Posted on January 6, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

The Food That Feeds Us: Fresh Flours

Note from the FRESH Team: “This is one of many posts from farmers and food producers around the US who are working hard to change our food system.  We want to share their stories with the FRESH community in hopes of connecting us all a little more and strengthening our collective voice.  This is NOT meant to be an exhaustive resource.  We welcome you to send us your story to share with the FRESH community as well.  Please email Lisa Madison at Lisa@FRESHthemovie.com for more information.”

Name: Fresh Flours
Location: Winchester, VA
Specialty: Baked Goods, Soups, Seasonal Dishes
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Winchester-VA/Fresh-Flours/137434417644
Buy Local Virginia: http://www.buylocalvirginia.org/search/anx-search-detail.cfm?id=1278
Eat Well Guide: http://www.eatwellguide.org/listing/detail/44992
How to buy our food: Front Royal Farmers Market, www.FarmerGirls.net, Facebook, Blue Ridge Meats of Front Royal, or email freshflours@comcast.net
Contact: Carrie England freshflours@comcast.net

I have my grandmother to thank for my passion for gardening and cooking, which always went hand-n-hand. Every time I pick a vine ripened tomato I think of her teaching me about companion planting. “This plant brings in the good bugs” pointing at the marigold flower. Then picking as if it was a prize unto its own, so I could smell it. In her garden you could always find praying mantis and lady bugs. She never used any pesticides and composting was just what she was taught.
Vu Manh Thang – I Am Superman

So as a child the love started on a humid Tennessee spring morning, picking fresh strawberries at an Aunt’s farm. Then it would come time to turn these delicious red ripe sweet berries into anything strawberry. Be it cakes, hand churned ice cream or homemade jam. Throughout that year I would spend time at family farms in Kentucky & Tennessee sharing laughter has we labored in the fields. Gardening had become rooted in my soul (it might have been that it tasted sooo good that the final product had a bit to do with it too).

Using simple sustainable practices taught to me by grandmother is one of the ways I honor the earth, my grandmother and the next generation at the same time.

It was only natural that I combine these two passions to start Fresh Flours. Not being able to produce all the fruits and vegetables to be used in the business, I rely on local farms and producers whose conservation practices lessen our impact on the environment and provide me with quality products. It only makes since to use the freshest, local ingredients and know whom I’m getting them from and the way they have been grown.

Carrie England