New Championship Disc Golf Course Sure to Be Huge Boon to Bedford

With five highly-rated courses currently in operation, Bedford County is already a standout spot for disc golf in the U.S.; with its sixth course now open, it is likely to garner attention worldwide.

The New London Tech Disc Golf course, which boasts a finalized design by five-time disc golf world champion Paul McBeth, is slated to open at the New London Business and Technology Center (NLBTC) this spring. Bedford County Parks & Recreation Operations Coordinator Kenny Palmer first saw potential for the course in 2014.

“In 2014, I became aware of the disc golf course potential at the NLBTC due to the utility easements and clearing on the property,” Palmer recalls. “I filed it away in the back of my mind because developing the trail system was the focus at that time. This past summer, I presented the Bedford County Economic Development Board and the Bedford Regional Water Authority with a plan for the course.” After some slight modifications and a finalized design by McBeth, work on the course began late last fall.

McBeth’s involvement in the course stemmed from an unlikely source: the pandemic.

Last spring, Palmer offered McBeth the opportunity to play a new course at Independence Park that was not yet completed. The Professional Disc Golf Assocation was encouraging its professionals not to play on public courses, and McBeth took the opportunity and played the then-private course. McBeth was so impressed by the course that he designed a pro layout for it, and he decided to do the same at NLBTC after Palmer took him on a tour of the property.

“Paul immediately recognized the potential for a top tier professional style course [at NLBTC] and was on board from there,” Palmer says. “It’s been a great experience working with Paul. He has disc golf insight well beyond anyone I’ve met.” According to Palmer, McBeth believes that the New London Tech Disc Golf Course “could be one of the top courses in the world.”

Several things set the new championship course apart from others in the area. “The long and relatively wide fairways through the woods with very little elevation change is unique and gives the course a European course–feel, according to Paul,” notes Palmer.

Additionally, this 18-hole course is more than 11,500 feet long with three par 5s, eight par 4s, and seven par 3s, whereas most Virginia courses are between 4,000 and 8,000 feet with mostly par 3s and 4s. The course also features an abundance of out-of-bounds, so, as Palmer says, “players must focus on both accuracy and distance.”

The course officially opened on Friday, April 9 after a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony. Members of the general public are able to play, but it is important to note that this is a professional level course. Luckily, an amateur level course option is in the works.

Palmer expects that Bedford County tourism, which is already on the rise, will skyrocket with the opening of this new course. People from around the state and country are already traveling to Bedford County just to play our courses, and this course is like “the cherry on top,” he says. “A Paul McBeth–designed championship course is going to cause an influx of professional players as well as fans from everywhere.

We already see it at Independence Park.”

“The most remarkable thing about the new disc golf course is that it checks three important boxes: it provides recreation, it boosts tourism, and it promotes quality of life,” says Bedford County EDA Chairman Jim Messier.

Business recruitment at NLBTC is also likely to surge due to not only an influx of outside visitors, but also to an increased focus on quality of life for employees.
“We believe it’s easier for businesses to attract great employees when quality of life in an area is present,” says Palmer.

“A business park with miles of multi-use trails and a world class disc golf course certainly offers prospective employees and employers ample opportunity to improve their quality of living. Playing a round of disc golf at lunch or after work is an opportunity to get outside, exercise, and have fun.”

Simplimatic Automation CFO Sara Orange agrees. Her company moved to NLBTC in 2015, and she says that she and other employees make use of the trails often and look forward to trying out the course as well. “The trails are great for walking, jogging or biking,” she notes. “Many employees—and their families—enjoy them during their lunch break, after work or on the weekends. We are very excited about this addition to the park and think it will provide another option for people to get outdoors and enjoy what the park has to offer.”

Palmer has high hopes for the New London Tech Disc Golf Course, and the community response to the project thus far has given him every reason to do so.

“The community support for the project has been incredible,” he says. “So many people have contacted me expressing thanks and support. I’d like to think that this course will be regarded as one of the best in the world and that that reputation will bring people from around the world to Bedford County. We’ll see.”

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Photos by Jenna Burling

Restaurant owner starts food pantry for those in need

La Villa on Timberlake Road has become more than just a beloved Italian restaurant over the last year. Nestled between extra seating and storage, customers may be able to spot shelves of groceries and nonperishables awaiting delivery to those in need as part of a community food bank started by owner Michael DiGiovanni.

