Farm wife, teacher wins Farm Bureau book award

By JANE W. GRAHAM
AFP Correspondent

LAUREL, Va. — Excitement is running high in a brick farmhouse surrounded by 87 acres of Worrell Family Farms under cultivation for growing vegetables here in this Carroll County, Va., community.
The reason for the excitement is that the lady of the house, Kellie Worrell, farm wife, mother, school teacher and author, is the winner of the first Virginia Farm Bureau Farmer Ben Book of the Year Award.
Her book, “From Our Fields…To You,” won the competition conducted by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation’s Agriculture in the Classroom Farm Project. 
The award, announced at the recent VFBF convention, means her book will be read to first graders across the state during Virginia Ag Day in 2012, Worrell said in her home surrounded by her husband Alan; daughter Virginia, 9; son Michael, 7; and dog Rosie.
The schools where the reading programs will take place will be determined by the county Farm Bureas across the state, she said.
Worrell, who teaches seventh grade math at St. Paul School in nearby Hillsville, Va., said this self-published book is her second. It follows “Daddy is a Farmer,” written for her children. She said writing children’s books sprang from a habit she developed of making photo books for her family.
Kellie Worrell’s book takes the readers through the work that goes into producing food on their farm, starting with chores in winter, the non-growing season and going through harvest. It includes many pictures of the crops in various stages, the way they are grown, harvested and transported to market.
The pictures also feature Alan, Virginia and Michael Worrell. Alan was quick to note that his father Elton Worrell helps with the farming as does Kellie in the summer when she is not teaching.  The children also see themselves as an important part of the family team and love to talk about the food grown on the family farm. The family does hire some seasonal help at times, Alan noted.
Alan, who grows snow snap peas, yellow squash, sweet corn, and green beans, said he sells 85 percent of his produce to Food City, a growing supermarket chain in Southwest Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky with over 100 stores.
The company is very involved with its growers and holds grower appreciation events in the communities where the producers live and grow their produce, Alan said.
Kellie added the company puts up pictures of local growers in the stores where they sell their produce and labels the produce with grower information.
At a grower appreciation dinner, Kelli said she was talking with the company’s CEO, Steve Smith, and told him about the first book.
“I told him I feel like the younger generation is out of touch with where their food comes from,” she said.  “I told him I felt like a book was needed” to help them understand. “He agreed.”
Following the conversation, she wrote the book, “From Our Fields…To You,” and self-published it.
Food City sells it in its stores. At the end of 2010 she had 1,500 more books printed to meet her orders.
Smith, recently named recipient of the Paul Harris Award by the Bristol, Va., Rotary Club and told a local newspaper there that “Food City will continue to actively offer and feature produce from local farmers and regional products.... It takes a little extra effort, but it’s worth it. It’s an advantage we really feel we have (over bigger competitors).”
To learn more about the Worrells go to their website at www.fromourfarmtoyou.webs.com.