Ramble On

Monday, August 20, 2012

2012 Page County Grown Farm Tour: Survivor Farm


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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