As writer Tobi Walsh learned, though DiGiovanni isn’t a stranger to giving back to the greater Lynchburg community, the pantry has given him a new mission and purpose.

Tobi Walsh: Michael, first off, where did this idea for a food pantry come from?
Michael DiGiovanni: Last year, I found myself with not a lot to do [when the pandemic started] and I wanted to do something. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to do this, but I asked my mailman to bring me the names of families he knew were in need. He came back with 20 names and I started dropping off groceries on people’s doorsteps—no questions asked.

TW: Now, a year in, how many families do you help a week?
MD: [We help] 113 families ranging from Lynchburg to Bedford to Big Island. I want to do more and even go as far as Roanoke and Charlottesville in a year or two.

TW: Why a food bank?
MD: Growing up in Italy, we had a very typical family. My father worked and my mother stayed at home and cared for us. I remember there [were] times we didn’t have a lot. We would go to a charity for food, and they would make us feel ashamed for asking for help. I thought, if someone is doing this in God’s name, why would you make someone feel bad? God doesn’t make you feel ashamed. That’s why I don’t ask any questions or even a reason. We just drop everything off on the doorstep.

TW: How do you fund the pantry?
MD: For a while, we were spending money on advertising about the food bank, but we thought there was a better use for the money by buying supplies. We’ve had local police departments and sheriff’s offices donate items and even customers. If there’s a week when we need something specific and it isn’t donated, we’ll go out and buy it.

TW: Did you think you’d still be doing this a year later?
MD: No, I thought I would only do it for a few weeks. But I enjoy doing it—a lot more than I thought I would. It surprised me. I feel like this is what God wants me to do, like this is my purpose. I see it as a healing process for me. For a long time, I ran from God, and now I see why He has me here.

TW: If the community wants to get involved, how can they help?
MD: You can always drop off items at the restaurant. It doesn’t have to be a lot. It can even be a few cans. Every little bit helps.

Homegrown technology company CloudFit expands to historic downtown building

Carroll Moon, co-founder and chief technology officer at CloudFit, sits in Carter Glass’ former office, which is now his own office.

“It is the craziest thing in the world to me that I get to look out these windows every day,” Moon said. “What a blessing! Who gets to do this?”

In late 1978, the Carter Glass building, located at 863 Church St., was gifted to the city and became offices for the data processing and IT departments.

Therefore, all of the fiber in the city terminates near the building, which is important for a high-tech company such as CloudFit, which focuses on serving large companies and federal customers to help them use cloud computing and integrate it into the work they’re already doing with a data center. Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user.

CloudFit was founded in 2018 by a group of former Microsoft employees.

“We felt the adverse impact of this gap in the industry for years while at Microsoft,” Moon said. “Microsoft is the cloud provider, like the electrical company. Customers needed someone to take accountability for their mission critical applications end-to-end. We knew how to do it, and we felt that it needed to be done to push the industry forward.”

Moon grew up in Pittsylvania County and refers to Lynchburg as his home city. He says he’s had his eye on the iconic Carter Glass building even before he started CloudFit. The circa-1931 Art Deco building next to Monument Terrace sat vacant for 12 years before the company moved in at the end of 2020.

“Carter Glass had a significant impact on Lynchburg and the United States. In addition to being a senator and Secretary of Treasury, he was the author of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that changed how banking is done in America. What better place to innovate for the missing link in cloud adoption than in the Carter Glass building?” Moon said. “We also want to make a difference in our region, and there are few places more special than Monument Terrace. And, a lot of what we do is to serve the United States Department of Defense. What better place to love our veterans than at Monument Terrace?”

Moon said the “Cloud” is really just somebody else’s computer.

“Microsoft wants to be the world’s computer,” he said. “Before the Cloud everybody had their own data center, and all of their apps were configured to consume and live within that data center.”

The team at CloudFit helps customers decide which apps to move to the Cloud and how to get them there.

“And most importantly, we take accountability to run them once they’re there,” Moon said.

Moon said he and a few others left Microsoft with its blessing to go and start the company in March 2018. They set up in a section of the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance (LRBA).

