Ayrshire’s Extendable Farm Business Model

Chicken Pot Pie at Hunter's Head Tavern

Driving through the surroundings of Middleburg, Virginia (Fauquier County) to reach this weekend’s local foodie destination in Upperville,  fox hunting is apparently the sport of choice in the area deemed “Virginia H-U-N-T country”.  The locals’ affinity for English things is also noticed in the red telephone booths typical of London in front of several businesses, including Hunter’s Head Tavern (9048 John S. Mosby Hwy).  As we were parking the car, a wave of British patrons exited the tavern, and I now wondered if these phone booths were actually some sort of Dr. Who travel vessel.  Of course, the fare on the tavern’s menu was also typical British.  While the jaw-dropping surrounding countryside and charming streets and businesses of both Middleburg and Upperville extended the trip into late afternoon, the tavern was our first stop  since I came to explore how it was integrated into an extendable local sustainable farm business model. 

Ayrshire Farm,  located in Upperville at 21846 Trappe Road, is a fully-certified organic, humane and USDA-inspected farm, raising heritage breed livestock.  The farm itself is spectacular and the original plantation house dates back to 1821.  Ayrshire Farm also owns and supplies its farm products to three local retail establishments: Home Farm Store, a traditional Butcher Shop, in what appears to be a former bank building, sells organic, local, and other specialty foods with a loft old-fashioned soda bar, in Middleburg, Virginia, Hunter’s Head Tavern in Upperville, Virginia and Home Farm Catering Company offering catering for private on-farm (a spectacular dreamy site), tavern or off-site events.  Ayrshire Farm products are also available at the Inn of Little Washington and Nora’s Restaurant. 

Hunter’s Head Tavern is a deservedly popular neighborhood spot and an authentic English Pub that serves pub fare, fine dining cuisine, and mouthwatering homemade desserts. At Hunter’s Head Tavern, you can experience organic local farm meats and produce harvested from neighboring Ayrshire Farm.  From burgers and bangers, to roasted chickens, to veal and pork chops, Hunter’s Head Tavern provides a unique opportunity for customers to have confidence that their meals come from a farm dedicated to maintaining the health and well being of its animals.  After almost 100 years as a tenant house, antique shop, and office, current owner Sandy Lerner’s efforts in 1997 to open a restaurant in Upperville were repeatedly blocked, particularly by the monied horsy set. Consequently, fox hunters are not allowed to cross her property, and her disdain for them is reflected in the restaurant’s name: Hunter’s Head.

Wonderful domestic and imported beers are available on tap, along with an excellent wine selection including local and organic wines. Five different dining rooms and extensive outdoor seating during the summer season, provide a dynamic dining experience including family-friendly, romantic, and neighborhood pub-style.  The Tavern also accommodates private parties.

There are some striking original remnants, such as fireplaces, walls and mantles, of the 1750s log cabin built by Scotsman Steven McPherson, known as the Old Carr House for a second-generation Irishman Joseph Carr who bought the farm and cabin and later opened a general store as well as founded Upperville.  The ordering system is true British tavern style. Guests place an order at the bar’s open Dutch door and then take a numbered wooden spoon to be placed in the empty wine bottle sitting on the table; servers look for your number and deliver your order directly to your table in one of the atmospheric tavern rooms or outside on the terrace, in good weather. 

The Tavern continues its British heritage by serving organic Scottish Highland cattle and Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs. It stews its beef in Guinness, makes its Welsh rarebit with English Cheddars, and lays out tea midweek and seasonal custard year-round. My dining partner enjoyed the bangers and potatoes, a very generous portion that I was happy to share since my puff pastry-topped chicken pot pie turned out to be the smallest entree on the menu. Chips here, of course, mean french fries.  It should be pointed out that despite the name, Hunter’s Head is not only carnivore country. Lighter and vegetarian options include salmon and tuna, a variety of salads and seafood Caesars as well as vegetarian versions of either the pot or shepherd’s pie.  I will definitely be back to explore more of the menu!

Open for dinner daily; afternoon tea Tue-Wed-Thu;
Lunch Tues-Sunday; 540-592-9020
Outdoor seating available in good weather.
http://www.huntersheadtavern.com/

The Carriage House Market – bringing natural foods and the art of dining to local tables

I had to sit down and begin this blog entry the morning after visiting the Sheppard Mansion’s recent addition of the all-natural, all local, year-round Carriage House Market in the rear of their property.  I am postponing my morning bike ride while my mouth is still watering from the breakfast of my purchases of their delectable freshly baked bread, goat cheese (from Spriggs Delight Farm), and the most flaky layered sticky bun this Pennsylvania Dutch boy has ever had.  Having read about these sticky buns on Chef Andrew Little’s blog for weeks as he was promoting the opening of the market, and then seeing him personally deliver them from the Sheppard Mansion’s kitchen to the market table, I had to get out of bed early this morning knowing that they were waiting downstairs.

