Piedmont Virginian November/December 2016

Setting the Holiday Table Adorn, Reflect, Nourish Plus: The Chef Who Saved a Dying Art

NOV/DEC 2016 • $5.95

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567 Gay Street, WaShinGton

Lovers of tradition will find their treasure in this circa 1747 brick and frame heirloom located in Washington, VA. On 0.3 acres, this house has enormous potential to be one of the finest homes in Washington, VA. $489,000

horn holloW road, aylor

This spectacular 50 acre parcel is as good as it gets! It has fenced fields, forest, a strong stream, privacy and breathtaking views. A picturesque red barn and the remains of an old homestead provide a historic ambience. $570,000

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With 360 degree views limited only by the clarity of the day and the horizon, this 209 acre tract is simply awe-inspiring. At over 1,300 feet of elevation, this sweeping mountaintop land is a oneof-a-kind property. $2,250,000

rattleSnake holloW lane, huntly

This 4 bedroom custom built home is the perfect retreat. It features an open floor plan with plenty of space for entertaining. A detached 4 car garage is perfect for the auto enthusiast. The 91.5 acre lot is wooded and has abundant streams and a waterfall. $995,000

JackSon lane, Woodville

Designed as a cozy weekend retreat in the woods, the Cabin on Jackson Lane is surrounded by lovely landscaping, mountain laurel and grand old oaks. It has 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and 8.3 acres. $396,000

38 LyLe Lane, amissviLLe

This special property has expansive views of farmland and the Blue Ridge. The 25.9 acres are fenced and a stream flows across the bottom. There are several excellent building sites, a well and septic permit. $249,900

CheriWoodard.com 37 Main Street, Sperryville, VA 22740 (540) 987-8500

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The Piedmont Virginian Magazine is part of

Piedmont PUBLISHING GROUP A Rappahannock Media Company

The most extensive advertising source for the Piedmont Region of Virginia.

For more information, please call 540-812-2282

FEATURES November/December 2016 • VOLUME x • ISSUE 5

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The Holiday Table 20

Designs to Accompany Holiday Feasts Put a Piedmontian Twist on Classic Holiday Recipes

2

Creole Duck Breast

+ Cornbread & Andouille Sausage Stuffing

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Traditional Stuffings, Local Ingredients Oyster Stuffin’ Muffin Chestnut Stuffing

25

The Gobbler

A Zesty, Spicy Cocktail for Whiskey Lovers

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Chocolate Chestnut Naked Cake Spectactularly Sophisticated

Right: Thanksgiving decor design for your holiday tables with local materials. Design by Jen Perot, Flourish Root Florals. (p. 20) PHOTO BY CAMDEN LITTLETON

ON THE COVER

Chocolate Chestnut Naked Cake Chef Laurie Beth Gills (p. 26) PHOTO BY JACLYN DYRHOLM

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 3

DEPARTMENTS

BY JACLYN DYRHOLM

34 HAPPENINGS p. 12 • CONTRIBUTORS p. 9 • DESSERTS p. 62

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The passage of time and its faded elegance at this rustic country mansion

Thanksgiving Ushers in the Season of Light

Preserving the Legacy of Duck Decoys

Welbourne

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACLYN DYRHOLM

BY MARA SEAFOREST

Second Lives

BY MORGAN HENSLEY

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The Finalists Revealed

The Rolls Royce of Turkeys: Kelly Bronze Turkeys from Crozet

Farm to Table

Photo Contest

BY GLENDA BOOTH

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Art

Thomas Spande: Solitude Adds Another Dimension

BY ANDREW HALEY 4 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

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Randy Johnston on a Lifetime of Jazz

Back-to-Eden Gardening

Music

BY ERIC J. WALLACE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

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Home and Garden

BY AMY FEWELL

PHOTOS L-R JACLYN DYRHOLM, COURTESY OF RANDY JOHNSTON, JUDD CULVER

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Life in the Piedmont

FOUNDING EDITOR: Walter Nicklin

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

PUBLISHER Dennis Brack EDITOR Pam Kamphuis SOCIAL MEDIA AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Morgan Hensley SENIOR EDITOR Gus Edwards ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Carina Richard-Wheat

Happy Hours • Wine Tastings • Wine Pairing Dinners 100+ Bottles of Wine • Rotating Seasonal Menu • Chef’s Table Roof-Top Patio • Roof-Top Grown Herbs & Greens

29 Main Street, Warrenton 540-349-9339 • www.thenewbridgewarrenton.com

PHOTO DIRECTOR Jacki Dyrholm CIRCULATION MANAGER Pam Pulawski CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jordan Koepke, Doug Lees, Hardie Newton, Jonathan Yates BEAGLE MIX Angel The Piedmont Virginian is published Bi-monthly

by Rappahannock Media, L.L.C. P.O. Box 87, Amissville, VA 20106 540.349.2951, 540.675.3088 fax info@piedmontvirginian.com All editorial, advertising, reprint, and/or circulation correspondence should use the above address, or visit the website: www.piedmontvirginian.com The editors welcome but accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and art. Reprints or bulk copies available upon request. Single-copy price, $5.95. One-year subscription rate, $24.95.

Two-year rate, $45.95 © 2016 by Rappahannock Media, LLC. ISSN # 1937-5409 POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Piedmont Virginian, P.O. Box 87, Amissville, VA 20106.

Now Accepting Reservations for Holiday Parties, Receptions & Business Meetings

DRIVERS NEEDED! Monthly part-time dependable drivers needed:

Immediate opening for a self motivated dependable deadline driven person to deliver the Warrenton, Broad Run and Haymarket Lifestyle magazines each month using your own vehicle. These magazines are dropped off to targeted businesses in these communities and are in addition to our direct mailed copies that reach these markets monthly. A great opportunity to earn extra income.

Every other month part-time dependable driver needed:

Immediate opening for a self motivated dependable deadline driven person to deliver the Charlottesville, Orange, Culpeper, Warrenton, Marshall, Loudoun and Rappahannock areas Piedmont Virginian magazines each month using your own vehicle.

These magazines are dropped off to targeted businesses in these communities and are in addition to our direct mailed copies that reach these markets monthly. A great opportunity to earn extra income.

Please call 540-812-2282

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| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 5

COMING THIS SEASON ON PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM

Coming to the Blog:

The holidays are always a special time in the Piedmont. Our photographers will be out and about posting photos of unique, interesting, and beautiful holiday decorations. Please join us! Share any photos you have of Piedmont holiday displays on our social media.

Recap of the 28th Virginia Film Festival

BY PAM KAMPHUIS

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

BY JACLYN DYRHOLM

6 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

COURTESY OF VA FILM FESTIVAL

E

very autumn, the festival showcases celebrated new features, fresh perspectives on timeless classics, and local filmmakers. Domestic and international, experimental and epic, documentaries, comedies, dramas, dramadies—there are so many different genres to choose from for cinephiles and casual viewers alike. This year’s screenings include the buzzed-about La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz musician and aspiring actress in Los Angeles, alongside classics such as Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Akira Kurosawa’s Ran. The festival brings in a fascinating selection of guests, including legendary auteur Werner Herzog; comedian and star of HBO’s Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals, Danny McBride; political pundit Paul Begala; and Norwegian director, human rights advocate, and actress in 11 Ingmar Bergman classics, Liv Ullman. In addition to workshops and panels, galas and parties are sprinkled throughout the four days.

The festival stands as one of Virginia’s most important cultural landmarks, and one of the most respected regional destination film festivals in the United States.

The power of the movies to entertain, enlighten, inspire, and challenge us provides a jumping off point for important discourse that is informed by and enriches the community here and beyond. So visit the Piedmont Virginian blog and join the conversation!

AIA

FROM OUR READERS The Piedmont Virginian welcomes all input from our readers! Please send an email to info@piedmontvirginian.com with comments and suggestions.

BEFORE

AFTER

JAMES HRICKO ARCHITECT LLC

I enjoyed the Piedmont Virginian’s May/June 2016 issue about Virginia wine and everything that Gabrielle Rausse and Gianni Zonin have accomplished. However, and as is often the case in presenting the contemporary success of Virginia winemaking, the story jumps immediately from Mr. Jefferson’s failed attempts to the present, skipping over some important The strange, true beginnings history. of virginia wine How Gabrielle Rausse and Gianni Zonin kick-started a viticultural revolution.

Since 1998, my wife, kids, and I have lived in downtown Charlottesville in the c. 1880 house of Adolph Russow, the former winemaker for the Monticello Wine Company. (The house is—and the wine cellar was— located about six blocks north of the Downtown Mall, in what was once the rural hinterlands just outside the city.)

For years I’ve been working to correct the myth that Jefferson’s dream was not realized until the late 20th century. Left out of the historical narrative is that, from the late 1800s until Prohibition shut them down, there were several large-scale, commercial wineries in the Commonwealth; in fact, in 1890, Virginia was fifth in the nation for wine production.

The majestic vines at Barboursville.

I

WARRENTON • VIRGINIA

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Story by Eric Wallace, photos by 621 Studios

t turns out that a bit over 40 years ago, fresh off an abortive stint working in Australia’s wine country, a 30-year-old Gabrielle Rausse—a man The New York Times would, in the early 90s, crown the “Father of Virginia Wine”—made a decision that would not only radically alter the course of his own life, but also the history of the Piedmont and the state of Virginia.

“My Australian visa had been revoked on a technicality and I’d been forced to go home to Italy,” Rausse says, laughing as he recollects the impetus that brought him to the commonwealth. “I wanted to be in Australia, but that wasn’t happening. So, as I was down on what to do, when Gianni [Zonin] offered me the opportunity to come to Virginia and help him try to make wine, I said to myself, ‘What better do I have to do?’ ” On the one hand, as the two men’s fathers had grown up together (in Veneto, a region in northeast Italy lauded for its wine production) and, due to Zonin’s status as a family friend, Rausse felt confident in the promise of work in America—that is,

L-R: Gianni Zonin, Count Cicogna, Gabriele Rausse in 1978 making plans for Barboursville’s Vineyard.

that Zonin wouldn’t go bust and leave him homeless and stranded. But on the other hand, pondering the venture’s seemingly unfathomable lack of practicality, Rausse was convinced his soon-to-be-employer was completely insane: The year was 1976— while California had become something of a consolation-worthy vintner’s mecca, no one had taken the notion of making quality wine in Virginia seriously since Thomas Jefferson began persistently failing at it almost 200 years before… And yet, fascinated by Zonin’s confidence, charisma, and zany

determination, Rausse accepted his offer, albeit somewhat ambivalently.

“When I agreed to help Gianni, I did it with a big caveat,” says Rausse. “I told him, ‘I’ll help you until I can get my visa for Australia, then I’m gone.’ While what we were doing was this big adventure, at the same time I didn’t really think we’d succeed. So, in some regards, I was just passing time.”

In fact, says Rausse, initially the project’s major draw more or less distilled to the opportunity to work on his English in a native setting. However, post arriving in Charlottesville and encountering the disdainful stigma Zonin’s idea was met with, Rausse became increasingly enamored with the idea of accomplishing something the who’s who of the wine world dismissed as impossible.

“Everyone who knew anything about wine-making was laughing at us,” says Rausse. “People thought we were crazy.

And because of that, there was no pressure for us to succeed. Without the pressure of having to succeed, we were free to experiment and see what we could make happen.”

Faced with the establishment’s over-

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| MAY/JUNE 2016

37

I am absolutely supportive of and enthusiastic about the modern reemergence of Virginia winemaking, but telling the story must not gloss over or omit some very interesting middle chapters.

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Thank you, and many thanks for all that you and the Piedmont Virginian are doing to keep this such a wonderful, beautiful place in which to live and work.

