Our Future Veggies

A few weeks ago our CSA farm, Bull Run Mountain Farm, had an open house. Zach and I decided to go at the very last minute and hopped in the car and drove out to The Plains, about 40 miles outside of DC. I hate to say it, but I don't often get beyond the beltway and didn't regret doing so as we got off 66 and drove past a few miles of McMansions on the way to the farm. As we turned off the main road though, things began to look up.

We wound our way along a two lane road with old farmhouses and, as we started up a hill and into the trees, turned off on the dirt track to the farm. We bumped along for a mile or two, all the while headed up through the forest as I thought, "how the heck can anyone farm here?" We never made it out to the farm last year so even though it's called Bull Run Mountain Farm, I never realized it's actually on the top of a mountain. As Leigh, the farmer, explained, it's the farmland for poor people, as the wealthy had their farms in more fertile valleys (and have long since sold out to developers).

Leigh took us on a tour and we saw the greenhouse where 70,000 seedlings are kept warm with a wood stove, the fields and the chicken coop, where we got to collect fresh eggs. The two crop fields are on a flattish part of the mountain but still have a definite downward slope and were much smaller than I thought they'd be. It's amazing how much Leigh can grow in such tight quarters.

Now that we've been out to the farm once, I hope we'll make it again so I may have some more farm updates for you as summer unfolds.