434 Magazines

What makes Sally run?

“I’ve lived in both very red and very blue places,” says Sally Hudson. “But I never felt my vote really mattered—until 2016.” Donald Trump’s election spurred Hudson into politics—and to being elected the first woman to represent Charlottesville in the Virginia House of Delegates. Public service came naturally to Hudson. Her father had a law […]

Carol Diggs | September 21, 2022

Knife & Fork Magazines

Buried treasure

To botanists, Tuber melanosporum is a fungus that grows on tree roots underground. Gourmets give it a classier name: the black Périgord truffle. Once only produced in certain areas of France, Italy, and Spain, black truffles are now cultivated all over the world—including locally. Seeing truffle farms in New Zealand gave Pat Martin and her […]

Carol Diggs | September 21, 2022

Arts Culture

From the top

How do you get people to appreciate, value, and protect creatures and ecosystems they have never seen? Two authors approach this challenge from different but complementary perspectives at a panel called Seeing Trees, Saving the Great Forests. Dr. Meg Lowman’s mission is to have people take another look at trees—specifically, the complex and fascinating ecosystem […]

Carol Diggs | March 16, 2022

Arts Culture

Righting wrongs

In 1968, two doctors at the Medical College of Virginia performed one of the first heart transplants in the United States—unbeknowst to the man whose heart was transplanted. In The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South, journalist Chip Jones peels back the layers of the entire saga, […]

Carol Diggs | March 16, 2022

Arts Culture

More than pretty

It’s the accepted wisdom: You can’t have it all. Or can you? When it comes to gardens, C. Colston Burrell thinks maybe you can—and he’s spent a lifetime considering this very question. A noted horticulturist, garden designer, and author, Burrell will offer his thoughts at Beauty, Integrity and Resilience: Can a Garden Have Everything? The […]

Carol Diggs | March 2, 2022

Culture Food & Drink

Winning wine

Shannon Horton had a dream: “I wanted to make a white wine that would go with a steak.” As a member of the family dynasty that runs Horton Vineyards in Gordonsville, she had a good shot at achieving that goal. And last fall, her wine—Suil (pronounced sue-ELL)—became the first sparkling viognier and only the second […]

Carol Diggs | February 2, 2022

News

Milling it over

Living here, in the shadow of Monticello, you’ve likely heard of Shadwell, the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson. There’s even an historic marker for it, along 250 East, south of Pantops. But next to the marker, all there is to see is rolling pasture and a herd of not-very-historic-looking Black Angus cattle. Two hundred and sixty […]

Carol Diggs | January 5, 2022

News

Bug off

The spotted lanternfly is pretty and festive-looking, with its polka-dot outer wings, red-and-black hind wings, and yellow-and-black-striped abdomen. But appearances, as they say, can be deceptive. “This is the next bug we are all going to learn to hate,” says Rod Walker, founder and president of Blue Ridge PRISM, a nonprofit set up to help […]

Carol Diggs | November 24, 2021

Culture Food & Drink

A toast to the front line

Blenheim Vineyards is encouraging everyone to raise a glass to our first responders…literally. In a collaboration between the vineyard and renowned chef José Andrés’ international nonprofit World Central Kitchen, Blenheim’s On the Line wines are helping raise money to provide healthy meals for those still fighting the pandemic. Dave Matthews, musician, philanthropist, and owner of […]

Carol Diggs | November 24, 2021

News

Staying vigilant

“Right now, Virginia is seen as a haven state,” says national abortion rights advocate Amy Hagstrom Miller. But all that could change with one Supreme Court decision, as Hagstrom Miller knows all too well: She’s lead plaintiff in the challenge to Texas’ Senate Bill 8, which is aimed at undermining the right to choose established […]

Carol Diggs | October 20, 2021