Fredericksburg

This year, nearly 15,000 people across the Fredericksburg region are receiving food each month through the food bank’s network of 74 food pantries and food assistance organizations. The need has remained steady.

5,000 turkeys, in addition to other food, will be needed to make sure that the area’s hungry do not go without this Thanksgiving. The Fredericksburg Area Food Bank is asking the community to step forward and donate turkeys as well as the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner. A wish list is available on the web site.

This year’s Thanksgiving food and fund drive will kick off tomorrow, November 5th, with a “Turkey Drive By” event at Spotsylvania Towne Centre from 9 a.m.- noon. For the past 5 years, the food bank has been working alongside former football greats; that means everyone who makes a donation on Saturday will be entered to win an autographed Mike Nelms jersey. Also, this year, Pat Fischer, former Washington Redskins cornerback, has agreed to step in as the guest of honor. Pat will be available to sign autographs for anyone making a donation on Saturday.

“Thanksgiving is just around the corner”, states Oya Oliver, Executive Director of the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank. “Please remember our neighbors in need this year.”

The Fredericksburg Area Food Bank secures and distributes more than 3.6 million pounds of donated food and grocery products annually! They also lend their support to approximately 74 local charitable agencies, operating more than 190 programs including emergency shelters, food pantries, Club Kids after school snack programs, Food for Life senior feeding programs, Food 4 Kidz weekend feeding sites, and soup kitchens.

Donations of turkeys or other food can also be delivered to the food bank’s warehouse located at 3631 Lee Hill Drive, Fredericksburg. The food bank is open to accept donations Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Wednesday until 6 p.m. Monetary donations are also accepted and may be utilized to purchase additional turkeys.

After all, this is what Thanksgiving is all about- helping your fellow man! What will you be thankful for this season?

For more information on the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank, please visit their website.

Fredericksburg Area Food Bank - 3631 Lee Hill Drive, Fredericksburg
P: (540)371.7666
E: info@fredfood.org

Turkey Drive By Event - 137 Spotsylvania Mall, Fredericksburg
P: (540)786.6660

– Jennie Whistler

Historic Bourbon Producer A. Smith Bowman Now Offering Distillery Tours

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Image: Alexandr Vlassyuk/Shutterstock

For those of you who don’t know, the historic A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg goes way back. Abram Smith Bowman started distilling bourbon back in the years before Prohibition and, after the repeal of Prohibition in 1927, moved to Virginia with his family to continue his bourbon distillation on what was then called Sunset Hills Farm in Fairfax County.

The distillery is now in Fredericksburg and continues to produce a variety of Bourbon whiskeys, rum, vodka and gin.

Their newest offering: distillery tours.

Open to the public, the tours will last one hour and will teach participants about distillation, barreling and bottling of bourbon. The tours will allow participants to see the museum, still house, barrel warehouse, and barrel dump and fill room, as well as sample the bourbon and other products.

Tours will run at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday-Friday or by appointment.

“We are very excited to expand our role in Virginia tourism,” Master Distiller Truman Cox of the historic family-run distillery says.

For more information, visit the distillery website at www.asmithbowman.com.

A. Smith Bowman is located at One Bowman Drive in Fredericksburg (540-373-4555).

-Julia Harbo

Freeze Jag: Goolrick’s Pharmacy

Posted by Warren Rojas / Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

August is historically the steamiest, stickiest, sweatiest month of the year–brilliant move, Founding Fathers, building the nation’s capital on a swamp–in these parts. We’ve tracked down 31 frozen treats (one a day for the rest of this month) to provide you with some temporary, and often insanely delicious, relief.

The place: Goolrick’s Pharmacy – 901 Caroline St., Fredericksburg; 540-373-9878

The prescription: Cherry Coke ice cream float. I don’t drink a lot of soda (too sugary). But on those rare occasions when I do indulge, I REALLY want to get my money’s worth. And Goolrick’s delivered. No canned goods here. Each beverage begins with three firm pumps of cherry syrup, a steady stream of Coke from the fountain, two glassy scoops of vanilla ice cream–Goolrick’s dishes vanilla, chocolate and strawberry PET ice cream exclusively–and a dollop of whipped cream. The old school syrup works like gangbusters, infusing every drop of effervescent soda with stupendously sweet cherry flavoring. Even after siphoning every bit of soda through the straw, my journey into pleasure continued with every cherry froth-covered spoonful of eggy vanilla ice cream I fished from the depths of the fluted glass.

