Month: April 2017

Categories
Living

From forage to feast, the morel of the story

Morel mushroom season is about a month long—from mid-April to mid-May.

For going on a week-and-a-half we’ve been waiting, watching the weather, hoping for the perfect combination of conditions that will spark an explosion of hidden life bursting from the forest floor. “Morel mushrooms are notoriously fickle,” explains 33-year-old Loren Mendosa, Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria chef-co-owner and local morel hunting guru. “They’re kind of like the baby bear in the fairy tale that wanted his porridge ‘just right.’”

While the exact formula consists of a somewhat mysterious stew of variables, the season for these treasured delicacies is short, beginning somewhere around the second week in April and, in a best-case scenario, stretching into mid-May. “Regional folk wisdom says it follows spring gobbler season and that morels can be found when the poplar leaves are the size of squirrels’ feet, or when the red bud blossoms begin to open,” says Mark Jones, resident mushroom cultivation expert and CEO at Keswick’s Sharondale Farms. Which is another way of saying: when the daytime temperatures average above 60 degrees but remain relatively cool, with nighttime lows hovering just above 50 degrees for about a week. “That’s when the sap starts moving and the primary producers come online, and the trees start pumping sugars and juice into the ground,” says Jones. That surge of energy feeds the subterranean vegetative structures of fungi, or mycelium, causing threadlike roots of hyphae to grow and prime themselves for reproduction.

With those conditions good and ripe, throw in a warm, heavy rain and presto—in the manner of fruit trees producing plums or apples, the mycelium put out mushrooms. Only, in the case of the latter, the process is radically accelerated. “They come up overnight, growing so fast that, if you were watching, you could literally see them grow,” says Mendosa. “They’re here and then they’re gone, and some years they don’t grow at all. You have to catch them at exactly the right moment.”

This, combined with the fact that morels are incredibly tasty and have yet to be effectively commercially cultivated, makes the mushrooms a coveted culinary delicacy and, along with ginseng and truffles, a forager’s trophy crop.

The hunt is on

For a string of afternoons earlier this month, storm clouds roll dense and steel-blue over Afton Mountain. From my front porch swing I observe them with mixed emotion—one moment I’m swearing, the next I’m begging like a medieval farmer. Curse, pray, threaten, plead. Regardless, the weather does as it will. A week passes. Minutes after I’ve finally decided to throw in the towel and quit caring, on comes the rain.

Early the next morning I pay a visit to Shenandoah National Park. Tromping through a wilderness area off Skyline Drive I’ve circled on my map a somewhat bitterly labeled “Eric Wallace’s Secret Morel Spot #1,” and I watch the forest floor with an intensity I hadn’t known was possible.

“Every hunter worth his salt has his own spots and, because they tend to produce again and again, year after year, he’s probably not going to reveal them to anyone,” says Ben Kessler, co-owner of C’ville Foodscapes, tactfully rejecting my request to tag along for his first morel foraging mission of the season. Part of the fun is getting out there in the woods alone and learning the hard way, he added, encouraging me to embrace the adventure of discovering a new wild edible experience for myself.

Ben Kessler, co-owner of C’ville Foodscapes, says each hunter has his own go-to spots for finding morels, which tend to pop up in the same spots year after year. Photo by John Robinson
Ben Kessler, co-owner of C’ville Foodscapes, says each hunter has his own go-to spots for finding morels, which tend to pop up in the same spots year after year. Photo by John Robinson

He did, however, offer the following advice: “What you want to look for is damp, warm leafy areas around dead or dying elms, poplars, ashes or apple trees in areas where there’s very little foot traffic, animal or human. …Once you find a good spot, you want to try and really tune into the forest floor, to think in terms of pattern recognition, proceeding in a gridded search pattern, looking for slight variations. From above, the mushrooms blend into their surroundings and look just like pinecones. For the unseasoned eye, they’re pretty tough to spot.”

Treading delicately through the leaves I maintain a low crouch, scouring the terra for abnormalities. “Find one, find many,” I whisper to myself over and over, taking pleasure in my appropriation of the mantra Mendosa said he’d picked up from an old-timer who had, in turn, gotten it from his grandfather. “The trick is spotting that first one,” Mendosa had assured me. “When you see one, stop immediately where you are and take a good look around; chances are, there are a whole lot more. Once you find that first one, it’s like this shift happens—your eyes kind of adjust and suddenly you’re seeing them everywhere.”        

