It’s six forty-five on a late-spring Saturday morning; most neighborhood streets are silent, and even major thoroughfares see little activity. But Downtown Charlottesville hosts a constant stream of cars. The City Market opens in fifteen minutes.
The morning sun is just below the roofline of the tall downtown buildings, which cast a shadow over the large, sloping parking lot between Water and South Streets, where dozens upon dozens of vendors are setting out tables, pinning up signs, and putting out items for sale. Produce, cheese, meat, bread, prepared foods, coffee, flowers, handbags, jewelry, and many more items fill the tables. At the top end of the lot, under a large rectangular canopy tent, a center row of banquet tables at one stand hosts a profusion of herb and vegetable seedlings, and more tables laden with spring vegetables line the perimeter. Bunches of beets, radishes, and scallions—glowing with life, arranged with pride, and ready for market customers.
This is Whisper Hill Farm’s stand, a favorite with market goers since it joined in 2011. Holly and James Hammond, the farm’s proprietors, raise vegetables, herbs, and flowers on a ten-acre parcel in Rapidan, Virginia, about thirty-five miles northeast of Charlottesville. Their operation includes a sixteen-by-one-hundred-foot greenhouse, where they start all their plants, and four cultivated acres.
“I was a customer here before I even thought about farming for a living,” Holly says, looking across the market as the other vendors finish preparing their stands. Holly has some prior experience selling at the City Market as well, when she and James interned at Waterpenny Farm in Sperryville, Virginia. The experience convinced them to launch their own farm operation. When their internship was over, they secured land, starting Whisper Hill in 2010.
This spot in the City Market hosted the Waterpenny stand for many years; when it left the market in 2011, Whisper Hill took its place. Over the course of the next four growing seasons, Holly and James would gain a dedicated following among City Market goers. One of these is Gay Beery, owner and chef at APimento Catering, who visits the market on a near-weekly basis. She originally found the Whisper Hill stand when looking for Waterpenny, and she and Holly struck up a conversation. It’s a dialogue that has continued for years, as each business has grown, leading to a partnership that now takes shape in weekly visits and orders.
At the market on this spring morning, the sun crests the tops of the buildings, throwing beams of golden light onto the stands below. It is seven o’clock, and City Market is now open. A steady stream of people is already wandering through.
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APimento sponsored a story about Whisper Hill in Our Local Commons—Charlottesville Volume II, for which APimento created a meal using Whisper Hill’s produce, enjoyed by the farm’s staff and APimento’s catering crew. Read the feature story about this partnership in book, which is available for order or at one of several local retailers around town.
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