Nestled between vineyards, with the Trump winery as a neighbor and the Blue Ridge as the backdrop, Bellair farm sprawls across 900 acres. It has been a farm of some kind for 200 years.  Today, with the vision of Cynnie Keller Davis, Bellair is flourishing as the most popular Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in the Charlottesville area.

I was intrigued when I met Cynnie at my Hollins College reunion this summer.  At Hollins, (which is now Hollins University) we didn’t have any agriculture classes to guide farming careers.  Cynnie had majored in art history and spent her junior year in Paris. How did she end up farming?

To find out I drove up to see her from Halifax, around curving two-lane roads, up to southern Albermarle County where the straggly fields smooth out like green velvet.

Cynnie, casual and relaxed in her khaki slacks and moss-green sweater, reflects on the long porch overlooking the property that is thoughtfully planted and producing bumper crops this summer.

A swatch of meadow flowers to the left, a dogwood tree in the middle of her kitchen’s panoramic windows, and somewhere down the hill lie vegetable gardens, in the thick of a rich harvest full of ripening tomatoes, herbs, onions, and more. And further down the farm road are 30 cows, 30 hogs, and 1000 laying hens.

Back in 2006, she faced a major dilemma when her husband Mike Davis died of lung cancer.  Still dealing with grief, she had to decide whether to continue farming.

With a Master’s degree in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University, she was  building a practice as a clinical social worker in Charlottesville. Mike had taken on the role of managing the farm. The bottom lands were leased to commodities farmers who grew soybeans and corn.

“We had suffered through everything farmers went through.  It seemed really impossible.  There had always been the question: should we throw in the towel?’” she recalls.

Concerns about chemicals and industrial agriculture
But the seeds for an organic farm that was a vital part of the community had already been planted in Cynnie’s mind.

As a child growing up in rural Louisiana, she had been alarmed at the devastation caused by DDT after reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in high school. She recognized at that time that DDT was commonly used in agriculture, including on her family’s farm. Later The Omnivore’s Dilemma, published in 2006, added to Cynnies’s concerns about the pitfalls of agribusiness and the potential dangers of fertilizer and chemicals in food.

“With the growing interest in eating local food following Pollan’s book I thought there might be an opportunity to orient the farm business to the local community,” Cynnie says.

On a visit to her daughter in Washington, DC, at a Saturday farmer’s market in 2009, she was impressed by the produce of New Morning Farm from Pennsylvania.  “I talked with the owner. I couldn’t believe organic vegetables could be so beautiful.” She convinced the owner to come to Charlottesville and evaluate the possibilities of growing organic produce on her property. 

“He thought it was doable.  Mainly it gave me the courage to try.”

The Pennsylvania farmer also gave what she considers the most valuable advice for starting the new venture: hire the best farm manager you can find, one who can grow food as well as market it.  Today Michelle McKenzie, a devotee of good food and nature-friendly farming practices, holds that key job. Michelle, a graduate of William and Mary College, has no degree or formal training in farming.  “I consider myself a lifelong learner.  I pick up information from conferences, farm visits, podcasts.” She learned the ropes over two years working under Jamie Barrett, the previous manager.

 Enthusiasm for fresh local food feeds popularity of farm to table

The farm-to-table movement has fed the enthusiasm for fresh local food.  “I see it in the farms that have popped up around here.  And I see it in the huge enthusiasm in our customers,” Cynnie notes. 

Together Cynnie and Michele practice regenerative farming techniques that are environmentally friendly and innovative.    Without deep preconceptions about farming, they are free to come up with creative ideas and projects that appeal to their discerning customers. Cynnie acts as CEO on the business side while Michelle works in the field and manages labor and marketing as well as the crops.

Touring the barn and farm

We meet Michele down at the barn where farm workers are packing bags of homegrown garlic and mushrooms for the CSA members.  The barn is a beautiful two story open-air building built in the 1930s.    They’ve got standard mixed greens and turnips along with bok choy and choy sum.  Bellair offers its own organic, grass-fed filet mignon and beef brisket, while selling the luscious cheeses from Caramont farms and blue corn grits and other non_GMO grains from Deep
Roots Milling, among others. 

The CSA has attracted some 400 locavores ready to embrace –and eat—Belair’s delectable produce.  Members pay $38.50 for a full share, for the basics, each week but often add on specialties which are available through Belair’s markets. “The CSA is the main part of what we do and makes up 60 percent of our income,” says Cynnie.  The remainder comes from sales at markets and events. Members can pick up their shares at seven markets in the area or at the farm on Fridays and Saturdays.  Or they can get delivery in certain areas.  Periodically, on selected days, anyone can pay $20 for whatever they can pick on the farm.

As word has spread, demand increases for other products so that customers can do almost all their food shopping through Bellair.  “They will pick up a share of vegetables, and someone will say, oh, do you sell eggs? Then they will ask it they sell chickens?  turkeys. . .” says Michelle.

On a tour of the farm, we see a pretty field, which looks silver from a distance. It’s a mix of buckwheat, sun hemp and sorghum that has grown as tall as corn. Michelle has bush-hogged an intricate maze, to be used for fall fest October 22-23, a two-day family affair on site.  After the festival, rather than plow away the old corn stalks, the remaining stalks will be turned into fodder for the soil.

Healthy pigs, healthy land

While the fields are green and rich, the pigs in a well-planted pasture steal the spotlight. These dark brown pigs are the prettiest, neatest pigs I’ve ever seen.  They are rooting around in a pasture full of ironweed, golden rod and fescue. They also feed on corn in troughs. And while they are not strictly organic due to the content of the feed, they are what they refer to as “pasture-raised.”

The knee-high two-tier fence is electrified and powered by the sun to keep the pigs in.

The pigs are moved every three weeks. “If they are kept here, it would be a mud pit,” explains Michelle.

The pigs carve out an under-story of shrubbery to attract quail, a species which has been vanishing from the area due to destruction of their habitat, mostly due to the rampant development around the Charlottesville area.  “We are trying to diversify the types of animals and in the environment so that they diversify themselves,” says Michelle. “We are doing less so nature will do its thing.”

Through her newsletter, designed for members, Michelle promotes the crops, recipes and new projects in hopes that more people will adjust their tastes to what is in season. 

Challenges

The challenges in organic farming go beyond the many challenges of standard farming which wipe out weeds with the help of pesticides and fertilizers.  “You have to figure out ways to manage disease and weeds. But part of their strength is the diversity of the vegetable operation,” says Michelle.  This wasn’t the best year for tomatoes due to the abundance of rain. But the other flourishing crops made up the difference.

There is also the challenge of year-round reliable labor.  Bellair sets up decent work schedules and pays minimum wage and higher which sets it apart from many of the area farms. The mostly-all women workers work for the season and then return to school or their families. This year for the first time, they hired two Mexican workers.

As for other major challenges?  “Honestly, it’s been a great joy and a constant preoccupation. . . . trying to wrap our minds around all the pasturelands.  Now we’re thinking about managing for both wildlife and agriculture. I’m always thinking of ways to sell more at the CSA and trying to develop more events to bring people here,” says Cynnie.

As the farm strives to reach a break-even point, it has grown in Charlottesville as the source of great fresh produce. Cynnie approaches her success with guarded satisfaction. “At this point, I feel a deep love for the land and a deep sense of community. There is a lot of joy in harvest time and in the spring planting. And I feel joy in seeing my vision come into being and seeing it evolve.”