Lost Creek Farm: An historic family farmstead
Once a high-yielding vegetable and livestock farm in the early 1900s, the property now known as Lost Creek Farm went unoccupied for the last several decades of the 20th century. Several years ago, Amy Dawson and Mike Costello began their journey to restoring the property to its former glory. Today, Lost Creek Farm is alive again, as Mike and Amy make strides towards fully revitalizing this historic farmstead, with goals of creating more than just a culinary destination -- an educational facility focused on preserving our region's foodways, and a heritage foods incubator program creating economic opportunities for Appalachians in the region's re-emerging food and farm economy.
Having both grown up on rural West Virginia farms, Mike and Amy longed to return to their roots. In 2013 the couple began deconstructing the farm's dilapidated structures, clearing usable crop land, and renovating the 1880s-era farmhouse constructed by Amy's great-great grandfather. Before long, meat rabbits and a flock of chickens returned to the property, along with an orchard of heritage mountain apples, honeybees, and an heirloom garden of regional varieties like Bloody Butcher corn, Fat Horse beans, and Candy Roaster squash.
Mike and Amy would soon launch the Lost Creek Farm Traveling Kitchen, a culinary roadshow of sorts, that allows them to travel around the East Coast sharing stories about Appalachia's rich cultural heritage through its cuisine.
