Farmland and forests produce the necessities of life and provide essential natural services. In PEC’s nine county area, over 180,000 acres of farmland and 140,000 acres of forests are protected through private, voluntary land conservation.
A large herd of fluffy, yet still intimidating, sheep run full speed through a gate as they’re rotated to an alternate pasture at Over Jordan Farm in Flint Hill, Va.
“I don’t use herding dogs. The animals are trained to come to me and follow me,” says farm manager and Bean Hollow Grassfed owner Mike Sands, who has over 30 years of experience in sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation and community-based economic development…..
Our 2015 Buy Fresh Buy Local Holiday Guides are ready to download. The guide features businesses that produce locally grown Christmas trees & decorations and holiday foods (produce, meat, dairy, eggs and specialty foods) in the Charlottesville and Northern Piedmont Area! To search for more local food, visit buylocalvirginia.org.
The Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum’s motto, “We Preserve The Past—We Educate The Future” says it all. Located within the Claude Moore Regional Park in Eastern Loudoun County, the Museum is governed by a public/private partnership between the LHFM Board of Directors and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
In his search for the right piece of farmland, Ben Stowe spent a considerable amount of time “walking the grid.”
Eric Plaksin and Rachel Bynum are standing near a row of peak summer tomatoes in a field that, after 15 years of farming, feels very much like their own, when the landowner pulls up in his golf cart with his dog Hannah perched in the backseat.
For Brian Walden, his path to farming started with 250 acres of land.
Attila Agoston and Shawna DeWitt met while working seasonal jobs at a research center in the South Pole. They started farming because, after running fuel stations in the frigid cold for several months, the summer work on an island off the coast of Washington State sounded warmer and entailed access to better food.
In the five years since Jason “JP” Pall and Sally Walker began growing produce on a hilly, windswept plot not far from Virginia Tech, they’ve watched several of the parcels surrounding them change hands. A few have been transformed from pastures — the undulating terrain here is good for little more than grazing cattle — into new homes.
