The “barkitecture” trend is inspiring homeowners and designers to create pet-friendly kitchen and bath designs and more

Gone are the days when the most man’s best friend could hope for in the way of shelter was a simple canine-sized box with a roof and an open door in the backyard. While many dog parents would argue their pups consider every square inch of their human homes to be their own personal playgrounds, others are going the extra mile with dog-friendly remodels and special features.

Some may protest that our obsession with providing our pets with every imaginable creature comfort has become, well, the hair that wags the dog. But, to be fair, these “barkitecture” designs are often meant to make our human lives easier, cleaner, and safer as much as they are intended to please our pups—because, let’s face it, dogs are deliriously happy just to be around us. The term barkitecture began as a way to describe tricked-out dog houses but has come to refer to a variety of Fido-friendly upgrades, with kitchen and mudroom designs among the most common.

“Today, homeowners embracing barkitecture customize their pet-friendly homes with aesthetically pleasing and luxury features like hidden food storage and watering stations, as well as places to shower and groom their pets,” noted a press release from Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery. “Mudrooms specifically designed for families’ best friends are becoming increasingly popular additions, as they make the care and feeding of animals more effortless and convenient. Additionally, they keep the main living spaces clean and free of pet hair.”

A dramatic uptick in pet ownership during the pandemic may have contributed to the barkitecture trend as people spent more time in their homes and perhaps developed a deeper appreciation for the value pets can add to our lives. 

On the following pages are some specific tips provided by Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery for getting in on the trend.

Add a dog wash station in the mudroom.

If you have a mudroom, it’s the perfect place to add a dog wash station. Install a handheld showerhead and use a tiled area with a drain to make it easy to clean up muddy paws and allow your dog to shake off fur. This station near the home’s entrance will make it quick and easy for everyone to clean up before coming in.

Install a hidden food and watering station.

Hide or recess food storage compartments within kitchen cabinetry. Many of these built-in feeding stations are usually incorporated into the center island and creatively incorporate a pot-filler faucet at their pet’s water bowl level. While this certainly is more aesthetically pleasing, removing the food and water bowls from the floor also thwarts the danger of tripping over them.

Homeowners who serve fresh foods or subscribe to a food delivery service requiring refrigeration for their pets can install an under-counter refrigerator dedicated to Fido’s culinary delights.

Barkitecture in the kitchen and bath can be seen as a way to add luxury and aesthetics to a pet-friendly home. These areas are popular additions for homeowners with pets because they provide a space for feeding, grooming, and storing food. Most importantly, they keep the main living spaces clean and free of pet hair.

Learn more at FergusonShowrooms.com.     

Tips for Navigating Well-Loved Homes with Character

Lynchburg and the surrounding areas are full of timeworn homes full of potential. Whether it’s a colossal Victorian that neighbors a well-known historic street or a 19th-century farmhouse that’s been clearly well-loved and weathered, there are ways to unlock the potential of these old homes and bring them into the modern world—without sacrificing their charm.

Tackle the Big Needs First
If you’re in the process of renovating, restoring, or even maintaining an older home, it’s wise to start slow and truly look at the bigger picture. For example, if the old metal roof on the home is showing signs of wear or is already leaking, prioritize those crucial repairs first before moving on to smaller projects. It’s important to catch those issues while they’re smaller problems first, rather than waiting and potentially running into a larger problem that could cause wide-scale damage.

Once the bigger, immediate needs are taken care of, approach the home systematically by discovering the resolving problems one by one. Walk room by room with your phone’s Notes app or just with pen and paper and make note of every issue that you see. Is plaster cracking in the guest bedroom? Is the toilet randomly running throughout the day? Is there a light fixture that isn’t working? Are the wooden floorboards on your porch showing signs of rot or wear? Do all of the windows open with ease or do the old pulley systems need to be replaced?

Invest in Experts
Older homes and historic buildings are entirely different from new constructions—even the materials originally used are nowhere to be found in modern constructions today. For the most part, that is a positive. There’s a reason why people lament, “They don’t make them like they used to,” when referring to older buildings. The wood was infinitely stronger, and the metal or slate roofing materials used were meant to withstand the test of time—and they have.

However, it’s completely normal to feel intimidated by your older home. You want to do its “good, old bones” justice so it continues to last.

As you take time to explore the history of your home and identify the character-defining features that you want to keep, you can work with experts that you trust to keep those elements intact while updating any technology or infrastructure around them. For example, if your 100-year-old home has the original wavy glass in its windows, those may be elements that you want to keep—because they really don’t make them like they used to in that regard. However, those windows are often not as energy efficient, or they may need components replaced so they continue to raise and lower. Or, if you are renovating a midcentury that has loads of built-in cabinets but some of the doors no longer close the way that they should, an expert will help you by sourcing era-appropriate hardware that will restore them to their original glory.

If you happen to be more handy and want to tackle the work on your own, hire an expert—either an interior designer or a construction consultant—who has worked with homes from your era who will help you identify the special features in your home and point you toward the right direction for repairing them.

Set Expectations
The average homeowner doesn’t have an HGTV-level renovation budget (but one can dream!), so when you’re planning your renovation plan, it’s important to set realistic estimates alongside each item. Whether you’re hiring an expert or handling the renovations on your own, it’s always wise to add 20% to your estimated total in case of a worst-case scenario. For example, if the construction team starts replacing the floorboards on your porch and notices termite damage on the support beams that they originally assumed were stable, those will be additional costs that you will incur.

