Winfield Farms in Surry, VA, has a rich history of dedicated family who have carefully cultivated crops over the years. But as is the case with many farms, as family members aged, portions of the multi-property acreage were rented to neighboring farmers.

About four years ago, sisters Nita and Neva Mensia decided to return to their heritage and continue the family farm. While they knew bringing the farm back to production and meeting income goals would be a lot of work, they quickly realized the soil would become their first big challenge.

“It was like the Dust Bowl,” said Nita. “So much organic matter was lost over the years. There were spots that looked like the beach.”

Satellite photos taken prior to the farm’s rehab show a large swath of white sand, but now that area is covered in green.

“That’s from putting in crops the NRCS recommended,” said Nita. “We made a difference in one year. The area that was white is going to be for pollinators. It’s grass there now, and that’s a start because we couldn’t even get a weed to grow. It’s amazing how we’ve seen such a sharp difference in soil health over the years.”

At the end of 2020, the sisters began working on the house their grandfather built. They also investigated what they could grow and started farming some of the ground that had been rented. In 2021, they took back the entire farm.

“We wanted a plan that would make the farm sustainable,” said Nita, explaining their planning process. “What we were getting from renting it out for row crops wasn’t even covering the taxes. We didn’t have a plan, but we had a strategy and goals.”

Nita described their initial three-phase goals: to make short-term, mid-range and long-term money.

“We knew we wanted some trees,” said Nita, “but we weren’t sure how to accomplish short-term goals. That’s when we contacted NRCS and the conservation district.”

The sisters’ initial move toward achieving one short-term goal was erecting high tunnels to grow crops through winter. They also put 15 acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and the annual revenue from that planting covers the taxes.

During the first year, the Mensias planted long needle pine that will yield harvestable needles for pine straw in 15 to 20 years on one of the properties – another source of income. Loblolly pine grown on the main farm is for timber.

The following year, the sisters met with NRCS again to further define their mid-range plan. “We put 11 acres in CSP [Conservation Stewardship Program],” said Nita. “Part of it was loblolly pine and long needle pine, and we put in 1,800 linear feet of hedgerow for wildlife. We’ll have sassafras, dogwood, blueberries and elderberry. We also added more high tunnels for a total of six. We planted 40 Japanese persimmon trees and that fruit is harvested in fall. We knew there was a market for the fruit when we planted them.”

Nita (left) and Neva Mensia took over their family’s farm and are working through a big personal change in doing so. “I thought I was a farmer but I was a big gardener,” joked Nita. “It took us three years to move from big gardener to farmers, but now we’re farming.” Photo courtesy of John Markon, NRCS

Neither of the sisters have time to sell produce at farmers markets, so they’re focusing on growing crops they can sell wholesale. The farm is GAP certified, so marketing produce will meet produce safety standards.

The high tunnels are primarily for one of the Mensias’ short-term plans – growing vegetables for a local school district as part of Virginia’s farm-to-school program. This is the first year the sisters marketed produce through this outlet, and they’re hoping to provide more.

The plan involves growing broccoli and collards in four high tunnels for January harvest. The other two high tunnels are planted in thornless blackberries, which can potentially yield two crops each year. Nita will take cuttings from the blackberries to establish an outdoor planting. Some of the blackberries will be ready for the summer sunflower festival, and a second crop in autumn, along with the persimmons, will help support the farm-to-school program.

Winfield Farms’ popular summer sunflower festival came about unintentionally. In working with the conservation district, the Mensias learned the cover crop program required them to grow a viable summer row crop. The goal was to put down more organic matter without spending a lot on seed, so the decision was to grow sunflowers.

“The first year we planted sunflowers, we had no intention of having a sunflower festival,” said Nita. “But people drove by the farm and saw them, called us and asked if they could take pictures. For the next year, Neva and I decided to plant 30 acres of sunflowers for a sunflower festival.”

The Mensias plan to start crop rotation with cover crops that benefit the agronomic crop. “We have been focusing on creating organic matter,” said Nita. “We grow rye in fall, mow it down in spring, then plant sunflowers.”

One long-term crop, pecans, is already established and thriving. “We have seven nut trees,” said Nita, adding that some trees are paper shell pecans and others are hard shell pecans. “Four were planted during my lifetime, but two were here when my mother was young. We get a good harvest every other year, and we got more than 600 pounds of pecans from half of the seven trees.” The Mensias collect the nuts, bag them and sell them.

One of the challenges the Mensias face is labor. Nita has been able to borrow workers from other nearby farms but because she can’t always get help when her crops are ready, she’s timing crops around worker availability.

Another challenge is equipment. The Mensias use a 1948 8N Ford tractor that belonged to their grandfather, and also have a 75 hp Case tractor and a skid steer. Although the sisters have a disc, finding other suitable implements hasn’t been easy.

Nita would like to purchase a cultipacker and a vacuum seeder to handle different seed sizes.

Nita said some farmers grow a crop and hope they can sell it. “That’s a push system and it isn’t always guaranteed,” she said. “I want a pull system – I need to know what someone wants, then I can grow it and sell it. The farm now has enough income to be self-sufficient.”

Although Nita and Neva still work off the farm, they put every bit of off time into the farm to meet their goals.

“I thought I was a farmer but I was a big gardener,” said Nita. “The transition from big gardener to farmer has everything to do with equipment, implements, how the crop goes in the ground and what it takes to harvest it. It took us three years to move from big gardener to farmers, but now we’re farming.”

by Sally Colby