Healthy, sustainably grown vegetables and flowers
We have been making our living farming in Sperryville since 2000. We only sell our own produce, ecologically grown and pesticide free, directly from our farm to you.
Our self-serve farm stand
Come up Waterpenny Lane to the green barn, 1/4 mile up the lane. Pull into the covered area and find produce laid out on tables and in the cooler. Prices are posted.
- Open every day. Come Friday or Saturday for the most variety.
- Fresh seasonal flower bunches on Fridays.
- Honor system: we take cash, checks, or Venmo.
- All are welcome. You don’t need to be a CSA shareholder to shop.
Find us at DC area farmers markets
We sell what we grow at two farmers markets every weekend, April through November.
Arlington Courthouse
Saturdays, 8 AM to 12 PM
Corner of 14th and Uhle, Arlington, VA
Takoma Park, MD
Sundays, 9 AM to 1 PM
In the corner of the market behind Takoma Bevco
What’s in season
Plants and spring greens in April and May, squash, cucumbers and cut flowers in June, and a peak in early September. Greens, winter squash and herbs through November.
What we grow
Waterpenny Farm CSA
A weekly selection of the produce we grow, from early June through early October. On-farm shareholders pick up from a market-style setup in our green barn on Thursday afternoons.
Shares include a biweekly newsletter with recipes, farm notes and pictures from the farm. Our CSA also provides vegetables to our neighbors through the Rappahannock Food Pantry.
We’re Eric Plaksin and Rachel Bynum
Waterpenny Farm is a vegetable farm in Rappahannock County, VA. Since our first growing season in 2000, we’ve been committed to running our farm in harmony with the environment, with all Organic inputs and no chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
We were honored to be selected as “Farmer of the Foodshed” in January 2024 by the Future Harvest Chesapeake Area Sustainable Agriculture Conference, nominated by our peers for environmental stewardship, longevity, profitability, and willingness to share knowledge with others.
Our farm is named for the waterpennies we find in the North Fork of the Thornton River, which borders our farm. Waterpennies are beetle larva that can only live in clean water.
How we grow
- We use only Organic inputs and no pesticides in our fields.
- We fertilize using cover crops, composted animal manures, and a foliar fertilizer made of fish.
- To conserve water, we use drip irrigation with plastic mulch on most crops.
- To maintain soil health, we till as little as possible, plant cover crops, and rotate crops.
- We plant areas of our farm as habitat for beneficial insects.
- Insect pests are kept from crops using row covers and occasionally removing them by hand.
In 2012 we installed 24 solar panels on our pole barn. Our coolers, greenhouse and barn lighting are all solar powered.
On the farm
Summer internships
We hire 5 interns each growing season, April 1 through November 20. Interns live together in a house on the farm with free housing, utilities and vegetables in season.
Starting pay is $2,200/month, with raises available for longer-term employment. We begin hiring in late fall and decide on a rolling basis.
Visit the farm
Waterpenny Farm
53 Waterpenny Lane
Sperryville, VA 22740
About 65 miles west of Washington, D.C., in Rappahannock County. We welcome all visitors.