Chef Little’s blogs and posts always exude his passion, humor, creativity in presentation and twists on old favorites,  and dedication to the highest quality ingredients so well that you can almost taste his food; however, the biggest draw for me to the market, that’s a drive 70 miles just over the Maryland border in lieu of the Takoma Park Farmers Market, is Chef Little’s unequaled and award-winning dedication to promoting local farm-to-table, humane and sustainable dining.  Let me tell you, it was well worth the drive and I will be back again soon.  I had the great pleasure of learning that this dedication is shared by the owners of the mansion, sisters Heather Sheppard Lunn and Kathryn Sheppard Hoar, whose great grandparents were the original resident owners of the mansion.  The idea for the market initially evolved from positive feedback from people who were invited to meet local producers at the annual fall Harvest dinner designed to thank the producers.  Heather, the lead managing owner and visionary of The Carriage House Market, was very gracious to give me her time to detail her passionate vision and purpose for the market, despite streams of customers flocking through the doors throughout our conversation.

 Built in 1913, the mansion was totally restored in 1999 to provide a full-service inn featuring 6 guest rooms with sumptuous overnight accommodations.  The elegant Dining Room and Cocktail Lounge opened approximately five years ago and offers ever-changing menus to the local community Wednesday through Saturday nights, and Chef’s Tasting Menus are offered on weekends with optional wine pairings.  Opened on October 29th to an apparently amazing reception, where visitors could actually “meet the meat” still walking on all fours and some of the producers, The Carriage House Market is a broader extension of The Sheppard Mansion’s commitment to connecting people to fresh, natural foods grown and produced on nearby farms.   The carriage house has a history of family members “tinkering and discovering” with special projects, Heather and Kathryn’s father used to repair a collection of antique cars here.  So, naturally, now having two young daughters herself who are experimenting with new foods on a daily basis, Heather wanted the market to be a place for families as well as the ever-growing number of local Foodies, who have compromised the broadest sense of demographics already in the first fourteen days of the market.  In wanting to connect people with their food and learn about the producers, Heather was also very conscious of bringing as many producers of quality products within 100 miles to the market so that customers could lessen their carbon foot print by doing one-stop shopping for local sustainable foods.

 An important element of Heather’s vision is to extend this sense of connection to food bought in the market back to family dinner tables by encouraging people to build stronger personal connections with each other through the meals they share and more regularity in family meals and sharing home-cooked meals with others in the community.  In other words, she intends to bring local food AND families back to the table!  (She believes that the fifteen-thirty minutes at the table can be the most productive and rewarding of the day.)  Heather uniquely demonstrates her vision through an amazingly refined rustic and engaging presentation and design of the market.  After slowly making my way through the primary area of the market, reading about each and every local food producer, I was delighted to discover that the market extended through a door to a smaller room that first appeared to be a very elegant dining room.   A main marketing strategy Heather is employing to accomplish her mission is promoting the concept of “bringing the lost art of dining back to the table” by carefully selecting pieces customers could use to adorn their tables and make the meals that much more special and alluring.  This room does not showcase any food item, but rather Heather has created an artful ambiance through servingware products, French linens (the one exception to the ‘local only’ rule), fresh organic flowers from Windbourne Farms, and other tableware to inspire customers to be more deliberate and whimsical in setting the tables and atmosphere in which they will eat foods from the market.  Some of these great finds include hand-thrown and hand-produced stoneware from Hanover that is normally only sold at craft fairs, kid-safe dishware, wooden crafted spoons and cutting boards by Chester P. Basil, and an eclectic display of antique pieces (“the prettiest form of recycling”) to add “a sense of elegance to the table”.  Additionally, the market offers great host(ess) gifts or stocking stuffers such as ‘Wash Your Mouth Out’ soaps.  Since my visit, I hear you wouldn’t believe the amazing quality and presentation of the fresh holiday wreaths from Windbourne Farms!

