Working Farms & Local Food

Farmland and forests produce the essentials of life, from the food on our tables to clean water and air. In PEC’s nine-county area, approximately 200,000 acres of farmland and 198,000 acres of forests are protected through private, voluntary land conservation.

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Farmstead Ferments & New Moon Naturals

Farmstead Ferments & New Moon Naturals

Sitting less than 100 yards from gardens and a variety of fruit trees on a farm in Charlottesville, I met with Dawn Story, founder of New Moon Naturals and Farmstead Ferments. Story tells me that …
Market Table Bistro

Market Table Bistro

Opening a restaurant like Market Table Bistro was always a dream for Rebecca Dudley and Jason Lage, both of whom went to culinary school and later met while working at Lansdowne Resort. They each grew …
Moutoux Orchard

Moutoux Orchard

It’s pick-up day at Moutoux Orchard and it looks nothing like the scene at your nearest grocery store. It is mid-March when I went to visit, there is snow on the ground and members of …
Sheep grazing

Renovating Worn-Out Pastures

Like many Piedmont farms, Over Jordan Farm in Rappahannock has been a pasture-based operation for decades. After 20 years of overgrazing, however, it’s facing issues that are common in the region—poor soil health, a lack …
Expanding Beef Cattle Profitability in VA's Northern Piedmont

Expanding Beef Cattle Profitability in VA’s Northern Piedmont

Currently: • Most weaned and backgrounded calves leave the state for fattening in out-of-state feedlots. • A small percentage of calves are kept as stockers before shipping to out-of-state feedlots. • Most cow-calf operations take …
| | Working Farms & Food
Loudoun Farm Incubator

Loudoun Farm Incubator

The concept of incubators to launch new farm businesses has been developing in the sustainable agriculture community for years. Veteran agriculturalists understand that, much like a successful farm business, a successful farmer incubator requires very …
| | Working Farms & Food
Water Penny farm

Defining our Food Labels

When talking about our food, we constantly hear terms like ‘organic’, ‘local’, ‘free-range’, and ‘grass-fed.’ These labels are meant to guide consumers’ food purchasing decisions by offering information on the farming methods used to grow …
| | Working Farms & Food
Discovering Local Food

Discovering Local Food

In my role as the Buy Fresh Buy Local Coordinator for The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), local food is an everyday topic of conversation. From broader discussions on how to encourage larger institutions to purchase …
| | Working Farms & Food
Work session

Buy Fresh Buy Local Work Session

Piedmont Environmental Council has been a Buy Fresh Buy Local (BFBL) chapter coordinator since 2007. Over that time, our three BFBL chapters have grown to include over 600 farms, farmers’ markets, retailers, restaurants, wineries, and …
| | Working Farms & Food
Michael Clark

Planet Earth Diversified

You might think it unlikely that a farmer as grounded as Michael Clark of Planet Earth Diversified would get his inspiration from the spaceship Apollo 13. But if you take a tour of his farm, …

The Piedmont Environmental Council is a partner of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition. We support the 4 core principles of soil health management: Keep Soil Covered; Minimize Soil Disturbance; Maximize Living Roots; and, Energize with Diversity. Join the movement today at 4thesoil.org.