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January 27, 2010
Winter Season Registration now $35Concerned about the fate of her vendors in the looming winter recession, she began talking to the farmers about ways she could help them stay in business. Customers were asking about where they could purchase the local foods she offered on the menu - such as fresh bison, bread and goat cheese.
So Harris, 43, established a Richmond-area food co-op, Fall Line Farms, to hook up local producers with the ready-made demand in her restaurant's customer base. The foresight paid off: Edible Garden went out of business in November. But Fall Line Farms has skyrocketed.
While the economy continues to decimate the local restaurant industry and retailers abroad, the locally grown food movement and the proliferation of farmers' markets during the last few years have helped many small farmers and food suppliers stave off recessionary doom.
Fall Line Farms has continued to blossom. It's become a year-round co-op with about 50 vendors, 500 active customers, and up to 850 products offered each week with seven pick-up locations around Richmond and an average of $8,000 a week in sales. An operation that started via e-mail sells local foods through an online franchise Harris developed called Lulus Local Food (http://flf.luluslocalfood.com).
The venture has become a full-time job for Harris, who's talking with interested parties across Virginia and from states as far away as Vermont, Florida and Ohio about further franchising the Lulus Local Food software. The Center for Rural Culture in Goochland, the nonprofit that runs the Goochland Farmers' Market, was the first to purchase a license from Harris and now sells local products online through the Lulus Local Food Web umbrella.
Increasingly, diversification and cross marketing within Richmond's burgeoning local-food movement have helped prop up many small food suppliers, many of which have either held steady or grown in the past year.
"Our farm in particular is growing at such a rate that we can barely handle the demand," says Joy Alexander, who runs Avery's Branch Farms in Amelia County with her husband, Tim, and their six children. The Alexanders, who sell at farmers' markets and online through Lulus Local Food, do not sell to any restaurants.
But even among local restaurant suppliers, sales have been stable or up. Jo Pendergraph, co-owner of Manakintowne Specialty Growers, a 25-year-old Powhatan-based produce farm that serves about 30 restaurants in Richmond, says her sales have been steady. "There are so many marketing opportunities for local growers," Pendergraph says. Manakintowne Specialty Growers, despite the stability of its restaurant business, has expanded into farmers' markets and co-ops in the past several years.
Chris Vaughan, a Richmond farmer who supplies specialty lettuces to about 22 local restaurants, says he has lost five or six restaurant clients recently. But his winter business is on par with the past several years, and microgreen sales - such as baby lettuce and sprouts - are increasing. Vaughan credits his success to aligning with successful partners. "I don't want to be stuck with a lot of [failing] restaurants," says Vaughan, who plans to expand into one or two more farmers' markets this year.
Some specialty farmers, however, are still having success sticking with restaurants. "I have to tell you that in the past two years our Richmond market has grown," says Dee Scherr of Dave and Dee's Homegrown Mushrooms, a Southampton County-based specialty mushroom farm that supplies about eight restaurants in Richmond. Scherr says she and her husband, who grow mushrooms full time and also serve as brokers between restaurants and other specialty farmers, have had to cut back on appearances at farmers' markets to keep up with their restaurant business.
Not all local farmers, or farmers' markets for that matter, have emerged unscathed by the recession. Some local producers have seen a significant drop in sales, and farmers' market managers say the experiences of their vendors are mixed. George Bols, the manager of the city-owned 17th Street Farmers' Market in Shockoe Bottom, says foot traffic on Thursdays, historically the market's best attendance day, was "down significantly" in 2009.
Lisa Dearden, executive director of Goochland's Center for Rural Culture, reports that sales at the center-run Goochland Farmers' Market were down about 14 percent this past summer, with the average sale about a dollar less. Foot traffic also was down, Dearden says - although she attributes some of that to the recent explosion of area farmers' markets inundating buyers and producers with a plethora of options. Bols concurs: "With the advent of these markets opening up, there's a shortage of growers," he says. "They can pick and choose what markets they want to go to."