Renovations to the building took about a year and Moon said the company could have spent probably half the money building a new office outside of the city.

“But if we talk about those important things that [are] making a positive impact on the city, the region and the people in the city and the region, it was worth it to us to be able to do this,” he said.

Glass, the 47th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Woodrow Wilson and a key creator of the Federal Reserve System, commissioned his son-in-law, Roanoke architect Robert McClanahan Allen, to design the landmark building for The News and The Daily Advance in 1930.

His company published two papers at the location for more than 40 years. The building stood empty in the 1970s after the newspaper moved to its current location off Lakeside Drive.

The renovation process was tedious as the company worked with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) to make sure it wasn’t demolishing significant architectural designs.

The door in Moon’s office is original and so are many of the walls, but it was important to Moon to blend the history of the building into a modern workspace.

“It looks like a Microsoft Office,” he said. “It happens to be a modern high-tech office but it happens to be in a National Historic Landmark.”
The building has a mix of open work spaces and private offices.

The historic mezzanine has reopened on the second floor and houses Art Deco columns and a large chandelier.

The partly open and enclosed rooftop overlooks downtown and has been redeveloped into an employee amenity space with a terrace and glass garage doors. With WiFi connections installed, employees are able to work from there as well, Moon said.

CloudFit still leases space at LRBA because it plans on soon filling up at Carter Glass. The company started with just Moon. It now has 160 employees spanning 25 states.
Moon attributes the growth to the mission of the company but also the way it treats customers.

“We treat customers like customers, I think that’s a big thing,” Moons said. “And we’re thankful to serve them. We want the accountability to be able to drive the outcome for the customer.”

CloudFit also is committed to giving back to its community, which is why it set up JobFit, a nonprofit set up to mentor students through IT career training, and KidFit, a nonprofit that coaches kids through athletics.

Matt Loflin, a senior director at CloudFit, moved from Knoxville to work in the Lynchburg CloudFit office last year.

He said the culture of the company has shifted over the last six months since moving out of LRBA and into Carter Glass. He said the building encompasses how the team operates.

“We stepped into having the first and third floor as being pretty much open space with people’s desks in there but also some dedicated conference rooms named after our past,” Loflin said. “One conference room is called Microsoft because a lot of us come from there. Another one is called Composable, which is a company we merged with for a couple of years and we have some of those members that are now part of the CloudFit family.”

On Fridays several members of the company walk outside to the base of Monument Terrace to hand out coffee and pastries to the veterans who stand on the sidewalk asking drivers to honk their horns to support troops.

Loflin said he enjoys doing work that makes changes for customers and serving people in the community.

“It’s all tying back into something you can tangibly feel locally here in Lynchburg,” he said.

When it comes to planning and executing a styled shoot, you have to be prepared to roll with the punches.

While we had planned to photograph a historic-meets-modern tablescape outdoors, mother nature decided otherwise. March 27 was looking clear as a bell up until the morning of our planned shoot; out of nowhere, it seemed, the forecast called for heavy rain and thunderstorms that afternoon/evening and that’s exactly how it played out.

Nevertheless, the Lynchburg Living team made it work, thanks to the extremely hospitable Mikael (Taste contributor) and Traci Blido who helped us carry out our vision in their sunroom and even let us forage for extra fresh greenery in their backyard.

Most of the props—from the plates to the old books to the linens—were rounded up from everyone’s houses. Art Director Chris Meligonis lead the way in assembling the table from the first piece of greenery to the last lighting of a candle.

Photographer Ashlee Glen traded her usual step ladder for a much taller version to help us capture the best overhead angles of the heritage-inspired recipes created by Mikael.

Meanwhile, Editor Shelley Basinger sat on the couch watching everyone work while drinking wine. (Kidding. She helped too. But there was one small wine break.)

Read the full feature, learn some local fare history and get a little hungry, starting on page 96!

2021 marks 10 years since our very first Lynchburg Restaurant Week, marking a decade of delicious dishes and great deals at diverse eateries across the region.

Even during the height of the pandemic last year, we kept this beloved community event going strong. Now, as restrictions are slowly lifted and many are returning to in-person dining, we hope you will join us to continue supporting Lynchburg’s thriving restaurant community June 12-19, 2021.

