The price for the prized truffles here each year will be the price which the French set on December 1st. It has been $800 per lb./ $50.00 per ounce for the last 2 years. We will continue to use the price which they set as our standard.
Ordinarily, harvest season runs December - February. Because of this past year's extreme drought (very serious here, in Stokes County) or last fall's extended summer-like temperatures, our harvest simply did not happen. We continued to search the orchard until mid-March but did not find the first truffle last season.
Finding truffles is always a mystery and every farm had its challenges last season. Our disappointment is only exceeded by our optimism for this year. With a new pond and irrigation system in place, we will have a better chance of overcoming drought, if it happens again. We are off to a good start with current rain watering the orchards as the truffles form in the ground.
We have many individuals and local restaurants on our waiting list. You may add yours by sending an email to us via the link on this page. Please include a little information about how you found us and how many ounces/pounds you will want. Look for newspaper articles both local and national as the number of truffle growers increases. The number of farms in the Southeast is approximately 100. Our goal is to become the Perigord Region of the US as this alternative crop becomes a staple in the agricultural community as we live into our motto.
As pioneers in truffle growing and the smallest farm on the tax record in Stokes County, we remain an optimistic pair. While we may not be large in terms of acreage, we plan to have a very large financial return on our investment of time and energy. So far, we have done all the work ourselves and NO farming operation is without its challenges. We have worked through many of the difficulties of non-farmers trying to learn to farm. Even buying the right tractor can be a challenge (we now have our third). We have begun learning what will be necessary to manage the natural predatory animals and diseases that can compete with us for our truffles. Any farm effort is at the mercy of Mother Nature. However, we stand ready to help any truffle farmer find solutions to their individual challenges, either from our own experience or the collective experience of the North American Truffle Growers Association.
If you're interested in truffles in any way, send us an email. We love to hear from others who want to grow or buy truffles and the community is growing.
The Best Is Yet To Come!