㄀ 䔀愀猀琀 䴀愀椀渀 匀琀爀攀攀琀 䈀攀爀爀礀瘀椀氀氀攀Ⰰ 嘀椀爀最椀渀椀愀 ㈀㈀㘀㄀㄀ ⠀㔀㐀 ⤀ 㤀㔀㔀ⴀ㌀㤀㌀㤀 椀渀昀漀䀀瀀栀洀椀氀氀攀爀⸀挀漀洀 眀眀眀⸀瀀栀洀椀氀氀攀爀猀琀甀搀椀漀⸀挀漀洀

Jeffrey B. Werner, AICP Charlottesville-Albemarle Land Use Field Officer Piedmont Environmental Council PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 7

Looking for Your Dream Home?

SOCIAL MEDIA FAVORITES Our most popular social media posts from September and October

BY CAMDEN LITTLETON

BY JODI MILLER

Railroad Earth returns to the Jefferson Theater

Floral design workshop with the highly praised Holly Heider Chapple at Riverside on the Potomac

COURTESY OF FARM AID

Willie Nelson and Farm Aid

BY AMY FEWELL

Tammy, an award winning Realtor® in the Greater Piedmont, can help you find it and make your dream a reality.

Homesteaders of America

Specializing in Fauquier, Culpeper & Rappahannock Counties.

Photo contest entry Sky Meadows State Park by BBarnes photography

Sold more than $18 million and assisted 55 clients in 2015.

Tammy Roop 540.270.9409 www.tammyroop.com

85 Garrett Street • Warrenton, VA 20186

8 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

New Millennium 540.349.1221

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

Photo contest entry Fall in Middleburg

by Robert L. Banner

Sophia, at the art studio of Snow Fielding at the Mill at Carter Hall

OUR CONTRIBUTORS Glenda C. Booth is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Northern Virginia. She writes about natural resources, historic sites, interesting people, public policy, travel, and other topics for magazines, newspapers, and online publications.

Amy Fewell is a local photographer, writer, and homesteader. She resides in Rixeyville, where she takes care of her husband, son, lovable Labrador, a handful of chickens, and several other farm animals. www.amyfewell.com Andrew Haley opened his Sperryville gallery with his wife, Suzanne Zylonis, in 2000. Haley Fine Art connects clients with artists and the context in which their work evolves. The gallery is open ThursdayMonday, 10-6, and by appointment. Haleyfineart.com Camden Littleton is a marketing consultant and photographer who grew up in Middleburg and resides in Charlottesville (with her apricot poodle, Grace). www.camdensphotography.com

meet

...naturally!

Josh Morison lives in rural Virginia, where he and his family care for 100 retired horses and their two-century-old estate. His degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Texas–Austin have not proven helpful in these endeavors. In his spare time he is working on a novel he hopes both Raymond Chandler and Gerard Manley Hopkins would have found something worth reading in.

Mara Seaforest lived in Washington, D.C., until 1994, subsisting on dinner dates and Rolodex cards. She married musician David Charvonia, moved to a historic farm in Fauquier County, and dumped the cards onto a compost pile beside the victory garden that feeds them both.

Eric J. Wallace’s writing has appeared in Canoe & Kayak, Adventure Kayak, Modern Farmer, All About Beer, Twisted South, Scalawag, and other national magazines. Presently, he writes a travel/outdoors column for The Daily Progress. www.ericjwallace.com.

dine

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PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 9

PHOTO

CONTEST

The Piedmont in Pictures

You decide! Help us choose the winning image for our 5th annual photo contest.

Every year, we ask our readers to enter photos that show us what is special to them about the Piedmont. Our purpose with this publication is to give voice to this special, even magical, place with the hope that it remains so.

The Piedmont’s uniqueness and essence are easily captured with a camera. Whether it’s our naturally beautiful scenic vistas, the people, our beloved animals, the quaint old towns, the architecture, the sporting life, the farms and open spaces, old buildings or modern homes, side roads or main streets, our finalists have captured our nature, places, and ways of life. This

contest is open to everyone, not just professionals. Last year’s second-place picture was taken by a very talented 12-year-old with her iPod’s camera! It’s not only about the photo, it’s about what your photo celebrates about the Piedmont as you see it.

This year’s contest was sponsored by Great Harvest Bread of Warrenton. First prize is a $20 gift certificate, and second and third places will receive $10 gift certificates.

Jacki Dryholm, photo editor, has chosen our finalists, which are displayed here. Go to piedmontvirginian.com and vote for your favorite photographs!

Tyler and #40, Lovettsville, by Deborah Napier

Got Milkweed, Culpeper, by Tracy Brown

Sky Meadows State Park, Paris, by BBarnes Photography 10 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

Blue Truck 2.0, Marshall, by Laney Weyman

611 Steam, Marshall, by Rod Shepherd

Mountain Run Lake Park, Culpeper, by Nic Donovan

Lone Tree, Lucketts, by Sheri Knauer

After The Storm, Washington, by Kevin Adams PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016  11

HAPPENINGS More information and events at piedmontvirginian.com Submit your event and find an extensive online calendar

PHOTO COURTESY OF TEDXCHARLOTTESVILLE

“Across 211,” a Rappahannock landscape by Kevin H. Adams

ALBEMARLE • EDUCATION TEDxCharlottesville, November 11. The 4th annual TEDxCharlottesville welcomes the area’s brightest minds to discuss topics related to the theme of “The Power of One.” This year’s event will highlight how one person, one idea, one decision, one election, one moment in time, or one idea can alter the course of history or the direction of one’s life. Those behind the scenes of TEDxCharlottesville fervently believe that the potential of the individual is nearly unlimited, and that each of us is obligated to take part in improving our own existence and the world. TEDx fosters a community of likeminded, curious, and bold thinkers and provides a platform and audience for their ideas to be heard. This year’s featured speakers include Lulu Miller, co-creator of NPR’s Invisibilia podcast, which explores the hidden forces that shape human behavior; Monica Montgomery, the founding director of the world’s first mobile social justice museum; cellist Bob Cafaro; William J. Antholis, the director and CEO of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs; cognitive neuroscientist Josef Rauschecker; pastor and advocate for transgender equality, Mark Wingfield; and many others. So buy your ticket to TEDxCharlottesville and engage with Charlottesville’s community of ambitious, brave, and deep thinkers. You’re guaranteed to learn something!

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PHOTO COURTESY OFWillie HACKENSAW BOYS Founder and Board Member Nelson

ALBEMARLE • MUSIC Hackensaw Boys and the Larry Keel Experience, November 25. Want a better way to spend Black Friday than trampling your extended family members in an overcrowded mall full of thrifty shoppers trying to stay awake despite a near-overdose on turkey and tryptophan during a particularly voracious Thanksgiving dinner? Yeah, so do we. That’s why you’ll find us burning calories in a good ol’ fashioned hoedown courtesy of Hackensaw Boys and the one and only Larry Keel. The Larry Keel Experience features the virtuoso bluegrass guitarist picking his way through music you must hear live. As innovative and technical as his guitar playing may be, you’re assured to end up boogying away. A native of Fauquier County, Keel started his career in Amissville and has toured the country with his band of bluegrass aficionados. The Hackensaw Boys started 17 years ago with a simple mission, according to frontman and guitarist David Sickmen: “Play music and make people feel good.” They’ve certainly accomplished that. Their unique sound draws from the Piedmont blues and its storytelling, lyrical meter. The Virginia natives have been called “old timey Appalachian country punk rock.” We think that fits them perfectly, but you’ll just have to force yourself out of your La-Z-BoyTM chair to see firsthand what an exhilarating, incomparable performance Keel and the Hackensaw Boys are sure to put on.

MATTHEW SHELTON, ALL SOULS, 2011

HAPPENINGS

ALBEMARLE • ART . Contested Bodies: Matt Shelton & Nikolai Mahesh Noel, December 2. Stop by Second Street Gallery to view this collaboration between Charlottesville artist Matthew P. Shelton and Trinidadian artist Nikolai Mahesh Noel that examines how race, privilege, and oppression relate to economics and opportunity—past and present. Shelton and Noel localize the work in their genealogy— Shelton is descended from Confederate soldiers and Noel is biracial and Caribbean. They have developed this interdisciplinary work since attending Virginia Commonwealth University’s MFA program together. About their collaboration, the two have said: “We share an interest in the aftershocks of colonialism, as well as a curiosity about individuals as historical creations. Our collaboration utilizes our respective subject positions for an inquiry into concerns about the self, otherness, history, and power.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANK WALLACE

CLARKE • MUSIC Guitarist Frank Wallace, November 12. Frank Wallace—composer, guitarist, lutenist, and baritone—has been hailed as “one of our age’s truly important composers” by critics and adoring fans alike.

Wallace is one of those rare artists whose wizardry on the guitar rivals the range and depth of his musical ideas in composition.

His performance of “Three Spanish Guitars” is a vibrant and sensual experience featuring the music of Aguado, Tárrega, de Falla, and original compositions. It’s extraordinary to hear a powerful and refined performer playing exceptional historical instruments he knows intimately. As a performer, Wallace is known for his “elegant virtuosity” as well as his international tours both as a soloist and with mezzo-soprano Nancy Knowles. Wallace is a two-time winner of the NH Individual Fellowship Award and has served on the faculty of many institutions, including the New England Conservatory, Keene State College, and Guitar Foundation of America.

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

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HAPPENINGS COURTESY OF MIDDLEBURG ECCENTRIC

PETIT DEJEUNER, BECKY PARRISH

FAUQUIER • ART Changing Season: New Works by Becky Parrish, December 3. Parrish’s use of exciting color contrasts and a deft use of light and shadow identify her work on display at Berkley Gallery. Her portraits capture an individual’s spirit, rather than presenting a hard-edged photographic reproduction, while her still life works are strikingly diverse. "My paintings are abstract, regardless of their representative nature.

Whether setting up a still life, or positioning a figure in a portrait, the objective in the paintings is to create an integrated whole,” Parrish says of her artistic vision. “I choose still life as an art form because it allows me to control all of the elements. Still life in general is limited in depth and space, therefore, it is a challenge when developing an arrangement to try to capture that multi-layered sense of space on the two dimensional surface of the canvas.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAPITOL STEPS

LOUDOUN • THEATRE Capitol Steps, November 20. This Washington-based sketch comedy troupe is sure to make you laugh, and even leave you with a couple of political jokes to get you through the awkward, heated debates inevitable at any Thanksgiving dinner. Their blend of sarcasm, satire, parody, and musical theater is sure to put a grin on your face as the nation faces the post-election fallout in November. The troupe is made up of former Senate staffers, tobacco lobbyists, and Capitol insiders who can’t help but put a hilarious, absurd spin on the political landscape. Since 1981, the Capitol Steps have poked fun at failings and personalities in D.C., and in the process, proven the comic’s maxim: If nothing is ever serious, then nothing is ever funny. Come check out the Capitol Steps’ lampooning of Putin, Obama, and the nation’s next president, whomever that may be.

LOUDOUN • HOLIDAYS Middleburg Christmas Parade, December 3. We all know the iconic photograph: foxhunters in their gleaming reds, flurries of snow, the hounds trotting through the idyllic streets, the foggy breaths of an elated audience. The Hunt Review is back again this year, as are the hayrides, parade floats, crafts fair, and Middleburg Garden Club’s Christmas greens sale. The morning starts with a breakfast with Santa Claus himself and ends with Spirits of Middleburg, a pairing of the historic town’s ciders, spirits, and wines with the delicious cuisine of its many excellent restaurants. So come early, wander through boutiques like Lou Lou’s and Tully Rector, grab a cup of cocoa from Cuppa Giddy Up (or perhaps a hard cider from Mt. Defiance Cidery & Distillery), get a bite to eat at the new Side Saddle Café, then partake in the festivities that surround The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

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At Country Chevrolet, strong, enduring relationships create more than a successful business.

They create a Family.

— Andy Budd Country Chevrolet Owner, President

HAPPENINGS

PHOTO COURTESY OF 621 STUDIOS

LOUDOUN • WINE • DANCING 2nd Annual Wine Country Harvest Ball & Art Sale, November 19. This fabulous, elegant, black-tie-optional ball and art sale features the music of the Hunt Country Harvest Orchestra, a four-course gourmet dinner, open bar, and spectacular local art sale, all the while benefitting the Phillips Programs for Children and Families’ charitable mission.