We are thrilled to showcase 13 local restaurants this year, each with its own handcrafted menu specifically for Lynchburg Restaurant Week.

Flip through the following pages to see what’s cooking and start planning out your stops today.

A Forest Home Renovation Sparkles Like the Sea

In a design world often filled with grays and neutrals, Rachele Novak sees her home in color. Though it didn’t begin that way when Novak purchased her house 12 years ago in a well-loved Forest neighborhood. The upsides of the home at the time included good bones and a decent layout, but dark cherry kitchen cabinets, brownish-green backsplash tile, and peachy taupe paint told the tale of a builder-grade home that had been sitting on the market for a year following the 2008 recession. Then there was the driveway, which slants sharply toward the garage.

“I was just driving around the neighborhood, and I drove by this house and I thought, ‘What idiot would buy that house with that crazy driveway?’” Novak recalled with a laugh. But the home did have one major selling point in her eyes. “It has a phenomenal private backyard with a creek and spectacular sunsets,” she said.

Today, both that “crazy driveway” and “phenomenal backyard” act as welcome mats for Novak, her two teenage children, and their 8-year-old Shih Tzu named Honey. Thanks to some grading and landscaping help from Southern Landscaping Group, the driveway is no longer the first thing visitors notice. Instead, the front door, painted in Ming Jade by Sherwin Williams, acts as a wink and a nod to the colorful surprise awaiting inside.

Stepping through the door, a shimmering flush mount light envelopes the foyer with glamour and warmth. To the right of the foyer is a lush “piano room” as Novak calls it, though the room no longer holds a piano. To the left, a dining space gleams bright with a chrome and crystal chandelier above the dining table, deep blue grasscloth on the walls, and large-scale art above the sideboard.

“Art for me is really interesting and calming,” Novak said. “The art in the dining room—I call it ‘The Asian Lady’—is actually a mosaic when you get up close to it. And that just fascinates me. I can just sit in there and look at that for a long time and that engages me.”

The art in the first two rooms of the home is a fitting preview to what the rest holds. Lush with texture, tile, and textiles, a calming green and blue colorway runs from the foyer to the back deck and beyond, paying homage to Novak’s childhood by the water in Virginia Beach. The finished product is the result of Novak’s instinct that the house could become something special, and her wisdom in bringing in expert help six years after she moved in.

An accountant for her family’s company, Velocity Construction, Novak knows what she likes but she also realized her limitations, so she hired interior designer Kate Avello to guide and bring her ideas to life.

“I just think she is phenomenal. I can’t say enough how well she picks up on what you want and what you like and pulls that into a vision, even though your vision might be in 15 different places,” Novak said. “She just had a whole vision and brought it all together and it was true to the house structurally.”

Because there were multiple design projects to tackle, they decided to start in the kitchen, removing a large arch that visually cluttered the area and adding a clean white column for structural support and an open air feel. Novak’s budget led to some creative innovations when it came to the original dark kitchen cabinets, with Avello leading the charge on how to cut meaningful corners while splurging on key details.

“Cabinets are super expensive—I have no idea why but they are—and we hated the cabinets so we knew we would paint them but Kate said you need to get new door fronts and drawers because the existing ones were so traditional,” Novak explained. “We found an online source for it and it was super cost efficient to do it that way, to not have to order entirely new base and upper cabinets. We just changed those out.”

Once the cabinets were refaced, the uppers were painted a crisp white, the lowers went light gray, and trim board was added to the room-facing side of the lowers to create the illusion of custom moulding. New cabinet pulls and quartz countertops were installed, a glittering sun-catcher style pendant was hung above the high-top eating bar, and a lucid blue tile backsplash was stacked vertically in modern rows. Novak also had a wall of custom wood cabinets made and installed just beyond the eating area for more pantry and storage space.

As the kitchen was transforming, so did the adjacent living room. Custom drapes and pillows by local seamstress Michelle Bonheim brought in patterns with Eastern world flair, and a teal crushed velvet ottoman, recovered by Phil’s upholstery in Lynchburg, added more color and texture sitting beneath a glass coffee table. But the home’s transformations didn’t end there.

