Happy Friday — we’re back with more Hot Bones and a belated announcement. The 50th edition of this newsletter came and went without fanfare this fall, and we’re actually up to #55 this week.

The biggest thing I’ve learned along the way is that people really do care about finding ways to live healthier and help the planet, especially around Charlottesville, VA.

But make no mistake, the showstopper link in every single edition since we launched has been … the Pet of the Week. Couldn’t be happier we all have our priorities sorted.

Do one long thumb scroll through the newsletter for more Cville-specific updates like local events, cool houses, and pets to adopt.

🐶 Speaking of: Leonardo! A pup so pretty he might as well be Keanu Reeves from The Lake House (but maybe John Wick when he’s hungry). Mixed breed, 4 months, 31 pounds.

My parents do so much dog care for G and me that when they went to New York for a few days this week, we figured we should probably repay the favor and dogsit for them. Plus our dog, Frannie, is obsessed with their dog, Nixie, and we wanted them to have some quality cousin time in the country. I think that’s where the trouble started.

G and I took the dogs to a nearby lake for a long walk one morning. It was a bright blue day, lots of sunshine, not too cold but with the crunch of frozen dirt underfoot. When we got to the lake, the dogs took a long drink, Nixie rolled in something foul, and Frannie continued her lifelong obsession of chasing squirrels. 

Even though the dogs were off leash (big fields, no roads), they stayed nearby the whole walk. Or rather, until the last 100 feet. That’s when they bolted into the pine woods behind the house.

This is a frustrating but not uncommon occurrence. Once you’ve been out here for long enough, the rage and injustice that immediately boils inside you (why aren’t they listening to my commands, I am the human, don’t they know what I do for them every single day?), well, it typically subsides and a strange sense of inner peace takes over (dogs are dogs, they’ll come back when they want to, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it).

We had just reached this second, zen-like phase, so G and I went inside, made more coffee, and got settled for a day of remote work.

You know where this is going.

“Oh no,” G said a minute later, clutching her scalding hot coffee mug in both hands as she looked out the window. “What is that.”

Dogs are so funny.

If I’d found a half-rotten deer carcass, and if I loved half-rotten deer carcasses even more than catching squirrels, I don’t know that I would return from my secret spot in the pine trees and show off my haul to people who I might have to share my spoils with. Or who might even take away that prize while waving their arms and yelling very mean words.

So I guess we truly don’t deserve dogs. Because Nixie and Frannie had the generosity of spirit to share their deer carcass with their owners. They brought it to us like a spouse bringing home takeout on a rainy evening.

“What’s wrong?” Frannie must have thought as she ripped the stump of the spinal cord from the skull. “We just brought you some good stuff!”

“In fact,” Nixie must have thought as she crunched on a rib like a kettle chip, “we saved you the delivery fee!”

And then G yelled a lot of those expletives, and I yelled a bunch more, and that delicious hot coffee sat abandoned on the kitchen counter.

Thankfully, it ended up being a brief reign of terror.

“That’s a problem for my dad in two days.”

“Or we can have ribs for dinner.”

Since neither of us had “deal with a dead deer before work” on our 2026 bingo card, the rest of the morning had a bit of a tinge to it. The visuals were tough to forget. The thought of food was hard to stomach. We needed something light, bright, and airy to reset the vibe. A long shower or a spoonful of sugar.

Or perhaps a dollop of peanut butter.

I’d been saving a Hot Bones edition on natural peanut butter for a while now (because word is, it’s gotten good). I had bought all the samples months ago, squirreling them away in my parents’ pantry for a tasting party like the vegan ice cream contest last summer. But today was clearly a day that we needed a peanut butter pick-me-up. So I sent out the WFH bat signal to G.

And the party was on.

When natural peanut butter became a thing a few decades ago, a lot of us were intrigued by the concept — that same tasty plant-based protein but with less salt and sugar, and no hydrogenated oils or other preservatives — until we got burned with a bad experience. For one thing, you had to stick the jar in the fridge after every use. Plus, the military demarcation line between oil and butter made things incredibly gloopy to deal with.

There didn’t seem to be a good solution at the time, despite instructions on the label to “just stir before using!” (Much like I believe architects who design bathroom stalls have seemingly never used a bathroom stall, I also don’t think any marketing team that wrote “just stir before using!” had ever tried just stirring a full jar of peanut butter with an inch of oil on the top.)

And so, while people like me were grabbing an easy jar of Jif and heading down the next grocery aisle without a second thought, a decades-long quiet revolution was happening. The smoothest, creamiest, velvetiest all-natural peanut butter revolution you’ve ever imagined.

If you’re ahead of me on testing these natural versions, ignore the following. But if not, here’s what you need to know:

All-natural nut butter brands (don’t forget those cashew, almond, and sunflower seed options) have made huge strides since I last made a healthy pb&j, with startups like Justin’s becoming household names and mainstreamers like Jif and Smuckers now offering their own natural versions.

Given all this good news, it was high time to put these healthier versions through a classic Hot Bones pressure test. G and I paused work and got ready for our afternoon snack.