What’s most fun about Goolrick’s, however, is watching worlds collide. “Oh hey, can I use your iPhone?” a scruffy-faced collegian sporting multiple piercings asked a buddy as he plopped down on a blue vinyl-topped swivel stool that in all likelihood predates his parents. What’s old is new again. And the truly delicious, well, it’s always in style.

–Warren

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Keep tabs on the month long Freeze Jag trek here.

Crop Rapport: The Kraft Foods Mobile Pantry

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

(Image: Courtesy of Dayna Klein)

According to the Feeding America report, “Map the Meal Gap 2011’s Preliminary Findings,” an estimated 912,790 Virginians (or 11.8% of the Commonwealth’s population) are currently facing food insecurity. As part of a solution to a critical problem, a new “farmer’s market on wheels” is coming to the aid of the more than 30,000 food insecure residents living in Planning District 16 (encompassing Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George and the City of Fredericksburg). The Fredericksburg Area Food Bank, in partnership with Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, launched its new Kraft Foods Mobile Pantry truck at a morning ceremony today; the mobile pantry then proceeded to its first distribution site at the Dahlgren Harbor Apartments in King George.

The Kraft Foods Mobile Pantry Program is currently in its third year; to date, it has delivered in excess of 33 million pounds of food to Americans in need. Food banks across the nation vied for the 10 trucks recently added to the Kraft fleet. Dayna Klein, Major Gift & Marketing Coordinator for the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank, wrote the grant proposal on behalf of the food bank, one of seven serving Virginia. Fredericksburg was ultimately selected as a recipient along with food banks in Missouri, Florida, Indiana, Utah, California, Washington, and Ohio.

The Kraft mobile pantry will bring 130,000 pounds, or 104,000 meals, to the Planning District’s residents each year; Giant Food has already donated 20,000 pounds of food for the pantry’s launch. The beverage-style refrigerated trucks will start out providing fresh produce and non-perishable goods, but will eventually expand its offering to include a wide variety of both meats and dairy products. The mobile pantries previously serving Planning District 16 lacked refrigeration and therefore were limited in what they could provide to meet residents’ needs.

Klein explained that the mobile pantry is “not designed to provide individuals with long-term support,” but rather “to supplement income-qualified individuals during those last few days in the month” when it is hard to make financial ends meet. With today’s launch, there are currently eight designated mobile pantry sites in the Planning District, in addition to designated drop-off sites. The mobile pantry delivers at one or two designated sites throughout the Planning District each week–either on Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on the location and the rotation schedule. Mishelle Krogstad, Agency & Programs Director, oversees the food bank’s mobile pantry program, which also relies on dedicated long-time food bank volunteers and staff to man and run each mobile pantry successfully.

For more information on the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank and its mobile pantry program, click here.

Fredericksburg Area Food Bank
3631 Lee Hill Drive
Fredericksburg, VA 22408
(540) 371-7666
www.fredfood.org