“As we started to open things up, Kate said if you want to do anything in your master bath, this is the time because we have the ceiling open which exposed all the plumbing and I wanted to put in a heated tile floor. So that brought in my master bath. I’m still not sure how the powder room got brought into that, but it did!” Novak recalled.
The last minute choice to redo the powder room is still one of Novak’s favorite decisions. The geometric wallpaper alone is a show-stopper, boasting on its label that it is “on order to her Majesty the Queen.” That alone would have made many a homeowner happy but Avello and Novak weren’t finished and kicked the dazzle up a notch further by adding glimmering 3D glass tile above an aqua vessel sink and artwork by Novak’s 16-year-old daughter, Elle.

Upstairs, the master bath also underwent an overhaul with the installation of a large soaking tub, glass-enclosed shower, and sparkling wall tile reminiscent of mermaid gills above the double vanity. The master bedroom itself also received a modern makeover. Soft custom made drapes and linens by Bonheim line the room with luxury, while a wooden sleigh bed, intimate art by NYC artist Kristen Somody Whalen, and abundant mirrors create a calm but colorful atmosphere. The showpiece of the master bedroom, however, is undoubtedly the ceiling. Avello transformed the tray ceiling into a work of art by creating a pattern with moulding, topped with a crystal chandelier.
“My bedroom is my sanctuary. To me, it feels like a spa,” Novak said. “Sometimes I stare up at my ceiling because I love the geometry of it and the whole room is very soothing.”

Soothing is also how Novak describes her back yard, which she has a bird’s eye view of from her new deck. The Trex seating area, cable railing, and black spiral metal staircase lead down to a stone landscaped area with a firepit, all of which were created by Southern Landscaping Group.

“In the summer, everything is in bloom and grows up like a jungle and you feel like you are just in privacy, on your own,” Novak said.

From the emerald front door to the scenic backyard, Novak’s total home transformation took several years but these days, when she often works from home, she finds each detail well worth the investment.

“This whole house is my happy place,” she reflected. “I am just so comfortable here. I can relax and I feel safe. It’s just kind of everything to me.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DARYL CALFEE

Laura Beth Davidson never set out to be a professional photographer. With her newly purchased camera and a few online classes under her belt, she just wanted to have decent photos of her daughter without paying someone else to do it.

“I found this online community called Clickin Moms, which was designed to help moms take better pictures of their kids,” she joked. “But a lot of them end up being people who actually start taking pictures of other people’s kids.

It’s a funny cycle.”

Photo by Ashlee Glenn

That was 10 years ago. Now Davidson is a professional who does just that—however with three more daughters in tow. She and her husband, Andrew, call Lynchburg home after moving to Virginia a few years ago.

“I was always a creative person,” Davidson said. “[Photography] just ‘clicked’ as an outlet for my creativity. Having a cute toddler [at the time] as a subject made it so there was always something to take pictures of.”

As she began to expand her portfolio of her daughter, Jane, Davidson started with a fine art style, but quickly learned that she loved photojournalism.

“I loved shooting things that weren’t posed or directed,” she said. “My favorite clients have been the ones who just let me come into their homes and do this documentary approach, where I basically just spend a day with them at home or whatever they do normally and just fade into the background to capture the ‘real life,’ not just the perfect moments.”

Davidson decided to take that approach with her own family after reading about a social media trend called “100 Days of Summer,” where photographers would take a photo every day between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

“Sort of by accident, those first few photos I took [when I started in 2018] had all four of my girls in the frame,” she said. “I thought, ‘This would be a fun challenge.’ At that point, my twins were not quite two and the oldest was seven.”

Davidson said she loved the challenge, especially as a stay-at-home mom with four kids home during the summer.

It gave her a creative outlet and a task, but also a great collection of her girls.

“It’s very tricky not to repeat yourself with your photos,” Davidson said. “That’s what I love about it. I try to play a lot with reflections or shadows to try to make it clever so there’s a wide variety. When you have hundreds of photos, there are some that tend to duplicate, but the other side of that is that there are some that I’ve tried to recreate as an interesting marker of where they are each season.”

On the hard days where creativity doesn’t strike, Davidson said sometimes she’s not happy with the shot she does manage to get.

“But I did [get a shot] and the next day I’ll try to do better,” Davidson said. “That’s my goal.”

