Greetings from the Hickory Farms President

Dear Neighbors,

As summer winds down and the crisp air of fall begins to roll in, it’s wonderful to see our community come alive with the energy of a new season. Many of our families are sending their children back to school, and there’s a certain excitement that comes with new beginnings—whether it’s the first day of kindergarten, the start of high school, or another year of college. This time of year reminds us of the value of learning, growth, and community support.

In that same spirit, I’d like to take a moment to highlight the work of our homeowners association. The HOA is, at its core, a volunteer organization. Every project we complete, every event we organize, and every improvement we make happens because members of our neighborhood are willing to give their time and energy. It’s this spirit of volunteerism that keeps our community vibrant and welcoming.

But we can only succeed if we have active participation from our residents. The board cannot do it alone. We are always in need of people to step up and serve—whether on the board itself, through one of our committees, or by lending a hand at a community event. No amount of time is too small, and every contribution makes a difference.

I encourage anyone who has even a little interest to reach out to me or any member of the board. Serving the community is not only rewarding, it’s also a great way to get to know your neighbors, share ideas, and help shape the future of our neighborhood.

Thank you for your continued support, and I wish everyone a safe, productive, and enjoyable fall season.

Warm regards,
Steve Kubrak
President, Hickory Farms Community Association

Hickory Farms 2026 Budget and Annual Assessment Notice

By Judy Deng, HFCA Treasurer

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. The Hickory Farms Board of Directors reviewed the 2026 budget and concluded a $300 annual assessment was needed. This increase from $290 to $300 is needed to cover the rising costs of operations and contribute to the reserve fund (used for repairs and upgrades of HFCA assets).

The 2026 budget and the increase of the 2026 annual assessment to $300 were approved by the HFCA Board of Directors on August 22, 2025.

For Homeowners: please see Board Approved 2026 Budget below and affirm your agreement to the budget on the Proxy Ballot included in this Newsletter and either mail or scan in the Proxy and e-mail it per instructions on the Proxy Ballot or attend the Annual Meeting via Microsoft Teams on October 21 at 7 pm.

Hickory Farms Annual Nominating Committee

By Melissa Stark

The annual nomination process for HFCA Board Members and Officers is now underway! HFCA Board member, Melissa Stark, is the 2025 Nominations Committee Chairperson. If you would like to nominate yourself or a neighbor for a Hickory Farms Board position, please contact Melissa at hfca@hickoryfarms.org. She will add the candidate’s name to the nominations slate to be voted on at our Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 21 via Microsoft Teams from 7 to 8 PM. Nominations will also be accepted during the Annual Meeting call.

To view the list of HFCA Board positions please go to our website, under board members, to review the positions. It can be found here. Please note that the following positions will be vacant for 2026: Vice President and Assistant Treasurer.

Not interested in a HFCA Board position, but want to volunteer on a committee? We have lots of committees to choose from, here are just a few to consider:

• Architectural Control Committee
• Common Areas Committee
• Neighborhood Watch
• Social Committee

Dozens of volunteers have stepped forward over the past nearly 50 years to make Hickory Farms the wonderful place it is today to live, perhaps raise a family, and enjoy surrounding attractions. Please consider volunteering this year as a committee member or a member of the Board of Directors in order to keep our record of continuous community service.

Save the Date - Annual Meeting!

Hickory Farms Annual Meeting
Date: Tuesday, October 21st
Location: From your home and on your computer via Microsoft Teams
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

The Birds of Hickory Farms

By Bob Cosgriff

Upon going over our field notes in detail to compile the annual Virginia Bluebird Society Trail Annual Summary Report, I discovered that we fledged only 19 bluebirds instead of the 24 reported in the August newsletter. This is a classic case of counting one’s chicks before they hatch! We believe that July’s extremely hot weather killed three hatchlings in the nest and caused five eggs not to hatch (these eggs were ‘counted’ in my preliminary estimate), plus we lost four hatchlings in another box to unknown causes. While this number is down from the last two years, it is still a good result and falls within the average range for our trail. The good news is that the “skylights” installed by Jarrett Stark proved successful in eliminating any attempts by House Sparrows to take over any of our bluebird boxes. We also had the second straight year of success by Tree Swallows, fledgling five new swallows. Hopefully, this trend will continue.

August is generally the month when bird activity enters the doldrums between the nesting season and the start of the fall migration. And so it has been here in Hickory Farms. The purple martins typically start moving south by early August. On 7 August, I saw three probably immature birds in the upper common grounds and on 10 August, I saw only two. On both occasions, one of the birds actually buzzed me. This is unusual behavior for martins, which typically do not react in this manner when anyone approaches their colony. Rather, they tend to fly up to 30-40 feet and circle around twittering, returning to the colony when the intruder departs the area. I passed my observations on to our martin expert, who suggested that the few remaining birds I saw were possibly late fledgers that did not leave with the other birds in order to strengthen their wings for migration. As for the aggressive ‘buzzing’ behavior, he opined that perhaps these were birds migrating through from elsewhere and not connected with our colony. As previously reported, we do not lower the colony to count eggs or fledglings since we do not want to discourage the martins in any way. About the best we can say is that we spotted six immatures. There could well have been more. We will confirm the number of nests when we prepare the colony for the winter.

We have been seeing some juvenile birds in our yard, mainly cardinals, catbirds, and towhees. On August 15, I spotted a Common Grackle on our platform feeder. Thinking we had already seen one this year, I checked our spreadsheet. Grackle was not checked off and therefore not counted in our year-to-date total. So I checked our daily census forms and found that we had indeed seen a grackle on 29 April, but for some reason I had not entered it on the spreadsheet. This gave me the chance to correct this oversight and update our 2025 total, which now stands at 61 species.

One bird that became more evident in August was the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Both male and female (or possibly an immature bird of either sex) have been seen at our feeders. They are also taking advantage of our Cardinal Flowers and Blue-black Salvia, native plants that are favored sources of natural nectar. If you would like to attract hummingbirds, use a small (8 oz.) feeder (glass or plastic) and prepare a solution of 4 parts water to 1 part granulated sugar. I usually make a quart at a time, which means four cups of water and one cup of sugar. Bring the water to a boil, add the sugar, stir to dissolve, then turn off the heat and let the solution cool to room temperature. Do not waste your money on commercially available red-dye feeder products.

Find a sunny spot, preferably near some flowers, and install a shepherd’s hook. Be sure to buy an ant trap accessory on which to hang your feeder. Mount the ant trap on the shepherd’s hook and fill it with enough water to create a moat that will protect your feeder from ants getting into the nectar. Then hang your feeder below the trap and fill it with the sugar-water solution. After about a week, discard the nectar, clean the feeder thoroughly, including the feeding ports, and pour in new nectar. Late August and into September is the time when the hummers start to tank up for the long migration south. They typically leave toward the middle or end of September; October 13 is the latest we have recorded a hummingbird in our yard, but that is an outlier So if you want to see these incredible little birds, now is the time to feed them! I am choosing Ruby-throated Hummingbird as our Bird of the Month. Read about it at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird.

Look for more news about the birds of Hickory Farms in the next newsletter. Until then, enjoy the onset of fall—and hope to see you at the HFCA 50th Anniversary party on 13 September! Who knows? Perhaps a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks or a migrating Bald Eagle will show up overhead to help us celebrate this impressive milestone!

Early Voting

Early voting for the September 9, 2025, Special Election for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District is underway. In-person early voting will continue through Saturday, September 6.

You can register to vote or update your registration by Tuesday, September 2.

All regular polling places will be open for voting on Tuesday, September 9, from 6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. More information about voting is available on the Office of Elections' website.