-Johnisha M. Levi

Northern Virginia’s Farmers Markets and Hours

Annandale Farmers Market • 6621 Columbia Pike, Annandale – Thu, 8-noon
Arlington Farmers Market • N. 14th St. & N. Courthouse Road, Arlington – Sat, 8-noon
Ashburn Farmers Market • 44036 Pipeline Plaza, Ashburn – Sat, 8-noon
Ballston Farmers Market • N. Stuart St. & N. Ninth St. – Thu, 3-7 p.m.
Brambleton Farmers Market • 22875 Brambleton Plaza, Ashburn – Sun, 9-1 p.m.
Burke Farmers Market • 5671 Roberts Parkway, Burke – Sat, 8-noon
Cascades Farmers Market • 21060 Whitfield Place, Sterling – Sun, 9-1 p.m.
Clarendon Farmers Market• 3100 Wilson Blvd., Arlington – Wed, 3-7 p.m.
Columbia Pike Farmers Market • S. Walter Reed Drive & Columbia Pike – Sun, 9-1 p.m.
Community Farmers Market • West & Main Streets (Sat), North St. & Old Lee Highway (Sun), Fairfax – Sat: 8-1 p.m.; Sun: 10-2 p.m.
Crystal City Farmers Market • Crystal Square Arcade between S. 18th and 20th Streets – Tue, 3-7 p.m.
Culpeper Farmers Market • E. Davis & Commerce Streets – Sat, 7:30-noon
Dale City Farmers Market • Dale Blvd. & Minnieville Road, Dale City – Sun, 8-1 p.m.
Del Ray Farmers’ Market • E. Oxford & Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria – Sat, 8-noon
F airfax Farmers Market • 3720 Old Lee Highway, Fairfax – Tue, 8-noon
Falls Church Farmers Market • 300 Park Ave., Falls Church – Sat, 8-noon
Fredericksburg Farmers Market• George and Prince Edward Streets, Fredericksburg – Mon-Sat, 7-6 p.m.; Sun, 12:30-4 p.m.
Frying Pan Farmers Market • 2709 West Ox Road, Herndon – Wed, 8-12:30 p.m.
Great Falls Farmers Market • 750 Walker Road, Great Falls – Sat, 9-1 p.m.
Haymarket Farmers Market • 1500 Washington St., Haymarket – Sat, 8-2 p.m.
Herndon Farmers Market • Lynn and Station Streets, Herndon – Thu, 8-noon
Kingstowne Farmers Market • Kingstowne Center & Kingstowne Blvd., Franconia – Fri, 4-7 p.m.
Leesburg Farmers Market • 20 Catoctin Circle S.E., Leesburg – Sat, 8-noon
Lorton Farmers Market • 8990 Lorton Station Blvd., Lorton – Sun, 9-1 p.m.
McLean Farmers Market • 1659 Chain Bridge Road, McLean – Fri, 8-noon
Middleburg Farmers Market • 300 W. Washington St., Middleburg – Sat, 8-noon
Mount Vernon Farmers Market • 2501 Sherwood Hall Lane, Alexandria – Tue, 8-noon
Nokesville Farmers Market • 13005 Fitzwater Drive, Nokesville – Sat, 8-noon
Oakton Farmers Market • 3200 Jermantown Road, Oakton – Wed, 8-noon
Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market • 301 King St., Alexandria – Sat, 5:30-11 a.m.
Old Town Manassas Farmers Market • 9201 Center St., Manassas – Thu, 7-1 p.m.; Sat, 7:30-2:30 p.m.
Nokesville Farmers Market • 13005 Fitzwater Drive, Nokesville – Sat, 8-noon
Purcellville Farmers Market• 751 E. Main St., Purcellville – Sat, 8-noon
Reston Farmers Market • 11400 Washington Plaza W., Reston – Sat, 8-noon
Smart Markets – Centreville • 5875 Trinity Parkway, Centreville – Fri, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
Smart Markets – Fairfax Corner • Grand Commons Ave., Fairfax – Tue, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
Smart Markets – Gainesville • 13297 Gateway Center Drive, Gainesville – Sun, 10:30-1:30 p.m.
Smart Markets – Herndon • 460 Elden St., Herndon – Thu, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
Smart Markets – Oakton • 2854 Hunter Mill Road, Oakton – Sat, 10-2 p.m.
Smart Markets – Reston • 11890 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston – Wed, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
Upper King Street Farmers Market • 1806 King St., Alexandria – Wed, 3-7 p.m.
Vienna Farmers Market • 131 Church St. N.E., Vienna – Sat, 8-noon
Wakefield Farmers Market • 8100 Braddock Road, Annandale – Wed, 2-6 p.m.
Warrenton Farmers Market • Branch Drive and Warrenton Village Center (Wed), S. Fifth & Lee Streets (Sat) – Wed, 7-1 p.m.; Sat, 7-noon
West End Farmers Market • 4800 Brenman Park Drive, Alexandria – Sun, 9-1 p.m.

Or click here for our full list of local farmers markets

Freeze Jag: Carl’s

Posted by Warren Rojas / Sunday, August 14th, 2011

The place: Carl’s – 2200 Princess Anne St., Fredericksburg

The prescription: cherry slush. Carl’s has kept their vintage Electro Freeze machines–they traffic in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry soft serve exclusively–whirring since the late 40′s. But by the time I pulled into their perennially overcrowded parking lot, I had vastly superseded my recommended daily serving of calcium. But I was sorely in need of something cold. Enter: cherry slush. A potent blend of granulated ice spun with thrillingly cherry syrup, so sweet and cold–creeping anasthetically across the gums, staining the lips and tongue fire engine red and instantaneously transforming the blood to pure glycogen–one is inclined to siphon it up in protracted gulps. Though that invites the very real possibility of serious brain freeze (and insta-tooth decay).

“Would you like ice cream on top of that? It’s DEE-licious,” my teen server suggested with a wry smile as the crystalline slush cascaded into my wax-lined paper cup. One fantastic sin at a time, darling…

–Warren

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Keep tabs on the month long Freeze Jag trek here.