Jonah Fogel, a researcher with the state-run Virginia Cooperative Extension, characterizes Richmond's local-food markets as "pretty stable." He considers local food as an emerging economic market, and by his observation, the mood among Richmond's local-food movement - the glue of which is a combination of personal relationships and word-of-mouth advertising - "is fairly positive."
Still, Fogel notes that most Virginia farmers are not full time. "It's a lot of work and not a lot of financial reward for this," he says. "A lot of people burn out."
Style Weekly, January 26, 2010
January 04, 2010
Winter Season Offers Delicious Local Food OptionsWinter Season Offers Delicious Local Food Options
Winter Season is in full force at Fall Line Farms On-line Farmers Market with many options for fresh local food each week including winter greens, squashes and root vegetables, homemade breads and pastas, prepared jams, jellies and sauces and grass fed beef, pork, lamb and rabbit. As the weather permits we will also have fresh eggs and goat cheeses as well as local honey and many other weekly surprises.
Registration is now $35 for the remainder of the Winter Season.
Winter Season began November 1, 2009 and will run through April 29, 2010. Sign up now and choose from one of our 7 convenient locations around Richmond to pick up your order each week. Sign up now!
November 10, 2009
Ellwood Thompsons Coffee Shop hosting a series of exclusive viewings of FRESH the movieEllwood Thompsons will be hosting a series of exclusive viewings of FRESH The Movie,
a film produced & directed by ana Sofia joanes.
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food.
To view a trailer or for more info about the movie, visit www.freshthemovie.com
Viewings are scheduled for
Sunday November 15th at 6:00 pm
Sunday November 22nd at 6:00 pm
A $10 per person donation is suggested.
All donations will go to the Center for Rural Culture, which funds our Goochland Farmer’s Market and the local Richmond chapter of Buy Fresh Buy Local
October 03, 2009
Winter Season Registration is Open at Lulus Local FoodYes, you read that right, Fall Line Farms has a new website name, Farm2uDirect is now Lulus Local Food! The site is the same but the name has changed. As we expand to new communities we will want everyone to shop Lulus Local Food. We are excited to have recently licensed The Center for Rural Culture's Goochland Farmers Market to set up two convenient pickup locations in Goochland County to source food from local farmers for the Winter Season.
Our Winter Season opens November 1, tell all your friends and neighbors to sign up now to receive fabulous fresh local food all Winter long.
If you are a Goochland area resident and would like to sign up to pick up your orders from The Goochland Family Services or from Edible Garden, you can register now at http://gfm.luluslocalfood.com If you have already registered with Fall Line Farms and would like to switch your pickup to one of these locations, simply email in your request and we will do this for you November 1, when the Winter Season opens
September 14, 2009
Edible Garden hosting a series of exclusive viewings of FRESH the movieEdible Garden will be hosting a series of exclusive viewings of FRESH The Movie,
a film produced & directed by ana Sofia joanes.
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
To view a trailer or for more info about the movie, visit www.freshthemovie.com
Viewings are scheduled for
Wednesday September 23rd at 7:30 pm
Wednesday October 14th at 7:30 pm
Wednesday October 28th at 7:30 pm
A $10 per person donation is suggested.
All donations will go to the Center for Rural Culture, which funds our Goochland Farmer’s Market
Space is limited, call now (804) 784-2011
August 28, 2009
Winter Season 2009-10 Registration Opens September 1We are very excited to announce Fall Line Farms second Winter Season scheduled to open November 1st and running through the end of April. Most all of our fabulous summer season producers will stay with us through the winter season and plans are in the works to supply you with more winter vegetables this year as many farmers are exploring ways to extend their growing season. Register today and you will be serving fabulous local food throughout the holidays as well as be the first to taste the wonders of early spring crops.
