Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to back to Local Ag, your spot
Speaker 1: for everything Bedford County AG. It's July ninth six. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Dorothy McIntyre with Bedford County Agricultural Advisory Board,
Speaker 1: and today is the twenty third episode. A big thanks
Speaker 1: to Mediate Squatch for making our local podcasts a great
Speaker 1: part of our community. Today we have it. We're sitting
Speaker 1: down with the faces behind dun Roaming Ranch, a fantastic
Speaker 1: family and veteran owned farm right here in Monfel on
Speaker 1: Dickerson Mill Road. They're raising everything from goats to pasture
Speaker 1: raised poultry, hogs, beef, cattle and more. All this dedicated
Speaker 1: to high quality meats. Welcome Megan and Lewis. Do you
Speaker 1: go by Lewis or Lou? Half the time I hear Lou.
Speaker 2: My wife calls me Lou. Everybody else calls me Lewis
Speaker 2: when I'm in trouble.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's a classic there. So we know each
Speaker 1: other from the farmer's market and I'm so excited that
Speaker 1: you've been part of the market. What I'd like to
Speaker 1: know if you could tell me a little bit about
Speaker 1: how you came up with the name Done Roaming Ranch.
Speaker 2: So, actually my wife came up with it. We have
Speaker 2: been married twenty eight years and we've spent a lot
Speaker 2: of that time moving around with my job. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I worked for did twenty years in law enforcement and
Speaker 2: after that I went to US for service. So we've
Speaker 2: moved around quite a bit. And so when we got here,
Speaker 2: my wife said, I'm done moving. So she said, I'm
Speaker 2: going to call it done Roman Ranch. We're done Roman.
Speaker 2: So that's how the name came about.
Speaker 1: So it's so collaborative a little bit. Or was it
Speaker 1: all you, Megan?
Speaker 3: I think it was pretty much all me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, too many.
Speaker 2: Moves, yes, right.
Speaker 1: So so thank you for your service. Marines.
Speaker 2: I was in the Marines for seven years.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you very much for your service. So I'd
Speaker 1: love to know the journey from Marines to look law
Speaker 1: enforcement to forestry And how did you come to farming
Speaker 1: with all that background.
Speaker 2: Well, I grew up in West Virginia and I grew
Speaker 2: up on a farm. My grandfather raised draft horses, and
Speaker 2: so I you know, I guess farming and all that
Speaker 2: is in my blood. You know, my wife she grew
Speaker 2: up in Pennsylvania and she grew up around horses, and
Speaker 2: you know, I guess we've all gravitated to the farm,
Speaker 2: even though we've moved around so many times. Every place
Speaker 2: but Alaska we had a farm, did you really, Yes,
Speaker 2: So we've always been in the farming business or some
Speaker 2: shape or form. Our daughter was a barrel racer with horses,
Speaker 2: and so, you know, we've done a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2: But I started in West Virginia. I joined the Marines,
Speaker 2: and after I got out of the Marines, I started
Speaker 2: in law enforcement. And then towards the end of my
Speaker 2: law enforcement career, I met my wife and we got married,
Speaker 2: and I got a job with US for Service. And
Speaker 2: one of my jobs with the for Service was a firefighter,
Speaker 2: So I got to go out west into summers and
Speaker 2: and fight a lot of fires and met a lot
Speaker 2: of neat people doing that, and with that I got
Speaker 2: to see different parts of the country. So we we
Speaker 2: decided we would start moving around, and we took a
Speaker 2: job in West Virginia, and then we I transferred to Louisiana,
Speaker 2: and then we transferred to California and then to Alaska,
Speaker 2: and then we wanted to retire here back in Virginia
Speaker 2: where we all started. So when the job came open,
Speaker 2: I transferred back to Virginia, and this is where we
Speaker 2: actually retired, you know. And my you know, my wife's
Speaker 2: been so wonderful being you know, transferring and starting new
Speaker 2: jobs and ending new jobs and starting new jobs. So
Speaker 2: I just can't say enough about her. She's just been
Speaker 2: so wonderful being by my side. And and you know,
Speaker 2: doing that career with us and our kids got to
Speaker 2: see a lot of the world or a lot of
Speaker 2: the country.
