Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards sits on 41 acres over looking the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The grounds are composed of vineyards, kitchen gardens, flower gardens, 8 acres of natural areas made up of native flowers & grasses as well as dedicated livestock areas.
The Farm
The Farm at Pippin Hill
The Apiary
30% of the food we eat depends on pollination. And the decline of the bee population nationwide is a very real concern and something we take to heart at Pippin Hill. So, in 2019 we partnered with a local honey company and established an apiary housing between 3 – 5 honeybee hives. Having honeybees on the property helps with pollination of our vegetables, fruits and flowers on the Farm and give us bigger yields of these crops. The bees can forage up to a 3-mile radius of their hives so they are also aiding with the pollination of the fruit orchards in the North Garden area. If we happen to have a surplus of honey, we will
harvest it and it will be used in our kitchen. But the honey is purely a byproduct of managing honeybees, our main goal is to aid in the plight of the honeybee and to be good stewards on the land.
The Chickens
Egg laying hens were added to the Farm at Pippin Hill in 2018 to provide eggs for the kitchen. We generally have between 10– 15 hens that are all good egg layers, friendly and hardy breeds. Some of breeds include Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Blue Wyandottes, Speckled Sussex, and Ameraucanas. Our Chefs like to use the eggs for their delicious dessert creations.
The Gardens
The kitchen gardens are divided into three areas: the herb garden, the Reserve Room garden beds where greens & lettuces are grown and the lower vegetable garden where larger vegetables are grown like tomatoes, squash & peppers. The kitchen garden plan is developed in January by the Head Gardener Diane Burns and her gardening team, and Chefs Ian & Victoria. When they meet to discuss garden plans, the Chefs share next year’s menu and what they would use in the kitchen, so that the gardening team can suggest vegetables & herbs that are good producers in the garden. It is this collaborative effort in which the three-season garden plan is developed for the year. The flower gardens yield an array of colorful flowers to be cut for the Tasting Room arrangements as well as types that are ideal for pollinating for our honeybees. The flower gardens also provide floral material for our annual cut flower workshops. Edible flowers are also grown for the kitchen to be used as garnish and to enhance the flavors of Pippin Hill dishes.
