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April 19,2013
Instant Spring
January 04,2013
New Year 2013As you welcome in 2013, make it your New Year's resolution to encourage others to support our local farmers. Consider this, if every Virginia family spent only $10 a week on locally sourced food in one year, it would generate an additional $1.65 billion back into our local economy.
Happy New Year and thank you for your support!
November 09,2012
Go Local this Thanksgiving
October 19,2012
National Food Day Membership PromotionIn celebration of National Food Day, Fall Line Farms will offer new member registration for a penny for 24 hours next Wednesday, October 24. Please tell all your friends to give our program a try and support our fabulous farmers and enjoy the bounty of their fall harvests.
Read more about Food Day and the celebration in Richmond at:
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/columnists-blogs/2012/oct/19/tdmet01-fight-poverty-with-urban-agriculture-ar-2294730/
September 28,2012
CRC Farm to Table DinnerThe Center for Rural Culture cordially invites you to join in a celebration of the Fall Harvest.
Executive Chefs Randall Doetzer (Juleps), Lee Gregory (The Roosevelt)
and Carlos Iga (Specialty caterer) will combine their knowledge and
talents to transform our local bounty into a memorable dinner. Our local
farmers who participate in The Goochland Farmers Market and Local
Roots on line Co-op will provide the raw materials for the chefs to
create this dinner. Barboursville Vineyard will provide wine pairings with
the meal.
Since 2004 the CRC has developed programs that emphasize the value of local
agriculture and serve to sustain the fabric of our rural culture. We founded and
manage the Goochland Farmers Market. The 2011 educational program “The
Homestead Series” was well received by our communities. We want to expand on
the success of these programs and reach out to a greater audience through more
programs and workshops. Proceeds from this fundraiser will allow us to expand our
programs, venues and speakers which support local agriculture, protect rural
landscapes, and conserve natural and historic resources of the region.
JOIN US:
OCTOBER 21, 2012, 5:30 -9:30 PM
Deep Run Hunt Club, 1542 Manakin Rd. Manakin-Sabot VA. 23103
Reservations are Required and Limited
COST: $85.00 per person (50.00 tax deductible) Visit:crcfarmtotable.eventbrite.com
September 21,2012
Whole Living at Forrest GreenWhole Living from the Ground Up
When Sun, September 23, 12:30pm – 6:00pm
Where Forrest Green Farm, 2317 Evergreen Rd. Louisa, VA 23093 (map)
Description
A foundation course on organic herbal living with the cycles of nature. 12 classes.
What is Whole Living From The Ground Up? Our world has changed, but we can still learn to be self-reliant and live sustainably with the seasons. We all have busy lives, but we can still learn to grow vegetables, cultivate herbs, and preserve our own food.
At Forrest Green Farm, we teach home food production and family herbalism that anyone can enjoy. Our classes include hundreds of recipes from drinks to entrees to desserts that use home-grown and home-preserved food that your family will actually eat!
Family herbalism is a unique lifestyle we live and teach that will keep your family healthy and feeling great. You will learn to use nutrition, fermenting foods, food as medicine, safe herbal medicines when needed, and the heritage skills and wisdom of our ancestors.
http://www.forrestgreenfarm.com/classes-events/whole-living-course/summer-whole-living/
September 14,2012
Goochland Farm Tour 2012GOOCHLAND COUNTY FARM TOURS
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ( RAIN OR SHINE )
A self-guided family and educational event showcasing six local farming operations. Farm operators will make presentations on the hour and on the half-hour.
The Center for Rural Culture will offer grilled local, organic, grass fed beef burgers provided by Brookview Farm as well hot-dogs and veggie burgers with sides and a beverage. The luncheon
will be held from 11:30 – 1:30 at beautiful, Brookview Farm, 854 Dover Road, Manakin-Sabot.
Cost: $7 for adults, $5 for children 6 and under.
All proceeds will benefit the Center for Rural Culture’s Education and Outreach Programs.
Lunch reservations are required. Please call (804) 556-5841 or e-mail sgrayson@vt.edu with your meal
preferences by Sep 13.
Additionally, the Women of Grace Episcopal Church will have delicious homemade baked goods for sale separately.