Speaker 1: You were able to show the kids the world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and at the time they didn't like it, but
Speaker 2: I think now they look back at it, they see
Speaker 2: a lot of that life experiences that they received. And
Speaker 2: as a matter of fact, our son just told us
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, he said, I'd like to
Speaker 2: move back to Alaska because he's here in Virginia. Okay,
Speaker 2: So it did have some impact on him. And we
Speaker 2: enjoyed moving around. And when we got here. It's kind
Speaker 2: of a funny story. I came down earlier from Alaska
Speaker 2: and because she still had to finish out our teaching agreement,
Speaker 2: and we looked around at farms here and we must
Speaker 2: have spent two weeks looking at farms, and eventually, you know,
Speaker 2: she saw one, this one farm and it said they
Speaker 2: raise gypsy werner.
Speaker 1: And what's that.
Speaker 2: It's a type of horse. Okay, and she always loved
Speaker 2: those type of horses. Shed let's go down and look
Speaker 2: at the horses. And when we pulled in the driveway,
Speaker 2: she said, this is it. I was like, well, it's
Speaker 2: a little above our budget, but you know, and we
Speaker 2: talked to the people and they worked with us and
Speaker 2: we ended up buying the farm. But it was the
Speaker 2: very last farm we looked at before she was supposed
Speaker 2: to go back to Alaska.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah, so you enjoyed this part of the area.
Speaker 3: Then I do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, cool, so nice, that's pretty interesting. So did
Speaker 1: you look outside of Bedford County or was Bedford County
Speaker 1: kind of like ground zero for you that you wanted
Speaker 1: to be in this area?
Speaker 2: We actually looked in all the way up to Louisbourg,
Speaker 2: West Virginia.
Speaker 3: Did you really down.
Speaker 2: Into Appomatics area? We were just we had an idea
Speaker 2: of what type of farm we wanted and we just
Speaker 2: couldn't find it. And it just, you know, I believe that,
Speaker 2: you know, God directed us to that point.
Speaker 1: You get on that land and it's just like this
Speaker 1: is it? Yes, we did that with the land, not
Speaker 1: the house.
Speaker 2: That was even more important that the wife liked it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, Now you still have horses though, right
Speaker 1: I do? Yes, how many horses do you have? We
Speaker 1: have three on the property to donkies. Do you ride
Speaker 1: them still or yes? Yeah, you ride too.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I grew up on horse farms, so they're just hay
Speaker 2: burners to be Yeah.
Speaker 1: See my husband just he had horses growing up, and
Speaker 1: he just he's like, no, never doing it again. So
Speaker 1: so looking on your social media, you mentioned that you
Speaker 1: have a commitment to raising clean animals, which is what
Speaker 1: you raise basically at the farm with additional value added products. Correct,
Speaker 1: tell me about why you want them to be clean
Speaker 1: animals and how do you achieve that.
Speaker 2: Sure, there's a little story on that. In West Virginia
Speaker 2: when we lived there, we had a farm. We actually
Speaker 2: had a USDA processing poultry processing facility on our farm,
Speaker 2: and before we opened that, we went around and we
Speaker 2: went to like the Amish, and they taught us how
Speaker 2: to do the checken and the poultry and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: And then we went to a big producer and I
Speaker 2: didn't like the way the major producers process their meat.
Speaker 2: And that's all I'll say about that, but it drove
Speaker 2: us to wanting to raise our own meat. So we
Speaker 2: started out just raising our own meat, and then so
Speaker 2: many friends came to us and said, you know, can
Speaker 2: we buy some, can we? So we we've kind of
Speaker 2: turned it into a business. But it's to us, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's important to raise the animals, you know, humanely.
