Ben Stowe and Heather Coiner started Little Hat Creek Farm in 2013 as a way to cultivate their passion for food and to create positive change in the food system. In their small way, they hope to forge tangible connections between eaters in their community and the land that they steward.
Ben knew he wanted to continue growing vegetables after working for two years at Waterpenny Farm north of Charlottesville. Heather honed her skills baking in a public wood-fired oven in a Toronto city park and delivering the results by bicycle to homes and businesses. It seemed natural to put their passions for food together and start Little Hat Creek Farm.
Heather and Ben pride themselves on the ecological practices they use for growing over fifty vegetable and fruit crops on about one acre. They feed the soil by keeping roots in the ground, and they cultivate soil micro- and macro-fauna by keeping the soil surface covered. There are plenty of un-mown wild areas in and around the fields to encourage all forms of life to hang out there. Among them, one can find the myriad native pollinators that help produce fruits, and predators like wheel bugs, spiders, and birds, who help keep the farm’s pests under control.
Ben and Heather’s artisan breads and pastries are baked in a wood-fired brick oven that was built in 2015 to replace a collapsed clay oven. In 2016, they finished a bakery building and packing shed. Bread is the coming together of art, science, and craft in a simple, timeless food. Heather honors the traditions, using long cool fermentations, wood heat, and hand work, even as she taps her farm and others for ingredients to imagine new breads and pastries you can find nowhere else.
Ben and Heather work hard to make it easy for you to access the products of their farm. You can sign up for our community supported agriculture (CSA) program, sign up for our winter bread and pastry deliveries, find our products in your local stores, or visit us at market!
Bread looks amazing. I am in AZ and wanting to begin baking artisan bread in a Woodfired oven. I am curious about your Levin and slow fermentation process.
Thanks Larry! What would you like to know? My starter was given to me about four years ago by a friend who started it from a 50:50 mix of rye and white flour and water in the Colorado Rockies. About 36 h before I bake I expand it to the amount I need using a 5% feed and use the refrigerator to slow the fermentation once during expansion and once after mixing the dough. Do you have an oven that you’re hoping to use?
Lovely website and great looking breads! I wound up here through a mutual friend’s post on Facebook and it took me quite a while to figure out just where you are! Closer to Charlottesville than Toronto, apparently. But the Web is global and you never can tell where your readers come from! If there is a county or town and state name somewere on your home page or page footer, it wasn’t visible when viewing your site on my Android phone. Best new year wishes from the New River Valley in southwest Virginia. 🙂
Oops. Just as I posted that the “five beautiful acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia” footer flashed onto my screen! That narrows it down a bit. 🙂
Thank you for getting in touch Bob! We always appreciate comments that help us improve our website. We’ll look into ways to make the location more obvious. All the best, Heather
Read about your operation in edible Blue Ridge. Excited to stop by and buy some bread and talk a little.
Please do! Call to make sure we’re here 434-277-9304.
Hello, where can I buy your breads and pastries ?
Hi Denise,
Thank you for writing! You can see a list of the farmer’s markets and stores where you can find us here: https://littlehatcreek.com/wheretofindus. Thanks! Heather