downtown Leesburg April 2122. The annual festival, which takes place throughout the heart of historic Leesburg and encompasses five blocks, has become a regional horticultural showcase that draws plant and garden-related vendors and landscapers from across the country.

There will be about 150 exhibitors, according to Special Events Supervisor Rachael Goodwin, who said interest in the gardening show is at an all-time high. There will be 11 landscapers this year, producing the clever and imaginative miniature gardens that are one of the delights-and constant draws-at the festival.

Among the changes this year will be the addition of a new demonstration areathe first block of West Cornwall Street that has replaced last year’s addition of Wirt Street. “No one turned left onto Wirt; we couldn’t get them to go around the corner,” Goodwin says ruefully.

The street will provide a good area for children’s activities, which will dead-end in the always popular Children’s Stages at the intersection of West Cornwall and Wirt streets.

The Wine and Beer Garden, following on its success last year, will be expanded and will take up the entire Town Green.

Entertainment is always a big draw, and Goodwin plans a wider variety of music both on the Main Stage on the courthouse steps and the Children’s Stage, including break dancing for older kids.

Visitors will be able to tour the show armed with a pre-show pull-out providing advice on how to plan their shopping at the festival, including some basic “green thumb” tips on what kinds of plants to purchase, and how and when to plant all this new material when they get it home.

Hours of the festival are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is a suggested donation of $3. For more information, call 703-777-1368 or visit the town website at www.idalee.org.

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Garden of Eden

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LEESBURG DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION

THE ANNUAL FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL RETURNS TO DOWNTOWN HISTORIC LEESBURG FOR TWO DAYS, ON APRIL 21-22.

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

BRINGING THE CONCERTS HOME

BY MARGARET MORTON

A

pril 29 will be an exhilarating and emotional day for the Waterford Concert Series, which will return to its traditional home after a long absence for the opening performance of its 18th season with the lively and renowned Afiara String Quartet.

The concert series, a program of the Waterford Foundation, has been performing in temporary venues, courtesy of those who sought to help the organization after the devastating January 2007 fire that burned the 1927 Waterford Old School auditorium to the ground. Firefighters were able to save the 1910 classrooms section of the building, but there was insufficient water on hand to save the auditorium.

It’s a race to the finish to get the building completed in time for its official grand opening April 17, when National Trust for Historic Preservation President Stephanie Meeks will be the keynote speaker during the foundation’s annual meeting.

The glimpse of the new auditorium, which

seats 275, will be especially emotional for concert lovers who will be able to savor the coming experience April 29 when the young Canadian quartet produces the first sounds of music to resonate through the building In 1994, some PHOTO BY NORMAN S. STYER/LEESBURG TODAY classical music lovers five concerts: Afiari String Quartet, April 29; in the community organized a successful concert in the Old the Monumental Brass Quintet, May 13; Next School auditorium, resulting in the creation Generation, June 3; the Maryland Opera of the Waterford Concert Series. Over the past Studio, Oct. 21; and the American University 17 years, the series has earned a reputation for Chamber Singers, Nov. 18.

Concerts begin at 4 p.m. and admission producing top quality concerts that unite music lovers with great classical music performed by is $25 per concert. For information on season subscriptions, visit www.waterfordfoundation. world-renowned musicians.

The 2012 performance season will feature org or call 540.882.3018 ext. 117.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21ST (10am-6pm) & SUNDAY, APRIL 22ND (10am-5pm)

22 N D ANNUAL L EESB UR G

Over 150 vendors will be on display featuring landscape designs, gardening supplies, plants, flowers, outdoor living items, herbs, and more!

Enjoy the beer and wine garden, food, music, crafts, and children’s entertainment. $3.00 suggested donation.

Join us rain or shine.

703-777-1368

www.flowerandgarden.org

Find Us On Facebook

Sponsored in part by: Ashburn Today • Leesburg Today • Dulles Greenway • Lightfoot • Gutter Helmet Solutions • Washington Gardener • Northern Virginia Magazine • Specialicious • Loudoun Hounds SPRING

2012

9

Neighbors

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TRADITION

BY E.S. BIDDLE

S

triding into his Purcellville funeral chapel on a damp morning, impeccably dressed in suit and tie, Eric S. Lyles’ quiet energy fills the room. Mauve curtains serve as background to a viewing area fronted by neat rows of cushioned chairs. It is a space long familiar to him, for he is carrying on a family tradition as director of Lyles Funeral Service.

“I see it almost as ministry, as a calling,” says Lyles, who resides in his childhood home adjoining the chapel. It is a calling that brings with it the obligatory curiosity, and Lyles fields the questions with aplomb. “The first thing they’ll say is ‘Oh, your hands aren’t cold,’” he says with a laugh. “And then they think I don’t look old enough” to run a funeral home.

In 1950, Lyles’ parents opened Lyles Funeral Service, the first example of African-American entrepreneurship in Loudoun County. The business is still the only African-American owned funeral home in Loudoun County.

The late C. Julian Lyles Jr. was a World War II veteran from Alexandria, and was lured to Purcellville by friends who introduced him to the area in the late 1940s. Although he was managing an Alexandria funeral home at the time, he and his wife, the late Beatrice Maclin Lyles,, decided to take a gamble and so picked up stakes and moved their family to Loudoun.

The property they bought was the former site of what was known as the Old Colored School House, a two-room school and library which opened in 1920 with the aid of the Willing Workers Club, a local African-American coalition. It was the first African-American school in Purcellville; previously, students were required to walk to Lincoln to attend school.

By the time Eric Lyles was born in the old Leesburg Hospital on Cornwall Street, his father’s business was thriving.

He smiles as he remembers some of his earliest childhood memories. “I vividly recall, at 2 or 3 years old, riding 10

PHOTOS BY THERESE P. HOWE

in a 1954 Cadillac hearse, taking wooden boxes out to the Round Hill Cemetery,” he says. He also remembers that he would “go out on house calls when people would pass away,” accompanying his father as he tended to business.

When his father died in a car accident in 1962, his mother, an educator with a master’s degree, stepped in to run the funeral service. After graduating from Loudoun Valley High School, Eric Lyles decided to formalize his experience in the family business and graduated from the Washington Technical Institute’s School for Mortuary Science. His mother died in 1974, and unfortunately never saw her son take the helm of the business in 1982.

Today, one of Eric Lyles’ specialties as a funeral service director is restorative arts, the skill of returning a person who has suffered trauma–such as a car accident–to a lifelike state, to “looking like themselves,” he says. Like other artisan services,“it’s a fading art,” he says.

However, as times change, so do funeral services, and Lyles Funeral Service accommodates both the traditional and the trendy. Lately, slideshows and multimedia presentations “are getting popular,” Lyles says. “So people can see the spectrum of a person’s life, from beginning to end.”

ERIC LYLESPURCELLVILLE CHRISTMAS PARADE

One family chose to have carpenter tools displayed on a table to commemorate a cremated loved one who had worked in the trade, while another dressed a deceased Redskins fan in a cherished burgundy and gold jersey for the viewing.

One of the most significant components of his funeral service may be the simplest.“Listening is a big part of what we do. It’s more about people telling us what they want,” Eric Lyles says.

Though he has kept the roots of the business in Purcellville, where he served on the Town Council from 1989 to 1998, his business is wide-ranging, operating primarily in Loudoun and Fairfax counties as well as Alexandria, with some business in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Lyles has seen business growing, especially in eastern Loudoun. And while most of his past clients have been AfricanAmerican, he notes that it is changing. “In terms of religion and race, we’re becoming more diverse.”

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GETTING READY FOR SHORTS SEASON B Y

E . S .

B I D D L E

EXPERTS OFFER ADVICE FOR GL AMMING UP THOSE GAMS

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s Mother Nature eases winter out the door it is time to jump into the spring season feet first! Spring brings with it sun, fun, shorts and sandals, but are you afraid to bare your legs? Show your toes? Let our experts help you prepare for another active spring and summer

season with these suggestions for getting – and keeping – your legs and feet in mint condition.

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or many people, long, sunny days conjure visions of a healthy, sunkissed glow. But for those without the time or inclination to sun themselves on the patio or by the pool, Tandulgence Tanning Salon offers a variety of options, including sunless airbrush spray tanning and a wide range of reclining or vertical high- and low-pressure UV tanning beds with exposure times from 10 to 20 minutes.

Joe Antinozzi, general manager of Tandulgence, which has salons in both Sterling and Ashburn, is especially proud of their unique Sun Angel tanning machine, which incorporates new technology to virtually eliminate any chance of burning by taking a reading from the face and body to generate a customized tanning experience.

However, patience is key to attaining and maintaining a golden tan, says Antinozzi. “Most people want instant gratification,” he says. “You need to build up melanin,” a protective skin pigment which causes tanning upon sun exposure.

He recommends undergoing at least two to three tanning sessions to achieve desired results. For those choosing the Sun Angel, he says, “I guarantee that with three times a week for three weeks, you’ll have a nice tan.”

