On Wednesday, March 26, the Northern Neck SWCD hosted the 2025 Area III Spring Meeting. Virginia consists of 47 Soil & Water Conservation Districts that are divided into 6 areas. Area III consists of 8 districts – Colonial SWCD, Hanover-Caroline SWCD, Henricopolis SWCD, Monacan SWCD, Northern Neck SWCD, Three Rivers SWCD, Tidewater SWCD, and Tri-County/City SWCD. Every year, the host for the Area III Spring Meeting is rotated throughout the 8 districts. Rotating this meeting provides the host district with the opportunity to showcase specific conservation practices in their district.
Conservation’s Role in Local Farm to Table Efforts. For the 2025 Area III Spring Meeting, we chose a popular and well-known venue within the Northern Neck, Menokin Road Farm. This venue is surrounded by cover crop fields planted by producers who participate in the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) program. To showcase Conservation’s Role in Local Farm to Table Efforts, we invited two local businesses – Grapewood Farm and Healthy Harvest Food Bank & Fresh.
Grapewood Farm is a locally owned farm within the Northern Neck, located just along the Potomac River, who has participated in the VACS program. Grapewood Farm is owned and operated by Fred & Cathy Sachs. They are well-known for the center of their operation, the flour mill. Grapewood Farm produces flour for cornbread, cookies, and so much more. “Grapewood Farm is dedicated to the good stewardship of the land and to managing its natural resources in a sustainable manner. We utilize practices such as no-till and reduced tillage, cover crops and crop rotation to help reduce damage and rebuild soil fertility” – Fred & Cathy Sachs.
Healthy Harvest Food Bank and Healthy Harvest Fresh offer educational opportunities and extensive solutions to fight hunger and promote the importance of a healthy diet within the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. They offer a variety of programs available to the community. Cindy Balderson, President & CEO of Healthy Harvest, and Tammy Cole, Director of Operations at Healthy Harvest Fresh, gave a presentation on all the wonderful opportunities and benefits they provide to our local community.
To tie our theme of the meeting together, the amazing catering company, Denson’s Grocery, owned and operated by Rocky & Blair Denson, utilized various ingredients from Grapewood Farm and Healthy Harvest to provide a delicious and heart-healthy meal. The biscuits and cookies were made from flour provided by Grapewood Farm while the fried tilapia bites and salad greens were provided by Healthy Harvest. Fun Fact: Healthy Harvest Fresh is an aquaponics production facility that grows tilapia and filters the nutrients from their tanks to grow premium quality vegetables.
To conclude the meeting, Healthy Harvest offered to give those in attendance a tour of their facility. We want to thank everyone who helped to make this event a success. Northern Neck SWCD takes pride in any opportunity we are given to showcase the beautiful Northern Neck area.