As someone who likes control, Davidson the project has helped her let go of her ideas of perfection.

“It makes photos where I really nail it so much better and they are special to me,” she said. “I’ve just had to accept that the light isn’t always going to be nice. I’m not always going to have great composition, but some days I will.”

The girls, for the most part, enjoy being part of the process, Davidson said. She says it helps that she doesn’t make them pose and that they put all the photos in a book at the end of the summer. She even got the opportunity to display a collection of her work titled, “Ordinary Time: A Visual Record of the In-Between” at the Academy Center of the Arts this March.

After focusing on the summer for the past few years, Davidson decided in 2020 she would focus on getting a picture every day: 365 days. Though the pandemic threw the Davidsons into a new season of life, documenting photos became even more important after Alice, one of the twins, was diagnosed with a Wilms tumor late last year.
“It’s the first time that one of them has experienced something that the other three girls haven’t,” Davidson said. “They have no idea what the experience has been like because of the pandemic. The girls haven’t been allowed to visit Alice when she’s in the hospital. We tell them what’s happening, but the only way they get to experience it is through the photos I take.”

Davidson hasn’t shied away from the harder days with Alice because she has always wanted her photos to be an honest look at life.
“It’s crappy,” she said. “She’s four and a half. She has a fantastic attitude and is just a happy kid. Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that this is a big deal for her. I don’t think she fully understands it. I didn’t have any idea of what it was going to look like as a parent, and I’ve even thought about what I’m going to do with these photos after it’s all over.”

Davidson said continuing to be raw during painful moments is still hard, but she always looks back to that first summer when she started.

“Just like how starting [the project] gave me something to focus on as a stay-at-home-mom with four small children, I feel like this helps me compartmentalize or process it in a way. [Alice] has to sit here and have this needle stuck in her and she’s not going to like it. There’s nothing I can do about it in that moment so instead of sitting there and feeling broken by it, I can use that energy to frame a photograph that is heart-wrenching, but it gives me a role to play. We’ve had to hand off so much to the doctors, it really gives me something to do when I can’t be Alice’s primary caregiver.”

Documenting Alice’s journey is something that Davidson believes will help all the sisters process better in the future.

“Whenever they’re ready to know the full extent of what she’s going through, I think they’ll be able to experience it through the photographs in a way they can’t now because of their age and COVID,” Davidson said. “It’s almost like making this time capsule.”

With treatment for Alice scheduled until July and the world slowly reopening, Davidson said setting some expectation of what she wants to shoot this year often leads to disappointment.

“I try to keep an open mind about it,” she said. “But I do want to continue to photograph the girls’ relationships with each other. I’ve also been taking pictures of Alice’s appearance as she loses her hair and weight, gets more dark circles under her eyes. I want to make sure to document that as well as she dips and as she comes back up because the prognosis is very good. But I want to document Alice coming out of this and her sisters processing it as well.”

As she looks back, Davidson believes she could have never started out as a documentary photographer—that transformation happened during motherhood.

“I think having four children [changed that],” she jokes. “It was more than I bargained for, and some days we’re doing the best we can. I think that’s mirrored in my photographs: choosing the things you can control—like where I’m standing in relation to the girls or having patience not to just go for the first shot. That’s part of the beauty of it. When you look back at the photos, it’s obvious I’m not telling them what to do. It is really like I’m not even there. That’s the goal.”

Bringing a Taste of Puerto Rico to the Hill City

With new owners and a slight change in name, The Latin Place, located downtown on Jefferson Street, is the place in Lynchburg to find authentic food and hospitality straight from Stephanie Domena and Luis Rodriguez’s home island of Puerto Rico.

“Our main goal is to keep sharing our culture,” Domena said. “We were born and raised in Puerto Rico, so we are bringing the dishes we were raised with.”

Domena and Rodriguez moved to the United States from Puerto Rico 13 and eight years ago, respectively. Before coming to Lynchburg, they lived near Tampa Bay, Florida, where they met and were married, with their children Genesis, 4, and Luis Jr., 2.

The couple planned to open a Puerto Rican food truck in Florida, before Domena’s mother connected them with Harry and Josephine Rivera, the previous owners of That Latin Place in the same location.

“We came to Lynchburg to visit, and we loved it,” Domena said. “It resembles a lot of our capital, San Juan, Puerto Rico.”

