Getting Your Hands Dirty: How Frederick County Is Falling Back in Love with Its Farmers

Love Your Farmer POD
A Community Reconnects with Its Roots

Something powerful is growing in Frederick County — and it has nothing to do with the weather.

On a recent episode of The Valley Today, host Janet Michael gathers three of the region’s most passionate agricultural advocates for a conversation that was equal parts inspiring and eye-opening. Sam Armel, founder of Frederick County Homesteaders, joins Jaclyn Mommen of Laurel Grove Wine Farm and Patti’s Place, and Kristin Tesdall of Five Roots Farm to talk about a brand-new community initiative: Love Your Farmer Week, June 14–20. Click here to listen.

The event invites volunteers of all ages and abilities to roll up their sleeves and work alongside local farmers — and the timing, the women agree, couldn’t be more critical.

What Love Your Farmer Week Actually Looks Like

Rather than simply asking the community to shop local, Frederick County Homesteaders is asking people to show up.

“We thought, what could we do to really celebrate agriculture?” Sam explains during the podcast. “You can’t complain when a farm goes for sale if you’re not supporting the farmer.”

Through two simple Google forms — one for farms, one for volunteers — the organization makes it easy for families, church groups, 4H chapters, FFA members, homeschool co-ops, and civic organizations to sign up for time slots throughout the week. Organizers have even broken down participation by age range and mobility level, ensuring that everyone, regardless of physical ability, can find a meaningful way to contribute.

Currently, five farms have signed up to participate. Volunteer spots are still open, and farms can register through June 5th at frederickcountyhomesteaders.com.

A Day in the Life — It’s Not What You Think

One of the most compelling moments in the episode comes when Janet asks Jaclyn to describe a typical day on the farm. Her answer stops you in your tracks.

“Yesterday morning, I went to the farm market, harvested scapes, worked on the schedule, went to the vineyard, pruned vines for about five hours,” Jaclyn recounts. “Then after I put my kids to bed, I went to the vineyard and put down organic calcium biological from 9:30 to 1:30 in the morning. Then we woke up at 6:00 AM to go to field day.”

Meanwhile, over at Five Roots Farm, Kristin Tesdall describes a morning that began before dawn when she thought a lamb had escaped — only to discover it was simply “screaming for no reason.” The day before, sheep had gotten out, requiring an early-morning roundup before the rest of the workday even began.

These stories aren’t complaints. They’re simply Thursday.

The Hidden Toll of Farming Nobody Talks About

Beyond the physical demands, the conversation turns to the financial and emotional weight that farmers quietly carry. Late frosts this spring devastated vineyards, peach orchards, and apple orchards across the valley. And yet, as Sam points out, many people assume farmers are protected by crop insurance — a misconception that Janet herself once shared.

“I unknowingly said, ‘Don’t you have crop insurance?'” Janet admits during the episode. “And then he explained to me how that works. It is not like car insurance.”

Furthermore, the numbers paint a sobering picture. The average American farmer is between 58 and 64 years old. Farmland is transferring at a rapid rate. New farmers are not entering the industry fast enough to replace those who are leaving. As Sam puts it plainly, “There’s more of a shot for us to fail than there is for us to succeed.”

From Fleeces to Forested Paths: What Volunteers Will Actually Do

So what does volunteering actually look like during Love Your Farmer Week? Each participating farm brings something different to the table.

At Five Roots Farm, Kristin will lead volunteers through the process of skirting raw wool fleeces — the first step in transforming freshly shorn wool into yarn. It’s hands-on, educational, and open to kids and adults alike. “I hope that people will see the work that goes into some of these products,” Kristin says. “You don’t have to have a big commercial operation. You can do something smaller and still feed your community.”

Over at Patti’s Place, Jaclyn is focused on practical projects that have long been pushed to the back burner: mulching trails, weeding garden beds, and building paths through a forested area so children can explore safely. “If you have an army of people and six wheelbarrows,” she laughs, “that’s actually really quick work.”

Both women emphasize that volunteers won’t just be helping — they’ll be learning. And crucially, if they return to visit the farms later in the season, they’ll get to witness the direct results of their own labor.

Regenerative Farming and the Return to Common Sense

The conversation also ventures into the philosophy behind modern small-farm success. Jaclyn, who farms regeneratively at Laurel Grove Wine Farm, pushes back against the idea that regenerative agriculture is somehow new or trendy.

“People have been growing grapes and making wine for thousands of years before there were any chemicals to do it,” she says. “They just forgot how to do it because they stopped doing it.” She traces the loss of generational farming knowledge back just two generations — a remarkably short window of time in which centuries of wisdom nearly disappeared entirely.

That’s precisely why initiatives like Patti’s Place exist: to normalize the kind of hands-on, knowledge-sharing culture that once passed naturally from grandparent to grandchild.

A Call to Action for the Whole Valley

Ultimately, the episode is a call to action — not just for Love Your Farmer Week, but for a deeper, more sustained commitment to local agriculture.

“We live in a breadbasket community,” Sam reminds listeners. “We have so much more, and we take it for granted.”

The good news? It doesn’t take much to make a difference. Sign up to volunteer for a single afternoon. Visit a farm stand. Buy the peaches, even if they didn’t come from the orchard you usually frequent. Follow these farmers on social media. Show up.

As Sam says, “Instead of being fearful, let’s get solutions-driven.”

How to Get Involved

Want to hear the full conversation?

THE VALLEY TODAY with Janet Michael — A decade of conversations.

New podcast episodes drop weekdays at 11 AM. Catch the show on The River 95.3 and Fox Sports 1450 AM weekdays just after noon.