Meet Fredericksburg Farmers Market Manager Donna Leahy: A Q&A

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, August 12th, 2011

Donna Leahy (Image: Courtesy of Donna Leahy)

This installment of Gut Check introduces you to Fredericksburg’s Market Manager, Donna Leahy. Although the Fredericksburg Farmers Market at Hurkamp Park has been going strong for half a decade, Leahy is the first to hold the position of Market Manager.

Leahy attended Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington), majoring in historic preservation; as a result, she “fell in love with the [Fredericksburg] area.” After working for some time in the historic preservation field at both the local and national levels, starting a family, and then returning to the University for a second degree in accounting, she was ready for a new challenge.

Through her husband’s involvement in the Buy Fresh Buy Local food movement and his volunteerism with the Spotsylvania Farmers Market, she became increasingly interested in “knowing where our food comes from.” She applied for the market manager position and assumed its duties this spring.

The Fredericksburg Farmers Market is unique as compared to other Northern Virginia markets in that it operates seven days a week. Currently, it is only on Saturdays that the market staffs its market manager booth at which customers can swipe their credit cards (Mastercard and Visa) or their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) EBT cards in exchange for tokens to use as market currency. These tokens are treated as cash (customers receive change back and they don’t expire), and they can be used at the market any day of the week. The market also gives a $10 matching bonus to SNAP recipients thanks to a grant from the Wholesome Wave Foundation.

Vendor C&T Produce (Image: Courtesy of Donna Leahy)

GC: What are some of the particular challenges you face in coordinating a daily market?

We don’t have as many vendors at our weekday market as we do our Saturday market — we have one reserved vendor, C & T Produce, that is at the market Monday – Saturday, from 7:00 am – 2:00 pm — and other vendors come and go. It is a challenge to build the weekday market, since many vendors are either working long hours at their farms during the week or they have full-time or part-time jobs. Either way, vendors work very hard to bring their products to market. We are continually speaking with potential vendors to expand our weekday market and would love for our farmers market at Hurkamp Park to become a regular stop for consumers during the week, as it is becoming on the weekends.

In an effort to grow the weekday market, the Fredericksburg Farmers Market is a partner in applying for a USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program Grant. For our portion of the grant, we are asking in part for funds to staff the market manager booth for a couple days during the week to offer tokens to credit card and SNAP customers.

GC: How would you describe your day-to-day duties as the market manager?

Saturdays, I staff the Market Manager booth at the Farmers Market and get feedback about how we can make the market a downtown destination. Through continuously speaking with vendors and customers, I’ve come to learn about being an advocate both for the consumer and the vendor — it is a great relationship that the city can foster.

Customers often have questions about the products they see, how those crops are raised, what fertilizer or pesticides (if any) are used, etc. I have visited most of the farms myself –I’m working to visit them all — and I find customers sometimes like to speak with me about the farms I have seen. Vendors like to speak to customers because they really have a wealth of information they can share — how to prepare the products the customer might not be familiar with, how the customer can grow these products at home.

During the week, I work on marketing and promotion. I also work on outreach as well. I have met with various committees in the Fredericksburg City Public School System and I am working with various organizations — the local Department of Social Services, the Moss Free Clinic, Dominion Day Services, Rappahannock Area Community Services Board, etc. – to make sure our SNAP token program information is being disseminated.

Club Creek Farm (Image: Courtesy of Donna Leahy)

GC: I know one of your long range goals for the Fredericksburg Farmers Market is improving access for SNAP benefit recipients. What measures are in process or are you contemplating to help open up the market to folks as a viable and affordable option in a city where the USDA has identified urban food deserts?

According to the 2009 [USDA's] County-Level Poverty Rates in Virginia report, the poverty rate for [the] city of Fredericksburg was 17.3%; for Spotsylvania County, 7.6%, and King George, 7%. These are the areas we are trying to serve. From 2007 to 2009, SNAP usage in Fredericksburg increased 43%, in Spotsylvania it increased 73%, and in King George, 63%. With our SNAP program, we are trying to meet this increasing need.

In addition to continuing our matching bonus program and expanding the program so that SNAP recipients may obtain tokens during the week, the Farmers Market Coalition (the coalition of the Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and King George markets) is exploring other opportunities. The King George market this season has offered a pilot program offering bus transportation for customers; one essential problem related to food deserts is a transportation problem — how can we help customers reach the markets? Both the Spotsylvania and the King George markets are exploring the expansion of their markets (previously only available on Saturdays) to Wednesdays. As I mentioned before, the Fredericksburg market is also applying for funding for staff to process SNAP charges during the weekday market.