Goochland County has a strong and proud history of agriculture. Farmers raise beef cattle, milk cows,
laying hens, broiler chickens and alpacas. There are significant plantings of corn, soybeans, wheat,
barley and hay as well. Additionally, several farms have commercial vineyards.
Goochland County is also home to fresh produce operations and farms that provide specialty products such as organic produce, nursery plants, honey and fresh-cut flowers. There are also a significant number of equine businesses and thousands of horses.
The preservation of Goochland’s rural character and farmland is a priority of citizens and officials
alike.
Brookview Farm
854 Dover Road
Manakin-Sabot, VA
Sandy and Rossie Fisher
The Fishers have been pioneers in organic, sustainable farming in the mid-Atlantic since establishing Brookview in 1981 as a grass-fed and finished- cattle commercial farming operation. Family-owned and operated, Brookview comprises over 300 acres of pasture on which cattle roam and graze exclusively on
grass and clover. Brookview epitomizes the highest standards of environmental stewardship, producing all organic products without the use of pesticides, hormones and commercial fertilizers.
A primary goal at Brookview has always been to educate the community on the importance of agricultural sustainability, as well as teaching responsible and humane farming practices. The Fishers have seen many of their pioneering methods adopted and expanded by others in Virginia and beyond.
September 07,2012
Fall farm events September 2012There are many opportunities to come out to the farms, meet the talented growers and see where your food is coming from. Join us for these fabulous fall weekend events:
Graze at Manakintowne September 9, 1 to 5pm
Slow Food Annual Potluck Bellaire Farm September 9, 4pm
5th Annual Farm Tour Goochland September 15 10am to 3pm
July 27,2012
Membership Promotion for a PennyFall Line Farms Mid-Summer Membership Promotion – sign up now for a penny!
All those summer fruits and vegetables are coming in faster than we can eat them. We want all this delicious food to nourish our community and not go to waste. Tell your friends, family and neighbors now is a great time to sign up with Fall Line Farms. To support our farmers we are offering trial membership for a penny now through the end of August.
We need as many families as we can to help us eat, can and freeze all the fabulous fresh fruits and vegetables coming from our favorite farms. This offer is open through the end of August at which time trial members will be eligible to renew their membership for $50 for one full year.
With a Fall Line Farms membership you will be able to shop by the item from any of our participating producers. You only pay for what you order each week. There is no minimum or maximum order and you are not required to order each week.
Place your order between Friday and Monday and pick up it up the following Thursday at one of our many pickup locations around the city.
With one order, one payment and one pick up, you can order food from Virginia family owned and operated farms and small businesses from the comfort of your home.
Spread the word and encourage friends and neighbors to buy local food online.
June 21,2012
New Location in Forest HillWe have a new location at Once Upon a Vine South at 2817 Hathaway Road. If you have friends in the Forest Hill area who might be interested in the Fall Line Farms program please encourage them to Sign Up with us. If you are currently a member and this location would be more convenient for you, please send us an email and we are happy to make that switch for you. Spread the word!
May 31,2012
Grow Virginia's EconomyAs we enter market season, we are hoping you will consider the powerful economic impact we could make if all Virginia families spent just $10 a week on local food.
It adds up to more than $1.65 billion invested in Virginia's local farms and small businesses each year.
I extend a challenge to you to help spread the word. Encourage other families to invest at least $10 a week in local food. The positive impact on our community will reach beyond the economy.
March 02,2012
Now Selling Memberships and Gift Credits On-LineYou can now purchase gift memberships and renewals as well as gift credits on the Fall Line Farms Buying Pages. Thinking of giving a gift membership to a friend or neighbor, or want to renew a friend's membership for them? Now you can just by purchasing the membership online when you place an order and e-mailing us member details. We will send the gift recipient a welcome e-mail and get then buying fresh local food from your favorite farmers this spring. We also have gift credits for purchasing food from Fall Line Farms available for our current members. Thank you for your support!
February 10,2012
Valentine's New Member PromotionSpread the Love for Local Food -
Fall Line Farms will offer a Valentine's Day special for all new members to join us our program on Tuesday, February 14 for only $50 for one year. Membership will be good through February 14, 2013
Spread the love for local food!
