The Hampton City Council held a legislative session on January 15, 2026, at 8:30 PM. The meeting included an invocation, roll call, consent agenda, proclamations, public hearings on zoning and property matters, and public comment periods. Key actions included adopting a new smoke/vape shop ordinance, authorizing condemnation for a bike/pedestrian project, and approving a lease for War Memorial Stadium. Council also recognized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and Community Risk Reduction Week.
Bureau. For nearly a century, Farm Bureau has been a friend of the farm for all Virginians. Visit our website at VAFB.com. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Real Virginia, a show about Virginia agriculture and the people who produce the wonderful local products we enjoy. Brought to you by the Virginia Farm Bureau. Here's what's coming up on this week's show. We learn what it takes to start a farm. The yield highlights local farm to table creations. And the story of how this women's soccer player is using agriculture to improve athlete safety. It's just a pee baby. Welcome back to Real Virginia, everyone. We're coming to you this week from Spruceberry Farm in Cumberland County, where William Raymond and his family raise Christmas trees, pumpkins, and small fruits. Starting a farm is no minor feat, and Mike Voyak unpacks what it takes to get growing. We've all been there, driving down a rural road, seeing a wide open cornfield, or a herd of cows, and thought, what would it be like to own a farm? Well, if you have ever wanted to make that dream a reality, we have some tips, advice, and resources available to help you get on your way. Throughout the Commonwealth, there are a plethora of services and resources to assist first-time farmers get their operations up and going, such as Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition Program. However, your first step should be to narrow down what type of farm you want to start. As William Crutchfield of the Virginia State University Small Farm Outreach Program explained to us. Well, if I woke up tomorrow morning and I wanted to start a farm, the first thing I think to come to mind is what type of farm I want to start. And then I would look for resources that are available to me. And one of those resources would be to reach out to the small farm outreach program here at Virginia State University, where we help small farmers make big impact. We provide technical and financial assistance to help small farmers become sustainable throughout their career if they want to be a farm. But the first thing I think I do is make sure I found the type of farming that I want to do. There's so many variations today. And not everybody is suited to be a livestock farmer or a produce farmer. You got to figure out what's the best path for you and your operation. Your biggest advocate on this agricultural adventure will be an extension agent who can help answer all your questions when it comes to local farming. So when I go out there, uh well, preliminary when I'm on the phone with them, I ask them when I come out when we schedule our visit, give me some ideas of where you want to go because that's the only way I'm going to be able to help you. I mean, I can come out and tell you every single possible thing that you could do in agriculture in Virginia, but you're going to need to narrow it down yourself. Before you put any infrastructure in, going in and doing your research, like I said, coming up with a plan, having that idea, calling your local county offices if you don't even know where to start, and just say, hey, listen, I bought some farm, farmland, and I want to do this, this, and this. Can you tell me what I need to do? And even if that comes down to zoning or any type of rules or regulations that they have around farming in the county, it is super super helpful to reach out to your local people first. Another major aspect of a farm is understanding that this will be a labor of love. It's a 24-hour seven-day-a-week operation, regardless of the type of farming that you're doing. It's going to be hard work. So if you're not used to backbreaking labor, might not be something that you want to get into. Along with the extension agents, your fellow farmers will be your greatest allies. Farming is a business, and finances play a major role throughout this endeavor. Agribusiness focused banks and lenders can be a great resource for freshman farmers. Colonial Farm Credit, we offer uh a ton of products for farming and in rural uh rural America. Uh for the farming operations, we offer uh land financing, uh equipment financing, and that can range from a tractor to a trailer to to a truck used in the farming operation. Uh, we also offer lines of credit that will help you bridge the gaps for the the income uh and expenses throughout the the operating season of your of your operation there. The biggest key to success is preparation and planning. The biggest thing I've learned about farming from being a child on farms versus owning a farm is that you just don't put it in the ground and it grows. There is a lot of work getting the soil prepared, the land prepared, the weed controlled prepared. Really thinking through some things, working through some budgets and reach out to Extension or your local folks to help because you're probably gonna need it and need to be creative and um think about diversification. Uh like William has done here. He started out with the Christmas trees and kind of planted as he went, but now he is big scale agritourism. Um he has a pumpkin patch, he's putting in berries, like he's diversifying in all different kinds of ways to kind of bring income in when it's not Christmas time. So um just think about those things and the sky's the limit.