Westmoreland Produce
Westmoreland County, Virginia is a particularly beautiful county. Located between Washington, DC, and the Chesapeake Bay, Westmoreland County is an ideal place for farming. Arnulfo Medina came to here from Florida 27 years ago to pick berries and cantaloupes. Enamored with the beauty of the land, he decided to stay. He leased four acres of land and began farming in the most minimal way - no equipment, no trucks, just some hand tools.
Over the years, through hard work and almost bare hands, Arnulfo was able to grow the farm, buy some equipment and today Arnulfo and his children, Christina and her husband Alfonso, Esther and Angelica, grandson, Arnulfo, Jr. and the young ones Nataly and Juan Pablo own about 120 acres of prime farmland in Westmoreland County.
As on most farms, the works starts in early February. Five large greenhouses are filled with “transplants” that will later go into the fields when the weather gets better. With the past two years of extreme cold, getting these plants out to the fields is no easy feat. The hope is for the first week of April.Mitch and I toured the farm on a road trip through the northern neck of Virginia last summer. We are lucky to have farms from as far south as this area at our markets, as they are able to bring in produce and berries before the northern (Pennsylvania) crops are ready. This extends the growing season at the market and gives our patrons a longer season to enjoy fruits and vegetables early on.The Medina farm is expansive, well kept and well run. Running eighteen trucks a week to farm markets in the DC area is complicated, but as you can see from the trucks lined up in the fields, the Medinas know exactly how to do this. Each day trucks are loaded under the guidance of the watchful eyes of whoever will be taking a particular truck to a particular market. Market patrons differ from farm market location to location and the Medinas know how to accommodate each market. They make sure that each truck is filled with produce and fruits that are specially selected for each market.
Once the trucks are loaded, they head out at 4 am for a 2 1/2 hour ride to the Washington markets, where they are the first to set up expansive tents filled with plants, heirloom tomatoes like the purple cherokees, brandywines and german stripers. Westmoreland Produce also grows a vast array of hot peppers and tomatillos.After a full day of touring we were treated to a barbecue with Esther's fresh salsa with fresh roasted vegetables, complete with those hot peppers!
In the coming weeks you will find the Westmoreland Produce tents bursting with spring and summer vegetables and the smiling faces of the Medina family working hard to make sure their customers leave happy.Westmoreland Produce is located at all three Central Farm Markets.