Virginia Food & Drink Tour Part 3, "Agritourism"

The final stops on our tour of Virginia opened our eyes to another whole aspect of farm marketing to which most of Brits are largely unfamiliar, "Agritourism". This is where a farm opens its gates and markets itself as a leisure destination and as we were to discover this can sometimes encompass some extremely creative ideas!

During our "Virginian Food & Drink Tour" we were to encounter some quite different kinds and sizes of farms that had diversified into a whole range of activities to compliment their growing.  Our next stop was Great Country Farms, Bluemont, at the base of the famous Blue Ridge Mountains (remember the Laurel and Hardy song?) and is the home of the Zurschmeide family. Their 200 acre farm grows an impressive selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, including a sizeable Pick Your Own operation (often called "U-Pick" in America) offering Strawberries, Blueberries, Peaches, Potatoes and Pumpkins among others. 

It clearly wasn't long before Great Country Farm discovered the potential of adding activities to their property and over the last 15 years or so this is exactly what they have been doing. They now offer walkthrough mazes, puzzles, hayrides, a barnyard (animals), gem mine, jumping pillow (pictured above) and a cow train. Add to this facilities for hosting school trips, corporate events and even weddings! Pictured below is "The Stable", a hugely impressive building redeveloped specifically with weddings in mind with one of its biggest assets being a spectacular view over the Blue Ridge Mountains.  This is all quite typical of how the creative minded American fruit farmer has developed their business in recent years.

Farm related events are another important sphere of a farm business like this, each one pulling hundreds and more often thousands of visitors in a very short space of time. Parking and crowd control can be quite serious issues! Here at Great Country Farm annual events include Marshmallow Harvest, Cider Festival, Strawberry Jubilee, Barbeque and Blackberry Bonanza, Peach Festival, Fall Festival and James's favourite, "Pumpkin Chunkin"!

Our next stop on tour was a very short journey just across the road from the Zurshmeide's farm to yet another activity of theirs, the Bluemont Vineyard. At 951ft above sea level the vineyard enjoys the same spectacular view as The Stable; it was once the family home but is now home to "The Winery", a superb facility including wine tasting, meals and a retail outlet. Fortunately our tour allowed some time for just a little bit of wine tasting!

If you ever wondered how to build a theme park on a budget, take a look at our next stop on Day 3 of our tour, Chesterfield Berry Farm in Mosely. The farm (including a pick your own unit) grows over 50 different varieties of fruit and vegetables and whilst it might not have quite that many attractions it cant be too far short! The most memorable on our part was the "Corn Gun". Imagine a mortar gun that fires cobs of maize and that's the corn gun....fantastic fun!!! (Note in the picture below how far away the target is in the distance; we wondered if they really do shoot that far and are the public really allowed to walk by within the line of fire!?!)

Other activities at Chesterfield include a Scary House, Paintball Range, Goat Walk, Trailer Rides, Hay Tunnel Jump, Pony Rides to name but a few. Pictured below is a visitors snap of the Hog Racing during the open season!

We can't talk about agritourism without mentioning the king of attractions, the Corn Maze! Us Brits are no strangers to the "Maize Maze" of course and they were well represented among our group of British travellers (check out Milton Maize Maze in Cambridge www.themiltonmaizemaize.co.uk and Tulleys Farm in Crawley www.tulleysfarm.com). Its probably no surprise to learn that this have become a really big deal over in the States and every year now sees more and more creative designs, themes and activities incorporated within them.

Finally we have to mention two of our fellow bus tour travellers, Kyla and Kirtsen Vala of "Vala's Pumpkin Patch" in Omaha, Nebraska widely regarded as the market leaders in their field. In 29 years their family farm has developed into a major attraction that hosts over 245,000 visitors in just 40 days (they're closed the rest of the year to recover!!!) and employs a staggering 600 staff, many of them actors! We can't wait to visit them one day!!! www.valaspumpkinpatch.com

Virginia Food & Drink Tour Part 2; "Farm Markets"

And so began the second day of our Virginia food and drink tour, aboard Bus 1, the "School on Wheels". The tour was just a part of our 10 day trip attending the North American Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) annual conference in Virginia.

By now we had finally got our heads around what Farm Direct Marketing actually encompasses and found some startling differences between the US and the UK. We'll explain in a later blog post (through one of our later stops) all about "Agritourism" which has become a very significant aspect of farm retailing over the pond, but first we'll look at how many of the American farm shops compare to the farm shops you know and love back here at home.