As you’re making your renovation plan, consider what is an immediate need (like fixing the leaking roof), an important need, or simply something that is nice to have, and then prioritize your budget from there. Save the “nice to haves” for anything that is left over in the budget after the rest of the work is done.

And keep an eye out for any local or state government preservation incentives like tax credits that your property may qualify for!

Know When You Can Modernize
If your home still has its original coal-burning fireplaces, that doesn’t mean you have to rely on them to heat your home. You also don’t have to furnish your home in era-specific furniture that may not bring your joy or comfort.

The goal with renovating or restoring an older home should be about preserving the elements in your home that can adapt to modern needs. For example, if your home has the original tongue-and-groove longboard wood floors, don’t replace them with modern flooring if they’re still in good shape and can be restored. Or if your home has high ceilings with the original crown molding, factor its restoration into your budget rather than replacing it with newer materials.

Putting the time, energy, and money into salvaging these defining features will still maintain the character and history of your home without sacrificing modern conveniences. As you bring in those modern touches, like an updated electrical system or a new heating and cooling system, you can still be thoughtful of where they’re placed. New air conditioning returns may be carefully and inconspicuously placed so they don’t draw attention. Furniture can be laid out in a way that works with the home’s original floor plan but still works with how you live day-to-day.

Finally, focus on craft and quality as much as you can. The original builders of your home were experts with a deep knowledge of brick, wood, and plaster, so it’s important to focus on bringing in materials that maintain the same level of craftsmanship.  

Take Your Green Thumb to New Heights with Vertical Gardens

The urge to cultivate is an innate human quality, and it always has been. No matter where we put down roots—from coast to desert, rural to urban—people always find a way to enhance their environment with living plants. For many, vertical gardening is a way to bring a little green energy into small spaces. The best part: Vertical gardening can often be both aesthetically pleasing, and functional!

Many credit the vertical gardening approach we recognize today to a man named Stanley Hart White, who patented his “Botanical Bricks” in 1938. As a landscape architect, he designed modular, vertical gardening blocks that could be quickly stacked, rearranged, and moved for displays and events. They were great for gardening indoors and outdoors, especially in small spaces.

However, we have been growing upward for centuries, and it’s likely that White took his inspiration from the landscape architects of the ancient world. Some of the earliest known vertical gardens come from about 3,000 B.C., when the vineyards of ancient Greece were planted to produce both a plentiful yield of grapes, but also shade for gathering places. The vines grew from boxes and were trained to climb trellises and arches. This produced shelter from the rain and sun, as well as a visually stunning landscape. Many of these gardens can still be seen today.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were constructed, allegedly, by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife between 605 – 562 B.C. Though archaeologists and historians dispute the details, writers of the time described the gardens as huge, terraced rooftops, upheld by columns which were iconic in the architecture of the period. The rooftops were heavily planted with everything from flowers and small shrubs to full-sized trees. The vining plants were designed to climb down the columns and walls, giving the illusion that the garden was hanging from mid-air. This was also one of the earliest known gardens to be planted purely for aesthetic pleasure, and not for food production. Unfortunately, this garden has been lost to time, but many artists, both modern and ancient, have created representations of what the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon may have looked like.

Fast forward several thousand years and vertical gardening is very popular, not just in tight urban environments, but just about everywhere. There are “planted walls” clinging to the exteriors of city skyscrapers with fancy hydroponic systems and scientifically blended soil. Home DIYers build indoor wall-hanging gardens to display their succulent collections, or outside to grow tomatoes and veggies without sacrificing the yard space. The beauty of vertical gardening is that it can be done by almost anyone, and on almost any budget. All you need is some sort of frame or structure, and a few pockets to stuff soil or growth medium.

Of course, for the gardener willing to front a little cash, there are tons of options for both indoor and outdoor vertical gardening systems. Some even include hydroponic irrigation systems and grow lights for an easy, hands-off approach.

But for the crafty, low-budget gardener, pallets can often be found for free, and are easily converted into vertical growing surfaces that can be affixed to walls, or simply leaned against them, inside or outside. With enough pallets, you can quickly create large, eye-catching vertical structures for your plants. Shelves can also be adapted to growing plants vertically up strings, dowels, or mesh. Vining plants can be grown from boxes on top of trellises or pergolas and add intrigue and a touch of romance to windows, patios, or porches. Strawberries are an excellent candidate for hanging baskets and elevated grow boxes because they look great, and produce fruit!

Pothos – These plants are affordable, available at every garden supply center, and require little maintenance. They are great climbers, thrive in low lighting, and grow relatively quickly! They are also proven to purify air.

Ferns – Ferns like moisture, but many varieties do not require much light at all. They also do not have deep root systems, or require many nutrients, so they make excellent candidates for living walls. There are several varieties of ferns that, when planted together, can create visual intrigue while all requiring the same growth conditions.

Heartleaf Philodendron – Another popular houseplant, the Philodendron is a low-maintenance fast-grower with long, dangling vines and heart-shaped leaves.

Dragon Plant – If you’re looking to add a plant with a little more structure, the Dragon Plant is a popular choice for indoor gardens. Like the others on this list, they are known to purify air. The sturdy, dark green leaves stand in contrast to the more gangly vining plants, and they are conveniently low maintenance.

For inspiration, a quick online search for “living walls,” “vertical gardening,” or “planted walls” will yield more than a few ideas that you could try in your home or outdoor space.   

One Family’s Journey to Preserve History

We want to figure out who the enslaved were,” Sophie Taylor resolutely said. Clad in duck boots and flannel, she leaned across the granite kitchen countertop—the newest element in her home by about a century—as she poured over census records, family trees, and local history books.