The nonprofit is dedicated to serving the complex needs of children and youth living with cognitive and emotional challenges in the greater Washington metropolitan area. The event is co-sponsored by the Loudoun Arts Council, which has supported Loudoun’s visual, literary, and performing artists since 1986 with the goal of elevating the lives of all community members. So don your finest frocks and enjoy an evening of art and charity at the luxurious Salamander Resort and Spa.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RESTLESS HEART

ORANGE • WINE Barboursville Fall Harvest Dinner, November 17. Celebrate autumn’s bounty with a night of delicious cuisine and magnificent wines. A wine and cheese reception kicks off the event and is followed by a dinner featuring local provisions, herbs, and vegetables from Airlie’s organic garden. Each exquisite course is expertly paired with a varietal from Barboursville Vineyards, one of the state’s most celebrated wineries. What better way to end the night than with a meet-and-greet with winemaker Luca Paschina, the mind behind the vines? Paschina shares his story of how his humble roots in Piemonte, Italy, inspired his lifelong passion for wine, food, and the environment. As Barboursville's resident winemaker for the past 26 years, Luca's list of honors is both extensive and impressive. This is truly an event not to be missed.

PRINCE WILLIAM • MUSIC • HOLIDAY Restless Heart, December 11. The Restless Heart band puts its own unique country spin on Christmas classics such as "Tennessee Christmas," "Jingle Bell Rock," and "O Holy Night" in this celebration of holiday memories. The group's authentic country twang, paired with pop-infused melodies and holiday favorites, is an unbeatable combination that strikes a sentimental and romantic chord. Thirty years and still going strong, this recordbreaking band continues to delight audiences with their tales of adoration, home, and patriotism. Although the group has many fans already, they’re always looking to explore new sonic territories.

Come carolers, come country fans, come one, come all, come to Restless Heart and listen to classic Christmas jingles as you’ve never heard them before.

Historic

Middleburg Virginia

on Route 50 in beautiful Loudoun County with convenient in-town parking

Discover our Traditions while creating your own...

Shopping, Dining, Arts, Horses, and History

• • •

Nov. 3-5, Dec, 2 Dec. 3

Christmas Shop Christmas Tree Lighting Christmas in Middleburg

Plan ahead for 2017 • Feb. 17-19 Ultimate Winter Sale • Mar. 31 - Apr. 2 Shakespeare in the ‘Burg

540 . 687 . 8888

www.visitmiddleburgva.com PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

MBPA

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

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 15

Don’t forget—

Holiday Gift Subscriptions RICH HERITAGE • FOOD & DRINK • VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS • THE SPORTING LIFE OPEN SPACES • WILDLIFE & NATURE • REGIONAL CALENDAR OF EVENTS

HAPPENINGS

PHOTO COURTESY OF MANASSAS BALLET

MEET THE INSIDE FORCE OF appletoncampbell.com ROW THREE Ali Andino – Operational Development 5 years Jennifer Deary – Customer Service Manager 10 years Heather Appleton – Marketing Director 9 years Jeanette Boyd – Customer Service 4 years

PRINCE WILLIAM • THEATRE • HOLIDAY Manassas Ballet: The Nutcracker, December 15–23. Take an unforgettable journey with Clara and her magical toy nutcracker as they fight the Mouse King, visit the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and encounter other characters and challenges along the way.

The Manassas Ballet Theatre Orchestra’s live performance of Tchaikovsky’s moving score brings to life the pageantry of the opening party scene, the journey of Clara and her nutcracker prince, and the lovely “Waltz of the Snowflakes.” An ensemble cast of talented dancers, from the Piedmont and abroad, come together for a stunning rendition of this Christmastime classic.

ROW TWO Katelynn Stern – Bookkeeper 6 years Renee Hawes – Dispatcher 7 years Eva Armell – Dispatcher 13 years

ROW ONE June Wagner – Bookkeeper 17 years Amy Foster – Customer Service 2 years Renee Davis – Asst Sales Manager 4 years Betsy James – CPA 18 years

The company has “tripled in size since I started and the care for the customers and employees has grown right along with our numbers.

”

PHOTO BY J. BALLARD

– Betsy James CPA 18 Years

I have been blessed to be adopted into the “Appleton Campbell family, I simply love the work I do. ” – Renee Davis, Asst. Sales Manager 4 Years

A true family company, I couldn’t imagine “working anywhere else! ” – Jennifer Deary, Customer Service Manager 10 Years

’s

Culpeper

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RAPPAHANNOCK • HOLIDAY Christmas in Little Washington, December 6. The quiet, quaint town of Little Washington comes to life to celebrate the Yuletide. A parade starring Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, with a big bag of gifts for children at the event, festive floats, animals, performers, and the Rappahannock Hunt in their reds and with their hounds is guaranteed to turn any “Bah! Humbug” into a “Hip hip, hooray!” There is an artisans’ market boasting more than 30 vendors with art, specialty food, and local wines for sale.

For history buffs, stop by the Rappahannock Historical Society for a glimpse into the history of the beautiful county as exhibited in their fine museum. Little Washington has something for everyone this holiday season.

AR

ER

FOR

YE

CE

2016 2016

ED S OF T R U ST

S

CULPEPER

TIMES

BEST

Best

of the BEST OFTHE OF CULPEPER

540.347.0765 Warrenton | 540.825.6332 Culpeper 703.754.3301 Gainesville | 540.645.6229 Fredericksburg

15316 AC Pied_Virginian Ad.indd 1

10/14/16 9:42 AM

This is just a taste of everything the Piedmont has to offer in the way of things to do to enjoy our region!

Check our website, Facebook, Twitter, and blog for much more, and join our weekly digital newsletter for weekly roundups.

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 17

The Holiday Table

The Holiday Table

18 PHOTO PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM | BY

CAMDEN LITTLETON

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

The Holiday Table

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016  19

The Holiday Table

ADORN THE TABLE: Holiday Designs

The Thanksgiving Table Designs by Jen Perrot, Flourish Root Florals Photography by Camden Littleton

WHAT YOU’LL NEED 2 3 1

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Beauty berries Sorghum * Ornamental grass Limelight hydrangea Native grasses Pink diamond hydrangea Dogwood leaves Dried poppyheads * Bittersweet vine-will be orange-yellow at Thanksgiving time.

Colorful gourds of your choice

20 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

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The Holiday Table

ADORN THE TABLE: Holiday Designs

The Christmas Table

W

hen putting together florals for a special holiday table, Jen Perrot of Flourish Root Florals likes to look around to see what's happening in the gardens, fields, and woods. These natural elements, whether fresh or dried, are added to locally sourced flowers to create a tablescape that evokes an organic, elegant feel for any holiday event. By “bringing the outside in," Perrot incorporates seasonal colors, textures, and structural elements into a cohesive, dynamic, and beautiful floral showpiece.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED 1.

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Pink diamond hydrangea Yew Dahlia * Pine Lisianthus * Limelight hydrangea Eucalyptus * Pepperberries * Scabiosa pod * Dahlia * Heather * Nandina

All the plants used in these designs are native to the Piedmont area. Some can be found by foraging, but during the holiday season it may be necessary to find a florist or cut-flower grower.

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5 PHOTO SHOOT CREDITS Designs: Jen Perrot, Flourish Root Florals Photography: Camden Littleton Location: Flourish Root Florals Studio, Sperryville Antiques & Vintage Props: Copper Fox Antiques, Sperryville Gourds & Vegetables: Blue Ridge Natural Foods, Amissville Additional Location: Copper Fox Whiskey Distillery, Sperryville Additional Flowers: Fresh Cut Flowers by Melanie, Boston Wollam Gardens, Jeffersonton Laughing Duck Gardens, Washington

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| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 21

The Holiday Table

FILL THE TABLE: Holiday Recipes

Creole Duck Breast

+ (Gluten-Free) Cornbread & Andouille Sausage Stuffing

Recipe courtesy of Southern Crescent Galley and Bar

by Taylor Pitts and Lucinda Ewell

Prepare The Duck 1. Break down the duck by placing the breast-side down on a cutting board.

2. Using a small knife, cut under one of the wings and pull it from the body.

3. Cut around the joint to remove the wing. Do this for both wings and set aside for stock.

4. With the breast-side up, cut between one leg and the body.

Hold the duck leg and pull it away from the body to expose joint. Cut under and around the joint, then cut down the back of the duck to detach the leg. Repeat with the other leg. Trim and remove excess fat and save.

5. Remove the breast from the carcass. Cut under the flesh along the rib cage toward the tail end. Then cut around the wishbone and detach the breast bone by sliding the knife

against the carcass. Trim and reserve the excess fat.

6. Chop the remaining carcass and roast the bones and wings in the oven and reserve for the stock.

7. Cross-hatch skin-side of duck with sharp knife. Season breasts with salt and pepper and pan-sear breasts over high heat for a minute. Reduce heat and cook until well browned, about 6 minutes. Turn and cook until mediumrare and render off the fat. Keep cracklings for garnish. Let rest for five minutes.

8. Slice duck breasts crosswise on the diagonal and serve over gluten-free cornbread and andouille sausage with sauteed brussel sprouts and garnished with fresh figs.

PHOTOS BY CAMDEN LITTLETON 22  PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

The Holiday Table

FILL THE TABLE: Holiday Recipes

Duck Stock

Gluten-Free Cornbread

Ingredients

Ingredients

1/4 2 2 1

½

cup canola oil carrots, peeled and sliced celery stalks, chopped large onion, chopped salt and pepper to taste cup vermouth

Method

1. Add all of the roasted bones, including the neck and skin, to a stock pot and cover with water.

2. Saute vegetables and add to the stock pot.

3. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook for about 2 hours.

4. Remove the bits that surface during cooking. Strain the stock after it has chilled and use in the sauce.

2 cups coarsely ground white cornmeal 1 tsp. Kosher salt 1 tsp. baking soda 2 tsps. baking powder 1 egg, beaten 4 Tbsps. butter, melted 1½ cups buttermilk 2 Tbsps. local honey

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400˚. Grease a 12” cast iron frying pan.

2. Mix cornmeal, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, butter, buttermilk, and honey. Whisk.

3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to mix. Pour the mixture into the cast-iron pan and cook for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Gluten-Free Cornbread & Andouille Sausage Stuffing Ingredients

The Sauce Ingredients ½ ½ 5 3 3 1 ½

stick of butter half cup of brown sugar Tbsps. black currant syrup Tbsps. Worcestershire Sauce Tbsps. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos Tbsp. local honey cup of duck stock (see recipe above)

Method

1. Melt butter in skillet and add ingredients one at time and stir over medium heat.

2. Bring to a boil and reduce to a glaze for about 3-4 minutes.

3. Whisk in 1 Tbsp. of butter and salt and pepper to taste.

3/4 lb. bulk andouille sausage 1 recipe of cornbread 1 stick of butter 11/2 cups chopped yellow onions 1 cup chopped celery 1 red pepper, chopped 1/2 cup chopped green onions 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup chicken stock 1 cup duck stock (above) 2-3 Tbsps. duck fat

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Butter 12” cast-iron frying pan. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a pan and sauté andouille sausage (casing removed) until browned and the fat is rendered. Remove from pan and save.

2. Melt rest of butter (6 tablespoons) in the pan and add vegetables. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Whisk eggs in a bowl. Crumble cornbread and combine with sausage and vegetables. Dot with butter and bake in cast-iron skillet for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 23

The Holiday Table

FILL THE TABLE: Holiday Recipes

Traditional Stuffings with a Local Twist Oyster Stuffin’ Muffin

Courtesy of Rappahannock Oyster Company Ingredients: 2 1 ¼ 1/2 1 3 1 1 1/3

cups chopped celery cup chopped onion cup diced bacon cup (1 stick) butter Tbsp. Italian seasoning (1 tsp. each thyme, basil, oregano) cups chicken stock bag Pepperidge Farm™ stuffing cubes pint shucked oysters cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method: 1. On medium heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan.

