Month: April 2012

Spring abounds with opportunities to learn about growing fruit. (Photo by John Grant)

GREEN EYE
Compleat gardening
Growing herbs can mean nothing more than a pot of chives on the kitchen window—or it can be the foundation for a healthy, nature-centered way of life. That’s the idea behind the course “Whole Living from the Ground Up,” offered by Louisa’s Forrest Green Farm this growing season. The 12-session course teaches a holistic approach to growing and using herbs and veggies, touching on many other aspects of organic living along the way.
Students will learn not only how to grow and make medicine from herbs, but also herbal body care, seasonal eating, making cordials and elixirs, using cover crops, basic botany and a long list of other skills in the garden and kitchen. The goal is to cultivate self-sufficiency through whole foods, seasonal awareness and herbal wisdom, and the class is hands-on, so you’ll be taking home the results of class projects.

The Whole Living course meets two Sundays a month, May through October, and costs $600 plus a $300 materials fee. See forrestgreenfarm.com for more.—Erika Howsare

Bin there
Not jazzed about plastic compost barrels? Tired of critters raiding your unprotected heap? Here’s a local, aesthetically pleasing alternative. Brian Wright of Faber’s Pilot Mountain Farm makes wooden compost bins by hand.

The bins are made of untreated cedar on sides and top, with untreated pine framing, and coated with linseed oil for protection. They cost $195 and you can order one by contacting Wright at bwright@goldengate.net or 361-1568.—E.H.

A bounty of learning
Just like every year, this spring there’s a wealth of local opportunities to learn about growing food—especially fruit. Here’s the tasty lineup.—E.H.

*Find out all about grafting and propagating fruit during an all-day intensive workshop taught by Alexis Zeigler, April 7 from 9am to 5pm. You’ll learn how to grow fruit trees from seed, a number of different grafting techniques (they have cool names, like whip grafting and saddle grafting) and specialized techniques for hard-to-root plants. There will also be a discussion about growing fruit in the local climate without using pesticides or fungicides. You’ll take home five fruit trees, plus a grafting knife. Contact Zeigler at 409-6006 or alexis@conev.org. The workshop costs $50.

*On May 5, bone up on the “art and science of finely crafted fermented cider” at Albemarle CiderWorks. This Cider Maker’s Forum costs $125, including lunch. Register at vintage-virginia-apples.myshopify.com.

*Learn from a local master grower, Michael McConkey of Edible Landscaping, during a three-hour fruit production course at Scottsville’s Maple Hill Farm on May 17, 4-7pm. McConkey will discuss what kinds of fruit grow around here (going well beyond apples—think kiwi and pomegranate!), plus site preparation, pest management, and propagation. The class costs $35 and you can find out more at 286-2176 or info@localfoodhub.org.

Fair thee well
Charlottesville’s EcoFair has become a spring ritual for greenies, plus folks who like music, gaiety and food (read: everybody). This year’s EcoFair happens April 22, noon-6pm, at the Main Street Arena.

The heart of the fair is the long list of exhibitors—last year, those included everybody from Bellair Farm CSA to Natural Earth Laundry to the Ivy Creek Foundation. Another reason to show up: great raffle prizes, like rain barrels, solar panels and (for the pleasure-seeking environmentalist in you) massage gift certificates. Plus, there’s live music, local food and hands-on demonstrations.

Want to help out? The EcoFair needs volunteers. To find out more, see earthweek.org.—E.H.

(Photo by John Robinson)

ART AND CRAFT
This month’s artisan: Todd Leback
Bringing a Scandinavian touch to the local furniture scene is Todd Leback, who sells his modern cabinetry and furniture at his own Sycamore Gallery at 608 Preston, plus other local retailers: Chroma, the Artful Lodger and Muses. Leback, who’s self-taught, uses both solid wood and veneers in his work, forgoing stains and paints.

Despite being new to the business, he’s already making a name for himself: “I’m going to be attending some major furniture shows this year,” he told us, “the first being the Baltimore Fine Furnishings show the first weekend in May.” Get in touch with him at 960-4516 or check out vaneristudio.com.—Erika Howsare

Describe the style of your work in five words or less.
Modern with clean lines.