That journey—one that began in March of 2021 when she and her husband, Mike, purchased the Ivy Cliff estate—really began much longer ago, in 1772.

Ivy Cliff was built by Revolutionary War hero Captain Henry Brown, who completed three terms in the Continental Army and served under Colonel Charles Lynch. It’s estimated that the Brown family acquired the Ivy Cliff tract of land—3,400 acres in total—in 1755, with the brick Federal style home being built and completed by the late 18th century.

The 4,900-square-foot home features sweeping 10-foot ceilings, original long plank wood floors, and ten fireplaces in total. Historical records show that the home originally had more rooms than what stand today, but all that remains of them is a swath of exterior wall that stretches from the east side of the home.

Captain Brown and his wife had six children together, all of whom were raised at Ivy Cliff, and the property remained in the Brown family until the 1920s.

Ivy Cliff, which at one time was referred to as Otter Hills plantation, was a booming tobacco farm.

“We found a census from September 1860 that shows 29 enslaved men and women on the property at the time,” Taylor said. “Thirteen men and sixteen women. Though it’s certainly possible that more than that were living here under a different owner’s name. We found evidence that there were six different enslaved dwellings on the property at one time.”

One of those dwellings is still standing today, downhill and largely out of view from the main house. 

The enslaved cabin is a “dogtrot” style cabin, which means that it’s essentially two separate cabins connected by a breezeway. The west side of the cabin was completed in 1810, with the east side of the cabin following shortly after in 1830.

“There are four separate rooms in the cabin, but we’re not sure if four different families lived in this one cabin, or if the rooms were separated by males and females,” Taylor explained.

When the Taylor family purchased the property in 2021—a pandemic move from Florida—they knew that there was a rich history behind the property, which had been meticulously preserved by previous owners. But the surprise came from how much the community became invested in its history.

“There are so many people in this town who love history,” Taylor recounted. “They saved everything and gave it back.”

Since they arrived at Ivy Cliff, neighbors have been “returning” pieces of property history that had been salvaged over the years. From the original louvered shutters, which a neighbor salvaged when a previous owner remodeled, to Independent State of the Congo coins circa 1888, which were dug up on the property, neighbors and history buffs alike have flocked to Ivy Cliff to return memorabilia and help piece the history together.

Part of connecting those dots was ensuring that the history remained preserved.

In 2022, the Taylors made great strides in ensuring the entirety of their property—now 17.3 acres of the original 3,400—became a historical site. They worked with Preservation Virginia, a nonprofit organization that sustains Virginia’s historic places through leadership in advocacy, education, revitalization, and stewardship, to have the slave dwelling added to the “Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places” list.

In Virginia, extant dwellings of enslaved people are rare and often overlooked. Constantly subject to time, elements, and lack of resources of the property owners, many have fallen into ruin or vanished from history altogether.

“Having this Preservation Virginia designation helps us advocate for resources and grant funding,” Taylor explained.

In addition to the Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places list, the Taylors applied for the Threatened Sites Program with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which offers emergency funding for archaeological sites endangered by erosion or other factors like impending development or vandalism.

That grant, in particular, connected the Taylors with local engineering and surveying firm, Hurt & Proffitt.

“We had Hurt & Proffitt out with their archaeology team completing a site survey of the hillside with the extant cabin searching for likely locations of the other slave dwellings,” Taylor explained. “They are still studying the thousands of artifacts found at their lab at Historic Sandusky.”

Shovel tests and test unit excavations were completed by the Hurt & Proffitt team, which runs the only engineering student lab in the state.

Every artifact found around the slave dwelling as well as the surrounding land where other dwellings may have stood were bagged in acid-free bags for storage and identification.

“The most significant findings were the ones that couldn’t be bagged,” said Jess Gantzert, Hurt & Proffitt’s laboratory director. “We found quartz cornerstones, which were religiously significant [to the enslaved] as well as a number of Hoodoo markings on the enslaved cabin.”

In addition to the cornerstones and markings, the Hurt & Proffitt team was able to collect nails, bricks, bottle glass, pottery, and window glass, all of which will help them begin painting the picture of the everyday lives of the enslaved living on the property.

“We have the technology now to identify what type of liquid bottles used to hold,” Gantzert explained.

“So we will be able to determine if they held medicine, drinks, or liquids that were significant to their
Hoodoo culture.”

While processing and identification is still ongoing, the Taylors and the Hurt & Proffitt team are hopeful that the history of the enslaved people on the property will start to be told.

“We are able to use archaeology to find and tell the stories of the people who weren’t considered people,” Gantzert said.

“Our plans include a complete renovation of the cabin with the intention of sharing it with local school groups as a means of learning local Virginia history,” Taylor furthered. “Due to the historical importance of the cabin, we want to ensure that any renovation is completed with special care, which is why we are seeking the assistance from historical architects, archaeologists, contractors, and stone masons.”

Under the Taylors’ care and stewardship, the story of Ivy Cliff continues to unfold with the hopes of one day identifying the names of those who were enslaved on the property and reconstructing their stories.  

If you’re a Lynchburg native, are familiar with Ivy Cliff’s history, and have information that may help,
reach out to the 501(c)(3) that the Taylors established at https://ivycliff.wixsite.com/ivycliff.