January 06,2012
Happy New Year from Fall Line FarmsHappy New year from Fall Liine Farms
We hope you all have made new years resolutions to eat delicious, healthy food this year and that you will find these fabulous ingredients with your favorite Fall Line Farms farmers.
Registration for 2012 is open now to new members for $75 and renewing members for $50. Register today for one year through December 31, 2012 and enjoy local food all year round.
December 16,2011
Happy Holidays 2011
December 09,2011
Holiday Dinners from Shalom Farms
November 06,2011
Farm to School Week Special OfferFarmer to School Week - Special Offer
In celebration of Farm to School Week in Virginia, Fall Line Farms will be offering a free trial registration for all new members signing up between Monday November 7 and Friday November 11, 2011. Register during this time and get a free trial membership for three weeks and the opportunity to renew membership through December of 2012 for only $50.
October 07,2011
Renewals now $50 for a YearRenewals for membership for are now $50. These will be good through December 2012. Tell your friends and neighbors about all the fabulous fresh local produce, grass fed meats and wonderful artisan cheeses, exotic mushrooms, homemade breads, pastas and baked goods and many other locally sourced items they can get with membership to Fall Line Farms. New memberships are now $75 for a full year.
September 16,2011
Slow Food $5 ChallengeTomorrow, well over 5,000 meals will take place with people all over the country gathering together to take the $5 Challenge.
All day Saturday, September 17, in partnership with Slow Food RVA and support for this initiative, Fall Line Farms will be offering new member registration for $5 good through December 31, 2011. Spread the word to your friends and neighbors about this wonderful opportunity to enjoy fresh local food from our favorite farmers.
If you're planning on eating a meal tomorrow, make it a Slow Food meal. Pledge to take the challenge and then share your story.
September 09,2011
Fan Location Closes
August 16,2011
Savoring Summer Year RoundSavoring Summer Year Round
Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant, Peaches and Berries - so many, so little time............
It is hard to imagine mid winter; those cold, gloomy days of little sun, little green and the moment when you think you just cannot eat another sweet potato or hearty green ... "where are the tomatoes, peppers, berries and if only I had a juicy peach."
Those days will be here soon enough but now is the time to bask in long summer days and to stock up on these fabulous summer fruits and vegetables as we will be seeing the last of the blue berries and peaches very soon.
If you are not familiar with the numerous options for processing all the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables out there today so they can be enjoyed year around, check out these suggestions listed below. Gather together a group of friends and have fun!
Virginia Cooperative Extension: Canning, Freezing & Dehydrating
Sur La Table: Canning & Preserving Workshop August 21
Goochland County Parks & Recreation & The Center for Rural Culture:
Seasonal Canning Series: Chutney and Relish Free September 13
University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies
Canning, Preserving & Freezing October 22
July 28,2011
Celebrate Farmers Market WeekIn celebration of National Farmers market Week August 7 through 13, Fall Line Farms will be offering registration for new customers for $10 good through the end of the year 12/31/2011. if you have friends that have not tried out this wonderful on-line program, please spread the word.
July 08,2011
New Westhampton area Pick up LocationNew Pick up Location at Grove and Malvern Avenues
Opening this week, we will have a new pick up location at 7th Street Christian Church on the corner of Grove and Malvern Avenues in the Westahmpton area. Sign up now for $45 for the remainder of the year through December 31, 2011 and pick up your orders on Thursdays between 3:00 and 6:00pm.
July 03,2011
July 4th extended hours
June 14,2011
Special Screening of Vanishing of the BeesThere will be a special screening of the film, Vanishing of the Bees. Wednesday, June 29 at 7PM in the Louisa Arts Centers Cooke Haley Theater. $5 donation requested.
Louisa County beekeeper, Amanda Welch, will introduce the film and provide a tasting of the honey her bees produce following the film
For more information go to: http://www.louisaarts.org/. To view a trailer of Vanishing of The Bees, please go to: http://www.vanishingbees.com/trailer/
Synopsis
Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives.
Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables. Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.
Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss. Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery.
Producer Meet and Greet on Thursday, June 30, 2011 from 5 to 7 P.M. at Nadolskis Butcher Shop, 2913 River Road West in Goochland Courthouse. Learn more about the Center for Rural Culture and Local Roots Food Co-op. Chat with some of our producers, have a look around the shop, and sample local food, wines and music too! All who attend will receive a complimentary one month Local Roots membership. Please call 804-332-3144 or e-mail manager@centerforruralculture.org for more information.