GC: What are your other top two or three priorities as market manager for the upcoming year?

We would like to make the public aware of the amazing variety of fresh local food that is available at our markets every week, and would like to continue to expand our new SNAP/credit card programs.

So far, at the Fredericksburg market each month we have increased our SNAP and credit card sales significantly; from May to June we saw a 158% increase in SNAP usage and a 63% increase in credit card processing. If we increase awareness, we not only provide a service for consumers, but increase vendor sales and help to grow the local farm economy. We just had a very successful Family Table event this past Saturday, and one important purpose of this event was to remind consumers that the market is here from April – Thanksgiving; every week the farmers market is there, an event of its very own.

We would also like to continue to get feedback from vendors and customers about what they would like to see at the market next season. We want to offer the public a diverse shopping experience and we would like vendors to be attracted to our market. Expanding the weekday market is a priority for us in the coming season.

Vendor Wildwood Farm (Image: Courtesy of Donna Leahy)

GC: Can you tell me about last Saturday’s food festival event and how it was conceived as a kick off to National Farmers Market Week/Virginia Farmer’s Market Week?

After all the hard work by the staff of the city’s Departments of Economic Development and Tourism and Parks, Recreation, and Public Facilities, we were very pleased with the turnout for the Family Table event. The food festival in Hurkamp Park (in the morning) and Market Square (in the afternoon) celebrated National Farmers Market week and the beginning of our local restaurant week.

Events at Hurkamp Park included farm to table activities from the Cobblestone Children’s Museum, and nationally known fruit and vegetable carver James Parker of Veggy Art. We expanded the farmers market, closing Prince Edward Street, and we had guest vendors, some of whom were requested by consumers I have spoken to over the course of the season. Papa Weaver Pork was there, selling their popular pork products; as was Sweet Valley Farm Dairy, with goat cheese. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange generously offered an heirloom tomato tasting. Local restaurants Kybecca [Wine Bar], Foode, and Kenmore Inn offered very popular cooking demonstrations.

GC: What has been your favorite part of the market manager job so far?

It has been a pleasure for me to see how the SNAP matching bonus token program truly benefits local consumers. As I work the SNAP/credit card terminal, I am directly assisting customers in acquiring fresh and nutritional food they might not have. I see with my own eyes how much the bonus is appreciated and needed.

I have also been incredibly fortunate to get to know the vendors and to visit their farms. I am profoundly impressed by how much knowledge they have, as well as how hard they work. I have seen incredibly beautiful things on their farms, including peacocks, free range cattle and chickens, historic structures, beautiful vistas, and seemingly endless rows of greens, herbs, and strawberries.

Valentine's Country Bakery & Meats (Image: Courtesy of Donna Leahy)

GC: I’ve been struck by how every market in the Northern Virginia area has a distinct character or personality. How would you best describe the unique charm of the Fredericksburg market for those who have never attended?

The Fredericksburg Farmers Market has a wonderful collection of vendors with a diversity of products for which many customers come back Saturday after Saturday. But ours is not just a market where customers buy products and leave. I’ve seen firsthand how relationships between the customers and vendors develop and deepen, how many shoppers come and hang out to spend time chatting with the vendors and other patrons. Lasting relationships are created and cultivated at our market.

Fredericksburg Farmers Market at Hurkamp Park
(Prince Edward and George Streets)
Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

August 7-13 is Virginia Farmer’s Market Week! Help the week end with a bang and hit a Saturday market while you are out and about this weekend. Happy Friday!

-Johnisha M. Levi

Founding Vintners: Jefferson, Monroe, and Vino

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, August 4th, 2011

(Image: Bryan Brazil/Shutterstock)

Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe were two wine-loving Founding Fathers. Both were students of viticulture, having read extensively on the subject, and both attempted to establish their own vineyards in Albermarle County. Jefferson even went so far as to call wine a “necessary of life” (along with hair powder, salad oil, salt, and books).

Fredericksburg’s James Monroe Museum will be hosting a program on Friday, August 19, on Jefferson, Monroe, and the vine. James Gabler, author of the book Passion: The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson, is the featured speaker.

And of course no wine education event is complete without a tasting. Kybecca Wine Bar & Shop is providing Virginia wines for the sampling.

Admission is $15; for Friends of the Museum, $10. Call, or email auphaus@umw.edu to register.

James Monroe Museum & Memorial Library
908 Charles Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
(540) 654-1123

-Johnisha M. Levi

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