A Family Pandemic Project Comes to Life in the Nick of Time

Sometimes, it takes a worldwide pandemic to push you to do the thing you’ve been dreaming about. For Tim and Tonya Pafford, it was the COVID-19 lockdowns of early 2020 that made them realize it was time to stop thinking about building a “barndominium” on the 30 acres they owned in Evington and actually go for it. The result is a peaceful spot in the world that readily welcomes their family and many guests for gatherings year-round, including the holidays.

The Paffords are high school sweethearts and have three daughters, Emory, 19, Avery, 17, and Hadley, 15, and first bought the larger 155-acre farm with friends a few years prior for use as an outdoor playground. The land adjoins part of the Big Otter River so their family would come out and fish, kayak, camp, and explore the property with four-wheelers. But it was a far cry from buildable at first.

“Someone had clear cut it and sold the timber, so there were no trees, the dirt was all dug up,” Tonya said. “I couldn’t envision anything liveable to be honest, but it had really cool views and river frontage, so we all decided to take the plunge and bought it together and subdivided it.”

The original 1920s farm was named Otter Oaks Farm and, along with lots of clearing, planting, and prepping, the Paffords also re-incorporated their 30 acres and brought back the farm’s original name. Tim drew out plans for what they now call “The Barndo” on a flight from Florida to Virginia, so the general framework was ready when they broke ground in January 2020. Soon however,
the project became a family sanity saver.

All Hands on Deck

“It became a COVID party of sorts,” Tonya said. “We had wood delivered on the day Tim was told, ‘Don’t come back to work.’ And the girls were told not to come back to school. I’m a nurse so I knew I was going to be going to work, and it would be kind of a war zone. So, we just thought, this is our moment—we are selling our house and building The Barndo.”

In no time, Tim was spending long days at Otter Oaks building the project mostly by himself, with help from the girls and food runs from Tonya.

“The kids would work with Tim, but they did have to do homeschooling so they would do their schoolwork and I would bring food and we would have dinner in the construction zone, and it was our way to be together,” Tonya recalled.

Emory, their oldest daughter, is now a pole vaulter at Liberty University but she readily comes home to The Barndo.

“Helping to build the house is a core memory,” she said.

While it required all Pafford hands on deck, the vision for The Barndo was fairly straightforward, with 1,600 square feet of living space upstairs and 1,600 square feet of entertaining space below.

“Functional was the first key,” Tim said. “Good use of space. This concept was very simplistic, but we wanted to maximize every square inch possible with the simple design.”

Exterior in, The Barndo strikes a balance between rustic-industrial and warm farmhouse style. The home’s roof and metal siding are exposed galvanized metal, installed by Karlin’s Construction of Lynchburg, in a charcoal color on the house and left an unpainted natural metal on the roof. The home’s cupola was handmade in Amish country, Pennsylvania, and driven down on a truck. The oversized barn doors, perhaps The Barndo’s crowning feature, were crafted by Tim using oak harvested on a neighbor’s property.

“It actually worked out better than I thought it would,” Tim said. “It’s cool because it’s actually wood from right here. It has imperfections and they are unique planks of wood. It came together.”

Start to finish, the house build took 11 months of work from January to November 2020, moving the family in just in time for their first holiday season there.

“The first snow here was beautiful, it looked like a Hallmark card,” Tonya recalled. “It was such a relief when all of us were finally here!”

Tim added, “There’s something about crawling into your bed two minutes after unplugging your tools versus packing everything up and driving home at 3 in the morning.”

Living Large in a Smaller Space

While The Barndo has been a welcome change of scenery for the family, it did get some getting used to after moving from a larger home in Forest.

“We moved from a little over 4,000 square feet, so 1,600 square feet felt small to us at first, but we quickly learned to minimize and live more streamlined. It’s bigger than you think and there’s a lot more space than you think,” Tonya said.

The open layout flows from sitting area to dining space to kitchen, each point accommodating sweeping views of the outdoors.

“Tonya wanted the big windows, so we wrestled them up here. It took a couple of engineering minds to figure out how to crank them up, but the whole layout was based around the view,” Tim said.

The room’s height also bolsters the larger sense of space, reaching 14 feet at its peak. The family worked together to install the tongue-in-groove Southern pine on the ceiling, and Tim sealed it using a matte, non-yellowing poly from Benjamin Moore.

With the open room putting the kitchen on full display, Tonya needed it to perform well in both form and function. She chose a long navy island with quartz countertops and plenty of seating, open shelving to keep the visual space light, and even managed to squeeze in a pantry closet. The kitchen is now a place Tonya and her daughters often find themselves congregating.

“I love the big open space. You can have a lot of people in here at one time and it makes it feel super homey,” Emory said.

As they were thoughtfully designing the layout, the family made trade-offs to accommodate their lifestyle. Smaller bedroom sizes meant more living space for all. A shared room for their oldest and youngest daughters hosts a queen size bed with a bunk above. Upstairs, a loft bedroom with a vaulted wood ceiling was designed for their middle child, Avery.

“I like that it is my own room that I don’t have to share with anyone. And I like the built-in bookshelves a lot, and the ceiling,” she said of her cozy bedroom.

Tim and Tonya also added a separate drop zone on the first-floor entry to corral all the family’s belongings as they come and go. Five IKEA bookshelves were reconfigured together to make cubbies, an old barn light was rewired for the space, and a piece of wood from a 1920s home in Rivermont was hung as a coat rack. A door from the drop zone leads into the downstairs space of The Barndo, revealing perhaps its biggest asset—a large entertaining area.