OTHER SALON SERVICES After a cold winter, it is time for toes to emerge from socks and stockings and there is nothing like a pedicure to make you feel confident for those flip-flops and stylish sandals.

Lily Addisu, manager of Lansdowne Resort’s Spa Minérale, notes an upswing in clients seeking pedicures as spring arrives.

“People aren’t doing much with their feet during the winter,” she says, and thus want to spruce them up for spring and summer.

As a result, one of the spa’s most popular services is the Spa Minérale Signature Pedicure, which incorporates all the elements of a traditional pedicure with exfoliation of the lower legs followed by light massage with body butter and treatment with warm paraffin.

“Feet and legs tend to dry during the winter,” she says. The moisturizing qualities of paraffin help alleviate that condition.

Spa Minérale also offers leg waxing, a service in increasing demand as spring arrives, says Addisu. She recommends retouching three weeks after initial 14

SHELLEY GREEN, OWNER OF RAVENSARA STUDIO IN LANSDOWNE, PERFORMS REFLEXOLOGY ON A CLIENT.

treatment.

And as for those toes?

“Whenever spring comes along, it’s usually pastel colors,” she says, regarding clients’ selection of nail colors, but brighter hues,“colors that ‘pop,’” such as oranges and pinks, are also popular.

The desire to break free of the winter doldrums also does not go unnoticed by Patty Wolpe, master esthetician and coowner of Amenity Day Spa in Ashburn, who says, “People want to show off, especially when open-toed shoes come out.”

“One of the biggest draws is our Herbal Stone Pedicure,” she says. During the treatment, citrus fruit oil is massaged over the calves and feet, followed by exfoliation with Chinese herbs and moisturizing with a tangerine lotion, and capped with the touch of warm basalt aromatherapy stones, which increases circulation.

For those concerned about cellulite, the spa also offers lipossage, a massage technique which can minimize cellulite, ridding the back of the legs of unsightly dimples for example.

“It’s a non-invasive procedure,” says Wolpe, “which improves the look of cellulite even if it doesn’t get rid of it altogether.”

And to bring legs to their peak condition, Amenity Day Spa offers both laser treatment and waxing for hair removal.

Six laser treatments 4 to 6 weeks apart

will permanently remove 90 percent of unwanted hair, she says, noting that the bigger the contrast between hair follicle and skin color, the more effective the treatment.

REMOVING VEINS But pampering on the outside is sometimes not just the only preparation legs need before striding confidently into the warmer months. Varicose and spider veins may leave some feeling reticent about donning those shorts and swimsuits.

Seeking a solution, many turn to Capitol Vein and Laser Centers, which has an office in Leesburg.“We absolutely see an increase in business” in springtime, L O U D O U N

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Grafton Integrated Health Network

is a behavioral healthcare organization that has supported children and families for more than fifty years. We are proud to offer the following services at our Leesburg outpatient therapy program (formerly known as Graydon Manor):

Individual Counseling • Couples Therapy • Family Therapy • Group Therapy • Play Therapy • Intensive Outpatient Program for Teens • Psychological Testing

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New Ortho Patients New Patients Cleaning Special In-Office “Proper foot care is obviously critical,” he says. To condition feet Complete Orthodontic Treatment Includes: Routine Cleaning, Examination & (Incluidng Retainers) for the active warmer months, Ramdass recommends stretching 4 Bitewing X-rays. If necessary, full set of Tooth Whitening X-rays only $70 additional. exercises, wearing the correct shoes, and gradually weaning feet (Take-Home Trays Included) from the evenness of indoor exercise surfaces onto the irregularities SAVE $150 Reg. $600 SAVE $155 Reg. $250 (Traditional Orthodontic Treatment & of outdoor terrain.

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CARING FOR THE SOLE

Tending to the feet has larger ramifications than ordinarily supposed, for just as the eyes are said to be the windows of the soul, so the soles of the feet are a gateway to the entire body.

Welcome to reflexology, a technique in which various parts of the foot are manipulated and massaged to affect corresponding areas of the body.

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703.297.8159 703.729.1400

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The Foot and Ankle Center offers these tips for optimal foot and toe health: Sand Walking: Good news for beach-goers! Not only does it massage the feet, but it also strengthens the toes and is good for general foot conditioning.

Avoid Walking Barefoot: Feet will be more prone to injury and infection. At the beach or when wearing sandals always use sunblock on feet as well as on the rest of the body.

Ramdass especially warns against walking barefoot in locker rooms or other indoor, communal spaces as athlete’s foot is “very contagious.”

Trim Toenails Correctly: Cut them straight across, but not too short. Be careful not to cut nails in corners or on the sides; it can lead to ingrown toenails.

Inspect Feet Regularly: Pay attention to changes in color and temperature. Look for thick or discolored nails (a sign of developing fungus), and check for cracks or cuts in the skin.

Any growth on the foot is not considered normal.

Wash Feet Regularly: Wash especially between the toes, and be sure to dry them completely.

Ensure Shoes Fit Properly: Don’t wear the same pair of shoes every day. Purchase new shoes later in the day when feet tend to be at their largest and replace worn out shoes as soon as possible. Select and wear the right shoe for the activity that is planned (i.e. running shoes for running).

Do Not Ignore Foot Pain: It is not normal. If the pain persists, seek medical attention.

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RELAX

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“By stimulating all the nerve endings on the bottom of the foot, you can cause changes to the body,” she says, describing how the shoulders are linked to the area below the pinky toe, the neck with the big toe area, and the digestive system with the middle of the foot. “By stimulating certain regions, you can eliminate energy blockages, and allow the blood to flow” more freely, says Green, “you can feel more energy.”

In general, massage is great for the entire body, she says. “It helps by improving blood flow. All of it is just wonderful.”

From tanning bed to salon, and doctor’s office to massage table, there is no excuse not to get your legs leaping and toes tingling with spring fever as the soft warm spring days beckon.

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canning the Internet uncovers millions of websites referring to wine and beer dinners at restaurants nationwide. This underscores their immense popularity for the worldly foodies, who have come to appreciate that either of these beverages can grace a meal. And many Loudoun restaurants have welcomed this heady trend.

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ndeed, the rapid growth of the wine industry in the county is notable, says Stephen Mackey, president of the Loudoun Wineries Association and EXECUTIVE CHEF PATRICK DINH, RIGHT, PREPARES A RECENT BEER DINNER AT co-owner with TUSCARORA MILL. his wife of Notaviva Vineyards in Purcellville.

“When we bought our property in 2003, only 13 wineries were producing in the county,” he says. “There are now 32 licensed farm wineries in Loudoun, more than in any other county in Virginia. Of those, 28 are open to the public while the others are in the startup phase.” While agritourism helps vintners market their products, several Loudoun restaurants are committed to offering Loudoun wines, he says.

Currently, only a handful of breweries operate in Loudoun, but all that may change rapidly, thanks to the public’s–and the chefs–delight in pairing beer’s accommodating flavors with a wide range of food. Credit could also go to the future opening of Sten Sellier’s Beltway Brewing Company in the county. “I am planning to build a brewery for contract brewing only.

I will produce beers for those who don’t have one, or for those who need additional capacity,” Sellier says. “I have 45 potential clients, ranging from home brewers to well-established craft beer brands wanting to expand to new territories. I have had some restaurants contact me.”

But either way you drink it–wine or beer–these food events are generating some sensational meals. How do the chefs make that perfect match of food to beverage–or beverage to food? Here’s what they say:

Patrick Dinh, Executive Chef

TUSCARORA MILL RESTAURANT This busy restaurant holds a wine and a beer dinner once a month, and from Dinh’s perspective, both events work almost the same way. Each event is coordinated by restaurant staff who purchase the wines and beers, and they advise Dinh which product is the event’s star. Tuscarora looks for exciting wines and beers from any part of the world, and an event may focus, for instance, solely on Spanish wines.

Tastings are always the prelude to menu development, after which Dinh sets about devising recipes that will showcase the selections. “I am working to build flavors up to a crescendo,” he says. “I build the intensity of the flavors of the food to match that of the wine or beer with each L O U D O U N

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course. For example the entrée could be a big juicy red wine with a braised beef and bordelaise, or with beer, I might pair the beef with a dark porter or stout and make a sauce using the beer. The matchup becomes perfect.

“Some beers, like IPAs, are very hoppy and citrusy and pair well with spicy, complex foods,” he continues. “I just did an African curried chicken (see recipe), an Ethiopian recipe for Doro Wat, an intense stewed chicken dish with lots of spice. This works like magic because beer is very forgiving about

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heat,” he says. Over the years, Dinh says he has come to understand how all the disparate flavors work together, especially with wines. “With beer, the flavors can go all over the place,” he says. “With wine, I find that French and Italian foods have a better interplay. The recipes are more delicate, more refined…And certain foods like asparagus and artichokes just don’t work well at all.”