Canning Series From the garden to the pantry, learn safe methods for storing and preparing healthy nutritious meals. The Seasonal Canning Series partnership will teach canning basics with a different theme per scheduled program date. The program is free and pre-registration is required. Register early, space is limited! Please contact Goochland County Parks and Recreation at (804) 556-5854 or click here to visit their website. The following programs remain: July 12, Beans and Pickles, August 16, Tomatoes and September 13, Chutney and Relish. All programs will be held at the Virginia House, Goochland Powhatan Community Services, from 6:30 to 9 P.M.
May 13,2011
Up Coming EventsJune 11 Slow Food RVa's Annual Community Farm Work Day 10 am - 2 pm
Shalom Farms
Join us for a family-friendly day of contributing toward Shalom Farms' mission to:
Increase access to healthy foods in the inner city
Build community
Improve the self-sufficiency of those involved
All produce harvested will be donated to urban neighborhood organizations served by United Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond
You can register by emailing your name(s) + contact details to: info@slowfoodrva.org (subject line: Shalom Farms) to receive further details of the day OR - JUST SHOW UP!!!
May 06,2011
Happy Mother's Day from Fall Line Farms
April 08,2011
Producer Meet & Greet and Screenings of FRESH the movieProducer Meet & Greet and Screening of FRESH the movie
Tuesday, May 3 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Hawthorne Avenue in Ginter Park.
Join Fall Line Farms for a wonderful evening with your favorite farmers, growers and small business owners and a viewing of FRESH the movie featuring Joel Salatin, Michael Pollan and Will Allen.
March 15,2011
New Pick Up Location in the West EndNew Pick Up Location in the West End
Fall Line Farms is pleased to open a new pick up location in the Deep Run area just west of the Gaskins Road and Broad Street intersection at the offices of Designline Home Transformations at 3909 Deep Rock Road.
Pick up is always on Thursdays from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, if you would like to change your pick up location to this new address in Deep Run, please contact us at Fallinefarms@comcast.net.
February 02,2011
Mid Winter Producer Meet & Greet and screenings of FRESH the movieProducer Meet & Greet and Screening of FRESH the movie
Tuesday, March 22 at Sprout in the Fan near VCU at 6:00 pm.
Join Fall Line Farms for a wonderful evening with your favorite farmers, growers and small business owners and a viewing of FRESH the movie featuring Joel Salatin, Michael Pollan and Will Allen.
January 26,2011
Weather PolicyCustomers,
The Fall Line Farms Weather Policy is to close for deliveries if Henrico County Schools close for classes. In the event there is only a morning delay we will deliver.
If the weather clears, we will make deliveries the next day, Friday, on the same schedule with pick up from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at your selected pick up location.
Thank you for supporting local food through the winter season.
December 31,2010
Happy New Year 2011As we look ahead to 2011, what a perfect time to to make resolutions to eat more grass fed meat, to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our diets or just to eat more fresh local fruits and vegetables. Whatever your goals for the new year, make sure they include supporting our hard working local farmers and small business owners with the Fall Line Farms co-op program.
Fall Line Farms customers will enjoy a wide selection of grass fed beef, pork, poultry and lamb; naturally grown fresh fruits, vegetables and berries and numerous homemade breads, pastas, prepared foods, artisan cheeses and condiments. Plans are in place for early 2011 to add new pick up locations in Richmond and Patchwork Farms will open in Louisa County and will have pick up locations in Fredericksburg and Culpeper, for more information visit www.patchworkfarmsva.com
Happy New Year and Thank you for supporting local food!
December 22,2010
Happy Holidays from Fall Line FarmsHappy Holidays
Fall Line Farms customers, our last pick up of the year is scheduled for Thursday, December 23rd from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. As many of our site locations will be closing for the holidays, please make every effort to have your orders picked up during the scheduled time.
We will be closed the last week of the month and Buying Pages will Open again Friday, December 31 for pick up Thursday, January 6th, 2011.
Fall Line Farms snow policy for winter season 2011 will follow the snow closing of the Henrico County Public School system. If the schools are closed, there will be no deliveries made that day. Please check the website and your email for further announcements. We will make every effort to get all of your orders delivered safely to your pick up location in a timely manner.
