A beginner’s guide to updating the heart of your home

So, you’re thinking of renovating your kitchen? Congratulations! Not only will you enjoy the benefits of a remodel, your home value will increase as well. And, in terms of home improvements, an updated kitchen offers one of the best “Return on Investments” according to most real estate agents (I should know since I’m married to one).

Starting the Process
Last fall, my own outdated and narrow galley-style kitchen was renovated, but it was quite the process to get to the finish line. I’m the first to admit that the gleaming, spacious—and oh, so spotless!—kitchens littering my Pinterest boards were far from practical or realistic. Not only were we limited by a fixed floor plan, we also had a set price point to follow.

Tracy Kearney, Certified Kitchen Designer®, owner and designer at Cornerstone Cabinets and Design, believes “an honest discussion about budget is the most important thing to start a project.” Doing so allows you to “narrow down the products and options that best fit,” she says.

Now, Pinterest, and similar sites like Houzz, do have their place. While you need to be realistic about the budget, MB Tile owner, Maurice Becerra, says, “Customers are definitely more educated today thanks to [these] websites,” which helps in clearly explaining your vision. He also says an experienced contractor can find a way to make your dream a reality while being mindful of your budget.

Finally, deciding what to change and the order of events “is crucial,” Kearney says. “Poor scheduling, lack of communication or poor relationships with subcontractors can add weeks to a renovation,” Kearney says. But, on the other hand, a well-managed process could be completed in less than two weeks if you solely focus on cabinets, countertops and backsplash.

Keep in mind that opting to change the footprint of your kitchen will significantly affect project cost and timeline. Sometimes that improvement is “critical to the function of the space and the entire project,” Kearney says, but for a standard home we’ll focus on the core elements in the order she recommends: cabinets first then countertops and finally backsplash and lighting.

Keep It All Together: The Cabinets
Cabinets present you with two primary choices: repaint or purchase new. The case for new is strong since repainting is so involved. Plus, it’s time consuming (for us it took about three weeks) and tedious (requiring the removal of all hardware and doors; stripping, sanding, repeat; priming, drying, repeat, etc.). However, our existing cabinets were custom built from very durable wood, so we opted to go the refresh route by painting.

For most homeowners, it will save more time and money to upgrade your cabinetry by purchasing new. Kearney suggests selecting cabinets “built in a manufacturing facility that uses the most durable paint and stain finishes.” A less expensive finish may have a lower upfront cost, Kearney says, but those cabinets tend to have shorter warranties and are less durable. To protect your cabinets from the oils on your hands, Kearney recommends “choosing a handle with at least one inch of space between the back of the handle and the cabinet.”

Another possible option would be to purchase new cabinet doors, hinges and hardware while keeping the base cabinetry the same; this approach can be more budget-conscious but still elevates the look in keeping with the countertops and other upgrades. Do keep in mind that low quality cabinet bases will not withstand the weight of a stone countertop over time, so be mindful of that before deciding.

Top It Off: The Counters
Of all of the kitchen decisions, lifestyle may play the largest role in this one. Page Hastings, owner of Spectrum Stone Designs LLC, says, “There are pros and cons with all [countertop] materials; it’s just a matter of understanding them and which will work best for your home.” Kearney says to consider “budget and lifestyle; how often do you cook, entertain? Do you have children?” These questions are critical because the care for marble, quartz and granite varies widely.

Hastings says it’s important to “understand the product you’re purchasing; marble is beautiful, but it may not be for everyone.” Indeed, as a mom to three kids, I learned our home was far from safe for the soft nature of marble, which Hastings says is more prone to be scratched, etched or stained. Quartz, on the other hand, is a stone that “replicates the marble look” but without the worry (so, if you guessed that we chose quartz, you would be right). Another popular and beautiful option is granite, which needs to be re-sealed every year or so.

Set It Off: The Backsplash
When looking at tile, Becerra recommends “tasteful pairings that enhance your countertop, not try to outdo it.” Once you’ve selected a countertop, you want your tile and grout to complement it. Becerra warns that choosing a “very trendy look will date the kitchen” and a low-quality or porous tile that stains easily “will age poorly and be a turnoff to potential buyers.”

