Bean Hollow Grassfed: A carnivore’s dream
In contrast to Mount Vernon, animals are the center of life at Bean Hollow Grassfed near Flint Hill. Soon after Bill and Linda Dietel bought the 200- acre Over Jordan Farm in 1980, sheep arrived. Linda Dietel set up a meat and wool business she managed for 20 years. After her retirement, a neighboring cattle farmer leased part of the land for grazing and haying. In 2012, the Dietels’ daughter Betsy and her husband Mike Sands moved in, and after giving the land a few years to rejuvenate, launched Bean Hollow Grassfed on 105 acres of the original farm. Sands, a long- time consultant on community- based agriculture and animal science, preferred sheep to cows, because they’re less expensive, mature faster and are smaller (“If all else fails, I could push a sheep where I want it,” he explains.)
Pigs came next, but in modest numbers initially. They’re now the second-highest contributor to farm revenue, with about 25 on the farm. Today, in addition to the pigs, there are 21 beef cattle, 98 ewes, five mature rams and 65 lambs.
Initially, Sands recalls, “it was a very simple market.” The farm sold animals to three buyers, who then handled slaughterhouse bookings, processing and marketing. But one of the main buyers moved, and Bean Hollow ventured into retail sales. The sticking point was the cost of staffing the farm store. A Midwestern farmer persuaded Sands to operate the farm store on a self-service basis. “People thought I was nuts,” he says, but it’s worked. The only irregularities result from customers paying too much, either by accident or as a gesture of good will.
The COVID-19 crisis brought a surge in demand, and a challenge to meet it. People associated large grocery stores with empty shelves and infection risks. Nightmare stories of COVID surges at huge meat processing plants added to the aversion. The result: Bean Hollow’s customer base quintupled, and the challenge to keep up was intense, particularly when local processing facilities began to get overburdened.
Once the pandemic subsides, Sands hopes to retain half the new customers, selling them meat at the farm store and the farmers’ market in Sperryville. Staffing includes his son and daughter-in-law, plus a younger-generation hire, Amanda Frye, who has managed pasture quality, the health and growth of the animals, and more recently, integration and marketing. When her responsibilities expanded, Bean Hollow extended her salary with in-kind payments in livestock. She’s now off on a paid maternity leave.
Sands says the team, and the customers, are happy with the focus on animals. The farm provides recipes and tips on grilling the meat. Customers want to reserve their favorite cuts and return. He says financial strains would ease if the county showed more flexibility by allowing farms like Bean Hollow to supplement their revenue through occasional events like weddings and weekends for agro-tourists. “What you’re really looking for is to grow the revenue base without further burdens on the land base,” he says.
Sands says he’s optimistic. “If trends continue for local and grass-fed, you could see some real benefits for the county,” he says, “not in the sense of a boom, but you’d see a healthier landscape, higher returns through higher management of the pastures and more opportunities for young farmers.”