What does Rockbridge family farming look like?
Neither Kent nor Leeann Gibson grew up on a farm.
They got into the farming as adults to do their part in addressing questions about America’s food supply. They wanted to know where their food came from and provide their neighbors with reliable nutrition.
Understanding where the ground beef on your plate comes from is important, Leeann Gibson said.
“It is really healthy for all of us, heart, mind, body and soul to be in touch with that,” she said. “We are not something totally separate from the world that we live in. We are part of it, and we need to invest in and take care of it.”
The Gibsons own and run Morning Star Meadows, a farm off Mackeys Lane in Rockbridge County.
They live in the red house on top the Morning Star Lane hill with their three children. And from their front yard, you can see the beautiful rolling hills of Rockbridge, dotted with cows, barns, silos, and other homes.
Part of the 68-acre property is used to raise American Milking Devons, a heritage breed of cattle which were historically used for meat and milk as well as working.
“If you’ve ever been to the Frontier Culture Museum, Colonial Williamsburg or Mount Vernon, they actually have the same breed of cattle, because we know George Washington had at least one of this particular cattle,” Leeann said.
The other portion of the farm is used for haying.
Further down the hill from the red house is another house, which belongs to Steve and Sue Kator, Kent’s parents.
Sue said it’s wonderful to live near her grandkids, Annabel, 10, Louis, 8 and Paul 5.
Annabel said that she and her brothers are friends. They like playing Monopoly, she said, but usually a shortened version. They also love living on the farm.
Annabel Gibson, 10, drew this picture after seeing trash on the side of Mackeys Lane, but it applies to the proposed solar farm as well, her mother Leeann Gibson, said.
“It’s fun,” Annabel said. “I like playing here and going down to Oma and Papa’s and playing with them and working with the cows and stuff.”
Leeann, who homeschools all three of her children, said that Annabel also enjoys reading outside and enjoying the view.
But this view may soon change if the proposed solar project is approved.
Because of the elevation, the red house on the hill has a clear view of the field across the street that may soon be covered by 9,500 solar panels.
“We invested in this farm in order to make the land useful for farming purposes,” Leeann said. “And someone else’s decision can have such a huge impact not just on us, but all the adjacent properties.”
She said she is concerned not only with viewshed issues, but lowered property values and loss of agricultural land in the county.
Farmland is shrinking on a national level as well, according to the United States Department of Agriculture and the census of agriculture.
“With all the food supply chain issues, we’re kind of shooting ourselves in the foot by reducing our ability to feed ourselves,” Leeann said.
The parcel on Mackeys Lane, owned by Troy Plott, is currently being used to farm corn. The 95-acre property is even more visible from Sue and Steve’s house.
The trees part in their front yard, revealing a clear view of the rolling hill on the Plott property.
The Kators came to Virginia from Colorado Springs and the Gibsons relocated from the Washington D.C. area.
“We wouldn’t have even looked here, even with the view,” Sue Kator said, if there had been solar panels in the area when they started building their house 2017. “With the solar power plant, they’re going to put there, it’s like moving into an industrial zone.”
Morning Star Lane leads from Mackeys Lane to both the Gibsons and the Kators homes.
The families have placed a sign opposing the solar proposal at the end of their driveway.
To be clear, the families are not anti-solar.
“I drive a hybrid. I designed my house to be very energy efficient.”—Steve Kator
He told the Rockbridge County Planning Commission during its meeting in May, “I understand the problem of rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
But this is not the right place for the solar facility, he argued.
In fact, Rockbridge County doesn’t yet have a designated “right spot” for solar at all. A handful of projects have been approved, but only one – a BARC Electrical Cooperative project outside of its headquarters in Rockbridge – has been built.
Each time a solar project is proposed, county authorities consider a special zoning exception because there are no dedicated zones for renewable energy. Projects are approved on a case-by-case basis, rather than adhering to wider guidelines.
“If I was a city dweller, I’d say, yay solar,” Sue said. “But what we need to do is have a plan in the county, instead of just going about it willy nilly.”
Both the Gibsons and the Kators have been at the April and May planning commission meetings to express these concerns and oppose the project.
