Food and Farm

WFPL: Food service and farming jobs provide a path out of addiction

06.18.19

Cafe Appalachia’s dining room (from the Cafe Appalachia Facebook page)

BY BRITTANY PATTERSON & LIAM NIEMEYER FOR OHIO VALLEY RESOURCE

It’s lunch hour, and Cafe Appalachia is bustling.

Located in South Charleston, West Virginia, the former church turned restaurant has a funky, yet calming vibe. Twinkle lights and mismatched dining room sets dot the space. For $8 to $10 a plate, diners can enjoy a locally-sourced meal. The menu today is apple sage pork tips, spiralized zucchini (or “zoodles”), roasted broccoli, and a salad of spinach grown just a few miles away.

Autumn McCraw helped prepare today’s meal. The 35-year-old Charleston resident sports a maroon apron and greets every customer with a smile. Her days here typically start around 8 a.m…

Read + listen to the full story on the WFPL site »

After hardship, Lincoln County Farmers Market returns with renewed spirit

06.04.19

Thanks to the hard work of local growers such as Nancy Robert, Danise Smith and others, the Lincoln County Farmers Market is back!

After a tough year losing their founding member Zeke Wood, it took a lot of effort and spirit for the Lincoln County Market to rebound.

Members of the community and supporters held a series of stakeholder meetings for local farmers over the winter, to see who was interested in continuing to participate, what they could offer, and what markets they were interested in keeping and shedding. They previously operated four markets per week. The group decided to shift to 3 markets instead as a result of the collaborative process.

The Hub has been supporting their efforts since 2016, via the Innovation Acceleration Strategies program, and now into 2019 with the Energizing Entrepreneurial Communities program in Lincoln County.

Their 2019 schedule, running from April thru October, includes the three weekly markets:

Wednesdays in Hamlin, 11am – 1pm, at the Lincoln Primary Care Gazebo
Fridays in Alum Creek, 3pm – 6pm, on Rt. 214, next to the car wash and one mile from Corridor G
Saturdays in Hamlin, 9am – 12pm, at the Lincoln Primary Care Gazebo

If you are in the area, come out and support this community driven market and eat local!

Forbes: WV just made it easier to expand a homemade food business

04.23.19

BY NICK SIBILLA FOR FORBES

When it comes to starting a homemade food business, West Virginia is almost heaven.

Under a new law signed on Monday by Gov. Jim Justice, West Virginia will significantly ease restrictions on “cottage food” producers, who can sell cookies, jams, dried herbs, and other shelf-stable, homemade food, without a permit or the need to rent commercial kitchen space. Currently on the books in 49 states (with New Jersey the lone holdout), cottage food laws are designed to promote entrepreneurship and transform home kitchens into low-cost business incubators; one recent survey found that the median startup capital for a cottage food business was a mere $500.

But in West Virginia, red tape prevented home bakers from earning serious dough…

Read the full story on the Forbes site »

Lincoln County homesteaders use online marketing to support farming business

04.23.19

BY CYNTHIA MCCOMAS, ENERGIZING ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES VISTA, THE HUB

Red Tool House is a 100 acre Lincoln County farm which specializes in pastured pork and poultry. The farm is managed by Troy and Kelly McClung, though they do much more than tend to the land to keep their business going.

Though West Virginia natives, the couple moved to Florida for work after college. When they returned to WV, they wanted to relocate to a rural setting, but close to Charleston. The couple chose to settle in Lincoln County in 2000, where they bought a piece of land that had been vacant for 20 years.

During those years, locals used the land as an illegal dumping grounds. Before moving onto the property, the couple removed 220 tires from the land, in addition to countless appliances and other types of garbage. In the 19 years that the McClungs have owned the land, they have cleaned up all 100 acres and improved the water and soil quality.

Their plan in owning the land wasn’t always to run a business, but about seven years ago, McClung leaned into the potential of his farm as a source of revenue. “We got more and more interested in farming practices and where our food came from,” he said. McClung has a background in marketing, which has helped him grow the business. In addition to raising pastured pigs and chickens, McClung started a YouTube channel documenting the work he does at Red Tool House.

Today, his YouTube channel has over 25,000 subscribers and over 2.3 million views. McClung markets to an audience who wants to learn to do what he does at Red Tool House on their own land. Popular videos teach viewers how to raise pigs and chickens, how to fund a homestead, and how to judge the quality of land.

Find Red Tool House on YouTube »

McClung even recorded a series of homesteading marketing videos, in which he teaches viewers how to develop their homestead brand and online presence. Homesteading is a hobby growing in popularity among those trying to decrease their carbon footprint by raising food and necessities on their own land. It can become a profitable business for those who also sell what they raise and grow.

McClung said that his next big project is to start a podcast about pastured pigs, for which he will interview experts from around the world.

The internet is a main cause for McClung’s success, but building an online business does not come without its challenges. “One of the biggest obstacles I face is bandwidth,” McClung said. Broadband internet is not available in Lincoln County where his farm is located, and the complaint of lack of internet access in the county is not an uncommon one.