Rocking Around the Christmas Trees

What began as raw concrete floors and sheetrock on the first floor quickly transformed as the family anticipated holding Emory’s graduation party in May 2021, their first big get-together in the party space. Now, channel rustic pine sourced from Blue Ridge Lumber in Fishersville, VA, covers the walls, a platform stage invites musically minded guests to pick up a guitar or sing karaoke, and circle tables decorated in holiday greenery invite all to sit back and enjoy the season’s gatherings. A roll-up glass garage door in the back lets natural light in and creates a seamless transition to the outdoors.

“We just want a big, fun family space,” Tonya said. “The house was super important to us when we first came out here, but we learned that we don’t need nearly as much as we thought. And we live so much on the outside here.”

Eventually, Tim and Tonya would like to build a larger main house and keep The Barndo as a house for the girls to stay as they all go to college, a place for guests, an Airbnb, or maybe even a future pool house.

“We want a place that our kids always want to come back to,” Tonya explained.

Home for the Holidays

Reflecting back this holiday season, the family can see how much the project created a calmer mindset for them when so much was uncertain.

“It kept us from getting caught up in what was happening. We didn’t have television,” Tonya said. “So being here, we weren’t afraid, we were all together, and if someone needed somewhere to get away, we had the ability to offer a wide open space and take walks when you couldn’t do that. It meant a lot to have a place to escape.”

It’s also not lost on them that they were able to transform their slice of land into a place of tranquility; one they can now readily offer to others, simply by opening their big barn doors.

“Both of us are very appreciative of this place,” Tonya said, “and how cool it is to look out those windows every day and see nothing but creation.”

Learn the Ancient Art of Tree Tapping for Syrup

The cold seasons may feel like a time of stillness—a pause in life and production. Our gardens are often bare, the ground is hard, and the winter hues of gray and brown may dampen our motivation to get outside. But here in Central Virginia, the trees are soon to be ripe for the harvest. No, not the fruits or nuts of summer, but of sweet, sticky syrup.

Humans have been tapping trees and harvesting sap to make syrup (“sugaring” as it has been called) as a food and medicine source for centuries. As spring approached, Native Americans would venture out and establish “sugar camps,” where they would wait for the sap to start flowing, and then harvest it to make maple sugar. The sugar was used as a food source, but also as a valuable trade commodity.

The best time for tree tapping is February and March, when the trees are moving energy (in the form of sugar) up and down their trunk in preparation for spring growth. Ideally, temperatures rise above freezing during the day, but drop below freezing overnight.

All trees produce sugar, but not all of it is good for syrup, or even human consumption. Of course, there is the maple (the Acer family), famous for the table syrup we buy at the grocery store and enjoy on our breakfast pancakes. But in Virginia, several tree species can be enjoyed for their sugary syrup production. Birch, pecan, and walnut trees are just a few other popular choices for tree tapping.

The Process

Thanks to Mother Nature and gravity, tree tapping is a simple, straight-forward process that can be enjoyed by the young, old, and in between. All you’ll need is a drill, spile (a small metal spigot), hammer and collection bucket (ideally one with a lid to keep hungry critters out).

You’ll want to drill a hole into the tree at a slight upward angle, using a drill bit big enough to fit your spile or tap. Most spiles are about 3⁄8 an inch in diameter. Drill a 2.5-inch-deep hole into the tree at a comfortable height for you.

The shavings when you pull the drill out should be light brown in color. If they’re dark, it could mean that the sap wood in that spot isn’t healthy, and you should consider relocating your drill hole. Traditionally, the south side of the tree is considered best for tapping, and results in higher yields, especially if you can place your spile under a large branch. But don’t worry too much about the exact location. If you choose to tap the same tree every year, you’ll need to move the tap at least six inches to the side of last season’s hole.

Using a hammer, tap the spile gently into the hole. You can order a spile online, or use something you have around the house, like clean metal tubing. However, the spile is the ideal tool for the job, and provides an easy way to hang your collection bucket. Once the spile is in place, you may see the sap flow immediately!

Hang your collection bucket from the spile or place it on the ground to catch the dripping sap. You can use just about anything, from five-gallon buckets to milk jugs.

Collection and Syrup Making

The next step is refining the sap into syrup. It’s easy! You’ll just need a pot, a good thermometer, and something to put your syrup in when it’s all done.

Simply boil the sap until the water evaporates and it reaches seven degrees above the boiling point. Of course, your boiling point changes depending on your elevation, so you may need to look it up. Here in Lynchburg, the boiling point is about 210.65-degrees Fahrenheit. Boiling the sap can produce a lot of moisture, so many people like to boil the sap outside on a grill or fire. It should take around three to four hours to boil down.

When you’re ready, pour the syrup into canning jars, or whatever vessel you’ve chosen to store it in. Nothing to it!

Sugaring is a great skill to add to your list of practical homesteading knowledge. Everyone in the family can participate, and when all is said and done, you get to enjoy a sweet treat passed down through the ages.

If you’re interested in learning more, do a little research on tapping other tree species! For example, birch tree sap is also used for sugar and syrup, but more commonly for beverages, glazes, and marinades, and medicinally as an antioxidant and great source of vitamins and minerals.

Celebrate with ease this season

The winter holiday season is filled with get togethers, from office parties to family gatherings. If you ever find yourself wondering what to wear, when a host gift is needed, or how to throw a last-minute party together, these tips are an excellent place to start. For expert help putting together a wine and cheese pairing menu, flip to page 125.

