President Column

September is here, and with it comes the unmistakable transition into fall. The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are beginning to cool, and our neighborhood is settling into the rhythm of another school year. It is a good time to pause and appreciate what makes Hickory Farms such a great place to live: not just our homes and our surroundings, but the people who make up our community.

With school back in session, please continue to be mindful of children and increased activity on our streets. Watch your speed, come to a complete stop at stop signs, and keep an eye out for children walking or riding their bikes through the neighborhood. Our streets are shared spaces, and a little extra attention goes a long way toward keeping everyone safe.

I am also pleased to provide an update on the Board’s search for a professional management company. After reviewing our options, we have narrowed the field and selected a company to move forward with. Representatives from the company will be invited to give a presentation at our in-person Annual Meeting in October, where residents will have an opportunity to learn more about what they can offer and ask questions. We will provide additional details about the meeting as we get closer.

Finally, I want to once again encourage residents to consider getting involved in our community. An HOA is ultimately only as strong as the people willing to participate in it. Volunteering does not necessarily mean taking on a major commitment or serving on the Board. There are many ways to contribute, whether your interests are community events, neighborhood watch, architectural issues, communications, or simply bringing forward ideas that could make Hickory Farms better.

This month, we are fortunate to have a wonderful article from Bob Cosgriff, “Hickory Farms Community Association—A Perspective.” Bob offers a thoughtful look at the history of our community and the role that volunteers have played in making Hickory Farms what it is today. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to read it. It is a good reminder that the character of a neighborhood is not created by an association alone—it is built over time by the people who choose to contribute to it.

As we head deeper into fall, I hope everyone takes a little time to enjoy the changing season and the neighborhood we are fortunate to share. Thank you to everyone who continues to take pride in Hickory Farms and contributes to making it a welcoming, safe, and enjoyable place to call home.

Steve Kubrak
HFCA President

The Birds of Hickory Farms

By: Bob Cosgriff

The 2026 breeding season is now over. We fledged an additional four bluebirds in late August, bringing our year’s total to 37, second only to 2023 (40 fledglings). Unfortunately, a second nest with a late clutch was unsuccessful. This was the nest with three eggs that most likely failed to hatch due to the excessive heat in July in which an additional three eggs were laid later, as reported last month. It is not clear what caused the later three eggs to be non-viable. The parents seemed to have abandoned the nest at a certain point. Overall this year we lost 19 eggs to various causes; had even a third of them hatched, we would have set an all-time annual record for bluebirds. Nonetheless, 2026 was a banner year on which we will hope to build in 2027. Of particular note, we cleared zero House Sparrow nests from our boxes this year. Replacing some older boxes with slot boxes and modifying other boxes to add a ‘skylight’ seem to have totally discouraged sparrows from trying to take over bluebird boxes on our trail.

Our Purple Martins have departed for points south. On 4 August, I spotted two adult males and nine females or possibly juveniles circling the upper commons and landing on our colony. Our martin expert said these might have been migratory birds just passing through and spotting our colony. (Maybe they’ll make a mental note and return here next year!) On 15 August, I spotted three martins high above the upper commons. Since then, no further birds have been seen. This is the expected time for the martins to leave. We plan to lower the array in September to clean out the gourds and at that time we will be able to determine exactly how many nesting pairs we had.

Late August through October marks the lengthy fall migration. While the spring migration is more compressed in time as birds race north to breed, in the fall the movement is more spread out and not as concentrated in terms of how many birds might show up in a given spot on a given day. Most songbirds migrate at night so the best time to look for migrants at birdbaths or feeders is in the early morning when they arrive or at dusk as they prepare to move on. If you get to the beaches from now into September, you can see large flocks of shorebirds. Hawks will also be on the move. A few days either side of September 17th seems to be the peak time for Broadwinged Hawks to move through our area. While most fly down the Blue Ridge Mountain ridges, swirling “kettles” of these hawks have occasionally been seen above Hickory Farms. It all depends on the presence of thermals for them to ride. It’s always a good practice to keep your eyes on the skies because you just never know what you might see flying overhead. To mark the fall migration, the Broadwinged Hawk (Buteo Platypterus) is September’s Bird of the Month. For more information, click on https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Broad-winged_Hawk/id.

Hummingbirds are beginning to tank up for their departure from our area in September (although in some years they have lingered into early October). You can help them by using a hummingbird feeder filled with a sugar water solution (1/4 cup of granulated sugar to 1 cup of boiled water—be sure to let it cool before setting it out). Do not use colored commercial hummingbird food or dyes. Clean and refill the feeder at least weekly. Another way to attract hummers is to plant Cardinal Flower (Lobelia) and Blue-Black Salvia in your yard. Our yard has plenty of both and it getting frequent visits—the hummers just can’t seem to get enough.

