Pickett's Harbor Farm

The farm was started with fruit trees, mainly peaches, then it moved to tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, black berries, corn, sweet potatoes, butter beans, and acorns. It has been in business for 20 years The family does most of the work because school kids do not want to work and the migrant workers are too much trouble to get. There aren't many peaches grown in this area so having them on the farm is a novelty.

 He is a bee keeper as well. The help that does work is required to say "yes sir, no sir, please, & thank you". The farm participates with the senior discount program as well as WIC and EBT. They sell the products at Virginia Beach and on the farm but the farm sells are better. The can profit $43,560 out of 1 acre. The entire farm includes 225 acres and they can make 80% of their income using only 10% of their land. All of their land is irrigable.

The farm is also in the process of being GAP certified (Good Agriculture Practices). They work with ODU to help provide Food Banks with potatoes. ODU students come and pick the potatoes, pay for the potatoes, and deliver them to the Food Bank.

This farm was very relevant to a possible career to be able to help a farmer feed his community as well as being able to provide food to the local food shelter. Also seeing how he used very little of the total farm to produce the majority of his income was very cool.