One advantage of individual tiles over mesh mosaics is that they have fewer grout lines and typically show fewer stains, Becerra says. They also come with matching bullnose tiles, which create a nice ending “transition to a painted surface;” most mesh squares lack these.

In calculating cost, Becerra says the biggest factor “is the pattern, second is the materials, and lastly, the number of outlets, switches and windows in the kitchen.” The popular subway tile is generally a simple and easy installation, but laying those same tiles in a herringbone pattern would triple the time and double the waste, “thus greatly increasing the cost,” Becerra explains.

Brighten It Up: The Lights
Lifestyle also plays a role in choosing light fixtures. “Start with the layout of your room,” Lisa Moorefield, showroom consultant at Timberlake Lighting of Lynchburg, says. Evaluate your “ceiling heights, cabinet areas, work triangle, etc.” Consider how you use your kitchen, where shadows need to be eliminated and then, Moorefield says, where you want to find your statement piece—perhaps over the island or the dining table.

In my galley-style kitchen, the chandelier over the table and the pendant light over the undermount sink steal the show. But the recessed lights and under-cabinet lighting work with the white quartz to make the narrow space feel larger and brighter. Plenty of creative lighting options are on the market to enhance whatever design you have.

Finally, if you have to choose only one or two things to change, Moorefield says updating your lighting will make “the biggest impact with the least amount of money.”

Regardless of what direction you go with a kitchen remodel, Kearney has some simple advice: “For the purpose of resale or enjoyment, people are looking for more low-maintenance, simple and easy to use spaces.”

In many ways, Emaleigh Blankenship is just like all 9-year-old girls: she’s in third grade, she loves music, and she takes her dog out for walks. And like many other young girls, Emaleigh has a problem with people who stare, a sentiment that stemmed from her frustration with strangers staring at her through the years.

Her mother, Adrienne Blankenship, shares that same frustration and adds that “don’t stare, just ask” has become Emaleigh’s signature catchphrase. As Adrienne reminds us, “We’re all different in our own way; some you can see, and some you can’t.”

You see, it’s more than her golden hair and sparkling blue eyes that make Emaleigh stand out from the crowd—she has an extremely rare progressive overgrowth disorder known as CLOVES Syndrome.

Children who have CLOVES often have fatty tissue masses on their torsos, asymmetric growth, dilated veins, scoliosis or a tethered spinal cord, and other physical issues. In Emaleigh’s case, her thin, muscular upper body contrasts her feet and legs, which contain more fatty tissue. The syndrome occurs in utero when a part of a developing cell mutates, thus causing the cells in that specific body part to grow rapidly.

In 2009, Adrienne was pregnant with twins and attending prenatal checkups. She and her husband, Christopher, learned something wasn’t right with Emaleigh’s feet at the 18-week ultrasound. While twin brother Michael was unaffected, Emaleigh’s other symptoms emerged when the twins were born at 28 weeks. Initially, the Blankenshipsʼ medical team at UVA thought Emaleigh might have Proteus Syndrome, but after scouring the internet for conditions with similar symptoms, the family reached out to Boston Children’s Hospital (where CLOVES was first discovered). They headed to Boston that spring, and Emaleigh was officially diagnosed with CLOVES.

It wasn’t long before the bones in Emaleigh’s feet grew uncontrollably, necessitating several foot surgeries (including toe amputations at the tender age of 2). Because Emaleigh’s feet are two radically different sizes, it’s difficult to find shoes that both match and fit. Adrienne and Christopher have had to develop creative solutions for Emaleigh’s footwear; in the past, they’d use heat to stretch out different pairs of Crocs.

Right after her surgeries, Emaleigh was diagnosed with Wilms’ tumor, a rare kidney cancer that affects children and is more common in children with overgrowth syndromes. After four months of chemotherapy, doctors saw that one of the kidneys wasn’t responding to the treatment, which ultimately determined the need for a nephrectomy (kidney removal).

