“In 2001, we realized that just farming wasn’t going to support all three of our families,” Jeffrey explains. “That’s when we started the gourmet peanut business and began processing a lot of our own crop.” And as the business has grown, more family members have pitched in. Jeffrey’s wife, Stephanie, is head of marketing and oversees peanut cooking, Jeffrey and Chris tackle the majority of the farming operation, and Mark largely focuses on running the farm’s hunting business. Now, rather than simply selling the bulk of their crop to other companies to process and resell, the Popes are keeping a large portion of their peanuts to roast in-house and sell themselves, cutting out the middleman. “We’re a farm-to-table product,” Stephanie says. “Our motto is: ‘Love the land, respect your roots, and give your best.’”
This commitment to quality and hard work reaches every stage of life for each peanut at Hope & Harmony Farms, from planting to packaging. “We usually plant around early to mid-May,” Jeffrey says. “Then we start to harvest in mid- to late-September. And from the time we put the seed in the ground to when we harvest the crop, there’s a plethora of work to be done to feed and protect the plants.” Once the peanuts are harvested, Jeffrey and the team clean them up and send them in one of two directions. “If we’re wanting an in-shell product, the peanuts go into a machine that sizes them and grades them as jumbo or fancy,” he says. “If we’re looking for kernels, we send them through a shelling and sizing process. We use the super extra-large kernels of our Virginia peanuts in our gourmet products. They make up less than ten percent of any given crop, so they’re definitely a commodity.”