1. What to Wear.
If you’re hosting a holiday party, let guests know what to wear! Include attire tips on your invitation. Even a simple guideline of “festive casual” or “semi-formal” will guide your guests in the right direction. If you’re attending an office party and guidelines weren’t included in the invitation, dress more formally than you would on a normal day in the office—a stylish jumpsuit, a festive sweater with dress pants, or a velvet dress with pumps are all great choices. If you’re attending an informal family gathering, opt to be cozy and comfortable!

2. Gift or No Gift?
When should you bring a host gift? As a general rule, host gifts should be given at a brunch, dinner, or cocktail party. If you’ve been invited to a large gathering, like a party or larger formal dinner, a host gift isn’t necessary.

3. Send Invites Early.
If you’re hosting a holiday party, it’s important to remember that calendars can fill up fast this time of year, especially those precious few Saturday nights in December. Send invites as early in November as possible if you’re hosting a December get together.

4. Always Overestimate.
The last thing you need to worry about in the midst of entertaining is running out of food or drinks, leaving your guests hungry and thirsty. Always overestimate when buying food or beverages. Sure, you may wind up with a heaping pile of leftovers, but you could always send a scrumptious plate of goodies home with your guests when the night is over.

5. Don’t Overdo It.
You may be tempted to make everything from scratch but know your limits if you’re hosting a gathering! Make a few signature meals that you’re comfortable making, and then make your life easier by buying the rest or sourcing food from a caterer. Same with drinks!
Have a signature cocktail or mocktail on the menu, and then snag wine from a local wine shop for the rest.

6. Have Fun!
The holiday season is what you make it, so relax and have fun! Enjoy spending time with your friends and family and remember to stay present.

Take a walk down Pierce Street and you will find some pretty remarkable history. You may also find some gardeners and fresh produce.

At 1301-1303 Pierce St., the Pierce Street Community garden sits behind the old Calloway Store.

The garden is part of the Pierce Street Gateway, an organization that is seeking to preserve the history of Pierce Street and renew the community and neighborhood. The garden has become an integral part of the Pierce Street Renaissance District.

The two blocks of Pierce Street hold the homes and stories of many brilliant people. As the smallest of Lynchburg’s seven historic districts, it is recognized more for the people that resided there than its historic architecture.

At its start, an old Civil War hospital was run out of Pierce Street. The district was also the home of Anne Spencer, the renowned Harlem Renaissance Poet; her son Chauncey E. Spencer, a pioneer of the Tuskegee Airmen; and C.W. Seay, the first Black city council member and vice mayor of Lynchburg. There are so many others who left a mark not only on Lynchburg history, but on our nation as well.

Ghislaine Lewis, the director of Pierce Street Gateway and a founding member of the garden, knows that Pierce Street consisted of more than just the famous people.

“What you find on Pierce Street, if you look at housing records, is a lot of people who were educators and a lot of people who were seamstresses and businessmen and women who really helped to shape the African American community here in Lynchburg,” explained Lewis.

The Pierce Street Garden exists for the current residents of Pierce Street, while the Pierce Street Gateway exists to honor the residents of the past.

The idea for the garden began to take shape when Lewis spoke with Nina Salmon, a Pierce Street board member, about the gateway’s strategic plan. Salmon said they really wanted a garden.

Starting the garden became part of Lewis’ Lynchburg Leadership project. She was joined by six other members to form Team Big Hearts and, in 2021, the team established the garden behind the Calloway Store, one of the first Black-owned grocery stores in Lynchburg.

Currently, there are no grocery stores near Pierce Street, making it a food desert. This means that people do not have access to fresh, affordable produce—but with the garden they do.

“Food options are becoming really limited in the neighborhood. One of the big impediments when you’re talking about poverty is always access to food, particularly access to fresh food. It’s really important that people have access to fresh food,” Lewis said.

Before anything is planted, neighbors are asked what food they would like to see grown. Once grown, fresh produce is distributed to the neighbors’ houses every Saturday, and they can come into the garden at any time to get what they need.

On Saturday mornings, neighbors and volunteers—those who are charged with the ongoing garden maintenance—can be seen weeding and watering. Whitney Chauta, volunteer and head gardener, says there is a lot that goes into maintaining the garden.

“You have to decide what plants would do well in this setting, how much you should grow, making a schedule of when to start seeds and when you can move plants outside, and how to make the most of the space by doing some companion planting,” Chauta detailed.

According to Chauta, gardening is a very rewarding process, too.

“There’s a feeling of satisfaction when you work with your hands and can see the effects of that growing in front of you. Gardening is a never-ending learning experience.”

Eventually, Chauta would love for one of the neighbors to take over.

“I want it to be a true community garden. I want the people that live nearby to take charge of it and make it their own,” she said.

Both Lewis and Chauta expressed that one of the greatest pleasures of the garden is simply seeing the neighbors enjoy it and take part in it.

“I think the biggest joy is if you pop by on a Tuesday and you see someone getting something from the garden. Or if you come in on a Saturday morning and realize that there’s stuff that’s gone. That means somebody came. Somebody’s come in or a family’s come in and taken food. That’s been really important for us,” Lewis explained.

Chauta told a story of how she was in the garden and saw some strawberries that needed to be eaten before they went bad, so she offered them to a man passing by.

“His face lit up and he told me this story from when he was a little boy and he got into his aunt’s strawberry patch and ate all of them and how she wasn’t too happy about that. That’s the sort of thing I love—the history of a place, and the stories of a neighborhood that continue living on in the people still there. I think it’s a really positive place, in the way that it reminds people of good memories.”

Lewis conveyed that the goal of the garden and the Pierce Street Gateway is for the memories and history of the people of Pierce Street to continue to grow.

