Local Farming

Your Vote Matters More than Ever!

November 3, 2020 by Kate Zurschmeide

Today is a BIG DAY! I woke up excited to vote and to be part of shaping the future of our great nation. If you are able to vote today, (or have already cast your ballot),we salute and thank you for exercising your hard won right to vote.

Think your vote doesn’t matter? You make choices and vote with your time, presence and dollars everyday and those “votes” impact the lives of your friends, family and community.

We want to thank you for all the “voting visits” to our family farm this season and encourage you to continue to Vote Local. When you visit Great Country Farms, you are not only helping us keep farming alive in western Loudoun Country, VA, you are also supporting:

3 generations of Zurschmeides who live and work on the farm
Countless teenagers working their first jobs and learning the importance of hospitality and good customer service
Our core team of managers and farmhands who work hard to bake the pies, make the donuts, welcome the guests, press the fresh cider, plant the crops, bring in the harvest and pack our CSA boxes
Countless local businesses who help us keep the tractors running, maintain the delivery vans, provide animal feed and building supplies, paint our educational signs, print our cards & provide packaging and boxes for fruit picking.

We are excited to have the farm open for your enjoyment through November 22nd and look forward to welcoming your family to enjoy this farm we love. The Knead It! Bakery will be open through Dec 23rd for all your holiday treats and gift boxes.

So as you vote today, we salute you and encourage you to continue to vote daily with your time and money to support local businesses and small family farms that give our community it’s special character and flavor.

The Zurschmeide Family & Farmhands of Great Country Farms

9 Tips For Strawberry Picking in Light of COVID-19

May 16, 2020 by Mark Dewey

May is strawberry time, and a lot of farmers have been getting ready for pickers since last August, when the plants went into the ground. Back then, none of us imagined we’d be facing lock-downs and quarantines during strawberry season. A late frost is one thing; COVID-19 is something else.

But the berries haven’t been paying attention to COVID-19. They’re going about their business, which is ripening up and getting ready to be picked. So farmers are getting ready to go about our business, too.

Most strawberry farms will be offering pick-your-own strawberries, but the experience will be different this year, as mandated by the CDC and state Departments of Health and Agriculture. Specific guidelines have been set to keep pickers and farmers as safe as possible. The berries won’t wait, but neither will the virus, so farmers will be asking for your support to help bring one in while keeping the other at bay.

Here are nine tips for making the most of your day in the field based on the guidelines in the state of Virginia.

Do your Research~ Some berry farms may not be offering pick your own strawberries this year, so the first step is to Find a local berry farm with pick-your-own available and ask about their picking plan. How many people will be picking at one time in a given space? Will gloves be required? Face-coverings? Will sanitation sites be available? Will staff be present in the field? Then compare their answers to your comfort level.
Pick you Own Strawberries.

2. Make an Appointment

This year it won’t be possible to wait for a beautiful day and set out to pick your own strawberries on the spur of the moment. Most Virginia farms that offer picking will be doing so by reservation, to control the number of people in the field at any given time and thus ensure safe social distance. Look for farms to offer an online booking system, with the understanding that appointments will depend on weather and crop conditions. Spots are likely to be released a day in advance so you may have to check back frequently for the opportunity to pick in 2020. Please be sure to only book appointments if you are well and healthy and cancel immediately if you develop signs of illness.

3. Pre-Pay

To ensure that your hands are the only ones that touch your berries, most farms won’t be weighing your berries and may not be taking cash payment for additional berries or items on site. Look for a set amount of strawberries to be included with your appointment time. Not sure how many strawberries you will actually be getting with your appointment? A quart of strawberries is about 1.5 pounds. Some farms may allow you to pre-pay for additional containers when you make your reservation. To maximize cleanliness, customers will likely be asked to use only new containers in the fields this season so leave your trusty PYO basket at home this season.

4. Respect Your Section — and Your Time Slot

Wandering the field to find the perfect strawberries is not an option this season. To support social distancing and minimal hands touching strawberries, rows may be numbered, and each reservation will be assigned a specific section of a row. Farmhands will be in the field to ensure that customers respect those assignments. At the end of the reserved time slot, customers will be asked to exit the field so focus on filling your containers first and then taking some time for photos with your harvest.