Speaker 2: You know, like for example, this hot weather we just
Speaker 2: had last week, we put fans out on our our
Speaker 2: meat checkings just to keep them cools. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: it's important that you treat the animals correctly so that
Speaker 2: they provide what you know they should provide for us.
Speaker 2: And uh, you know it's very important that we put
Speaker 2: into like everything we produce. We produce as I before,
Speaker 2: we're going to put it on our own table.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as you say, everything you produce. So you have
Speaker 1: all this meat with the goats and the chickens and
Speaker 1: the hogs. But I also know some of the other
Speaker 1: things that you do, like the shagbar syrup and the
Speaker 1: maple syrup that's unique to this area. There are people,
Speaker 1: but usually it's higher up in the Shenandoah Valley. Did
Speaker 1: you do this in other areas where you were living
Speaker 1: or did was this something new here?
Speaker 2: Well, when I grew up in West Virginia, my uncle
Speaker 2: tapped maple trees, and I remember a fond memory from
Speaker 2: childhood of setting up all weekend and cooking off maple
Speaker 2: sap to maple syrup. So we were kind of blessed
Speaker 2: when we drove around the farm and we found all
Speaker 2: these old large sugar maples, and so, what was it
Speaker 2: two years ago or three years ago? We started tapping them,
Speaker 2: and we made some last last year just for us,
Speaker 2: and then this year we started making some to sell.
Speaker 2: But we have about fifty maple trees on our farm
Speaker 2: and they produce a lot. I mean this year was
Speaker 2: kind of a unique year. We only had one week
Speaker 2: of harvest. Usually have three weeks. Do you really have, Yeah,
Speaker 2: And it's based on the weather. I mean it's got
Speaker 2: to be below freezing at night and above freezing during
Speaker 2: a day for the sap to run, and we only
Speaker 2: had like a week of that this year, so we
Speaker 2: didn't produce as much as we did the year before that.
Speaker 1: But although it is very delicious, we use it all
Speaker 1: the time, right, and hopefully you have some so we
Speaker 1: can tell people where they can get it.
Speaker 2: We still have a couple of gallons left of this year.
Speaker 2: And then I make what's called hickory bark syrup, which
Speaker 2: it's made from the shag hickory tree, and you make
Speaker 2: it into a tea and then you cook it down
Speaker 2: and add Now that's the only thing it has sugar
Speaker 2: added to it, because it doesn't have sugar in the
Speaker 2: natural like maple syrup has sugar in the sap. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the hickory bark doesn't have a sugar in it, so
Speaker 2: we do add sugar to that. And I love it
Speaker 2: as a coffee creamer. She eats it on her ice cream.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good one to think about.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Along with that, you also have a market garden that
Speaker 1: you've been producing from, too so, and you do some
Speaker 1: value added you're doing some baking, Megan a little bit. Yes,
Speaker 1: that the zucchini bread seems to go pretty well at
Speaker 1: the market.
Speaker 3: Yeah, seeing we have an overabundance of zucchini. Yeah, so all.
Speaker 1: Right, let me think about what else we can talk about. Now,
Speaker 1: there is a specialty that you make for the Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: Christmas time. I'd love to hear about how that came
Speaker 1: about and how people can get obtain that or reserve
Speaker 1: that for this season. So tell me about the Traducans
Speaker 1: that you make.
Speaker 2: So that's a unique story. Like I said, we lived
Speaker 2: in Louisiana and traduccan is a traditional Louisiana dish. And
Speaker 2: what intraducing is a lot of people hear it and
Speaker 2: they go like, what is that toterducan? You know? And
Speaker 2: it's it's a de bone chicken in side a d
Speaker 2: bone duck inside a semi d bone turkey, and then
Speaker 2: it's combined and it's baked together, so almost all of
Speaker 2: it is d bone meat. And if you've ever had
Speaker 2: a duck, duck is kind of an oily meat, so
Speaker 2: it gives moisture to the rest of the meat. And
Speaker 2: when we were in Louisiana, we tried one and we've
Speaker 2: never had anything else for Thanksgiving since then. Really, it's
Speaker 2: just such a unique and amazing tasting animal.
