Community

I'd like to let you in on a few secrets...maybe not true secrets, I suppose there's been plenty of press about them, but those sorts of things that make you feel they’re secrets because they’re just so delightful and community-oriented. The Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers (CLUCK), The Charlottesville Wine Guild, C’ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest are invaluable resources for our little trendsetting area.

Surely you’ve heard of the Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers—their acronym is CLUCK—could that be any more adorable!? These chicken gals and guys, led by the local legend Guinevere Heathcote Higgins, are all about education and community awareness. They’re “a network of backyard poultry enthusiasts dedicated to raising chickens humanely in Charlottesville” which they accomplish by working together, sharing chicks, inspiring creative coops, and educating each other about poultry disease and distress. It’s so wonderful to see members of the community coming together to pool resources and educate each other!

This is Charlottesville, of course we have a Wine Guild! Their mission is to have "More people drinking better wine more often." The Wine Guild is not here to be uppity or snooty about wine, they’re just passionate about it and willing to spread their knowledge (and wine discounts) to others in the community! Their blog tells the tale of many a delightful bottle from Cali to Chile and the cheeses to pair. They keep us up to date on local wine events and even meet up on Wednesdays to talk wine and build community.

C’ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest have built up some serious buzz in our food-centric community--for good reason! These folks are forward thinkers, trendsetters, community builders and world changers!

Over here at Relay, we know that people in Charlottesville are smart, they care, they want to eat locally and organically, but they also work hard and take care of beautiful children who need to be rushed to swim practice and chorus recitals. We’re here to provide an alternative—a way to connect you to your farmer while reducing your carbon footprint, allowing the farmer to spend more time on the land s/he cares about.

The hip Charlottesvillians involved in C’ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest have realized the same thing. They know you want to have a beautiful garden that produces food for your table, but it takes a lot more time than you might have to devote to it. A good veggie garden is one of those things that everyone is going to do “next weekend.” Well, these folks are here to spread their knowledge and get their hands dirty this weekend so you can actually pull your dinner out of your backyard. They are available for consultation, implementation, and maintenance of your backyard garden for a very small fee.

Charlottesville is a beautiful community. We have so many resources here that are not utilized nearly as much as they should be. If we all work together to spread awareness, knowledge, and lend a helping hand every now and again our whole community will benefit and we may even be able to rework our atrocious food system into a truly beautiful, sustainable community endeavor.