Farming Diversity Flowering in Bluemont
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By Kerry Phelps Dale
helsea Belle was just 18, in her first year at Virginia Tech, when she read Wendell Berry’s prophetic book, “The Unsettling of America,” written in 1977 as an early call to action on America’s agricultural crisis. It spoke to Belle, and ultimately called her to her passion and profession. As a horticulture major, she knew she wanted to pursue sustainable, organic farming. No pesticides, no herbicides, nothing that would harm the soil or the environment. So, she fashioned her own Innerdisciplinary degree in horticulture-civic agriculture and American Indian studies. In 2014, after graduating and having worked on several organic farms, Belle started the 12-acre Bees Wing Farm off a winding dirt road near Bluemont. It sits at the base of the Blue Ridge on the same land where she grew up and her parents still live in the same farmhouse. Belle never thought she’d end up back in Loudoun County, where major development is the rule, not the exception, in many once pristine locations. “It was heartbreaking over the course of my childhood to watch fine agricultural land have concrete poured into it,” she said. “That drove me away, seeing the priority around development and the extraction rather than restoring or maintaining community.” Still, her home soil was rich and the opportunities to own farmland elsewhere was daunting. So she returned to her Bluemont agricultural roots. Soon after, Chris Griffin came to help Chelsea transform her farm. He’s a trained Jazz musician and
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Photos by Kerry Phelps Dale
Chelsea Belle and her flowery harvest. fixer of machinery. Now married, they met at a farm planting rows opposite each other and they cultivated a relationship while growing vegetables and flowers. And as they developed their farm business, they fashioned a home and family, as well. From working at organic farms, Belle learned a few critical lessons she incorporated into her business plan. The most important: commit to diversity. In 2020, due to the pandemic, Bees Wing Farm lost all wedding and event business and had to be resilient. She was pregnant with her now 14-month old son, Wendell (named after Wendell Berry, of course) so she stopped selling at farmers markets, too. Still, because she had subscription and delivery programs already in
place, her business pivoted and thrived. “Flowers were a great thing to connect people during the pandemic,” she said. Her flowers, along with notes from the senders, were ways to reach out to the isolated and to stay connected in small but meaningful ways. “There are so many awesome farms growing organic vegetables,” she added, “and I realized that when worked on various farms, I always loved flower day.” So can’t every day be flower day, she asked herself. And so another pivot, and the farm now grows flowers exclusively. The couple works the farm full-time, planting, weeding, harvesting and the flower arranging. They do all the farm maintenance and machinery repair. They have tunnels full of flowers and seedlings, and fields of flowers and cover crops. “There aren’t a lot of opportunities in farming for upward mobility,” she said. “It’s really hard work for little money. At some point you can’t make a living making $9 an hour. If you’re going to break your back you might as well do it for yourself.” There’s an authenticity to everything she and her husband do. They’re at once both grounded and visionary. Artist and scientist. Their simple sensibilities belie the sophistication of their business plans and marketing. They’ve managed to combine sustainable business practices with an accountability to the earth and their community, reaping the benefits of a joyful, meaningful, productive and profitable life. Details: www.beeswingfarm.com.
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Go Green Middleburg | Fall 2021
10/14/20 8:53 AM
