079 - Charlottesville Community Magic

Explicit content warning

08/15/17 • 32 min

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” ---Marianne Williamson

Resistance Work. With Persistence, Resolve, Resilience, and Magic. Welcome Friends, to a special episode of Edacious. Because it is not business as usual in our town of Charlottesville, Virginia this week. Now is not the time to speak of the latest greatest cocktail invention, nor to promote the latest brewery opening or wine dinner. Now is the time to celebrate all that is good about Charlottesville, to remind ourselves despite the hatred that visited us over the weekend, when all is said and done, we are magic. We are greater than the sum of our parts. When our community decides to come together for a common cause with Big Love behind it, there is nothing that can stop us. Our resolve, our resilience, our persistence, and our magic will be the ingredients that point the way and keep us grounded. It's why I started this podcast. I looked around the community where I live and said, "Wow, folks need to know about this. Immediately. There is magic here."

In this episode, I talk about Community Magic and the good folks who make it happen for us each and every day in our stores, on our farms, in our offices, in our fields, at our restaurants and kitchens. Folks whose passion is food but who know that food is just a starting point for so many other greater discussions and events and moments of connection. I'm convinced food is the great equalizer, the thing we all do, the thing each and every one of us can connect on. If you can just get someone from the other side of the fence to break bread with you, amazing things can happen. It's why I'm here. It's why I will continue to use this podcast to broadcast magic. Go in peace friends. Break bread. Practice self care. Get strong. Because this is only the beginning. Big Love. #Charlottesville #CvilleStrong #LoveisLove #YallMeansAll

Charlottesville Makers of Magic Mentioned During This Episode. There are SO many others near and far I didn't get to. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for keeping our Charlottesville community strong as well as your own, wherever you may be.

Kristin Adolfson of Still Point Press Design Angie Akey of Moxie Salon Brian Ashworth of Ace Biscuit and Barbecue Heather Balmat, trademark lawyer Jason Becton and Patrick Evans of MarieBette Café and Bakery Bellair Market MC Blair, radio host Laurie Blakey of Pearl's Bake Shoppe Jake Busching, winemaker Sheri Castle, food writer Polina Chesnakova, food writer Sara Cramer Shields and Andrea Hubbell of Our Local Commons Travis Croxton of Rappahannock Oyster Company Nancy Carter Crump, food historian Will Curley of The Coat Room Cville Coffee Simon Davidson of The Charlottesville 29 Victoria Dunham, chef Tim Edmond and Daniel Potter of Potter's Craft Cider Feast! Liz Finklestein, Piefest volunteer Jeanne Frey of Treat Yourself Right Massage Tim Gearhart of Gearhart's Fine Chocolates Grit Coffee Craig Hartman of The BBQ Exchange Martin Herbert of Small Potatoes Sales and Marketing and an Edacious Patreon supporter Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm Cheese Betty Hoge, Small Business Development Center David Hopper of Chutney Ferret Industries Phyllis Hunter and Will Harville of The Spice Diva Integral Yoga Java Java JM Stock Provisions Michele Jones of Pasture, Flora, Comfort Tami Keaveney of Tavola and The Cicchetti Bar Harrison and Jennifer Keevil of Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen Market Street Market Milli Joe's Susan McCulley, Nia Instructor Christopher Morris, photographer Mudhouse Coffee Gerry Newman of Albemarle Baking Company Rachel Pennington of The Pie Chest Jenny Bandy Peterson of Paradox Pastry Rebecca's Natural Foods Allie Redshaw Wilson Richey of Ten Course Hospitality Matt Rohdie of Carpe Donut Shenandoah Joe's PK Ross of Splendora's Gelato Bill Smith of Crook's Corner Hunter Smith of Champion Brewery Dawn Story of Farmstead Ferments Ian Thomas and Marlene Steiner of Virginia Distillery Company Timbercreek Market Angelo Vangelopoulos of The Ivy Inn Justin Vesser, PieFest and Soup There It Is! contest winner Amanda Welch of Grubby Girl Brian Wimer of IX Park and Lovefest Cynthia Woodring, yoga instructor

SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast:

Help Our Charlottesville Community Recover - Please consider donating to this cause, supporting victims of last weekend's violence. Thank you.
An Open Letter - Local food writer Simon Davidson responds to a GQ piece about August 12th.

