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Back to nature

Hume couple shuns processed food, producing their own

Staff Photo/Moorhead

Ellen and Harvey Ussery walk the lane between their blackberry and

raspberry bushes. The Hume couple met 25 years ago at a Buddhist monastery in

New York.

By Don Del Rosso - Staff Writer

Harvey Ussery wrinkles his nose in disgust.

About 15 years ago his wife Ellen bought him a red Mantis two-cycle, gas-powered

tiller to lighten the workload.

The couple keeps two vegetable and flower gardens in their Hume backyard off

Route 688.

The machine initially served him well.

But before long, he grew to disdain it.

" It's noisy, it's stinky, it vibrates and it wears me out! " Mr. Ussery explains

in a thick North Carolina accent, his brown eyes wide open and glaring.

Three years ago he gave it to a neighbor on " permanent loan. "

" I don't miss it a bit. "

In its place, Mr. Ussery turns the soil with a broadfork.

The switch to a hand implement seems only natural - and inevitable - for the

Usserys, hardcore proponents and practitioners of a lifestyle that shuns modern

conveniences they believe spoil the environment and their bodies and minds.

They consume no processed food or few meals prepared outside their tiny kitchen,

except for an occasional piece of designer chocolate or when they celebrate

their wedding anniversary at The Inn at Little Washington.

" I used to be a chocoholic, " Mr. Ussery confesses. " If there was chocolate in

the house, I would binge on it until it was gone. I would scarf it up. "

The couple subsists on naturally produced food.

In many instances, " it goes way beyond organic, " Mr. Ussery says.

The Usserys, both previously married, produce much of what they eat. For

example, they buy unpasturized, or " raw, " milk from Rucker Farm in Rappahannock

County. They buy or barter for meats, organically produced locally and

elsewhere.

Known in some quarters as the " chicken man of Hume, " Mr. Ussery sometimes trades

birds for things he cannot or has no desire to produce.

By his estimate, he raises up to 150 chickens per year, most of which the couple

consumes. They keep some as replacement stock and give some to others to raise

their own chickens.

The Usserys, who met at a Buddhist monastery in 1980 in upstate New York, moved

to Hume 21 years ago.

Their home, a two-story clapboard built in the late 1700s, stands on about 2.5

acres. The place needed plenty of work.

Mr. Ussery, 60, had visions of turning the property into a " traditional

homestead. "

In a 13-page paper, he describes " independence and community " as the " twin

pillars " of homesteading.

" Food independence was a necessity, since purchasing food from distant markets

was not usually an option, " he writes. " The dependencies that did exist were

with other homesteaders close at hand. "

Mr. Ussery believes people no longer can be assured that food stores will always

be adequately stocked.

He paints a gloomy picture.

" In an age of terrorism, just-in-time deliveries, widespread power outages and

control of the food supply by four or five mega-corporations, anyone who assumes

that his access to the food on a supermarket shelf is secure is deluding

himself, " Mr. Ussery writes.

Homesteading offers an option, according to him.

" The closer our food is grown, the more secure it is. "

Mrs. Ussery, 62, says of processed food: " What we're eating now is cooked up in

some lab in New Jersey. It's all chemicals. "

Evidently, Mr. Ussery practices what he preaches.

Besides chickens, he raises duck, geese and guinea hens.

In 2003, they bought range-fed turkey for Thanksgiving from a Loudoun farm. The

12-pound bird cost $50, a little to rich for their blood.

But they liked the flavor so much, Mr. Ussery will try his hand at breeding

turkeys this year.

In the fall of 1985, the Usserys bought two goats. They bought chickens, partly

because his daughter from his first marriage wanted them.

After about 10 years, the Usserys got rid of the goat when they became

vegetarians. They abandoned that lifestyle after their health suffered and

returned to a diet that includes meat, starch and fat.

They drink only unpasturized milk. Mrs. Ussery uses it to make cottage cheese,

sour cream and kefir, a yogurt-like product.

In joining the Rucker Farm raw milk program, the Usserys bought the equivalent

of a share in a Jersey cow named Susie for $80. They pay a $90 quarterly fee to

the owner to cover Susie's boarding and feed costs.

For the quarterly fee, which includes the cow's medical expenses, the Usserys

get a gallon of milk per week, which they pick up each Friday and store in glass

jars.

It costs them $6.92 per gallon.

" It's a little more expensive than store milk, " Mrs. Ussery says. " But it should

be. "

Mr. Ussery grows most of their vegetables and flowers from seed, making

extensive use of a 20-by-48-foot greenhouse.

Flowers serve two purposes. They enhance the landscape aesthetically and attract

" beneficial " insects, says Mr. Ussery, a scrappy 6-footer a gray mustache and

chinstrap beard.

" Beneficial " insects control the bug population that, left unattended, would

damage vegetables and fruits.

They grow a dozen or more herbs at a given time, two varieties of celery,

blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, four kinds of squash,

three types of tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, escarole, radicchio, endive and on

and on.

In the backyard, they maintain a small grove of apple trees, including Jonagold,

Albemarle Pippin, Winesap and Yellow Delicious.

They can nothing, freezing only a small amount of produce.

Mrs. Ussery, Philadelphia born, preserves dried tomatoes in premium,

extra-virgin olive oil, which she says go well with homemade cottage cheese.

Fresh, seasonal food governs their diet, they say.

Throughout the winter, Mr. Ussery grows leafy, green vegetables. They store

winter squash, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic.

They keep recipes simple.

" No fancy sauces, " Mr. Ussery says.

" Our food is pretty plain, " his wife agrees. " But it's incredibly flavorful. "

They admit it would be hard for most to equal their level of natural-food

production.

Neither works. Mr. Ussery retired from the post office five years ago.

But most people can make a series of small changes over time.

" It's incremental, " Mrs. Ussery says. " That's how we got started. I've always

been interested in health and food. All my adult life I have been concerned

about it. "

Her husband offers a few tips.

Educate yourself about " food production and the nature of food, seek locally

produced food " and start a backyard garden, he says.

" Hook into a (natural-food) network, " Mrs. Ussery suggests.

" Find kindred spirits, " he adds.

Mike Focazio and Bridgit Chisholm of Hume believe in organic food.

" We like to support local farmers and we like to eat whole foods as much as we

can, food that's not processed, " says Mr. Focazio, who works for the U.S.

Geological Survey in Reston. " It's fun to do. "

And the healthy way to go, he says.

" To me it's just common sense. You eat off the vine and you get higher nutrient

content. "

Mr. Focazio and his wife keep a big garden and raise chickens, geese and turkey

on their nearly five-acre plot.

For working parents - they have an 11-year-old daughter - the enterprise can be

demanding.

" We try to squeeze it in as much as possible, " says Mr. Focazio, who

telecommutes twice a week. " We supplement what we cant' grow. We still go

grocery shopping. "

Though purists when it comes to food, the Usserys aren't Luddites, Mr. Ussery

insists.

They both drive cars. Horses and bicycles would be impractical modes of

transportation, he says.

Prefering DVDs, he watches no network or cable television.

Mrs. Ussery watches TV sparingly.

" I like 'Seinfeld', " she says. " I lived in New York. Harvey didn't get it. "

Both read voraciously and listen to National Public Radio.

The couple will continue to practice their " homestead " ways as long as they can.

What happens when age or disease gets the best of them?

" This is my nightmare, " Mrs. Ussery says with laugh. " They'll stick me in a

nursing home and feed me this crap. I'd rather have cyanide. We don't have a

plan. "

You may contact Don Del Rosso at 347-5522, extension 240, or by e-mail at

ddelross@...