Grant will help James City County farm get food to local pantries

Randy and Michelle Gulden established KelRae Farm back in 2001, renaming a long-running family business after their first two daughters, Kelsey and Rachel.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, the farm, like many other businesses, had to come up with new ways to survive. KelRae Farm launched an online food hub, which has now been awarded a multiyear federal grant to help get fresh produce, bread and meat to local food pantries.

Located in the James City County community of Toano, KelRae Farm is just under 90 acres with about 35 to 40 acres of farmland for produce. The farm raises crops throughout the year, producing tomatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelons, squash and more.

Since its inception, KelRae Farm has been involved with the surrounding community, participating in the Williamsburg Farmers Market and in Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools’ Farm to School program. The school program helps get locally-sourced produce from farms and farmers on school lunch menus.

There’s also a mentorship program that KelRae Farm hosts with William & Mary, in which student volunteers and dining interns visit to learn more about sustainable agriculture.

“The students come out, and they actually grow produce out here that they take into the schools,” Michelle Gulden said. “We’ve had that with (W&M) for probably over 10 years now.”

Formally known as Hazelwood Farm, KelRae is “actually a centennial farm for James City County,” she said.

The farm was inherited by Gulden’s husband, Randy, from his great uncle Henry M. “Buck” Hazelwood, who for decades sold his fresh produce within Greater Williamsburg. The family’s farm is recognized by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Virginia Century Farm Program, signifying that it has been in operation for at least 100 consecutive years.

On top of running its own indoor farm market store and a Community Supported Agriculture service, KelRae has for the past few years operated an online farmers market called the KelRae Farm Food Hub.

“When COVID hit, farmers and producers were essentially considered nonessential,” Gulden said. “During the pandemic, the only way we could truly sell to our customers was online.”

Gulden got other farmers she knew to come on board, and the KelRae Farm Food Hub was born.

KelRae partnered with Lulu’s Local Food to assist farms and community-based organizations with distributing food. Lulu’s Local Food, founded by Molly Harris, developed the software that runs the KelRae Farm Food Hub. It works like an online farmers market that operates year round, allowing customers to shop and pay for produce and other goods online and then pick them up at the farm.

The Food Hub offers products from about 40 producers including Two Drummers Smokehouse, Sals by Victor, Custom Culinary Connections and Culture Cafe. In the past two years, the hub has helped more than 50 small farms and businesses reach the food market, Gulden said.

“It’s been quite an adventure,” she said. “We have a really good group of farmers and producers and bakers.”

This month, the KelRae Farm Food Hub, in partnership with Lulu’s Local Food, learned it received $130,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support a local food purchase assistance program. The program helps purchase and distribute locally grown, produced and processed food in an effort to increase local food consumption in communities.

The program also helps get fresh food to those who need it. Through the grant, the Food Hub will be able to help food pantries over the next 18 months, including Grove Christian Outreach Center, Williamsburg House of Mercy and Proclaiming Grace Outreach.

The grant will also help get prepared items to people living in hotels with limited cooking facilities.

Grove Christian Outreach Center has been purchasing fresh produce from KelRae as part of its Fresh Food Room offerings for the past several years, said Katie Patrick, the center’s executive director. She said the grant will be a huge help.

“This grant brings foods that are typically out of reach for food insecure families straight to their tables,” Patrick said. “In addition, it enables us to make healthier foods available to a community that doesn’t have regular access to these types of food due to the distance and transportation challenges.”

Members of the community can also help in the effort by joining the Food Hub and supporting the Box of Hope charitable program, which gets fresh produce and bread to food pantries. For every $10 Box of Hope Purchased, KelRae Farms will match that to benefit Williamsburg House of Mercy’s food pantry.

The Food Hub is giving away a one-month Food Hub membership with promo code YEAR_ROUND_MARKET_2023, good until Jan. 24.

“We’re just really committed, and I want this to be successful for everybody,” Gulden said. “You’re only as strong as your community is.”

Dominic Catacora, 757-798-9833, dominic.catacora@virginiamedia.com