by: Michael Clune photography by: Molly McDonald Peterson Waving his arm down the length of a garish orange boundary fence that passes just feet from his home and then disappears into his 250-year-old farm, the anger and frustration in Sam Brown’s face are easy to read. The fence, erected after the town council of Purcellville, [...]
by: Joel Salatin photography by: Molly McDonald Peterson I was in Australia a couple of weeks ago doing regenerative food systems seminars and a fellow raised his hand with a question: “I’m a farm consultant working for the government. What do I tell my clients that have 30,000 acres of wheat?” It’s the same mentality [...]
by: Adrienne Wichard-Edds photography by: Molly McDonald Peterson Wilson Richey should not have ended up at Revolutionary Soup. With a career that began in the erstwhile Tea Room Café (now l’etoile) in Charlottesville’s Starr Hill neighborhood and detoured through wine retailing and distribution, he expected to land squarely as a chef in his own French [...]
by: Tom McCann From the White House garden to the local farmers market, eating local, in-season foods is a growing trend. But not all local-food advocates are content merely knowing where their food originates. Some are living out their cubicle fantasies, balancing—or even trading in—their urban careers for working the land. Meet three gentlemen farmers [...]
by: Pat Wingert photography by: Molly McDonald Peterson Liz Reitzig had no plans to become a raw milk activist. But about nine years ago when the first of her five kids developed serious digestive problems with store-bought milk, a friend suggested she try raw milk. That did the trick, and soon her whole family [...]
by: Frank Morgan photography by: Molly McDonald Peterson That bottle of wine in your hands proudly proclaiming its local provenance may not be quite what it seems. It is, perhaps, the dirty little secret of winemaking. Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control rules allow “Virginia wine” to contain up to 25 percent juice from grapes grown [...]
by: Kristen Hartke photography by Liz Elkind A certain sense of incredulity descends as you start driving the winding roads of Loudoun County, Virginia. Hazy blue mountains beckon romantically in the distance as you pass lush green fields, quaint farmhouses, and roadside markets bursting with jars of ruby-red rhubarb chutney and freshly popped kettle corn. [...]
by: Adrienne Wichard-Edds You can’t set foot in Charlottesville without feeling Thomas Jefferson’s influence around every serpentine-walled curve, but insiders know that this historical Virginia town is also a locavore’s heaven. To tackle as many farm-to-table options as possible and squeeze in just enough sightseeing, don’t be afraid to make different stops for each course [...]
By Marian Burros, Photography by Molly McDonald Peterson Big Chicken “was never happy with my big mouth,” says Carole Morison, who spent 23 years as a contract chicken farmer on her husband’s family farm. Audiences of the documentary about the horrors of agribusiness, “Food, Inc.,” may remember Morison explaining why many farmers are too intimidated [...]
By Joel Salatin One of the biggest arguments against a local food system is seasonality. Here in the Mid-Atlantic region, it’s hard to grow strawberries and tomatoes in January. That people would disparage local food because something can’t be grown all year shows just how disconnected we’ve become from our ecological umbilical. Ours is the [...]
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