Mark Lilly, founder and owner of Farm to Family/The FarmBus was the cover feature in the November 2020 issue of the Richmond, VA 50 Plus Magazine. You can read the article online here.
Tag: Mark Lilly
Virginia’s First Lady, Maureen McDonnell, recently sent a letter of recognition for the efforts Farm to Family and BusFarm are making towards encouraging people to eat healthy and become more food secure. We first met Mrs. McDonnell when she visited the Farm Bus at the Virginia Weight of the State Conference in May, 2010. We are very grateful for her ongoing support for Farm to Family/BusFarm and her sincere dedication to the good health and well being for all the people of Virginia.
Weight of the State honorary chairwoman was Virginia First Lady, Maureen McDonnell. We were honored to have her visit the Farm to Family bus. Mark was one of the pre-conference speakers, and everyone got an opportunity to tour the bus.
Photos courtesy of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.
Will Allen, Founder/CEO of Growing Power and author of the book, The Good Food Revolution, was Farm to Family’s very special guest speaker at our first fundraiser for our non-profit farm and urban agriculture training center, BusFarm, on Saturday, July 14th at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown in Richmond, VA. Other speakers included Liz Reitzig, activist for farm food freedom, and Mike Peterson, chef and farm manager at Mount Vernon Grassfed, in Sperryville, VA. Lisa Taranto of the Office of Urban Ecology, was our emcee.
Virginia’s First Lady, Maureen McDonnell, sent a letter of recognition for the efforts Farm to Family and BusFarm are making towards encouraging people to eat healthy and become more food secure. We are very grateful for her support for Farm to Family/BusFarm and her dedication for the good health and wellbeing for all the people of Virginia. The local foods dinner, an amazing gastronomic delight (really the best meal we’ve had all year!!) and was artfully prepared by Hilton Garden Inn Downtown’s Executive Chef, Willie Miller and featured foods from Farm to Family farms and vendors: Polyface Farms, Prospect Farm, Rain or Shine Greenhouse Gardens, Twin Oaks Community Foods, Rappahannock River Oysters and Clams, Tuckahoe Lamb and Cattle Company, Promised Land Pastures, Farm to Family’s Bus Farm, Plantation Acres, Agriberry, Saunders Bros., HopeWater, Sam Kirby, Flores Farm, Rocking F Farm, Amy’s Garden and Flour Garden Bakery.
Silent Auction items inspired some fevered bidding, good natured pushing and shoving, and were creative and fun. We are grateful for the generous donations from our friends at: Bellytimber Tavern, Blanchards Coffee Roasters, Jimmy Snead at Blowtoad, Chastity Hise at Clippi Headren, Jason and Chris at Comfort, Delux, Europa, Flavor Magazine, Happy the Artist, Hill Café, Krishon Chocolates, Lamplighter Roasting Company, Lisa Taranto/Office of Urban Ecology, Mezzanine, Pam D’Arcy, Jason Alley and Joe Sparatta at Pasture , Victoria DeRoche and Stephanie Ganz at Pizza Tonight, River City Wild Foods, Rural Revolution, Sausage Craft, Taste Buds, The Hard Shell, Tuckahoe Lamb and Cattle Company, Urban Backyard Edibles, The Water Grill and Catherine Long at Old Church Creamery.
Farm to Family and BusFarm are extremely grateful to all of our friends, family and supporters. We wish to extend special thanks to the following for their generous assistance and support: Will Allen and Growing Power, First Lady Maureen McDonnell, Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, Taylor Weirup Marketing, Lisa + Diego Cusano, Lisa Taranto, Bill Cavender, Elli Morris Photography, Happy the Artist, Patty Parks, Denise and Larry Miller, Jenny and Ranny Heflin, Cynthia Sanford, Steph Beer, The Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Richmond and the amazing Kathryn MacDonald, Chef Willie Miller and Map Roeung, Mark Troxell Trio, John Miles, Marissa Marklevitz, James Luggen, Patsy Arnett, Sarah Headley, Flavor Magazine, Molly MacDonald Peterson, Retail Merchants Association, Kat Simmons/Lite 98, Kevin Brown/Liberation Wellness Hour, Style Weekly, Richmond Times Dispatch, Natural Awakenings, Kimberly Hartke, Kristin Canby/Farmageddon, Beckie Sukes, Brooks Godwin, Tracy Jacobs, Emily Krause, Danielle Barnes, David Irving, Krissy Etz, Kenny Albiston, Sarah Orr, the Selby Family, Laurie Lay, Jayme Aronberg, John Lewis, Vicki Campbell, the Swinson Family, the Miles Family, Melissa Krumbein/Kitchen Thyme, Jean Johnson – The Measure Free Hippie Cook, Slow Food RVA, Addie Brugger, Tunji Barlatt, Heather Harker, Arc Printing, RVA Local Patronage Cash Mob, Debra Tokarz, Thinking of You Creations, Mayor’s Youth Academy Urban Gardeners, Dexter Sells, Rob Snead and of all of our farmers, artisans, vendors, USA Farm Share members, customers as well as our social media followers at home and around the world.
In Loving Memory of Fred.
Mark Lilly speaks with Kevin Brown about the Farm Bus fundraiser event scheduled for July 14th featuring Will Allen, from the movie “FRESH” and Liz Reitzig from the movie “Farmageddon”
Farm to Family – Will Allen – Liz Reitzig – Liberation Wellness Hour
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Change Comes to Dinner
Change Comes to Dinner is a new book about sustainable food by Katherine Gustafson which was released on May 8, 2012 by St. Martin’s Press. Mark and Farm to Family are featured in Chapter 1. Katherine is a DC based journalist who visited with us in 2010 a few months after we had started Farm to Family, and traveled to the farms we work with, including Polyface Farm. Katherine also did a YouTube video of her time with us, which illustrates the first chapter of the book including the Polyface bee swatting incident.
Change Comes to Dinner is a fascinating exploration of America’s food innovators, that gives us hopeful alternatives to the industrial food system described in works like Michael Pollan’s bestselling Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Change Comes to Dinner takes readers into the farms, markets, organizations, businesses and institutions across America that are pushing for a more sustainable food system in America.
Gustafson introduces food visionaries like Mark, who turned a school bus into a locally-sourced mobile grocery store in Richmond, Virginia; Gayla Brockman, who organized a program to double the value of food stamps used at Kansas City, Missouri, farmers’ markets; Myles Lewis and Josh Hottenstein, who started a business growing vegetables in shipping containers using little water and no soil; and Tony Geraci, who claimed unused land to create the Great Kids Farm, where Baltimore City public school students learn how to grow food and help Geraci decide what to order from local farmers for breakfast and lunch at the city schools.
Change Comes to Dinner is a smart and engaging look into America’s food revolution. Check out what critics and other writers of the food revolution are saying about Change Comes to Dinner.
You can purchase Change Comes to Dinner at your favorite local bookseller, or online at Amazon.