“We want to be able to create a hub to be able to tell the stories of Pierce Street—not just the stories of the famous people, but the stories of the ordinary people.”

To learn more about the Pierce Street Gateway, garden or make a donation visit www.piercest.org.

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Photos Courtesy of Ghislaine Lewis

Whether your home is a perfectly preserved period piece or an eclectic hodgepodge of eras, the right antique or vintage furniture can make a statement or pull a room together. But with estate sales, consignment shops, social media marketplaces, yard sales, and everything in between, where to begin with finding the right vintage furniture for your home?

Vintage vs. Antique
First thing’s first: There is a difference, albeit slight, between vintage and antique furniture. By definition, a piece of furniture isn’t considered an antique until it is at least 100 years old. Anything else younger, but still at least 20 years old, is considered vintage. “Collectables” on the other hand, can be either vintage or antique.

Original antiques—furniture that is the first of its kind and style—tend to be rather pricey depending on where you find them. Reproductions of those pieces that pre-date the 1940s will look just as beautiful, will still have excellent craftsmanship, and can be very affordable.

Where to Search
Finding vintage and antique furniture is a veritable treasure hunt full of excitement, unique finds, and, yes, some disappointment. Because you’re looking for a diamond in the rough—whether a particular style or something that is just right for your home—be prepared to go on a few furniture hunts before you find the right piece.

Estate sales, auctions, flea markets, antique stores, and social media or internet marketplaces are all perfect for finding the right vintage or antique piece for your home. The benefit of visiting a physical store, of course, is that you can inspect the piece yourself, take the appropriate measurements, and determine if the piece is really what you’re looking for.

What to Look For
So how do you identify the real thing from a modern day look alike? Talk with the shopkeepers or sellers of the pieces and ask them questions about the piece you’re interested in. Store owners and workers especially are knowledgeable, not just about the type of furniture you’re looking for, but vintage and antique furniture in general. Ask them how to tell how old something is or what style something is made in.

If you find a piece that you genuinely love, inspect it for:
Reasonable and practical signs of wear and usage. Think about what the piece was likely originally used for. For example, a vintage washstand will show stress signs from where the heavy wash basin sat day after day. These signs can indicate that the piece is authentic.

Dovetailing on drawer joints. As a general rule of thumb, the farther apart and larger the dovetails, the older a piece is. If no dovetail joints are present, the piece is likely not vintage or antique at all.

Cracks, broken pieces, chips, handles that have been replaced. These will either need to be areas that you will need to refinish or repair, or will make use of the piece less-than-ideal.

Proof of provenance. In other words, proof of provenance is the proof of origin, history, or previous ownership. Real silver pieces will contain hallmarks, or furniture may bear a label or stamp from the maker. Occasionally, an original shipping address or maker’s location will be etched onto the back of a piece of furniture. These ultimately will help you authenticate the piece you’re interested in.

Collecting vintage or antique furniture for your home will certainly take longer than shopping for a brand new piece at a furniture store, but the hunt is half the fun. Part history lesson, part treasure hunt, you’re in for an adventure as you seek out the perfect piece for your home.

A Lynchburg Midcentury Time Capsule Meets Its Perfect Match

Is it possible that sometimes a house chooses its owners?

Much like a rare antique sitting boxed up for decades in an attic, or a valuable painting relegated to the back rack at a thrift store, it waits for just the right old soul who will lift it up with a sense of reverence and say, “There you are.” It seems an impossible idea given the recent real estate market, but when you hear the kismet story of Hannah Poucher and Grant Kittrell, it may lead you to wonder if maybe, just maybe, their house chose them.

The Discovery
“We knew the second we looked through the windows that we wanted to live here forever,” Hannah, now 32, said of their love-at-first-home-sighting experience.

It was August 2019, and she and Grant, now 30, were making plans for a wedding and their future together, when something akin to Zillow lightning struck. A little listing with just five vague pictures popped up—a circa 1954 midcentury modern in the middle of Lynchburg. Within the hour, the couple found themselves peering through the windows, unable to believe their own eyes. It was meant for them, they knew it, but they needed to move fast.

“We weren’t pre-qualified, we had never looked at any houses before, we had to Google after we saw this place—’how to get a mortgage’—we didn’t know anything!” Hannah, a military recruiter for Liberty University, said. “But we knew if we didn’t jump at this, we wouldn’t get another shot at something like this in town.”
A bidding war ensued, but the home seemed to intuitively know who it wanted as its next caretaker. The couple closed in November 2019 and made a defining decision in honor of their new-old home.

“We wanted to live in the space for at least a year before doing anything radical,” Hannah explained. “We wanted to understand what it was like to be here as people within a space where it was designed to work like this. So, we decided no big changes for the first year.”

An Intentional Interior
It turns out, there was much the home wanted to teach them. Grant and Hannah took pleasure in learning about its history and thoughtful layout, taking note of each delightful detail, like how the abundant natural light shifted across the open-beamed ceiling throughout the day.

“We both, perhaps in different ways, came to this space with appreciation for art and design,” Grant, a writer, illustrator, and musician who works at Randolph College, said. “The midcentury modern style is very intentional and leans in the direction of sculptural, so there’s not a day that we don’t look around and say, ‘Hey look at that! Isn’t that really amazing?’ So, we are living in this space that we see as a piece of art, and really it is.”

Within that first learning year, they came to understand the unique reason for the way things were designed. Like the greater abundance of windows on one side of the house to allow for passive solar heat. Or the fact that the floors, which look like stone, are in fact stamped concrete designed to hold thermal mass, making what should be a cold underfooting somehow warm and earthy.

