Louisa seed company sets itself apart

MINERAL — Looking for spring, we drove into the woods of Louisa County, trundling through snow and ice down a dirt road and across a one-lane bridge.

Inside a farmhouse, there’s a sure sign of the coming season: seeds. Lots and lots of seeds. In jars, bags and small, charmingly illustrated packets. Seeds for tomatoes (more than 100 varieties), beans and corn, peanuts, cotton and okra, and hundreds of other varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs.

“This is our busiest time,” said Ira Wallace, co-manager of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, standing in the warmly chaotic office as phones rang, printers hummed and other worker-owners tapped on computer keyboards. “We pack seeds, take orders and get them out of here.”

Southern Exposure is a different sort of operation for a number of reasons, including that it specializes in open-pollinated and so-called heirloom seeds that have a history of being passed down through generations of families and small farmers.

However, what really sets the company apart is its setting: Acorn Community, an egalitarian, income-sharing living arrangement that one resident half-jokingly described as a “hippie commune.”

Another resident, Byrd Rising, put it this way: “It’s not just a company,” she said. “It’s a whole way of life.”

Twenty-two people live in three houses on the 70-acre farm. Everyone has a hand in the business, working in the garden, answering phones or designing the catalogs that, of course, list seeds for sale but also chronicle their sometimes-rich history.

No one is paid a salary; proceeds are plowed back into the community or donated to charity or causes they support, such as the Piedmont Environmental Council. Residents share cars, long conversations, and daily tasks such as cooking meals and washing dishes in an atmosphere that values personal responsibility and alternative lifestyles. No one pays rent.

“You don’t take a vow of poverty, but we’re committed to simple living,” Wallace said. “People have a small spending allowance ... but we try to have our consumption be low for junk and stuff.”

Noting many of the group’s furnishings are acquired at second-hand stores, Wallace said with a smile, “Why buy something new when you can get it used?”

Acorn — not affiliated with the community organizing group of the same name that has become a political lightning rod — was founded in 1993 as an offshoot of Twin Oaks, a similar, larger community less than 10 miles away.

Acorn has operated Southern Exposure since 1999 when it took over the business from founder Jeff McCormack, who started the company in 1982 in his family garden and kitchen. Southern Exposure has expanded its offerings in recent years, fed by a growing interest in food that is locally grown and organic. Acorn also operates Garden Medicinals and Culinaries, which sells medicinal and herb seeds and also was founded by McCormack.

Acorn residents grow many of the seeds on their farm, conduct plant trials and germination tests, and provide environmentally controlled seed storage, including a refrigerated trailer.

“We don’t air-condition our people,” Wallace said with a laugh. “We air-condition our seeds.”

They also grow seeds at several leased plots nearby, including land at Twin Oaks, and they contract with an additional 30 growers around the Southeast and beyond. The community’s business meshes famously with its overall philosophy of life, promoting seed-saving, ecological agriculture and local food production. Heirloom and open-pollinated seeds produce crop and seeds for the next planting; much of today’s large-scale food production relies on hybrid seeds that produce crop but cannot reproduce themselves.

In a way, Rising said, the business is “a form of very accessible activism.”

Richard Nunnally, retired extension agent, freelance gardening columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and host of WCVE’s “Virginia Home Grown,” said Southern Exposure’s work “meets the needs of a growing segment of the gardening world.”

“More and more gardeners are looking for the old standard varieties that had natural disease resistance and wonderful flavor,” Nunnally said. “Their dedication to producing quality seeds that are properly identified and packaged has given them a reputation of reliability.”

Wallace said Acorn residents feel fortunate “we can make a living doing something good.”

They also are lucky that their work produces vegetables year-round for their community table, such as the colorful stir-fry featuring chunky oxheart carrots — described in the catalog as “thick, sweet carrots” that require “extra growing space” — that Lisa Harney and Ashleigh Wilson were preparing for lunch on the day of our visit.

While they cooked, Jason Finn was nearby showing off his latest creation from the Acorn workshop: a handsome rack made of scrap oak for displaying Southern Exposure seed packets in retail shops.

“We’re the only seed company that has handmade-like-Amish-furniture seed racks,” Finn said with a laugh.