Story and Photos by Daniel M. Walker, Contributing Writer

You don�t have to be a farmer to know that agriculture has changed significantly during the last two decades. Our food sources are now global.

At times, you may have wondered where that tomato you served your family was grown, or why at the grocery store you can only find shrimp from Thailand. Well, things may be changing again, right before our taste buds. There are signs that a local-food revolution is sweeping the nation.

I first noticed this trend during interviews with chefs for my Cooperative Living stories. The best chefs want the ingredients they use in their restaurants to come from local sources. And this is not just a trend in restaurants. Families, too, want their food locally produced: thus the surge in popularity of farmers� markets and local produce markets. The USDA recently reported that farmers� markets have increased 30 percent the last two years.

Steve Hoops, a visionary and owner of the Harvest Table in Meadowview, Va., said, �We started the Harvest Table by sourcing food from within a 50-mile radius. For us, it�s important to know our suppliers and how the food is produced.�  

Steve adds that, beyond ensuring a quality food supply, �Buying good food locally also helps the local economy. While I have nothing against the farmers in Peru, I would rather spend my money within the community and help improve our local resources.� 

That is the mission of Meadowview Farmers� Guild and Harvest Table, which is a restaurant, a farm, and also a craft store to showcase local artists. This all started as an alternative to plans for a truck stop that was to be located at an exit off nearby Interstate 81.

�The truck stop would have become the driving economic engine for our community and could have sucked the cultural life from our community. Our response was to develop a farmers� guild to encourage development of local resources and the Harvest Table.� 

Steve�s wife is the New York Times bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver. Among other books, she wrote Animal, Vegetable, and Miracle. Steve continues, �I learned an awful lot from our collaboration on that book, and that�s part of what moved the Guild project.�

Harvest Table Farm

The farm is a four-acre, multi-crop agricultural site located several miles from the restaurant and is managed by Samantha (Sam) Eubanks, a recent graduate with a degree in sustainable development with an agroecology concentration from Appalachian State University. 

 �I talk a lot with local farmers to see what they are growing so we can plant crops the restaurant needs that local farmers are not growing,� she says.

�It�s hard to believe, in looking over the lush green fields of Virginia, but major land masses of Virginia are considered �food deserts� by the USDA. The key words are access and affordability, in that people may be near a store, but they can�t buy healthy foods. Our goal is to develop new farming methods that work well in our area, to not only improve our production but also share with our neighbor farmers. The challenge is making good food accessible while still increasing the farmers� production, margins, and making farming a desirable career,� Sam adds.

Harvest Table Restaurant    

The building that houses the Harvest Table Restaurant was a circa-1900 dry goods store. At that time, Meadowview was a bustling railroad and transportation center from which livestock and produce were shipped to points across the eastern U.S. Meadowview remained a busy hub of activity until the 1950s, when the railroad�s departure of the train dampened the local economy.

The restaurant features locally grown foods that accent the delight of seasonal eating. Philip Newton, Harvest Table�s head chef says, �At most restaurants the chef designs the menu and orders the food to make the menu work. Our approach is the reverse. We start with what�s fresh and available, and design the menu around that. In this way, our menu is constantly changing and offers the very best taste of our region.�

I was at the restaurant for lunch. I started with a bowl of cream of mushroom soup. It was very thick and chunky with mushroom bits.  My main lunch entr�e was a lamb burrito with black beans and a very tasty cream sauce. One thing about lamb, you can really tell when it�s fresh.

My Harvest Table lunch experience was so good that I just have to return for dinner some evening. There were two items on the dinner menu I wanted to try: the stone oven-poached trout and the bacon-wrapped meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies. A return trip might just have to be on a Wednesday, when local entertainment is also on the menu.

If a reformation in regional food culture is underway, then the Harvest Table and Farmers� Guild are certainly fitting models to follow. 

If you have a favorite breakfast spot, let me know about it at [email protected].

Be of Good Cheer !

Harvest Table - 13180 Meadowview Square - Meadowview, VA - Phone (276) 944-5142 - www.harvesttablerestaurant.com