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From Crawl to Hop: Frederick County Homesteaders Are Reimagining What a Farm Event Can Be

frederick county homesteaders spring farm hop pod

Every spring, something special happens in Frederick County, Virginia. Farmers throw open their gates, communities hit the road, and the Shenandoah Valley comes alive with the energy of people reconnecting with the land. But this year, the Frederick County Homesteaders are doing something bold — they’re changing the entire format. And if the excitement on a recent episode of The Valley Today is any indication, the community is ready for it. Click here to listen.

A New Idea Takes Root

For years, the Frederick County Homesteaders hosted a beloved farm crawl — a self-guided tour that sent participants driving across one of Virginia’s largest counties to visit farms one by one. It was popular. It was meaningful. And for many people, it was simply too much.

“Our county can take about 50 minutes to get from one side to the other,” explains Sam Armel, founder of the Frederick County Homesteaders. “For families with small children, for people with mobility challenges — that’s a real barrier.”

So Armel did what good community builders do: she listened. After gathering feedback, she reached out to the Frederick County Fairgrounds with what she calls a “crazy hair-brained idea.” The fairgrounds said yes. And just like that, the Spring Farm Hop was born.

One Place, Endless Possibilities

On April 18th from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, the Frederick County Fairgrounds will transform into a one-stop celebration of local agriculture, homesteading, and community connection. Better yet, admission is completely free.

Rather than driving farm-to-farm, attendees will hop booth-to-booth, meeting roughly 60 local farms, homesteaders, and vendors all gathered in one place. From CSA sign-ups and herd shares to plant swaps and livestock sales, everything a community member needs to start — or deepen — a relationship with local food will be right there in front of them.

Alongside the vendors, the event features a packed lineup of hands-on demonstrations. Old Cedar Farmstead will teach attendees how to make raw milk butter straight from the cow. Willow Moon Farm will walk visitors through herbal infusions. Fermentation enthusiasts can learn to make sauerkraut and kimchi on the spot. And for those who love learning, two expert panels take the event even further.

Learning From the Experts

The morning panel, Healthy Living Locally, brings together a chiropractor, a raw milk advocate, and an herbalist to explore the profound connection between locally sourced food and personal health. “Your food should nourish you — it should heal you,” Armel says, summing up the spirit of the discussion.

Later in the day, the Homesteading 101 panel invites aspiring homesteaders to pull up a chair and ask the questions they’ve always wanted answered. Kristin Tesdall of Five Roots Farm, who sits on the Frederick County Homesteaders board, will join that panel — and she brings hard-won wisdom from building a thriving micro farm on just over five acres.

“We love sharing just how much you can do on a small footprint,” Tesdall says. Her farm raises sheep — what she describes as “the ultimate tri-purpose animal” for wool, dairy, and meat — along with ducks, chickens, geese, and rabbits. For anyone dreaming of a homestead but intimidated by the scale, Five Roots Farm is living proof that you don’t need hundreds of acres to make a meaningful impact.

The Stakes Are Higher Than You Think

Beyond the fun and festivities, the Spring Farm Hop carries a deeper urgency. Armel is direct about the economics: when consumers shop at large grocery chains, local farmers may earn as little as five cents of every dollar spent. That razor-thin margin makes direct consumer engagement not just meaningful — it’s survival.

“If we want our local farms to thrive, not just survive, it means active engagement from the community,” Armel says. “We as consumers have to step in and start doing our part of that dance.”

That call to action has grown louder in recent months as data center development threatens to encroach on Frederick County farmland. Host Janet Michael points out that the controversy has moved many residents from passive supporters to active advocates. “I know I’ve talked a good game,” she reflects, voicing what many feel, “but now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is.”

Farmers Supporting Farmers

One of the most exciting dimensions of the Spring Farm Hop is what happens between the farmers themselves. Jaclyn Mommen, who runs Laurel Grove Wine Farm and the beloved Patti’s Place marketplace, notes that farmers rarely get the chance to connect with each other face-to-face.

“There’s a lot of exciting opportunity — not just for farms to showcase to the community, but for farmers to showcase to each other,” Mommen says. Her own business operates in the spirit of a cooperative, and she hopes the event will spark new partnerships, product collaborations, and supply relationships between local growers.

Mommen’s Patti’s Place is itself a destination worth knowing about — a charming marketplace open Wednesday through Sunday, stocked with an exceptional regenerative wine collection (now shipping nationwide), handmade goods, and workshops ranging from composting to holistic medicine. “You are literally transported into a magical world,” she laughs, “and you get to drink really excellent wine while you do it.”

What’s Coming Next

The Spring Farm Hop is just the beginning of a big year for Frederick County Homesteaders. This June, the organization will launch an expanded annual shop local guide during Love Your Farmer Week — a publication Armel describes as “Southern Living for Frederick County and the Shenandoah Valley,” complete with recipes, farm stories, and profiles of the people behind the produce.

Additionally, a private Facebook group gives farms and homesteaders a space to troubleshoot, collaborate, and build the kind of peer network that helps everyone grow. Armel points to a standout example: Old Cedar Farmstead, known for its sourdough, now sells in bulk to local farm markets — a connection made possible because people took the time to find each other.

Mark Your Calendar

The Frederick County Homesteaders Spring Farm Hop is free, family-friendly, and open to all ages. Organizers encourage attendees to RSVP at frederickcountyhomesteaders.com — not as a formality, but as a courtesy to the farmers preparing food and products for the day. “We want to know how many people we’re serving,” Armel explains, “so we can keep getting better every time.”

Live bluegrass music, a kids’ scavenger hunt with prizes, young entrepreneur vendors, and lunch service round out a day that promises something for everyone.

Want to hear the full conversation? Listen to the complete Valley Today episode with Sam Armel, Kristin Tesdall, and Jaclyn Mommen at https://bit.ly/48t6IaO — and then go RSVP for the Spring Farm Hop. Your local farmers will thank you.