Thank you for your dedicated support for local food and the Fall Line Farms program. We look forward to a wonderful new year of fabulous local food. Happy New Year!
November 20,2010
Thanksgiving Week Pick Up is Wednesday, November 24 from 3:00 to 6:00 pmNATIONAL MOVEMENT SEEKS TO AID INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Independent We Stand encourages consumers to buy local
With the holidays approaching, the national movement Independent We Stand is encouraging consumers to buy local to help their community and the economy. The movement includes an extensive group of independent business owners that have initiated an effort to educate communities on the benefits of shopping at local stores.
The advantages of consumers spending a portion of their dollars at local, independent retailers for the holidays are significant. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce- Small Business Nation, small businesses account for 75% of all new jobs in the United States. Further, when you spend $100 at an independent business, $68 returns to the local community, according to Civil Economics-Andersonville Study of Retail Economics. These types of statistics emphasize the importance of buying local, for both consumers and independent businesses.
This holiday season, Independent We Stand encourages the nation to visit neighbors at their local stores and spread the word to friends and family.
“Purchasing gifts, food, decorations, and other festive goods at local businesses serves as a reinvestment because the profits are circulated back into the community,” said Bill Brunelle, Independent We Stand spokesperson. “The upcoming shopping-filled holidays are the perfect chance to share the season’s joys with your entire community by participating and joining the movement.”
Independent We Stand has provided consumers throughout the nation with resources to help find local shops in their communities. The website IndependentWeStand.org features a database of locally owned businesses across the country. Whether it be the craft shop down the road, the family-owned furniture store, or the local toy store, buying holiday essentials locally is giving a gift back to the community.
“In a way, consumers ‘vote’ for the kind of community they want to live in when they go shopping, and many ignore the long-term gain of buying local,” says Carol Besse, founder and owner of Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Ky., which was named Bookseller of the Year in 2009 by Publisher’s Weekly. “This season, we’re asking our community to support independent businesses because the holidays are a critical time when many retailers depend on business to drive profitability for the entire year.”
For more information, to pledge your support for locally owned businesses, or to register your own business in the database, visit www.IndependentWeStand.org.
About Independent We Stand
Independent We Stand is a movement of independent business owners across the country to inform their communities about the importance of “Buying Local” and how these efforts bolster their local economy. This movement supports all local and national causes committed to boosting local economic development projects. The Independent We Stand movement is sponsored by STIHL Inc. www.IndependentWeStand.org
Media Contact:
Kate Davis
757-232-2526
September 07,2010
Winter Season Registration Open Now for a Full YearWinter Season Registration Open Now for a Full Year
Sign up now for Winter Season and you will receive membership for a full year. Starting now you can register for membership to Fall Line Farms co-op for $75 and you will receive membership through November 1, 2011. Sign up now and enjoy wonderful fresh local food all year round.
August 17,2010
Save the Date: Producer Meet & Greet and Fresh the movie at Bon Air United Methodist ChurchProducer Meet & Greet September 21 at 6pm at Bon Air United Methodist Church
Fall Line Farms Customers and prospective customers plan to join us Tuesday evening September 21 at 6pm for a Meet & Greet with Fall Line Farms producers in The Commons at Bon Air United Methodist Church. We invite you to bring your friends and families for a wonderful evening of tasting products from our favorite farmers and learning more first hand about their farming practices. The evening will wrap up with a showing of Fresh the movie at 7pm in the Kibler Chapel.
July 27,2010
Polyface Farm Bus TourPolyface Farm Bus Tour
It's not too late! We have extended the registration deadline to Sunday, August 1st at midnight
for the Bus tour to Polyface Farm.
Polyface Farm, and its owner Joel Salatin, have become well-known through media such as the movies Food, Inc. and Fresh, and Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma, as a model for sustainable agriculture. Their method of Pastured (grass-fed and field rotated) Livestock and Poultry is among their guiding principles. Salatin is not without his critics, however; he calls himself a "lunatic farmer" who is "beyond organic", where some others call him a "bio-terrorist" in his dealings with nearby farms and whose talk has hurt those small farms who have chosen to become organic certified.
