This tiny market is a huge boon to its community.
Off Route 50 in Capon Bridge travelers are raving about a little store and butcher shop. Fresh-cut meats, ground sausages, cured bacon, produce, breads, coffee, wines and beer, daily sandwiches, and specials—we could fill pages with the selections at Farmer’s Daughter Market & Butcher. “We try to source as much locally as possible—produce, dairy, meats, grains, and so on,” says Pete Pacelli, who, with his wife Kate, came to West Virginia to start their business just over a year ago.
Pete, a butcher by trade, grew up in Virginia just east of Capon Bridge. He comes from a long line of butchers but didn’t pick up the trade himself until moving to Asheville in his 20s. After moving to Portland, his interest in local, quality food really took off. “The food culture out there is so rich with pop-up food trucks, fine dining, open-air outdoor markets, it opened my eyes to something bigger,” he says. Pete and Kate moved to Capon Bridge to be closer to family and help fill a need. Though rural and surrounded by farmers, Capon Bridge residents can find it difficult to buy fresh food outside of farmers’ markets and roadside stands. “We’re kind of in a food desert,” Pete says. “It’s very hard to find fresh food around here.”
Pete and Kate raised more than $27,000 with a Kickstarter campaign to open the business. Now the couple buys their inventory from local farmers, purchasing whole carcasses of beef from Mineral County and hogs, chickens, and lambs from Hampshire County. Their old school approach to purchasing and butchering allows Farmer’s Daughter to accommodate almost any customer request, and to use and sell all parts of the animal—bones for stock and soups, braised short ribs for prepared meals, and hog skins for dog treats.
Customers come from as far away as Washington, D.C., but it’s locals who are really rallying behind the Pacellis’ store. “We expected to have a sleepy winter, because the tourism slowed down,” Pete says. “But we’ve been rolling right along.” 2908 Northwestern Pike, Capon Bridge, 304.856.2550,facebook.com/farmersdaughterwv
written by Katie Griffith
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