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By George Rowand
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Julie Simpson grew up outside Detroit, but something kept telling her that she should aim for something else.
“I used to pretend that I was growing up on a farm,” 3he said. “It drew me and drew me and drew me, and I’ve never had one second of regret about buying this farm.”
Simpson bought 80 acres in Rappahannock County about five years ago and set out to make it pay off. The farm is called Ashton Farm, and she sells some of her produce at the Warrenton Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings. Organic, free-range
Simpson is a member of an organization called Women Farmers of Virginia, which produces lamb, beef, chicken, eggs and goat meat.
“The members of the organization all follow one plan,” Simpson explained. “We stay organic, we stay on pasture, nothing’s penned, nothing’s caged. They (the farm animals) eat what’s in the pasture, and the flavor’s enhanced because of that.”
Simpson said she ran up against an ingrained attitude when she initially thought about buying a farm and then about farming the place.
“When I first came out, the realtor said, ‘You can’t make any money in farming.’ I thought, what does that mean? You can’t make $100,000, or you can’t make $2.95?
“And when I would ask a farmer for help, I ran into a roadblock, but when I would stumble onto a woman who was farming, she would share everything with me,” Simpson related.
The organization includes women from many walks of life.
“We have all walks of busi
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