1️⃣ One Trick Pony’s smooth peanut butter

2️⃣ Justin’s classic almond butter

3️⃣ Octonuts’ sea salt caramel cashew butter

4️⃣ SunButter’s chocolate sunflower seed butter

5️⃣ Jif as our control group

Thankfully, none of these jars need to be refrigerated between use, but I did kinda forget when I bought them that only one tester is actually a natural peanut butter and not another nut butter gal. Forgive me. But I will say, despite the thematic cross contamination, every single one of them looks equally disgusting laid out like this 👇

One Trick Pony

💰 Cost: $5.49 at Martie

💪 Protein per serving: 8 grams

🧨 Hot takes: “The taste and the texture is really good,” G reports. “The flavor reminds me of the peanut butter that’s in Lance sandwich crackers.”

🥪 Good for a sandwich? A little too concentrated.

🥄 Good for a spoonful snack? Absolutely. I’d even have two spoonfuls.

Justin’s

💰 Cost: $11.79 at Wegmans

💪 Protein per serving: 6 grams

🧨 Hot takes: “This tastes like a healthy hotel carpet,” G notes. “I don’t know what else to say.” (For the record, I liked it. But I’ll agree that the texture is grainy.)

🥪 Good for a sandwich? Perhaps, but as a light spread.

🥄 Good for a spoonful snack? I’d say yes, G says no (and she loves Justin’s peanut butter cups, for the record).

Octonuts

💰 Cost: $6.99 at Martie

💪 Protein per serving: 4 grams (plus added sugars)

🧨 Hot takes: “This tastes like a pumpkin spice Yankee Candle,” G says. “I love that smell,” I say back.

🥪 Good for a sandwich? Yes, but a tiny tea sandwich. It’s super creamy and extremely flavorful with the added caramel.

🥄 Good for a spoonful snack? “I could do like three crackers with this on it, and then I couldn’t do any more,” G tells me. I agree, and then unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth with an entire glass of water.

SunButter

💰 Cost: $4.29 at Martie

💪 Protein per serving: 3 grams (plus added sugars, it’s chocolate after all)

🧨 Hot takes: “It’s too sweet for me,” G says, “but I could see how someone who has a sweet tooth or really likes chocolate, but who’s trying to eat healthy, would like it. It would be a good alternative to Nutella.”

🥪 Good for a sandwich? No, because it’s chocolate flavored.

🥄 Good for a spoonful snack? Yes, especially if you’re looking for a fun pick-me-up or you have kids who are tired of pb & celery.

Jif

💰 Cost: $3.19 at Wegmans

💪 Protein per serving: 7 grams

🧨 Hot takes: “This is my toxic boyfriend.”

🥪 Good for a sandwich? Yes

🥄 Good for a spoonful snack? Yes

💔 Good for your overall health? No

Of course, the great irony of this experiment is that even though neither G nor I want more than a spoonful of these per day, we now have 4 natural nut butter jars to work our way through. Well, 3 actually.

I left the Justin’s in my parents’ cabinet along with a commemorative deer antler.

Which one would you have ditched?

🍅 Meal of the week: The next Dine to Donate event is at Rapture on Saturday, Jan 17, where 10% of all food proceeds will go to the Legal Aid Justice Center.

🎟️ And don’t forget that Cville’s Restaurant Week is the week after next (Monday, Jan 26 - Sunday, Feb 1). If you don’t mind eating at 9pm at the table by the bathrooms, do nothing. If you like eating at 7pm at the table by the window, start booking reservations now at places like Bang, Botanical, and Mockingbird (which has a vegan cajun red beans and rice option).

🏠 Bungalow of the week: Updated 1930s Craftsman cottage with a covered front porch and the ultimate kitchen flex: a window above the sink (2 bed, 1 bath, $229k in downtown Waynesboro).

🏡 Cool rental of the week: Adorable yellow cottage in Belmont with new appliances and HVAC system, but no washer/dryer (2 beds, 1 bath, $3,360/month with a fire pit in the back).

🐟 Roll call for roll casts: Women’s fly fishing clinics are open for the spring season, and all levels are encouraged to join. The first one is on Sunday, Jan 25 at Big Bend Farm ($150/person, gear included).

⚡ Is your electricity clean and cheap? Probably not right now. But it could be soon! Learn how Virginia is building a more affordable and sustainable energy future (Zoom, Thursday, Jan 22 at 6pm).

💼 Job of the week: Donor Services Associate at the Southern Environmental Law Center (based in Cville, $58k - $68k, SELC is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligible employer).

💾 Remote job: Senior Communications Director at Climate Cabinet ($140k - $160k with a priority deadline of Jan 26).

🎨 Contest with cash prize: Pollutant-free stormwater is essential for keeping Cville’s creeks and rivers healthy. So our city utility system is putting on a storm drain art contest to help remind folks of the interconnectedness between our daily actions and our waterways.

Have an event or rec you’d like to share? Hiring? Interested in advertising?

Share any and all info here.