‘Forager’s gold’

If there’s anyone qualified to shed light on the pleasures, hardships and how-tos of morel hunting, it’s Mendosa. Growing up on Shannon Farms in Nelson County, he began foraging wild edibles as a toddler and recalls harvesting his first morels around the age of 5. “Like sleeping, eating and bathing, foraging was just a part of our lives,” he says. “It started with the adults teaching us what to look for and how to identify things, and then we started venturing out in little bands by ourselves.” Each spring, when the weather began to turn warm, Mendosa would join the neighborhood kids and disappear into the forest for hours, searching for ramps, sorrel, milkweed, stinging nettle and, yes, morels. “They were and remain sort of like the forager’s gold—they’re rare and hard to find, and when you do it feels absolutely amazing,” he says. “I remember once, when I was in maybe the seventh grade, my friends and I found a bunch and cooked up this big feast with wild asparagus, ramps and morels. We drank spring water and ate in the woods. It was pretty gluttonous!”

“They come up overnight, growing so fast that, if you were watching, you could literally see them grow. They’re here and then they’re gone, and some years they don’t grow at all. You have to catch them at exactly the right moment.” Loren Mendosa

As with most morel hunters, the desire to share his spoils with friends and family has followed Mendosa into adulthood. “Two years back, Loren found a boatload of morels and went out of his way to let the local culinary community know that, if we wanted some, they were available,” says Jeremy Webb, sous chef at Hamiltons’ at First & Main. “He has this great secret spot out in an old orchard somewhere in Nelson and that year it was jumping with mushrooms, and he wanted to make sure everybody had the opportunity to share in that abundance.” Abundance indeed. Enlisting the aid of fellow Charlottesvillian and mycologist Charlie Aller, Mendosa hauled in upward of 80 pounds of morels. “To put that number into perspective, I’ve been foraging for morels for more than 15 years and the most I’ve ever found is probably three pounds, which is basically the amount I need to change the menu and run a special at the restaurant,” says Webb.

Jeremy Webb, sous chef at Hamiltons’ at First & Main, says the restaurant generally sources morels from full-time professional foragers. Because foraged foods are unpredictable, the restaurant tends to make morels the focus of a daily special once a bounty comes in. Photo by John Robinson
Jeremy Webb, sous chef at Hamiltons’ at First & Main, says the restaurant generally sources morels from full-time professional foragers. Because foraged foods are unpredictable, the restaurant tends to make morels the focus of a daily special once a bounty comes in. Photo by John Robinson

But in Mendosa’s case, while certainly impressive, poundage is a secondary point. According to Webb, the example’s significance lies in what it reveals about the attitude of the city’s culinary community. “I’ve worked in restaurants in Richmond, Roanoke and other places, and I’ve never experienced the degree of communication and support that we have here in Charlottesville surrounding local foods,” he says. Over the course of the last decade or so, locally sourced foods have for most area restaurants become more rule than exception, says Hamilton’s chef Curtis Shaver. And the process has yielded an atmosphere of collaboration, as opposed to a competitive mindset. “It’s not so much that I take pride in being this great hunter who can find so much of this or that,” says Mendosa. “It’s more so a pride in the region, in the fact that we live in a place that produces these amazing mushrooms that are famous all around the world. …I take pride in the richness of the land and in doing my part to make that bounty available to friends, family, cooks and the patrons they serve.”

Priceless treasure       

Moral high ground aside, there is an economic element to foraging morels. Of the 200 species of edible mushrooms native to Virginia and the 25 that find their way into restaurants, morels are by far the most coveted. “Because you can’t grow them with efficiency in a commercial setting, because they’re hard to find in the wild, because the season is so brief and because they taste absolutely out-of-this-world, yeah, they fetch a pretty price,” says Jones. According to Webb, morels typically run $20 to $35 a pound, depending on availability. Which would make Mendosa’s 2015 haul worth about $2,800.

But how, exactly, do the mushrooms make it from the wild onto plates at your favorite restaurants?

“We typically like to deal with full-time professional foragers,” explains Webb, who says the pros tend to have applied for Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services permits certifying them to inspect the mushrooms for contamination and disease, thereby ensuring restaurants meet Food and Drug Administration regulations for serving wild foods. “They’ll come to the back door with a bag full of mushrooms or whatever and Curtis or I will go back there, take a look, agree on a price and potentially place an order.” At that point, the manager cuts the forager a check and the chefs get to work modifying the menu. In a best-case scenario, the mushrooms are served that night. Worst, the next day. “Foraged foods are unpredictable, so it’s kind of a pain in the neck to change things like that, but man, when you’re staring at a bunch of rare mushrooms that were picked just hours before, how can you say no?” says Webb, laughing.