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” ---Marianne Williamson

SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast:

Help Our Charlottesville Community Recover - Please consider donating to this cause, supporting victims of last weekend's violence. Thank you.
An Open Letter - Local food writer Simon Davidson responds to a GQ piece about August 12th.

Previous Episode

078 - James Lum III, Matthew Greene, JM Stock Provisions

Meat Work. Whole Damn Animal. In this conversation meet James Lum III and Matthew Greene of JM Stock Provisions. Our very own whole animal butchery right here in Charlottesville, Virginia. Third partner Hunter Hopcroft of the Richmond outpost couldn't join us, but no worries. We had enough butcher talk to go around!

I always ask the question, "Who should I talk to next?" at the end of each Edacious conversation. When you get to four or five saying, "Talk to JM Stock!" you take the hint. These guys are the real deal. They're doing the work, not just presenting an image to promote an image or make money. Every "Beef Day" they're in the back breaking down entire animals. Autumn Olive Farms, a past podcast guest, delivers whole pigs, Free Union Grass Farm delivers ducks, and River Oak Farm brings chickens just to name a few.

Synchronicity and happenstance played a big part in the decision of these two Winchester natives and former restaurant professionals to open a butcher shop. How were they trained and what did it involve? We talk about it as well as how their Kickstarter campaign played a big part in their future success. Watch the video. The end is the best thing ever LOL!

"It was really cool. It was a great experience. It was very moving to see that many people step up and show their support for what we wanted to do and Matt and I as individuals and the future of sustainable food. We had donors from Houston, Texas and San Francisco. It was cool to see that." ---James Lum III

JM Stock takes on interns every six weeks, one day a week, a renewable contract based on performance. They start out doing grunt work. If they can handle it, then comes the education. A great way to not only spread the gospel but discover untapped talent here in our area, creating jobs as they go. Half of their staff has graduated from the intern pool but that also means half just can't cut it. Literally.

"There is very little that is glamorous about it. Being a butcher is as blue collar as it comes. It's as blue collar as welding without the permanence of it. You could say that we're artisans but it's a term that is widely overused. We have a skill set that most people don't have. We believe what we do is super important. But it's not glamorous. It's a lot of hard work." ---Matthew Greene

"Part of our job is making it seem lovely. Which could be part of the problem." ---James Lum III

"The goal is to make what we do seem cool because in order for us to be successful we need people to care about what it is that we're doing. I think that that's true for most businesses...what we're doing is for the good of the community." ---Matthew Greene

It's a conundrum. How do you get folks to care without making them too queasy about where their meat comes from? How do you survive the pushback from vegetarians and others who think it's gratuitous and disrespectful to show a whole hog being broken down online. It's a delicate dance between education and not respecting the animal for the sake of Instagram and a dance these two gentlemen navigate very well. One look at their social media can tell you that.

We discuss this dance. Educating folks about why talking to your butcher and finding out where your meat comes from is an important aspect of being an educated consumer. It's not a luxury, but a new way of thinking that's actually an old way. Not just picking up the vacuum-packed pound of ground beef but TALKING to the butcher, finding out where that beef came from. Maybe letting him talk you into a new-t0-you off cut of meat like beef neck, which is delicious, easy to prepare, and tastes better than your momma's pot roast.

In sourcing locally and supporting sustainable agriculture is often seen as "hippy-dippy" or elitist, particularly in Charlottesville. But as Matt says so eloquently, part of JM Stock's goal is to support local, sustainable agriculture even in an area where real estate costs are high which means the cost to produce said animal is higher. That doesn't mean it has to be fancy, or only for the rich, or for those folks who consider themselves homesteaders. It should and can be for everybody.