Dinh is very proud of his beer and wine dinners. “We have had wineries and breweries say we do the absolute best event dinners, especially beer dinners. We try to do something more upscale than just sausages and chili, which in the past is what people expected of a beer dinner,” he says. “These dinners that we have been doing for 10 to 15 years are special and a showcase of things we can do that are not on our regular menu. And our guests have come to expect it.”

Wesley Rosati, Executive Chef

ON THE POTOMAC, LANSDOWNE RESORT According to Rosati, his regular On the Potomac wine dinners at Lansdowne Resort focus on local wines and beers as well as on locally grown foods. “That is part of the restaurant’s philosophy,” he says. “It’s local foods paired with local wines.” To help make the proper selections, he works with restaurant manager Spenser McKenna, who visits wineries to evaluate both the product and the vintner.

With different vintners, he says, some offer what they have while others will ask what the restaurant is looking for. “Usually the vintners know

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Loudoun Spring DIning Guide Ad_Leesburg Spring Loudoun Publication 2/22/12 1:50 PM Page 1

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which are the best wines of the year and which is the best they have on hand,” he says. “That narrows wine selections. They may send us five or six, and we pick four.”With McKenna, Rosati gathers his chefs, and talks about what local produce is seasonal and what will work with the offered wines.

What the team has found is that for them the best Loudoun wines are the reds. “How do you use a heavy red wine for dessert?” he asks. “It forces the culinary staff to be creative,” especially as they try to incorporate the evening’s wine selections into their recipes to tie it all together.

Rosati recalls one truly outstanding pairing for a dinner with Sunset Hills Vineyard. “It was with their Cabernet Franc,” he says, “and we paired that with a pork tenderloin topped with a poached quail egg on a sweet potato biscuit,” adding that the pork came from Fields of Athenry in Purcellville.

“That was quite unexpected. And we did one with Corcoran, a big red Malbec wine for dessert. We went with chocolate and even an infusion of wine. It was the Chocolate Financier with a chocolate espresso reduction.

Sometimes we still run this as a special on weekends.”

As the restaurant is gearing up for the spring, the staff is looking forward to its first beer event with Porter City Brewing from Alexandria. “We are thinking of the newest trend,” he says, “a cocktail with beer. … We are trying to use beer in unexpected ways. We will do a tasting to pick up flavors, and then seeing which flavors in the beer we can highlight.”

Mark Marrocco, Executive Chef MAGNOLIAS AT THE MILL 703-777-6511 • village at leesburg 1605 Village Market Blvd, S.E. • Suite 104

www.traviniaitaliankitchen.com

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With the restaurant’s monthly beer- and wine-pairing dinners, the world’s an open book, allowing the staff to make their picks from a global marketplace. But for wines, they can also focus on specific wineries, like the local Corcoran Vineyards in Waterford or Mondavi from Napa Valley, L O U D O U N

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Marrocco says. When dealing with the vintners themselves, the staff holds a vertical tasting with the vintner or the sales rep to learn about the wines on offer.

Then Marrocco and staff set to work, usually starting with the wine to pair with the food. “That’s the best part of the job,” he says. “We taste it and talk about what would be good with the food. We look at what is seasonal and what would go best with special wines. However, when we do regional wines, I will come up with the menu, and the bar manager will pair the wine with the food.”

For their beer dinners–which usually feature brown ales and stouts in the fall and winter months though lighter flavors in summer–Marrocco and staff work much the same way, tasting the beer, and then creating dishes that work well with the brew. With either wine or beer, the cooks always start off with lighter flavors, and move to heavier wines and beers for the entrée and through dessert.

Unlike with wine, however, beer flavors can range all over the place, he says, offering a very special challenge. “A brewery can produce 10 different types of beer, so now there is more to cover in that spectrum with food,” Marrocco says. “There can be light, malty, barley-flavored, darker and fruity.

Some are very complex flavors, but you can pair the beer with complementary flavors or just the opposite,” he says. “Of course, we look to seasonal ingredients and incorporate the beer into the cooking…as with braising short ribs with a brown ale.”

In his good-times spirit, Marrocco remembers one of his more off-beat concoctions for a beer event. It would be the meal when he started off with the dessert. “It was a fruity beer with a cheese dessert,” he says. “People were talking about that for a long time.”

Loudoun’s Original Winery OPEN YEAR ROUND Friday - Sunday 11a- 5:30p

Leesburg, VA I 703.777.8161 info@willowcroftwine.com • www.willowcroftwine.com

March 10 & 24 Cheese Fondue & Wine Tasting, $10 per person April 7 Wine & Cheese Pairing, $12 per person April 21 Taste of Northern Italian Wines,

$15 per person, includes light food fares Revised Goodstone Ad for Loudoun Mag_Layout 1 2/17/12 3:21 PM Page 1 All Spring Events Noon - 4pm Please call/email for reservations!

Bill Walden, Executive Chef

THE GOODSTONE INN & ESTATE With a new sommelier on board, Walden, who notes that the inn has a beautiful and plentiful wine cellar, is gearing up for a new season of wine and beer dinners. As far as he is concerned, he plans the menu first, and the beverages later. “It depends on what you are serving,” he says.“If you are serving a lobster with grapefruit, orzo, and ginger citrus butter, you want a sauvignon blanc. And with coq au vin, you can go with a red or white.”

As is usual, the vintner or his rep is invited to speak about the evening’s wine selections. And as it turns out, Walden is a big fan of local wineries, citing some of his favorites as Chrysalis Vineyards in Middleburg and Fabbioli Cellars in Leesburg. “Both make outstanding wines,” he says, noting that Fabbioli Cellars makes a raspberry wine to die for. “The Sauternes are the ‘kings’ of the dessert wines, and so are late-harvest varieties,” Walden says.

“A slice of chocolate torte, plain whipped cream and the raspberry merlot– the flavor is in the mouth.”

As for how he pairs beer with food, Walden admits he loves a good beer, preferring Belgian beers. “So if I am preparing a choucroute with duck, sausages, and foie gras, I will use the beer in the preparation as well as white wine,” he says. “There are all sorts of good microbreweries, and before starting the menu execution, I will want to taste the beer first. We have a decent selection available here on the property.”

Remembering his most “wonderful” pairing, Walden recounts the occasion when he was presented with a 1982 Chateau d’Yquem (a rare gift from a customer), the finest sauterne in the world. “So, I prepared lobster,” he says. “I reduced a glass of the wine to a syrupy consistency and swirled in Plugra butter with a mince of fresh ginger.” He then served that with the poached lobster and served that with the bottled wine.

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A V I S I T L O U D O U N D E S T I N AT I O N R E S TA U R A N T 25

Recipes Patrick Dinh’s Grilled African Curried Chicken with Pearl Couscous, Currants, Olives, Sunflower Seeds, Spinach and Lemon Cream FOR THE LEMON CREAM: 1 lemon 2 tablespoons salt 2 tablespoons sugar ½ cup white wine 1 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk

Peel the lemon with a peeler to remove only the yellow skin. Keep the skin. With a paring knife, peel the white pith of the lemon to get to the pulp.

Discard the pith. Slice the lemon into 4 or 5 round pieces and remove any seeds.

In a small pot, squeeze the meaty pulp and add the salt, sugar, and wine. Bring to a boil and reduce by half. Pour the contents into a blender, and purée until smooth. Add the sour cream and half-and-half and puree until smooth. Cool the lemon cream in the fridge and set aside until ready to serve.

FOR THE CURRIED CHICKEN: 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts 4 cloves garlic, crushed ½ cup white wine ¼ cup paprika ¼ cup vegetable oil oil 3 tablespoons crushed red pepper 2 tablespoons salt 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon cayenne 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

Combine all ingredients in a large baking dish, and marinate the chicken for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, start a gas or charcoal grill, and when ready, cook the chicken over medium heat until done. Remove from the heat, and cover with foil until ready to serve.

FOR THE COUSCOUS: 1 cup Israeli couscous, cooked in salted water until tender (about 9 minutes), drained, rinsed and cooled 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

26

2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup dry currants ¼ cup toasted sunflower seeds ¼ cup sliced green olives ¼ pound spinach Salt and pepper

In a nonstick skillet over high heat, add the oil, and brown the garlic, for 2 minutes. Add currants, sunflower seeds and olives, and cook 2 minutes.

Add the spinach and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the cooked couscous and toss together until the couscous is hot.

To serve divide couscous mix onto 4 warm plates.

Slice the chicken breasts and place on top of the couscous. Dollop the lemon cream on top of the chicken and serve immediately.

Serves 4 Mark Marrocco’s Ale-Braised Lamb Shanks, Goat Cheese Whipped Potatoes, Tri-Color Baby Carrots, Citrus Gremolata Serve the lamb shanks over potatoes whipped with goat cheese and chives and on baby carrots.

