Trading in ginseng is a family tradition for Larry Harding.  His grandfather was a ginseng dealer, and, as a boy, Larry would forage for wild ginseng with his father along western Maryland’s Upper Youghiogheny River.  Today, he grows ginseng in 80 acres of shaded forest beside his home.

Whole Foods Market at Short Pump (in Glen Allen, Virginia) answered the call in a big way when the Mid-Atlantic Region asked each store to start or adopt a community garden. Last Spring, the store opened the company’s first on-site community garden. Almost an acre in size, the Whole Foods Market Village Community Garden is located in the same development as the store. It serves as an outdoor classroom for area residents and school children with workshops and tours offered free of charge. Produce from the garden will soon be sold in the store and is already used in some prepared foods. The group that operates West Broad Village, Markel|Eagle Partners, LLC, offered the undeveloped land for the project. Team members maintain the garden with the help of a Richmond-based group called Backyard Farmer. The garden features an education area, 14 production beds, a fruit orchard, community rental plots and compost bins.

For over 60 years, Goodnight Brothers has been curing country hams in the cool crisp air of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Through a new partnership with Whole Foods Market and the North Carolina Natural Hog Growers Association, Bill Goodnight is producing traditionally dry cured Carolina Country Ham using fresh hams and pork bellies from local Global Animal Partnership Step 4-rated pig farms.

Available in our North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama stores.

We broke ground on the Enright Park Community Garden in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh in July 2008. In partnership with the surrounding neighbors, the Kentucky Avenue School, and East Liberty Development, Inc, we worked together to transition an overgrown and abandoned corner lot into a thriving field of cucumbers, zucchini, raspberries, tomatoes and more. The space is now surrounded by rail fencing and bordered by its namesake, Enright Park.

Located just three blocks down the street, our Pittsburgh Whole Foods Market commits a part-time garden team member to help with daily maintenance of the space. Countless others of our team members volunteer hand-in-hand with neighbors and school children to weed, water and harvest. When amazing people work together for the good of the community, great things happen. Our garden is proof!

The Pittsburgh garden was the first of its kind in our Mid-Atlantic Region and was the inspiration for other gardens being put into food production at schools, group homes, assisted living facilities and other community spaces. All of these garden projects have evolved into a new non-profit foundation called “Whole Grown,” whose focus is to teach people how to grow, prepare, preserve and celebrate food from their own gardens.

Icelandic lamb is a wonderfully flavorful, exceptionally lean meat from animals raised with no antibiotics, ever and no added hormones. Pesticides and herbicides are seldom used in Iceland where the climate naturally protects the land. All in all, Icelandic lambs are amazingly robust and live in an idyllic, geographically isolated country’ whose strict agriculture regulations protect the integrity of the lamb you are buying.

In early fall, farmers mount spirited, pony-sized Icelandic horses and ride high into the mountains to collect their lambs. Although the lambs wear tiny identifying markers, their owners often recognize them by sight—even from afar. This annual event, called réttir, culminates in a celebration with singing, dancing and traditional delicacies such as lamb soup. But since roundup only happens once a year, fresh Icelandic lamb is, alas, only available from September through early December.

Iceland has always been a leader in sustainability, and remains one of the purest environments in the world. There’s little pollution. And farming is conducted in a way that preserves the land for future use, incorporating aspects of social responsibility.

Through a special arrangement with Iceland, this superb lamb is exclusive to Whole Foods Market. We couldn’t be prouder, or more delighted, to offer it to our customers.

Note: Icelandic Lamb is not available in all of our stores. Check with your local store for availability, and you should find it in our stores in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, North Atlantic, Florida, South, Southwest, Southern Pacific, Pacific Northwest and a few stores in the Midwest.

Baldwin Family Farms – Yanceyville, NC

The herd of Charolais cattle at Baldwin Family Farms enjoys grazing the nutrient rich pastures of an 800-acre multi-generational farm.  Founders, V. Mac and Peggy Baldwin, practice a unique form of winter and summer grazing that allows the cattle to graze year round and produce high-quality, grass-fed, lean beef throughout every season.

Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Company
Nashville, Tennessee

A former pastry chef, trained at Le Cordon Bleu, Scott Witherow returned home to Nashville and started Olive and Sinclair with a mission to make really great southern artisan chocolate.  Building from just two ingredients – cocoa beans and brown sugar – Scott then incorporates local coffee grounds, cocoa nibs, and salt & pepper, to create seven varieties of hand-crafted chocolate bars.

LANCASTER FARM FRESH COOPERATIVE – Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Since the day a produce manager for Whole Foods Market in New York City tasted his first bite of organic asparagus from Pennsylvania, he was determined to get the product into his store. He traced the asparagus back to a small Amish family farm in Lancaster County and drove down there the next week to seal the deal. With the help of the non-profit cooperative Lancaster Farm Fresh, Whole Foods Market began to work with this farm and 40 other Amish and Mennonite growers from the area. All the produce sold through Lancaster Farm Fresh is raised on small family farms and is certified organic.

Matt O’Hayer’s happy hens are pasture-raised outdoors at Vital Farms near Austin, Texas.  Matt’s hens move among open pastures, ensuring fresh grass for the chickens while fertilizing the land in return.  Because the hens feed on these grasses high in beta carotene and other vitamins, Vital Farms eggs have a dark, thick yolk with great egg flavor.

Vital Farms is a recipient of a Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan, which they have used to purchase equipment to help them expand their production.

Coosaw Farms was founded in Fairfax, South Carolina, over 30 years ago by Bradley and Louise O’Neal and has since grown to include their two children, Brad and Angela.  Largely known for their Red Seedless Watermelons, Coosaw Farms is now growing Southern Highbrush Blueberries.