“We say remission right now because the cancer’s not active,” Adrienne clarifies. “It’s kind of a hold your breath and see what happens—which is what we have done with CLOVES Syndrome anyway. It never ends. You may be done with chemo, but you always have secondary effects, or you have late effects from chemo. This is a progressive syndrome—we manage symptoms as they arise with the knowledge that her legs will grow uncontrollably.”

With two working parents, two kids, three pets and extensive travel back and forth to Charlottesville, Cincinnati, and Boston for medical appointments and treatments, calling the Blankenship family busy is an extreme understatement. Still, they try to find the joy in their frequent trips north. For example, after growing weary of hotel stays, they purchased a camper to make a routine visit feel like more of a road trip experience. When time allows, they travel to other attractions along the way to break up the monotony.

Over the course of time, the family has had to adjust their lifestyle, but Adrienne explains that they each find strength in one another. “Over the years, we’ve just had to step back, refocus our priorities, and regroup as a family unit and know that our support is right here.”
She adds that Michael is a great support to his twin sister and has taken on the big brother role. “He knows it’s his job to help stand up for his sister!” she says.

As far as the future and prognosis, Adrienne says there just isn’t enough information yet. With that in mind, the Blankenships are on a mission to raise awareness. When the family first heard of CLOVES, there was very little information available. Fueled by their desire to provide other parents of CLOVES patients with access to better information and to help raise money for the costly travel and lodging to and from the Boston Children’s Hospital, the Blankenships set up “The CLOVES Foundation,” a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of CLOVES patients by funding Overgrowth and Vascular Anomaly research. The foundation is committed to raising public awareness, providing member resources, and establishing support networks within the medical and overgrowth communities.

Adrienne and Christopher are considering Emaleigh’s possible participation in a clinical trial for a new oral medication. If successful,
the medicine could reduce the fatty overgrowth and potentially eliminate the need for future surgeries. In order to take part, Emaleigh will need to make monthly visits to the hospital in Boston, causing her to miss Thursdays and Fridays from school every week for months on end.

The trial will also require regular bloodwork, MRIs, and other examinations, not to mention concerns about potential side effects from the new drug. To help reduce the need for regular travel and the number of school absences, Emaleigh’s doctor at UVA has offered to carry out the necessary testing and is currently reaching out to the medical team in Boston for approval.

Without a cure in sight, future surgeries will be required to maintain Emaleigh’s quality of life. “We really are trying to make sure that some of these decisions are hers … the things that aren’t life-threatening. We don’t want to push her in any direction,” Adrienne says. In the meantime, she has a simple request from the community—stop staring. “Having a daughter and knowing that her life is going to be harder—I just want people to be kind. We’re all working to overcome something.”

Learn more at CLOVESFOUNDATION.ORG.

When you see those teal banners or plaques around town at your favorite restaurants, shops and destinations, those businesses deserve the bragging rights! This year in our annual Best Of Lynchburg contest, we logged more than 203,000 votes on our website. The businesses and people who made it onto the following pages have earned a spot on our 2019 list.

So sit back, prop up your feet and flip through to see who is the best of the best, according to our loyal readers.

About a year after I moved to Lynchburg over a decade ago, I started attending Young Professionals of Central Virginia events to meet new people and get connected. One of those socials was at a place everyone called “The Academy.”

I hadn’t been to this downtown destination before but was intrigued—because the itinerary said we would be taken on a tour of the Academy’s “historic theater.” The Academy team had been working to raise money to restore the building and wanted us to see its potential.

After walking up a steep hill to Main Street, we entered the old theater through some rundown, dilapidated double doors. To be honest, I wasn’t seeing much potential.

Once inside, we were told to be careful and watch our step. It was dark and cold, with piles of rubble in the corners and cobwebs in the rafters. But I’ll use the words of Academy executive director Geoff Kershner, who described his first encounter with the unrestored Academy on page 72 in our feature story—it was “surreal.” Once I started looking closely (at the architecture and the faded, intricate plaster work) and started listening closely (to our guide who spoke of this turn-of-the-century theater back in its glory days), I started to get it.