In times of local scarcity, chefs turn to Cavalier Produce, which sources morels from Oregon-based foraging company Foods In Season. “Wild edibles entail less than 1 percent of our total business, but it’s a service we’re proud to provide, because we feel it helps keep our local restaurants at the top of the field,” says Cavalier’s operations manager Spencer Morris, who has been sourcing food for the company for 16 years. In 2016, from March 23 through the end of May, Cavalier sold 120 pounds of morels. “The foragers let us know when they’re coming in and we then have our sales representatives call restaurants and take orders. Typically, they’ll buy five or 10 pounds at a time.” Once orders are placed, Cavalier has Foods In Season overnight the mushrooms via FedEx.

Group of five gray morel mushroom (Morchella esculenta) fruiting bodies collected in a back yard in Indiana isolated against a white background

“The flavor is really meaty and delicate, but really it’s unlike anything else. …They pair great with cheese or ham, but basically I like to sautè them in butter and let them stand on their own so you can really taste the mushroom.” Jeremy Webb

Regardless of origins, once the morels arrive at the restaurant, here’s what happens. “I clean them by rinsing them and then placing them on a sheet or tray, removing any remaining bugs, pine needles or leaf debris by hand. Then I dump them in salted water for a quick second rinse,” says Webb. After that, the fun begins. “The flavor is really meaty and delicate, but really it’s unlike anything else. …They pair great with cheese or ham, but basically I like to sautè them in butter and let them stand on their own so you can really taste the mushroom.”

Other area restaurants known for making use of morels include Mas Tapas, Lampo, The Alley Light, The Local and more.

Finder’s keepers

After hours of prowling and many false excitements, I plop down on an old dead stump beside a fallen elm and ask myself what the hell I’m doing out here. “So much for Secret Morel Spot #1,” I mutter, imagining Kessler, Mendosa and Jones wearing spring-green Peter Pan tunics, skipping through a meadow of bright-yellow buttercups. Big colorfully woven baskets brimming with morels are hooked over their elbows. A red-checkered quilt lies spread in the meadow’s center. There’s an ice bucket with wine and champagne. Fine cheese. Bread. And Webb is manning a grill. By Job, the bastards are having a picnic!

I prepare to deal the stump a vicious toe bash, only then, a little to the right of my raised boot I spot… an abnormality. Looks like a pinecone, but not. Could it…oh yes. Yes, yes, yes! A morel snaps into focus. Like a fairy tower jutting from the forest floor, its conical top looks like a shriveled yellow-brown brain. It is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

“Find one, find many,” I hiss, reminding myself to focus. Blinking, I survey the area. And sure enough, like solving a tessellation, I see them everywhere. Hot joy pulses through my body. Mendosa and company give me a standing ovation.

“For me, it’s about the hunt—I love that moment when you find a bunch and you just get overwhelmed by the beauty of being in the woods and by the fact you’ve sort of just stumbled upon these amazing specimens,” Webb had told me days before. “Whenever I find a good-size batch for myself, I always end up calling friends. It’s not often I cook at home, but on occasions like those I put on some music, make a big fire, whip up a nice pasta and tell my friends to bring the wine and beer.”

Like a mendicant, I slip down onto my knees and bow before my first morel. Studying its strange curves, I think about how this fellow will taste and, yes, about those I’d like to share him with.

Categories
News

Circle theory: Two roundabouts in Crozet’s future

U.S. 250 west near Crozet has new circular traffic patterns coming in the next few years.

Every few years, the idea to put a roundabout at difficult intersections pops up—and usually disappears. Charlottesville’s former mayor and longtime delegate, the late Mitch Van Yahres, was a big roundabout fan, and he supported the one installed at the airport, one of the few bandied about from the early aughts that actually got built.

Two roundabouts eligible for federal funding are on the horizon for U.S. 250 around Crozet—one at its intersection with Route 240 and another 10 miles farther west at Alcohol Alley—Route 151 in Afton. Both locations “have a history of crashes, all related to turning,” says VDOT’s Stacy Londrey.

U.S. 250 near Crozet could get two roundabouts for the crash-prone intersections at Route 240 and at Route 151.“For several years, VDOT has looked at alternatives to traffic signals,” she says.

That’s why North Pointe on U.S. 29 North will have something called a super-street intersection, one of the first in the state, rather than eight stoplights.

“Often roundabouts are a better solution to keep traffic moving rather than coming to a complete stop,” says Londrey. “You’re pretty much able to roll along without completely stopping. We don’t see the backups that we see with signals.”

One factor in the roundabout rollout is legislation the General Assembly passed in 2014 called Smart Scale to take the politics out of a formerly closed-door process (ahem, Western 29 Bypass) and make it more transparent.

It allows Albemarle County and the Metropolitan Planning Organization to apply for funding, and projects are scored for safety, accessibility and keeping traffic moving, explains Londrey.

