Reflections on 2024

2025 is just around the corner!

It’s hard to believe another year has flown by. As always, it was a year filled with adventure, and looking back, we are grateful and encouraged by all we were able to accomplish. So here’s the recap of Whiffletree’s 2024!

Whiffletree Crew:

This year, we had another set of amazing interns come through our farm!

• Tyfani (Maryland): Tyfani joined us over the winter to gain some experience working on a regenerative livestock farm. She did a great job and was always cheerful and friendly. And bonus - she was a great cook! Now she attends the University of Maryland, pursuing a degree in horticulture. 
• Lily (Florida): Lily came to join us during her gap year before starting school at the University of Florida. She was an excellent intern and worker, attentive to detail, and so great to have around!
• Caroline (Virginia): Caroline is a track and cross country runner at JMU. She joined us as an intern for the summer with the interest of maybe getting something going on her grandparent’s old farm. Every now and then on breaks from school she pops in for a couple days to work with us!
• Andrew (Virginia): Andrew is a local who graduated from the same high school as Jesse. He is a great and solid guy, and he is starting up his own business of growing mushrooms and micro-greens. We’re excited to see where that takes him! He also works part time now as the delivery driver for Whiffletree!
• Akili (Virginia): Another Virginia local, Akili is a fellow you might recognize from being featured in the newspaper for completing the Appalachian Trail last year. He did the summer internship with us and has since stayed on as an all-star, full time employee!
• Andy (Virginia): Andy grew up in a military family and attended college in Florida, but now lives with his family in Bristow, VA. He came for the fall internship, and was a good and thoughtful guy. He did great work with us! 
• Anna (Virginia): Anna is a local to the Warrenton area, and her family has known Jesse since he was in high school. She helped out with chores, deliveries, and working the farm store, and she learned a lot! Her kind and cheerful spirit and smile were a treat, and she was a great worker!
• Lani (Virginia): Lani is a long-time customer who is digging into the details of regenerative livestock farming over this winter and into the spring of 2025.  She is an enthusiastic and thoughtful addition to the team!

Some of our team also had some pretty cool things they did this year or life changes that happened to them!

• Melanie (bookkeeper; inventory, processing, and freezer manager): Melanie and her husband Patrick are welcoming their first baby in January! The whole farm is so excited to meet their baby. Congratulations, Melanie and Patrick!
• Elliot (cattle manager): After two years of working as the cattle manager for Whiffletree Farm, Elliot is moving on to work for the farm who supplies us with our calves. He was great to have as our cowboy and will be missed!
• Carmen (farm store and neighborhood delivery manager): Carmen, who has been a part of the Whiffletree team for almost five years now, is engaged! We’re all excited for her and her fiance Brendon!
• Bethany (wholesale, communications, marketing, and events manager): Bethany took a six month leave from Whiffletree to go intern at a farm in England! She had an amazing time learning regenerative farming there and exploring England, Wales, and Scotland.
• Ben (pig manager): Ben is taking over as our cattle manager (and pig manager) here at Whiffletree! He’s excited for the opportunity and we’re looking forward to seeing what he’ll do with it.

Whiffletree Farm:

The farm has had a few big changes and fun happenings over the year…here are some of the highlights!

• We got a third freezer installed. That has been a huge help to us to have more storage for our products here on-farm, and the people who work the freezers and help pack orders are all very happy for the extra space!
• We welcomed Anthony Schiano as our new poultry manager. It’s been great to have him around and he’s done great work!
• A fun highlight was getting to supply a Neil Young concert with our beef patties. Neil Young is one of Jesse’s favorite artists, and it was cool to have a celebrity want his concert to be supplied with products that align with our standards!
• We got a vacuum sealer for our products! That has been a major difference in the quality of our poultry items. Retail and wholesale customers alike have all loved the change!
• One of Jesse’s daughters has added a couple dairy cows to the animals of Whiffletree Farm. We’re hoping for the older heifer to have a calf next year!

The Straight Fam:

Liz and I (Jesse) are very grateful for each other, our kids, my parents, all the farm team, our church, and all our friends.  We are very blessed with all the good people that surround us.  Here are some of the highlights this year from our family:

• Liz has done a great job homeschooling 7 of our 8 kids (Whew!  No small task.)
• Our oldest daughter got her driver's license!
• Some of our older kids have really enjoyed being involved with a local theatre group.
• The kids and I have read/are reading so many good books together!  I love Story Nights with the kids!  Some examples:
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Virginian
  • Lord of the Rings
  • The Hobbit
  • Mossflower
  • The Little House on the Prairie stories
  • First Farm in the Valley
  • Murder in the Cathedral
  • The Yearling
  • The Sherlock Holmes stories
• The older kids do a great job helping on the farm (for pay!) and doing their school work and having fun with each other and friends.  
• We are all looking forward to when my daughter’s new dairy cow has her first calf in August, and she starts milking!

Blessings to you all, and thank you for all your support of our farm, our team, and our family!  We will continue to work so diligently to raise you food that is tasty and truly healthy for you, the land, the animals, and our community!

Jesse Straight