LEWISBURG (WVDN) – Before the Lewisburg Chocolate Festival begins in Lewisburg on Saturday, April 9, a farm-to-table buckwheat pancake breakfast is coming to Hill and Holler.
The Court House Farmers Market began planning the event just over a month ago. Coordinator Mary Surbaugh explained what attendees would find.
“We’re doing a little spin on farm to table for the chocolate festival,” explained Surbaugh. “The library usually does the chocolate brunch, but they opted out this year. We are going to do a buckwheat feed – buckwheat is a grain and you make pancakes out of it. They’re kind of crunchy.”
The breakfast will feature the local farming community’s products.
“Everything is from Greenbrier County, it is totally, 100 percent farm to table,” Surbaugh said. “Sausage from Greenbrier County, eggs from Greenbrier, buckwheat from Greenbrier, maple syrup from Greenbrier. The apples will be from West Virginia.”
The local farms include:
– Arbaugh Farms, buckwheat.
– Eagles Landing, eggs and sausage.
– Mark Hughes, sausage.
– Sunset View Farm, sausage.
– Greenbrier Dairy, butter.
– Rainbow Farms, eggs.
– Dawson Maple Syrup
“The human side of farmers is that they are more important than any athlete or actor because they are essential,” Surbaugh said. “They grow the food that is used to nourish you. It’s a physically demanding job, so they’re rock stars. Get to know your farmer and give them a thanks. Grow your own food and any one of those farmers would help you. It’s so fun.”
Proceeds from the breakfast go to the United Way of Greenbrier Valley and the Courthouse Farmers Market.
“It will be at Hill and Holler, so huge shout out to them,” Surbaugh said. “They’re so nice to do it, they’re community minded. That will be the morning of the chocolate festival, before it starts, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Everyone will be driving into town anyway, then the festival starts right away. You can have chocolate in your pancakes. Or local fruit, like raspberries.”
Surbaugh asked the community to come have breakfast with an important industry in the Greenbrier Valley.
“The event is to promote the farmers in our area,” Surbaugh said. “It’s an economy, a real economy. It supports families, and it’s sustainable. Last year, the farmers market brought in over $220,000 for the whole year, that’s a lot of money. When you divide that by 40, the number of farmers, it’s part of a good living. If you decided to be a farmer, you’d be okay, but if you wanted to be more than okay financially, you go get another job. You have to love farming to do it. Thank you for supporting your local farmers.”