The Center for Rural Culture, who neither opposes nor endorses Salatin and Polyface Farm, invites you to decide for yourself. Join us on an educational walking tour that includes "chicks, pastured broilers, pastured eggs, pigaerator pork, salad bar beef, and pastured turkeys". WARNING: This is a 1.5 mile walking tour on a farm. The tour is led by Matt Rales, an apprentice manager at Polyface for 2 years.
Cost: $100/person ages 18 and up; $85 for children 12 to 17 (no children under 12)
and for Center for Rural Culture Members.
Cost includes bus fee, drinks, screening of the movie FRESH on the bus,
the tour, and box lunches from Ellwood Thompson's Local Market.
Questions: email programs@centerforruralculture.org
or call 804-955-7986
July 23,2010
$35 for Registration through End of Season$35 for Registration through End of Season
Tell your friends and family members that the mid-season price reduction has been applied to Summer Season Registration, join now for $35 through the end of October!
Also, we are expanding our site locations to now include Bon Air. Starting In August we will add Bon Air United Methodist Church at 1645 Buford Road to our pick up site location list. To change your pick up location to Bon Air just send an e-mail to flf@luluslocalfood.com. New members can sign up now and take advantage of our discounted registration through the fall of this year. Look for future announcements regarding new site locations coming on this fall. If you would like to see a Fall Line Farms pick up site in your neighborhood, contact us now e-mail and we will get started on setting that up for you.
July 09,2010
Producer Meet & Greet July 21 at 6pm at St. Mary's Episcopal ChurchProducer Meet & Greet July 21 at 6pm at St. Mary's Episcopal Church
Fall Line Farms Customers and prospective customers plan to join us Wednesday evening July 21 at 6pm for a Meet & Greet with Fall Line Farms and Local Roots Food Co-op producers at St. Mary's Episcopal Church. We invite you to bring your friends and families for a wonderful evening of tasting products from our favorite farmers and learning more first hand about their farming practices. The evening will wrap up with a showing of Fresh the movie at 7pm in the Parrish Hall.
For more information and to RSVP, go to http://lulumeetandgreet.evenbrite.com or call 804-955-7986
$35 for Registration through End of Season
Tell your friends and family members that the mid-season price reduction has been applied to Summer Season Registration, join now for $35 through the end of October!
June 04,2010
Summer is Here!Summer Season is in full swing bringing wonderful fresh produce and berries.
The warm temperatures and occasional rains will have our kitchens over flowing with fruits and vegetables the next few months. Plan ahead and be stocking up by freezing these wonderful berries and making sauces and frozen dinners to pull out and enjoy in the depths of winter.
Mark your calendars for Wednesday evening July 21 to join producers from Fall Line Farms and the Local Roots Co-ops for a meet and greet. We invite you to bring out your friends and families for a wonderful evening of tasting products from our favorite farmers and learn more first hand about their farming practices. The evening will wrap up with a showing of Fresh the movie in the parrish hall.
Details to follow.
April 30,2010
Summer Season 2010 Opens May 1 with STRAWBERRIESWelcome to Summer Season 2010
We are thrilled to be opening a new season promising wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables from many neighboring farms throughout central Virginia. We will continue to provide our customers with top quality grass fed meat products as well as cheeses, pastas, breads and specialty products all made from the very best ingredients locally available.
At Fall Line Farms we strive to source as many products as possible from counties surrounding Richmond and will travel as far as Virginia Beach and the Shenandoah Valley to bring you the quantities needed to keep products in stock as they come in season. We encourage our customers to contact our farmers and learn more about their farming techniques and fabulous products they bring to our co-op.
Sign up now and enjoy weekly shopping of the best of what Central Virginia has to offer in wholesome naturally grown local food. Summer Season will run weekly through October 2010.
March 26,2010
Sign up now for Summer Season 2010Fall Line Farms is pleased to announce our the opening of our second Summer Season May 1, 2010.
Our fabulous producers are promising a wonderful season of fresh local fruits and vegetables combined with our full line of grass fed meats, dairy products, eggs, homemade pastas and breads and many specialty products. We have been thrilled with the growth of this program and plan to bring on additional pick up locations throughout the metropolitan Richmond area.
Sign up now and your membership will be active immediately.
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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