Add bacon and render for about five minutes. Add the celery, onions, and Italian seasoning and sauté, covered, for 5-8 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, add the croutons, Parmesan cheese, and the oysters. Stir together vigorously, breaking up the oysters as much as possible. Pour the stock-vegetable-bacon mixture over the crouton-oyster mix. Mix thoroughly and place uncovered in the refrigerator to cool (about one hour).

3. Once chilled, form into “burger” sized patties and griddle for 3-5 minutes on each side. Serve hot with bacon-scallion cream sauce (recipe below).

MUFFIN SAUCE Ingredients: ¼ 1 1 2 ½ 4

cup diced bacon cup cold chicken stock Tbsp. butter Tbsps. all-purpose flour cup cream green onions, diced

Method:

1. Sauté bacon in butter for 5-10 minutes in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until completely incorporated. Slowly add the chicken stock and stir, bringing to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cream, stir and simmer 10 more minutes. Add pepper and green onions and serve over the Stuffin’ Muffin.

24 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

Chestnut Stuffing

Courtesy of Virginia Food System Council Ingredients:

2 cups whole chestnuts (Find local chestnuts at virginiachestnuts.com) 1 cup butter 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 tsp. dried sage leaves 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning 1 lb. bread (sourdough or French bread work best), cubed and dried overnight 1 lb. whole wheat bread, cubed and dried overnight 3 eggs 1/3 cup milk

Method: 1. With a sharp knife, cut slits in the surface of the chestnuts. Place chestnuts in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Then cover saucepan, reduce heat to medium, and simmer 25 minutes, or until chestnuts are tender when pierced with a knife. (You can also roast the slitted chestnuts at 450 for 15 minutes, and let them cool before boiling for an added) 2. Drain the pan and let the chestnuts cool until you can handle them. Carefully peel the chestnuts using a very sharp knife and chop coarsely.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in chestnuts, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and poultry seasoning, and cook until onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium baking dish, and mix with the cubed bread.

3. In a small bowl, beat together eggs and milk, and drizzle over the cubed bread mixture. Toss with your hands gently to coat everything well.

4. Use this mixture to stuff into a seasoned turkey. Roast according to roasting tables. If stuffing is left over, place it in a greased casserole and bake at 350° for 30 to 45 minutes, until top is crisp and lightly browned.

Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 50 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Yield: Serves 16

The Gobbler

The Holiday Table

A zesty, spicy cocktail for whiskey lovers The Gobbler, created by John MacPherson, the chef and co-owner of Little Washington’s esteemed Foster Harris House, is a seasonal variation on a tried-and-true cocktail: the Manhattan. This is a highly flavorful drink that features a complex blending of flavors. The grated ginger adds a zesty spiciness. The tart cherry juice and Pimm’s add a natural fruitiness balanced by the citrus tones of the Grand Marnier. Finally, there’s the wallop of Wild Turkey. There are plenty of recipes for turkey lovers and tryptophan fans, so here’s one for the curious imbiber!

Ingredients

11/2 oz. Wild Turkey 1 oz. Grand Marnier 1/2 oz. Pimm’s 1/2 oz. tart cherry juice 1/4 tsp. grated fresh ginger 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters 1 squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Combine all ingredients over ice in a Boston cocktail shaker.

2. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds until shaker is very cold.

3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

4. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

PHOTOGRAPHED AT FOSTER HARRIS HOUSE BY JACLYN DYRHOLM PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 25

The Holiday Table

FILL THE TABLE: Holiday Recipes

Chocolate Chestnut Naked Cake

S

By Laurie Beth Gills

ometimes to make a cake spectacular, all you need to do is think simply. And although this cake is “naked,” a more exposed cake with less, the look here can be deceiving. This cake is spectacularly sophisticated, perfect for those special occasions throughout the cooler months.

It’s rich and inviting, reminiscent of earthy scents such as warm vanilla with a subtle chestnut flavor. Be creative when decorating. This can be adapted to any theme.

For instance, some rosemary and a sprig of holly says “Christmas,” while using autumn leaves makes a perfect Thanksgiving dessert.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY JACLYN DYRHOLM

26 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

The Holiday Table

FILL THE TABLE: Holiday Recipes

The Cake

Chestnut Maple Buttercream Frosting

Serves: 12. Yield: Makes one two-layer, eight-inch cake (make this recipe twice if you want a four-layer cake)

Yield: about 1 ½ cups (double this amount if baking all four layers)

Ingredients

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup chestnut flour (a good substitute is almond or hazelnut flour) 1 Tbsp. baking powder 1 Good pinch of fine sea salt (I use Maldon) 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsps. good quality dark cocoa powder 1 cup granulated sugar ¾ cup light brown sugar 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus more for the pans) 3/4 cup buttermilk, well-shaken 4 large eggs, room temperature 1½ tsps. vanilla extract 2 Tbsps. vegetable oil ¼ cup freshly brewed black coffee, room temperature (I use Gevalia)

Method:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Butter and flour two 8” cake pans, tapping out the excess.

3. In a large bowl sift all dry ingredients (listed above), then transfer into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low to combine.

4. In a separate bowl gently whisk together eggs, vanilla, ¼ cup buttermilk, and oil. Set aside.

5. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the 2 sticks of butter and ½ cup of buttermilk, just until dry mix is moistened. Increase speed to medium-low for about 1 ½ minutes, then scrape down the sides and bottom.

6. Slowly add the egg mixture, beating just long enough to blend. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again to ensure an even mix. Add the coffee and beat the batter on medium-high for a final minute to ensure everything is well-mixed.

7. Divide the batter evenly into the two prepared pans.

Smooth tops with a small offset spatula, or use the back of a spoon. The pans should be about threequarters full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out almost clean. Let the cakes cool in pans on racks for 10-12 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to help loosen, then invert onto racks. Wait about 3 minutes and then reinvert cakes, cooling completely top side up.

8. While the cakes cool, make the frosting.

1 1 1 2 ¾

stick unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces Tbsp. chestnut purée, softened (available at Amazon.com) pinch fine sea salt cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted Tbsp. Vermont maple syrup infused with real vanilla bean (can substitute using ½ tablespoon pure maple syrup plus ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract) 2 Tbsps. half and half ¼ cup roasted chestnuts shelled and ready to eat, finely chopped.

Method: 1. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, chestnut purée, and salt until light and creamy on low-medium speed.

2. Reduce speed to low and add 1 cup sugar, mixing until blended. Add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time until all incorporated, beating well. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl.

3. Add the vanilla, maple syrup, and half and half; beat on high for a further 2-3 minutes until fluffy and smooth. If frosting is too thick, add more half and half.

4. Set aside until ready to use.

Assemble the cake: 1. If your cakes have domed a bit on top, use a serrated knife to trim the tops for nice, even, flat-top layers.

2. Position the first cake on top an 8” cake board, then onto a cake stand or plate. Spread a fairly thick layer of frosting on it using an offset spatula, then top with some of the chopped chestnuts. Repeat this process for the second layer, (and third if creating a four-layer cake), then carefully place the last layer upside-down so that the top stays flat and virtually crumb-free.

3. Add a thin layer of buttercream to the sides of the cake, and then start spreading it out as you rotate the cake, creating the “naked” effect. Remove any excess frosting. Place in the fridge for a few minutes if needed.

4. Using a small sifter, apply a simple dusting on top of the cake with confectioners’ sugar. Serve as is, or choose your own favorite topping. (I like using fresh rosemary fresh from the garden. It easily creates a rustic, yet sophisticated look.)

5. I recommend using a sharp, thin-blade knife when serving.

6. You can cover cake in the fridge for up to three days. Just remember to take it out an hour or so before serving.

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

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SECOND LIVES

Decoys tell Christy’s story, and the story of generations of carvers before him

28 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

SECOND LIVES

The Chef

Who Saved A Dying Art Decoy carver Richard Christy, crafter of “today’s creations, tomorrow’s heirlooms”

By Morgan Hensley, Photos by Jaclyn Dyrholm

R

ichard Christy—the founder and master craftsman behind Buck Island Bay Decoys as well as the owner, chef, and proprietor of Rock-n-Creek Cabin—whittles away at a hunk of wood while discussing his artistry, life, and the ways in which the two overlap. Like shed feathers, the shavings fall to the sawdust-strewn floor. He covers his time as a White House chef, his stint as a rural paramedic, and his passion for and efforts to preserve dying art forms. During a punctuated pause, he holds to the light the rounded and tapered sculpture, unmistakably the form of a waterfowl, that only moments ago was merely a block of wood.

Christy’s lifetime follows as all great stories do: events are at once surprising and inevitable. His voice bears the signature drawl of Virginia’s Tidewater region, and his humility in discussing his mastery of both cuisine and carving, and the transition bridging the two, calls to mind the laconic storytelling of a cowboy. He made a name for himself early on in his culinary career, first as a chef for President Gerald Ford (“He was a real foodie, like me.”), and later as the founder of the renowned Black Tie Catering. By then, the rigors and uncertainty of the restaurant industry had begun to set in. “Sixteen-hour days, six days a week, no holidays, no job security, no gold Rolex after thirty years ... I needed a hobby outside of the kitchen.” One day in 1982, while sculpting an ice centerpiece for a banquet, he noticed his proclivity for carving and realized that he’d discovered an outlet for stress.

“I thought, ‘If I can carve a watermelon into a flower, why not try to do it with wood?’ ” he says.

Eager to explore this artistic inkling, he was reminded of his years as a young man spent in Sandbridge, an island a half-mile wide with the Atlantic on one side and the Back Bay, which tapers into the Currituck Sound, on the other. “It’s a desolate stretch of beach that runs down to the Outer Banks,” he says. “Living there I was surrounded by waterfowl and generations of decoy carvers.”

One of those carvers was Charlie Seidel, a master decoy carver and instructor at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center.

Christy enrolled in Seidel’s workshop and, in doing so, altered the trajectory of his life.

At the workshop, Seidel imparted the advice of a seasoned guru: “Charlie took a block and told me, ‘Take away everything that doesn’t look like a duck.’ ” This sage advice from master craftsman PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 29

SECOND LIVES echoes that of Michelangelo.

When asked by an acquaintance how he was able to sculpt such beautiful, naturalistic angels, the Renaissance artist responded, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Although Christy, a Renaissance man in his own right, works with white cedar instead of marble, the great artist’s sentiment rings true.

Before duck decoys garnered the acclaim as quintessential Americana folk art—with some models selling at auction for nearly one million dollars— the wooden sculptures served a pragmatic purpose. Waterfowl overhead possess an instinct for hunters lurking in the reeds or waiting in blinds. By floating a “gunning rig” of decoys, the hunters are able to subdue the fowls’ flighty instinct, convincing the birds that the body of water is safe as it is peacefully

30 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

populated by what appear to be other birds. Once the live fowl pitch and set their wings, the hunters are able to take aim from a closer range.

Christy exudes a reverence for the origins of the decoy and its application as a tool, not a decoration. “I focus on the traditional side: why decoys were used in the first place. It goes back to poorer folks who would carve decoys out of broken masts and dunnage. They’d gather it up from the shore and chop birds out of it, then rub it with crushed glass wrapped in a rag to ‘sand’ it.” His respect for the history of the decoy is matched only by his admiration for the decoy carvers from whom he inherited the secrets of the craft, often begrudgingly at first.

“I learned from the old timers, one-on-one. What a wealth of knowledge!” Christy says.

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

“At first I asked them to teach me; they said they didn’t want to teach me. I nearly begged the curmudgeons. Finally, I told them, ‘I’m not looking to profit from this, I only want to keep this art alive. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.’ It would be such a shame for them to pass away without passing these secrets down.

After that, they embraced me with open arms and we grew to be very good friends. I visited and asked if I could just watch them work and spend some time around them. They were willing to do that. That was their way of teaching me. They showed me their old tricks and techniques they would’ve taken to the grave. Most of them are long gone, but their knowledge lives on.”

