Raining Wine and Pizza Gardens

Saturday was an important day in Front Royal, the VA Wine and Craft Festival, and the day began with intense heat and humidity, with storm clouds looming above, threatening to make an appearance.

 I walked down town to meet Carmen, who was her customary 45 minutes late. The festival was at full swing, the main street crammed with people looking at crafts or thrusting their wine glasses forward for tastings. Rather than standing out in the heat to wait for Carmen I stepped inside the coolness of the Visitors Center. I'd been meaning to pop in here for ages but never got around to it, so was amazed to find it a wealth of information, far more than I'd expected. There were thousands of leaflets on the town, the state and neighboring states as well as some great t-shirts and stickers. A return visit is on my list now of things to do so I can investigate more fully and collect some brochures for home. They even had a display of decorated canoe paddles up on the walls from previous years when folks would paint and then auction them. Middleburg does the same with wooden foxes. It made me think I'd like one to hang on my front porch, another project...

There were 17 wineries here and 2 cideries plus a booth selling mead. I tried the mead and discovered that I still don't like it. Way too sweet. But some of the wines were tasty and it was wonderful not to worry about drink/driving. Glasses of wine were available for purchase for only $5 but instead I had a cider from Cobbler Mountain, my favorite cider destination. It was also too hot to drink wine. I was still getting used to this sudden onslaught of humid heat, only a few days before I'd had the heating on in the evenings. I was a little disappointed with the craft vendors. Considering this is a high profile event in FroRo's year, I had thought there'd be more crafts, and more of those high end. But regardless we had fun walking up and down, stopping for lunch when we spotted the sky beginning to look even more ominous. We were sure that soon everyone would be running for indoor sanctuary.

People are so friendly here and even though I've only been living here 6 months, I already recognize people and they recognize me. I'm feeling like a local. The bar man knew us and asked me to remind him of the tea I'd recommended on a previous visit, and then outside I was grabbed in a bear hug by a guy who works at The Beer Museum. I hadn't seen him for a while but he was visibly delighted to catch up and almost lifted me off of the ground, no mean feat! I promised I'd stop by soon for beer and a chat.
The policeman above didn't seem to be enjoying his day too much, not sure why, as everyone was behaving splendidly, even though by now most had been drinking for a few hours. The girls above were glugging down jars of sangria. $20 each with refills at $15, which they seemed keen to partake in. Check out the sky above them, getting darker and darker!

We were just leaving the restaurant when the heavens opened. It was as if someone was pouring bucketfuls down on us, it was so sudden and torrential.

We stood under the awning catching the rivulets of water that flowed off it over our heads in our wine glasses to rinse them out. People scrunched together under the bandstand, as though a single rain drop might burn them, and we laughed at 3 girls trying unsuccessfully to stay dry under 1 umbrella. The streets cleared speedily, leaving vendors with just a few shell shocked folks who were now trapped sheltering in their booths. Lucky them, tastings with no lines! One girl next to us was clutching her broken glass. It had no stem but she commented that she had no intention of putting it down anyway so it wasn't needed. But she did need a refill.

We didn't have to wait too long for the torrents to abate. Like a tap being turned off, the rain stopped suddenly, and people tentatively ventured out into the streets once more. Steam rose from the glistening tarmac and the sun continued blazing down. Business as usual! This lady was ready to continue her tastings, looking resplendent in a dress and necklace that matched her hair. We wished her luck and decided that a nap might be in order for us. I walked home, carefully clutching a delicious chocolate dessert wine, that hopefully I'll be able to save for Thanksgiving.
Sunday was another stuffy scorcher but this time I was driving down to one of my favorite breweries for a Pizza Garden workshop.

I welcomed the AC in my car and enjoyed the summer scenery on the quiet roads, bright, fresh fields after the recent rain, foliage bursting forth with a rampant energy. At Swover Creek Brewery I sampled a hazy unfiltered rye IPA in the peaceful taproom before the Pizza Garden Method workshop started, hosted by Sustainability Matters. One of their team was also English so we began chatting and I suppose the title of the workshop must have been playing on our minds as we ordered a pizza to share for lunch.
The workshop's name wasn't really accurate because there are actual pizza gardens that you can create, literally growing the foods you'd like on a pizza in the one area, but today we were learning how plants could be companions to each other. Tomatoes grown next to lettuce will provide them with shade, bronze fennel grows well near roses, but can cause many other plants to die or bolt. I'm not a fan of the fennel flavor but will get some since they host the swallowtail butterfly, but I'll have to choose a home for it carefully. We learned about the 3 sisters planting method, where corn, beans and squash compliment each other, giving off nutrients and growing different heights. Bocking 14 Comfrey is an incredibly useful plant, edible, medicinal and makes an excellent compost. I very recently discovered that I had another strip of land behind my back garden fence with a plot of about 4' x 25' so will put some of this in, as well as some Amaranth, or love-lies-bleeding. I had planned on growing honeysuckle for the hummers but to my delight it's already growing over and through my fence from next door. Sitting on the back porch or leaving my windows open is delightful with this heady scent filling the air. Fernleaf tansy is a natural mosquito repellent so is also on my list. with pretty yellow buttons for flowers it's also deer resistant, thanks to its aroma.
I was expecting more of a list as to what plants would grow better with each other yet I was more than satisfied with the wealth of information I came away with. We finished the workshop with a stroll over to the farm's kitchen garden where water barrels had been converted into companion gardens, growing lettuce, squash, basil, nasturtium and a couple of other plants I've forgotten. I had no idea so many plants could be grown in one container, my father had always taught me to leave plenty of space between them so they had room to grow. But looking back, his flower beds did seem to have too much bare earth, and ultimately needed a lot of weeding done. I left the farm brewery with my head stuffed full of planting ideas, and another list of plants to buy. no vacations for me this year, my garden's taking all my money!