“Localities are getting on board with roundabouts,” she says. “It was the county that recommended the Crozet roundabout.”

Both projects will go to the Commonwealth Transportation Board in June, and if it okays the funding, design work will begin in July. “It’s a two- to three-year process before we see dirt moved,” says Londrey.

Bill McKechnie, who is building Mechum’s Trestle restaurant on a tight lot at Route 240, favors the roundabout at that location. “I think people need to slow down,” he says.

Not everyone is a roundabout fan, however. Helen Maupin acknowledges that 250/240 is a “dreadful, dreadful intersection,” but thinks it has way too much traffic volume for a roundabout, unlike the one at the airport or the two in Old Trail.

Maupin grew up in the U.K. and admits she hated the roundabouts there, and she fears people here don’t know how to use them.

“A roundabout doesn’t slow traffic,” she says. “It creates frustrated drivers edging out into traffic, making it more dangerous. I feel a stoplight is the only solution there.”

Others have concerns about the intersection at Route 151 with trucks coming down Afton Mountain on U.S. 250.

“VDOT thinks that tractor trailers and heavily loaded/oversized vehicles will have no issue slowing down coming off of Afton and the road grade to drive into a roundabout,” says frequent traveler Whitney Jones-Allen.

VDOT says speed reduction would start far enough back for safe braking on the downhill.

And once the CTB approves the projects, there will be public hearings, says Londrey.

“I do think there’s some hesitation, especially in the rural areas,” she says. But they’re “not as confusing as people seem to think.”

Other pluses: Roundabouts require less maintenance than traffic signals, she says. And once they’re installed, the number of crashes seems to go down.

“The great thing about roundabouts is you have to slow down, so if there is a crash, it’s not as severe because of the lower speeds,” says Londrey.

Roundabout roundup:

U.S. 250/Route 240 intersection

  • 11,000 vehicles a day on U.S. 250
  • 5,800 vehicles a day on Route 240
  • $3.5 million cost, funded from the Federal Highway Administration’s High-Risk Rural Roads program

U.S. 250/Route 151 intersection

  • 6,700 vehicles a day on U.S. 250
  • 10,000 a day on Route 151
  • $5.8 million cost, funded from the FHA’s Highway Safety Improvement Program

Other area roundabouts:

  • Hillsdale Drive Extended (underway now, a city project)
  • Routes 15/53 in Fluvanna (underway now)
  • Routes 53/600 in Fluvanna (built in 2013)
  • Routes 53/618 in Fluvanna (in design)
  • Routes 20/231 in Orange (in design)

—Courtesy VDOT

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Sean Rowe

Singer/songwriter Sean Rowe will play The Southern Cafe and Music Hall April 29. Photo by Matt Dayak

Singer-songwriter Sean Rowe is growing his career with a grassroots approach. In addition to offering wilderness and foraging classes on his website, he splits his time between the road and raising a family. About a recent tour, Rowe says, “At every house, barn, chicken coop, apartment, loft and church, we made a real connection…” and impressed more than enough fans to fund his latest album, New Lore, through Kickstarter.

Saturday, April 29. $12-15, 8pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Fences

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, August Wilson's award-winning Fences offers an inside look at an African-American community in mid-20th century America. Publicity photo

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, August Wilson’s award-winning Fences offers an inside look at an African-American community in mid-20th century America. The play follows 53-year-old Troy—a former baseball star and thief—who struggles to provide for his small family. Troy’s wife, Rose, asks him to build a fence around their home, which comes to symbolize the protections we surround ourselves with.

Through April 30. $10-15, times vary. Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 233 Fourth St. 260-8720.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Mary Poppins

Albemarle High School Players presents Mary Poppins through April 30. Publicity photo

Take some kite flying, throw in a little bird feeding, add an uber-nanny, a chimney sweep and two precocious kids, and you’ve got the makings for a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious evening when the Albemarle High School Players present Mary Poppins. Based on the popular Disney movie, the musical, directed by Fay E. Cunningham, follows the story of “practically perfect” Mary, who floats in to sort out the complicated relationship between Jane and Michael Banks and their stressed-out parents.

Through April 30. $10-20 (with a $35 dinner theater on Saturday evening), times vary. Albemarle High School auditorium, 2775 Hydraulic Rd. ahsplayers.webs.com

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Eugene Chadbourne

Eugene Chadbourne is known for his mastery of instruments such as the banjo (above), guitar, rake and plunger.

