Hickory Farms Property Inspections

- By Justin Mensen, Hickory Farms ACC Chair

Greetings Hickory Farms neighbors. I have lived in Hickory Farms since 2019 when my family and I moved to the area. In February 2023 I joined the Architectural Control Committee (ACC). If you don’t know what that is, you can read more it here: ACC Operating Procedures

In addition, there are also detailed instructions on the website for submitting applications that require approval per the Hickory Farms Governing Documents: ACC Approval Process

The reason I am sending this message is to inform everyone that in the coming weeks myself and other ACC members will be performing property inspections using the following checklist (attached at the top of the right column). After discussing with other longer-term members of the ACC we would like to offer to any interested homeowners the opportunity to schedule the date and time of your property inspection. This will allow you an opportunity to meet your neighbors on the ACC, and in real time give you a chance to bring any anticipated property changes, questions or concerns you have to their attention, especially those items that they may not otherwise notice from the sidewalk of your property.

If you would like to schedule a timeframe for your inspection, please reach out to the ACC at acc@hickoryfarms.org or you can send an email to just me at the ACC Chair email account ArchitecturalControl@hickoryfarms.org.

These inspections were performed last year as well and any issues were recorded. And the following checklist was sent out as well so that people would understand what we are inspecting.

Post Hickory Farms Community Yard Sale Observations

- By Pete Scala and Jessica DuBois

As everyone knows, we had a rainy spring, and it messed up our plans for doing the yard sale on May 18th. Fortunately, after getting a lot of feedback from the community, we were able to find a weekend with good weather on June 15th. We ended up with 14 households participating in the yard sale, and it seems like everything went well. Several of us (I participated, too) were able to sell items that we didn’t really expect to go . . . and it was good to get rid of some things! I spoke with several participants who did well in the sale, so that’s good!

This year, Jessica DuBois volunteered to help with the yard sale, and she was a huge help. She did the maps and provided a lot of good advice and assistance.

Normally we get about 200 to 300 shoppers. I’m not sure why, whether it was Fathers’ Day weekend, or because it was so late in the spring, but I estimate we only had about 100 to 150 shoppers. We did have a number of early birds drive through between 6:30 am and 8 am, so those people who had their sale stuff ready early were able to take advantage. A lot of shoppers were looking for old cameras, old watches, hunting and fishing gear, sports cards, and jewelry. They didn’t care if the cameras or watches worked, either. So for the next yard sale, if you have those items, you might want to consider selling them.

Finally, we’d like to thank HFCA, which funded the yard sale, so there was no fee to participate!!

Registration Open for Fairfax Little League

- By Brian Head

Even though summer's in full swing, fall baseball and softball registration for Fairfax Little League is open! Head over to FairfaxLL.org to sign up your kids. Registration closes mid-August.

Exciting News! This fall, Fairfax Little League is introducing Softball for girls ages 7-11 at the AA and AAA levels. Younger girls are welcome in our baseball programs to develop their skills.

There are 14 different programs available for players of various ages and abilities. If you are not sure which program is appropriate for your child, check out the Available Programs page. To find your child's league age, use the Little League age calculator.

Fairfax Little League is a volunteer-run organization. If you are interested, check out the Volunteer Opportunities page and consider signing up during the registration process.

We always have a great group of Hickory Farms kids participating, and we'd love to see even more join the fun!

The Birds of Hickory Farms

- By Bob Cosgriff

July and August are usually slow times for observing birds. They are very busy raising their broods so are a bit quieter and more unobtrusive as they try to stay as hidden as possible going back and forth to their nests. Even so, summer is still a good time to attract backyard birds to feeders and gardens. Goldfinches love to visit plants with compound seeds, especially coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Shasta Daisies, and zinnias. With many flowers, such as Cardinal Flower (Lobelia) that are attractive to hummingbirds coming into full bloom, August is the best time to set out a hummingbird feeder. The birds will be drawn to the flowers and visit the feeder for some additional nourishment. Do not waste your money on commercial mixes. Simply boil water and sugar in the ratio of 4:1 (in September, increase it to 3:1 to help the hummingbirds fuel up for migration). Let the solution cool, then put it into your feeder and store any remaining nectar in your refrigerator. I usually make enough to replenish the feeder after about 4-7 days. Do keep your eye on the feeder. If it appears bees or ants have somehow gotten into the liquid or if the feeder solution looks cloudy or the feeder looks moldy, discard the nectar immediately, clean the entire feeder (mild Clorox solution or dishwashing soap is okay as long as you rinse everything completely), and refill.

On the bluebird trail, we have successfully fledged 26 bluebirds with four more eggs in box #3 which should fledge in mid-August. This year, we had bluebirds nest in five of our 10 boxes. We currently have two House Wren nests with a total of seven eggs. A brood of four Tree Swallows was fledged in late June. One dead chick was found in the box. This is the first successful Tree Swallow fledging since 2015. In the intervening years, there have been only a couple of attempts; all were unsuccessful due to sparrow predation. The box that produced this year’s brood had the “skylight” installed to deter sparrows. Perhaps that was the difference. Other boxes with this feature saw only bluebirds attempt to nest, whereas boxes without it drew repeated House Sparrow attempts. We will install the ‘skylights’ on all our boxes (except the “slot box”) prior to the 2025 breeding season.

One unfortunate incident occurred this year. Someone removed a bluebird nest with four eggs from a box right around the time of the end of school. We have not had any nest vandalism in a very long time and hopefully this was a one-off occurrence. Just a reminder: it is a violation of federal and state law to disturb, remove, or destroy a bird nest or eggs during the nesting season.

Our observations during June and July suggest that we had four nesting pairs of Purple Martins. If this is confirmed when we lower the array at the end of the season, this would be one more pair than last year. We do not check the colony to count eggs or hatchlings during the season because we do not want to disturb the birds. At this point in time, the martins have probably fledged any young that they produced. Typically, they then move away to other areas nearby to roost and feed, so martins may be less obvious as we move into August, which is the month when they begin to head south. The best time to see them is early in the early morning or around dusk.

Our backyard species count reached 60 by the end of the spring migration. Our last bird was Great-crested Flycatcher, which is our Bird of the Month. Since a pair of flycatchers was seen in in the neighborhood in late June, we believe they were nesting in the woods by the creek. We could pick up a few additional birds during the fall migration. Although autumn seems like a long way off during the proverbial “dog days” of summer, birds run on their own schedule. Some migratory species begin to leave for points south in late July and more follow them in August. September and October are the peak months for the fall migration, which tends to be more diffuse than the spring migration. It’s a good practice to keep a lookout for birds on the move over the next several weeks, whether that’s in your backyard, our beautiful common areas, or a nearby park. You never know what you might see!

Until next time, enjoy the rest of the summer.

Rabbit Run Remediation Update

- By Bob Cosgriff

The Rabbit Run Remediation Project Manager reports that the contract for design of the Rabbit Run project is nearing completion. Meanwhile, there will be a preliminary survey to check for the presence of and rare or endangered plant species, specifically the Small Whorled Pogonia. This native orchid does occur in suitable habitat in Fairfax County and is classified as “Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Therefore, before design begins, it is essential to know if this species is present and if so, exactly where it is located to ensure that any construction activity does not affect it in any way.

As soon as I learn that the design contract has been approved and there is a timetable for the project, I will provide the details via the newsletter.

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