Garnish with the braising liquid and a sprinkle of the Gremolata.

4 LAMB SHANKS Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil Handful fresh whole thyme, rosemary, and sage 2 large carrots, peeled and diced 1/2 head celery, diced 1 large onion, peeled and diced 2 tablespoons chopped garlic 4 tablespoons tomato paste (4 T?) 1 quart brown ale beer, preferably Abita Turbo Dog, Brooklyn Brown Ale or Dogfish Brown Ale 2 cups chicken stock 1 cup veal stock 1 bay leaf Citrus Gremolata as garnish

GREMOLATA ¼ cup chopped parsley Zest of 1 lemon, finely chop 3 garlic cloves, finely chop

Mix all together. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the lamb shanks, use a paring knife to trim back some of the meat from the end of the bone to expose some bone, then tie each shank with kitchen twine. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium heat,

add the oil, and sear the shanks until each is caramelized. Place them in a large roasting pan with the fresh herbs.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, and add the carrots, celery, and onion, and sweat them until soft. Add the garlic, and sweat for about 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the tomato paste, and using a heavy spoon, work it into the softened vegetables. Spoon the vegetables into the roasting pan with the shanks.

Deglaze the skillet with brown ale and reduce it to a syrupy consistency. Add veal and chicken stocks, and bring to boil. Pour over shanks, vegetables, and herbs, cover tightly with foil.

Roast for 3 hours, or until tender. Let shanks cool, remove from the roasting pan, and strain the liquid into a cookpot. Cook over medium heat until the liquid has reduced by half; skim off grease from the top.

Serves 4 Wesley Rosati’s Lobster Bisque

INGREDIENTS 2 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 carrot, peeled and diced 1 stalk celery, sliced 1 onion, peeled and diced 1 pound chopped lobster meat (about 6 to 8 lobsters, boiled, shelled, claws removed, and claws and tail meat to equal 1 pound of meat) 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 teaspoon black peppercorns 1 clove garlic, diced 1 tablespoon brandy 4 cups heavy cream Optional: Roux from ½ tablespoon butter mixed with ½ tablespoon flour In a stockpot heat the oil over medium heat, and sauté carrots, celery, onion, garlic and chopped lobster meat. Add the tomato paste and black peppercorns. Deglaze the pan with the brandy.

Add heavy cream, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the mixture reduces, about 1 hour. Stir frequently to prevent scorching.

Strain the soup through a very fine strainer or cheesecloth. If you wish a thicker soup, make the roux and stir it into the soup until it thickens slightly.

Serve the soup hot with lobster meat in the bottom of the bowls.

Serves 6 to 8

L O U D O U N

M AGAZINE

Jim Thompson, Chef/owner FUSIONS CUISINE

When hired to create a wine dinner, Thompson approaches the challenge by drawing up a menu, then asking the winery to match it.

“However, this tends to be a bit more challenging when we and the winery are not familiar with each other,” he says. “To bypass that situation, I usually pick up a bottle of the wine to be paired, taste it (the best part!), then design a delicious Fusions Cuisine menu to complement it.”

Noting that each wine varietal can usually be paired with broad aspects of certain foods, he points out that Cabernets have a lot of tannins, so pair well with fatty red meats. “The fat from the meat coats the tongue, shielding it from the tannins, which tend to dry out the mouth. … Also pairing oaky chardonnays with creamy foods lets the richness of the wine pair wonderfully with the creaminess of an Alfredo sauce.”

When it comes to beers, Thompson admits that he loves a good brew, noting that the craft beer industry is one of the fastest-growing beverage markets nationwide. “Pairing foods with beer is a growing trend that I don’t see as a passing fad,” he says. “The process of designing menus around beer is more about combining flavors.

Certain varietals of beer pair with certain general aspects of food, too.” For spicy foods, such as Thai and Indian dishes, he turns to pilsners and IPAs; for seafood and citrus, he carefully selects wheat beers; and with hearty meats and chocolates, what else but porters and stouts.

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PHOTO BY JENNEFI HUSTEAD

28

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

HOMETOWN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER HUSTEAD AND CECILIO RICARDO JR.

W

HEROES

hen we asked

received were indeed praiseworthy,

The photo shoot also brought

civic and gov-

and from those we selected five

together LINK volunteer Jim Butts

ernmental lead-

whose efforts were of particular

and his daughter, Leesburg pho-

ers in the com-

note. It turns out that Loudoun is a

tographer Jennifer Hustead, whom

munity for their

small world, for when we gath-

we contracted to photograph the

nominations for

ered our heroes for a photo shoot

heroes that evening.

Hometown Heroes, we asked that

(which Lt. Nick Pierson unfortu-

As part of our mission to inspire,

they recommend folks who had

nately was not able to attend), two

educate and entertain our read-

performed acts of courage, selfless-

of them reconnected immediately

ers, Loudoun Magazine celebrates

ness or philanthropy in the county.

after years.

these Hometown Heroes. All of the

We added that these acts should

Dr. Daphne Thomas recognized

nominations we received also will

not have been publicized widely in

Jane Ramirez as her daughter’s

be published online at our website,

the community, as we wanted to

teacher’s aide before Ramirez had

www.LoudounMagazineOnline.

feature the unsung heroes who live

become a special education teacher,

com. Have a comment? Please post

and work in Loudoun County.

and they had a happy reunion at

it on our Facebook page: www.

All of the nominations we

our shoot at Lansdowne Resort.

facebook.com/LoudounMagazine.

PHOTO BY CECILIO RICARDO JR.

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HOMETOWN

S

HEROES

terling resident Jim Butts wouldn't admit it, but through 40 years of volunteer work with the emergency food and aid program LINK, he has directly and indirectly helped to provide meals to easily more than 40,000 local families.

“Jim has held various positions within LINK, most notably information technology support, website designer, telephone coordinator and furniture delivery coordinator among others,” says Good Shepherd Alliance Chairman Mark Gunderman, who nominated Butts.

“Jim has been tireless in his efforts to keep LINK running smoothly behind the scenes,” he adds.

“Through his generosity of time and talents, LINK has grown. LINK is truly fortunate to have a volunteer like Jim Butts who quietly works in a support role to make sure our neighbors in need are served year after year.”

The 72-year-old former telecommunications worker has been involved with the community food donation program from its inception about 45 years ago as an informal organization formed by local churches including his own, Trinity Presbyterian.

“He’s very selfless,” says Rev. Stephen SmithCobbs, pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, where Butts has been a member and elder for decades. “He doesn't like to have a lot of attention drawn to him in terms of a lot of applause or that kind of thing. He's much more understated about that. … it's not about him. It's about getting the work, the outreach, done to help other people.”

Not one to seek the spotlight, Butts says that he has found that “true happiness comes from helping others. I don’t know when the light bulb went off or if I knew that all along, but I really believe, my wife believes and I think now my daughters believe, that … true

PHOTOS THIS PAGE BY JENNIFER HUSTEAD

happiness, lasting happiness, comes from helping others.

“Throughout life I've been taught that tithing and charity relates to your time, your talent and your treasure. And throughout life, you will have varying amounts of time, or treasure, or talent. It's natural to expect that as you’re young and you have a growing family, you might have a limited amount of money or time to contribute, and you contribute your talents.

And as you grow older and your kids grow older, you’re going to have more money than you have time or talent. Right now I might have more talent available than time or treasure. It’s constantly changing.”

Indeed, as he's grown older his volunteer work with LINK has shifted from hauling furniture or boxes of groceries to less physical work such as managing the group's website.

“I would like to say that what makes me who I am today is the fact that I try to learn from my elders and I'm not sure the next generations are learning from … the older generations. And it bothers me a bit but my father-in-law always said, ‘Life is too short for everyone to make every mistake. You have to learn from the mistakes of others.’”

Jim Butts,Volunteer/Webmaster • Link Against Hunger 30

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L

ike all great teachers, Sharon Bornarth and Jane Ramirez take a holistic view of their job working with children. “We’re special educators but I also think we're also good nurturers in that (we’re) building their selfesteem,” Bornarth says. “We can take a real special look at them, really bond and get to know them better because we see them in a small environment, sometimes it's one-on-one or a small group.”

Their tendency to go beyond their job descriptions is exactly why their principal nominated them as Hometown Heroes. “These two ladies are special education teachers who have worked with students with a variety of disabilities and I believe make a profound difference in all their students’ lives. However, they also go beyond the school building to work with a special population of students we have in our community,” Principal Jennifer Rule says.

Three years ago, they approached Rule with an idea to start an after-school Homework Club at a nearby apartment complex that housed several at-risk, low-income families whose children attended the school. They approached fourth and fifth grade teachers to find out which children from the complex would most benefit, and began inviting students to attend the weekly tutoring program. From their initial small group of volunteers, they now lead 10 faculty members in tutoring 16 students.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JANE RAMIREZ

PHOTO BY JENNIFER HUSTEAD

“The great thing is, A, they have a connection to us but (also) … they understand we come to their home, that we're interested enough to come to where they live and get to know them a little better,” Ramirez says. “They really respond to that. Most of those kids really never miss a week.”