Unconventional is a word often found in descriptions of Eugene Chadbourne’s work, but it doesn’t begin to capture the far-out 63-year-old musician’s career. Wikipedia notes that his mastery of guitar, banjo, rake and plunger, and his immersion in free jazz, folk and experimental music led to collaborations with John Zorn, Fred Frith, Jello Biafra, Violent Femmes and Tony Trischka, among others. Many of Chadbourne’s album titles are rooted in cultural provocation such as Corpses of Foreign War, Country Music in the World of Islam Volume XV and Jesse Helms Busted With Pornography. Floom Choir and Jordan Perry open.

Saturday, April 29. $5-7, 7pm. The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, 209 Monticello Rd. 984-5669.

Categories
Arts

Ships in the Night sets course for dawn on new album

Ships in the Night celebrates the release of Myriologues with a Witches Prom at the Southern on Friday. Photo by Tristan Williams

When Alethea Leventhal was a child, she’d sit for hours at the piano in her mother’s Charlottesville home, singing, playing chords and experimenting with sounds. She remembers obsessively listening to songs like Jimmy Ruffin’s 1966 Motown hit “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” pressing play over and over again and using that piano to figure out how and why exactly the melody in a chorus gave her goosebumps, or why a bridge’s chord progression wrenched her heart just so.

All of that practice examining the emotional quality of music would come in handy years later, when Leventhal, who records and performs music under the moniker Ships in the Night, was having what she describes as “a really hard night.” It was 5am and she couldn’t sleep. But she had a refrain in her head and she went to her synthesizer to work it out. “It ended up being a lullaby to myself, what I wanted someone to say to me at five o’clock in the morning when I couldn’t sleep,” says Leventhal.

That song, “Deathless,” is the first single off of the first full-length Ships in the Night record, Myriologues, to be released on Friday.

Ships in the Night album release party
April 28
The Southern Café and Music Hall

“You’re going through hell / You’ve got to keep going / There is more than this” Leventhal opens the first verse, her ethereal voice drifting over softly driving, catchy synths and drum machines. “We don’t get to choose / Who lives and who dies. / But while we’re alive, I’m here beside you,” she sings. “Sleep now, darling, can you sleep? / Another day will come. / You’re still the one you were born to be.”

By the end of the song, as the sun begins to rise, Leventhal drifts, triumphantly, toward sleep: “When I rise from the ashes, when I rise from the grave, / I will be strong, I will be deathless.”

Like all Ships in the Night songs, the nine tracks on Myriologues are heavy in their subject matter: death, dark dreams, trauma, loss, sadness and “where people are left after trauma,” Leventhal says. In conversation, she remains largely private about her own struggles—“I deal with some topics in my music that are so hard, things that I don’t even talk about in my life very much, but in my music, they’re there and I just let it go.”

ShipsInTheNight_Myriologues

Leventhal wrote the closing track, “Across the Line,” a song about all the ways you can feel far from someone, for her sister who’s lived in Germany for 10 years. Their relationship exists largely through Skype and sporadic phone calls. They’ll be talking and the phone line will pick up another conversation, or the screen will freeze and Leventhal will be left looking at a pixelated, fragmented version of her sister’s face.

“We’ve had an interesting and complicated relationship over the years,” Leventhal says, so she can’t help but feel like these communications are about more than tech glitches and poor Internet connections—it sometimes seems like a breakdown of their relationship.

Once Leventhal started performing and recording as Ships in the Night back in 2014, sharing her songs with others who have experienced tragedy, sadness and darkness of their own, she began to heal. “Without the music, I probably would have let go a long time ago; I’ll be straight-up about that,” Leventhal says. “It’s not just about getting it out, it’s about recognizing that you’ve been trying and you’re working on it and you’re holding on.

“For me, [performing] is my way of standing there and completely baring my soul for everyone to see. Because what is the point of not doing that?” she asks in earnest. “It’s so easy to not share yourself. It’s so easy to not let people in, and that’s a shame, because there’s so much to see and know with people.”

“I deal with some topics in my music that are so hard, things that I don’t even talk about in my life very much, but in my music, they’re there and I just let it go.” Alethea Leventhal

What’s more, “we focus way too much on how to be happy, and not enough on how to be sad, on how to be sad and okay; on how to feel sadness and hold sadness and pain in front of you and not collapse under it,” Leventhal says. “If I can do anything with music, it’s helping people know that they’re not the only ones who feel that way.”

Maybe you’ve just been dumped, and you get into the car, turn on the radio and hear a song about heartbreak; maybe a family member has died and a catchy chorus makes you happy for the first time in days; maybe you’ve experienced horrible trauma, but you go to a live show and hear a melody that soothes you a bit—sometimes a song is exactly what you need, says Leventhal, and that’s powerful.