There was something absolutely exquisite about that space—even in disrepair.

Fast forward to late 2018 and I’m entering those double doors again for a media tour of the historic Academy of Music Theatre as it was about to reopen for the first time since the late ’50s. Now, those double doors sit under illuminated marquee lights.

When we are led into the theater, it’s hard to imagine this gorgeous performing arts center is the same gutted space I saw 10 years ago.

The rows of classy red seats lead your eye to the stage with its two-story red curtain, framed with an ornate plaster border. Looking out from the stage, no detail was left unnoticed, all the way up to the ceiling that accommodates two balconies. It took about 60 years but a local effort finally paid off. Lynchburg’s landmark theater is back.

Our January/February issue is all about celebrating the “Best Of” Lynchburg and also looking forward—and with the completion of projects such as this in our beloved city, I believe anything is possible. The restored Academy of Music Theatre follows on the heels of the revival of the Virginian Hotel on Church Street. These are big examples, but countless efforts to restore once-thriving buildings and homes are underway everywhere you turn. Instead of throwing in the towel and starting from scratch, our community is rallying around this idea that our past is worth saving.

What a fabulous time it is to be living in Lynchburg.

Shelley Basinger, Managing Editor
Shelley@lynchburgmag.com

The intermission is over, and The historic Academy of Music’s story picks up where it left off more than 60 years ago.

The first time Clifton Potter saw a woman sawed in half was at Lynchburg’s Academy of Music. As a child in the 1940s and ’50s, Potter spent many Saturdays there watching western movies on the silver screen. It was there, too, that he witnessed the magical marvel.

“I remember seeing a magician,” Potter, a longtime history professor at University of Lynchburg, told the Lynchburg News & Advance in 2015. “The first time I ever saw anyone sawed in half was at the Academy, which was kind of wonderful.”

In 1958, the Academy closed its doors and the magic ended. Urban sprawl and the popularity of television spelled the end for the Academy and other downtown theaters—the Paramount, Isis, Warner and a half-dozen others.

But in December of 2018, after 60 years, the marquee lights were illuminated again. Reborn as part of the Academy Center of the Arts, the Beaux-Arts–style theater was once again ready for magic.

The Beginning
The Academy of Music first opened its doors on February 1, 1905, on the site of an old tobacco warehouse at the corner of Main and Sixth streets.

It was largely the brainchild of Richard Apperson, president of a local streetcar and electricity company. He and about two dozen business partners purchased the old warehouse and within seven months, on February 1, 1905, the Academy of Music was open for business.
Lynchburg’s morning newspaper, The News, reported that about 800 people attended the opening night festivities, which included the musical comedy “The Show Girl,” starring vaudeville actress Stella Mayhew.

In a front-page article the following morning, The News called it an “auspicious occasion” attended by “a notable and representative assemblage of Lynchburg people.” Those who attended were not only “notable,” but reasonably affluent. The Baltimore Sun reported that those attending the opening night show paid $10 a seat—more than $280 today.

‘Prettiest in the entire South’
Designed by local architects Frye & Chesterman, the Academy of Music was described by The News as “the prettiest opera house in the State and among the prettiest in the entire South.”

According to The News, the Academy cost $45,000 to build—almost $1.3 million today. “Nothing has been spared to make the play-house a dream of beauty on the inside, while the exterior compares favorably with any other theatre in the State,” the paper reported, adding, “It must be seen to be appreciated.”

The News praised the theater for its “comfortable” seating and said there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. Fire safety, a common concern at a time when the words “theater” and “fire” graced many a newspaper headline, also was addressed.

“The stage is equipped with an asbestos curtain, which will be in use at all times, except when the other scenery is set for use during a play,” The News reported. “This curtain is hung on wires and cables, and will be so that it can be lowered instantly, should there be an occasion to protect the audience from a fire among the stage settings.