Briefly, how did you become a furniture maker?
I’ve been trying to do furniture full time for the past year. I dropped out of William and Mary after one year in ‘97 and started working construction, doing remodeling and new construction. I’ve built cabinetry and also attended a six-month course in traditional wooden boatbuilding.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve made in the last year?
A console table I’ve built using macassar ebony and cherry. It has a sleek, simple design reminiscent of some mid-century modern pieces. One of my favorite aspects about it is that I made the legs removable for easy shipping.

What’s an object you love in your home that you did not make?
We’ve got a number of Clementina plates from South Africa that I think are fantastic—hand painted with vibrant colors and designs.

Peter Hatch’s new book details the Monticello gardens he’s tended for more than 30 years. (Photo by Ashley Twiggs)

ABODE NEWS
Garden Week features Hatch book launch
As always, Historic Garden Week is packed with more fine old houses, notable furniture and (oh yeah) gardens than you could possibly take in. See vagardeenweek.org for the full schedule and ticket info. Garden Week 2012 takes place April 21-28, with the Albemarle tours happening in and around Keswick on April 22 and 23.

One highlight at the granddaddy of Albemarle estates: Monticello will host a launch party to celebrate the release of a new book by its director of gardens and grounds, Peter Hatch. The book, “A Rich Spot of Earth”: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello, is a nearly 300-page, full-color tour of Jefferson’s beloved and, in many ways, radical mountaintop gardens. It covers everything from Jefferson’s seed-saving practices, to favorite vegetable varieties, to how the third president was influenced by garden practices from other countries.

“I tried to emphasize that this was a sacred place,” Hatch told C-VILLE in 2009. During his nearly 35-year tenure on the little mountain, he oversaw a major shift at Monticello, returning to an emphasis on historical accuracy at the World Heritage Site.

The launch party for Peter Hatch’s book will happen April 23, 6-8pm, on the West Lawn at Monticello, and includes informal tours, Virginia wine and heavy hors d’oeuvres. You must reserve $60 tickets at Monticello.org.—E.H.

(Photo courtesy Design House)

All designs in one house
Now in its third year, the Design House event is becoming a bright star on the local calendar. Each spring, the Shelter for Help in Emergency (SHE), which supports victims of domestic violence, invites interior designers to apply their talents to a local house—with each designer transforming one room–then opens the home for tours. (ABODE is a sponsor of this year’s event.) You can tour the 2012 Design House, located in Ivy Farms, May 5-20.

Design companies on the roster include Gibson Design Group, Kathy Davies Interiors, Stedman House, Water Street Studios, and 14 others. They’ll gussy up the home of Sanjiv and Cindy Kaul, which features a separate two-bedroom cottage, a pond, and a two-story quartz fireplace. The house was renovated in 1994 by Haven Construction, with finish work by noted local tradespeople like Toru Oba and Terry Herndon, and boasts a sauna as well as family rooms on each of three levels.

Organizers have planned a few tempting special events. Besides taking a tour (tickets cost $20), you could attend a Preview Party May 3 (6-9pm, $100). Or check out a Designer Breakfast May 9, 9-10am, where four of this year’s designers will share tips on decorating topics like color and fabric (tickets are $15). On May 14, folks from Beehive Events will give a talk on Table Top Design, for no extra cost if you’ve got a tour ticket.

Check out cvilledesignhouse.com for more, and mark your calendar!—E.H.

(Photo by Cramer Photo)

OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION
To remember where she’s been
Laura Van Camp, owner of Jean Theory
“When I graduated from college, my dad bought me two maps—one of the U.S. and one of the world. They’re pretty big, two by three feet. He bought them for me because I wanted to travel. I was going to mark the places I wanted to go, but I started marking with red dots the places I had been. I couldn’t get them framed because custom framing, my goodness, is like $250. So I framed them with crown molding from Lowe’s.”

(File photo)

TIPS FROM BETTER WORLD BETTY
Dealing with the nasty stuff
During spring cleaning time, we’ve all come across stuff with the toxic CAUTION label looming. It’s tempting to just throw it away. Problem is, dangerous reactions can happen when hazardous chemicals are combined—not to mention the effects of pollution on our land and sea creatures and, in turn, us humans. Just one quart of oil can contaminate 250,000 gallons of water. And here in Charlottesville, 70 percent of our rivers, lakes, streams do not meet federal and state water quality standards! Everything we flush, put down the sink or drain, on our lawns, ends up being treated and put back into our waterways.