For all of its darkness, all of its weight, Myriologues is extraordinarily light. “It feels bright to me, hopeful,” says Leventhal. It’s an album about loss, but even more, it’s an album about how to not lose yourself amid that loss and remembering that no matter what, you’re still the one you were born to be.

 

Categories
Real Estate

Charlottesville Is Horse Country

By Celeste M. Smucker – 

Horse lovers, from weekend trail riders to fox hunting, racing and dressage enthusiasts, all appreciate what the Charlottesville area offers them and their animals.  Some come to participate in or watch races and other events, spend their money and go home. Others fall in love with the mountains and beautiful scenery and decide to stay.  Whatever brings them here initially, those who stay have a lot of company and are part of a long tradition.

When the first colonists began arriving here in the 1600s, they brought their horses.  Once here, historians tell us, they began acquiring local horses from Native Americans. The combined bloodlines resulted in the American Quarter Horse and eventually—according to the Virginia Horse Industry Board (VHIB)—the first official American Quarter Horse races, believed to have been held in Henrico County in 1674.

Those early Virginians would probably be surprised to learn from the VHIB that the Commonwealth is now home to over 215,000 equines, and the site of 1,200 events, shows, trail rides and other horse-related activities that bring nearly a million visitors to our area every year. Good examples are the Foxfield Races that take place this weekend, Saturday April 29, and in the Fall on Sunday, September 24. 

Our  local economy also benefits significantly from the sale of horse-related goods and services such as feed, tack, and riding lessons. A 2011 study of Virginia’s horse economy reported that equine activities bring in annual revenues in excess of $1 billion, provide over 16,000 jobs, and generate  $65.3 million in state and local taxes.

Horses and their owners also impact the local real estate market with a continuing and growing demand for the specialized rural properties that can accommodate these popular animals. 

The Market for Horse Properties
The agents who serve horse property buyers and sellers are happy to report that 2017 is busy.

Donna Patton with BHG Real Estate III said that properties under $500,000, which are in good condition, are moving.  “There are very few small horse properties on the market, if it comes on the market it goes quickly,” she said.  She added that “good condition” is a description of the property’s buildings, and that many horse people care more about the barn, land and fencing than they do about the house.   

Pam Dent with Gayle Harvey Real Estate, Inc. explained that horse property buyers are  different from those looking for a more conventional home. Often they want “just the right property,” she said, and making a purchase isn’t urgent in the same way it would be for a more typical buyer moving here for a job or to find a bigger house for a growing family who wants to be settled before school starts.

Bunny French with Loring Woodriff Real Estate Associates also reports a shortage of inventory in the $400,000-800,000 range.  These mid-range properties “move better,” she said than those at the high end which take longer to sell and stay longer on the market.

There is a demand for horse properties, especially at the lower end, said Gerri Russell with Roy Wheeler Realty Co. who described the overall inventory of horse properties as “slim.”  She added that many buyers want a “turnkey” property, one that has assets such as a barn and fencing already in place. 

Dent described such properties as “truly horse ready” indicating they would have amenities like “really nice three board fencing, a center aisle barn, or an inner riding ring.” 

There is also demand for more “disciplined” facilities, Russell explained.  She added that properties designed for a specific discipline won’t work for every buyer as their requirements are very different.

Horse Owners Love Charlottesville
Horse people move to Charlottesville for many of the same reasons as everyone else.  They may be graduates of UVA, or have an allegiance to local sports teams. Many also come for the natural beauty, the rolling hills, the medical care and the social and cultural amenities that together put our area on so many lists of top places to live, work and play. 

Horse owners—whether they are retirees who just want to keep a couple of horses on their own property, show people who participate in events year around, or professionals who offer riding lessons and boarding services—also gather here because they love the terrain and rich pastures and the availability of resources such as professional breeders and trainers, farriers, veterinarians, riding teachers and specialty supplies.   All of this, plus long history and tradition, draws horse owners to our area where they feel welcome and at home.

Many of Patton’s horse property buyers  are young retirees in their early to mid-50s.  They come here to relax and enjoy the local lifestyle along with their horses.  Then there are what she called “event people.”  This is a younger crowd that wants to participate in the various races and horse events.

Still others are just getting  into horses, Patton said.  These are people who confide that they have always wanted to own a horse, and now they can afford one along with the property required to keep it in style.  Of course, like other local buyers,  horse owners will pay more for property that is closer to town.

French is also getting calls from buyers in the young retiree, and pre-retirement ages of 40 to 60.  Some of them are hobbyists who have an interest in hunting or showing, and want acreage sufficient to keep a few horses and let their dogs run free.  This is a new experience for them, but one they want to try while they are still young enough to enjoy it, she added.

