Rappahannock Education Farm grows produce for Fredericksburg Food Bank, plans 9-acre expansion

Rappahannock Education Farm (REF) Manager Rich Larochelle said he and a squad of volunteers prepped a 360-square-foot plot of Fredericksburg farmland to plant hundreds of seeds of produce last week.

Nearly 3,000 people in the Fredericksburg area suffer from food insecurity, according to Stacker, a government data-collection website. Food-insecure households can’t afford regular access to healthy meals. The Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank supplies food to 31,000 people every year.

Larochelle said they’re using land outside of Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank in exchange for supplying fresh vegetables to the bank. Larochelle said the Fredericksburg food bank farm is the first official project on his mission of engaging the community with growing local before work starts on a future expansion.

“We’re taking an area that had been a garden many years ago and we’re preparing it for some new plants,” Larochelle said to Fredericksburg Free Press, “It’ll all go to reducing our food insecurity.”

Larochelle explained that the mini-farm is just the first step. He said the farm currently owns no land but is working to change this with the purchase of nine acres in Stafford. This size plot can hold up to 18,000 crops at one time. Larochelle said price negotiations are pending. According to Zillow, the average price for nine of undeveloped land in Stafford is $50,000.

Larochelle plans to model the new farm after the Fauquier Education Farm, which also grows produce for food banks. “We propose to learn from these successes as we create a similar entity for our community,” said the farm’s website. “[Where people can] come together around the positive activities of growing and harvesting foods.”

The REF Facebook page said the current Fredericksburg mini-farm and future acreage are made possible by grants from the Mary Washington Healthcare Foundation and the Stafford Health Foundation.

Larochelle said the mini-farm in Fredericksburg will grow tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans, and other veggies requested by the food bank.

Larochelle said they needed to make the soil farmable again after years of disuse. He said he and over 30 volunteers removed old plastic netting from previous farmers and tilled the soil. Larochelle said soil samples were tested by Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture to determine the soil’s fertility. After a week, Virginia Tech deemed the soil “adequate on most measures and even better on others.”

REF Master Gardener Jonathan Stevens said the next step is getting topsoil donations from the community.

“We want to teach people how to garden, reduce food insecurity, and have fun in the process,” Larochelle said. “It’s a beautiful day to garden.”

Chas Chappell is a freelance reporter for Potomac Local News.

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