Speaker 1: And was there stuffing inside the chicken or is it
Speaker 1: just all the meat?
Speaker 2: So a true Louisiana whichur duck and has stuffing in it. Okay,
Speaker 2: I don't put stuffing or seasoning in it, just because
Speaker 2: when I made them for friends, you know, they want
Speaker 2: to add their own seasoning, their own stuffing, so that
Speaker 2: way you can make it your own unique thing. But
Speaker 2: the traditional Louisiana dish does have stuffing and also has
Speaker 2: cage and spices in it. The one I make it's
Speaker 2: just meat, okay, and then you know, you cook it
Speaker 2: or we smoke cars and it just seals in that flavor.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm made it probably what ten years
Speaker 2: ago for Thanksgiving and everybody comes over. You got to
Speaker 2: make one for me. So I've been making them unofficially,
Speaker 2: you know, for years now. But so this is your
Speaker 2: first year we're going.
Speaker 1: To all this is the first year that you're going
Speaker 1: to you're doing reserves. I guess you have to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're pretty time consuming, you debuting.
Speaker 1: And imagine everything. So, uh, chicken thighs for me, take
Speaker 1: a little. I'll do an entire turkey and chicken and
Speaker 1: duck would be crazy.
Speaker 2: So we're taking we're taking reservations and we'll deliver them.
Speaker 2: You know, like the week or two weeks before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: They will be frozen.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask all they fresh or frozen.
Speaker 2: They'll be frozen. You know. I got a person that's
Speaker 2: going to a farm that's going to provide the ducks
Speaker 2: and then we raise the chickens in the turkeys.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I was going to ask you how many
Speaker 1: have you made in the past?
Speaker 2: Then, Oh, I probably made a couple of hundred for real. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it seems to grow every year, you know. Okay,
Speaker 2: I have a friend out in Utah that I have
Speaker 2: to mail one. So I met him on fire and
Speaker 2: we made one on fire one time, and he goes,
Speaker 2: I won't eat anything else, So I mail him one
Speaker 2: every year.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool, all right. So on
Speaker 1: your social media also you talk about how you prioritize
Speaker 1: the farm connection. And I know that you're at the
Speaker 1: farmer's markets. Do you open up the farm to anybody
Speaker 1: that they could come to the farm, see the farm,
Speaker 1: and pick up product at the farm or is it
Speaker 1: just solely at the farmer's market at this point.
Speaker 2: No, we have a lot of people that come to
Speaker 2: the farm and buy stuff from us, you know, due
Speaker 2: to biohazards, you know, especially with poultry with avian flu,
Speaker 2: we don't give farm tours. I mean, driving down our
Speaker 2: driveway you can see the animals, right. A lot of
Speaker 2: people want to show up and go, tick me out,
Speaker 2: let me hold the ducks or the chickens or whatever.
Speaker 2: And you have to be careful because we have a
Speaker 2: closed herd. So I don't give any antibiotics. I don't
Speaker 2: give any medication to any of my animals. Everything is natural.
Speaker 2: It's not certified organic because we've never went.
Speaker 1: Through that, the organic work.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we have a lot of people that come
Speaker 2: to the farm. They'll email or call me and say
Speaker 2: do you have this, and we'll get the order ready
Speaker 2: for them, and when they pull up, we'll give them,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: And they can see everybody outside the fence. Just inside
Speaker 1: the fence.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have about a quarter mile driveway. That's beautiful
Speaker 2: drive there tons of animals on both sides.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And you also, I think you sell some of the pullets,
Speaker 1: is that right?
Speaker 2: We do. We We've raised laying chickens for a couple
Speaker 2: of years now and sell. I think we have Rhode
Speaker 2: Allen reds and black sex thunks right now. They're almost
Speaker 2: ready to.
Speaker 1: Say they're available right now. If somebody wanted to purchase them,
Speaker 1: that's great, that's great. So how do people get connected
Speaker 1: to you if they wanted to come over to the farm,
Speaker 1: or find you at the farmer's market.