While many horse buyers are retirees or pre-retirees, they may discover they have much younger neighbors.   Russell has also worked with clients buying their first house who  wanted enough property to enjoy their horses at home. 

Finding a Good Horse Property
Not just any rural acreage is suitable for horses, and it is best for buyers in this market to work  with an agent who understands their needs, and is familiar with the requirements of different disciplines such as dressage or racing. 

One thing those agents understand is that when horse owners move, it’s like bringing a “whole village,” Patton explained.  Not only do they have furniture and other personal possessions, but they also have the horses and all of their specialized equipment.  In addition, the timing is important.  They don’t have the flexibility, for example, to rent a place temporarily to allow a previous owner time to move out.  Buyers and their horses have to be able to move in all at once and without delays.

Dent explained that horse agents also understand that “a serious horse person”  has different priorities from other buyers.  They will first want to be satisfied that the land works for their animals before looking at the house. Common concerns include the quality of the pasture and whether or not there is enough of it for their horses’ needs. 

Horses can “wear out a property,” French said which means they can eat all the grass and leave a lot of mud behind. Buyers are also concerned about  “the topography of the land,” she explained, adding that rolling, rather than steep, hills with flat and open areas with lots of grass are essential.

The right barn is also an important consideration. A run-in shed may be sufficient for a fox hunter, French said, but if you have show horses or participate in dressage you may prefer individual stalls with a central aisle. The kind of activities people participate in will also determine where they will look for property.  Fox hunters will want to be near hunt country while trail riders will want access to nearby trails and/or farms that allow others to ride there. 

Good water is critical and high on the list of desirable features for a horse property.  One way to assure horses always have something to drink is automatic waterers, Russell said.  These work even in the winter which makes them a great asset for the owner and something any buyer would look for when evaluating which property to purchase.

The type of fencing is another priority.  “Horses are very delicate,” French said, which means barbed wire is not usually a good choice, although “high strung thoroughbreds” are more likely to get in trouble than  draft horses which she described as “gentle giants.”

Similarly, trail horses require different fencing than do hunter/jumpers.  “It’s a very specialized field,” Patton said.

Patton added that for a lot of people it’s also important to be able to see their horses from the house.  A horse owner herself, Patton said “it’s very relaxing to watch them graze, very peaceful.”

Foxfield Races
Our local Foxfield Races is one of over 1,200 horse related events held throughout Virginia each year that together bring in an excess of $25 million in revenue. 

The bi-annual event is one of Virginia’s biggest and is always scheduled for the last Saturday in April and the last Sunday in September.  The first race was held in 1977 after Albemarle resident, Mariann de Tejeda, provided funds to purchase the property that at one time was the Albemarle Airport.  Dent was there and helped paint the fence in time for the first race, as was Foxfield’s Race Director, Patrick Butterfield, who said, “We all did everything we could to help.”

Butterfield recalled volunteering for one early race during which it rained eight inches.  He was part of the mounted patrol stationed at different points along the path of the race. “We were all in full hunting attire,” he said, which meant their red jackets were soaked through staining their shirts.  Many cars were stranded there and had to be temporarily abandoned until later when tractors were available to tow them out.

Foxfield is a steeplechase course, part of a national circuit. The sport got its start in Ireland in 1752 when, according to legend, two friends settled a bet about who had the best horse by racing to and through a local church where a funeral was in progress.  It soon became popular and eventually spread to England and the United States.  Participants and their horses demonstrate “strategy, speed and stamina,” Dent said. 

“It’s a great way to spend an afternoon,” Butterfield added.  He explained that it brings people to Charlottesville from all areas, especially former UVA students who enjoyed the event when they were in school.  In addition to the race, there are activities for families and children such as pony rides and games. This year’s spring race is on Saturday April 29. Visit the Foxfield Races website for more information and to purchase tickets.

If you and your horses are looking for a place to call home, the Charlottesville area has what you need including great properties, equine related goods and services, and events like the Foxfield Races.  You will also find experienced agents who love horses as much as you do and can help you find the perfect property.

Celeste Smucker is a writer and blogger who lives near Charlottesville.

Categories
Real Estate

Fridays After Five: A Charlottesville Tradition

By Ken Wilson – 

The Dave Matthews Band  played it. So did Corey Harris, and so did Sons of Bill. The hometown crowd heard these future stars, and heard them for free, at Fridays After Five, the April to September concert series set to begin its 30th season. Fridays from April 14 to September 8, the weekend officially begins at 5:30 in the Sprint Pavilion at the east end of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, with great bands, great weather (fingers crossed), and food and drink concessions benefitting a variety of hometown non-profits.

