We went to Survivor Farm as our next stop after
Skyline Premium Meats. This is a small
operation that is located near Lake Arrowhead in Luray. Here’s what I wrote in the earlier post about
the 2012 Page County Grown Farm Tour:
“The family hopes to raise all the fruits and
vegetables needed to survive – right on their farm. The farm is currently growing tomatoes, sweet
potatoes, peppers, asparagus, blackberries, and raspberries. Their products are available in the CSA
shares at Public House Produce, and at the Luray-Page Farmers Market.”
I subsequently learned that the grower manages the
local co-op/farm store, so some of the produce is available during the season
there as well.
Much of the produce here is grown in raised beds,
and the variety was impressive. To me, Survivor
Farm was like a laboratory demonstrating how all of us could grow our own
vegetables right in our yards. Some of
the concepts that were used seemed to come right from the pages of Mother Earth
News – very practical and very productive.
They have started a small bramble, growing a couple
of types of berries. To my knowledge,
this is one of the first growers to try and get something like this going on a
scale large enough to sell the berries off the farm. Mary and I have had some, after picking them
up out of the cooler at Public House Produce when we went there once for
eggs. Delicious.
A final point of interest at Survivor Farm: they have some naturally occurring broom corn
in the garden. This is a plant that you
might treat like a weed if your focus is on growing edibles, but our farmer is
taking advantage of it by learning how to harvest the silks and make
handcrafted brooms. There were some
beautiful craft pieces – here’s a photo with a few of them.
After Survivor Farm, Mary, Kathy and I made a quick
stop at Main Street Bakery for a snack and a cold drink. We weren’t there long before we got back on
the road for our next stop: Raise It
Right Farm, up in Rileyville. I’ll post
on that stop tomorrow.
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