“There are fifteen exits in all portions of the main building, through which a large audience could quickly empty itself in cases of fire or panic. The balcony and gallery have ready access to fire escapes on both sides of the structure.”

The Fire
On April 20, 1911, a fire broke out at the Academy, presumably in resident manager Corbin Shield’s apartment. Under the headline, “Narrow Escapes in Theatre Fire,” the Richmond Times Dispatch reported that the Academy was “destroyed by fire … with a loss of $50,000.”

The writer went on to say that Shield and his family safely “made their escape through dense smoke and in scanty attire.” Two others weren’t so lucky.
While fighting the fire, a “hoseman” with Company No. 1 was “overcome with smoke and had to be carried from the building by two fellow firemen.”
While surveying the damage, Arthur T. Powell, the Academy’s vice president, fell through the floor, “dropping twenty feet into burned and twisted debris.” Powell suffered multiple fractures and a bruised hip, but at press time was expected to recover.

After the fire, some debated about whether to rebuild the Academy. The Times Dispatch reported in July of 1911 that rebuilding was “a question that is uppermost in the mind of the theatre-goer of the city, but at present there seems to be no way to restore the playhouse.”

But rebuild they did, thanks again to determined local investors, among them prominent merchant Charles Guggenheimer. This time, architect C.K. Howell, who designed theaters all over the South in the early 1900s, transformed the Academy into a Beaux-Arts showplace.
It reopened in December of 1912.

Ms. Boonie
In its early days, the Academy hosted an A-list of performers, among them concert violinist Efrem Zimbalist Sr., actors Douglas Fairbanks and Ethel Barrymore, cowboy-humorist Will Rogers, and W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues.”

It presented vaudeville shows and lectures, and Floyd Ward, who taught generations of Lynchburg children to dance, held her annual revues at the Academy. The theater also screened silent movies and, starting in the late 1920s, “talkies.”

Because the Academy operated at the height of the Jim Crow era, though, African Americans had to enjoy these events from nearly atop the rafters. African Americans entered through a side door and sat in a segregated balcony.

It was from a tiny booth outside this balcony that a woman named Lottie Payne Stratton made Saturday mornings magical for many of Lynchburg’s African American children.

For 30 years, Stratton, an African American herself, was the cashier for the segregated balcony. Somewhere along the way, she started letting children in for free. Stratton, who the neighborhood kids called “Ms. Boonie,” didn’t have children of her own.

Perhaps it was kindness and a mothering instinct that led her to smuggle children into the theater. Perhaps it was civil disobedience. Regardless of the reason, when restoration of the Academy’s historic theater began in earnest a few years ago, Stratton’s ticket booth was preserved as a sacred space.

“Everyone knew that it was a special part of the Academy’s history,” lead architect Amanda Adams, of local architecture firm CJMW, said. “It’s rare for it to be intact. Most of that [sort of thing] disappears as theaters evolve.”

The Academy’s opening week of events celebrated the full integration of the theater. It started with a sold-out concert, featuring gospel legend Mavis Staples, blues artist Devon Gilfillian, and the Diamond Hill Baptist Church choirs. It concluded with a black-tie affair with Wynton Marsalis.

Also, awards also were given to people who had contributed to Lynchburg’s art and culture scene. One was named for Stratton, who passed away in 1965.

The Phoenix
After the theater closed its doors in 1958, there were numerous attempts to save it. In the 1960s, the Friends of the Academy of Music saved it from the wrecking ball.

In 1969, it became the first structure in Lynchburg to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hope was that the designation would make the Academy eligible for federal grants and lead to its restoration.

Still, it remained dormant.

In the 1990s, after a windstorm destroyed the theater’s fly tower, there was another surge of activity. Geoff Kershner, executive director of the Academy Center of the Arts since 2015, remembers visiting the Academy with his father around that time.

“My father was involved in some of the early efforts to save the theater,” Kershner said. “He’d gone there to see the theater with a couple of other community members. He took me along because he thought it would be interesting to see.