Speaker 2: Sure, so we are on Facebook. My wife does TikTok
Speaker 2: videos all the time there. I love those. So a
Speaker 2: lot of people have been enjoying those two are our
Speaker 2: number of followers have increased. I think that's what they
Speaker 2: call it. I'm a not a very tech savvy person.
Speaker 2: So but you can email us or you can call us.
Speaker 2: You know our phone numbers five four oh nine three
Speaker 2: zero nine six nine five seven, and you know we're
Speaker 2: on Facebook, and just reach out to us.
Speaker 3: There it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that sounds great, let me see it. So this
Speaker 1: was a quick one. But I guess it's because we
Speaker 1: know each other. I don't know. You know, but you're
Speaker 1: at the Bedford Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and that's
Speaker 1: eight to one or eight to noon.
Speaker 2: It's eight to noon.
Speaker 1: And Benita Farmers Market also that on Wednesdays eight to noon.
Speaker 1: Anywhere else? Are you in any of the small shops
Speaker 1: or anything, or just at the farm at this point.
Speaker 2: Just at the farm right now. It's you know, we
Speaker 2: we haven't having a hard time sometimes keep up with
Speaker 2: the orders we have. Now we haven't. Really that's a
Speaker 2: great thing. It is, especially the chicken. A lot of
Speaker 2: people love the chicken we produce, and uh.
Speaker 1: Which which type of chickens?
Speaker 2: So we do we do the Cornish crosses, and you
Speaker 2: know a lot of people have had problems with the
Speaker 2: Cornish crosses, with the leg problems and stuff, and and
Speaker 2: we've kind of created a thing that keeps them walking.
Speaker 2: And as long as you can keep them walking, you
Speaker 2: don't have as many leg problems. Okay, So you know
Speaker 2: a lot of people call me and say, well, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm doing what's my chickens are doing this? And and
Speaker 2: I try to explain to them, you know, what's going on.
Speaker 2: You know, why they're having so much leg problems. If
Speaker 2: you put the feed in the water right next to
Speaker 2: each other, they don't move. Literally, that's all they do
Speaker 2: is they eat and drink and poop, and that's that's
Speaker 2: about all they do. So yeah, but we've we lose
Speaker 2: very few now, you know, compared to twenty years ago
Speaker 2: when we first started this, you know, and a lot
Speaker 2: of that is you know, experience, and a lot of
Speaker 2: it is reading and you know, my wife, we try
Speaker 2: to use every part of the chicken too. So this
Speaker 2: is just a couple of weeks ago she goes, you know,
Speaker 2: we always feed the feet to the pigs, and she goes,
Speaker 2: she did some research and found out they're really good
Speaker 2: for dogs. So now we produce a dehydrated chicken feet
Speaker 2: and she's she researched that what is it? Peanut, butter,
Speaker 2: banana and carrot and are also very good for the dogs.
Speaker 2: So we now coat some of those chicken feet with
Speaker 2: that mixture and dehydrate them. And you know, the first
Speaker 2: thing everybody says that the farmer's market was like, well,
Speaker 2: you can't feed chicken to a chicken bows to a dog. Well,
Speaker 2: the dehydration process makes them to where they don't splinter.
Speaker 2: They actually just almost go into a dust. And our daughter,
Speaker 2: our daughter said, well that gross feed and chicken. And
Speaker 2: it was kind of unusual to give it to our
Speaker 2: dogs the first time, but they loved it. I couldn't
Speaker 2: leave how much. And I have a rut wilder. It
Speaker 2: has some joint problems and these are high in glucose,
Speaker 2: I mean glucose probably, yeah, and it really helps their joints.
Speaker 2: So wow, yeah, he just loves them.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and you've gotten feedback.