“The students really love it and they would say things like, ‘Oh I'm going to homework club, I can't wait to go to homework club,’” Bornarth says, adding that she’s had a summer school student ask her to put him on the invitation list. “This was in July and he was already thinking about the Homework Club!”

Rule also points out that the two teachers go above and beyond academics to support the students.

“They have a holiday celebration each year. One student told Jane Ramirez that the gift he received from them was the only gift he got for the holidays.

They also have received an anonymous donation to provide the students with school supplies for the upcoming school year, even if they are moving on to the middle school.”

Indeed, the Homework Club has been a labor of love for the two organizers, who hope to see the concept spread. “I would love to see another school take the idea and maybe implement it at their school.

It's very easy – really, all we had to do was ask for the space at the apartment complex and ask for the teachers to come help. That's really all there was to it,” Ramirez says.

“When our principal told us that she had (nominated us), we're like, ‘What?!’” Bornarth says.

“My first reaction was, ‘Wow, maybe somebody will read this and go hey, we could do that at my school.’

That's really our hope, that we can maybe multiply it in the county.”

Sharon Bornarth, Jane Ramirez, Special Education Teachers • Potowmack Elementary School S P R I N G

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HOMETOWN

I

t takes a special kind of person to choose firefighting as a career, and it takes an even more unique breed of firefighter to specialize in hazardous materials. “A lot of people are intimidated by it because of the unknowns,” says Lt. Nick Pierson of Fire Station 19 at the Dulles South Public Safety Center, home to the county's primary hazardous materials response unit.“There's a lot of chemical reactions where stuff it may be OK by itself but once it reacts to something else, it could produce a toxic byproduct.”

That's exactly what happened Dec. 27, 2011, when Pierson and his team responded to a person who had ingested aluminum phosphide. Pierson recognized a potentially fatal situation to first responders and staff because toxic gases are produced when a person ingests aluminum phosphide. After emergency room staff started showing symptoms of phosphine exposure, officials decided to

HEROES

move the patient to an outdoor treatment area.“Due to the quick work of fire and rescue personnel, emergency room personnel were able to properly and safely treat the patient,” Loudoun County Deputy Fire Chief Randall L. Shank wrote in a nomination form for the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce's 2012 Valor Awards.

The nomination includes the hazmat teams, other fire and rescue personnel, and Inova Lansdowne staff, but Shank singled out Pierson.“If no one had picked up on that, it could seriously have injured or killed” someone, he says.

An active fire volunteer since the age of 15, Pierson can't imagine doing anything else. “I say it every day, it's the best job in the world.”

Lt. Nick Pierson, HAZMAT 619 • Dulles South Public Safety Center 32

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

S

PHOTO THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE BY CECILIO RICARDO JR.

I

n explaining why she makes the time to lead medical missions around the world while practicing medicine in Inova Loudoun Hospital's Lansdowne campus and raising two daughters in Potomac Falls, Dr. Daphne Thomas hearkens back to a saying that her parents have lived by: To whom much is given, much is required.

“I felt that I really have been privileged and I need to (give something) back.” She began leading teams on medical missions around the country, and then people started offering her donations of medications that were expired or about to expire.

“So that's what I started doing, taking supplies from the U.S. and additional monies for medications, and so we started in India.”

Word about her missions spread among her international network of friends, and one country led to another. To date, she has led medical trips to India, Cambodia, Tanzania, Nicaragua and Haiti. This year,

she will be traveling to Haiti in May and Laos in October. “You see these people appreciating medical care in these countries because they have nothing. Back here, it’s a right, they expect it.

It’s not appreciated. For me, it really puts in perspective what I became a doctor for.”

"She organizes at least one mission trip a year and is one of the most giving and selfless people I have ever met,” says Dr. Edward Puccio, medical director at Inova Loudoun's Department of Emergency Medicine.“Her desire to help others knows no boundaries.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. DAPHNE THOMAS

DR. DAPHNE THOMAS EXAMINES A CHILD AT A TANZANIA CLINIC DURING A MEDICAL MISSION IN OCTOBER 2010.

Dr. Daphne Thomas, Emergency Room Physician • INOVA Loudoun Hospital S P R I N G

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35

call the

of the water

FATHER & SON CAST MEMORIES ON THE POTOMAC

BY BUZZ MCCLAIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY THERESE P. HOWE

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AC

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”

—Henry David Thoreau

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JOHN TATTERSALL TEACHES HIS SON, GRANT, THE ART AND SPORT OF FLY FISHING AT THEIR SPECIAL SPOTS ON THE POTOMAC RIVER.

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W

hen the dogwoods come into bloom, when the moon is in just the right phase, when the air is warmed by longer days and abundant spring sunshine, the Tattersall boys know it’s time to pack up their gear and visit The Spot.

That’s what it’s called; that’s what they’ve always called it; and it’s their Spot, even if, heaven forbid, someone else stumbles on it, which sometimes happens, but they don’t mind–not too much, anyway.

The Tattersalls reach The Spot with a walk along a wooded and marshy path well away from nearby suburban neighborhoods; by agreement with the landowner, the path is more or less their own private easement. The landowner, once spotting them trespassing, noted their gear and asked, “What are you angling for?” and the Tattersall boys knew right then and there they were not in trouble because the landowner was a fisherman like themselves. He understood.

The Spot is their favorite fishing hole–and they’ve fished in countless rivers and oceans and lakes famous for fishing around the world– but The Spot is more than just a default location close to home. This is the humble but wildlife rich place on the south side of the Potomac that the Tattersalls have been coming to since Grant was 5, when he was so small his dad, John, had to every now and again grab his young son by the vest to keep him from flowing downstream. It’s a funny story, and they laugh about it these days.

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upstream from his dad if he thinks the fish are biting better there.

John is 48. These Tattersall boys are watching the dogwoods now in anticipation of the next running of the shad, when they’ll pack up their rods and, some afternoon after work and school, set about trying to fool the spawning fish into biting one of their home-tied dog hair darts, or maybe something with a flashy tail. They’ll fish until twilight begins to thicken with darkness, and they’ll hike back to their car with flashlights.

Dad and son will have their way at The Spot and the shad and then John will bring his business clients here–“blindfolded,” he jokes–to enjoy what he and Grant share. He could take the clients of his financial planning company to something more traditional, like golfing, but fly fishing– well, that’s adventure. It’s fresh air, it’s quiet, it’s being in water, it’s learning a new skill and it’s hunting for unseen prey that can be captured by behaving just so. “And it’s hard to fire your fishing guide,” John jokes.

Fly fishing is more than just chucking a baited line in the water and hoping for a nibble. It requires more artistry, more cunning, because the fish will only bite based on “the way the fly is presented to it.” Grant says this. “Presented” is the sport’s preferred term for putting the fly on the water and offering it to the fish. The beauty of fly fishing is you are trying to make the fish think your fuzz-covered hook is actually something that lives in the water,“matching the hatch,” Grant explains; you’re trying to fool the fish, and to do so, you must be quiet, you must present the fly just so – “like sliding your elbow on a table,” Grant says, demonstrating – and you must cast your line some 50 to 70 feet away to exactly the right spot.“The hardest part,” he says,“is not giving up.”

“It’s the highest evolution of fishing,” John says. John has been

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fly fishing since he was 5, like his son, when his father took him to Canada for his first angling adventure. John got hooked, so to speak, on the outdoors, and to this day he hunts, goes Telemark skiing, climbs rocks and even scales frozen waterfalls. Fly fishing has been something that connects him to Grant, the way he was connected to his father, and the three generations make pilgrimages to Canada to this day.

(Hillary, wife and mother, approves of their chosen sport, observing with a laugh that the worst injury facing Grant is “a broken heart.”)

An athletic eighth-grader, Grant dabbles in other sports, but few

Grant says watching Jimmy Houston on television – “America’s Favorite Fisherman” – inspired him to go fishing even more, and to kiss his catch before releasing it, which is Houston’s trademark.

Over the years Grant has introduced his schoolmates to fly fishing in The Spot, and they seem to like it, but not the way Grant does. And by now, Grant knows The Spot as well as other kids know the layout of the local bike path. He knows the fish, the vegetation, the river; he knows the nesting eagles well enough to give them names.

Other kids don’t, and John suggests it’s not for lack of opportunity.

“People who live in this area don’t

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Fly fishing is famous for not being easy. But John noticed Grant had not just an affinity but a gift for it at an early age. To practice, Grant would cast to distant grease spots on the street in front of their home just off Potomac View Road, mindless of what the neighbors thought.

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think the way we think about adventure,” he says.

They also don’t think about the river the way the Tattersall boys do.