5. Picking Etiquette: No Eating in the Field

Tempting as it may be to pop a berry into your mouth now and then, farmer ask you not to do that, for two reasons:

a) those strawberries constitute a farmer’s livelihood. The field is the farmer’s market place and if you eat berries instead of filling your basket, you are making an already challenging season even harder by taking more than you have paid for and perhaps depriving the next guest of their full container of strawberries.

b) You will likely be asked to sanitize your hands prior to picking strawberries this season. Your mouth is ground zero for COVID-19, so if you eat in the field, your hand becomes a virus delivery vehicle, leaving potentially infectious residue on the plants you touch.

6. Children & Pets

Boy with a bucket of pick-your-own strawberries.

Kids are proud to pick bright red strawberries.

Strawberry picking is great fun for young and old alike, and after weeks in quarantine, it’s important for everyone to soak up some sun and reconnect with the soil’s microbiome. Please be sure your kids understand the different rules for picking this year. Remind them that their help is important because your time in the field is limited. And teach them that strawberries won’t get any riper once you pick them, so they should pick only berries that are already bright red. Kids are also low to the ground so encourage them to move the leaves around and pick all the ripe berries in your assigned area — not just on top, but also on the bottom.

Best leave your dog at home this year. Because you won’t have time to take your pup for a break outside the field, they certainly can’t “go” in the field and your focus will need to be on Strawberry picking, most farms will not allow pets. Even experienced farm pets won’t be welcome in the fields this year.

7. Put ‘em Up!

Strawberries don’t last very long, but you can savor their sunshine for months to come if you work them properly. Bring a cooler to transport your berries home after picking. Refrigerate them, unwashed in a plastic bag or container. Within 48 hours, you should either eat them, freeze them, or turn them into jam.

To freeze strawberries, wash them, pat them dry with paper towels, lay them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (they shouldn’t be touching each other) and then put the cookie sheet in the freezer. Once the individual berries are frozen, store them in a Ziplock bag.

Here’s a simple recipe for strawberry jam from Southern Living, along with a list of all the supplies you’ll need.

Looking for a new spark for your cocktail or Popsicle? Check out this idea for strawberry nectar!

8. Not ready to get out and Pick your Own Strawberries?

If you’re not able to secure an appointment or just not ready to get out and pick this season, be sure to pre-order your strawberries online. Many farms have fewer workers this year, and getting berries picked for retail sale may be a challenge. Ordering online helps farmers know how much to pick and thus avoid waste. Farms and Farmer’s Markets are offering curbside pick-up and drive-through services to support guests in these extraordinary circumstances.

9. Be Patient ~ Buying Local Sustains Farms and Our Community

These are unprecedented times, and these procedures are new to both farmers and customers alike. There will likely be some confusion along the way. Farmers are doing their best to create a safe, positive picking experience, and we thank you for your support and patience as we navigate this strawberry season together.

For more details on strawberry picking in northern Virginia, please review these guidelines published by the Virginia department of Agriculture.

Happy picking!

Preserving the Soil’s Ecosystem

April 13, 2020 by Mark Dewey

In previous years, when we used to till our fields, all the rain we’ve had in the last 48 hours would have meant there was no way I’d be heading out to pick spinach this afternoon. Too much mud. But now that we’re into our second year on no-till planting, all that rain does what it’s supposed to do: it disappears into the structure of the soil. That means I can work in the fields immediately after a thunderstorm, which is a great advantage,

It also means the soil’s inner ecosystem has a chance to fully develop.

Most of us are accustomed to thinking of soil as part of our ecosystem, and it certainly is that, but soil has its own ecosystem as well. Bacteria, fungi, and viruses form a complex micro-ecology which largely determines the health of plants and the nutritional density of crops. A teaspoon of good soil contains at least a million such tiny creatures, possibly many more. Those micro-organisms interact with the roots of plants in ways we’re just beginning to understand, but it’s clear that certain bacteria perform specific functions for specific plants, without which the plants cannot thrive. Those functions include removing toxins from soil and converting nutrients into forms the plants can utilize.