A great example is Marker Miller Orchards Farm Market near Winchester, owned by the Marker family. Like many such farms, the business has already celebrated its centenary and has been handed down through the generations. Also in-common with all the other farms on our tour, the business was founded upon fruit growing with the farm market (the american term for "farm shop") built as an outlet for their fresh produce and to compliment a pick your own operation.


Like all the farm markets we came across, the shop was closed until the summer when harvesting begins so a little imagination on our part was required! Unlike most UK farm shops that aim to provide a full range of fruit and vegetables, along with many more different types of food and drink, the farm market carries a much more focused selection. Marker Miller boasts an impressive kitchen (bakery) area behind the scenes where their fresh produce is used to produce an array of tasty fare for sale out the front.

As you you will from our next stop (in our next blog post), the home-made donut is king, accompanied by fudge, pies, ice cream,wine, fruit juice (cider) and apple butter, all produced in-store. The latter is quite delicious, particularly spread over bread, pancakes or scones but its a huge shame it hasn't properly caught on in the UK yet (but you can buy it from Green Pastures!". Another home made treat that was truly delicious was "apple crisp", apple crumble made from their very own mix, produced in their own kitchens.

But as much as the produce and the products have become a huge attraction, Marker Miller have had to develop other activities on the farm to attract those "townies" and compete as a leisure destination rather than as a rural convenience store. We were particularly amused by the "cow train", a procession of barrels on wheels which the kids sit in, pulled behind a ride on lawn mower! This was complimented by an impressive childrens playground to keep the wee ones happy while the parents spend money and there's even a picnic area if visitors can wait to get home to enjoy their donuts!

Our Virginia Food & Drink Tour, Part 1

At last our adventure begins as we (James and Sarah) jump aboard the “Food and Drink Bus” to find out what the local food and drink scene is all about here in Virginia. As you will see, we were in for a few surprises!

As we soon found out, the Americans really like to mix things up a bit and break the ice! Our cosy little huddle of English people in the corner of the bus was immediately broken up and we were dispersed among our American counterparts. This “musical chairs” process was to be repeated at almost every bus stop over the next three days. We were to discover some of the warmest and fascinating people we have ever met, from a whole host of farming, catering, retailing and (perhaps most of all) the entertainment business. As you would expect there was lots of “shop talk” and with some many diverse businesses on board it was fascinating. As one of our travel buddies pointed out, we could have driven in that bus for three days without ever getting off and we still would have learnt a wealth of information. 

First stop is the Main Street Market, a fascinating cluster of food retailers under the same roof; a real one stop (and must stop) shop for anyone in that area who loves food. Each little unit specialises in their own field and we were to discover an organic butcher, a spice shop, a fish monger and sushi bar, a cook shop, a bakery, a deli and a chocolate maker. James was gutted he managed to miss the latter but Sarah was in her element with all the fine ingredients on display! This stop was packed with ideas and inspiration which was just as well because as it turned out these were the only retailers that we came across on our tour that were actually open and trading!

Stop number two set the tone for many of our future stops on our three day tour. Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet  is a very impressive family farming business that are now in the hands of its 4^th generation. There is a big tradition of family farms in this area which makes them extremely proud of what they do and this farm was definitely no exception. The whole family was ready to greet us and provide the most wonderful hospitality.

The Chiles’ business has been built upon a bedrock of fruit production and they now grow apples and peaches which are distributed throughout America! The orchard’s setting is breath taking, nestling between the mountains and the rows and rows of perfectly manicured trees seem to stretch for miles. The focus for our visit was the “Farmer’s Market”, which is the American term for a farm shop rather than the English style farmers market. More on “Farmers Markets” a bit later!

The next stop brought us to an extremely unique and fascinating operation at Saunders Farm Market. Saunders celebrate their centenary in 3 years time and its true to say their shop has largely remained unchanged the whole time! Saunders Farm Market is a living tribute to yesteryear and a perfect example of how creaky floorboards and a draughty roof can actually be such a huge asset. This is the only farm shop we’ve ever visited with live music, not your piped department store music, but two “old timers”, a guitar and a piano; all of which are a regular feature for the shoppers every Saturday!  The old world charm is continued with its very own museum of agricultural equipment and machinery. We were shocked to find that hiding behind the hedge was the family’s “other business”, one of the largest plant nurseries in this part of the USA!!!

