State Extension Director visits, tours renovated Culpeper facility
Regional representatives with an interest in agriculture and business convened recently at the Carver Center in Culpeper County to meet the new state cooperative extension director and tour the facility currently under renovation.
“The Carver Center is the ‘new-to-come’ hub of the George Washington Food Enterprise Center, which will be a shared-use commercial kitchen and food incubator,” said Adam Downing, Rappahannock County extension unit coordinator, who attended the event on May 19.
Construction of the new kitchen is underway and phase one of a three-phase plan will open for use in August.
“Completion will allow us to provide food-related job training, economic development education and food security services to the five-county region, including Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties,” Downing said.
Mike Gutter, who was hired last fall as Virginia’s new Cooperative Extension director as well as associate dean of the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, spoke Friday morning after guests were served breakfast prepared by Orange County 4-H students, voicing his support for the new kitchen and other agricultural initiatives at the Carver Center.
“It’s remarkable what you’ve been able to accomplish here, which could be replicated in other parts of the state,” Gutter said. “It’s good to see so many different groups working together so effectively.”
Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors Chair Debbie Donehey, who attended the event, said she’s especially excited about the new food center.
“People will have the opportunity to take advantage of a large area for storage and flash freezing, take it home and have food for the next six months,” Donehey said of the new commercial kitchen.
“I enjoyed the presentation and the director’s talk — I think it’s good to get people outside growing their own food, good for the mind, body and soul,” she added.
A mix of nearly 70 individuals representing counties across the region participated in a tour of the kitchen and heard from Becky Gartner, who has been overseeing the project as Culpeper extension agent of family and consumer science, and Lenah Nguyen, who will now be serving in that position as Gartner has moved to the extension office in Rockingham County.
“This shared use kitchen is designed to help small farmers and food truck operators get their business started,” Gartner said. “We’ll be holding a workshop June 28 designed to help jump start someone looking to start a new food business, in anticipation of the center’s opening.”
Nguyen led the tour group through the new kitchen area, explaining where equipment would be installed and who would have access to it.
“It will be servicing food truck owners, caterers, folks that are selling products at farmers markets and need to scale up a little bit,” she said.
About $1.5 million has been invested into phase one, with about the same amount yet to fundraise to build phases two and three, Nguyen said.
“Phase two and three will be more focused on value-added production,” the extension agent said, “to serve the agricultural community, helping farmers be more profitable so they can have value-added products, and kind of extend the season where they have revenue coming into their businesses.”
Carl Stafford, senior extension agent in Culpeper, said the new food center will be ideal for small farmers and others looking to develop agri-tourism.
“The biggest economic driver in Rappahannock County after four-stream agriculture is tourism,” Stafford said. “People visit, spend money and then go home. This facility will support any farmer looking to sell products to tourists.”
Stafford said food service workers at the Inn at Little Washington, as well as many other restaurants in the region, are trained through programs offered at the Carver Center.
“Business owners have directly benefited from the Serve Safe and Stone Soup programs that we offer here,” he said.
The former George Washington Carver Regional High School at 9432 James Madison Highway in Rapidan served African American students during segregation. It was built in 1948 and closed with desegregation in 1968, among the last counties in Virginia to comply.
Carver’s name was removed from the facade soon after segregation ended and the building was put to other uses.
As of May 23, the school’s original name has been restored to the front of the building, funded by Culpeper County, a project started last November. As part of the renovation, windows across the front of the building were replaced.
The school building now houses the Culpeper Cooperative Extension offices and the George Washington Carver Agricultural Research Center with support from Virginia State University.
Gardens on 12 acres of land around the facility are cultivated by Minority and Veteran Farmers of the Piedmont and regional Master Gardeners groups, with much of their yield donated to food pantries in Rappahannock, Culpeper and elsewhere in the region.
Friends of the Rappahannock staff members grow trees and shrubs on the property that are later planted, with the help of volunteers, in key areas along waterways to prevent erosion and better support the environment.
New Pathways Tech, a complex machine shop, and the American Institute of Welding, administered by Germanna Community College, hold specialized classes at the Carver Center, with space for many more partners in the building.
The alumni association of the former high school operates a museum in what used to be the library. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the year the school opened, and events will be held to celebrate this event in each of the counties it served.
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