2021 HFCA Budget

Notes:

1. $27,397.61 Reserve Fund as of 9/30/2020 – It is HFCA policy to maintain a reserve fund invested in low risk financial instruments.
2. The 2021 budget was set on October 27, 2020 and setting of the 2021 annual assessment were approved by the HFCA Board of Directors on October 13, 2020. The 2021 annual assessment is $250.00. Under the Hickory Farms Bylaws and the Virginia Property Owners Association Act, the Board of Directors must approve a budget and set an annual assessment for the forthcoming year.

HFCA Reserve Study Summary

- By Bruce Bernhardt (Still Meadow Rd)

For 2020, there are no targeted Reserve Expenditures allocated by the Board of Directors. As of December 31, 2020 the Reserve Account Balance is expected to be $27,397.61, reflecting contributions to the Reserve made during 2020.

HFCA completed its first Reserve Study in June 2020. Based on that study, the Board of Directors has budgeted an addition of $7,500 to the Reserve Account in 2021. The HFCA Reserve Study will be reviewed annual to make necessary changes and updates as decided by the Board of Directors.

Attend a HFCA Board Meeting From Your Living Room!

- By Bruce Bernhardt (Still Meadow Rd)

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hickory Farms Board Meetings are now conducted using the Zoom audio/video conference application. That means that every Hickory Farms Community Association member can observe their Board in action without leaving home! To join a Board Meeting, contact any HFCA Board Member or send a request to join to hfca@hickoryfarms.org. You will be provided the date and time of the next Board Meeting. You will also be provided the Zoom meeting URL, meeting number and passcode. From the convenience of your own home, you can click on the URL or enter it into your browser, enter the meeting number and then enter the passcode. You will then see a screen display that indicates you are in the waiting room and will enter the meeting once the host opens the meeting.

Hickory Farms has a strong and consistent history of transparency regarding access by members to Board Meetings and the challenges facing our community. Please consider attending a Board Meeting so that you are fully informed with the issues facing our neighborhood!

Strategic Planning Meeting

Please join the board for a virtual meeting via Zoom on November 17th @ 7:00 pm for a discussion on the Strategic Plan for our community. There will be a presentation on the plan followed by open discussion. The log in details will be sent before the meeting.

Join Our Listserv

There’s no better way to stay in touch than through our Hickory Farms email listserv. Visit hickoryfarms.org and click "Hickory Farms Listserv” on left and follow the instructions.

Student Yellow Pages

If you offer services such as raking leaves, lawn mowing, babysitting, general home maintenance, dog walking, tutoring, etc., please email Bill at berg_bill@yahoo.com to be included.

Birds of Hickory Farms

- By Bob Cosgriff (Cotton Farm Rd)

Periodically, boreal birds (those species living in the extensive conifer and deciduous forests in northern Canada) irrupt in large numbers in the late fall and winter into the United States, showing up in places where they are only very occasionally seen. The reason for this mass movement is poor cone crops (often related to outbreaks of the spruce budworm) or tree seed crops in Canada. 2020 is one of those irruption years. The 2020 edition of the Finch Research Network’s “Winter Finch Forecast,” compiled for over twenty year by Canadian Ron Pittaway and as of this year by his fellow countryman Tyler Hoar, calls for Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, White-winged Crossbill, Common Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak and Red-breasted Nuthatch to be seen in numbers far south of their usual winter range this winter. The prediction seems to have come true here in Hickory Farms, where we saw and photographed a female Purple Finch on our feeder on 21 October and then welcomed a flock of over 20 Pine Siskins on 25 October. Hopefully, the single Purple Finch is just the advance bird for larger numbers of this species moving south, especially the striking cranberry-red males. While we had Purple Finches going north in early May, the siskins are a new bird for the year. Added to an Eastern Phoebe seen on 1 October, our 2020 backyard count now stands at 72. We’re still hopeful for a Red-breasted Nuthatch. We have had them in the past, alone with redpolls (twice). The White-winged Crossbill and Evening Grosbeak would be long-shots. However, the Finch Research Network issued a bulletin on 26 October noting one of the largest irruptions of Evening Grosbeaks in many years. These beautiful birds have already been noted on eBird posts in West Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Maryland and even in a few locations well south of here. Grosbeaks and all the other birds mentioned above are attracted by black-oil sunflower seeds. Siskins also eat nyjer (thistle) and the nuthatches go for suet as well. To see what these birds look like, check out this site: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search, then fill your feeders and keep a lookout. Let me know if you see any of these species. My e-mail is bandjcoz@gmail.com. If you see something you can’t identify, let me know the specifics: date, place, behavior and field marks. If you can take a photo, so much the better. I’ll try to identify the bird for you. Perhaps it will be a new species for Hickory Farms. Or perhaps just new for you, which is always exciting. Anyone can be a citizen-scientist and with other types of activities unavailable during the pandemic, observing birds in your backyard or in the neighborhood is a good way to do something interesting while avoiding cabin fever. So until next time, stay healthy and enjoy the fall foliage and the birds of Hickory Farms.

2020 Holiday Decoration Competition

Haunted Hickory Farms 2020