Still, McClung is optimistic for the future of Red Tool House. “There is a lot of value in starting your own businesses,” he said. “You should be scared, but the payoff can be so huge both financially and in terms of life satisfaction.”

“Helping youth preserve Appalachia while looking toward the future” – Robert Diaz of McDowell County

03.22.19

BY JENNY TOTTEN, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR, THE HUB

Some of you may remember Robert “Taco Man” Diaz from the New Story event at the state fairgrounds last year. He spent two days slinging delicious tacos with some young help and provided entertainment for all! Since then, this McDowell County resident has made some big strides toward helping youth reimagine and reinvent the foodways of the southern coalfields.

Robert finished up his AmeriCorps VISTA year with WVU Extension last summer. During this AmeriCorps experience, he kept insisting that he never wanted to teach full time. Still, he always gravitated toward working with the teenagers in 4H and school programming.

Next up on Robert’s list was to help with planning and executing the McDowell County local foods dinner sponsored by the McDowell County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition. Robert and his daughter Abby knocked it out of the park as 30 dinner attendees climbed Miracle Mountain and enjoyed a delicious evening with a gorgeous view of the county. Attendees came from near and as far away as Putnam County for this experience, and it was decided that these dinners would become a regular occurrence to be held around the county.

During this same time, the cooking instructor position at the McDowell County Career and Technical Center was vacated and the school board was looking for a fresh new perspective on this class.

(Remember the part where Robert said he never wanted to teach?)

Well, Robert applied for the position, and walked in with a plan to teach teenagers how to truly cater and prepare meals using fresh ingredients. He was offered the position!

Robert has been instructing at the center since late last fall and is now starting to incorporate both entrepreneurship and farm to table concepts in his lessons.

The two classes have set up their own business – the Wild Thyme Café – and are busy preparing salads and other offerings. He’s in the middle of refurbishing a small greenhouse on site, and his classroom resembles a mix between and school garden and a jungle as he teaches his students to both grow their food and utilize it in recipes.

Robert is helping to rewrite the narrative of coal country and West Virginia as a whole by inspiring our next generation workforce to explore the creative economy and to push the limits of what’s possible in our communities.

He’s helping youth preserve the food and agriculture ways of Appalachia while looking toward the future.

WVPB: Out-of-work Appalachian coal miners train as beekeepers to earn extra cash

03.05.19

BY EDITOR FOR WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Just like his grandfather and father before him, James Scyphers spent almost two decades mining coal in West Virginia.

“These were the best jobs in the area; we depended on ’em,” he recalls.

But mining jobs started disappearing, declining from 132,000 in 1990 to 53,000 in 2018, devastating the area’s economy. In a state that now has the lowest labor-force participation rate in the nation, the long-term decline of coal mining has left West Virginia residents without new options to make a living.

Scyphers was fortunate to find a construction job, but it paid two-thirds less than what he earned underground. He often took odd jobs to make ends meet. One of those odd jobs included building hives and tending bees for the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective…

Read the full story on the West Virginia Public Broadcasting site »

Food and farm finance training coming up in Fairmont

02.05.19

BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The team at the Natural Capital Investment Fund is hosting a Food and Farm Finance Training for business coaches, lenders and other service providers this February 20, 9am – 3pm, at the Robert H Mollohan Research Center in Fairmont (1000 Galliher Drive, Fairmont, WV 26554).

From the organizers:

Consumers today are seeking locally made food and beverages and many WV producers are ready to take advantage of this consumer trend. However, these businesses also have difficulty acquiring loans and capital needed to grow due to unique aspects of farm finances. This training will specifically cover farm finance intricacies and how to help food and farm businesses prepare to acquire capital.

Please join us February 20th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center in Fairmont to learn how the local food industry can be an economic driver for West Virginia and how you can contribute to food and farm businesses’ success.

Please direct questions to Marti Neustadt (martineustadt@vc2.org) or Todd Crump (todd.d.crump@wv.gov).

Find more information and register for the event »

What’s the buzz? Beekeeping classes are starting again

01.15.19

BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective is kicking off a new series of beekeeping classes across the state!

From the organizers:

Join the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective (ABC) for our free, five-week introductory beekeeping course, Beekeeping 101! Learn from ABC beekeeping staff about the basics of getting started with beekeeping in our area. No experience is necessary. Beekeeping 101 is also a prerequisite for becoming a partner with ABC in 2019. This could be you!

Interested attendees in one of the sessions below can RSVP through ABC’s Facebook events (@appalbeecollective), or by emailing pkietzman@appheadwaters.org.