According to Robbi Savage, Executive Director of the Rivanna Conservation Society, one of the most important ways to help is to properly dispose of prescriptions and household hazardous waste.

The city and county will continue Household Hazardous Waste disposal service this spring: for residents, Saturday, April 14 (I’ve heard they are STRICT with their hours: 9am-2pm). Amnesty collection days for Bulky Waste will follow on the Saturdays of April 21 (furniture/mattresses), May 5 (appliances), and May 12 (tires), which contain flame retardant, freon, and other chemicals unfit for regular trash cans. See rswa.avenue.org/household.htm for the list of items accepted.

CFL bulbs? HHW Day, Lowe’s, and Vanderlinde Recycling accept them.

Partially empty or full paint cans? Vanderlinde Recycling or the Ivy MUC (materials utilization center) location.

Nail Polish: EPA considers this a household hazardous waste. Bring it out to HHW Day.
Never mix used motor oil, antifreeze, gasoline, paint, paint thinner, pesticides, solvents or other potentially hazardous liquids together. Of course, never pour them into the ground or storm sewer.

As for prescription drugs: Most grocery store pharmacies now sell an 8 x 11 envelope ($2.99) to place leftover or out-of-date prescriptions. Or you can wait until National Take Back Prescription Day on April 28. Call ahead to see if your favorite pharmacy is participating. (Details at Environmental Return System: www.sharpsinc.com)

Check out Better World Betty’s green living resource list at betterworldbetty.org and blog at cvillebetty.blogspot.com.

 

Materials: Black cardstock, White cardstock. Tools: Camera, Scissors, Glue stick, Pencil. (Photo by Ed Warwick)

YOU CAN DO IT
Prints charming
I have a very vivid memory of my parents forcing me and my two siblings to sit still on vacation while a street vendor made our silhouettes. From the trendiest of magazines to the chicest of weddings, silhouettes are all the rage again—a traditional, yet modern approach to the family portrait. Here’s how to make your own silhouettes, easily and for just a few bucks.

To begin, take a profile photo of your subject, whether it’s yourself, a loved one, or the family pet (don’t worry, you can cut out your double chin later). Have the photos printed at your local photo lab (the size print will be determined by how large you want your silhouette to be).

Using your scissors, cut out the profile image, removing the background. Lay your image flat on your black cardstock and trace it lightly with your pencil. Then carefully cut out the image on the black cardstock. For a more traditional look, mount the silhouette to a piece of white cardstock, mat, and frame. For a more modern look, mount the silhouette on a piece of patterned scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, or a wallpaper remnant.—Ed Warwick

TOOLBOX
Vintage finds
Back in the day, craftspeople relied on their tools to make a way in the world. Today, many of those same tools have survived and are still going strong. The ergonomic handles, quality hardwoods and carefully forged metals afford these instruments longevity not often achieved by their modern counterparts.

True, some antique tools should be admired for design and aesthetic. Some should be revered for the stories tucked in the rust, chips and cracks. But a fair few can be cleaned up and put back to work.

A vintage hand drill tops the list as an elder tool still worth its iron. A hand bit brace and an “egg beater” style gear drill are the two most prevalent types of older hand drills. Both are non-electric and rely on the transfer and amplification of rotating force, through gears and the like, to turn a drill bit. Well-maintained hand drills are perfect for precision drilling or small jobs that may suffer from too much torque (think furniture construction and repair). Plus, you don’t have to worry about the battery failing mid-drill, or whether the extension cord will reach far enough.

Although made with softer steel than modern chisels, wooden handled vintage finds are easier to sharpen and therefore, maintain than their extremely rigid granddaughters. Here is also a case for the superior ergonomics of older tools, as the lathed handles are comfortable and responsive. Not to mention that wood functions as a healthier shock absorber than most plastic, while still transferring the force of a mallet’s blow effectively.

Arguably, most contemporary tools benefit from vastly improved materials (think titanium claw hammers) and more precise manufacturing processes (most measuring instruments: laser level, sliding bevel, etc.). But for the sheer delight of nostalgia and elbow grease, I’ll stick with my grandfather’s hand forged auger bits for now.—Christy Baker

 

(File photo)

PLANETARY
Spare me
We love the architectural look—like futuristic office towers—of these bowling pins from local company Cardboard Safari. They’d look equally sharp in a kid’s room or grown-up living room. Best part: You can actually bowl with them. Other best part: They’re made from recyclable cardboard. See cardboardsafari.com.

The dream scenario for most buyers these days is finding a foreclosure or short sale property. The fantasy is this: The buyer makes a lowball offer on a house that’s upside down in value—that is, worth less than the value of the original loan—figuring the bank is eager to cut its losses and unload the property as quickly as possible, wait a few weeks for the offer to be accepted, then move in.

Except it rarely works like that. More often than not, that initial thrill of finding a sweet deal on a property fades as buyers are forced to wait between four and six months to find out whether the bank is even considering the offer, let alone approving it. And it’s an equally long, nerve-wracking process for sellers too. Compared to non-distressed real estate transactions, which typically takes 30 days, six months is an eternity.

What’s the holdup?

To understand why short sales take so long, it helps to understand what a short sale is—it’s essentially a request to a bank to take a loss on a property loan.

How it works: The homeowner initiates the short sale after determining they are “under water”—meaning, the property is worth less than what is owed on it—with the loan. They approach the lender, who has one of three options for dealing with the situation.

Number one, the lender may try to work with the homeowner to help them stay in their home (and keep paying the monthly mortgage). “The owner may be engaged in some kind of modification effort,” says Vickee Adams, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “They may be trying to find a new job. They’re doing everything possible to stay in their home, so we try to work with them.” The bank may even forgive the debt difference between what is owed and what the house eventually sells for—if the numbers are comparable.

Number two, the lender may work out a payment plan with the homeowner until the difference is paid off. Or number three, the lender/bank places a lien on some of the homeowner’s assets for the amount of money still owed. Each case is unique and different. Each one takes time. But in all cases, the bank typically puts this transaction at the bottom of its to-do list since (understandably) it doesn’t want to lose money on its investment.
Another issue slowing the process is whether there is a second lien on the home, typically a home equity line of credit, or HELOC. Since the lender is already being asked to take a hit, it is reluctant to give much to the second lien holder. A typical scenario is the secondary lender requests a settlement of 10 percent on the loan amount. Let’s say it was for $50,000, so it wants $5,000. But the primary lender, already feeling the burn, is only willing to pay $3,000. Both sides draw a line in the sand, slowing if not halting the process altogether.

Then there is the complexity of the loans themselves. Short sales are usually handled by a bank’s loss mitigation department, which is already bogged down with a backlog of similar proposals due to the housing bubble gone sour—every prospective buyer is looking for a foreclosure or short sale house these days and expects to pay bargain basement prices. It can take months for an already taxed department to carefully evaluate each proposal and examine the property and do the research on the neighborhood in question, as well as finding out if the seller really can’t make the monthly payments.

Bottom line, most banks don’t want to act because they’re being asked to lose money; they end up sitting on offers for as long as possible in the hope that a better one comes in.
But it’s a catch-22, because usually in a short sale, the homeowner leaves the house intact. If the house slips into foreclosure, it’s not uncommon for homeowners, humiliated by the turn of events and angry at the lender for dragging their feet, to strip the house—cabinets, light fixtures, doors, free standing fireplaces—right down to the baseboards, thus causing the bank even more grief than if it had been handled as a short sale.

Now the bank is forced to list the property for even less than its already discounted value, because—even if it’s a bargain—not many prospective homebuyers are enthusiastic about buying a gutted house.

(Photo by Andrea Hubbell)

For the past two years, Catherine McFarland, an elementary school teacher, has slowly gathered an array of furniture and artwork for the one-bedroom Downtown apartment she shares with her husband Nate. The aesthetic is clean and fresh: The walls are painted Champagne and the upholstery is cream; pops of green branches and succulents add cooler tones to the space.

For McFarland, carefully decorating her apartment has been a fruitful creative outlet. “As a teacher, you get so immersed in the world of children all day…Taking care in decorating my home has provided a chance for me to reacquaint myself with my creative side. It’s my adult hobby,” she says.

