Erika Howsare, Author at C-VILLE Weekly

Rooted wisdom

If Kat Maier were a plant, you could say she has released her seeds all around Charlottesville. She’s been here since 2005, teaching and practicing herbalism, so at this point she has many former students and clients in and around town. Her Belmont home, also the site of her apothecary, classroom, and garden, is a […]

Erika Howsare | May 11, 2022

2021 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

A room with a Vu

Eating vegan is great and all, but where’s the flavor? Lots of folks find it hard to let go of meat and dairy—or, rather, their taste buds find it hard. Since she opened Vu Noodles in 2013, Julie Whitaker has been trying to make it easier. Her Vietnamese noodle shop, serving almost totally vegan meals, […]

Erika Howsare | August 25, 2021

2021 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

Wine, pennants, pastries, and more

Picture a pair of people. One’s jonesing for coffee. The other’s ready to unwind with a glass of malbec. Where do they go? The Workshop—a combo coffee shop/wine shop that’s part of The Wool Factory complex—wants to be the answer to that dilemma. It’s all things to all craving-afflicted people: a café serving locally roasted […]

Erika Howsare | August 25, 2021

Culture Living

Ancient skills: The Frontier Culture Museum threads the past into the present

When I find Mary Kate Claytor, she’s cross-legged on the grass under a catalpa tree, working a deer hide over the sharp point of an awl made from deer bone, trying to poke a hole. The hide is wet: It recently came out of a freezer, where it’s been waiting since it was taken from […]

Erika Howsare | November 11, 2020

Culture Living

All hail the Harrison: A historic apple takes root in central Virginia

Once upon a time, the apple was king in America. There were thousands of specialized varieties, home orchards were widespread, and cider was the most commonly available beverage. These days, we’re used to a very different reality: Most Americans are familiar only with a handful of commercial apple varieties, bred for shelf life and looks […]

Erika Howsare | September 9, 2020

News

The city’s newest wilderness: Right outside town, community forest will offer a wild escape

Just a quick drive from the most urban sections of Charlottesville is a unique wild environment—acres of boulder forests, sunny woodlands where blueberries grow, and a creek with architectural ruins along its banks. It’s all part of a 144-acre property called the Heyward Community Forest, snugged against the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. The city acquired the […]

Erika Howsare | July 29, 2020

C-BIZ

Tried and true: CIC volunteers translate programs for Eastern Europe

Since they moved to Bulgaria nearly four years ago, 5,000 miles have separated Nancy and Victor Schiller from their former home in Charlottesville. But some of their work in their adopted country looks remarkably similar to what they did as volunteers with the local Community Investment Collaborative. Through the America for Bulgaria Foundation, the couple […]

Erika Howsare | April 25, 2020

C-BIZ

Let’s get together: Tom Tom connects entrepreneurs to, well, everybody

Spring is coming, and so is the Tom Tom Summit & Festival. [UPDATE: Originally slated for April, Tom Tom has been rescheduled for September 21-27, 2020.] Every year, the event mixes music, community art projects, and a plethora of innovative business ideas. We caught up with Tom Tom’s executive director, Paul Beyer, for a look […]

Erika Howsare | April 25, 2020

Culture

Food that’s free: Plants to forage in this strangest spring

Years ago, in the spring, I was out for a run in a rural spot and encountered an elderly man who told me he was hunting “dryland cress”—an edible plant. I was enchanted; it was like he’d stepped from the pages of that 1973 Foxfire volume on my shelf, in which Appalachian old-timers shared secrets […]

Erika Howsare | April 25, 2020

Culture

Bluebird man: Ivy volunteer builds houses for a beloved species

Building a bluebird box is a good project for a hobbyist woodworker, but most people don’t tackle quite as many boxes at once as Clark Walter. At certain times of the year, Walter’s woodworking shop in Ivy is packed nearly to the rafters with the parts and pieces that make up his bluebird box assembly […]

Erika Howsare | March 4, 2020