Nonprofit community farm will grow and donate fruits and vegetables to the Food Bank.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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According to the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, there is an annual shortage of about 200,000 pounds of fresh produce.
“That is the most in-demand commodity,” said Rich Larochelle, Chair of the Board of the Rappahannock Education Farm (REF), a nonprofit, volunteer-based farm. “We think we can grow about 100,000 pounds here.”
REF completed the purchase of nine acres of land off White Oak Road in south Stafford in June and wasted no time getting zucchini, collard greens, and multiple types of kale in the ground. This summer, the nonprofit has donated 2,700 pounds of produce—the combined yield from the Stafford farm and a small plot near the Food Bank off Lee Hill Drive in Spotsylvania.
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“We plan to scale up to 100,000 pounds in three to five years,” Larochelle said.
On a recent Friday, volunteers were at work harvesting shiny green zucchini and watering the latest plantings of spinach seeds.
“Whether it will come up, only time will tell,” Larochelle said.
A second large plot has been sown with winter rye—a cover crop that will control weeds and enrich the soil for next summer’s plantings—and 10,000 spring onions.
Honeybees from two beehives recently installed on the farm last week by a local apiarist were at work on the fall wildflowers growing in adjacent unmowed pasture.
Another recent installation is 7,500 pounds of horse manure donated from a nearby horse farm—the start of REF’s composting operation, led by volunteer Jonathan Stevens.
This will be mixed with the results of the City of Fredericksburg’s curbside fall leaf collection to create a carbon- and nitrogen-rich food for next summer’s plantings, Stevens said.
Along with providing fresh produce, facilitating these kinds of community partnerships—with local governments, farms, residents with specialized knowledge, and volunteers—is one of the ways REF hopes to benefit the Fredericksburg area.
A third arm of the mission is to provide education on best practices in sustainable gardening and farming through school field trips and classes offered by the local cooperative extension.
REF hopes to duplicate the success of Shalom Farms, a Richmond-based community farm that started in 2009 with a half-acre garden and now harvests more than 200,000 pounds of produce per year (according to its 2022 annual report) from two locations.
The Fauquier Education Farm in Warrenton also served as a model and inspiration for the REF board.
The farm received its articles of incorporation in March of 2023 and spent the following year looking for the right parcel of land, which it found in the nine acres at First Street and White Oak Road in Stafford.
The previous owner, Price Jett, wanted the parcel to be used for agricultural purposes in honor of his father, another Price Jett, who loved gardening and giving away homegrown produce, Larochelle said.
Eventually, REF plans to cover six or seven of the nine acres with gardens.
The farm welcomes volunteers of all ages. Visit the website to sign up for volunteer opportunities and follow the farm on Facebook.
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