She sells to some restaurants, but her operation is too small to meet lots of daily menu shifts. “I cannot sell just 24 of something. They need to buy the whole animal.” She does sell chickens, turkey, and veal to the Inn at Little Washington. Lerner also supplies independent grocers, to whom she sells eggs and chickens.

Her ultimate goal is to have Ayrshire be a farm without any waste: “to be efficient and self-sufficient.” She recognizes progress is made as people comment that the Ayrshire brand is something they perceive as safe and wholesome. “They know me,” she says, “as I am visible in the town and am trying to rebuild the farmer-food connection, which I believe is imperative to food security.”

Likewise, Meg Campbell of Culpeper’s Croftburn Farms (an 1,000-acre operation with over 200 cows and 100 sheep) practices sustainable agriculture by rotating her fields and pasturing her animals. She sells to both restaurants and individuals, travels to farmers markets, is talking to a retail outlet, and works directly with a butcher to oversee the slaughtering process. The animals have to all eat the same food and drink the same water to ensure consistency. “You can’t afford to have it any other way,” she says.

One of her newest fans is Frank Margos, owner and executive chef at Foti’s in Culpeper; “All I need to do is salt and pepper the meat, and the guests are blown away by the flavor.”

Todd Gray of Washington’s Equinox Restaurant finds that it’s easy to live by his mission statement—“to draw upon as much product as possible within 100 miles of the restaurant”—given the marvelous product offering in the nearby Piedmont.
Jonathan Hayward, chef at Toliver House in Gordonsville, likes the challenge of working with lesser-known cuts of beef. Anybody can grill up a ribeye, he says, but you need to do a little more with a flank or a flat iron. He appreciates the top quality product from the father-and-son operation at Higginbotham Beef in Orange. “It’s a pleasure to meet the farmers. They just come in the back door with their stuff,” he says.

The metaphorical back door is an integral part of operations at places like Market Salamander in Middleburg. Executive sous chef Vaughn Skaggs receives almost daily deliveries from the Salamander Inn’s greenhouses and multiple acres set aside for produce. A typical morning delivery includes mustard and collard greens, kale, onions, and strawberries.

On the producer side of the equation, restaurants are not the only game around. There’re farmers markets, of course, as well as subscription sales to regular customers. And smart use of the Internet means that producers can develop virtual yet direct relationships with the end consumers through cyberspace.

At Hollin Farms in Delaplane, where Tom Davenport sells natural Angus beef and spends most of his time trying to create a strong food community, he says: “The Internet has changed everything, allowing us to reach niche markets.” The web helps consumers find the perfect product and enables all their questions to be answered. “Without the Internet,” he says, “you are invisible.” He has already set up a blog to help the customer find the farmer and learn about all aspects of the business (www.farmfoody.com).

About the Author

Judy Liberson was the long-time country inns and dining editor for Mid-Atlantic Country Magazine.