It’s also clear that different bacteria have evolved to live at different depths, and when we displace them by tilling the soil, they die by the billions. Without their bacterial partners, our food crops are vulnerable to disease and pest pressure. And if they can’t get the nutrition they need from the soil, we can’t get the nutrition we need from them.

So that’s the second reason we’re now planting into undisturbed soil: to protect the vital ecosystem we can’t see.

Next week we’ll look at how no-till planting saves labor.

We are Here ~ Farming for your Family!

April 2, 2020 by Kate Zurschmeide

Loudoun Local farm fresh produce starts in our Greenhouse

Farmer Mark Dewey gets some help from farm dog, Sandy, watering the green house.

We are all finding new ways to shop, cook, entertain, connect and cope in the light of COVID-19. One colleague encouraged, “Put down the phone and write.” That has inspired me to pick up the pen and share with you, our Pick your Own and CSA Community, the latest from Great Country Farms.

First and foremost, we are HERE and thankful to be able to support our community with wholesome, nutritious, food grown on this land that we are blessed to steward here in Loudoun County, VA. This time of uncertainty is challenging for all of us and something none of us anticipated.

As farmers, we regularly have to cope with the uncertainties Mother Nature sends our way – be it frost, raccoons eating all the corn the day before we pick it, too much rain, too little rain or beavers cutting down 300 apple trees overnight as the tireless engineers they were made to be. COVID-19 is one uncertainty we didn’t see coming but we are steadfast in our planting and plans to grow food for our community and we are here for you and your family.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how we are pivoting to provide:

We have purchased more seed, more onion sets and more potatoes to step up our spring plantings to help meet the needs for local food.
Our farmhands are coming into work each day to build our soil, plant the seedlings and nurture the seeds in the green house. Our regenerative farming is in high gear!
We have stepped up our creativity and computer savvy and are now offering online market ordering and curbside pick-up at the Farm Market.
We are working with other local farms such as Audley Farm and Baker’s Pork, to bring in more eggs, ground beef, pork and chicken for online purchase.
UPDATE 4.15.20: GCF Harvest Box CSA Shares are SOLD OUT! Thank you all for your support. We are evaluating the demand to offer more shares. If you would be interested in purchasing a 20-week subscription, please join our wait list and you will be the first to know if we open up more shares for the 2020 season.

It is our goal to ensure that the time after this crisis is filled with good food, family fun on the farm, and deeper connections with our community & neighbors. When your family savors a meal from our farm at your table, you connect with the soil, the seeds, the environment, our farmhand team and our family. We are honored to be your farmers! We thank you and send you a big “KALE YEAH!”

Peace & Pick Your Own,

Kate Zurschmeide, Founding Family

Kale for Dinner!

April 1, 2020 by Mark Dewey

Here are two easy ways to use the green kale you just brought home.

Braise it.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot. When it starts to shimmer, add one diced yellow onion. Fry the onion for three or four minutes while you prep the kale. Note: this kale is clean as a whistle, so there’s no reason to wash it, and if you’re braising it, there’s no reason to take the ribs out either. Just chop it into bite-sized pieces, and then add about four cups of it to the stock pot. Add a teaspoon of salt, and then stir it around with the onion until it starts to wilt. Put the lid on the pot and let it steam for three or four minutes. Then serve it as a stand-alone side. It’s delicious with pinto beans.

Make a fresh kale salad.

Hold each leaf from the bottom of the stem and strip off the curly part. If the stem breaks half way up, you can leave that part. When your salad bowl is mostly full, sprinkle about half a teaspoon of coarse salt over the kale and massage it with both hands. Squeeze it about 25 times. Then add a stalk of chopped celery, a couple of chopped green onions, half a cup of dried cranberries, and half a cup of toasted almonds. For dressing, whisk together two tablespoons olive oil, two tablespoons high-quality balsamic vinegar (the kind that’s dark and thick and costs enough to not be cheap), one tablespoon real maple syrup, half a teaspoon of salt, and a little black pepper.

Many variations are possible, in both the dressing and the salad. I just try to strike a balance between bitter and sweet.

Farm Market & Play Area

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