Thanks to the efforts of the farm staff and everyone else who pulled together to help out, the Heritage Point Farm Dedication on June 8 was a great success. We had 8 vendors for the farmers’ market, an estimated 350 attendees, and wonderful weather (after the rain in the morning).

We were very encouraged by the enthusiastic response from our community, and are thrilled to be a part of such a vibrant local-focused city. Thank you to all who attended and made this event what it was. We look forward to serving the Valley in the years to come.

Please stay tuned for more information about the weekly farmers’ markets. They will be postponed until we have acquired our business license for Heritage Point.

P.S. After all was said and done, the farm staff collected only 2.15 lbs of trash from the event! Good job Roanoke!

Despite the mud and the potential for rain, we will still be holding the Farm Dedication event tomorrow. The days events may look a little different than planned but the key is that we are going to be dedicating the farm to you, our community. Please join us, and bring an umbrella!

P.S. Don’t forget to take 460 to the farm. The directions on Google maps often misdirect to a closed road. See the previous post for more details.

The Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op is dedicating its 25 acre urban farm to the community on June 8. The driving directions to Heritage Point Farm provided by Google Maps often direct you to a closed road. The farm is located at the end of Blue Hills Drive, off of Rt 460.

Directions:

From the Co-op on Grandin: From the Co-op parking lot, take a left onto Grandin Road, then a right at the stoplight onto Memorial Ave. Follow Memorial for just under a mile and turn right onto Campbell Ave at the stop light. Follow Campbell through downtown for 1.4 miles then turn left onto Williamson Road. After .8 miles on Williamson, turn right onto Orange Ave (460E). After 3.1 miles on 460 E, take a left at the stoplight onto Blue Hills Drive across from Wendy’s and Suntrust. Follow Blue Hills Drive to the cul de sac then take the gravel road to the farm.

581 North: Take exit 4E to US-460 E/Orange Ave. Drive 3.4 miles on 460 E, then take a left at the stoplight onto Blue Hills Drive across from Wendy’s and Suntrust. Follow Blue Hills Drive to the cul de sac then take the gravel road to the farm.

Driving West on 460 (coming from Bedford/Lynchburg): About .7 miles after the Bonsack Kroger, turn right onto Blue Hills Drive at the stoplight (across from Wendy’s and Suntrust). Follow Blue Hills Drive to the cul de sac then take the gravel road to the farm.

Coming from I-81/581 South: Take I-81 to exit 143 (581 South). Take exit 4E to US-460 E/Orange Ave. Drive 3.4 miles on 460 E, then take a left at the stoplight onto Blue Hills Drive across from Wendy’s and Suntrust. Follow Blue Hills Drive to the cul de sac then take the gravel road to the farm.

The Co-op is very proud to announce that on Saturday, June 8, we will be dedicating Heritage Point Farm to our community.

The event will begin at 8am with a farmer’s market, at 10am we will have a dedication ceremony, followed by self-guided tours of the farm. Pack a picnic and enjoy lunch under the Osage orange trees.

Also, bring a small bag of the best soil from your garden and we will give you some of our best soil!

No pets, please.

Come experience Heritage Point Farm, the nation’s largest contiguous urban farm, on June 8th and celebrate with us! See you there!

IMPORTANT: Please take Blue Hills Drive, off of 460, across from Wendy’s and Suntrust, to get to the farm. Google Maps and GPS devices will often misdirect and lead to a closed road.

Click here to view and respond to the event on Facebook.

Every time I visit Heritage Point, I am astounded at the amount of progress I see happening. On this last visit, the second well was being drilled, the berry patch had been plowed and many of the berries planted, outside gardens were doing beautifully, and the hoop house produce was fuller than ever. Peyton, a farm team member, was planting sweet potatoes (1000 to be exact) while Sean, our Farm Coordinator, was cleaning and packaging eggs from our hens. The bees are busily moving about, flowers are in bloom (and for sale in the Grandin Village store), and growth is happening all around.

You can see from the picture below that things look a lot different than they did even a few weeks ago, and we don’t plan on slowing down any time soon. Stay tuned for an exciting announcement in the next week!