Albemarle Cider Works was our next visit; an eagerly anticipated one by James! This was when we in for another cultural surprise as we discovered the word “Cider” in America is in fact given to all non diluted apple juices, regardless of any alcoholic content or not. Fortunately for us Albemarle produces a range of the alcoholic variety which we were all invited to taste after a fascinating tour of the impressive cidery and visitors centre. It was interesting the hear that whilst “hard cider” (thats what they call the alcoholic variety) is currently a very small industry in Virginia there are 3 more cider businesses about the start making the hard stuff this year. Will cider start to catch on here like it has in the UK?    

Kiddies in a (USA) Sweet Shop!

From Norfolk, England to a stone’s throw from Norfolk Virginia, we (Sarah and James) have finally crossed the big pond and have begun our American adventure!

After a journey of almost a whole 24 hours, our first day on US soil was a very welcome “chill out day” before the serious business of networking , idea gathering and note taking begins. We’re staying in Williamsburg, home of America’s history so we did what any self respecting tourist would do and we hit the attractions.

Having absorbed the historic side of Williamsburg (and bumped into a guy who sounded EXACTLY like Joey from “Friends!”), it was time to start investigating some retail establishments; after all this is the main reason we’re here! Our first stop was “The Peanut Shop” in Williamsburg’s gorgeous Merchant’s Square. We soon discovered we’re staying in the hear t of peanut growing country and we suspect we’ll be seeing a little more of this as our tour goes on. 

Think of all the things you can do with a peanut and times it by 500 and you’ll then get an idea of what the peanut shop’s really like. But what really makes this shop something special is the whole “customer experience”. A dedicated host greets you on the door and immediately thrusts his free samples upon you, in this case his very best peanut brittle. Helping yourself is far from frowned upon in this shop and our host soon brings our attention to scores and scores of sample pots positioned throughout the store. You cannot fail to leave empty handed (apart from one tight farmer from Suffolk who was in our little group!) and a lasting impression that I hope gets replicated as we visit many more retail establishments during our stay.

Back to farming, a few of us brave Brits and about to board our bus with 40or so enthusiastic American farmers all desperate to compare notes with us and (apparently) enjoy our wonderful accents! We’re told  “musical chairs” is the usual form on these tours, rather than getting comfortable next to your buddy you’re encouraged to sit next to as many different delegates as possible and “network” away. There’s also our tour guides and their activities to look forward to, in between our many stops of course.

Its going to be a busy few days....watch this space!!!

America Here We Come!

There's always lots to be learned by visiting other farm shops and garden centres, but we never dreamed that we'd be travelling all the way to the USA to see how its done! Next week James and Sarah are traveling as part of a small group of farmers and rural food businesses all the way to Virginia on a ten day expedition to see what our american counterparts are up to.

The North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association Convention

It sounds a mouthful, but quite simply this annual event brings together anyone in agriculture who is involved in selling their produce directly to consumers. This includes farm shops (it looks like they're called "Farm Markets" over there), a whole variety of  exciting "pick your own" farms (we especially like the sound of the pick your own peach farm!), vine yards and farm based tourist attractions.

We're Off to Williamsburg!

Our base during our time in Virginia will be the historic city of Williamsburg. Over 4 million visitors find their way here every year, making it one of Americas most important tourist destinations so we're really looking forward to sampling the whole ancient colonial atmosphere!

Networking Bus Tour

After a day in Williamsburg to get our bearings we head off for 3 days on one of the conventions many bus tours. We're on the "Food, Drink and Retail" tour, which stops at a number of food and drink producers and some farm shops too. We were particularly gutted to discover that both a vineyard and a cider maker are among the first stops on our tour, no doubt followed by numerous other opportunities to discover more local  fayre! Most of our travelling companions will be our american counterparts and rumour has there's lots of things laying in store to encourage us to intermingle so we're wondering just what kind of accent we might return home with!

The Conference

Back off the bus and we return back to Williamsburg for the remainder of our stay when we'll be attending a variety of presentations and seminars including such topics as farm to school programs, on-farm weddings, QR tags and Facebook. The highlight will be a day with the world renowned  retail guru John Stanley.