Notting Hill is a small 60-acre property situated in view of the eastern range of the Blue Ridge Mountains two miles west of the Shenandoah River. The land is rich enough for row-crops, but scattered limestone rills make it better suited to pasture. Our primary product is the green grass that has made the rolling Virginia countryside famous for its yeoman farmers and exceptional forage.
We harvest our grass with two- and four-legged tractors: Chicken, Geese, Cows and Sheep. By rotating the grazing areas of our "tractors" they excite the growth of new grass and fertilize as they go. This simple dance on forage translates the grass into eggs, beef, lamb, chickens and dairy.
Our primary motivation is good food. We approach our agricultural projects with the eye of a cook. We are interested in products that capture the essence of the thing produced: the egginess of eggs or the goosiness of goose. Once you compare the golden yolks and firm structure of the farm fresh egg to the peaked runny thing you buy in the store, you will begin to understand that the USDA gurantees neither quality nor health... only quantity. Once you buy a goose fattened on the farm you will realize that nothing matches the rich intensity of geese raised solely on grass and Virginia peanuts... and you will understand why goose is the bird for feasts. We believe that the right stock for the right soil matters just as much for Lamb or Beef as it does for Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. We believe that good food is more than the nutritional sum of its constituent parts.
We feed our family of seven what we grow on the property, and we share the abundance with the local community. As the local food movement gains steam, we hope that you may have access to healthier, higher quality food; so that your four-year old may have an opinion on the relative merit of béarnaise sauce made from pastured eggs vs. store bought; or that your eleven-year-old may come to understand that real milk changes flavour as the season changes the grass; or that your boys may grow-up thinking that every family fights over the last of the goose confit.
Notting Hill is happy to participate in the Northern Valley Pastoral Guild because as farmers we share experience, as consumers we share products, and as producers we share customers. If Notting Hill does not have exactly (or enough) of what you are looking for, please visit the other farms in the guild.
Current Notting Hill projects:
| Product |
Breed |
| Lamb |
Katahdin |
| Brown Eggs |
Buff Orpington, Black Australorps, Rhode Island Red |
| Chicken |
Red Ranger - "Label Rouge" method |
| Goose |
Toulouse and White Embden |
| Rabbit |
Polyface New Zealand/California cross |
| Guinea Hens |
Assorted (for bug control and to feed the foxes) |
| Beef |
Black Angus (we host Briarmead cattle) |
Projects under consideration:
| Product |
Breed |
| Cabrito (Goat) |
Boer |
| Goat Milk |
Breed TBD |
| Goat Cheese |
Aged Cheese - Breed TBD |
| Beef |
Irish Dexter Low-line cattle |
| Cow Milk |
Irish Dexter Low-line cattle |
We research and take-on new projects to satisfy three objectives: Improve the quality of local food, improve the variety of local food, and improve the sustainable interactions of the farm. We are open to all suggestions that will meet these objectives... please feel free to contact us to express your interest in any new products.
Finally, a note on organics and legalities. Do we practice organic husbandry? Yes. Are we certified organic? No. Instead we are part of the agricultural movement that is "beyond organic" which emphasizes sustainable (non-industrial) agricultural practices and integrated multi-species farming. At least until the USDA certifies a beyond-organic label... at which point we will become ultra-beyond-organic.
We have a simple premise: part of the problem with our poor quality food supply is the non-sustainable industrial farming that both destroys the product you eat and the land whence it comes. Feeding 80,000 chickens in a factory "organic" feed does not a healthy system make. We understand the limited value of an "organic label" for urban or sub-urban shoppers in chain supermarkets. But our question to you is this: what do you really know about the farming practices of Chilean strawberry farmers, or New Zealand shepherds, or Brazillian Beef ranchers? Does the organic label mean what you think it means, and do you really think the USDA cares?
We note as well that there are additional products that we enjoy ourselves and would be happy to provide to you, but some of these products are illegal in the State of Virginia. We will not violate any laws in our business. But we will point to you organizations that are mobilizing Virginians who want greater choice in what they eat. You can start by regisering with the Virginia Independent Consumer and Farmer Association (VICFA) www.vicfa.org and joining the Weston A. Price Foundation www.westonaprice.org
The farm takes its name from the humorous novel by G.K. Chesterton in which he defends the virtues of small proprietors and local loyalties against the growing encroachment of bureaucratic experts, corporate interests and national/global allegiances. In an attempt to rouse us out of the curious tyranny of the bureaucratic "expert", Chesterton once famously remarked, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” Notting Hill is a small proprietorship dedicated to doing the things once common to all men, but now only the province of few.
More Chesterton:
"Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists." - The Uses of Diversity, 1921
"Our society is so abnormal that the normal man never dreams of having the normal occupation of looking after his own property. When he chooses a trade, he chooses one of the ten thousand trades that involve looking after other people's property." - Commonwealth 10-12-32 |
9/3/2010 - NVPG