It helps that McFarland has a natural can-do spirit and a gifted touch with the sewing machine. Doing things frugally was the way she grew up: “My mom has always been a do-it-yourself, or do-it-for-cheaper…I wanted to carry on this way of thinking, and have nice things in this house, but I wanted to make as much of it as I could.”

Examples of her innovation include a chic table skirt she sewed from printed burlap fabric she bought online, and four dining chairs she bought from Circa, which she painted white and reupholstered in a navy velvet. And she’s always scouring the local estate sales and auction house. “I scored a Betty Draper table for practically nothing from a Harlowe Powell modern auction that I had been following. They had forgotten to post the table online and offered it to me for $150!”

The couple has married their sensibilities nicely in the space. Nate, who hails from the West Coast, is inclined towards a sleek, Scandinavian minimalist aesthetic. Catherine, on the other hand, grew up in a traditionally appointed home in Virginia Beach. “We weren’t even allowed to make our beds because we wouldn’t do it right! I mean, my mom would iron our sheets. Can you imagine?” Yet McFarland has started to gravitate towards mixing modern, sleek pieces with elegant antiques. She’s paired a traditional wooden secretary desk with an acrylic Louis ghost chair.

But in this space, there’s a definite emphasis on casual, comfortable surroundings. “Because we only have the one room, we can’t really afford to have anything that isn’t comfortable or functional. Maybe one day I can see us picking form over function, but not yet!”—Cate West Zahl

 

“I just can’t resist a $50 chair. When I see one I can’t not bring it home with me. I tell myself that I’ll find a reason for it later.

“We entertain a lot in the space, and have had up to 30 people at a time. I kept apologizing to people about the lack of space, but I actually think people preferred being crammed in together. It was fun and intimate! I try to make our home as inviting as possible. The ceilings are 10 feet high, which makes the space seem larger than it actually is.

“My favorite piece is the Kiki Slaughter painting, the first commissioned work we’ve received. It was a wedding present from my aunt and uncle. I love the mix of white, blues and green, and I love having art from local Charlottesville painters in my space.

“When we first got married, Nate just liked that everything was so clean and put together for the first time! He spent so much time on the road from touring with his band, and he was living with a bunch of guys in a house on Rugby Avenue on a twin bed on the floor!

“I’ve grown into gravitating towards more sleek, clean and modern things. I think growing up in a traditionally designed home, you bought furniture and arranged things because that’s what you did, and that’s what everyone else did, and there wasn’t much veering away from a certain look. So I think I have enjoyed the freedom of picking out things that I like, even if they are outside the box, and mixing and matching aesthetics.”

UVA’s Pavilion Gardens will be featured as always during Historic Garden Week. (Photo by Dan Addison)

Each April, hands are wrung and woe betided over what will be left in bloom for Garden Week. There won’t be any daffodils for this one, judging by ours out here south of town. In mid-March, “mid-season” Butter and Eggs’ orangey yolks and nodding white Swan Necks are full blown, with “late-season” Salomes and Thalias in bud (explore www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com). But it’s heat, wind and dryness that destroy tender petals, not necessarily early seasons, which makes it difficult to say how long any plant will bloom, perhaps my most frequently encountered question.

Sequence of bloom to follow daffodils (if they haven’t already!) Candytuft Iberis sempervirens evergreen perennial Periwinkle Vinca minor evergreen perennial groundcover Summer Snowflake Leucojum aestivum bulb (plant in fall) Garden Chives Allium perennial Larkspur Delphinium ajacis annual (sow in spring) Allium Globemaster bulb (plant in fall) Siberian Iris I. siberica perennial Bearded Iris I. germanica perennial Peony Paeonia perennial Koreanspice Viburnum V. carlessii fragrant shrub Blue-Star Amsonia tabernaemontana perennial Ajuga reptans perennial groundcover

Spared windy storms and hard freezes, tough old winter honeysuckle and quince have been colorful and fragrant for months. Eighty-degree days in March and a bit of breeze, however, mark a short life for the delicate daffs, and it looks as if we might be in for a dry spell. So the garden goes. Go along with it and get out to see which ones have the bone structure to shine through the fickle allure of the seasons during the 79th Historic Garden Week (www.vagardenweek.org).

