Abingdon Farmers Market, Farmers Guild, Kingsolver Promote Eating Local Foods
When Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life, written by renowned author and Washington County resident Barbara Kingsolver, hit the New York Times Best Seller List in 2007, it brought widespread attention to a farm-to-table movement gaining momentum throughout the country. It also shined a spotlight on Washington County and the transition to a healthier food system that’s been under way here for the past 15 years.
“More than any other book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle put us on the map,” says Anthony Flaccavento, executive director of Appalachian Sustainable Development.
Founded in 1995, the not-for-profit, Abingdon-based organization provides a support network that newcomers to the local-foods ideal can plug into - whether they come by way of Kingsolver’s book or some other avenue, Flaccavento says.
To promote a strong local food system that benefits the consumer, the farmer and the environment, Appalachian Sustainable Development encourages organic farming and helps link consumers with local farmers and foods. It owns and operates the Appalachian Harvest packing facility in nearby Duffield, where area farmers - many from Washington County – bring produce and eggs grown organically on their farms to be washed, graded, packed and shipped to grocery stores within a five-state region.
ASD also was instrumental in building the Abingdon Farmers Market, which is the largest in the area. From the third week of April through the end of November, approximately 1,600 customers visit the Abingdon Farmers Market every Saturday morning. The market also is open Tuesday afternoons.
“It’s a wonderful facility,” Flaccavento says. “It is very functional with plenty of shade, water and electric hookups, a chef, live music and a terrific assortment of vendors.”
The Abingdon Farmers Market maintains a local-only market vendor policy – meaning vendors must have grown, raised or made the products they sell, Flaccavento says. “That policy has been very important because it has created a real appreciation for the healthy choices, diversity and sustainability among our local foods and products,” he says. “We are also working with other farmers markets in the area, and we have formed a regional association of farmers markets because there is so much interest.”
Several area restaurants that use local, organically grown produce, eggs and meats to prepare menu items provide another conduit between consumers and local foods. Among those is Harvest Table, the companion restaurant of the Meadowview Farmers Guild general store in Meadowview. Kingsolver and Hopp are part of the ownership group for the two businesses, and Hopp is the director. The restaurant has an ever-changing menu that showcases the region's freshest foods. Chefs Richard Houser and Philip Newton turn local grass-fed beef, native trout, organic produce and artisan cheeses into tantalizing selections such as Rich Valley Ribeye Steak with garlic and peppercorn butter, lump crab-stuffed Blue Ridge Trout and Four-Cheese Quiche with pecans and chard. And if you have room, you might want to try the strawberry rhubarb pie with homemade ice cream.
By the way, Harvest Table was named the greenest restaurant from Washington D.C. to Atlanta, Ga., by Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine.
“Restaurant patrons often travel from the surrounding areas,” says Lori Price, manager of Meadowview Farmers Guild. “And a lot of folks that have read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle want to come and see what eating local foods is all about.”
