ObserverArticle

Edition of Feb. 15, 2008

Local Business Supports Healthy Living

By Leslie Perales
Observer Staff Writer

Reston-based real estate firm National Realty and Mount Vernon Farm of Sperryville, Va., are helping Reston residents live a healthier lifestyle.

National Realty sponsors a drop-off location for customers who buy products directly from Mount Vernon Farm. Once a month customers are sent a list of available products, which they can order and then pick up at a set time and date in the parking lot of National Realty.

Keith Hartke, who owns and operates National Realty with his brother Paul Hartke, said the farm drop began because he and his wife wanted to be healthy.

"We have experienced tremendous health benefits by changing our diet," he said. "We were purchasing grass-fed meats by mail order when we met an intern that worked for Mount Vernon Farm. We were excited to find such a wonderful ranch this close to home."

Hartke said they immediately volunteered to sponsor a farm drop for the neighborhood and offer other area families the chance to purchase products from Mount Vernon farm, which has been owned by the family of Cliff Miller since 1827.

At the farm, they raise 100 percent grass-fed beef and lamb, and pastured pork, and their animals are not given growth hormones, vaccines or antibiotics. Miller also said they are able to offer a variety of products while using sustainable farming techniques.

"What I'm doing is good for the soil, it's good for the cattle and sheep and hogs and chickens," Miller said. "It's also good for the people that eat it and it's good for the farmer who doesn't have to work around pesticides."

Grass-fed beef and other meat products have many health advantages over grain-fed animals, according to Hartke. For example, meat that comes from a farm such as Mount Vernon is seven times higher in conjugated linoleic acid, which helps fight cancer, Hartke said. Additionally, he said, the meat is twice as high in beta-carotene, four times higher in vitamin E and five times higher in vitamin A than grain-fed meat.

"Cows and lambs have four stomachs and God designed them to process grass," Miller said. "If you feed them grain it really isn't what they were designed to eat, so it poisons them a little bit and you need to give them antibiotics and things like that to keep them healthy."

Some companies feed animals a mixture of grass and grain, but even feeding the animals a small amount of grain while raising them can destroy the health of the animal and the meat, Miller said. And while some people may think organic foods are best, Miller said that is not always the case with meat. If an animal is fed organic grain it can be considered certified organic meat, but it still will not have the health benefits of 100 percent grass-fed animals, Miller said.

Miller said he enjoys it when customers can visit the farm in person so they can see firsthand where the product comes from; however he understands the benefits of selling their products through the buyer's club. He said his farm prefers the buyer's club method to selling their products at farmer's markets, and they have operated the drop at National Realty for about a year. Other drop sites are located in Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church, Fredericksburg and Richmond.

"Buying something that's local to you is becoming of a lot more interesting to people," Miller said.

Order information, including a full product listing can be found on Mount Vernon Farm's Web site at www.MountVernonFarm.net. Orders can be placed over the Internet up to two days prior to the next scheduled drop date. Customers picking up products may pay with credit card, check or cash. National Realty is located at 11890 Sunrise Valley Drive.