The biggest discovery, however, came in the form of a large manila folder filled with the home’s blueprints, original building materials, past pictures, and a booklet of original paint colors from The Frank Lloyd Wright Sierra Sunset Collection.

“When we found that folder, with the Frank Lloyd Wright paint palette, we realized that there was incredible intention behind it,” Hannah said. “So, for example, this color isn’t black, this is the Midnight color from that collection that is part of a larger palette. It was already here. We only painted the kitchen cabinets.”

Furnishings with Soul
While their commitment not to change the home’s interior held strong after moving in, it did need some furnishings. Some true-to-the-era furnishings.

They dove in with both feet and hands.

“Pretty quickly, Hannah became a master of the Facebook Marketplace,” Grant laughed. “She would stay up late at night looking for furniture. So as soon as I got off work, we would take off and go to places we had never seen before, out in the countryside, and pick up an old piece of furniture that someone maybe didn’t really know what they had.”

The hunt for pieces soon evolved into restoration of those finds as needed. Grant and Hannah became quick students of the specific approach to refinishing midcentury pieces.

“We aren’t talking about just sanding and staining, you’re talking about burning through wood veneer if you mess it up and how things aren’t stained, they are toned and sealed and lacquered,” Hannah said.

“I think the more work we put into a piece, the more we favor it.”

Her current favorite piece? A hutch from Lane Furniture, whose factory was once headquartered in Altavista. They discovered the piece in Rustburg, and it is now situated proudly in the area that opens from the kitchen into the dining area.

“We got it on Facebook Marketplace and the seller’s mother had bought it originally from Lane. So it’s a Virginia piece and the time period is right,” she recalled.

What you won’t find a lot of on the home’s ever-evolving furniture front are many new items.

Not because they are purists, Hannah explained, but because of what’s available on Marketplace, what’s within their budget, and what they can restore back to life now and perhaps replace later.

“I can probably count on one hand the number of new things that are in this house,” she said. “And while sustainability might not be the first thing we think about, it’s definitely a driving force. I think in terms of a level of purism, that’s what we are working towards.

It feels like such a perfect space, and we want to honor it with things from that time period.”

An Apartment Evolution
Of course, as with most self-imposed rules, there is almost always an exception. For Hannah and Grant’s “no changing the house for a year” rule, that exception came in the form of an efficiency apartment just across the home’s attached breezeway, where they cut their teeth on the basics of home renovation.

“We focused a lot of our initial energy there because it was a smaller space; we weren’t as overwhelmed and we figured we could learn in there and not have to live in it if we made any mistakes,” Hannah said.

While the essential layout existed when the couple bought it, the apartment needed some finishing work. They took to painting the kitchen cabinets the same green as the main home’s kitchen, updated the floors with a light luxury vinyl tile they laid themselves, and furnished the small bedroom, kitchen, and bath with interesting finds, such as a 1965 Sears Roebuck & Co. bar sourced in Roanoke and a white 1930s stove from Farmville. While not decade-specific to the home, Grant said, “when you bring something this old from the 30s, you’re bringing a long history into this space and the possibilities of whatever life it lived before.”

The renovations came with inherent lessons for the couple, and they reflect now that it better prepared them for future renovation jobs still ahead, like their dream of expanding the home’s main kitchen.

“We have learned to work with each other a little better and be patient with each other in different ways we didn’t know at that point,” Grant said. “Coming home each day and laying flooring every day…we learned a lot!”

From the Inside Out
Much is to be made of the home’s interior, and for good reason, but the property’s grounds are stunning in their own right. In fact, it is the marriage of the two, one spilling by design into the other, that creates a zen-like cohesion with nature from nearly every vantage point.

“We both love and appreciate a lush, green space and this has a lot of bamboo, a big maple, and some really intentional plant life,” Hannah said. “So when you’re looking out these windows, the lines are blurred between outside and inside.

It feels like a really natural space and really a sacred space almost.”

The pair have worked diligently to make conscious updates to the home’s exterior, including retrimming the formerly gray windows to a crisp black, something akin to adding eyeliner to an already lovely face. They cut back layers of bamboo and, as a reward, have witnessed more wildlife at play, from a family of foxes to finches taking up residence in one of the many birdhouses Grant made to a shy resident doe the couple affectionately calls “Jean.”

Most warmer nights of the year, you will find Hannah and Grant on their back patio area, nestled in wicker egg chairs, beverage in hand, dreaming into the future about their vision for the space. Their ultimate hope is to continue to collaborate with their cherished home in order to share it with others—an ever-welcoming, one-of-a-kind retreat.

“Mixing the inside and outside is always a goal,” Grant said. “Having a nature trail on the property is a dream, or hosting yoga or meditation classes here, maybe along with some creative writing workshops.

I would also love to make this place more sustainable, perhaps with solar power.”

It is little wonder that whatever the pair chooses to do next will be with great planning and purpose for the home that somehow, some way, chose them. Three years into their adventure, they still wake every morning with a wide-eyed sense of awe for their surroundings.

“I think, ‘How is this even a possibility? How could this even possibly be our home?’” Hannah smiled. “There is a lingering sense of wonder and excitement every day that we are in this space.”

Follow Along
Want to follow along with the home’s furnishing adventures and projects?

Check out Hannah and Grant’s Instagram page dedicated to the home @clerestorymod. “Clerestory” is the word for windows that are above normal ceiling height
and project into the roofline, which their home boasts in abundance.