 

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Back to the food! -  among many more offerings, at the Carriage House Market you will find milk and butter from Apple Valley Creamery, vinegar and honey from Willow Pond Farm, cider and jams from Latimore Valley Farm, Beevia Farms home-made granola, nitrate and hormone-free natural meats and eggs from Rettland Farm and the full line of Toigo Orchards value-added natural farm products like Bourbon Peaches, ‘Birth of Pain’ Bloody Mary Mix or heirloom tomato sauces & salsas.  Lancaster Fine Foods is apparently a great nearby resource that serves as a certified test and production kitchen for expanding the number of local producers who could extend their season with value-added natural farm products.  Of course, Chef Little is contributing to the mix as well with fresh soups, breads, pretzel rolls and those above-mentioned sticky bun delights – which get sold within minutes of being in the market.  By the way, you can also enjoy fresh coffee with that sticky bun and I hear Christmas cookies are now being sold as well.

I see lots of growth and success for this market.  The enterprising team at Sheppard Mansion is already expanding their niche and offerings by developing their own kitchen garden/farmette and will provide local  beers and regular beer tasting at the market by Christmas, pending the final blessing of their permit. Heather intends to include cookbooks that specialize in grass-fed meat and locally grown produce. 

Look for “The Carriage House Market” on Facebook or visit for yourself at 117 Frederick Street, Hanover, Pennsylvania, in the rear of the Sheppard Mansion,  Wednesdays through Fridays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. or Saturdays 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Telephone (717) 633-7500.  Follow Chef Little’s blog at http://www.chefandrewlittle.blogspot.com/ 

Preserving the taste of summer – my grandmother did it and so do enterprising farmers with the help of one Social Entrepreneur.

From plant....

Helping my grandmother tend to her garden was always well rewarded by having the most amazing lunches made mostly from her garden bounty.  For lunch, the fresh picks of the day were generally supplemented with something we had picked months ago from the garden or orchard.  This usually meant I had to take a trip down into the basement, which always provoked initial fear and hesitancy and partial fascination of the darkness and potential scare of some lurking monster, wild animal or huge bug.  These feelings soon dissipated as I also marveled that my grandmother’s basement (the tidiest unfinished basement I will probably ever see) displayed her prided rows upon rows of jars of preserved tomatoes, peaches, beets, green

Local Community Garden Directories

Most of my mid-mornings these days allow for time to inspect the daily growth of the garden and think about how happy I am at this house because of the amount (although still small at 40′ x 25′ and another track of 5′ x 15′) full-sun, productive garden space….and, honestly, it truly fuels getting a bunch of other things done the rest of the day.  Today, in preparing for contributing to my friend Katie Jett Walls’ enjoyable blog, One Per Week, that often highlights her apartment’s balcony garden space, I remembered how I had just enough space at my rented houses in DC to have a nice herb garden – and only after much work on the soil.  Fortunately, I had plenty of produce for most of those years since I operated a CSA program that grew into a health food store; however, I remember still having the urge to get into the soil every Spring beyond my tiny space and to be part of a community doing the same.  

Three years in a row I signed up to get a Glover Park community garden plot to only be offered a space in late June.   Lesson learned – put in more than one application.  Since then, I’ve learned about a lot more urban gardening initiatives and wanted to share some great comprehensive lists of community gardens in the area.  Thanks to the Field to Fork Network for their excellent map of community gardens in D.C.  And if you’re looking for a community garden  in Maryland or Virginia, Kathy Jentz of the

Sprouting from the Ground

For the last few years, I’ve developed a community service platform for sharing sustainable resources focused within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, easy tips and guidance on eco-friendly living through ECO STUDIO’s website.  It’s been something I’ve steadily contributed to while, knowing that there is so much out there offering similar services by so many people,  I’ve been shaping an avenue to uniquely contribute so much more to the issues most important to me:  sustainability, local organic foods, cooperative community development, and youth attaining their full potential.  My working goal is to launch forward from ECO STUDIO’s current platform to develop a residential, very productive organic farm-based charter school focused on leadership and personal growth through sustainability education, active involvement in social enterprise management, creative expression, community service and recreation for youth “in crisis”, particularly those who are in unsafe environments….and lots of funds for youth scholarships.  (My dreams are usually super-sized, so I also forsee a stellar restaurant and eco guest cottages to fully engage the local community and visitors from a far.)   