This lineage of craftsmanship influenced Christy, though he has developed a wholly unique style over the years. “There’s

“Anything I’ve made with my hands has a part of me in it, and to me that is very intimate. It’s an offering, a piece of yourself extending to people you may not know. ... To create something, whether food or a carving, that someone takes into their home and thinks enough of it to consider it a gift ... to me that is remarkable.”

Below: The tools of the trade Right: Christy’s artistic vision materializes as a swan

SECOND LIVES no right or wrong way to carve a decoy,” he says, “but there are good decoys and bad ones. I tend to lean towards the southern style—primitive, nostalgic. Up north the decoys are much larger—four times the size, even—very blocky, artificial, with bright colors.”

He walks me through his studio and shows me decoys in various states of completion. Driftwood, a white oak basket of sunbleached antlers, oyster shells, birdhouses, Swedish hatchets forged by hand. Sawdust hangs in the air, as does the silence, occasionally broken by the hacks of his axe. The form of a swan emerges from a slab of juniper; in its incompletion, the carving resembles a swan as seen through the haze of dawn. “Swans are flighty and aggressive; they don’t like others. So when a bird in flight sees a swan, they’re reassured.” Aside from an electric band saw, the process of carving is done entirely by hand. The absence of power tools attests to the incredible potential of a simple knife or rasp when wielded by a veteran artist like Christy.

Though there is no formula for art, Christy does follow a porcess, minutely adapting the steps to accommodate the piece. He begins by sketching the decoy to create a pattern, first on paper, then on the wooden block. From this preliminary drawing he cuts out a blank. “Once the blank is cut, I set it up on a stump and chop it out by hand.” After cleaving out the shape, he uses a rasp, drawknife, and other tools for more precise cuts. “I finish with a few more strokes to enhance the carving and add different levels of detail dependent on the decoy’s use.”

The finished product is one of a kind. “I could make a hundred, but each is going to have its own personality,” he says. “Whether I knocked a chip out by accident or added a dabble of paint somewhere, it’s different. They’re renditions, not copies or anatomically correct, but, they’re not meant to be.”

At first, decoy carving was relegated to a hobby while Christy’s culinary career progressed. In 1994, Christy was designated a Certified Executive Chef, the second-highest honorific for American chefs. When he opened Squeeler’s Diner three years later, Christy’s dreams of running his own restaurant had come to fruition. Though he was at the pinnacle of his career, he sensed that he was already being undercut by the next generation of chefs—younger, trendier, less skilled but less costly. Christy was at a crossroads professionally, and so he decided to take an eight-month sabbatical to build a mountain home and meditate on the different paths and outcomes available to him.

As a Boy Scout, Christy had hiked Crabtree Falls and camped out in Montebello. The nostalgia and fond memories from childhood made the area of the George Washington National Forest an enticing place to ruminate about his future. Christy bought 42 acres in 2001 in hopes of enjoying a simpler life and taking a stab at animal husbandry. It was there that he experienced an epiphany. “I thought, ‘Throw in the towel while you’re at the top of your game. You’re financially secure, you’ve worked hard, and now you’re allowed to PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

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SECOND LIVES

Top: Christy’s workshop gallery Bottom: The finished products of a master basketmaker

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enjoy the rest of your life.’ So after that I began withdrawing and winding down.”

The transition from the drudgery of the culinary world to the easygoing life of a retiree was difficult for Christy. “I was so routined that it was impossible for me to relax. I felt like I had to be doing something.

Five years passed before I felt | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

not guilty sitting in a rocking chair on my porch enjoying life.

Now, I’m so used to this that I can’t imagine going back to that way of life.”

Don’t mistake Christy’s zen mindfulness for stagnancy though. His curiosity in disappearing arts led him to basketry.

“Our ancestors came here from the Old World with nothing,

so they had to make things from the land,” Christy says.

“Carving decoys had started to become routine, not to say I’d mastered it—I haven’t and if I had a second lifetime I still wouldn’t. But I wanted another lost art and I found Clyde Jenkins, one of the last white-oak basketmakers in the land.” Unlike a basketweaver, Christy wanted to be a basketmaker: starting from the beginning by felling white oaks from his land, cutting his own reeds, and riving every split, rib, and weaver from that tree. “To create a handmade white oak basket takes time, patience, knowledge, and strength,” he says. “When you are finished, you have created a working piece of tradition, an heirloom.” Christy didn’t stop there. His prowess with woodwork has seen him venture into treenware, teaspoons, and dough bowls, all hand-hewn with the immense care at the heart of anything Christy creates.

“Anything I’ve made with my hands has a part of me in it, and to me that is very intimate. It’s an offering, a piece of yourself extending to people you may not know. It’s the same principle even when I was working as a chef. There’s such a trust there: you make food and people ingest your creation. To create something, whether food or a carving, that someone takes into their home and thinks enough of it to consider it a gift ... to me that is remarkable. There’s obviously a pleasure in preserving these lost arts, but relinquishing my creation to someone else, that’s remarkable.”

Christy’s talents extend far beyond his cuisine and carvings. As the proprietor of 2,100-square-foot Rock-

SECOND LIVES n-Creek Cabin, named for a nearby granite outcrop and the headwaters of the Tye River, he fosters a sense of tranquility, of communion with the surrounding landscape. Christy understands the recent trend of “glamping” (a portmanteau of “glamorous” and “camping”) and caters to guests who want massages and a rural Ritz Carlton experience. However, a more pastoral aura permeates the cabin. What Christy offers visitors is the serenity and quietude of the region. There are no cell phone towers nearby.

No wireless internet. In place of these modern amenities is something permanent and ancient.

“Out here the stars are so close that you can grab them,” he says as the sun starts its descent. “To be out here and experiencing that twilight ...”

His words trail off, their meaning understood regardless.

Inside the cabin are rough exposed beams, quilts, porches, decoys, and a coffee table built from a refurbished lobster trap. The design is as luxurious as it is quaint. Perhaps this is the perfect illustration of what makes Christy fascinating and his work remarkable: the obvious talent without any of the pretension. Now it seems he has his aim set on mastering another dying art: relaxation, or rather, the pursuit of serenity while continuing to learn.

“There’s no pressure in the sense that I have to do any particular thing at any particular time. If I don’t want to carve, I can work on a basket or dough bowl or cooking utensils. That keeps me from getting stagnant and ensures that my hobby will never become a burden, a job. Every day is a Friday, every day is a Monday.”

A handmade shorebird cranes its neck.

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PIEDMONT HOMES

The walled back garden and majestic back porch, showing the original section of the house, towards left, and the 1830s additon, towards the right.

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PIEDMONT HOMES

Welbourne A 250-year-old house, eight generations, Civil War history, horses, jazz, and giraffes.

The home that never forgets anything.

Photography by Jaclyn Dyrholm

elbourne is so many things that it cannot possibly be summed up with a single description. Welbourne is a 1770 property and antebellum mansion in Loudoun County that has been in the same family since 1830; a treasured home for past, present, and future generations; an important piece of equine history and a retirement facility for about 100 horses; a refuge for jazz lovers (and giraffe lovers); a flagship leader in the drive for sustainable land use, historic easement, and preservation; and a bed and breakfast whose hospitality is a natural outcome of everything that Welbourne encompasses. It is a home that warmly welcomes all, but posseses a special meaning for those who share its values.

The stairway in the original section of the house, leading from the kitchen to the two original upstairs bedrooms, worn by the footsteps of 250 years of Piedmont families.

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PIEDMONT HOMES

“It rarely feels like Welbourne needs our fixing so much as we need its.

For all the minor year-to-year crises and tribulations, the house and farm abide, and for all that my father, mother, wife, and I do, we’re just another notch in the tally stick of the generations,” writes seventh-generation host Josh Morison

A

t the turn of the last century, the story goes, dormer windows were put in the old manor’s attic to let the ghosts out. The apparitions might have gone, but Welbourne is nothing if not suffused with reminders of all who have passed through its heavy pine door. And for every windowpane autographed by a Confederate officer’s diamond ring, for every F. Scott Fitzgerald story set here, there is a note in the guestbook from a couple staying at the bed and breakfast for the first time in 30 years, remarking on my grandmother’s storytelling upon their first visit. The antebellum is the draw, but all these histories matter. And the house is indiscriminate—its glass and stucco glow and sigh with them, its dust and floorboards float and creak with them.

The first recorded history is from around 1830, when my fourgreats grandfather, John Peyton Dulany, saw a simple 1770s twoover-two stone farmhouse set back from a wagon-rutted road and foresaw a grander vision for it. Purchasing the structure and its 500 acres, he proceeded to add on a set of front rooms, wings, and a welcoming veranda. His son, Colonel Richard H. Dulany, grew to join him in the endeavor. Through the good times, tragedy, and war of the next 40 years, the house continued to expand and morph.

Secrets—a pair of horseshoes embedded in the original foundation swallowed now in the back of a deep closet; the banjo clock with its hidden etched inscriptions; servant buzzers concealed in the ornate trim—worked their way into the place. In the 1870s, Welbourne’s footprint was finalized, but all the while the house was, and continues to be, very much lived in. Two centuries of knickknacks and bric-a-brac, treasures and fakes, were already

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accumulating. The wear on the Persian rugs had begun tracing familiar paths, marking favorite spots.

And so many pass through to pick those spots. Right now, the headlights swinging through the gates in the dismantling twilight, then skirting potholes as they wind down the gravel drive, could well disclose a thirsty neighbor, Cousin Whoever, a bedand-breakfast guest, or six, back early from dinner, or a horde of musicians from New Orleans. The only certainty is that the hounds will bay, then wag and lick and lead the visitor back to the porch, where good cheer and conversation await on rockers and wicker, amid stemglass and tumbler, as they always have.

For all that, Welbourne is not for everyone. The porchboards were replaced with reclaimed heart pine a decade back, but look close and you’ll likely find that your tumbler is chipped, your rocker needs recaning; that a little one-eyed terrier with muddy paws has designs on your lap. Yes, your bathroom is clean and freshly painted, but the fixtures sport a patina and the sconce lists to the left. Welbourne is—and always will be—predistressed. Its entropies, however, are the upshot of its having lovingly housed so many over time. Every smudge or chip is a record of Welbourne’s hospitality, of those our family has been so fortunate to meet along the way.

As a guest at the bed and breakfast, these quirks are unavoidable.

We can’t offer you central heat, but there’s charm to be found in the song of a hissyfit radiator or a crackling fire in every room. Your hairdryer might blow a fuse, but you can shake those tresses out on a long walk through the fields with a cocktail. Trading whatever a “continental breakfast” is for eggs, grits, biscuits, bacon, and Joyce or Barbara’s fried apples served on the family silver—well, that’s not a hard case to make. But there’s no getting around that Welbourne is more a home than a traditional B&B. And like any home, it has its virtues and its flaws.

We’ve tried to distill the ambience here to a phrase. My parents prefer faded elegance. To my eye, that’s a matter of perspective. I find the elegance in the fading. Because, in truth, it rarely feels like Welbourne needs our fixing so much as we need its. For all the minor year-to-year crises and tribulations, the house and farm abide, and for all that my father, mother, wife, and I do, we’re just another notch in the tally stick of the generations. We’ll pass on someday into our own boxes of pictures and clippings and letters in Welbourne’s attic. There’s peace in that, in knowing we’ll each be a tiny ghost in the walls of a home that will go on—steady, welcoming, and fadingly beautiful as ever.

— Josh Morison

PIEDMONT HOMES

The 1770s 

Original section of the house THE DINING ROOM Historic family portraits from the 18th and 19th centuries adorn the walls, and the Morison family china, of French origin, rests on the shelves.

The display cases just visible in back hall contain family artifacts, including parts of Colonel Dulany’s Civil War uniform.

“THE BEDROOM OVER THE DINING ROOM” Many of the upstairs rooms are simply named after the room that is below them. The bed is of period style, custommade by a furniture artisan in England. Visible on the shelves behind the bed are some of the many giraffes that adorn the home. See page 40 for the story.