This year tours in Albemarle County feature Keswick properties Sunday and Monday, April 22 and 23, as well as old favorites Morven on Saturday, April 21 (open since the first Garden Week in 1929), and the University Pavilion Gardens and Carr’s Hill on Tuesday, April 24. Look for the talk at the Special Collections Library on the 24th at 2pm about The Dell, a remarkable award-winning project that day-lighted part of Meadow Creek and displays acres of native plants according to ecosystems from the mountains to the waterside.

Folk wisdom tells us to sow with the moon getting larger and to weed and harvest as it wanes, working with the pull of the tides. It was difficult dodging rain showers and soil too wet to work, but I finally managed to get early greens sowed the night before the full moon. A friend in Bremo Bluff was able to sow two weeks earlier than neighbors because her raised beds dried out and warmed up quicker than ground level plots. They create good drainage and loose soil for root crops like carrots, beets and turnips which can become wizened in hard ground. Build raised beds with timbers or planks or simply dig the soil into berms divided by narrow footpaths. Heat lovers like squash and melons also thrive in hills.

Judging a garden only by its flowers might seem superficial to hardened old hands who have endured hail-shot tulips and many a rain-sodden peony hedge, learning from bitter experience not to put all their hopes into one floral basket. But it’s more than child-like love of color and display that draws us to the blossom. Whether we see it flower from a 100-year-old cherry, the broken branches of a gnarly parking lot maple, or a fat tended daffodil that withers in a day, in the words of good old Jens Jensen, the magic unfolding of “a world not of our making” makes our lives richer.

Starting this April we’re introducing the “Gardener’s Crib Sheet,” 10 to 12 points to guide your gardening for the month.—Cathy Clary

Cathy Clary is a gardening teacher and consultant; she tends ornamental beds and a kitchen and cutting garden at home in a hollow south of Charlottesville. Read more about her at hollowgarden.com, and e-mail her with questions at garden@c-ville.com.

(Photo by Cramer Photo)

According to 10-year-old Jake Bowling, his dad, Jim, is pretty into the family’s backyard basketball court. “He loves it. He gets out there a lot and shoots hoops.” And dad isn’t the only one. “We do other stuff,” says Jake. “We do [play] basketball, but we just basically play around on there and have fun…[My brothers], Sam and Matthew, sometimes play with their lightsabers. You can see the remains of a battle or something out there.”

The concrete rectangle in the otherwise sloping backyard of Jim and Cheri Bowling’s Greenbrier home has become the center of activity for their four sons (ages 2-10). Built by a local contractor last fall, the spot held a particular draw for the inquisitive boys even during construction. As Jake remembers, “We had a bulldozer in our yard for a long time. I think it took at least a month… It was actually pretty cool.”

Hoop dreams Not ready for permanent backyard basketball court installation? Just roll this portable hoop and backboard (Downtown Athletics, $179) wherever you have some dribbling space and fill it with sand or water to keep it stable. The height is adjustable, so everyone in the family can get in the game.—C.B.

The heavy machinery is long gone and now, come rain, snow, wind or sun, the boys can be found happily battling Storm-troopers or kicking a soccer ball on the smooth, gray expanse.
As parents of young sons already well know, the energy of boys seems limitless. Having enough space inside one’s home dedicated to the expression of that liveliness can often be a challenge. One of the first things the Bowlings did, upon moving in several years ago, was to enclose the backyard—in essence creating boundaries for that boundless energy.

“I feel like the backyard has totally saved us,” said Cheri. “For the most part, I just say, ‘Go outside and don’t come back in!’” Laughing, she recounted a rare moment when she told the boys that they needed to come inside. “One of the kids [pointed] with his lightsaber and was like, ‘Who are you and what have you done with our mother?’”

“What I often think,” explained Cheri, “is that being outdoors, whether on the Rivanna Trail or just the backyard, not only gives the kids more space and fresh air but it’s an immediate antidote to petty squabbles and bad moods. We all need a daily reminder that the world is a lot bigger than small toys and electronics.”

During my visit, 2-year-old Jonathan was in full whine-mode (as toddlers often are). His mom suggested that Jake spend some time with him outside.

