Cover Feature: Saving the Bay One Perfect Oyster at a Time

The more oysters we eat, the better chance they’ll thrive in the bay. By Walter Nicholls • Photographs by Molly McDonald Peterson     It’s time to raise a farmed oyster half shell for a slurping salute. The number of oyster aquaculture farms in Virginia is growing with harvests year-round; and to the north, Maryland is [...]

Cover Feature: Veal’s Rosy Forecast

Some Virginia farms are committed to raising calves on pasture, which is creating a demand for rose veal among chefs, diners, and home cooks. By Walter Nicholls • Photographs by Molly McDonald Peterson     In the 1980s, American diners walked away from veal in droves after animal welfare groups laid bare inhumane factory-farm practices—which [...]

Artisans & Entrepreneurs: Out of the Woods

An alternative Virginia farmer brings a variety of specialty mushrooms to market while caring for the ecosystem. By Walter Nicholls • Photographs by Molly McDonald Peterson   Just behind a sizable 145-year-old white clapboard farmhouse on a peaceful lane in Cismont, Virginia, there are paths through a maze-like garden of perennials, herbs, and hybrid willows [...]

Flavor Cafe: The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm

Beverly Morton Billand is the Capital foodshed’s ultimate, farm-to-table pioneer, and chef Christopher Edwards brings what she grows to the plate. By Walter Nicholls • Photographs by Molly McDonald Peterson In the late 1990s, organic farmer Beverly Morton Billand had what she calls “my crazy idea.” She took the otherwise farmers market–bound vegetables and herbs, [...]

Putting Their Eggs in Many Different Baskets

Having found that relying on a single income stream is risky, some farms are diversifying what they grow
and the services they offer. We look at how Virginia’s Belle Meade Farm and Maryland’s Sycamore Springs
Farm make it work.

Making the Cut

Butchers are a key link in the local food chain because they help small farmers get their meat to customers. Demand for such products in the Capital foodshed is strong enough that several new butcher shops have opened recently.

Over the last three decades [...]