THE FAMILY (facing page) Sherry and Nat Morison, with their son Joshua and daughter-in-law Amanda, are the current hosts of Welbourne, caring for the house, the guests, the history, the music, and the horses.

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PIEDMONT HOMES

The 1830s 

Largest addition to the house This largest addition to the house, which converted a colonial-era two-over-two fieldstone farmhouse into a real Southern mansion suitable for a well-to-do family, includes the quintessential massive front porch so essential to the Southern way of life.

THE LIBRARY Welbourne’s “guiding spirit,” Colonel Richard H. Dulany, CSA, is shown in the large portrait over the sofa. A knowledgeable and enthusiastic horseman, he founded the nation’s oldest foxhunt in 1840. The Piedmont Hunt meets to this day on Welbourne’s front lawn every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. He served as Master for many years, as did many of his descendents. In 1853, he founded the Upperville Colt and Horse Show, the oldest horse show in the nation.

To the right is portrait of his father, John Peyton Dulany, who originally purchased the property circa 1830, and was responsible for the largest transformation of the house.

The library shelves are stuffed with books collected over many decades, including history, poetry, plays, and novels.

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PIEDMONT HOMES

THE PARLOUR The ornate religious painting over the fireplace with the enormous gilded frame, wildly popular in that era, was purchased in Europe in the late 19th century by Col. Dulany’s son Henry Grafton, (still affectionately known at Welbourne as “Uncle Hal” ) during his “Grand Tour,” the European voyage all well-to-do young Southern men made after their education.

THE MUSIC ROOM The heart of the house contains a vintage Steinway and two functional early 20thcentury Victor Victrola wind-up record players. You can find Nat listening to pre1930s jazz on them every day. The heavily gilded painting at left is a 19th-century original of Charlotte Corday, a pivotal figure in the French Revolution.

THE END ROOM The largest bedroom on the first floor. This room can boast of hosting both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe as guests during their forays out of the city for vacations during the summer in the 1930s.

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PIEDMONT HOMES

The 1870s

THE ROOM OVER THE GUN ROOM One of Welbourne’s most beautiful and popular bedrooms overlooks the back of the property and the 1750 cabin (the original structure on property) and the 200-year-old bank barn at top of hill.



The last addition to the house

IMPRESSIONS OF WELBOURNE

Jazz & Giraffes Nat’s father, Nathaniel Holmes Morison, loved early jazz from living in New York City. Two years after he passed away in 1972, his sons held a jazzthemed memorial service for him. This tradition continued as an annual party that has grown to 800 guests and boasts bands from New Orleans and New York.

In keeping with its love of jazz, Welbourne hosts a Jazz Music and Dance camp during the summers. Aspiring musicians and dancers of all experience levels attend to learn from (and jam with) professional jazz musicians and swing dancers from New Orleans, New York, and beyond.

— J.M.

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Nat’s mother, Sally Morison, was the inadvertant start of the extensive giraffe collection at Welbourne.

Her father had been a big-game hunter and she grew up with a beloved taxidermied stuffed giraffe in her home. She brought it to Welbourne when she was married, but at some point it was taken back to her childhood home for restoration, and never returned. Friends and guests started bringing her giraffe figurines, which would delight her. Thirty years after her passing, people still bring giraffe figurines when visiting, resulting in a collection of hundreds, of all sizes, arranged throughout the house.

— J.M.

PIEDMONT HOMES

Exterior & Outbuildings This view of the rear of the house shows the original section—on the right with the fieldstone construction under the stucco­—and the 1870s addition, which is the section with the bay windows. The stone wall in the foreground is lined with cords and cords of dried, stacked firewood. All nine fireplaces in the home are functional and used regularly.

This front view of the house shows the extent of the large 1830s addition, which was added to the original structure in a “T” shape.

Originally a greenhouse, this structure was renovated into a tenant house circa 1900.

The glass removed has been stored in the attic as a remembrance of the original estate, a common practice at Welbourne.

Springhouse constructed circa late 1700s.

Smokehouse with the exterior fireplace visible. The building materials used in its construction are the same as those used in the 1830s addition, so it is likely of the same time period.

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HOME & GARDEN

BackEden -tog n i n e d r Ga THE MAGIC OF LAYERING

BY AMY FEWELL

A

so-called “new” method of gardening has grown increasingly popular among gardeners across the world.

The method is simple: Heal the land rather than leave scars. The method is highly successful, its proof is in the soil, in the abundant harvests the gardens yield year after year.

“Back-to-Eden” gardening is a lot like “lasagna” gardening. If you’re familiar with lasagna gardening, then you’ll know that it is the arrangement of organic matter into layers, allowing gardeners to build up the soil in an area as opposed to digging into the soil.

Most people begin with a base layer of cardboard, or a material that breaks down within a year. This acts as a weed barrier for those of us who love gardening but loathe weeding. Next, you layer your dirt and other organic matter onto the cardboard, and by the following year you have a beautiful, weed-free garden.

The Back-to-Eden gardening method is similar, but goes one step further by requiring that you keep the land and dirt covered at all times. This additional step better mimics the reproduction of vegetation in nature. Think of the forest floor—some of the most fertile soil you’ll ever touch. The soil there retains its moisture at all times, without watering, because of the top layer consisting of leaves and other organic matter. The creator of the

Back-to-Eden method believed that this was the way Earth was intended to reproduce, so why not recreate this process in your own yard? Not only does this method repair and renew the soil, but also enriches and fertilizes it. And the best part? The lack of weeds allows you to spend more time on other aspects of your garden instead of troweling weeds.

There is one downside. The Back-to-Eden method takes a year for its effects to become evident. The good news? You can start now and, come springtime, you’ll begin to see the benefits. Don’t pack your gardening gloves up for the season quite yet. It’s best to start before the colder weather hardens the ground. Without further ado, here are three simple steps you can take now for a better Back-to-Eden garden in the spring.

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HOME & GARDEN

HOW TO k

COVERING

Baco-Eden -t Garden

1

Choose your gardening area. We chose raised beds because we live on a steep Virginia hillside. Raised beds allow us to garden on a level space. We also use containers, which can be used in a Back-to-Eden garden.

Once you’ve chosen your gardening area, you’ll need to spread a base layer of compostable material such as cardboard or newspaper. If you’re using containers, you can probably get away with skipping this step.

COMPOST

CARDBOARD

GROUND 44 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

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2

Now that your gardening area has a weed barrier and foundation, you’ll want to add a 3–6” layer of compost and/or manure. We have rabbits specifically for manure. Rabbit manure is one of the most nutritious organic materials you can put into your garden. In fact, after we began adding the manure to our gardens, our earthworms grew over 40% in size that year (they looked like baby snakes), a sign that our soil was rich in nutrients.

3

The next step is very important as it separates the Back-to-Eden method from other gardening practices. This is when you add covering. Many people choose wood chips. Often, you can get them for free or at discounted prices from local tree services. Or, if you own a chipper, you can chip up yard waste to make your own ground covering. If you don’t have access to wood chips, you can use leaves, straw, hay, or mulch.

Last year, we used straw from our chicken coop and rabbit hutches as well as leaves and mulch in some of the beds. The mulch retained the most moisture, but the straw added more nutrients. You could use one or more of these methods, just make sure you layer them.

Cover the entire garden plot with about 3–4” of whichever covering you decide to try. Once covered, you can then add an additional layer of manure if you wish, but it’s not necessary. If you are getting started late in the season—such as the very beginning of spring—then you’ll need to add additional manure on top of your layers so that it breaks down faster.

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Preparation of raised beds.

When It’s Time to Plant

PHOTOS VIA BIGSTOCK.COM/ALISON HANCOCK

Once spring arrives, you’ll have vibrant soil waiting to receive seeds and plant startings. Your covering will remain throughout the year, and as it decomposes, you’ll need to add an additional covering layer each year or so. By the following year, you’ll have deep, dark, rich soil underneath the covering. The important part, now that your garden is established, is to keep it covered with organic material.

When you’re ready to plant in the spring, if your garden is broken down enough, you should be able to pull back the organic covering and plant directly into the second layer. If your garden isn’t quite there yet, you may need to dig a little deeper into the soil that you’ve layered, without going into the actual ground.

Because your soil is now enriched and alive, each year you plant and tend to it you’ll notice bigger and better harvests. Should you decide to save your seeds, you’ll notice an even more abundant reaping of what you’ve sown. This method may take a little time to get started, but it is well worth it.

To learn more about the Back-to-Eden gardening method, you can watch the free documentary online at www.backtoedenfilm. com

Enjoy the fruits of your labor in the spring with fresh vegetables and fewer weeds.

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FARM TO TABLE

The Rolls-Royce of Turkeys “Kelly Bronze” turkeys are a breed apart.

By Glenda C. Booth

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDD AND CARI CULVER/KELLY BRONZE TURKEYS

S

equoia and Silk Buttons, two five-year-old llamas that stand almost six feet tall, graze placidly in an Albemarle County field, occasionally glancing at their human observers, but languidly resume munching on the grass, seemingly oblivious to everything nearby. “Llamas are hard to read,” says their owner, Judd Culver, who studied animal science and agriculture at Virginia Tech and has been around animals his entire life. But the llamas are not Culver’s priority. It’s turkeys, very special turkeys called Kelly Bronze turkeys. Judd and his wife, Cari, are the only “Kelly Bronze” turkey farmers in North America. On their 100-acre Crozet farm, they are raising 1,250 for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables this year. Though to humans they may seem placid, llamas have hateful temperaments and are fierce guards. They are zealous livestock protectors in some places, always ready to trample a hungry fox or coyote, Culver stresses. “They’re fast; they’ll stomp a fox to death.”

The primary “layer” of his turkey protection “system” is a “smartfence” that Culver designed, with two electrified wires at the base to shock wayward predators. If a predator should get through the fence, Sequoia and Silk Buttons stand ready to pounce. These elaborate security measures protect some very valuable poultry.

Kelly Bronze turkeys sell for $12.55 per pound, and the birds range from 10 to 16 pounds, so one 14-pound turkey costs $175.00.

Any breach in the security system could devastate the product and profits.

A Unique Turkey “Kelly” comes from the British farmer Derek Kelly, who started raising and marketing these birds in 1984 in Essex, England.

“Bronze” comes from their glossy brown color. While Cari was working on a post-doctorate in cancer research in Dundee, Scotland, and Judd had a sales job with a poultry nutrition company, Judd called on Paul Kelly, Derek’s son, and Kelly Bronze turkeys began their journey across the pond.

The Culvers fell in love with the The Culvers raise the Kelly Bronze mystique, bought a Kelly Bronzes to sexual farm at the foot of Calf Mountain, maturity at 21 to 24 weeks renovated an 1870s farmhouse, and old, much longer than the became turkey farmers. Their two supermarket brands.

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FARM TO TABLE

sons, Afton, age six, and Lachlan, age four, love the birds, says Judd.

The Culvers tested the market in 2012, 2013, and 2014 with 125, 250, 500 birds. Once they felt assured that American customers would accept this special bird, they produced 1,000 turkeys for Thanksgiving in 2015.

Kelly Bronze is more than a turkey breed. These are freerange turkeys (Motto: “Bred to be wild.”) that roam the fields and woods and are raised without antibiotics, feed additives, or growth hormones. They eat mosquitoes, ticks, flies, and grasshoppers as they roam around 17 acres of pastures and woods. They also get a corn and soy diet, fresh artisan well water, and tree shade. Turkeys need food, water, and fresh air, emphasizes Judd.

These turkeys are bred for taste. Commercially raised “supermarket birds” are typically slaughtered when they are 12 to 14 weeks old, at whatever weight the buyer wants, despite the turkey’s age or maturity. The Culvers raise the Kelly Bronzes to sexual maturity at 21 to 24 weeks old.

Top: Young turkeys that have been “bred to be wild.” They are raised without antibiotics, feed additives or growth hormones .

