For dozens of families, the creation of KelRae Farm’s food hub in 2020 was a “blessing,” according to Michelle Gulden.
Gulden and her family have owned the farm in Toano, a rural community in James City County, for decades. But the COVID pandemic was catastrophic for growers when farmers' markets closed.
Gulden, with Richmond-based Lulu’s Local Food and a local school dietician, quickly started the food hub.
“It was a godsend, in many ways, for a lot of us to be able to keep doing business,” she said. “Your crops don't stop growing; protein producers don't stop producing; your milk producers, their cows still are producing milk.”
Food hubs are central places for farmers to sell local produce and other goods. Creating a food hub was one of 13 projects recommended by James City County’s rural economic development committee’s 2014 report.
Every week, KelRae takes orders for pickup and delivery with a changing stock depending on the season and which farms are selling that week. The hub also takes produce to schools, restaurants and food pantries.
The first year, upwards of 55 farms partnered with KelRae’s hub. And despite a tough season for Virginia producers between market volatility, drought and the occasional deluge, farmers’ participation in the hub is steady. More than 40 farms are still involved.
“We’ve had great support with many of our local customers,” Gulden said. “We couldn’t do what we do without them. Truly, they’ve really committed.”
The rural economic development committee, sometimes called the REDC, was formed to consider opportunities on rural lands other than residential and industrial development, according to member and Toano resident Rich Krapf, also a regular KelRae customer.
“The idea was to provide some economic options that might allow them to keep their property and still get some money generated from it,” he said.
The REDC’s recommendations included promoting farmers’ markets, agri- and eco-tourism and studying natural and cultural assets for potential preservation. The county has made some strides there, though Krapf said many projects, such as developing a rural activities center and agriculture incubator, remain untouched.
“I haven’t seen too many other of the strategies that are in that report.”
John McGlennon has been on the Board of Supervisors since the report was created. Several of the report’s ideas live in long-term county plans, but the fast-growing locality has a lot of needs and only so much funding, which means other projects can take priority.
“If you have limited resources, you have to make decisions about how you're going to achieve the most benefit for the least expenditure of money,” McGlennon said.
The REDC’s work started, he said, as rural communities were feeling pressure from growth in housing and the solar farm industry. At the same time, local governments were still struggling to emerge from the Great Recession.
McGlennon, however, said preserving the county's small-town character extends beyond the REDC report. The government prefers growth in its primary service area; it passed zoning rules limiting homes to one per every 20 acres on rural land; at times, it also purchases ecologically valuable land or development rights for farms for preservation — but that requires willing partners.
“Some want to be involved in agriculture right now, but don't want to give up the possibility that at some point they would just say ‘No, I've had it, and it's time to pass it on to somebody else,’” McGlennon said.
In some cases, such as at KelRae, rural development and preservation are championed by residents, not government.
That’s what Jack Wray, president of the Toano Historical Society, has been doing. His family has had roots since Toano was founded as a railroad town in the late 19th century. He and his brother, Jeff, have been spending their time and money restoring landmark structures, such as early homes and storefronts, in the historic district he helped create.
“I'm just so happy with what it’s brought to the town, and the other things could happen after we save our history,” Wray said. “That's what I believe in, but it's hard.”
Wray has grand hopes for revitalizing Toano, including a small commercial and housing project in the style of the town’s historic train depot called Toano Station. They’ve had successes in the meantime, removing blighted buildings and creating space for new businesses such as the cafe, Hohl, in the old Travers House on Richmond Road. Other residents have joined in, such as Maureen Anderson, who founded the Toano Open Air Market six years ago, for local artisans and producers.
Like the county, however, Wray needs more partners to fulfill his vision.
“I'd like to see the people that already own the land step up to the plate and do what I did here,” he said. “This is a legacy that could last for generations.”