(From Left to Right) The second well being drilled for irrigation, flower gardens, the barn, housing our hens, hundreds of seedlings, and plenty more, the hoop house in full production, circular garden with herbs and flowers built around a donated sculpture (thanks Polly!), beautiful berry patch, and on top of the hill reside our bees

Big things have been happening at the farm in the past few months. Somehow we went from acquiring the land to selling our own farm grown produce in the Co-op, before we knew it! So here’s a little break down to catch you up on what has been going on.

The chickens moved into their fancy new home and are loving it. In fact, the hens laid their first eggs a few weeks ago! It won’t be long before they will be producing enough for us to sell in the store.

We hired two awesome Assistant Farm Managers Chelsea Graves and Conor Rice and a Farm Team Member, Peyton Wilson, who have all been phenomenally helpful in getting things up and running.

Assistant Farm Manager Chelsea Graves

(Left to Right) Assistant Farm Manager Conor Rice, Farm Team Member Peyton Wilson

Thanks to the hard work and long hours of our farm staff, one hoop house has been completed and another is under construction. Our cardboard recycling program is in its beginning stages with cardboard from the Grandin store being placed in the trench that runs through the center of the hoop house.

The next step will be to add worms which will digest the cardboard and turn it into fertile soil for the plants! We also planted a variety of veggies, which have all done extremely well and…

We are now selling some of that fresh produce in our store on Grandin! We have two different kinds of salad mix (Asian Blend and Salad Blend) as well as delicious radishes. We also have quite a few seedlings available outside at our seedling sale. In fact, most of the plants available at the seedling sale were potted and cared for at the farm.

And finally, Sean, Chelsea, and Conor successfully introduced 20 thousand bees into their 6 hives on a hill overlooking the farm. The bees will help with pollenating the produce on the farm and will eventually produce enough honey for us to sell.

Farm Coordinator Sean Jordan, left, helps Conor Rice install bee hives

So, as you can tell, a lot has happened and will continue to happen at the Co-op’s Heritage Point Farm, the largest contiguous urban farm in the United States.

We rang in the New Year out at Heritage Point by moving the chickens into their new dee-luxe coop. Check it out!

That’s 32′x16′ of fancy living for our hens.  Roosts and nesting boxes are being installed now as we prepare for the hens to start laying eggs in late March.

In other farm news:

Construction for the first two hoop houses is underway. We’re also hiring now at the farm.  Check out the postings for two positions now available at Heritage Point.

Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op is seeking reliable individuals to join our team at Heritage Point, our 25 acre cooperative urban farm in Roanoke City.  Heritage Point, founded in 2012, is the largest contiguous urban farm in the United States, providing the Roanoke Valley with hyper-locally grown produce, and many educational opportunities, strengthening the local, sustainable food movement in the Roanoke Valley.

Job openings include Assistant Farm Manager & Farm Staff.  Click Here for more information.

We had a big day out at Heritage Point today.  For starters we fired up the tractor!  Take a look at this beauty.

A John Deere 5065E 65hp Diesel 4WD.  We anticipate that it will meet our needs for many years. Sean Jordan has been busy pulling fence posts to make room for the greenhouses which will go up next week.  The first crops at the farm, leafy greens, will be planted in the greenhouses and arrive at the Co-op about 30 days later.

We’d also like to introduce you to the newest residents of the farm…

Pretty cute, eh? One hundred 1-day-old chicks arrived at the farm this morning.  They are a mix of 50 Black Stars Hens & 50 “Easter Egg” Hens, or Araucanas.  They will be kept in brooders for 30 days to maintain 95 F degrees, then move to a coop off the back of the barn, which is currently under construction.

Visiting hours are 10am-6pm, Saturday 11/17 & Monday 11/19.  Warning – they are excessively cute!

Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op will be hosting an “open house” of sorts at our farm, Heritage Point, this Saturday November 3 from 10am – 4pm.

All are welcome.  Nothing fancy, just farmin’. Come check out what we’ve been up to the last couple of weeks and where we’re headed!

Directions to Heritage Point from Grandin Road.  Once you are on Blue Hills Drive, follow the road until it ends at a cul-de-sac.  Pull onto the gravel road at the end of Blue Hill Drive, the farm will be just ahead on your right.