When the Nanfelts moved their family to Floyd County in 2020, Sharon was not expecting to build a natural playground on their small family farm. Yet, with the ongoing pandemic and the difficulty it brought for her children making friends, that’s exactly what she found herself doing. She chopped away at tough sod for weeks on end, tilled cow pasture into winding garden beds, and installed an enormous playground slide onto the hill…all within just a handful of months after arriving.

“I didn’t know I would build this business,” said Sharon, “but I did know that my children needed open spaces and to experience the magic of their own imaginations. I knew that I would create things, grow things, and build things to get them outside and to bring children to meet mine.”

Meanwhile, Earl White and Adrienne Davis are widely known in the local area for their thriving business, Big Indian Farms: a wholesale and retail organic sourdough bakery. However, the bakery is not their only passion. The Davises have seventy-two beautiful acres with a bold stream running through, featuring areas for camping, hiking, and enjoying the water. Annually, they also host a variety of people and facilitate many overnight stays and campouts. Sometimes, they cook whole meals for over 300 people at a time!

Earl is an avid musician who loves to preform and to lead traditional music workshops. The Davis’ love for community, good food, and music has truly created an enchanting and joyous atmosphere that is palpable the moment visitors step onto the property.

The beauty intertwined in these stories is the driving force behind SustainFloyd’s latest project that will be launched in the spring of 2022: the Floyd Farm Trail. Funded by a marketing grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation, SustainFloyd is taking another step in the efforts to develop the local food economy of Floyd County; in this case, connecting consumers and farmers directly.

Travelers driving the trail will be able to access a central website containing a list of all the farms involved, along with the directions, hours, and events specific to each place. They will also be able to pick up digital brochures at the local Floyd Farmers Market and keep track with updates from social media. The Farm Trail is being set up in similar fashion as the already existing Floyd Artisan Trail, as well as the Crooked Road Trail, enhancing Floyd’s rich scene with an official agrotourism element. From U-pick berry patches to local AirBnB stays. From cooking courses to farm stores, on-farm events, and educational workshops — the trail will have it all.

The money from the grant will be used to market the farms and establish the trail, which will also bring more awareness and prosperity to each individual place, increasing the audiences for all.

“Here at Big Indian Farm, we are hoping the Farm Trail will increase the visibility of current and future projects we are doing,” says Adrienne Davis. “In addition to the bakery, we are working on developing a series of workshops, creating lodging, and farm to table dinners. We would like to create a vibrant, beautiful place for people to come to in order to learn a new skill, relax, eat local nourishing food, and enjoy the area.”

The Farm Trail, however, will not only include established locations, as Sharon Nanfelt has found. “As a new business owner,” she says, “joining the Floyd Farm Trail during our opening year feels very lucky. The early goal for Ferney CommonGround is to attract locals and develop awareness of our pick-your-own berry farm and play gardens. With the start of the Floyd Farm Trail, we are hoping to jumpstart marketing to a broader group of tourists visiting the Blue Ridge Parkway. This development could help us stabilize more quickly during our founding year.”

Farms participating so far include Floyd EcoVillage Farm, Riverstone Organic Farm, Josephine Porter Institute, Deer Park Farm, Fields Edge Farm, I-Tal Acres, Broadened Horizons Organic Teaching Farm, Turner Family Farms, Four Bears Overlook, Skipwillow Farm, Big Indian Farm, Piemonte Provisions, and Ferney CommonGrounds. Though this is a good list to start, it will continue to grow and expand with the potential for many others to join.

The tangible sense of wonder and hard work that these farms naturally generate on their own will be the glue that holds this project together, drawing people in from far and wide. The passing down of treasured knowledge, as well as the imprinting of beautiful memories on fellow humans, is sure to reverberate for years to come around the globe.

Farming is already such a deep part of the local Appalachian heritage. The Floyd Farm Trail will serve to bridge the gap between traditional methodology and the new flow of people and ideas that are continuously brought to the region.

The project itself couldn’t have been possible without the involvement of the Virginia Tourism Corporation; a state government office located in Richmond, Virginia. Application opportunities for the grant opened in 2021, with hundreds of organizations applying. Former assistant Farmers Market manager, Jessica Branks, did the heavy lifting to put forth the grant application for SustainFloyd. Amazingly, the organization soon received word that SustainFloyd had been allotted the maximum amount allowed in each case, which was the sum of $20,000.

“We really think what made a key difference in our application, and ultimately what made the VTC green-light the amount of funds” says Woody Crenshaw, co-president of SustainFloyd, “was that we had so much community support backing this project. So many other farms signed up. The utilization of the Farmers Market as an anchor gave it stability as well.”

However, with the ongoing COVID epidemic and the change of management at the Market, SustainFloyd decided to kick the project off in Spring of 2022, and it has hit the ground running. Coming onto the venture with fresh eyes and ears are Kathleen Legg of the Floyd Tourism Office and Abigail Patterson, the new Farmers Market manager.

“The generous grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation,” says Legg, “offers a unique opportunity to market Floyd County as an agrotourism destination. This will help promote the diverse array of engaging agricultural activities that Floyd currently has to offer. The Tourism Office is very excited to serve as a partner to the grant and help with promoting the Farm Trail to visitors.”

The project is expected to be fully up and running by the beginning of the Farmers Market season, which starts the first weekend in May. Information on the Floyd Farm Trail will be accessible at the Market all year round.

If interested in having your farm listed on the trail or wanting to stay current on when the website will open, please contact Abigail Patterson at marketmanager@sustainfloyd.org. The Floyd Farm Trail website is in the works and will be launched in the spring of 2022, along with an official Facebook and Instagram account. The Floyd Farmers Market runs May-November, Thursdays from 3:00-7:00 and Saturdays from 9:00-1:00.