“I remember going in with him. I don’t remember how old I was. We went in with flashlights. It’s a little surreal. As a kid, it was interesting and clearly stayed in my memory, but I had no clue as to how much it would be attached to my adult life.”

In the early 2000s, after what remained of the Academy of Music organization combined with Lynchburg’s Fine Arts Center, a restoration effort started to gain momentum. “There was a leadership team, community leaders and philanthropists who had really, behind the scenes, made a decision to push this rock up the hill,” Kershner said.

“They committed a fairly large amount of money, but that triggered the city having a belief that it was worth investing city funds as well. Then the city came in, along with the Economic Development Authority. … That was really a tipping point, along with a grassroots effort.”

When the Academy restoration was complete, Potter was one of the first people to see it. “[We] went down for the soft opening for those of us who had contributed, and dreams really do come true,” he said.

“It’s just amazing, more beautiful than I remembered it. It was like going into a theater in Vienna. It’s very Beaux-Arts. It’s like stepping back into 1912. It’s gorgeous. It’s just amazing…

Dreams really do come true.”

Giving Back Awards
The Giving Back Awards/Community Impact Appreciation reception is our way of saying “thank you” to a variety of local nonprofits and businesses that make our region a better place to live. Likewise, we received many “thank you” notes via email and on social media following the event on Nov. 13.

Becky Tweedy with Meals on Wheels of Greater Lynchburg said: “Thank you again for hosting such a lovely event last night! Raising awareness of the nonprofits and their missions in our community is a wonderful goal, and what a fun way to go about it!”
Mike Weston with The Journey said: “Thanks again for inviting us to be a part of last night’s awards event. All of us here at The Journey appreciate what you and Lynchburg Living do for our community.”
See more photos from the reception on page 23!

Top Teachers Search
A panel of judges is sifting through dozens of nominations to determine our 2019 Top Teachers. We received close to 100 recommendations from the community. See who the panel selected in the March/April issue of Lynchburg Living!

Readers Cause Restocking
After our November/December issue hit stands, many of you read about our artist profile Sarah Raessler then went straight to Givens Books to buy a book of her work.

Her mother Deborah wrote to us: “We are receiving many positive comments throughout the community, and we even had to take more books to Givens. Our hats are off to you, not only for what you have done for Sarah, but for what you do to highlight so many good things about living in Lynchburg!”

We Want To hear From You!

Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

The image flashed before my eyes for only a split second. But once seen, it cannot be unseen. Despite years of trying, I cannot shake my horror at realizing I’d foolishly delivered a lovely little chickadee on a silver platter for my cat’s supper. It happened like this: My friend Joyce Coleman is a brilliant bird photographer. Awed by her masterful bird photos, I sought her advice on tricks of the trade. She shared that she placed her bird feeders outside the window by her office desk and kept her camera ready for when a flicker came into her peripheral vision. The birds, emboldened by her benign presence behind glass, didn’t flutter away when she took up her camera to snap shots.

Duly impressed and in haste to follow suit, I didn’t account for my desk being on the front of the house, the “high side” of our property (house placement that Hill City folks understand). Since these windows were our closest to the ground, a six-foot pole to hold the bird feeder put it at the right height for photos. And also perfectly situated for Shadow, our athletic young farm cat, to take advantage of another failure in my planning. The feeder pole was nestled in mature boxwoods, which gave Shadow excellent cover for easy hunting at the feeder.

As a farm-toughened old gal who’s witnessed firsthand how the food chain works, I’m not naïve about predator-prey relationships and don’t swoon when nature takes its course.

But when I saw Shadow’s fully extended claws clinging on each side of the feeder and his fangs sink into that unsuspecting little bird, my heart stopped. I knew this wasn’t just nature at work; the poor bird didn’t have a chance. I’d set him up for the kill. Joyce kindly comforted me with the reminder that this is what cats are wired to do, but still…

Placement of Feeders
So, lesson #1 about creating a wild bird sanctuary is to attract them with sensibly placed feeders. Needless to say, I immediately moved that front yard feeder to a more cat-proof location and placed it on a longer pole. I found an excellent pole system with extenders at Wild Birds Unlimited (wbu.com), and I moved the feeders around the yard several times before deciding on just the right spot.

