New Pioneers of the Blue Ridge

My painting group has mounted a gallery exhibit focusing on the new agricultural practices in our Blue Ridge mountain community.   Tobacco is no longer the main crop.  Young people have pioneered organic farming and the farm to table movement.

This farmer, Jim Edwards, caught my attention at the weekly farmers' market.  He was so proud of his pumpkins.

In a later conversation he disclosed that he worked at the youngest on the some of the same land he farms now.  Then it was a dairy farm, now there are beans, corn, pumpkins and bell peppers.  To fund his college education Jim raised beef and tobacco.

The Pumpkin Man

Oil  8" x 10"