"If each household in the Greater Richmond Metro Region spent just $15 per week on locally produced foods and farm products it would generate $5, 078,610 annual dollars of direct economic investment to our regions economy, farms, families and communities." - Richmond Area Buy Fresh, Buy Local
July 15, 2009
Summer Season Update / Discounted Registration FeeWe can't believe we are already half way through a fabulous first Summer Season for our Farm to Family Co-op Program. The cool nights and consistent rains have allowed us to enjoy a very long spring growing season and the summer season vegetables are starting to come in by the bushel. Many varieties of beans, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers are coming from our local farm gardens as well as juicy blackberries and melons. Combine the wonderful fresh produce with our grass-fed meats, homemade goats cheese, breads and pastas and you have a Local Food feast!
To celebrate the successful season and provide additional support for the hard working producers that bring us their fresh from the fields products, we are holding a Mid-Season Customer Drive to encourage new customers to come take advantage of our convenient program for a discounted registration fee of $45 through October 31, 2009. Tell a friend, Sign up now and start placing your orders!
May 17, 2009
Farm2uDirect.com Update!We are thrilled to be off to a strong start for our Summer Season. Warmer sunny days will allow spring crops to grow bringing a wide variety of spring greens, onions, and later carrots, radishes and peas over the next few weeks.
You can click here and see what to expect during the Summer 2009 season. You will find that some growers are a little ahead of the game while others can extend their growing seasons but generally this is our Virginia growing pattern. The foundation of Fall Line Farms and Farm2uDirect.com rests with seasons, local growing schedules, nature and common sense. And so it goes that we reap the benefits of Virginia growing conditions as well limitations.
Thank you for supporting local food.
May 05, 2009
Week 1 UpdateWe are happy to report that Week 1 ordering went (what we would call) smoothly with but a few bumps in the road. Participation exceeded our estimates and we thank everyone who took advantage of the ordering weekend.
We are especially proud of your participation in Pounds of Plenty, a charitable contribution to the Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels. Over 25% of members participating in ordering this weekend contributed to these organizations and we thank you on their behalf for your generosity. Brookview Farm will deliver organic ground beef on contributor’s behalves this Thursday.
April 30, 2009
Farm2uDirect.com UpdateIt's such a joy to be working closely with Virginia growers who are anticipating quality crops again this season. Virginia kale, asparagus, spring onions, broccoli and strawberries are coming in now. We're also excited about our access to premier beef, bison, seafood and pasta and are pleased to see so much interest and support for local food.
While our network is large, we are always on the lookout for new local growers and encourage members and non-members to help them connect with Fall Line Farms. Your referral is Richmond's gain so please continue passing the word that you support local food.
April 23, 2009
Virginia Farm Bureau Writes About Fall Line FarmsA recent article about Fall Line Farms was published by the Virginia Farm Bureau. Learn more by visiting http://www.vafb.com/news/2009/april/042309_3.htm.
April 21, 2009
Fall Line Farms Participates in the "Collegiate School Earth Day Every Day" CelebrationFall Line Farms participated in the Collegiate School Earth Day Every Day Celebration. Learn more by visiting http://www.collegiate-va.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204 or http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/EART22_20090421-222814/261974/.
April 16, 2009
Week 2 UpdateWe have been up and running for two weeks and your response has been fantastic. Memberships are exceeding expectations and feedback on this site has been invaluable.
Thanks to everyone who has registered for the Summer 2009 season and to those of you who have submitted comments. We are working diligently to fine-tune a few things but we are excited with how the site has performed.
A special thanks to Tim at Xgravity for all of his hard work on our behalf.
April 02, 2009
Fall Line Farms Participates in the The University of Richmond's Alternative Energy FestivalFall Line Farms participated in the The University of Richmond's Alternative Energy Festival. Learn more by visiting http://news.richmond.edu/environmental/features/env-energy-festival.html.
April 01, 2009
Farm2udirect.com Launches!We are pleased to announce the availability of our new Web site. This is an important step in our growth. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions about the site. Please use our contact form to send us your feedback.
March 12, 2009
Farm2uDirect.com Selects Web Development FirmWe've selected Xgravity, a Richmond, Virginia-based information technology firm, to help us build our new Web site and business system.
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