Center: Sequoia and Silk Buttons, the ferocious llamas that form the second layer of security for the valulable Kelly Bronzes. Fierce and protective, they will stomp or trample any predator that gets through the electrified wire fence.

Bottom: The Kelly’s turkeys roam 17 acres of pasture and woods, eating insects as nature intended.

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FARM TO TABLE

A family farm: Judd and Cari Culver, with their small sons Afton and Lachlan, moved to Crozet to become the only breeders of Kelly Bronze turkeys in the U.S.

The typical American grocery store turkey has not walked around much, Judd contends, and it’s bred for breast meat. “Our birds get exercise all the time and that makes dark meat very dark because there’s more hemoglobin, more flavor,” Culver explains. “The dark meat has more fat. We harvest them when they have good fat content and are sexually mature, not to meet some arbitrary weight requirement. These turkeys have a darker skin, a rich, golden, crispy skin that chefs talk about,” he touts.

TLC and Flavor At harvest, each turkey is hand-plucked, hung, and dryaged for 14 to 21 days, a process that tenderizes the birds.

No water touches the turkeys, reducing the chances for bacterial infections like E. coli or salmonella. “We put a lot of love, sweat, and tears into producing the turkey,” Culver says. It’s a slow, intensive process, a labor of turkey love.

Kelly Bronze turkeys have a shelf life of two weeks. Culver sells many to butcher shops and at the farm to customers who drive to Crozet to pick up their gastronomic “centerpiece.”

Customers get a thermometer, cooking instructions, and recipes. The instructions boil down to, “Apply heat and a little salt and pepper. Do not stuff, do not inject, do not cover. Put the breast upside down.” The fat in the back trickles down to the breast, a self-basting process. On his website, Paul Kelly advises

cooks, “Don’t be afraid! Just think of it as a big chicken.”

The result of this tender loving care and healthful upbringing is that a 14-pound turkey will cook in an hour and 45 minutes. “We do everything differently,” says Culver. “We’ve done everything for you except PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

For tips on producing your own gastronomic “centerpiece,” visit the “How To” page at kellybronze.com for information and videos on preparing, cooking, carving, and even barbequing your Kelly Bronze. For a local twist on traditional stuffing, see page 24. | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 49

FARM TO TABLE

“When you eat a Kelly Bronze turkey, it’s the juiciest, tastiest turkey you’ve ever had in your life. This is the closest to the Pilgrims you’ll ever get.”

—Judd Culver

apply heat. Chefs and grandmas think they know all about cooking turkeys,” he chuckles.

“When you eat a Kelly Bronze turkey, it’s the juiciest, tastiest turkey you’ve ever had in your life. This is the closest to the Pilgrims you’ll ever get.” The Times of London dubbed these birds, “the Rolls-Royce of Turkeys.”

It takes a while for interested customers to accept the high price. A U.S. supermarket frozen hen turkey, eight to 16 pounds, costs about $1.20 per pound, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Turkey Market News Report.”

Judd says that his first challenge in selling these turkeys is getting people over the price.

But something’s working: They sell out every year and 99% of the Culvers’ customers return.

Don Roden, owner of Organic

Butcher of McLean, thinks the flavor is a big selling point.

“They’ve got more flavor than just about any bird I’ve ever tried,” he says. “The same people keep coming back each year.

People rave about them.”

Tyler Keeler, buyer for The Whole Ox in Marshall, agrees.

“The flavor is better than you find in standard white hybrids, a bit stronger flavor, but wonderful. Cooking time is much reduced over other birds. The packaging is great, there are detailed instructions, they are easy to prepare, a very flavorful local heritage bird. I can’t rec-

ommend them highly enough.

They are worth every penny. If folks are looking for a local heritage breed turkey, they won’t find anything better out there.”

Why raise and pamper expensive gobblers? “It’s super fun, exciting. It’s awesome to raise babies. It’s the most phenomenal turkey available. It changes people’s attitudes,” Judd exudes.

“It’s a special, premium product for a special time of the year. We are trying to produce the best turkey.”

The llamas, no doubt, agree.

To Buy Kelly Bronze Turkeys Visit the artisan retailers page at www.kellybronzeturkeys.com.

To buy directly from the Culvers, email judd@kellyturkeys.com.

Tip: Order early. They ship turkeys or customers can pick them up in Crozet on November 19 and December 17, 2016.

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HOME & GARDEN

The Jazzman of the Blue Ridge Guitarist Randy Johnston on Charlottesville and a lifetime of jazz

By Eric J. Wallace

Johnston unleashes a solo.

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| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

MUSIC

“With this move, there’s been a tremendous shift in my creative priorities—I’m totally devoted to exploring my own sound, doing something that is absolutely and Johnston with Jonah Kane-West, “soul-jazz” organist

uniquely my own.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RANDY JOHNSTON

W

hen jazz guitarist Randy Johnston decided to relocate from Brooklyn to Charlottesville in October of 2015, connoisseurs throughout the region had reason to be excited. Indeed, having at some point or another side-manned, sat in with, or been featured on the records of “every major organ player to pass through New York City in the 80s,” among the elite of NYC’s jazz scene, the man’s reputation is staggering.

To get a feel for the magnitude of Johnston’s exploits, take a moment to peruse the following, much-abbreviated résumé of former employers, a list studded with icons like Dr. Lonnie Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Lou Donaldson, Etta Jones, Jack McDuff, Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, and so many more that you’d fill a

page with scribbles trying to name even half of them.

Considering the star power of the aforementioned, one of the first things Johnston tends to get asked is, “How’d all this happen?” Invariably, the question is laced with curiosity, because, when you think about it, becoming the go-to sideman for the world’s greatest jazz organists is something of an odd gig to fall into. But then again, maybe not.

“I think it had to do with my tendency to put a bluesy, soulful spin on everything, which is what most B-3 [Hammond organ] players are about,” says Johnston. “But then again, when you’re a bandleader, you want a guy playing behind you with the goal of making you look as good as he possibly can, and that was one of my strong suits. I knew my place in a group and kept my role in mind.”

Be that as it may, like any other would-be axe-man for hire, Johnston had to pay his dues. After graduating from the University of Miami, one of the nation’s first jazz programs, in 1981, Johnston moved to New York, determined to make it in the birthplace of bop.

“When I got there, I didn’t know anybody, didn’t have any connections, didn’t really even have a plan,” he says. “I just remember this overwhelming sense of faith that, now that I was here, I’d be able to make something happen.”

Determined to find an in, the ambitious youngster busked street corners, frequented open mics, attended shows, sat in on jam sessions with anyone who was someone and many who weren’t … and yet, nothing was happening. Time was simply dragging along—days passed like weeks, months like years. It was excruciating.

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

Then came a break. After all that waiting, Johnston got an unexpected call: There was a stand-in gig at the Baby Grand in Harlem, could he come?

Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Johnston played his heart out. By a stroke of fate, Etta Jones caught the set. Enamored by the young guitarist’s tasteful, Kenny Burrell-esque chops (the icon had been her former sideman), the great but commercially underrated singer offered Johnston a job as her guitarist.

“That gig was the beginning,” he says. “Getting hired

by Etta Jones threw open so many doors. One day I’m literally playing out on the curb and the next gigging in clubs where so many of my heroes have played. It was crazy surreal.”

Indeed, with Jones’s notoriety, Johnston started getting noticed by, well, just about everyone. | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 53

MUSIC

Above: Johnston jams with his band for a packed house.

“Eventually I got picked up

by Jack McDuff,” says Johnston. “Then I started playing with the great sax-man, Warne Marsh, and also Lee Konitz, which led to a steady gig for seven years with Irene Reid— who was, in New York, endearingly known as the ‘Queen of the Ghetto.’ ” Then, in the early 90s, there came another pivotal moment.

Similar to the Etta Jones episode, Johnston was spotted by legendary soul-jazz, tenor saxophonist and producer, Houston Person.

“Houston was the head of the Muse label, which later Johnston’s new record, Shockwave, will be released this fall.

54 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

became Highnote,” says Johnston. “When he heard me, he liked my sound and offered me a contract to make an album as a bandleader.”

The opportunity proved multifaceted. On the one hand, it gave Johnston the creative freedom to branch out musically and explore his own thing.

On the other, when Person witnessed Johnston’s prowess in the studio, the producer brought him onboard as Muse’s in-house studio guitarist.

“I wound up doing six or seven albums of my own for Muse, then four for Highnote, mostly through the 90s and early 2000s, and played on dozens more,” says Johnston. “Which

MUSIC was great, because those records provided me with the kind of name recognition you need to play gigs at jazz festivals and string together national tours.”

Meanwhile, just after Johnston began recording for Muse, renowned alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson heard one of his tunes on the radio. Struck by the music—that soulfulness, that edgy precision—Donaldson reached out to Person, got in touch with Johnston, and offered the guitarist a position.

“It was great playing with Lou,” says Johnston. “I stuck with him for 18 years, which is a long time. He was one of the original, straight-forward bebop guys and I just loved that music.

Especially the fact it allowed me to do a lot of touring in Europe, Japan, and all over the U.S.”

All of which brings us to the present when, last fall, with Person verging on 90, finding himself weary of the continual grind and hustle of the NYC lifestyle, Johnston decided to make a change. Considering his love of Charlottesville’s mountainous beauty and small-town-meets-big-cityculture, he left Brooklyn for points south. More than a change of scenery for Johnston, the move signified a bold departure, a stride toward creative channels that were his and his alone.

“I lived in Richmond throughout my teens and had relatives in Charlottesville, so, in a sense, the move was about slowing down and getting back in touch with my roots,” he says. “I mean, while I was

working as a sideman, people would always tell me I had this unique sound, but even as a bandleader I felt like I was sort of just doing what I’d always done. But now, with this move, there’s been a tremendous shift in my creative priorities—I’m totally devoted to exploring my own sound, doing something that is absolutely and uniquely my own.”

With a new band and album featuring Charlottesville prodigy Jonah Kane-West on organ, Bobby Read on sax, and John Hanks on drums, Johnston has thrown himself headlong into his project of reinvention. The band is funky, soulful, rocking to the point of being at home at jam-band festivals performing alongside groups like, say, the

North Mississippi Allstars. In other words, not only are they imminently danceable, they’re almost disturbingly fun. And yet, somehow or another, manage to retain the kind of improvisational complexity, compositional sophistication, and melodic intensity that tends to be associated with no other genre than jazz.

Listen to a recording of Johnston backing Donaldson—or anyone else, for that matter—and, like as not, you’ll be hard-pressed to recognize what you hear.

“I never said I wasn’t a blues and rock guy at heart,” says Johnston. “I just got into different things along the way.

Now, it’s time to put all the parts together, let ‘em run wild, and see what comes out.”

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PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 55

ART

Thomas Spande: Painting in the Piedmont Solitude adds another dimension to the artist’s work

By Andrew Haley

56 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

“A

rt has magic and power in it. For me, painting and drawing are ways to discover the nature of things, and particularly the nature of places that are important to me,” Thomas Spande says.

The artist’s connection to the Piedmont was established early in his life. Born in 1972, he grew up in Maryland, but spent weekends at the family’s rustic house on a backroad in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in Rappahannock County. “Once you get past the sprawl and into the countryside—the peace and the community, the way people are—I get a real sense of belonging here.”

He started drawing and showing his work at a young age. “I joined Middle Street Gallery in the early 1990s, Rappahannock’s first artists’ cooperative in Washington, Virginia. Some of the region’s best artists found their first exposure and success with Middle Street. Early on, I met and got to show with Robin Purnell, Jeanne Drevas, Chris Stevens, Rex Slack, and other regional artists.

It was a gallery free of commercialism, showing really exceptional and expressive work. It’s one thing to paint in the studio, it’s another to see your work under the lights in a gallery. It was a really

ART

Massie’s Corner, Oil on Panel , 8” x 24”

encouraging community. Those early experiences at Middle Street Gallery were vital to me.”