Speaker 2: Yes, we've actually sold quite a bit of the me
Speaker 2: and a lot of people really enjoy their dogs, really
Speaker 2: enjoy them so nice. Yeah. So it's been a good
Speaker 2: additu of trying to use everything from the chicken and
Speaker 2: we and we do literally use everything from the chicken. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, anything that we can't make into a product,
Speaker 2: we feed it to our hogs and they that.
Speaker 1: And there's the chicken jerkey that keeps on going out fast,
Speaker 1: isn't it. And you just did a new flavor.
Speaker 2: We did two new flavors. We have jalapeno and tarioki.
Speaker 2: We just added and we had we still have hickory
Speaker 2: mesquite and.
Speaker 3: Whist pepper, whiskey pepper, I think whiskey pepper yhiskey pepper.
Speaker 2: That seems to be the biggest hot cellars, the whiskey peppers.
Speaker 1: So you really do a lot on that farm.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, we were just talking the other days, like,
Speaker 2: you know, we retired just what a year ago, and
Speaker 2: it seems like we're working harder than when we were working.
Speaker 1: A full time job and doing this now, Megan, what's
Speaker 1: your favorite part of the farm, do you think or
Speaker 1: do you have a favorite? I do.
Speaker 3: I'm the one who goes around and plays with all
Speaker 3: the animals, I could see that.
Speaker 1: I could totally see that.
Speaker 3: But you don't name them, you said, I try not to. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's too hard when they get in that trailer and
Speaker 3: go to processing. Yeah, I can understand that for sure,
Speaker 3: that's for sure. Thank you so much for coming out.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you taking the time to tell people
Speaker 1: about your farm and about all the different things that
Speaker 1: you do there.
Speaker 2: And you know, Bedford is a great place. We love Bedford,
Speaker 2: isn't it, And we're glad it's our home.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it grows on you. It's just it is a
Speaker 1: special place. The people here, the the beauty of it,
Speaker 1: it's just amazing. The agriculture too, yes, you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: you're you're finding other people that are doing similar things
Speaker 1: with you too.
Speaker 2: We are. We've met a lot of great people at
Speaker 2: the farmer's markets. Yeah, not just the vendors. The other
Speaker 2: vendors are outstanding, but the customers, you know, they like
Speaker 2: to come in and talk to us, and we enjoy
Speaker 2: meeting people and getting to know the people.
Speaker 1: Of Bedford, and then they keep on coming back to
Speaker 1: you they do well. Thank you again, thanks for the interview.
Speaker 1: And here on local ag and It's been a pleasure
Speaker 1: learning about your agriculture endeavors and how you are bringing
Speaker 1: breakfast Bedford County agriculture directly to our community. Some ag
Speaker 1: announcements for us today, so mark your calendars. The Bedford
Speaker 1: County Fair is coming. The carnival, rides, music, Old McDonald's
Speaker 1: intent will be with us. That is going to be
Speaker 1: on it August twenty first to the twenty third at
Speaker 1: Liberty Lake Park. I believe it starts at four o'clock
Speaker 1: each day. You'll have to check that out on their website.
Speaker 1: And then on September fifth and sixth, there will be
Speaker 1: a livestock show at the Allen Mountain Livestock Farm. I
Speaker 1: believe it's called It's twenty five twenty one timber Ridge Road.
Speaker 1: For more information called visit the Bedford countyvafair dot org.
Speaker 1: Along with that, the farmers' markets are up and running
Speaker 1: and they are busting with both produce and meat products.
Speaker 1: Montfail has their markets on the second and third Saturdays
Speaker 1: of the month at the Old Montfel School and they
Speaker 1: are from eight am to noon. Bedford Farmers Market is
Speaker 1: Saturdays eight to one at Centertown. The Centertown Pavilion. Forest
Speaker 1: Farmers Market is Saturdays eight am to noon behind the
Speaker 1: Forest Library, and Menita's farmers Market is Wednesday nine am
Speaker 1: to noon next to the Menita Smith Mountain Lake Library.
Speaker 1: This is darthy mac can tire, reminding you to be
Speaker 1: good to yourself and good to others. M hmm