Oakland Green

In 1864, during the heat of the Civil War, Union soldiers burned 230 barns and eight mills in Loudoun County, in retaliation for Confederate raids. They slaughtered and drove off tens of thousands of farm animals, and destroyed tens of thousands of bushels of grain. As the county lies right on the edge between the North and the South, it was ferociously contested and a hotbed for conflict.

Sara Brown, whose family has lived at Oakland Green in Lincoln, VA for nine generations, has a desk chockfull of photos and letters that pieced together form a picture of the farm’s rich history. One of the family’s favorite stories tells why the farm’s pre-Civil War bank barn is still standing when almost all of the other barns in the county were burned. As Sara tells me – “and who knows if it’s true, but it makes a good story” – her ancestor William Brown was standing atop Oakland Green’s high point, counting fires from the barns burning on surrounding farms. William counted ten fires, then spotted a hawk swooping down on his chickens. He called for his son, Nathan, to come fast to shoot the hawk. Just as Nathan set off a couple of shots, two Union soldiers approached on the road with the intention of setting fire to Oakland Green’s barn. But when the Union soldiers heard the shots, they assumed Confederate soldiers were protecting the farm, and believing they were outnumbered they turned back.

History

Thanks to a combination of luck and care, Oakland Green’s barn – and the home and most of the outbuildings – are still standing today. The history of Oakland Green stretches back about 130 years before the Civil War, all the way to 1730, when Quaker farmer Richard Brown (sixth grandfathers ago for Sara) built the original log house. Subsequent generations built stone and brick additions, as well as the barn and other outbuildings. 

 

 The farm was passed father to son through the Brown family until the 1960s, when Sara’s Aunt Helen owned the farm, but had no children to take over. As Sara relates, “Helen’s sister was also an old maid, and they wrote these amazing letters to each other. I have letters that Helen wrote about taking calves to market, driving cattle for two days to get to Alexandria, about making honey. She writes about nursing a sick calf. I imagine her sitting here in this room with a calf, feeding it whiskey.” Sara continues, “I can’t imagine how she lived here all by herself. Understandably, the house became very run down.”

 Photo: Chris Warner

Luckily for Oakland Green, Sara’s father, who worked in DC in the House of Representatives, bought the farm from Helen in the 1960s. Because the house was in bad shape, Sara’s parents decided to take down the log house and reconstruct it piece by piece. They numbered the deconstructed logs, treated them, replaced some of them and put them back in place. They built the house back up and made it taller, salvaging some and replacing other floorboards.

The Farm

Oakland Green’s 200 acres have been farmed consistently throughout the Browns’ nine generations of ownership. When Sara was a child, her parents, who were not farmers themselves, leased the land to other farmers for raising cattle. 

Sara’s maternal grandfather, however, had always been a farmer, and when he moved to Oakland Green he continued doing what he always had done. He raised chickens and geese and reestablished the vegetable gardens, planting 96 tomato plants one year and turning the harvest into tomato sauce, juice and paste, refusing to waste any of it. Sara says she could hardly stand to look at a tomato by the end of that summer.

Photo: Scott Maison

When she was 10 years old and a member of 4-H, Sara raised her first steer at Oakland Green. She got a heifer next, and bred her. That was the beginning of her present herd; she now has 52 Black Angus. Initially, Sara used her cattle money to support her horseback riding hobby – she says she could ride before she could even walk.

“We used to have what’s called a cow-calf operation,” says Sara. In other words, they sold their calves after weaning to a feedlot in Pennsylvania, where they were finished on grain in preparation for slaughter. About seven years ago, Sara had a big “ah-ha” moment. She realized that her animals, which had good pedigree and which she cared for so well, were high quality, and that it was a shame to send them to a feedlot.

In lieu of sending them to a feedlot, then, Sara began to finish the beef herself and sell directly to the consumer. Today, Sara raises her cattle on pasture, and finishes them on grain for the last 75 days. The herd always has free access to hay, pasture, and clean water.

For the first three years of direct selling, Sara sold beef exclusively by the side. For the past four years, she’s also offered individual cuts, in order to make the beef more accessible to people who can’t necessarily buy a whole side.

“I care about animal welfare as it relates to human welfare,” says Sara, “and the direction we’re headed with mass-production of everything is not always best. This isn’t something I’d ever envisioned doing when I was 15, but it’s what I know; it’s something I came to care deeply about. I have a passion to make a little area of the world better than it was before.” 

Sara sells about six animals by the side every year, and reserves three for retail. She’s keeping it small for right now, she says. Regardless, Sara’s beef business is remarkable considering that she works full time in DC as a project manager for AOL, in addition to hosting the Oakland Green B&B.

Every time there’s a beef recall, Sara says she gets a lot of phone calls. “I think it’s great that people are trying to see where their food comes from,” says Sara, “because for such a long time, we didn’t have the option. There were so many farms around here but it all went into feeding the industrial system.” Ironically, she says, the same development that drove away the farms has led to a resurging demand for local farm products and a desire to protect the farming community.

The B&B

Oakland Green guests stay in the original log portion of the house, with its downstairs sitting room and piano, upstairs bedroom suite, and one and a half baths. Guests can also enjoy the main parlor, decorated with portraits of stoic Browns from different eras of the farm’s history. A full breakfast is served in the lovely dining room, with local pork sausage, eggs and seasonal fruit, sometimes berries from the farm itself. The wide front porch, with its old rocking chairs, faces north to keep cool even on hot summer days. 

 

Jean Brown, Sara’s mother, started the B&B at Oakland Green in the 1980s, making it one of the oldest B&Bs in the county. Sara was in elementary school at the time, so it’s a business that she’s been around for most of her life. In 2009, Sara took over the B&B from her mother.

Oakland Green is also available for weddings and special events.

If you go:

The upstairs Log House Suite has a queen bed, private bath, and downstairs sitting room. A mini-fridge and microwave are included in the suite, and wi-fi is available throughout the house. Rates start at $110/night for weekdays. The separate Twin Bedroom is available for rent only in conjunction with the Log House Suite. It has two antique featherbeds that are perfect for kids. Rental rates for the Twin Bedroom start at $55/night, added to the price of the Log House Suite.

For more information:

http://www.oaklandgreen.com

(540) 338-7628

Sara Brown

P.O. Box 100
Lincoln , VA
20160

All uncredited photos taken by Gerry Carter in January 2010

Smithfield Farm Part II

To see part I of my Smithfield Farm/Smith Meadows Meats write up, click here. A quick refresher: Smithfield Farm is an eighth generation farm near Berryville, VA. Ruth Smith Pritchard is innkeeper for the farm’s bed and breakfast. Ruth’s two children and their families, including two grandsons, also live on the farm.

Ruth credits her children, Forrest Pritchard and Betsy Pritchard, for bringing Smithfield Farm back into profitable production by embracing grass-based livestock farming and direct marketing. Neither Forrest or Betsy has a background in agriculture -- Betsy has a nursing degree, while Forrest studied creative writing and geology. Ruth says, considering the non-conventional way they run the farm, “it might be good that they didn’t study agriculture.”

Ruth never wanted to push the farm on her children, but she secretly hoped that they would come back to continue the Smithfield legacy. She is delighted that they did. Each of Ruth’s two children has a son, so she hopes that they’ll carry on the farm for generations to come.

When Ruth’s father farmed Smithfield, he sold his crops wholesale. Now most Smithfield products are sold direct to consumers in the DC area at nine farmers markets. Forrest and Betsy also sell to co-op grocery stores in Takoma Park and Laurel, MD, and to a handful of restaurants in DC. An upcoming “mobile kitchen” will expand their farmers market offerings to include hot prepared foods like burgers, sausage sandwiches, pastas with home cooked sauces, and stews, all made with products from the farm and their farmers market friends.

At any given time, the farm is home to 100-200 cattle, 50-75 sheep, 50 pigs, and 750 chickens. All of the animals are raised without hormones or antibiotics, and graze freely in the farm’s pastures. The livestock’s ultimate destination is a Mennonite butcher in Hagerstown, MD but throughout the animals’ lives the Pritchards strive to treat them humanely. Even when they take livestock to slaughter, the Pritchards are careful to stay quiet and respectful, and they don’t use electric prods.

Poultry is processed on the farm in a facility the Pritchards built onto their main working barn. Processing poultry on the farm, while a difficult and demanding job that involves most everyone working on the farm, greatly improves the profitability of raising pastured poultry. The Pritchards process 100-150 three to four pound chickens every two to three weeks. In Virginia, farms can legally process up to 10,000 of their own chickens a year, but all other animals must be processed at a USDA-certified butcher.

Every week, hundreds of boxes of pasta using the farm’s eggs are also made at Smithfield, thanks to a pasta business that Forrest’s wife, Nancy Pritchard, started in 2003. Since then, the Smith Meadows Farm Kitchen has expanded to employ three additional women who help turn Smith Meadows eggs and locally milled flour into fresh ravioli and noodles of over a dozen flavors. Nancy has gone on to spearhead another project, converting the farm’s old pony shed into an artists’ studio called “La Capretta.”

Adjacent to the Smith Meadows Farm Kitchen sits a farm store where drop-by customers can buy handmade Smithfield mugs, locally-roasted coffee, honey from the farm’s hives, and of course eggs and meat. The store is normally unstaffed and operates by honesty policy, although family members can be available to help customers who call in advance.

Smith Meadows meat, eggs, and pasta have a following of farmers market customers who regularly buy the farm’s products because of their great flavor and quality. Many of these customers visit the farm at some point, to take a break from the city and get to know their farmers and their food. Some come to visit the farm store. Others come for bed and breakfast in the elegant 1824 Smithfield manor house. In May, the farm also holds an annual Farm Day, when families are invited to take a walking tour, eat a catered barbeque lunch, see a cooking demonstration, and visit a petting paddock.

When Ruth inherited Smithfield in the 1980s, she decided she would restore the manor house in order to turn Smithfield into a bed and breakfast. The bed and breakfast opened to guests in 1999. Ruth wanted to make good use of the house, and she wanted the restoration to make economic sense. She feels fortunate how much she’s enjoyed innkeeping considering that she came into it “through the back door.” The B&B, she says, generates no profit; it is simply a way to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the incredible old house.

Linda McCarty is Ruth’s assistant innkeeper. She first visited the farm in 2005 for a story she was doing as a journalist for The Winchester Star, and a year later, she came to work at Smithfield. Ruth praises Linda’s famous biscuits and southern hospitality. When Linda came to work at Smithfield, she remembers thinking, “This is where I’m supposed to be.” Linda says she feels as at home at Smithfield as she does in her own home.

Four guest accommodations are available in the stately manor house: three upstairs rooms and one two-bedroom ground-level suite. All are decorated with elegant antiques (although much of the original Smithfield furniture had been auctioned off, Ruth has managed to buy some of it back). Because twelve-foot ceilings in the upstairs rooms make them difficult to heat in the winter, these rooms are open seasonally, typically from late March through Thanksgiving. The ground-level “English Garden Suite” is open year round. It is more private than the upstairs rooms, with a separate entrance and full kitchen with an original brick fireplace.

Two brick cottages frame either side of the manor house. They were built around 1845, roughly 20 years after the main house. One of the cottages used to be a schoolhouse for farm and neighborhood children; the other was once a summer kitchen. Now, the converted summer kitchen is available as a guest accommodation, and the schoolhouse will soon open as an additional guesthouse.

Guests who stay at Smithfield seem to appreciate the farm’s peace and quiet above all. Anti-growth policies in Clarke County are partly to thank for its undeveloped countryside. Clarke and neighboring Loudoun and Frederick Counties have been under tremendous development pressure since the 1980s. Clarke has taken anti-growth measures that raised both property taxes and property values and largely succeeded in slowing down growth. Today, Clarke County has more intact farmland and open space than its neighbors. During the real estate boom that began in the mid-1980s and lasted until around 1990, when Ruth still hadn’t restored Smithfield, people who were looking to buy property would assume that the farm and house were for sale. The would-be buyers told Ruth to “name her price,” but she says was never tempted to sell. Recognizing the importance of protecting Smithfield Farm and its open space for the generations to come, the Pritchards have started the process of preserving their land through conservation easements.

If you go:

The English Garden Suite and Summer Kitchen Cottage are available year round. During the winter months, farm-fresh food is provided for guests to prepare their own breakfasts. The Cottage sleeps two at $250 per night, and the Suite accommodates up to four at $225/2 and $250/4 per night.

Three additional rooms with king and queen beds open late March and close on Thanksgiving. Rates start at $175/night, double occupancy. During the summer season, a full, hearty farm-fresh breakfast is provided to manor house guests as well as those staying in the English Garden Suite and cottages.

The B&B accepts only children over 12, as many visitors are seeking quiet. Pets cannot be accommodated.

Families are welcome to visit for Smith Meadows Farm Day, held every year in May. The Smith Meadows Farm Store is also open year-round.

For more information:
http://www.smithfieldfarm.com
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/travel/1864.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2007/05/getting_school_in_pasta.html

Smithfield Farm

First, I want to say a bit about historic preservation and farm stays, then I will profile Smithfield Farm/ Smith Meadows Meats in Clarke County near Berryville, VA. I’ve decided to break my write up from Smithfield into two parts. It’s an incredible place, and I think two posts will better do it justice.

Old barns and farmhouses are expensive to maintain, and their owners unfortunately but understandably let the buildings deteriorate when the economics of restoration don’t add up. Hosting guests on the farm is one way that some farmers are able to restore and preserve historic buildings on their properties. Smithfield Farm, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001, is a remarkable example of historic preservation made economically viable through an on-farm bed and breakfast. Armstrong Farms, which I profiled early January, is another example of wonderful historic preservation made possible through agritourism.

Smithfield Farm

Smithfield Farm has belonged to the Smith family for eight generations – in 2016, the family will celebrate 200 years of continuous ownership. Throughout most of this time, the property has stayed a working farm. While the bed and breakfast goes by the farm’s traditional name of Smithfield, the grass-fed meat and egg farm operation is called Smith Meadows to differentiate it from Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer and processor. This distinction is well deserved – contrasting sharply with most large-scale meat producers, Smithfield Farm raises animals on plenty of fresh pasture, strives to treat their animals humanely, and practices rotational grazing and natural pasture management.

By the 1980s, when innkeeper Ruth Smith Pritchard inherited the farm, the Smithfield manor house had been sitting vacant for nearly 40 years. Though Ruth’s father, Robert R. Smith, had been ill, he protected the house by keeping the roof on and the windows closed. When Ruth was 8 years old, she announced to her family: “One day Smithfield will be mine!” It turned out that Ruth was right though nobody knew it then; they assumed the farm would go to Ruth’s brother. He, however, did not want to take over the farm or restore the house, and the monumental task fell upon Ruth. The house was in bad repair, but Ruth, who was then working in real estate, made up her mind to restore it and open a bed and breakfast. And she desperately wanted to return the land to a profitable working farm.

Throughout the farm’s long history, it had traditionally been passed to the firstborn son in each subsequent generation, following the law of primogeniture. But the women of Smithfield Farm have really been responsible for holding onto the farm in its most difficult times. As one story goes, Ruth’s great-great-grandfather, Edward Jacquelin Smith, suffered from a mysterious mental illness that was diagnosed as “melancholia.”  He cosigned a note for a friend, and neither of them was able to repay the debt. As a result, Edward fled to Missouri, which at that time acted as the gateway to the western frontier. In Edward’s absence, his wife Elizabeth Bush Smith decided to plant 500 acres of wheat, an important crop in Virginia during that era. The wheat was exported to Europe, and with the money from the sales, she paid off her husband’s debt and kept the farm. When Edward was told that his debt had been paid, he came back to Smithfield, where he lived to be over 90 years old. Elizabeth, unfortunately, died only a few years after paying down the debt.

Ruth’s father Robert Smith was a conventional farmer who originally grew hay, grain, corn, and other row crops, some of which were used to feed his cattle. A local senator and farmer encouraged friends and neighbors, including Robert, to plant apples throughout the area, resulting in thousands of acres of orchards. Over time, Robert transitioned 350 of Smithfield’s acres into apples. Now, Smithfield mostly grows grass for animal pasture, though 40 acres of apples still remain.

During the area’s apple boom, the farm was doing well, hiring up to 16 orchard workers. But the apple business was unreliable. As Robert would say, “Apples are good one out of three years.” Because of the weather, he said, “you make good money one year, and you lose it the other two.”

Before World War II, many local people were employed working the orchards. During the war, with a shortage of young men, German POWs were enlisted as orchard workers. When the servicemen came home from the war, however, they wanted something different. Ruth says that change helped to signal the demise of apples, and most of the orchards in the area have since gone over to housing.

When Ruth took over the farm in the 1980s, she decided that she wanted to get away from apples because of the chemicals treatments required. And she didn’t have the equipment for row crops. Having to rely on her neighbors for their machinery meant that her crops were last to be put in the ground and the last to be harvested. After trying row crops for two years and losing money each year, she decided that she couldn’t do it anymore, especially without any control over her prices.

Still, Ruth was determined to hold on to the farm. Searching for possibilities, she started going to sustainable agriculture seminars and reading about alternatives to conventional farming. In 1990, before Joel Salatin and Polyface Farms became famous via the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the film Food, Inc., Ruth and her late husband Ed Pritchard heard Joel preach his “grass farming” gospel at a conference. Ruth describes his talk as a turning point. He said, “You can do this! You can raise your animals on pasture and sell direct to the customer! You don’t need to take sale barn prices!” With that, Ruth was inspired to try out a new way of farming. She and Ed invited Joel to come look at their farm to see if his way of farming might be tenable on their land. His prognosis was that they had it even easier than he did.

To be continued…

Armstrong Farms

I visited Armstrong Farms in Saxonburg, PA a few days ago. Following are the notes from my interview with owners Kathy and John Allen. Unfortunately, it was snowy and not a good day for photos; fortunately, others have already taken some great photos of the farm. Thanks to DJ Pifemaster at pifemaster.com for the lovely exterior photos.

Armstrong Farms sits on a vast 1000 gently rolling acres, with three separate and secluded barns where the Allens host weddings and offer many different b&b options, including five guest houses and cottages. Scots-Irish relatives of John with the last name of Love founded Armstrong Farms in 1816, and John is the 5th generation of his family to run the farm.

John Allen bought Armstrong Farms in the 1960s after he was injured in a motorcycle accident while a student at the University of Wisconsin. Returning home to Pennsylvania and the farm, John was able to complete his Masters of Arts in History while commuting to the University of Pittsburgh 25 miles away. Before John decided to raise cattle and expand the farm, Armstrong Farm's 1000 acres were home to a few different and diverse farms. Today, the farm sells hay and purebred Angus beef cattle, which mainly serve as a replacement herd for other farms. The cattle are treated to a system of rotational grazing, for which Armstrong Farms was chosen as a demonstration farm by the Natural Resources Conservation District. The Allens also sell some freezer beef, though in recent years they have found that potential customers had lost interest in cooking steaks and soup bones. Still, the Allens plan to sell more beef in the future, as the demand for whole local foods increases.

Kathy Allen decided to open the Armstrong Farms B&B in 1996 after a brief case of empty nest syndrome. Since then, the business has grown tremendously, and in addition to the one original farmhouse guest room, the Allens now offer two guest suites and five guest cottages and houses; the largest sleeps 12. Kathy enjoys developing and suggesting itineraries for guests, many of which include a trip to historic Saxonburg. The village, two and a half miles away from the farm, was founded in 1832 by German immigrant brothers John and Carl Roebling. John Roebling is better known for engineering wire rope suspension bridges, most famously the Brooklyn Bridge. Kathy also directs guests to two local wineries, a golf club, and a farm market, among other local businesses. For breakfast, Kathy treats guests to "lighter-than-air" souffles and "breakfast pizzas," individual-sized pie crusts topped with eggs and bacon.

Kathy is a great believer in capitalism, and she's happy that her business has been successful enough to provide employment to so many people in the area -- including high school and college students -- during the peak summer wedding season. She also keeps the other area b&b's filled with wedding guests. "When the local businesses work together," reflects Kathy, "it provides a reason for each of us to exist." The vibrant association of Saxonburg area businesses provide experiences and products that both locals and tourists appreciate.

Kathy says that her greatest success has been "creating the wedding niche," which began, modestly enough, when one couple asked to have their wedding at the farm. Since then, the Allens started little by little to grow their wedding business, and focused simply on developing good services and products. Last year, Armstrong Farms hosted about 60 weddings, and that number has continued to grow every year.

Despite keeping busy with the b&b and weddings, Kathy still remains somewhat involved with the farm animals. She went to school in Colorado for collecting and transferring embryos, which is helpful when it comes to breeding the animals. She also has a Masters of Social Work, which she says is helpful for wedding hosting. As Kathy notes, "We care about the brides and grooms," and she prides herself in giving couples lots of options and really letting them take control of their event. She aims to create an entire wedding weekend, not just a wedding day, and her goal is for guests to come away from the farm content and relaxed.

Since their marriage, Kathy and John have worked together as partners on many of their projects. Adaptively reusing the Fieldstone Barn, one of the main wedding venues, feels particularly special, because the barn is emotionally significant for them -- it once served as the farm's main barn, and housed many generations of cattle. When the barn's roof started wearing out, the Allens decided to restore it, but they wanted to be pragmatic about the expense. They have, of course, reaped the rewards of their restoration.

Kathy says that she doesn't plan to retire. Florida vacations don't appeal to the Allens; she and John take a walk down the street from their house to a suite in one of the barns when they need a break. There, they have their own private retreat.

According to John, "Everyone used to have relatives with a farm, and they would spend vacations there. Now hardly anyone has the opportunity to spend time on a farm." The Allens are proud to offer guests the opportunity explore their farm, to visit the barn and feed the animals, and to camp, fish, hunt, and horseback ride for those who bring their own horses. Guests can take advantage of seven miles of hiking trails on the property and three stocked ponds for fishing. Through a collaboration with Ducks Unlimited and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Allens have restored and developed wetlands, planted tree seedlings, and established warm grassland habitat, with the aim of providing cover and nesting areas for many birds and mammals. The Allens also offer a guided wildflower and bird identification walk each May to support the local library. And history buffs will be intrigued by the farm's Civil War-era belt buckles and other curiosities that have been turned up in a field that was once the site for a soldiers' meetinghouse; a display case now holds the antiques.

The countryside surrounding the farm, particularly to the south, is developing quickly with both residential and commercial construction. The Allens have sold off close to 450 acres of development rights for their farm, which will make a big difference in future years, considering the increasing pressure on rural property in the area. The family holds regular meetings to make decisions like the one to sell the farm's development rights. Kathy and John, together with their children, have decided that they want to preserve their farm, and they want the farm to be green. Says Kathy, "It's tempting to develop the land, but it's really not necessary. We don't want to have the temptation to develop, and we don't want anyone else to, either."

www.armstrongfarms.com

VT Farm Stay - Trevin Farms, news from Canada and the UK

Stevie, the author of a blog called Garden Therapy, visited Trevin Farms Bed and Breakfast in Central Vermont, and came back with a great photos and a report called Sassy Goats, Begging Chickens, and Chevre. Trevin Farms offers a 3-day chevre-making class that, according to Stevie, produced a pound of the most delightfully light and delicate cheese.

In international news, Farm Stay UK recently held its annual conference, reported here by the Scunthorpe Telegraph. Here's a quote from Steve Ward, one of the conference speakers: "Farming is traditionally a fairly lonely livelihood and we wanted to get close to our customers. It coincided with people becoming more interested in local food."

And in BC, Canada, Metro Vancouver's board is urging the province to allow the Agricultural Land Commission to limit the size of homes built on farmland. They also want to raise the minimum requirement for farm income to limit who qualifies for the reduced agricultural land tax rates. The idea is to encourage productive uses of farmland while discouraging those who build rural "dreamhomes" on farmland, failing to preserve the farmland but still qualifying for the reduced tax rates. "It's really unfair for people to buy a farm property, place a house in the center and basically make it unviable for farming," says Surrey Coun. Linda Hepner, vice-chair of Metro's agriculture committee.