Approved ACC Applications from August 2026

Hickory Farms Community Association — A Perspective

In the August newsletter, HFCA president Steve Kubrak highlighted an urgent need to fill several HFCA board positions at the upcoming October annual meeting to ensure that the association can continue to carry out its chartered functions. For over fifty years,many residents have stepped up and volunteered to serve on the board for one or more years. The result is the Hickory Farms you see today: an attractive, friendly, welcoming neighborhood. More than that: Hickory Farms is an award-winning community, with many residents individually and HFCA as an organization having been recognized multiple times over the years at both the Braddock District and the Fairfax County level for going above and beyond in making their neighborhood, district, and the county as a whole a great place to live.

As a former HFCA president and former president of the Braddock District Council of Community Associations, I have always said that a homeowners association is the smallest unit of representative government. HFCA has a ‘constitution’ (Articles of Incorporation as well as Deed of Dedication and Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions), the authority to pass “laws” (Rules and Regulations), enforce restrictive covenants, levy “taxes” (annual assessments), and hold annual elections for board officers to broaden participation in neighborhood affairs. Thus HFCA has a more immediate impact on the life of its residents than does Fairfax County or the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Moreover, HFCA is a corporate entity, registered with the State Corporation Commission, subject to the provisions of the Virginia Property Owners’ Association Act (VPOAA), and operating as non-profit 501(c)(4) “social welfare organization” under the IRS Code. In other words, we have numerous legal responsibilities and it is not optional for us not to have a functioning homeowners association.All it takes is for enough residents to take their turn in managing HFCA’s affairs.

The benefits of serving on the HFCA Board are many: you will help maintain our 50-plus year tradition of being a well-managed,friendly, and cohesive community where neighbors look out for each other. You will get to know and work with some very talented and interesting fellow residents you might otherwise not have met. You will have the chance to help Hickory Farms stay engaged with the Braddock District supervisor. You will have the satisfaction of having a direct say in bettering your community. (The same benefits hold true for residents who might prefer to serve on Architectural Control Committee, Common Areas Committee, or the Social Committee.)Finally, by volunteering, you save the association money (your money!) by doing for free what it would cost thousands to pay a third-party management company to do—and that would mean a very impersonal type of governance, something I am certain that no one wants.

In volunteering to serve, you do give that most important of all commodities—your time. It is recognized that everyone has multiple responsibilities and often it seems like there not is enough time in the day for everything. Serving on the HFCA board or committee does require, at a minimum, a couple of hours a month for virtual board meetings and an additional, hard-to-predict commitment of time between meetings dedicated dealing with issues, depending on your role. Every effort is made to keep time commitments to the minimum required to run the association.

I hope that this perspective will encourage you to consider taking your turn to serve on the HFCA board for 2027. If you have any questions about what is entailed and how you can best help, please contact a current board member for details.

2027 Budget Information

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 2027 budget and concluded a $310 annual assessment was needed. This increase from $300 to $310 is needed to cover the rising costs of operations and contribute to the reserve fund (used for repairs and upgrades of HFCA assets).

The 2027 budget and the increase of the 2027 annual assessment to $310 were approved by the HFCA Board of Directors on August 11, 2026.

For Homeowners: please see Board Approved 2027 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 20 at 7 pm.

The 2027 budget does not include an increase in dues or the additional expense of hiring a management company. However, if we do not obtain sufficient volunteers to run the HOA, the 2027 budget will need to be revised accordingly.

Mailbox Group Buy

The Hickory Farms mailbox design and group buy details have been finalized! Please see the attached document for information regarding the design, costs, and the 10% group buy discount available for submissions received by September 15th.

Please note the following about the new mailbox design:

• The mailbox, post and crossarm are made of aluminum and built for longevity.  We wanted to make sure that your investment lasted a long time like the original mailboxes put in our neighborhood roughly 45 - 50 years ago (yes - a few neighbors still have the original neighborhood mailbox from the 1970's-early 1980's on their property).
   
• The 10% discount is only good for orders made by September 15th, 2026.  Orders can still be submitted afterwards to Quail Run Signs, but will just not have the introductory discount offer.
   
• Quail Run Signs will contact Miss Utility prior to installing your mailbox and follow USPS guidelines for installing.
   
• The new mailbox will be installed in concrete.  This is to prevent the mailbox from leaning and falling over, over the years.
   
• The new mailbox is selection based, which means you pick what you want to purchase.  Reflective address numbers are your choice as an add on.  You do not need to select them and can always source your own and put them on yourself, if you choose to.

If you have any questions about the mailboxes or payments, please direct them to Nicole at Quail Run Signs using the contact details on the form.

Please note that this mailbox has already been pre-approved by the Hickory Farms ACC, so no ACC form is required for this purchase.

Thank you for your interest!

Hickory Farms Block Party