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 […]
The fragrance of Froot Loops permeates the air, wafting from three winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) fortuitously planted at the base of an electric pole out in the east garden between the house and road. Over a dozen years they’ve matured into softly rounded cloud-like forms about 8’ all around, without any pruning other than occasional […]
Most deciduous trees and shrubs remain dormant during these short, low-angled days, their tight buds still furled over sleeping embryos. Yet mild temperatures teased out coral quince and pale yellow winter jasmine just after Christmas. As the little bulbs lead us into spring we can be grateful for the early flowers of a benevolent winter. […]
All modern local currencies trace back to Ithaca Hours, the oldest, largest and most successful system of scrip in the U.S. Established in 1991 in Cornell University’s hometown, it was the spawn of a quintessential “granola community.” Alas, as is the way of many socially conscious movements, a schism occurred and founder Paul Glover’s ithacahours.com […]
SBN currently has around 40 members with an active website and frequent e-mails. Join by clicking on the Yahoo! group’s link on their website (search “Scottsville barter network”), though you don’t have to be a member to access the directory of goods and services (sustainablescottsville.com/barter). The group has an open meeting the first Tuesday of […]
Looming over the barter economy is the specter of tax liability. Caroline Wilson, enrolled agent and master tax advisor for H&R Block in Charlottesville, says, “Bartering for us from a tax standpoint is very simple: It’s income. Scrip currency is treated for tax purposes as though it were U.S. cash.” She says most people wouldn’t […]
Hear that giant sucking sound of greenbacks whooshing down voracious twin vortexes of grocery store and gas station? Consider getting rid of currency altogether and trading directly with your fellow citizens. What I found, taking a dip in the local barter scene, is a bit more complicated. Bartering can be a one-time event or a […]
More features: Local CSA farmsFrom Appalachia Star Farm to Roundabout Farm Trouble in paradiseControversy grows over Horse & Buggy Produce Eat well, do good. How can you go wrong? Local food, it’s no secret, is big around here. Farmers’ markets thrive. So does a lively restaurant scene and a string of grocery stores that cater […]
You drive up a nearly vertical narrow ribbon of black asphalt (“I hate this road in all weather”) to get to Bill Allard’s place in Afton. It snakes past stone retaining walls holding up tipsy perennial beds to the final vertiginous bend where the log house, built by previous owners in 1989, perches above woodland […]
Albemarle County straddles the foothills and the piedmont, from the soft blue mounds of Afton to the mellow plains east of Charlottesville. This tricky topography makes many different pockets to catch first frosts. City folk retain more heat than those of us in the country and can eke out a longer season, but sooner or […]