Since the restaurant’s official re-opening in mid-January, customers have flocked in to try the authentic Latin food and meet the couple.

Rodriguez loves making some of his traditional favorites, which he learned to cook from his grandmothers when he was growing up. The restaurant serves everything from tostones and empanadas, to Tripleta and “El Jibarito,” a plantain sandwich with choice of meat, lettuce, onions and drizzled with the Puerto Rican favorite mayo-ketchup.

Navigating the COVID-19 guidelines has been the primary obstacle for The Latin Place, which began serving only carry-out and recently opened a small amount of indoor seating.

“We just want to make the guests feel like family,” Rodriguez added. “In Puerto Rico, we are huggers.”

For Domena and Rodriguez, one of the joys of running the restaurant is meeting the many Hispanic customers that come in to get a taste of home.

“They come and they start [talking to us] in English, and then they say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m Hispanic or I’m Puerto Rican,’” Domena said. “Not all of them being Puerto Ricans, but a lot of them Hispanic and wanting to try something Latin. It’s been really great.”

The Latin Place is not only for Hispanics, however. Domena and Rodriguez hope their restaurant will be a hub for anyone looking for great food and wanting to learn more about Puerto Rican culture.

“I would like to make an environment where people can feel like they are back in Puerto Rico,” Rodriguez said. “And give the opportunity to those who haven’t traveled there, to know a little bit about it.”

“Even if they haven’t been,” Domena chimed in. “When they come visit us, they can say that they know a little bit of Puerto Rico because they came to see us.”
Words & Photos by Christian Weaner

The Latin Place
901 Jefferson St., Lynchburg
(434) 616-6414
Find on Facebook: @thelatinplace

You’re Welcome
It was a delight working with Lonnie Hoade and Paul Webster, of T.C. Trotter’s Moose Mix for Bloody Marys, on our March/April feature, “Lynchburg is for Bloody Mary Lovers.” Lonnie sent a message to Editor Shelley Basinger after seeing the article in print for the first time: “Oh my goodness Shelley. I just saw the article. It’s amazing. And you two (photographer Ashlee Glen) did a fantastic job on those pictures. Thank you so much!” – Lonnie Hoade

Private School Omission
We unintentionally left a local private school off of our listing in the Lynchburg Area Private School Guide included in the March/April issue. World Community Education Center is located in Bedford, offering a Montessori education to children in grades pre-K through 12th grade. Learn more about the school at worldcommunityedu.org.

Social Media Buzz
Our 2021 Idea House had some of you chatting online: “Swoon!” said Hill City Mom @heireysays on Instagram. “Exquisite,” wrote FUSE Electrical, LLC on one of our Facebook posts. It was even prettier in person! Check out the recap of our Idea House open house weekends on pages 23 and 24.

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.

Avoid These Five Pitfalls to See Success

I love our Virginia summer mornings when the fog lays low over the fields as a bright new sun stretches its sleepy arms. Usually, the heat of the previous day is subdued in the night, and the mornings are cool and comfortable. This is when I find myself most productive. I have a cup of coffee, take a few minutes to greet the day from the porch, and then stroll over to my favorite part of my yard: my vegetable garden.

Many people, myself included, find gardening to be a sort of soul-affirming ritual. It makes us feel closer to the earth and for me, closer to God. It slows down our thoughts and narrows our focus while we care for things small and tender. It gives us something to share with our friends and neighbors (and gardeners love to share) and it allows us to enjoy the fruits of our own hard work, directly.

A lot of people are hesitant to start a vegetable garden. It can seem a bit overwhelming. Still, 2020 saw a worldwide spike in home gardening as people developed pandemic-inspired anxieties about food security, and suddenly had the time to test out their green thumb. Growing your own food isn’t hard to do and it ensures healthy, accessible nutrition for you and your family, even in uncertain times.

I say, “it isn’t hard,” but also acknowledge that there are a slew of factors that cause new or amateur gardeners to get overwhelmed. Here are some pitfalls to avoid
so you won’t give up this season.

