Posted by David Hamilton on April 1st, 2010 in Bundoran Farm Events and Occasions, General, Nature/Environment
After environmentally-conscious developers, gentleman farmers and Norwegians with a sense of humor, we’ll have to add one more supposedly mythical creature to the Bundoran Farm menagerie. Always-bubbly Natural Resource Manager Leif Riddervold pulled off this grab shot of an elusive resident of Israel Mountain, after Bundoran residents Grady and Diane Lewis reported some unsolicited shrub-trimming [...]
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Posted by Joe Barnes on March 22nd, 2010 in Bundoran Farm Events and Occasions, Education and Inspiration, General, Uncategorized
Too often in today’s world our open spaces are either overly programmed or overly protected. Open space ripe for enjoyment are typically reserved or programmed for one thing and one thing only (baseball fields, golf courses, etc.). If they aren’t a single use space, they might be so protected that you can’t do anything on [...]
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Posted by David Hamilton on March 18th, 2010 in Architecture and Design, Baldwin Center for Preservation, General, Green Building
And from the same source, this article detailing the struggle of U2 guitarist “The Edge,” who’s attempting to build a “luxury green” community of a handful of 7,000-12,000 square foot homes in the Santa Monica Mountains, above Malibu, California. Environmental groups, regulatory agencies, and rock stars are definitely not seeing eye-to-eye on the project. The [...]
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Posted by David Hamilton on March 17th, 2010 in General
The attached New York Times article, brought to our attention by Bundoran Farm residents (and not-so-big-house afficionados) John Foraste and Grady Lewis, follows the debate over Lotus founder Mitch Kapor’s proposed home in Berkeley, California. Berkeley has its own scoring system, to evaluate the environmental responsibility of new home construction. The article examines how the physical [...]
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Posted by Joe Barnes on March 12th, 2010 in General, Nature/Environment
CHIPPING SPARROW – Spizella passrina
The chipping sparrows are arriving back, singing their cheerful songs. They breed in most of the states, except Florida, and in Canada and eastern Alaska. These sparrows winter in Florida and to the north along the coast to Maryland and in Mexico. So spring must be coming!!
Chipping sparrows are among the [...]
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Posted by Joe Barnes on March 9th, 2010 in Bundoran Farm Events and Occasions, Education and Inspiration, General, Project Updates
This past weekend was one of those weekends that makes me feel blessed and grateful to live in the Charlottesville area — a place with some many interesting things to do and people to hang out with.
I started my weekend off on Friday evening at the opening reception of “Our Water, Our Future” at the [...]
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Posted by David Hamilton on March 1st, 2010 in Education and Inspiration, General
When I visit a new city, the first thing I want to know is “why is this here?” The answer tells you a lot about a place: sheltered deep-water harbor (Boston), big river for powering mills (Albany), inland navigable limit of the river (Richmond). And Charlottesville? Well there’s some transportation history (railroad gateway), and some [...]
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Posted by Joe Barnes on February 26th, 2010 in Agriculture, Bundoran Farm Events and Occasions, General, Nature/Environment
With this season’s record snowfalls, Bundoran Farm has become a winter wonderland. The verdant pastures and majestic forests are covered with a broad and deep white coat making it quite easy to understand and appreciate the land’s features and resulting life experiences of this distinctive place and time.
By means of a short poll, we came [...]
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Posted by David Hamilton on February 16th, 2010 in General
Bundoran Farm’s protected rural environment is beautiful, but what makes it special to us is the proximity of this idyllic spot so near to Charlottesville. This little college town continually surprises us, and this Valentine’s Day, the surprise we enjoyed most was Gearhart’s Chocolates.
Pastry chef – chocolatier Tim Gearhart established the business that bears his [...]
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Posted by David Hamilton on February 3rd, 2010 in Architecture and Design, Baldwin Center for Preservation, Education and Inspiration, General, Green Building, Project Updates
In belated honor of J.D. Salinger, a deceptively simple observation on homes, by Joyce Maynard:
“A good home must be made, not bought.”
Taken a bit out of context, this assertion is, when you think about it, pretty radical. We buy homes, like we buy cars and home theater systems, though usually with a bigger loan, and [...]
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