MEADOWVIEW, Va. — Philip Newton relies on his restaurant’s farm two miles down the road.
That’s where this executive chef gets the greens for his culinary creations at the Harvest Table of Meadowview.
“It’s certainly a lot easier with our own farm,” said Newton, 54. “And one of the things that we try to do at the farm is grow a lot of things that we need the most of — carrots, onions, potatoes and salad mix-greens, in general.”
Open for a decade, the restaurant is well-known for its farm-to-table fortitude, offering a menu with a mission to serve, as much possible, all local all the time.
Of course, you cannot get any more local than growing your own. And, last year, farm Manager Jason Von Kundra managed 50 different crops at the Harvest Table Farm.
“Right now, we’ve got a lot of greens — a salad mix,” Von Kundra said, reeling off a list that included kale.
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“Greens, we use a lot of those,” Newton said. “And nobody produces those things in really big amounts.”
Established about six years ago, the farm includes a farmhouse and several outbuildings plus hoop houses and a greenhouse to enable Von Kundra to grow plants in the winter.
In all, the site spans about 40 acres, with 3.6 acres in produce and chickens, including eggs, plus 35 acres in pasture.
Von Kundra, 29, came to Meadowview a couple of years ago following his mother and stepfather, Cassa and Ron Eddins, who now live in Damascus, Virginia.
“Jason? He’s integral to the business, because he’s the know–how for how to grow everything,” said Christine Michaels, 26, the events manager at the Harvest Table. “We depend on him for all the neat things that we get.”
Von Kundra grows so much on the farm that he takes extras for sale on Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Abingdon Farmers Market.
Having Von Kundra’s presence at that market helps advertise the restaurant, Newton said.
Still, in addition to the farm, Newton said he regularly calls upon 25 growers to find food, instead of solely relying on the farm.
A graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, with a degree in environmental science, Von Kundra finds “a passion for growing healthy food,” he said.
“While we are not certified organic, we follow a lot of the biological-agro-ecology techniques,” Von Kundra added. “My degree in environmental science prepared me.”
Newton, in turn, praised Von Kundra’s arrival.
“He is very organized about what he does. And he’s very passionate about what he does,” Newton said. “He’s very behind the idea of farm-to-table and sustainable agriculture. And one of things that he’s very good at is explaining what we do. And that’s very important for us.”