Through trial and error, I ruled out under the large old oak tree with branches that hung over the deck and terrace. While feeders at the edge of the terrace provided fine viewing from both outdoor and indoor vantage points, the oak branches that hung high over the terrace to provide lovely summer shade also served as an appealing perch/staging area for birds queued up for the feeders. The problem? Bird droppings on our seating/eating area.

After other attempts with various shortfalls, I finally found the ideal home for our feeders to launch a successful wild bird sanctuary that co-existed peacefully and safely with our four cats—the one gymnast and three others considerably less aggressive and agile. The location was the back yard near sunroom windows for pleasurable viewing. This required considerable pole extension/bracing, which made the feeders safe from predators—cats and others—but it put them out of reach from the ground for the required twice-daily replenishment during the winter “busy season.”

Placing the poles and feeders close to windows was the answer.

With his long reach, Tim got the job of opening the windows, removing empty feeders from their poles, and carrying them about eight feet to the deck for refilling. And Shadow got the job of watching the now-safe birds through the sunroom windows.
We called it his “kitty TV.”

Squirrels were never a problem for our bird feeders because squirrels didn’t venture from the plentiful woods surrounding the cow pastures that encircled our farm house and yard. If you want a bird sanctuary but battle squirrels snatching the bird seed, squirrel-proof locations and feeders (such as those that close access to contents when the weight of squirrels lands on the base) are necessary.

Bears are another matter altogether, and conventional wisdom is to remove your bird feeders if bears are an issue in your neighborhood.

Shelter
As with all creatures, birds need shelter for resting and nesting, as well as for safe access to food. I attribute our success in creating a wild bird sanctuary largely to the great feeding location we finally established after my front-yard fiasco. Our eventual—and permanent—location of feeders was within a few feet of a mature native viburnum bush that provided an ideal perch for birds to queue up for access to the feeders. Cardinals, finches, red-winged blackbirds, tufted titmouses (or is it titmice?), juncos, blue jays, house wrens, sparrows, chickadees, towhees, red-headed woodpeckers, and many more all flocked to the upper thicket of viburnum twigs to wait their turn.

Dozens of birds of all varieties somehow worked out the order of the queue and rarely squabbled over their place in line. Well, occasionally a bossy blue jay or red-winged blackbird would flex his muscle and shoo smaller birds away, but it was a remarkably orderly procession of birds all day long, especially in extreme cold or snow. The viburnum filled with birds lined up for a feeding frenzy was a sure predictor of wintry weather! And is there anything more gorgeous than a vibrant male cardinal (or a flock of them) on a snowy day?

Years of bird watching confirmed that this native viburnum offered respite and release from fear of predators that were too heavy to ascend to the bird queue on the twiggy level. And being able to hide in a thicket of twigs kept bully birds from zooming in and intimidating smaller, less confrontational birds.

Our old-fashioned volunteer native red cedars along the backyard fence line, a sure sign of old farmland, provided a perfect nesting/breeding place for many of our wild birds. Other wild birds preferred our yard oaks, magnolias, and other trees, while bluebirds enjoyed nesting, laying eggs, and nurturing their young until they fledged in human-crafted bluebird boxes. Our bluebird boxes on six-foot poles were also challenged by our Shadow’s jumping skills, but we foiled his attempts at levitation to raid the nests with numerous tricks that mostly involved creating an unreceptive landing platform.

Food and Water
Your bird food and feeders will, of course, reflect your preferences for which birds you attract. We maintained five feeders: Two were general feeders primarily loaded with store-bought sunflower seeds (with black oil sunflower seeds most valuable in winter) or a general high-quality birdseed mixture (carefully staying away from less nutritious feeds with high “filler” content). We also added suet in blocks affixed to the ends of one of the feeders to fuel the birds during hard winter.