John has a captain’s license, not an easy thing to get, and this fall he’ll get one as a master mariner, even harder to get, which permits him to rent boats of varying sizes and purposes just about anywhere. He’s also signed up his family – including daughter Taylor, 16 – for training as “riverkeepers,” volunteers who test the purity – or lack of it – of water in specific sections of the region’s rivers.

The Spot is in their section.

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HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU B Y L A L A I N E E S T E L L A R I C A R D O P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y C E C I L I O R I C A R D O A N D T O M K N O E R Z E R

J R .

W&OD OFFERS SCENIC EXCURSIONS FOR LOCAL BICYCLING ENTHUSIASTS

T

he warmer temperatures of the winter have segued beautifully into spring, and bicycle enthusiasts both young and old are taking to perhaps the most popular bike trail traversing the county: the W&OD. Formally known as the Washington and Old

Dominion Trail, the 100-foot wide, 45-mile long path runs from Alexandria to Purcellville. At the east end you’re near the banks of the Potomac; at the west end, you’re at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

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OPPOSITE: CECILIO RICARDO JR. CATCHES ENTHUSIASTS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A WARM DAY IN WINTER TO TAKE TO THE W&OD TRAIL. THIS PAGE: ‘THE CATHEDRAL’ SECTION OF THE TRAIL PROVIDES SHADE IN THE SUMMER AND SPECTACULAR COLOR IN THE FALL, ACCORDING TO TOM KNOERZER.

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PHOTOGRAPHY THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE BY CECILIO RICARDO JR.

The Northern Virginia Regional Park is the state’s skinniest park, and has the most diverse vistas covering urban, suburban and rural landscapes. Designated a National Recreation Trail by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the trail formerly was used as a railroad that operated from 1859 to 1968 to bring coal from the Appalachians to the Port of Alexandria.

The railroad enjoyed a few years of success, but less than a decade after it was built, the battles of the Civil War destroyed a good portion of the railroad. Even after rebuilding, the railroad never regained its full potential. Eventual improvements in the road system and increase in motor vehicle use led to its demise. But what was bad for business back then is a boon for bicyclists now.

Rick Solano takes to the trail every day from

44

his home outside Purcellville to his job with a health care company in Reston. For the past three years he’s made the 29-mile journey each way, with only rain and sub-freezing temperatures keeping him from getting on his Trek road bike.

While his commute time is average by metro DC standards — an hour and a half each way — the rush hour traffic is anything but ordinary.

“In the morning, I’m running into foxes, lots of deer, skunks, ground hogs and possums,” Solano says.“You do have to be careful especially when it’s still dark out because they’re all out on the trail.”

But it’s quiet and calming, Solano says.

Though he might chat with a few other regular commuters along the way, for the most part, he’s alone with his thoughts at the beginning and end of each working day, surrounded by flora and

fauna that change with the seasons.“The ride on the trail gives me time to think, and to really enjoy the natural beauty we have.”

One of the most scenic legs of the trail is the ride from Leesburg to Paeonian Springs.

“You’ll see a lot of beautiful country out that way,” says Tom Knoerzer, a tour guide with Get Out & Go Tours in Ashburn. The pastoral hills are dotted with horses, colonial mansions and 18th century farm houses. There is a very slight, gradual grade from Leesburg to Clarke’s Gap at the 38.5-mile marker, but the extra push in the pedal is worth the effort.

“The reward is spectacular views of the trail into Loudoun horse farms and the stone bridge off Paeonian Road. It’s the highlight scenic spot, if you ask me,” Knoerzer says.

Other spots are of historic interest. A sign-

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

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Friends of Homeless Animals is Loudoun’s local no-kill shelter focusing on the rescue and placement of homeless dogs and cats. Please think of us when you are looking to adopt.

Come. Sit. Stay.

ADOPT.

Meet our dogs and cats at our shelter in Aldie.

Go to www.foha.org for details or email Laura at President@FOHA.org.

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You won’t be able to refuse some of the

PHOTOGRAPHY THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE BY CECILIO RICARDO JR.

post at mile 34 marks where the Leesburg Lime Company left the stone ruins of its 18th century lime kiln. In 1868 the kiln was used to burn a mixture of limestone and coal to make fertilizer for farms, plaster for building and stone for roads.“Most trail users miss this, but it is a keenly historic W&OD kind of spot,” Knoerzer says.

In general, the trail doesn’t vary much in elevation. New bikers and children can easily bike 5 or 6 miles, says park specialist Andy Kaganowich of Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.“If you ride 3 miles each way, you’ll be provided with nice scenery and good exercise.”

From there, a beginner biker can slowly increase distance and explore

more of what the trail has to offer.

“The great thing about the trail is that there aren’t a lot of areas that are uphill and downhill. That’s the advantage of going along the railroad; the trail is relatively flat.”

Max Helgesen, a salesman with Spokes Etc., a bike shop in Ashburn, says new riders should be aware of their surroundings and capabilities before riding farther than they can manage.

“The trail is deceptively easy.

You feel like you can keep going because it is flat and straight for the most part and there are nice towns and distractions along the way,” Helgesen says.“But think about the trip home. Bring lots of water and snacks.”

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

John Carter, owner of Trail’s End Cycling Co. in Purcellville, emphasizes safety to all new riders he sees.

Every rider should have a properly fitted bike, wear a helmet and carry a basic repair kit, he says.

“Most new riders have the saddle too low, which makes it harder to pedal and maintain balance,” says Carter, a master professional bike

about where you will be riding it. A knowledgeable salesperson should be able to find a bike to fit you and your needs.“When shopping, you shouldn’t look at the price,” he says.

“The more important question is what you want to do with the bike.

That should determine what bike you get. There is the right bike in every price range.”

From wine tasting to homesteading; horses to hounds; Easter eggs to picnics with mom...

There’s always something fun to do and learn!

THE TRAIL’S END CYCLING CO.

fitter. The right bike for the trail also will go a long way to add enjoyment to your bicycling adventure. For cruising the W&OD, Carter recommends a fitness bike, which has the efficiency of a road bike, but is more user-friendly and versatile.“It’s a great around-town bike.”

Before committing to buying a bike, which can run anywhere from $100 to $10,000, Carter says to think S P R I N G

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If you don’t know basic bike safety, area bike shops regularly offer free classes. And many local clubs and shops organize group rides to help those new to the sport feel more comfortable biking. A group ride is the best way to learn about the sport, Carter says.“We want new people to get into the fun, and see the possibilities that open up once you get on a bike.”

Check out our events calendar at www.MorvenPark.org for details.

Morven Park is located at: 17263 Southern Planter Lane Leesburg, VA 20176 | 703-777-2414 x0 47

WHAT TO BRING The Cherry Blossom Golf Tournament To ensure that no Northern Virginia woman dies from breast cancer.

Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Creighton Farms, Aldie, Virginia

April 30th, 2012 For more information:

Presented by:

John Carter of Trail’s End Cycling Co. offers tips on riding the trail: • Safety: Wear helmet and gloves.

• Comfort: Wear appropriate clothing and shoes. Padded shorts and synthetic fabrics make long rides enjoyable.

• Get back home: Bring a basic bike repair kit. Even if you don’t know how to use it, another cyclist on the trail may be able to help you.

A basic repair kit should have at least one spare tube for your bike, tire levers to remove or install tire, a pump or CO2 inflator to inflate new tube and a multi-tool with screwdrivers and metric allen keys.

James P. Atkins Chairman of the Board Cherry Blossom Breast Cancer Foundation

PO Box 1051, Middleburg, Virginia 20118 info@cherryblossombreastcancerfoundation.org

PLC Registration for 2012-13 is now open

• 2.5 – 4/5 years of age: 9am – 12pm

• Small class sizes

• Diapers allowed for 2.5 YR class

• Music Special 1X weekly

WHERE TO EAT

Get Out & Go Tours’ Tom Knoerzer offers these suggestions: At the Purcellville end of the trail are several cafes and restaurants.

Carolina Brothers Pit Barbeque is just off mile 28 in Ashburn.

Trail users mention it frequently as a great pit stop on the trail.

Fireworks Pizza in Leesburg, near mile PHOTO BY TOM KNOERZER 34.5, offers outdoor seating for those needing a mid-ride break.

FOR MORE INFO

The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority sells history books on the W&OD Trail, and maps and guides, on its web site, www.nvrpa.org. The Friends of the Washington and Old Dominion Trail (or Railroad Regional Park) is a local group dedicated to protecting and improving the trail. Its website is a wealth of information, at www.wodfriends.org.

• Pullups allowed for potty trained 3 YR olds • Open door policy • Carpool pickup under covered area

• Parent participation encouraged

• Degreed teachers & experienced

• Defined classroom objectives

assistants in every classroom

• Chapel time weekly

• Younger siblings welcome at classroom events

Are you Searching for a Preschool in the Leesburg/Ashburn/ Western Loudoun area? Do you want your child to have emphasis on Christ-Centered Morals and Values while they Creatively Begin their Journey with the Love of Learning?

