My weekend was very full of local foods and some of the best sites in Charlottesville. If you haven't figured out yet, many times these go hand in hand!

On Saturday morning, I hit up the first Charlottesville City Market of the season. I won't recap all the details, since I wrote a blog on it that you can check out on your own time. 

On Sunday, we had yet another beautiful Spring day in Cville, with light breezes and temps in the low 70s (now I sound like a weather forecaster!). My friends and I couldn't pass up the nice day so we decided it was a perfect day for hitting up some of the very economical (as in UNDER $5!) wine and beer tastings at some of the many (over 15 or so) area producers.

We started our adventures at Barboursville Vineyard , a winery and vineyard that none of my companions nor I had ever been too but had always wanted to visit. I have had Barboursville's Cabernet Sauvignon before and really enjoyed it, plus I had heard how incredibly beautiful the Barboursville ruins were, so I was very excited out the visit. And to make a long story short, Barboursville did not disappoint. The tasting included 16 wines (try all 16 for only $4 and take home a wine glass!) including everything from traditional reds and whites to a Riesling and a few dessert wines. Needless to say after the tasting we were all feeling very happy. The staff was extremely friendly and well versed in the wines and how they were made, including the effects oaks from different countries had on the taste of the wines (I had no idea!).

Our favorite wine, collectively, was their Pinot Grigio, which makes for a fabulous warm weather wine as its light, not too acid-y tasting, and with a hint of sweetness. For all you wine connoisseurs out there, please forgive my lack of amazing and colorful wine adjectives.  After purchasing a large amount of wines (thank you Adam), we met our dogs, Ginny and Mona, who had been patiently waiting outside for us while we sampled, and took them for a walk up to the beautiful ruins. Just to illustrate how kind the staff at Barboursville is, when we came back out to the dogs, they had a nice big bowl of water sitting in front of them.

Anyways, the ruins are fantastic. The mansion was designed by Thomas Jefferson but sadly burnt down on Christmas Day in the early 1800s. However the skelton of the home remains and are reminiscient of Italian ruins. They're great!

I will definitely be headed back to Barboursville, and next time will be eating at their restaurant, Palladium, which features local ingredients as well as a fantastic dinner that you can choose to enjoy with their wine pairings.  Barboursville's many wines are delicious (I had no complaints about any of the 16 I tried, which is pretty awesome) and the scenery is breathtaking. If you're in the area, definitely visit the winery and if you're in Virginia or the region, looks for Barboursville's creations.

-Jess 

Whatever happened to the excitement over ethanol that was encouraging thousands of Americans not long ago?  Well, for starters, a lagging economy has made for decreased investments in both the research of the fuel as well as the growth of more corn and the production of new processing plants.  And then, ironically, the same financial upset that led to these effectual “shut downs” is what has been gradually bringing ethanol back to the playing field in the past few months.  Many of the fuel’s supporters believe that its advancement could lead to an exponential increase in job opportunities throughout the country.  However, research also shows that, “While the industry projects plants producing 100 million gallons of ethanol a year can create more than 1,000 plant and spin-off jobs, the study found that similar plants would net a maximum of 250 jobs, based on an analysis of ethanol facilities proposed in three Illinois communities and one in Nebraska.”  So, which is the way to go?  Hold back for the sake of financial security or invest for the benefit of individuals (if it is even true that such benefits will occur)?  The question still stands.

-Serena

I don’t write nearly enough about Canada.  And I do not believe that I’ve ever written specifically about Calgary.  So, here goes: to rid itself of having the “largest per capita ecological footprint” in the entire country, residents of this city are pursuing community gardening to the extreme.  With a forty-member Food Policy Council to render the man-power, Calgary hopes to achieve its goal of having 2,011 garden plots by that same year.  However, the council could use your help, too.  If you’re aware of any available open space for the making of an additional community garden in the area, e-mail { growingspaces at 2011calgary dot ca} with what you know.  The council will take it from there.

-Serena

Yesterday I went to the first farmers market of the season in downtown Charlottesville, and although there was not a lot of produce be had, there were lots of vendors and TONS of shoppers. There were lots of baked goods, organic, local plants ready to be planted, beautiful flowers, and jewelry. I absolutely love the farmers market. I wonder if its just the beautiful weather, but everyone seems sincerely happy to be there. Everyone is standing around, chatting with friends, and no one is in a hurry to do anything. It's the ideal shopping experience.

Some of our favorite local producers were there including Shenandoah Joe's Coffee, Pandora Chocolatier, Planet Earth Diversified, Inedible Jewelry, and Wolf Creek Farm, among tons of others.

Here are a couple of pics: