Did you know that there was a practically a whole other state if you go west of Blacksburg in Southwest, Virginia???
I only jokingly say this (slightly), knowing that Virginia had its’ southwest portion of the state from my elementary (middle?) school education. But boy did my geography teacher leave a lot out! I always thought of Blacksburg as the epicenter of southwest Virginia, which for any good Hokie it most certainly is. But in all other cases it is just the tip of the iceberg because you can drive for an additional THREE AND A HALF HOURS past Blacksburg and still be in Virginia! Crazy to think about.
Our VALOR fellowship started at the very tip of that iceberg earlier this year in July and wasted no time immersing ourselves in all the good things SWVA had to offer. Virginia Produce Company kicked off our first day with an intriguing visit to their facility in Hillsville. Many thanks to the Beamers for their hospitality and open arms. I certainly was impressed with their humble beginnings and quick growth to help facilitate the marketing of produce to help feed many local food stores across our region. (Also proud to say that Virginia Produce is a major partner with the Virginia FFA Foundation for their program – Cultivate)
The rest of our day was a true treat in every sense of the word. We got to visit with multiple VALOR alumni in Grayson County while touring Summerfield Farm and Grayson Natural, Landcrafted Food. Thank you to John Fant from VALOR class V and Brantley Ivey from VALOR class IV for your hospitality. One unique and original tour was the guided taste-testing tour of River Ridge Organics, a pick-your-own berry patch. I’m proud to say that I’m much more well informed about blueberry, blackberry, raspberry care than I was when I started the day.
Thursdays visits started with a visit to Green Valley, a regional egg plant with houses operating on the same facility. It was neat to see their all-in-one business plan work in synchronicity while keeping freight costs down. What’s more impressive is that the operation is fairly close to a newer residential neighborhood that popped up right across the road. We visited one of the state fish hatchery’s in Marion before arriving at what was my favorite stop of the week – Speyside Bourbon Cooperage in Atkins, VA. This cooperage is a major employer in the area and provides many well paying jobs to residents in and around Atkins. Our evening was concluded with a visit to the only distillery located along the Appalachian Trail, Appalachian Heritage Distillery, in Damascus. Thanks to Shasta Wilson of VALOR Class IV for helping to facilitate a great discussion with several local producers on their hurdles in their local marketplaces and the importance of local community involvement.
If you can believe it, on Friday we ventured even further into SWVA. We started our day at the Appalachian Harvest Food Hub, who helps connect local, smaller scaled, produce farmers with a larger marketplace and gives them the ability to market their crops collaboratively. Coming from a cooperative I loved this model and found it very intriguing!
We then found a gem hidden in the proverbial wilderness while visiting LMU Vet School in Ewing. This unique accredited vet school tucked away in what I believe is the most southwestern corner of the state not only brings in industry and economic influx into the area, but also provides opportunities for locals with careers. This school was built up from an old beef cattle operation and sale barn and its repurposing is worth a visit. I highly recommend it!
Any visit to Southwest VA wouldn’t be complete without a discussion on coal mining. We visited the H.W. Meador Coal Museum in Big Stone Gap that afternoon to get a wonderful overview of the progression of the industry by Freddie, who was a coal miner himself in the area. And to end our evening we visited with Suzanne & David Lawson of MountainRose Vineyard to see what can be done with reclaimed strip mining land given enough attention and time. MountainRose Vineyard is located on old mining land and has, over time, begun to rebuild the soil to grow grapes and other plants on this land – showing proof of concept that the land can be reclaimed for future generations. This was followed by a dinner at the vineyard and presentation by The Health Wagon, and their local efforts to bring healthcare to the Southwest Virginia area where their clients need it most, at home.
We finished our week with one final visit, Duchess Dairy in Rural Retreat. The Shenandoah Valley native in me felt right at home around that much milk. Thanks to Jimmy for being our host and sharing all that their dairy has accomplished bottling and selling their own milk to their regional market. I’m a fan anytime a producer, or group of producers, can figure out a way to capture additional market share and own a larger piece of the production and marketing food chain.
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