Cynthia Viejo, Associate Broker with Nest Realty, has been a Fridays After Five fan since the very first year, when it was held at the other end of the Mall, near where the Omni is now. Downtown  is “the heart of Charlottesville,” Viejo says. “Fridays After Five is a great opportunity for people to be there in the midst of it all, enjoying camaraderie, being with people from the community, and just having fun.”

Cynthia remembers catching Dave Matthews at Fridays. That was in 1992, when it had moved to the other end of the Mall—but the other end of the Mall was still a grassy bowl. Blues and reggae star Corey Harris, a Grammy winner and probably the only MacArthur Fellow to play Fridays, played it there. The Pavilion opened in 2005, and Sons of Bill played it there three years in a row (2006-8).

“Every year our goal is to feature as many of the local artists as we can,” says Spring Pavilion Manager Kirby Hutto. “We’re always looking for the new artists that seem to have a little bit of a buzz around them. Sometimes acts will have played in the opening slot and we see their profile continues to grow, and we’re able to bring them back as a headliner.

“Sometimes somebody just kind of bursts on the scene and really seems to have found their following right off the bat. But we’re always looking to mix it up. We try to get as diverse of a musical style as we can, so we may have one or two that fall into the category of oldies acts or cover bands but then we’ll have just as many that are doing new, original music. We hope that having them on the Friday stage and being able to play in front of a large crowd in a large venue can give a boost to their efforts when they’re playing the clubs around town.”

First time headliners in 2017 include Red and the Romantics, The Barons, The Judy Chops, and Nora Jane Struthers, all Virginia born, bred or based.

While Hutto’s always looking for fresh talent, longtime crowd favorites like Grateful Dead cover band Alligator, headlining this May 12, get invited back frequently. “We love to have them on the stage because they always draw such tremendous crowds for us.”

The crowds really are impressive. As long as the weather’s nice, “the first ones out of the gate every spring are just huge,” Hutto says. “We will get upwards of five to six thousand people. Come summer, much of the crowd shows up later, but even on a hot, muggy night, it’s three to four thousand strong.” 

That’s a boon to the area’s many merchants and restaurateurs. “We always try to be done at a reasonable hour (8:30-8:40 p.m.) so our patrons can go down the Mall and patronize all the restaurants and bars,” Hutto says. “We try to spread the wealth while we’re down here. Restaurant owners this time of year, any time I walk down the Mall they’re asking me, ‘When does Fridays After Five start; why can’t you start it tonight?’ It really signals the beginning of their busy season, particularly for the folks that have the outdoor cafes.”

Local non-profits, who take turns staffing the concessions booths, benefit as well. “We’ve got roles that we staff with the volunteers that require as few as four and up to as many as sixteen people a week,” Kirby says. “So basically we’re paying back the non-profit based on the number of volunteer hours they provide. Generally it ranges anywhere from $100-110 to $450-500. It’s all based on the number of folks that they’ve provided us.”

Here is the remaining lineup for the first half of the 2017 Fridays After Five, Bud Light Concert Series. Concerts last from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

April 28 – The Barons (Raw, Catchy Rock N Roll), with Post Sixty Five

May 5 – Kendall Street Company (Rock, Folk, Jazz Jams), with Maxx 51

May 12 – Alligator (Classic Grateful Dead), with Marshall Artz

May 19 – Groove Train (Virginia’s Premier Disco Experience), with Choose Your Own Adventure

May 26 – In Full (Jazz, Funk, Pop Hits), with The Velvet People Collective

June 2 – Jon Spear Band (Nothing But The Blues), with Fulltone To The Max

June 9 – Abbey Road (Nothing But The Beatles), with Mojo Pie

June 16 – The Judy Chops (Original Mountain Swing), with Bobby Midnight Band

June 23 – Nora Jane Struthers (Unapologetic Roots Music), with TBA

June 30 – Roosevelt Dime(Bluegrass, Blues, R&B), with The 5 and Dimers

Categories
Living

Devils Backbone Brewing Company hosts annual Oyster Roast

 Join us for our annual Oyster Roast! We will be serving up bushels and bushels of fresh oysters to enjoy alongside Lemongrass  Wit, our official Oyster Roast brew. Live music by Full Moon Saloon and Scott Slay and the Rail. The event will be held rain or shine (hopefully shine!) in our outdoor Meadows.
Your pre-purchased ticket includes 15 oysters per bucket and an official Devils Backbone Oyster Roast T-shirt. You will also be automatically entered into a drawing for a chance to win two lifetime Devils Backbone Mug Club Memberships and a brew day with our Basecamp brewers (the brew day includes lunch and a private tasting during the day).
To purchase tickets, click here.
 Sponsored Post