Chris Couch owns and manages Dreaming Tree Farms, a small farm outside of Richmond, Virginia that sells prepackaged salad kits for a weekly-delivered subscription service under the name Farm-To-Salad. He started out as a hobby farmer in 2009 and in 2017 decided to leave his job as a management consultant to pursue a more fulfilling career growing healthy food for his community…
food freedom
Upcoming Members-Only Webinar: Understanding the USDA Poultry Exemptions
Producers of poultry and other livestock intended for direct-to-consumer sales should particularly attend this Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) live webinar. Consumers and others who want to understand the regulation of on-farm poultry processing will also profit from this exciting member benefit…
Small Farms Can Help Address Food Waste
The stunning food waste that is one of many unexpected consequences of COVID-19 has made us all painfully aware of how highly vulnerable industrial farms are to sudden fluctuations in demand and pullbacks on the regular flow of commerce…
There’s the Rub: Intro to Regulations for Small Meat Processors
For our purposes, a rub is the difference between what regulations require and what FSIS wants but cannot require. FSIS Consumer Safety Inspectors (CSI) are taught FSIS policy; what FSIS wants. Establishments mistakenly think that what the CSI tells them is what regulations require. There’s the rub…
Local Government Tries to Shut Down Virginia Farm
Our whole fiasco with the government trying to shut our farm down came on a Monday in mid-March and began with a call from one of our chefs we sell to. He notified us that the local Loudon County health inspector came into his restaurant, impound stickers in hand, and…