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Welcome to Tonoloway Farm, an Appalachian food forest in Highland County VA.

We are Tonoloway Farm, located on the rocky, wooded slopes of Bullpasture Mountain in Highland County, VA. We produce food sustainably among the hardwood forests of our Appalachian mountain home. These forest foods include syrups from our native trees: maple, black walnut and hickory, as well as mushrooms grown in the woods.

the Tonoloway families

Tonoloway Farm is a collaboration between two families

The Herby Family founded Tonoloway Farm in 2014, rooted in experience from their humanitarian assignments with the UN and the International Red Cross. Lauren is a data analyst and Christoph manages economic security programs and relief operations. Through a decade abroad in disaster and conflict-affected countries, we found that a community’s greatest asset is their bond and knowledge of place: what grows well, how ancestors lived, and how we must care for it. This frames our vision for Tonoloway Farm.

Will Shepherd and Jen Rattigan joined the farm in 2022. (add Will & Jen narrative)

Tonoloway Farm is a dynamic forest farm, and we invite friends and visitors to join and learn with us. While the farm initially started with pastured poultry and fine wool sheep, it didn’t take long to learn that the mountain will tell us what she wants. This is steep, rocky ground, these Appalachian hardwood forests showed us what grows well here. Maples, walnuts, mushrooms, and wild fruits abound. Our aim is to grow more of what thrives naturally, while fostering diversity that supports sound ecology.

In 2021-2022, we built the workshop that now houses or syrup production and processing kitchen. It is constructed primarily from timber harvested on the farm:

the Tonoloway name

Tonoloway Farm is named after the Tonoloway formation, a limestone feature within the karst topography of the Alleghany highlands. This Tonoloway limestone defines the farm, with outcroppings shaping the fields and forests, karst caves providing spring water, and the limestone itself giving alkaline properties to our soils.

History

This land has been in agricultural use since the early 1800’s, when it was cleared of forest for logging and grazing cattle. In 1862, the Civil War Battle of McDowell was fought on the slopes of Sittlington’s Hill, adjacent to the farm, with artillery units from the Union 12th Ohio regiment positioned on the knoll in the farm’s high pasture. During the ensuing 100+ years, the farm continued to be grazed with cattle, as forests gradually re-established themselves. The property received a permanent conservation easement in 2007 as part of an effort to preserve the McDowel Battlefield area.

For more information on the Battle of McDowell, visit the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.