 

 This blog highlights progress on these goals and inspiration from organic farmers, green schools, young people at heart, best practices in sustainable business and how to go about starting a social enterprise.   I also share eco tips and reflect a lot on the simple things in life — like good local food and how working in my current “micro-farm” is good for the soul  –   Getting this far on my path, I’ve learned that getting to where you want to be tomorrow is all about enriching your soul today, making the most of each opportunity that seems right in the moment as it comes, and reaching out to others in the process makes it even sweeter and more enlightened.   I think self-reflection forms an important base of process in wanting to work with youth who may now believe they are off track, perhaps misdirected, and being able to relate to them in that we all need to start from where we are, day by day, to begin to develop our own uniquely significant contributions to our entire green world.  So, read, enjoy, contribute and use today to inspire your future accomplishments and those of young people! 

A few of our prolific sunchokes!

 

Why “Prolific Sunchoke”?!  -       

Last spring we planted three pieces of sunchoke tubers in the garden and yard; by September, we had several towering, flowering plants that had rooted over twenty pounds for roasting and chowder (YUM!).  We experimentally left a few pieces in the ground over winter, spread a few more around the yard, and we now have fields of sunchokes sprouting from the ground…that is my magical thinking pictures fields extending from our .25 acre mostly shaded by 100′ Tulip trees.   So, these fertile tiny pieces of root give me inspiration that small actions today, in whatever place we may be, that may seem to be of little significance will lead to great harvests in the near future.  Also, I’ve learned that it’s such things as admiring the growth of something you tend to daily, or just happen to do nothing to but get to witness its daily growth, that feed the soul what it needs to excel.  Hence, our “micro-farm” here in Takoma Park, Maryland has been duly named  “The Prolific Sunchoke”, as will be the site of our future organic farm in some place equally delightful – the soil from which so much willsprout.  

I vividly recall one day as a five-year old,  that would have been the summer of 1975 in Myerstown, Pennsylvania, gazing from a large picture window at an Amish farm that did extend over many fields across from my parents’ home.  As my mother came into the room, I turned to her and said “I want to be a farmer when I grown up.” Repeatedly hearing reasons from adults why that wasn’t something I should aspire to be, I somehow got off track by the age of ten despite taking great pleasure in helping to harvest my own family’s gardens.  

My studies (in Anthropology) much later focused on cooperative community economic development and eventually my MA thesis researched the challenges of creating culturally appropriate curriculum and job training for street children in Brazil, so I seemed far away from any idea of becoming a local farmer. While many things Brazilian were more likely to capture my attention in my cross cultural studies and travels, my discovery of the Rain Forest Crunch product developed by Cultural Survival, and then the delicious creation of Ben & Jerry’s “Rain Forest Crunch” ice cream, was one of those moments in life that deeply connected with my sense of an intangible destiny.  I began to passionately explore the emerging concept of developing a business with a “triple bottom-line”, that is a mission and goals focusing simultaneously on social, economic and environmental purpose.  Of course, I then wanted to establish my own sustainable business….but what and where would I get the money?!  In the meantime, I worked at a national non-profit dedicated to community service and was gaining invaluable skills in fundraising, volunteer management, working with boards of directors, marketing, budgeting, event planning and program management….all of which I would further develop over the years in jobs and leadership roles to come.       

At the age of 27, I was moving forward with launching The People Garden  – a natural food enterprise with a triple-bottom line of developing better access to locally grown and organic foods, developing the economy and social aspects of a neglected commercial corridor, and utilizing food to better connect people to each other and the issues related to food production and the local community.  I believed that I had gotten back on track of a broader version of my earliest dream; however, after seven years of constant struggle due to emerging competition, I realized it was only a path to my dream and that path ended in 2005 when I closed the business. From here, I combined my experiences in non-profit management, community outreach and business management in overseeing non-profit Operations; my last position opened my world to public charter school administration and the flexibility they present in models for academic excellence and diverse learning.   

Retrospectively, I’ve come full circle in realizing that, at that young impressionable moment fixating on the farm, I had a premonition of sorts of where my path would take me, yet only a vague impression of how I would know when I got there.  Somehow, without a map for getting there and taking a seemingly random route, with some mistakes acknowledged, I now find that my undirected yet unique path and the strengths and interests that have evolved along the way all enriched my capacity to conceptualize a much broader, and hopefully more significant, contribution to the issues I care about most, and I’m ready to steadily move forward!   The image of Isaac farming his land now signifies for me the enjoyment of tending to things that grow with care and love, sharing good,  healthy food, caring about the Earth and our neighbors – especially young people, and a having safe place to call home and work…all of the things that make this project so important.   Throwing ourselves into and reflecting upon the day-to-day growth of our own “gardens” (full of sunchokes) puts everything into perspective and makes anything attainable.