When I asked Jake how he felt about being the oldest brother he said proudly, “It’s awesome.” He continued, “There is a lot of responsibility, but I get to drive first!” With that, he took his youngest brother out to play in the backyard.—Christy Baker

 

(File photo)

Bread is made from grain, liquid, leavener, and love. Laugh if you will at the last ingredient, but without love in bread, you may find yourself in the bread aisle of the supermarket, attempting to choose between Limp Insipid (made with high fructose corn syrup) and Limp Insipid with Added Fiber (also made with high fructose corn syrup).

Travel to the bakery department of the same supermarket, and (while the packaging and the shapes may advertise variety) in reality all the breads are practically the same. In addition to stabilizers, substitutes, and preservatives, these breads are composed of flour that is splintered, denatured, bleached, and then enriched and mixed with water, salt substitutes, and high fructose corn syrup.

Let’s back up for a moment.

Almost any grain can be made into bread. Not coincidentally, almost any grain can be made into porridge of some sort. What’s bread got that porridge doesn’t have? Well, one can carry it and share it with others, and a nice crusty bread will stay fresh on the inside for a couple of days.

Grains are seeds, so within them are contained all of the necessary elements to sprout and sustain life—protein, fat, and carbohydrate. When grains are ground into flour, the fat and protein is removed from its protective coating of carbohydrate and exposed to air and moisture, signaling the seed to sprout. If conditions aren’t conducive to sprouting, the protein will begin to decay and the fat will go rancid (typically in a matter of months).

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS Croutons Nothing could be simpler than making croutons from fresh bread. Begin with a delicious bread that has oil content, fat content, and flavor, and your crouton-making becomes as simple as cubing the bread and leaving it at room temperature for eight hours or so. Fresh croutons like these will be perfect in a salad dressed in vinaigrette or a light creamy dressing, because they are still somewhat absorbent and yet crunchy enough to complement lettuces. For true homemade croutons, cube the bread and let it stale for a day, then toss it in olive oil, salt and pepper (try dribbling the olive oil down the sides of the bowl as you toss the cubes—better distribution, and the trick works for popcorn as well). Should you be inclined to include fresh herbs, chop them and then add them to the croutons when they come out of the oven, tossing again to distribute. If you are following a recipe for stuffing, consider that your high quality bread will be “thirstier” than the White Won- der, and adjust the quantity of broth or water for moistening.—L.R.

It is the carbohydrate component (separated from the other two) that has excellent capacity for longer-term storage, but it is the fat and the protein that balance absorption of the carbohydrates within the human system—remove them and you have removed much of the nutrition and all of the character of the flour.

Breads can be made from whole grains that are freshly ground. They will have a toothier texture, a stronger aroma, and likely be more aggressively seasoned so that the full flavor of the whole grain flour is balanced by other strong flavors. In general, whole grain doughs require more liquid and a lower, slower cooking time.

Water is the most common liquid component, but breads are also crafted from dough moistened with beer and milk. The liquid component serves to link together long chains of carbohydrates, and in the case of wheat flours, “develop” the texture and integrity of the loaf. As the dough expands in the heat of the oven, it is rich gluten development that allows it to puff up, solidify, and hold its splendid shape.

The most common leavener in bread is yeast, which is actually a living organism that exhales bubbles of lighter-than-air carbon dioxide. A well-developed crust encapsulates these bubbles and allows the crumb of the bread to expand; it also “catches” it when the temperature comes back down and the yeast is no longer active. Other leaveners include butter, eggs and cream (the fat expands as the temperature rises), plus the magical (chemical) combination of baking soda and baking powder.

The responsibility of bread craftsmanship is a weighty matter, and always requires physical labor, attention to detail, and the ability to adjust for environmental changes in temperature and humidity. That’s where the love comes in. A great bread is an outgrowth of its place and its people—Middle Eastern flatbreads for scooping stews on communal plates, the crusty French baguette strapped onto a bicycle like firewood, soft dinner rolls at Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving.

It is comforting to know that here among our neighbors are professional Makers of Bread, and that the dough is rising even now. Local bakeries and home bakers abound here in Central Virginia, so treat yourself to a few loaves of great bread (ask for freezing guidance!) and then play with them in the kitchen. Charlottesville City Market begins again this month (hooray!) and handmade breads, sweets, and even bagels and donuts are there for the eating.