The Preschool Learning Center is a Ministry of Leesburg Community Church WE INVITE YOU TO COME TOUR OUR SCHOOL AND EXPERIENCE GOD’S LOVE TOGETHER WITH CREATIVE ACADEMIC TEACHING.

Contact us at LeesburgCC.org 703 771 7625 or plc.nasser@yahoo.com 48

BIKE TO WORK DAY

Bike to Work Day will be held on May 18. Get Out & Go Tours will offer free bike rentals for those who want to experience the thrill of the trail, if even for just one day.

Call 571.572.BIKE (2453) or visit getoutandgo.biz.

FREE CLASSES

Get to know your bike. Trail’s End Cycling offers free mechanic classes the first Wednesday of the month. Call 540.338.2773 or visit trailsendcycling.com.

For basic bike maintenance, Spokes Etc. offers free classes on the first Tuesday of the month at each of its five area locations. Call 703. 858.5501 or visit spokesetc.com.

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

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Schulz Homes.Loudoun Mag.2012

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THIS PAGE: NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION PHOTOGRAPHER KELLY SENSER CAPTURED THIS PHOTO OF A SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY ON A CONEFLOWER IN ASHBURN. OPPOSITE: MIDDLEBURG LANDSCAPER CREATES WILDLIFE-FRIENDLY HABITATS THAT INCLUDE PLANTS SUCH AS THE PURPLE HYSSOPS IN THE FOREGROUND AND ORANGE BUTTERFLY WEED, BOTH OF WHICH ATTRACT BUTTERFLIES TO THIS VIENNA BACKYARD.

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L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

EMBRACE THE WILD SIDE B Y

C R E AT E

A

T R A C Y

L E B L A N C

C ERTIFI E D

W IL D L IFE

H A B I TAT

IN

YO U R

YA R D

H

omeowners have a lot of competing priorities when it comes to landscaping. Many of us start with the simple goal of creating–or maintaining–a yard that is pleasing to the eye. To achieve this goal, we usually go to the nearest garden center to see what’s readily

available in the hopes of improving our home’s curb appeal.

In the spring we may plant some bulbs and annual flowers. We put in trees to provide shade in

the summer and vibrant foliage in the fall. To round things out we might plant a few evergreens to fill in the bare spots and give a bit of winter color.

But what if plants were selected because they are native to this region? The result, experts say,

would be a beautiful environmentally-friendly yard that is also an inviting habitat for local wildlife.

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mal needs to eat. While supplemental feeders are a good start, an easier way to make food available for a variety of wildlife is to plant native flowers, shrubs and trees. These plants provide the vegetation which allow local wildlife to survive and even thrive.

“You need a minimum of three sources of food, such as berries, nuts, seeds, nectar and pollen” Paul says.“Different parts of plants and even twigs are food, and leaves are food for deer.”

Native plants are encouraged “because that’s what the wildlife has evolved with. The Virginia state tree is the dogwood and it’s is a good source of food. The Kousa variety of dogwood comes from Korea, and birds won’t touch it.”

They don’t advocate feeding mammals directly however.“Birds won’t take more than 15 percent of their food from feeders, but mammals end up relying on people. It’s healthier for them to have a natural fear of people.”

One advantage to using supplemental feeders is being able to see birds up close.“I use hummingbird feeders in spring, summer and early fall,” Paul says.“It gives me a chance to view them.”

Water: All animals need a clean supply of water for things like drinking, bathing and reproduction. Sources of water include ponds, streams, lakes, rivers, springs and wetlands. Homeowners MIDDLEBURG LANDSCAPE DESIGNER JOHN MAGEE HELPS CLIENTS GET THEIR YARDS CERTIFIED AS A WILDLIFE HABITAT, INCLUDING THIS ALEXANDRIA HOME.

W

hether you live in a townhouse, a Colonial or on the 9th hole of a local golf course, the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program can help anyone make their garden a haven for wildlife.

The federation is a wildlife advocacy group based in Reston. Its habitat program gives people a framework for discovering what they can do in their own backyards to help wildlife, says Roxanne Paul. Paul is the NWF’s senior coordinator for Community and Volunteer Outreach where 54

THE BROADLANDS NATURE PRESERVE, CERTIFIED AS A WILDLIFE HABITAT COMMUNITY, IS HOME TO ANIMALS SUCH AS THIS RED-SHOULDERED HAWK.

among other things she coordinates the habitat program.

WHERE TO BEGIN

There are essential elements necessary to create a healthy and sustainable wildlife habitat. Once you have a few of each of these elements in place, your yard is qualified to become certified.

“A homeowner needs to include four basic elements that all wildlife needs,” Paul says.“This includes sources of food, a source of water, places for cover, and places to raise young.”

Food: First things first–every aniL O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

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1

CUP PLANTS FOUND IN ASHBURN ATTRACT A VARIETY OF BUTTERFLIES, INCLUDING THIS RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY AND BUCKEYE AT THE RIGHT.

may use things like bird baths, installed ponds or rain gardens.

“A water source can be as simple as a shallow dish that birds and other animals can drink from,” Paul says. The water elements need to be on or bordering your property.

“Moving water attracts a lot of birds. Some birds, like mourning doves, cardinals and robins love to splash in the water. Smaller birds don’t like the moving water. You can get a shepherd’s hook to clamp a freestanding birdbath to your deck. You can even get a birdbath with a heating element to keep the water heated just above freezing, even if it snows.”

Cover: Most animals need a hiding place where they are protected from people, predators and inclement weather. Homeowners may use things like birdhouses, dense shrubs, thickets, rock piles, brush piles and dead trees to create a safe haven for wildlife.

“The typical suburban yard is mostly lawn,” Paul says, which doesn’t allow for much protection for animals who must hide from predators.

56

“Evergreens provide cover year-round. Stone walls are great places for snakes. A meadow can be cover for ground birds, rabbits and other small animals.”

A sheltered place to raise offspring: Many of the locations animals use for cover also may serve as locations for wildlife to raise their young. Other areas are wildflower meadows, nesting boxes and ponds.

“It’s very unlikely a butterfly will lay its eggs on non-native plants,” Paul says.“The butterfly bush is from China and is actually a non-native plant. Butterflies will take nectar but will not lay eggs on it. Things like mature trees, thick shrubs, meadows, host plants, a pond for amphibians, they are all great places to raise young.”

Paul recommends people plant the native eastern red cedar tree, also called a juniper.“(It) provides what looks like blueberries, provides cover year-round because it’s an evergreen and a nesting site.”

The oak is another of Paul’s favorite native trees.“It provides acorn for food and host more kinds of butterflies than any other kind of tree.

There are many oaks native to Virginia, such as white oaks, black oaks and pin oaks.” The enemy of native plants is the invasive exotic plant “that spreads like crazy, such as English ivy,

PHOTOS BY KELLY SENSER/ NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

the Oriental bittersweet vine, and the Japanese honeysuckle bush or vine.”

GETTING CERTIFIED

The first step in the certification process is a visit to the National Wildlife Federation website at www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife. The application involves answering a series of questions about your property and habitat. The answers will let you know what you have and, importantly, what you need.

“Most people will need to add a few elements to their yards. Once they are in place, it’s time to certify,” Paul says. The cost is $20 and includes a certificate, membership in the NWF, and a subscription to National Wildlife magazine.

“People ask what the $20 goes for. We are a nonprofit and hold a lot of educational programs and work as an advocacy program for wildlife and endangered species.” Paul says.“We are closing in on 150,000 certified habitats.

The habitat program started in 1973 but it has really taken off in popularity in the last decade.

“More than 100,000 habitats have been certified in the last eight or nine years. With all the development and the loss of green spaces, people want to make a connection with nature. It does make a difference.”

Once you start observing your native plants, “you will see more species of native wildlife. You can have a beautiful yard with native plants. It L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

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can still look orderly. Some people think, oh, I can’t have a meadow, which are native grasses and wildflowers. But this is good for a side yard.

“You can’t just stop mowing your lawn. You do have to keep the neighbors happy.”

Paul also coordinates the Community Wildlife Habitat program, which allows neighborhoods, businesses, schools, places of worship, farms, and even towns and cities to become certified.

“By registering their group, they are showing they have made gardening for wildlife a priority,” Paul says.“By providing habitat, reducing chemicals, adding native plants, and conserving water, they have made the community a healthier place for wildlife and humans alike.”

About 60 communities around the country–including Austin–are certified. Another 45 communities–Chicago among them–are registered and on their way to certification.“It takes an average of two to three years for a community to become certified, so it takes a lot of work,” Paul says.“It’s quite an honor when a community gets certified.”

LOCAL AREA EMBRACES NATURE

Broadlands resident Oya Simpson was the driving force in the process which led to the only community in Loudoun County being certified. Although the region was initially registered by the developer in 2003, Simpson took the initiative to its completion in 2005.