Pitfall One: Stretching yourself too thin
My eyes are sometimes bigger than my appetite. When you’re tending to everything from a veggie patch to fruit trees to gourd trellises to chickens, it can be a bit much. For your first season, set reasonable goals. You don’t need to go from zero to a five-acre farm. A 10×10 patch is a whopping 100 square feet, is manageable by one person, and can really pack a ton of produce. There’s nothing wrong with going smaller, either.

Also, beginners are better off starting in the spring when the weather is pleasant and the ground is warm and soft before attempting winter growing. You’ll want to pick a spot that gets plenty of sun—at least six hours a day. It also needs to be convenient. Make sure your hoses reach, you don’t have to hike to it, and it isn’t in the way of your other outdoor activities. These little inconveniences can cause a gardener to neglect their patch.

Pitfall Two: Not paying special attention to your soil
Good dirt covers a multitude of sins. It’s arguably the most critical component of successful gardening, so we’ll spend a minute here. It’s worth having a soil test done to find out what you’re lacking. You’ll want to do it as soon as possible, and you can pick these up for cheap at any garden center. You’ll send off a sample of your soil, and the lab will send you a report detailing your pH and nutrient levels. I know this sounds like it could get complicated, but it really isn’t.

There are many nutrients found in healthy soil, but the three that plants need the most are: nitrogen for healthy green leaves, phosphorous for strong roots, and potassium for overall plant hardiness and disease resistance. On garden fertilizers, you’ll see these nutrients identified as N (nitrogen) P (phosphorus) and K (potassium). When choosing a fertilizer, it’s a good rule of thumb to get a complete fertilizer with a higher middle number (phosphorous). Something in the 10-20-10 range is a good start. Organic additives such as compost are also great for adding nutrients to the soil.

Of course, in order for plants to have full access to these nutrients, proper pH is absolutely critical. Most garden plants prefer a pH range of six to seven. If your pH is low, you can bring it up by adding agricultural lime. If it’s high, you can lower it by adding aluminum sulfate or sulfur. You can find all of this at a garden center. Most soil tests even include advice for how to amend soil for certain issues.

Pitfall Three: Planting garden enemies together
First off, I highly recommend starting from seed. Read my article in our previous issue, (“Starting from Scratch,” March/April, available online) to learn all about seed starting. While it’s a little too late for that this year, there’s always next season.

Select your plants from a local garden store. You can find decent stock at department store garden centers, but your local stores will have a wider variety of stronger, healthier plants.

When it’s time to actually put your plants in the ground, remember this: Everyone likes to spend time with friends, and vegetables are no different. Some plants do better when grown near their companions, with whom they have symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationships.

On the contrary, some plants do not get along. For example, tomatoes love how basil repels the insects that threaten them. However, tomatoes do not appreciate the way broccoli competes for much needed nutrients in the soil. Meanwhile, zucchini and squash have a great relationship with beans, which replenish nitrogen for the hungry squash. But zucchini and squash should not be planted near pumpkins, which are unruly and can cross-pollinate, infecting the flavor of your squash.

Another thing to keep in mind is don’t plant tall plants at the “front” southern-facing side of your garden, where they will soak up all that long-day sun but overshade smaller plants in the back. I like to plant my taller plants on the sides of my garden (east and west) and leave the long center open for shorter plants.

Pitfall Four: Neglecting routine maintenance
It’s so important to visit your garden every day if you can. Your plants will thank you, and so will your mind and body. Remember, gardening is good for you!

When you check on your garden, make sure that you’re not letting weeds encroach on your veggies as they eat up vital soil nutrients and choke out your plants. Ensure that your plants get regular waterings, and when mother nature isn’t providing enough rain, get out the hose! Feed your plants if they start to look wilted or discolored. Side-dress with a little compost or a gentle water-soluble fertilizer.

Pitfall Five: Getting lazy during harvest time
Reap the rewards of your hard work! Fruits left on the plant can quickly grow too large, which causes them to lose flavor or be eaten up by wildlife. Also, regular harvesting is another component of routine maintenance, since it encourages new growth for most garden favorites.

The best part about learning to garden is that the first season is the toughest. But there is some kind of spiritually satisfying joy that comes from plucking a snap pea or a cherry tomato off the vine and snacking as you tend to errant weeds under the summer sun. After your first successful season, you’ll be hooked for life.
Be careful—gardening is addictive!