65. Bringing Home the Groceries

Our fifth year at Lick Run Farm is going to be our best yet. The ‘25-’26 offseason was spent doing a lot of usual maintenance and improvements around the farm, of course. We built another little poly tunnel for strawberry production, and we attacked invasive plants and poison ivy that are forever trying to take it all away from us. And all the while we’ve been nurturing an exciting idea. I’ve admittedly been a bit loose-lipped about this, and farm staff and close friends have probably hinted at it here and there. But this is a secret no-longer: we’re going to open a grocery store at Lick Run Farm!

The store will operate out of the red room of the existing farmhouse. Photo courtesy @HerdVentures, @RoanokeFoodshedNetwork

There’s a long list of personal, economic, family and farm reasons for us to move in this direction. At the heart, this is about food apartheid, and creating grassroots solutions to the dearth of access to fresh and nutritious foods in particular parts of our communities. Our farm is community-owned, and we owe it to this neighborhood to be constantly evolving the relationship we have with them in order to better meet their needs. For the last couple years, onsite access to the food we grow has come in three ways: 1. a seasonal monthly farmers market (which started this past Wednesday, btw), 2. through an honor-system stand on the farmhouse porch, and 3. through a weekly “Veggie Club” subscription program. We’ve had success and regrets with all three programs. Each has their own frictions, frustrations, and moments of magic. But we are hopeful that opening a traditional brick-and-mortar at the farm could really crack this food access nut wide open for this creekside neighborhood in NW Roanoke.

We want to stock the store not only with our own fresh produce, but products from other growers and producers we’ve grown to love in over eight years of building relationships in our local food system. Our rolodex is stacked with folks we can call on to populate store shelves with exciting and delicious options for our customers. We’ll strive to make as much of our inventory local as possible, while recognizing that familiar items at affordable prices will be imperative to our success with this new enterprise.

The honor-system farm stand is great, and we’re excited about leveling up!

We are taking this step having been newly inspired by Goodwill and LEAP, both of whom have opened grocery stores nearby in the last couple years. For decades the people of NW Roanoke have been outright denied by supermarket grocery companies who declared that there was no profitable business to be run selling food in these working class neighborhoods. The dynamic of grocery stores closing stores in cities and leapfrogging to the suburbs for cheaper real-estate and more affluent clientele is not unique to Roanoke. But these two non-profits stepping forward as stewards of food sovereignty in their community is bold and exciting. And we hope this project will be the next page in a more hopeful food access story being written in this place.

Dialing in the focus on our vision for this store has been an exciting and intimidating process. And we know that the iteration will continue for as long as the place remains open. So as we announce this new chapter for our farm and our neighborhood, we’re asking for your input.

We’ve built a survey to collect your opinions on some of the questions we have around design, products, accessibility and more. If you’re interested in sharing, I hope you’ll click this link and tell us what’s on your mind.

Alright, we’ve shouted it from the farmhouse rooftop. Now we have to get to work making this future a reality. Thanks so much for all you have done and continue to do to support this work!