(Photo by Andrea Hubbell) When you walk into Mike Ball’s stunning, open-floor home located in the heart of Downtown Charlottesville, you immediately see the lush green of the backyard. The self-taught contractor, who started Element Construction after years of working for Artisan Construction, bought the space in 2008. But he and his wife Karen, a […]

  Kim Speer, TheFeteBlog.com columnist and University of Virginia construction manager (Photo by Cramer Photo)   OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION Hot pot “Five years ago, I decided I wanted to learn to cook. Once I got cooking, I really wanted a Le Creuset Dutch oven pot, but I just couldn’t splurge that much so my parents surprised me […]

(File photo) A fresh pea tastes like a gift from the earth. When pinched off the vine and eaten immediately (preferably with dirty feet and a basket full of fresh lettuce), their crisp sweetness is always a reminder of the merits of fresh food. Tempt a toddler to pick a pod or two and then […]

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,” […]

(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 […]

GREEN EYE Plant your own forest If you’re longing for a more verdant landscape outside your kitchen window—or if you just believe in the importance of oxygen—how about planting some trees? The Virginia Department of Forestry grows and sells upwards of 24 million tree seedlings every year, in a few dozen varieties—from hardwoods like red […]

 When Spanish architect Iñaki Alday accepted his position as Chair of the Department of Architecture at UVA in 2011, it meant moving his family from a bustling life in the heart of Barcelona to a house surrounded by trees in Charlottesville. “Even though we love pedestrian spaces, we thought for the kids, maybe we should […]

There is an epically fabulous mirror in 13-year-old Nan Marsh’s room. This particular antique was found in the basement of the 100-year-old house that she shares with her parents, Charles and Karen, and occasionally with her brothers, Will and Henry (who are both in college). The baroque frame has been touched up with highlights of […]

Cold winter weather and hunger can both be answered with a hunk or two of hardwood and an iron pot bubbling with beans and bone. Dried beans are an economical source of vegetable protein in all corners of the world; including a few marrow bones or some scraps of smoked meat would increase the rich […]

Andrew Montgomery can’t remember a time when he wasn’t interested in building. In fact, he claims he built his first chair when he was five years old. “It was this tiny little armchair made out of pine wood, with a small square seat. Ever since I made that chair, I’ve always had this desire to […]