Good Morning, RVA: Endless summer

Great weather today, which is cool, I guess.

October 8, 2014; 7:01 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: backlightphotography

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and boy did it rain last night–we’ll have none of that funny business today, though. Clear skies and highs in the mid-80s make this afternoon decidedly summer-like. I plan to celebrate by not wearing socks.

Water cooler

Federal judges declared that the shape of Virginia’s 3rd Congressional district is unconstitutional. The district groups minority voters into a single block, creating the Commonwealth’s only minority district but reducing the overall impact those minority voters have on state politics at large. Basically, we’ve got a token minority district, and we need to fix it by April 1st. You can see the existing map here, along with what an “optimally compact” redistricting would look like (an idea not without its own problems).

Overwhelmed by this weekend’s impending 10th (!) annual Richmond Folk Festival? Here’s five can’t-miss acts to get you started. There’s an incredible amount of things to see and hear so start planning your weekend now.

Richmond BizSense has a tiny update on our attempts to lure Stone Brewing to RVA. Expect a decision between Richmond; Norfolk; and Colombus, Ohio by the end of the year.

Sports!

• Nats eliminated from the postseason by the Giants, 3-2. Near, far, wherever you are, Nats fans, I believe that the heart does go on.

This morning’s longread

Stalking the Wild Groundnut

Yesterday’s article about domesticating new, native plants got me excited. I fell down a bit of an internet hole and landed on this article, a first-hand experience with growing groundnuts, or Apios americana, the potato bean.

Sam estimated that he eats a hundred pounds of groundnuts a year, in at least two meals per week. He harvests them in early November before the ground freezes and stores them in a root cellar. One of his favorite ways to prepare groundnuts is to boil, peel, and cube the tubers, let them dry, then grind the dried cubes into a meal, which he later reconstitutes into something that, with some taco seasoning and lime juice, resembles refried beans. He added, “I also like to make a hot dish of hopniss, grated wild parsnip, onions, and wild rice. To be perfect, you should make this with squirrel broth, but if you don’t have that you can use something else.”

This morning’s Instagram

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October 8, 2014 7:01 AM 0