Last Saturday I joined about 2000 other people at the Loudoun Grown Expo, a celebration of food and wine from Loudoun County, and what an afternoon it was. There was food, wine, spirits, and music, definitely a lot of fun for everyone. There were 30 participating farms, vineyards, and other producers, so it was an excellent opportunity to meet the people who make the wine and spirits, who grow the vegetables, to sign up for a CSA, to buy an award-winning pie, and to learn about hydroponic agriculture and grass-fed beef.
And for me it was a delight to finally meet the owners of Wegmeyer Farms, one of The Farm Project farms. We’d never met until Saturday, and I was thrilled to finally shake hands with Harriet and Tyler. They are so friendly, and I’m looking forward to more photo shoots at the farm this spring and summer.
And I was also excited to meet Violet LaBrecque, a Virginia pie baking champion whose numerous awards are well-deserved. I sampled several of her pies and this judge would vote for her pie any time.
I also got to say hi to the folks from Catoctin Creek, an organic distillery and Loudoun’s first distillery since Prohibition. They were a fun bunch and had help from NoVa Roller Derby skaters. I think I’m going to have to do one of their tours and bottling workshops sometime.
This was a great event and I look forward to going back next year with hopefully even more participants. For the full list of participants, visit the Loudoun Grown Expo website.
What fun, Andrea! I really wanted to go to this and hope to next year. Looks like you had a wonderful time!
Looks like a wonderful event!
Kristy and Lydia, it was a lot of fun and a great way to meet a lot of local producers all in one place. I’ll definitely go again next year.