Lewisburg session: Tuesday nights beginning on January 22nd. 7-9 PM at the WV State Fairgrounds.
Pineville session: Tuesday nights beginning on January 22nd. 6:30-8:30 PM at the Pineville Public Library.
Beaver session: Wednesday nights beginning on January 23rd. 6-8 PM at the New River Community and Technical College.
Oak Hill session: Wednesday nights beginning January 23rd. 6:30-8:30 PM at Oak Hill City Hall.
Bluefield session: Thursday nights beginning on January 24th. 5:30-7:30 PM at Crossroads Church, 740 Panorama Rd., Bluefield.
Concord University session: Thursday nights beginning on January 24th. 6:00-8:00 PM in Conference Room A/B of the Beasley Student Center, Concord University. You do not need to be a Concord student or staff member to attend this session.
Hinton session: Monday nights beginning on January 28^th. 7 – 9 PM at the Summers County Memorial Building in Hinton.

The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective (ABC) is a group of beekeepers, scientists, and educators committed to training West Virginians in beekeeping, breeding a mite-resistant strain of bee that is successful in our region, and developing improved natural beekeeping best practices. ABC mentors new beekeepers in the art, science and opportunities of sustainable beekeeping.
For more information, visit ABC’s website or Facebook page (@appalbeecollective).

Is beekeeping right for you? Check out this class to see.

12.04.18

BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective, part of Appalachian Headwaters, is hosting workshops around the state to get encouraging bourgeoning beekeepers to hop on the beekeeping train.

From the organizers:

Are you interested in learning more about keeping bees? Come to this free, beginner-friendly class for an overview of beekeeping and to learn how to get involved with the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective! Class is free and open to the general public.

Classes will be held:

Tuesday, December 11, 5:30pm – Crossroads Church of Bluefield, WV
Monday, December 17, 6:30pm – Wyoming County Extension Office in Pineville, WV
Friday, January 4, 5:30pm – Sprouting Farms in Talcott, WV

There will also be a bee yard tour at 4:30pm on January 4, before the class begins at Sprouting Farms.

For more information, contact Kevin Johnson at kjohnson@appheadwaters.org.

Follow the Beekeeping Collective on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/appalbeecollective/.

“It’s powerful to participate” – Eleanor Marshall on being a VISTA

12.04.18

Eleanor on a Grow Ohio Valley farm in Wheeling

BY ELEANOR MARSHALL, DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS, GROW OHIO VALLEY

One year ago, I was living on a rural farm outside of Atlanta, Georgia, finishing up an organic farm apprenticeship. I loved farming – caring for plants and selling beautiful, fresh-picked produce – but our impact was limited. Every week, we sold to the same farmer’s market regulars and charged high prices to support our farm. I wanted to know how sustainable farming and the local food movement could be more connected to community health and economic development.

I found the position at Grow Ohio Valley through Good Food Jobs and became a VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) sponsored by The Hub as a result, somewhat on accident.

Through a year of service, I’ve come to believe VISTA provides an opportunity to do some of the most committed and impactful service work in the country. It’s not glamorous and not always fun or gratifying to do capacity-building, but it is powerful to participate in building infrastructure and systems to sustain enduring change.

Resource-constrained nonprofits in West Virginia and across the country have a great need for skilled and dedicated coordinators, fundraisers, marketing professionals, and program developers. In many cases, this need is as great or even greater than for volunteers that do the most visible and direct service, like serving meals at a soup kitchen or harvesting and delivering produce.

Grow Ohio Valley’s vision is to achieve regional food security: access to safe, nutritious and affordable food for all people.

I find power and elegance in a theory of change that connects economic opportunities for local farmers to food access programs that help fresh and nutritious food reach the populations of greatest need. When a patchwork of local farms flourishes, abundance is generated through care for the health of people and the planet – and shared among many owners.

Each seed planted, fresh vegetable sold at market, or dollar re-circulated in the local economy is an investment in this place and in its future.

My VISTA service was centered on the creation of the Public Market: a local and natural foods store set to open in downtown Wheeling in May 2019. The market works at the intersection of three community needs: to eliminate a USDA-classified food desert that spans all of downtown Wheeling, to create a profitable year-round outlet for local farmers where none exists, and to fill an empty storefront in a revitalizing downtown.

I would never have gotten the opportunity to gain diverse experience in so many aspects of a project start-up if my position had been a regular salaried job. I wasn’t traditionally qualified! Through VISTA, I got to jump a few rungs on the career ladder, and more importantly, develop skills that will serve me professionally and personally in ways I can’t even foresee.

I didn’t know what I was getting into with this Public Market project, or what a fruitful challenge it would be. Over the past year, I’ve met farmers from Amish growers to Pittsburgh urban gardeners, learning about their businesses and seeking out the most nutritious & delicious local food for the market. I’ve learned to write a business plan, make demand forecasts and sales projections, and (almost) understand basic architecture plans. And I’ve been welcomed by a beautiful East Wheeling community and the Grow Ohio Valley family of eccentrics and visionaries, some of the most committed people I’ve had the privilege of learning from.

I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to join Grow Ohio Valley’s staff following my VISTA term.

The Public Market is set to open its doors this coming May, and I will continue to coordinate the project and see it through to its launch as my highest priority. My new title is “Director of Special Projects” and my role has expanded from a singular focus on the Public Market to involvement in Grow Ohio Valley’s new development and continued growth on an organizational level.