Those aren’t flat-screen TVs; they’re backlit scenes o’ China.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Happy diners, some of whom waited an hour for a table— in a town where any wait is unusual— savor the joy of getting served at Taste of China on Friday, March 12. Even though the Hook’s Dave McNair tried to announce back in November that Peter Chang was a celebrated Szechuan chef quietly practicing his craft next to Li’l Dino subs at Albemarle Square Shopping Center, it took a March 1 “Annals of Gastronomy” story by the New Yorker’s Calvin Trillin to break open the floodgates. Curiously, he still offers that goofy standard Chinese menu found at literally thousands of chop suey huts (for those terrified of his highly spiced cuisine). On a reporter’s recent visit, he saw the overworked owner handing off the telephone to customers to handle the incoming inquiries, but the funniest part is what everyone who takes a queue ticket was told: “20 minutes.”

–last updated 11:51am Tuesday, March 16

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Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest co-founder Guinevere Higgins wants to make you an urban farmer.
PHOTO BY BILLY HUNT

There appears to be a backyard revolution going on in Charlottesville, as two businesses designed to help folks grow their own food have, well, cropped up.

C’Ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest are nearly identical in their missions and services, offering to design and build gardens, consult on planning and growing them, and assist in maintaining them. Both offer harvesting and composting advice, and the folks at Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest even offer chicken-keeping services.

But will this urban farming movement catch on as the two companies hope it will? According to Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest co-founder Guinevere Higgins, our survival may depend on it.

“At some point, our food system is going to have a very rude awakening— be it a spike in gas prices or an outbreak of food-borne illness, or a massive food recall,” says Higgins, who also founded CLUCK, the Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers. “And those best positioned to weather those upsets will be home gardeners.”

Similarly, C’Ville Foodscapes co-founder Wendy Roberman and her partners Sky Blue, Sam Pierceall, Kassia Arbabi, Patrick Costello, and Angel Shockley have approached the venture with a sense of mission.

“We believe everyone has the right to healthy food, and we want to help people achieve this,” says Roberman.

Of course, before the two businesses came on the scene, local Grammy-nominated songstress Adrienne Young had already (more)

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