Hayfields Little Washington Va

07/21/2026

Big thanks to the Town of Washington’s Architectural Review Board for their unanimous and exuberant approval of our Hayfields signage at Rush River Commons, across Leggett Lane from the town’s post office.

A number of residents showed up to voice support (all who spoke were in favor of my plans) and many were sympathetic to the lack of any signage opportunity on Warren Avenue. The ARB applauded my signage and the creative typography on the upper front of the building, appreciating that in the process we’re also giving the building a personality. Town council member Brad Schneider grew wistful as he told the group that the sign, and the identity it gave an otherwise bare facade, reminded him of his family’s store in rural New England.

Exactly. The challenge for me in designing the sign was two-fold: within the constraints of an allowed 25 square feet total, the sign had to attract passersby headed into town on Warren Avenue from Route 211, and it needed to add charm and an identity to a building that had been characterized as an office park. I love the building and its envisioned old mercantile roots. Before I undertook professional culinary training and opened the Red Truck Bakery 18 years ago, I was a typography aficionado and art director for The Washington Post, Architecture, Preservation and Smithsonian magazines. I embraced the “old town hall / rural grocery” inspiration and combined it with my love of vintage yet classic typography, in this case using a 1930-40s grocery store typeface and sign treatment.

I’ve envisioned Hayfields as a salute to our local rural farmers of the Great Depression. My logo, featuring a 1935 Clare Leighton woodcut illustration of a hay farmer sharpening his scythe, is explained in detail on https://hayfieldslittlewashington.com. The walls of Hayfields feature FDR’s New Deal Farm Security Administration’s photography project that documented rural life during the Depression (also on the website). You’ll see more design nods to that era in Hayfields—no bread lines but how about some vintage “church lady” cakes of the 1940s.

Stay tuned to our Instagram and pages as work progresses on Hayfields, with an opening in late fall or so. —Brian Noyes

07/17/2026

Jan Clatterbuck of the Rappahannock News sent me an email last week: “I had heard from a little birdie that you wrote something on Facebook regarding making sweet pickles, and that you will be using them when you open up in the fall. Would you mind writing something for my Washington column this week regarding the making of the pickles?”

A link to Jan’s column is here: https://www.pressreader.com/usa/rappahannock-news/20260716/281827175527665

A link to the recipe is on the Hayfields website here: https://hayfieldslittlewashington.com/recipe-downloads

For those who make pickles from cucum­bers in the garden and those who love eat­ing them, here is a story by Brian Noyes of the Town of Wash­ing­ton about his sweet pickles, and his hopes of serving them at Hay elds cafe when it opens in the fall. I...

07/11/2026

Here’s Ford Motor Company’s full story on the 1954 red truck I bought from designer Tommy Hilfiger, inspiring me to launch the Red Truck Bakery nearly 20 years ago. It’s one of 10 Ford icons on display in Union Station in Washington, D.C., through Tuesday in honor of the USA’s 250th birthday.

This Ford F-100 helped launch a bakery so good not even Oprah and President Barack Obama could stay away — you only have a few more days to catch it in D.C.

07/08/2026

A monumental honor: The Ford Motor Company celebrates 123 years of their history with a display at Union Station in Washington, D.C. Among the ten vehicles included is the actual 1954 Ford F-100 I bought from designer Tommy Hilfiger in 2004, which led to my creation of the Red Truck Bakery five years later. Dwight and I stopped by today for a peek at the truck that first sat outside our farmhouse and then at our bakery—and is now in a glass box in the nation’s capital.

07/03/2026

Hey, Tommy Hilfiger! Remember the red 1954 Ford F-100 truck I bought from you back in 2004, long before it became the icon of the bakery I started in rural Virginia? I was an art director for The Washington Post then, and I thought it was the perfect prop to park in the driveway of our farmhouse, where I later started baking on Friday nights and selling out of the truck on Saturday mornings at The Village Green in Orlean, Virginia. As you know, that led to two bakeries, thousands of cakes shipped nationwide each year, and produced the two cookbooks I wrote and sent you. Well, that Ford truck of yours is now on display through July 14 at Union Station in D.C. as part of Ford Motor Company’s showcase of their iconic vehicles over the years. Look what we started—as I mentioned to you in my cookbook inscription all those years ago.

07/03/2026

We’re excited about Little Washington’s annual Independence Day concert this evening, and honor it—and the launch of the Town of Washington’s 230th birthday celebration later this year—with a preview of Hayfield’s upcoming coffee label. Big thanks to artist Tom Mullany for the use of his beautiful painting on the front of our bag; to Mayor Joe Whited for use of the town’s anniversary logo, designed by Drew Mitchell; and to our pal, the Colonel, who choked up when he saw our salute to him. We’re looking at a fall opening for Hayfields (our line of coffees will be available then) with work now underway at Rush River Commons. There’s much more info at HayfieldsLittleWashington.com.

06/30/2026

First batch: Ten pounds of freshly-picked Kirby cucumbers from North Carolina. Using Dwight’s dad’s recipe for his superb Jack’s 14 Day Sweet Pickles (the recipe is in my first cookbook), these will eventually be headed to Hayfields.

05/09/2026

Anyone else seeing a number of cicadas out our way? I’ve found a dozen husks this morning.

05/05/2026

It looked like it was the first meal at Hayfields (that’ll happen in the fall), but it was actually a Cinco de Mayo and Taco Tuesday fiesta, served up gratis by our friends at Rapp at Home.