Connecting area residents to Loudoun’s vital agricultural history while providing locally-grown fruits and vegetables for its food insecure population today.
Loudoun County is one of the wealthiest and most rapidly developing jurisdictions in our country. However, more than 14,000 Loudoun community members—half of them children—are food insecure.
The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows launched in early 2019. In its first season, the farm produced almost 5,000 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies including potatoes, tomatoes, squash, and melons. Since our first season, production on the farm has increased by more than 600 percent. In honor of PEC’s 50th anniversary, the Community Farm will grow and donate 50,000 pounds of regeneratively grown produce in 2022.
In 2021, our local food pantries continued to serve increased numbers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and inflated food costs, putting healthy, delicious food outside the financial means of many families. In response, we have continued to expand our production, adding laying hens, an orchard and more vegetable fields.
Throughout our 2021 season, we welcomed 750 volunteers who donated over 1600 hours of their time to the farm, while following CDC and health department guidelines. Our volunteers harvested 35,000 pounds of fresh produce for donation to Loudoun Hunger Relief.
Visit and Volunteer
There are several management areas within the 140-acre Roundabout Meadows property owned by PEC. The Community Farm is located on the approximately 40 acres within the triangle created by the traffic circles at Howsers Branch Road, Route 15 and Route 50. The address is 39990 Howsers Branch Dr. Aldie, VA 20105. If the gate is open, you’re welcome to stop in!
Join one of the most effective community-based environmental groups in the country. Title: Community Farm CoordinatorManager: Gilberts Corner Farm and Land ManagerLocation: Loudoun County, VAJob Classification: Full Time, Non-Exempt Introduction The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has proudly promoted and protected the natural resources, rural ... Read More
Contact:Dana Melby, Farm ManagerThe Piedmont Environmental Councildmelby@pecva.org; 540-347-2334, x7068 Children enjoying activities at PEC's Community Farm Family Day in 2019. Photo credit (from left to right): Beth Miller Herholtz and Hugh Kenny/PEC ALDIE, VA. (June 8, 2022) - On June 18, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., The Piedmont Environmental ... Read More
2021 was our best year yet at the Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows! Thanks to the help of more than 750 volunteers over the course of the year, we were able to donate approximately 35,000 pounds of fresh produce to our friends at Loudoun Hunger Relief! Thank you so much ... Read More
Next Generation Making a Difference in Key PEC Programs Josh Press-WilliamsClimate Action Planning Resources Josh Press-Williams, who grew up in Charlottesville, returned to the city in early 2021 to help PEC tackle climate change communication. Working with Senior Conservation Fellow Kat Imhoff, Josh is co-authoring a briefing paper that details ... Read More
Our Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows ushered in its third growing season this spring and welcomed hundreds of volunteers through its gates. As we all continue to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Community Farm has served as an inspiring gathering place for community members to enjoy nature, give back ... Read More
Our third season at the Community Farm is underway! Dana and Pete have already planted more than 12,000 seedlings in the greenhouse and are hard at work preparing the outdoor beds. All of the produce grown at the farm will be donated to Loudoun Hunger Relief. There will be many ... Read More
We had an incredible 2020 season at the Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows! Thanks to the tireless work of over 470 volunteers, we donated more than 25,000 pounds of fresh, locally grown produce to our partners at Loudoun Hunger Relief! What was expected to be a slow and steady increase ... Read More
Since March, with the help of partners and supporters, The Piedmont Environmental Council has provided 25,000 pounds of vegetables, 25,000 gallons of milk, and more than 11,000 pounds of local beef and pork to the food-insecure in our nine-county region of the northern Piedmont. That’s more than 50,000 pounds of ... Read More
PEC's Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows welcomed volunteers of all ages back out to the farm in a socially distant manner, beginning in June, with over 300 people helping out so far! As of early September, we have surpassed our goal and donated more than 22,000 pounds of fresh produce ... Read More
Dana Melby and Pete Walton working on at the Community Farm. Photo by Marco Sanchez Check out the latest video updates from Dana and Pete at PEC's Community Farm! Supporting those in need in our community is more important than ever. Everything grown at the farm is donated to Loudoun ... Read More
A lot is going on, at and around our 141-acre Roundabout Meadows property at Gilberts Corner in Loudoun County. We’ve got a new trail opening, the second season for the Community Farm and news to share about the market property at the northeast corner! New Trail Opening We are excited ... Read More
Aerial view of PEC's Community Farm. Photo by Hugh Kenny Loudoun County is one of the most affluent counties in the nation and simultaneously home to some 14,000 people without reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. It is consistently one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation, and yet over ... Read More
PEC’s new Community Farm manager, Dana Melby, is preparing for Roundabout Meadow’s first growing season. Photo by Marco Sanchez The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows was founded with two ideas in mind: to connect residents to Loudoun’s vital agricultural economy and to provide locally grown fruits and ... Read More
Volunteers Xaviera Hessifer, her daughter Chloe and her sister Carolina Herrera. Photo by Marco Sanchez. Interested in volunteering? Help us with planting and harvesting healthy food for Loudoun residents in need. On-site training will be provided. Previous experience is welcomed, but it is not required. Be prepared to work outside ... Read More
The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows launched in early 2019. In its first season, the farm produced almost 5,000 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies including potatoes, tomatoes, squash, and melons. In 2020, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, food pantries saw need triple almost overnight ... Read More
PEC’s habitat and stewardship specialist, Celia Vuocolo, at our Roundabout Meadows property, where a community farm is being planned. Photo by Marco Sanchez Food brings people together. But healthy food is sometimes hard to come by. Despite Loudoun County’s reputation as a wealthy community, a surprising number of children in ... Read More
This project is made possible through generous funding by Prince Charitable Trusts, the George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. Foundation, 100WomenStrong, the Chichester duPont Foundation, The Luminescence Foundation, David Ford, George L. Ohrstrom, II, Jean Perin, and Viviane Warren, along with other individual contributions from numerous members of the local community.
