“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth.”
—Thomas Jefferson
Polyface Farm lies gently among the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, near Little North Mountain and Elliott Knob, in Augusta County. This land beneath the mountains is a beautiful patchwork quilt of fine pastures and forests, and it nurtures a dream as old as America yet as young as the many faces stewarding it.
In the early days, a large number of Americans lived connected with the soil. Even lawyers and professional people raised crops. Washington, Jefferson, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton not only helped found our nation; they were instrumental in developing its agriculture. Today, only a small percentage of our population farms—as crop yields have increased, fewer of us need to. This in itself is not a bad thing, as more people are freed up for other important and creative endeavors. But the average farmer today is aging, and going it alone. Farm children often have gravitated to cities, looking to make more money with less risk and shorter hours. The family farm will die with its farmer….