"Our constant goal is to make it (sustainable agriculture) more and more approachable to everybody...especially for those in their late 20's and early 30's who are just starting to figure out what it is they care about as far as feeding themselves and feeding their families." ---Matthew Greene

How do you make a visit to the butcher less intimidating? We...

Next Episode

080 - Ian Glomski, Vitae Spirits

September is Virginia Spirits Month! Celebrate with all of your favorites. Preferably while listening to this episode.

Spirit Work. With Community Changes. Welcome to Episode 80 and the very first recorded after the events of August 12th. Meet Ian Glomski of Vitae Spirits, a former UVA professor of microbiology who decided to take his knowledge and apply it to the science of distilling. With fabulous results.

Edacious is about community, so we begin with how August 12th affected Charlottesville, including disturbing events that happened right next door the day after. The fact this happened in summer, the slowest season for business, didn't help. At all. What then? We talk about it, as well as the challenges faced by our community as all sorts of changes, good and bad, happen when the town you live in has its moment in the national spotlight. We're used to being named the Prettiest Little Town That Ever Existed. How do we handle this new label? How do we move forward consciously, with awareness and compassion? And how do we embrace revitalization when the very concept looks different depending on your perspective?

Ian's love of microbes began early, college in fact, when he discovered while he couldn't legally drink beer, he did have the ingredients to make it. A microbiology class improved his technique. A Ph.D. followed soon after. Eventually Ian became a professor at the UVA School of Medicine, but his passion for fermentation never waivered. Pair that with a family background in wine and a job which no longer fed him emotionally and you've got the perfect equation for a new life path. A boutique distillery focusing on making the best possible spirits money can buy.

"There's a certain level of scientist in me where I try to control variables as much as possible, but you can only control so many things and there's a certain amount of intuition that I've developed...in the three-plus decades that I've been doing fermentation."

Vitae Spirits was founded in 2015 and in only two years has made a name for itself, winning medals for its Modern Gin and Platinum Rum. Their tasting room is sleek, modern, yet insanely comfortable. A place right in town to tuck in and enjoy some tastings, maybe even a cocktail. Right next door to an awesome barbecue spot. But it's off the beaten path in the burgeoning neighborhood of Rose Hill. What are Ian and his team doing to get folks there? How are his mission and vision different from those of corporate distillers?

"This was in my business plan...we want to maintain authenticity as best as possible...my ideal way of growth is essentially word of mouth. That has to be promoted in a lot of different ways...I'll never be buying an NFL football spot even if I could afford it because...I want it to feel like a garage band situation where people recognize us as their own private, personal thing. That means we have to keep in touch with our customers."

One method is using story. When Ian pours you a tasting of Golden Rum, you are being served by the man who made it. When he travels to festivals and restaurants selling his wares you are looking in the eyes of the man who spent hours developing the nectar in your mojito. He oversees every step of the process from fermentation to bottling. That's huge. That use of story is elemental to good business growth. Incorporating a good logo by Convoy and beautiful bottle artwork by Lara Call Gastinger continues the story, sealing the deal.

“There’s a really long history of alcohol being associated as a medicine or with a medicine...the distillation process was discovered by Muslim alchemists...the alchemists were looking for an elixir of life...they put wine in an alembic still, a colorless liquid came out...they put a pear in it and the pear never rotted...they interpreted that as that liquid was infusing life force.”

The process of distilling rum, gin, and liqueurs is very different from creating bourbon or whisky. We discuss the ingredients as well as the process. Like those spirits, you have to jump through the same state and federal bureaucratic hoops. It's an incredibly long and challenging series of events. We talk about it, as well as some of the ways our Commonwealth is making it a bit easier which should result in a spirits boom similar to the ones we've seen with wine and beer.

"For our rums we use the highest grade molasses..it's more like an evaporated sugar cane juice...sometimes referred to as sugarcane honey...it's super sweet and flavorful in the positive s...