Posted By HR Partnership on August 5, 2009

by Leona Baker, a freelance journalist in Hampton Roads

On Gum Bridge Road in Pungo, among the head-high fields of summer corn, there is a rustic periwinkle blue farm stand with a corrugated metal roof. On top of the stand is a hand-painted message in all black capital letters.“PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE DIRT!” it commands.

The message came with the stand. But it seems a fittingly agrarian sentiment for the big happy earthy brood now charged with running it.

Husband-and-wife team Kevin and Maureen Anderson took over the operation of Pungo Naturals, a small organic farm, in April of this year. But growing and making things has been an essential part of their family fabric for much longer.

“My kids have been gardening since they were infants,” says Maureen as she shows off rows of heirloom tomatoes with names like Mr. Stripey, Black Krim and Purple Cherokee.

There are eight children in all, ranging in age from seven to 25. Seven still live at home, and they’re all enthusiastic helpers in this diverse family business.

One of them, 11-year-old Aidan, walks up with the pocket of her homemade pinafore bursting with bright red, just-picked cherry tomatoes. Another, eight-year-old Gwynneth, oohs and aahs over a perfect baby watermelon that will hopefully grow into a big fat natural treat.

“Be careful,” says Maureen, “we need to put some newspaper under him to keep him safe.”

In addition to tomatoes and watermelon, there are sweet, crunchy sugar snap peas, heirloom beans, cucumbers, zucchini, sweet corn and yellow and butternut squash. There is Hanover salad, a type of green from which canola oil is derived. There is plenty of okra and herbs like patchouli, basil, parsley, mint, cilantro, thyme and dill and even a row of English lavender Maureen is hoping will take off. They’ve planted several types of ornamental gourds, and soon they’ll be putting in eggplant and pumpkins and fall lettuce.

A lot of what’s grown here goes into Community Supported Agriculture or CSA baskets. A CSA is a system in which individuals pay a monthly fee and receive a weekly delivery of fresh fruits and veggies directly from a local farm. It’s an idea that has grown in popularity in recent years as people have become warier of the industrialized food system and keener on buying local and supporting sustainable agriculture.

The Andersons have a waiting list of folks eager to sign up. Right now they’re working on a two-acre plot. But a larger piece of adjacent land currently occupied with corn will be available next season and they’re hoping to double their CSAs for 2010.

“I hate turning away people away that want good vegetables,” says Maureen. “And you know people are so excited. They get this little basket of vegetables, and we’ve worked really hard putting it together. And I don’t even think about what a pleasure it is for people.”

Besides the CSAs, they’re also trying out a novel concept in which they lease out small parcels of land for people to plant their own gardens. The plots are available in two sizes—10 feet by 10 feet for $150 per year, or 20 feet by 20 feet for $400 per year. A steal either way.

A half dozen or so plots have been spoken for, and the spaces are currently bursting with a wide variety of veggies rimmed by marigolds aimed at warding off pests. Part of the deal when leasing a plot at Pungo Naturals is that users have to go completely organic—no pesticides or unapproved fertilizers. Most are fertilizing with fish emulsion and manure tea (the so-called “black gold” produced by steeping cow or goat manure over a period of time in a bucket).

The natural route isn’t without challenges.

“We all got the potato beetle in the beginning,” Maureen says. “It’s a nasty little ugly, hideous slug and it affects all of the nightshade plants, so everybody’s potatoes and eggplants were infected with it.”

But for many people, the trade-off is worth it for fresh, healthy chemical-free produce.

There’s also no irrigation system on the farm, which means hand watering for plot holders and for the Andersons.

It’s a community effort. Even CSA members are expected to put in a few hours a month to weeding and planting. But again, the required TLC and time with one’s “hands in the dirt” can be a cathartic and rewarding experience like no other. Maureen does most of the planning and organizing. Kevin helps tend to the crops once they’re going.

“I’m just doing it because I like veggies,” says Kevin.

For Maureen, it’s more about a sense of belonging.

“Kevin just loves to garden,” she says. “He loves the vegetables. He’s fanatical about it. For me it’s been creating a community for my children to grow up in. It sounds really corny. But it’s really cool.”

The family lives just a couple zigzagging miles away in an early 19th-century farm house. That’s where they operate the other part of their business—the part that all started with a goat named Tasha.

“She’s so lovely,” says Maureen. “I know it’s hard to think of a goat as lovely.”

Maureen bought Tasha, a camel-colored Nubian goat with sweet droopy ears, from the Trading Post “sight unseen.”

“She came and she was a bag of bones. The vet said we could put her down for about $200 or we could spend $600. So we spent the money and we’ve had her ever since. She could be about 13 years old.”

Now Tasha is the matriarch of a herd of about 16 goats that roam freely in the Andersons’ side yard, playfully nibbling on the shirts of anyone who comes out to meet them. She is also the namesake of Tasha’s Own, the handcrafted goat’s milk soap Kevin cooks up in large batches then slices into thick bars in their kitchen. The soap is made with all natural ingredients and comes in a variety of fragrances like organic rosemary, lemon grass, juniper and spearmint.

Maureen milks the goats twice a day, producing about four gallons of milk. The family drinks some of the milk, blends some into the soap and uses some to make lemony fresh and creamy goat cheese.

They also sell “goat shares,” a system by which customers buy the rights to a goat and the farmers—in this case the Andersons—provides them with milk from that goat.

“It is like renting a goat,” explains Kevin. “A lot of people do cow shares. Among farmers it’s a pretty well known practice. But there aren’t many people that know the benefits of goat’s milk and even fewer people that actually raise goats.”

Goat’s milk is prized for its low fat content and easy digestibility among other things.

The Andersons also raise chickens that produce farm-fresh eggs.

Many of these products they sell at the Old Beach Farmers Market, which happens every Saturday morning throughout the summer in the parking lot of Croc’s 19th Street Bistro near the Virginia Beach Convention Center. It’s another place Maureen feels she and her children can connect to their customers and broader community in a modern world in which human beings seem increasingly separated from one another. “The people that go to the farmer’s market every Saturday—that’s like a small town. It’s just cozy and cool. And so to have my kids have the same people come and get the eggs and just be providing that service to them, it feels like a small town and it just makes them feel more grounded and it makes me feel more secure.”

Reprinted and photo use by permission of the author and Jeff Maisey, Publisher of VEER Magazine.

Categories: About Hampton Roads, Business Community
Tags: Agriculture, Environment