Spande attended Bowdoin College in Maine as a studio art major and spent his junior year abroad in Paris, attending the École des Beaux-Arts in 1993. “I drew all the time—in the anatomy studios, even at the Paris zoo; it was a great experience. Paris was cosmopolitan. I loved the culture and I was totally immersed in the language. The Parisian museums opened my eyes and humbled me, but I took every opportunity to develop my sense of working and seeing.”

Bowdoin College and his time in Maine brought Spande in contact with realist painters and printmakers, as well as scenery and landscapes well-known to American realists whom also informed Spande’s approach. “Edward Hopper’s light and Fairfield Porter’s touch on the canvas mean a lot to me. Hopper painted New England light in a way that is incredible, but it’s his take on working-class, twentieth-century America that was eye-opening.

Porter painted life as it was for him, a life of culture and leisure in Maine, lots of tennis and lawn chairs! But his work could be very Hazel River Autumn, poetic and colorful and inspiring.”

Oil on Panel, 24” x 24” PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 57

ART

Above: Rose, Oil on Panel, 5” x 8” Left: Roland Park in Snow, Baltimore, Oil on Canvas, 24” x 36” 58 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

ART

Spande went on to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore for graduate work. “Baltimore turned out to be a great place to be an emerging artist. I kept an apartment in the Hampden neighborhood as a living space and studio, and I showed at Craig Flinner Gallery on Charles Street from 2007 to 2009.”

Spande went on to exhibit and sell work in solo and group shows at different galleries, including the showroom of Munder-Skiles in New York.

Later, reconnecting with the Virginia Piedmont landscape, Spande developed both abstract and realist works centered on the local rivers, towns, and seasons. “In my painting, I try to allude to the potential of a place, the world as dreamed or perhaps the world as it might be. I observe landscapes and other subjects with a good eye, but also to see the meaning, or potential: to say what I feel about the landscape, and other things I paint, somehow, by

putting that perception into the work. I’m not happy with a painting until I see that feeling in the work. If I paint a river in the Blue Ridge, what you’ll see is rocks and water, but I hope you’ll feel or understand something more.”

“These are works of great sensitivity, which navigate territory both realistic and abstract,” says professor, artist, and author Philippe Comar of Spande’s work. “A part may at first appear flat, but on second look, when one understands the subject of the painting, the third dimension appears. Since it is not the eye which sees this dimension, but the mind, the effect is more poetic.”

Spande paints mainly in his Rappahannock studio space near Sperryville. “I’m very grateful for this inspired setting, the supportive arts community, and the chance to work. Being in Rappahannock keeps me focused on my art. The solitude is often challenging, but it’s necessary for the kind of art I’m making.”

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 59

CULPEPER DOWNTOWN FOR THE

Annual Culpeper Downtown Holiday Open House Sunday, November 20, 2016 Noon - 5PM | Community Tree Lighting at 5:15PM www.culpeperdowntown.com

SHOPS OPEN LATE!! ‘TIL 8PM FRIDAYS!

THE SPORTING LIFE

field notes from the master The Middleburg Hunt

By Gus Edwards, Master of the Rappahannock Hunt

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

N

ot many foxhunting clubs can claim to have been started because of a bet. According to its history, the origins of the Middleburg Hunt can be traced to the great international foxhunting match between A. Henry Higginson’s Middlesex and Harry Worcester Smith’s Grafton hounds in 1905.

The match was arranged in neutral territory to settle a dispute between the two gentlemen from Massachusetts concerning the superiority of their respective English and American packs of hounds. Smith’s American hounds won the match decisively. The hunting during those two weeks of the match, as well as the consequent newspaper publicity, drew enthusiastic foxhunters from near and far, and established Middleburg as the axis of the Hunt Country of America, since the hunting took place largely in the area near the town.

The next year, in 1906, a group of local citizens established the Middleburg Hunt and it’s going strong 110 years later. “The hunt really originated as a local hunt, not one founded by the ‘landed gentry,’ ” says Joint Master of Foxhounds Penny Denegre. “And our American foxhounds really suit our country with their big voices and smaller frames.” The hunt currently maintains about 80 hounds in its kennel.

Many folks in the Piedmont region are familiar with the Middleburg hounds. For years, on the first Saturday in December, the Middleburg Hunt has paraded its hounds down the main street to begin the town's celebration of Christmas in Middleburg.

The iconic 2009 photo of the hounds

proudly marching up Washington Street. in a blinding snow squall has been published around the globe. The yearly event has attracted as many as 17,000 visitors.

Through the hunt’s long existence, it has been woven into the fabric of Middleburg life. Local farmers and townspeople joined its ranks and John T. Townsend served as the first Master of Foxhounds. According to hunt history, one of foxhunting’s most illustrious sportsmen and citizens, Daniel Cox Sands, became Master of Middleburg in 1915 and was to lead the field for nearly forty years until his retirement in 1953.

In 1912, Sands founded and became the first president of the American Foxhound Association. At about the same time, he helped organize the Middleburg Racing Association and chaired the racing committee until his death in 1963. In 1932, the Glenwood Park steeplechase race course was built on Sands’ property and this well-known course with its fieldstone grandstand and unmatched views came into being.

Charlotte Noland, founder of the Foxcroft School near Middleburg, served as Joint Master with Sands from 1932 to 1946. Headmistress of Foxcroft for 47 years, she encouraged her students to foxhunt, and riding became an integral part of the Foxcroft curriculum. Serving today as Joint Masters are Denegre, Jeffrey Blue, and Timothy Harmon.

The Middleburg Hunt’s territory is approximately 10 by 15 miles extending largely to the north and east of the town. The hunt meets Monday, Thursday, and Saturday from early September until mid-March.

Top: The Middleburg Hunt parades its hounds down Washington Street to begin the town’s celebration of Christmas in Middleburg. Thousands of spectators turn out, even in the rain.

Center: Joint Master Penny Denegre leads a large field during Middleburg’s 2015 Thanksgiving Day Meet.

Bottom: At Opening Meet, the Middleburg foxhounds stand attentively, waiting for their huntsman, Hugh Robards, to move off.

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| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 61

DESSERTS

Snapshots from the end of the day

Foxfield Fall Races Charlottesville

PHOTOS BY CAMDEN LITTLETON

Chef’s Plate Training Flat Race Finish line and grandstand

Brendan Crowley on Misfortune, Elizabeth Wiley

Willie McCarthy on Show King is about to pass Darren Nagle on Formidable Heart and Gerard Galligan on Beau Who for the win.

Jimmy Day, Sondra LeHew, Emily Day, Jeff LeHew, Karen Dick, Lindsay Lehew, Willie McCarthy

Doug Fout

Mrs. Bruce Smart, Keri Brion, Mayor of Charlottesville, Michael Signer, Autumn Marshall, Dave Holmes, Ashley Vermilya, Emily Day

Premier Middleburg Gallery Opening Virginia Artist Marci Nadler Launches Unstable Arts at Gallery on Madison

COURTESY OF MARCI NADLER/UNSTABLE ARTS/GALLERY ON MADISON

Marci Nadler, Jill Garity, Barbara Sharp, Gail Guirreri Maslyk

Barbara Sharp, Jennifer Scott holding her Sheltie, Caylie, Margot Blatmann

Oz Tombakoglu, painting by Jill Garity Nancy Milburn Kleck, Gomer Pyles 62 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

Barbara Sharp, Rooster Morning by Gail Guirreri Maslyk on the wall.

DESSERTS

Snapshots from the end of the day

cakewalk 2016 Jazz at Welbourne

Craig Flory, Shaye Cohn, Barnabus Jones

Greg Sherman

Todd Burdick, Max Bien-Kahn, Greg Sherman, Robin Rapuzzi

PHOTOS BY PETER DYRHOLM

Geoffrey Fleming

Sara Siegler, Joshua Morison, Stacy Ralston

Peggy Vogtsberger, Erika Lewis

Erik Scheps, Howard Armfield

PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016  63

LIFE IN THE PIEDMONT

Everyone’s Holidays Thanksgiving yields to tales heralding the return of light

By Mara Seaforest

M

y friend Anna had a cottage near here that she’d built to replicate a fifteenth-century English manor house, complete with rough-hewn floorboards, exposed rafters, and plaster inside and out. Her kitchen was utterly unshiny and filled with charm, sometimes introduced not by décor, but chance. One day, for example, I pulled open a drawer to grab some dishtowels and a kitten jumped out. Anna even had hired a proper thatcher to paddle across the pond to give her house an authentic roof, which confirmed its bona fides a few years later by catching fire, to be replaced eventually by good Piedmont slate.

On the grounds of her estate were many rescued animals: Percheron horses, several goats, cats (see above), and some cattle, including a bull with horns as wide as he was tall, and I believe there were a couple of alpacas, too. Around the pond were geese, ducks, and a few swans. It will not surprise you to learn that in midsummer, iridescent dragonflies darted among the reeds, as if on notice to enhance the otherworldly effect of the landscape. In autumn, the leaves of ancient oaks turned dazzling shades of yellow, orange, and red. They were still breathtaking when about twenty of us from around the county came together one Thanksgiving at sunset for an unforgettable evening of feasting and philosophizing. The setting, with its reverence for time and place, was no little contributor to the success of the evening.

In the center of a great room to end all great rooms was a twelve-foot-long table made of local lumber that had been forested by hand and ax, then dragged to the site by draft horses. Windows with leaded blownglass panes cranked open with iron hardware

64 PIEDMONTVIRGINIAN.COM |

created by the legendary Nol Putnam of The Plains, who also crafted the tools used to tend fires in a hearth large enough for a cauldron on a chain that, I suppose, could be used for bubbling up a whole mess of toil and trouble if you were so inclined. Instead, we had a cheering fire.

We had all contributed something to the feast. Several of us brought vegetables we had grown ourselves or saved from the last farmers’ market of the year. There were loaves of bread and corn cakes, all warm from recent transport from several ovens, and four different kinds of cranberry sauce. My contribution was a gigantic roast turkey, ordered weeks in advance from a certain deli owner who would never reveal her organic source, not no way, not no how.

Anna and I had basted it in butter and honey all day to make the skin crackle when it was cut into. The stuffing was made by my mother, just the way she had done it when I was young.

She actually got a round of applause for it—it was that good. Mead and wines were passed around, with fresh-pressed apple cider for those wishing to keep their wits about them.

Oh my, the food was delicious. No restaurant, no matter how many-starred, could have come close. Most important, the company could not have been better.

As dinner wound down and preparations were made to bring on the sweets and coffee, Anna asked us to look under the brass charger plates for a preview of our next seasonal celebration, known around the world as Yule, Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, and by many other names. We found that Anna had placed parchment notes at our places, each containing a cue about one of the world’s traditions that references in its religious beliefs or folk traditions the triumph of light over darkness. As slices of pie made the rounds, each revealed the note under his or her plate, leading

| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

to stories, discussions, and reflections on the coming season.

“Hanukkah and the miraculous lamps of the Maccabees,” was the first revealed, the ancient Jewish tale of the little oil lamps that should not have been able to—but did— burn for the eight days, allowing the captive sect to survive and thrive.

“The Star of Bethlehem” was the next parchment read, recalling the New Testament story of the Baby Jesus—called by some the Son of Light—which many Christians can recite by heart.

Then came the story of the clever, thieving raven who removed and returned the light every year, the Inuit people’s explanation for their six months of sunlight alternating with six of darkness.

Another parchment revealed the ancient celebration of the Winter Solstice, a celestial acknowledgement of the shortest day of the year, welcoming the transition from long nights to lengthening days and increasing light.

Naturally, as the different celebrations were explored, some of us added stories from world travels and interactions with other cultures, leading to comforting conclusions. It is the belief in light as a symbol of good in the world, whether literal, figurative, or symbolic, whether religious or secular, and the celebration of its arrival and return each season that illuminates the preponderance of similarities over differences among the peoples of our world.

Such knowledge is comforting as we retreat into the twilight of coming winter—a time perfect for cozy gatherings with friends and family over good food. It’s also the perfect time for wishes and a little more time in the evening to think about how to make them come true as the New Year dawns and seed catalogs begin to appear in our mailboxes.

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