To truly invite birds into your yard, fill your gardens with native plants that offer birds their flower nectar, berries, and seeds, as well as host insects, for feeding them as designed in nature. Grow your own native sunflowers, asters, purple cornflowers, liatris, hyssops, and many more. One of my all-time favorites is winterberries, since we could enjoy our share for holiday decorating and leave the rest to the birds who’ll swoop in for a feast when the berries are past their toxic stage and perfectly ripe.

Our two finch feeders offered Niger seed that was well-appreciated by our finches when nothing in our garden was of greater appeal. If natural seeds are available, such as native rudbeckia (black-eyed Susans), finches will flock to them first and abandon the feeders for weeks, returning only after the garden supply is exhausted. After all, natural/local/native seeds were what they survived on before we “birders” started providing store-bought supplements. Native seeds continue to remain their preference, so it’s important to leave them when tidying up and putting the garden to bed for winter.

My fifth feeder was for hummingbirds. After buying a commercially prepared red sugar solution in my early birding years, I learned that the solution didn’t have to be red to attract them.

So we switched to creating our own sugar water, which worked just fine and, as we learned later, is safer. Again, as with finches and Niger seed, hummingbirds will enjoy your offering of sugar water, but they prefer nature’s own nectar when they can get it—and it’s better suited to meeting their nutritional needs.

Hummingbirds especially like garden plants with trumpet shaped flowers, such as penstemon, trumpet vine, beebalm, cardinal flower, red columbine, trumpet honeysuckle, and more. Most hummingbirds migrate south during our winters, but we can enjoy them during their times with us and be prepared to offer them a garden feast supplemented by sugar water while they grace us with their presence.

We all know water is essential to life for birds as well as humans, so if you want to sustain your bird habitat, a consistent source of fresh water is necessary. At our farm/bird sanctuary, we had a pond not too far from our yard and kept a pedestal birdbath filled with water in the backyard. Plus we had water bowls for our outdoor cats and dogs that were safely shared with birds whenever our feline and canine pets were napping, enjoying a sojourn indoors, or otherwise not lurking about in a threatening manner. Birds are very clever and quick at taking advantage of these opportunities for both garden foraging and water.

Everything in Its Season
I’m amazed at how easy it is to attract birds and create a thriving wild bird habitat if you just take the time to observe their behavior and create a habitat that consistently meets their needs. My years at the farm taught me how to slow down and detach from everyday cares to find peace, joy, exhilaration, and wisdom in nature and the fascinating world of birds.

One important lesson learned from our gardens and creating a bird sanctuary is that everything has its season, and every season inevitably gives way to the next. We know this in our heads from childhood, but it doesn’t truly sink into our hearts and souls until we’ve lived it ourselves. My 22-year season for intensive gardening and building a bird habitat closed in 2016 when Tim and I moved from our beloved farm into a condo in Lynchburg.

And now my four-year-plus season for writing garden stories and sharing photos with Lynchburg Living is closing with this 25th and final story. How fitting that I’m writing it on a beautiful snowy day since snow days were always my time at the farm to watch serenely the majestic parade of birds at our feeders and marvel at the spirited red cardinals against the hushed whiteness.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to share my love of gardens, flowers, birds, conservation, nature, and of building community through gardening. I’m deeply grateful to Lynchburg Living for honoring me by publishing my garden stories in each of the past 25 issues. And I thank you, fellow garden-loving readers, for your encouragement and support, advice and photos. I hope you’ve taken away tidbits of knowledge and wisdom, a deeper understanding of our shared place in the natural world, and inspiration.

My next season will be devoting more time to caring for my beloved Tim and, when time permits, picking up my paint brushes—another love of my life from a previous season over 30 years ago.

These images are a part of Eye for Ebony, a collection of African American stock photos created by Lynchburg entrepreneur LaShonda Delivuk. As the owner of a marketing business, she saw a need for more diversity in stock photos and took action. Since creating Eye for Ebony, her photos have been viewed over 30 million times, with this photo of a mother and daughter becoming a global favorite.

Learn more at eyeforebony.com.

Photos by LaShonda Delivuk