“I became involved accidently,” she says.“The certification project had been put on hold because there were no volunteers. They asked me if I would be interested.” Simpson said she wasn’t familiar with the program and didn’t know much about native plants and habitats.“Then I started reading and looking into the idea.”

At that point she took a course with the National Wildlife Federation to become a Wildlife Habitat Steward.“It was a crash course and eye opening as far as how our lives are connected to the environment outside our home and how we impact the environment.”

Simpson eventually became the chair of the Broadlands Wildlife Habitat Committee and started recruiting new members.“We were just a few projects away from being certified as a community. Here are lots of resources in Loudoun County–Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, the Master Gardeners— and I began working with them to bring classes into the community to earn points for our certification.”

Simpson is now a Master Naturalist, which is similar to being a Master Gardener. The Master Naturalist program is offered by the State and is managed by Virginia Tech.“The program teaches you about your local ecology and native habitats based on where you live, and allows you to learn enough things to educate others,” Simpson says.

According to Simpson, there are about 3,000 homes in Broadlands.

Within the community there are about 30 certified homes, as well as two elementary schools, one church, one middle school, one private school, and the community center. “Even Clyde’s is certified,” Simpson says.

Broadlands is just one example of what the habitat program can do in terms of restoration in new suburban developments.“Just by putting one house on a piece of land, there is a cost. The topsoil is gone, the native trees are gone, and habitats are gone. I don’t think people stop for one second to think about that.” The least we can do, Simpson says, is use native plants.

“We need to minimize our impact and rebuild as much as possible the habitat that was once here.”

It’s also economical to use native plants in the landscape.“It’s an added value because they cost less and take less time to maintain. Every mature tree you have on your property adds value.”

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59

DESIGNING FOR WILDLIFE

Middleburg landscape designer John Magee believes in putting nature first. From years of experience he has seen what happens to a home when the landscaping is designed to attract wildlife.

He has even helped several clients become certified.“I don’t know how many clients I’ve worked with who have become certified but it’s a lot. It helps when you have a national organization saying the same thing and a program designed to certify habitat.”

SKIPPER BUTTERFLY ON A CONEFLOWER IN ASHBURN

PHOTO BY KELLY SENSER/ NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

Homeowners can do little things to help butterflies, birds, and wildlife which are suffering from suburban development, says Magee, owner of Magee Design.“We have islands of habitat, and if those habitats are filled with non-native invasive plants, it’s no use for local wildlife. If you can use native plants and build pollinator gardens or birdfeeder gardens you will strengthen those islands.”

Magee says several species of butterflies are almost extinct because of the loss of habitat.“Butterflies are very plant specific in what they eat, and where they lay their eggs.” Monarchs only eat milkweed, he says, and by doing that they make themselves poisonous to birds.“As we’re clearing fields and areas to put up housing we typically replace milkweed with nonnative plants. If (Monarchs) have no food on their way to Mexico to give them energy, they die. They are really in trouble in our area. Anything we can do in our home gardens is a good thing for them.”

Magee has seen a shift in the last 25 years.“Things have changed dramatically. I used to get calls to landscape a yard and I’d talk about certifying, and I was told to just make the landscape pretty. So I’d use native plants and after the fact I’d tell them how the plants support native animals.”

People now call Magee specifically because they want to be certified. He is now a Certified Wildlife Professional, a designation he received from the National Wildlife Federation.“It’s about educating people. People’s intentions are good. They want butterflies and birds in their gardens.”

Virginia is a beautiful state, he says,“but we are not making Virginia more beautiful by introducing non-native exotics. We are making it less beautiful.

Native plants are more aesthetically pleasing.” People can do small things to make a difference. “It’s in our hands that you and I can walk outside our door and plant a milkweed and say ‘I did something good for the environment today and now I have pretty butterflies.”

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L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

CREATING A BIRD-FRIENDLY HABITAT IN YOUR YARD

By Tracy LeBlanc

B

irding has become a wildly popular hobby in the United States.

Most everyone can appreciate the sight and sound of a beautiful bird. They are often musical, colorful and just fun to watch.

There’s no need to travel to enjoy this activity. Create a bird-friendly habitat in so you can watch birds in your own yard. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Provide water year-round: A birdbath is a great start. They should be placed about 10 feet from shrubs to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching. Heaters also may be used in the winter to prevent freezing.

Install native plants: A variety of plants provide food year-round in the form of seeds, berries, nuts and nectar. Evergreen trees and shrubs also provide much-needed cover.

Remove invasive plants: Many invasive plants out-compete the native species which are favored by local birds and other wildlife.

Examples of non-native invasive plants to avoid include English ivy, climbing euonymus, periwinkle and pachysandra.

Eliminate insecticides in your yard: Don’t poison the food. Insects are the main source of nourishment for birds and are an important source of protein for growing juvenile birds.

Keep standing dead trees: These trees provide dwelling places for birds PHOTO BY TRACY LEBLANC to raise their young.

They also provide a source of insects for food and shelter during bad weather.

Put out nesting boxes: These boxes need ventilation holes near the top but not in the roof or water will leak in. They also need drainage holes on the bottom. Monitor the boxes for invasive species such as European starlings or house sparrows.

Build a brush pile in a corner of your yard: Start with larger logs on the bottom and top them with smaller branches. You will find birds will hunt, roost or nest in brush piles.

Offer food in feeders:These are a terrific source of supplemental food, especially during times when other food sources are limited.

These also provide a terrific opportunity to bird watch.

Keep your cat indoors: Cats are wonderful pets inside, but once they go outside they become deadly predators. It is estimated that domestic cats kill millions of birds each year. So keep Fluffy inside where she can watch birds through the window.

Reduce your lawn area: Lawns have little or no value to birds and other wildlife.

S P R I N G

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BACKFLOW TECHNOLOGY, LLC

Certified Backflow Prevention Specialists RESIDENTIAL/COMMERCIAL • SERVING VA - DC - MD Licensed - Insured - Master Plumber Virginia Class A Contractor • TESTING • CONSULTING • REPAIR • INSTALLATION

24 HOur

EmErGENCY SErviCE

“Protecting Your Drinking Water Since 1997”

Don’t be a victim of contaminated water!

Be sure to test your backflow assembly annually to ensure your drinking water is safe and free of contaminants.

We donate 10% of net proceeds of residential testing to breast cancer research and Tigerlily Foundation.

P.O. Box 1575 Sterling, VA 20167

703-450-5898

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Professional Business Connections NORBERTO ARROYO

European Expert Painting, inc Residential & Commercial

PROFESSIONAL PAINTING SERVICE

540-338-0775

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Plumbing Painting Drywall Decks

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Decks LouDoun co. - 703-282-4422

Direct: 703-728-2172

Serving Northern Virginia

Email: shorthr@msn.com www.RobinShort.com Entire MLS can be found at: RobinShort.com Search area market statics at: RobinShort.com/statistics

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• Stamped concrete patios • Roofing • Fences • Decks •Screen Porches • Gazebos www.DLCounty.com Fully Licensed

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Licensed

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UNIqUE PROjECTS wELCOMEd BRET BRONSON -- OwNER 703-777-6144 62

LEESBURg, VA

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Fax: 703-444-2724 L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

Professional Business Connections Weaver’s Quality

• Drywall • Plastering • Pressure Washing • Carpentry

Custom Painting

T.L. WALKER CONTRACTING & ELECTRIC, LLC.

AsphAlt

Exclusively Residential • Interior & Exterior

703-901-6910

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•Driveways•Patio’s •Parking Lots • Pads & Walks

703-327-5314(p) 703-327-5236(f)

S

cott Cooper Plumbing Inc.

New Work • Commercial Work • Remodel • Sewer and Water • Well Pumps Drain Cleaning • Service Work • Service Contracts • Water Right Conditioner

540-554-4559

www.scottcooperplumbing.com

WAGENBURG FARM Spring Tree Sale 25% Off All Trees!

Call Mike 703.727.8132

“FINE” FAUX FINISHING

703.999.3231

• Fine Faux Finishing • Decorative Painting and Plaster effects • amazing cabinet and Furniture re-finishing

Please look for more info and photos on my website: Please look for more info & photos on my website:

www.allusionsandmore.com

37373 Wagenburg Farm Lane, Middleburg, VA 20117 wagenburgfarm.net

Who’s Looking At Your Lawn?

Located in Ashburn, VA

20% OFF any custom finish completed before 10/31/09.

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Lawn Care Even Your Neighbors Will Love

www.rockwaterfarm.com 703-568-1267 S P R I N G

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LAST SHOT Photo by Therese Howe

64

L O U D O U N M A G A Z I N E

Vintage Wine Bar

Craft Brewed Beers

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Vintage 50

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50 Catoctin Circle NE. Leesburg VA 20176 J a n u a r y

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(703) 777-2169

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vintage50.com

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Loudoun M a g a z i n e