Lynchburg Living

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By Dominique McKay

Mike Cundiff greets a young woman as she trudges up the stairs while carrying a basket in one hand and a small child in the other and then enters into Cundiff’s whole foods pick-up shop located off of Rivermont Avenue, deep in the heart of Lynchburg.

Lynchburg Real Foods sits adjacent to Cundiff’s other local business, Mind Body USA, a yoga studio where he first met Lisa Moussalli, owner of Frog Bottom Farm, a local participant in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

“Lisa was coming in to the studio for yoga lessons, I was looking for a local CSA and found out they were doing it,” Cundiff said.

The pair soon developed a friendship and began working together to bring Lynchburg’s consumers face-to-face with shares of fresh, locally grown vegetables throughout the different seasons. Frog Bottom Farm is just one of a number of local farms turning to CSA and opening up their organic produce to the general public.

Over the last several decades, CSA has grown among the members of communities all across North America. Through CSA, consumers find themselves in direct relationship with the farmers who handle the food they eat. By investing financially up-front, the CSA consumers are able to collect a season’s worth of fresh vegetables and produce, while at the same time supporting their local farmers.

“You have a little bit of risk involved,” Cundiff said, pointing out that the consumer never knows if its going to be a good growing season. “When you purchase your half-share or whole-share, what you’re doing is investing ahead of time in what they are promising to provide you.”

For the past three and a half years, Cundiff has researched and traveled to meet with local farmers in efforts to educate himself about their particular food practices.

“A criteria that I have and am very particular about is that the growing method is disclosed and that I know it’s a sustainable operation–that they’re being good stewards of the earth and not using special chemical fertilizers,” Cundiff said. “I know the growers–I know them personally and that makes a big difference.”

Through the years, his goal has always been to bring healthy, locally grown agriculture into the hands of consumers while also helping to promote those local farmers whom he supports.

“He was really supportive of the natural way that we raise the food products and he’s been a big help as far as promoting it and getting the word out,” said Becky Bennett, owner of Auburnlea Farms located just south of Lynchburg.

Bennett and her family have been in the farming business for decades, but just two years ago they took the dive into CSA and began marketing their beef and poultry directly to the public. They even turned one of their barns into a farm store to help sell and promote their products.

“One thing led to another and we saw the need was great,” said Bennett, whose family initially sold only beef products through CSA. “The more educated we got on the need for good, safe food, the more we saw we needed to expand into chicken and eggs as well.”

The Bennetts use organic practices with the animals they pasture on their farm and pride themselves in keeping their animals from hormones, antibiotics and various supplements.

“We just strive for excellence and we don’t cut corners on anything that has to do with quality,” Bennett said. “When we raise an animal, we are very aware that we are supplying somebody’s dinner. So, from start to finish, we are careful about what goes into the animal.”

Auburnlea Farms delivers to various locations including Fredericksburg, Charlottesville and Roanoke, but Bennett said Lynchburg consumers have had some of the strongest responses to good, healthy and organic foods. She has found that many times, the demand is greater than what she can supply.

“I feel like the people in Lynchburg are very educated and they want and demand clean food. They expect you to deliver a clean product,” she said. “We’ve had a huge response in Lynchburg and the surrounding area from the general public and everyone has been very favorable and thankful that we do what we do.”

Cundiff said the demographic of people who come to his shop to pick up organic goods varies, but he has seen a rise in local, young families with small children participating in CSA as well as young singles and couples who are interested in living a healthy lifestyle.

One Lynchburg local, Stephanie Boy, began participating in Horse and Buggy’s CSA program about two years ago. The company delivers her share of organic goods to a local church where she goes to pick-up her produce every other week. Boy said what drew her initially to CSA was not only the fact that she was supporting local farmers but that the product she received was of good quality and organic.

“Some of my co-workers told me about it and I loved the idea of organic and low-spray produce that is grown in and around the Lynchburg area,” she said.

Throughout the year, Boy receives various vegetables and fruits as well as a variety of homemade jams, maple syrup, honey and kettle corn during the fall months.

“It runs for eight months so the produce is very vast in variety as the seasons change,” Boy said.

Boy spends a little less than $24 for the single share of produce that she picks-up every other week. Couples and Family shares are also available to be picked up weekly. While cost can sometimes be an issue for some people who want to participate in a local CSA, Boyd says she actually finds herself saving money and wasting less food.

“Lately, they have been sharing the cost of the same items received that week and the cost of that at local grocery stores and it has shown to save 20 to 35 percent by participating in the co-op,” she said. “Plus, due to the freshness of the produce, I have noticed it lasts much longer than grocery store food so I waste much less.”

As the number of consumers involved with CSA continues to grow, the question remains of whether or not this surge in buying local foods is here to stay or just a passing dietary trend. For many local CSA supporters, they say it makes no difference.

“I hope it’s a trend that will continue to grow as people become more knowledgeable about the benefits that local and organic produce has to offer,” Boy said.

CSA providers agree.

“There are so many things in this world that are worthless trends. If eating healthy is a trend, I’m fine with it trending,” Aaron Lee, operations manager at Lynchburg Grows, said.

Lynchburg Grows has hosted its own CSA program for the past four years and has actually seen a substantial amount of growth in the past year, allowing the business to cap off its program members for the season ending in October.

“Our numbers are up from 90 [participants] last year to 120 this year, so it’s been very successful,” Lee said.

Although buying local may be the current trend, Lee says he has come in contact with many people who are genuinely interested in learning more about where their food comes from.

“We have seen a lot of people that are more interested in learning about gardening and growing their own food and learning about where it comes from,” Lee said. “Frankly, that’s great and we do everything we can to stop and answer questions when we have the time and the knowledge.”

As hundreds of voices (and bellies) continue to support local CSA, Cundiff says one of the best parts about it is that the money that goes into it stays within the local community.

“It stimulates that local food culture economy,” Cundiff said. “If you’re shipping in from other places, that money isn’t staying here. I support these local people. It’s local people investing in other local people’s businesses–it’s not going anywhere else. That’s been my focus.”

Check out these sites for more information about Lynchburg’s local CSA’s:

Frog Bottom Farm: www.frogbottomfarm.com

Frog Bottom Farm is a small, community-supported vegetable farm located in Appomattox County, Virginia. This farm uses only low impact, sustainable growing methods and believes in good food, carefully grown and creatively shared.

Lynchburg Real Foods: www.lynchburgrealfoods.com

Lynchburg Real Foods is a co-operative natural foods buying group that operates with the goal of serving as a resource for basic whole foods and household items for residents of the inner Lynchburg area.

Auburnlea Farms: www.auburnleafarms.com

Auburnlea Farms specializes in selling fresh beef and poultry. Their products are all-natural, come from humanely treated, pastured-fed animals and are safely processed in reputable facilities.

Lynchburg Grows: www.lynchburggrows.org

Lynchburg Grows is an urban farm and nonprofit with the mission of teaching others how sustainable food production promotes a healthy planet. Everything Lynchburg Grows produces is done with low-to-no spraying, using organic products.

Horse and Buggy: www.horseandbuggyproduce.com

Horse and Buggy is a local, natural food source that seeks to find produce grown without pesticides or with certified organic sprays.

Our Father’s Farm: www.ourfathersfarmva.com

Our Father’s Farm raises naturally pasteurized animals without hormones, animal by-products, synthetic chemicals or antibiotics. Their mission is to raise the animals naturally, giving them an environment that allows them to exist the way they were created to live and grow.