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 3 years now. We will continue to use the price which they set as our standard.
You may purchase our truffle butter (marketed by Truffles NC) at Sweet Pea's inside the Briar Patch in Winston-Salem or Advance, NC or at Reynolda Farm Market, Reynolda Road in Winston-Salem, NC. Truffles will be available in both locations in season.
Ordinarily, harvest season runs December - February. This past year's harvest began with the beauty you see pictured here. We found a few each week but the harvest season is over now until Fall. The truffles this year varied in weight from 4.2 to 6.3 ounces. Not bad!!
We hope that all the rain we're having bodes well for a bumper crop this year. We will be working the orchard until harvest season rolls around, replacing irrigation tape, mowing, weeding, watching for any signs of more maintenance needed. Finding truffles is always a mystery and every farm has its challenges. If you come to tour our farm and taste our wonderful truffles, we'll share the whole story. Tours and tastings are done by appointment only. We charge $50 per person and the tours take a couple of hours. If you're interested, please send us an email and we'll find a time that works for us all. We do the tours spring, summer and early fall and have a reasonably flexible schedule. Please let us know how you heard about us in your introductory email.
We have many individuals and local restaurants on our waiting list. You may join 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. We would love to see this alternative crop become a staple in the agricultural community as we live into our motto.
As pioneers in truffle growing and the smallest farm on the tax records in Stokes County, we remain an optimistic pair. While we may not be large in terms of acreage, we plan to have a rewarding 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 other truffle farmers find solutions to their individual challenges, either from our own experience or the collective experience of the North American Truffle Growers Association -- NATGA. We are charter members of NATGA
Please visit that website www.trufflegrowers.com
NATGA's yearly meeting is held in January at the height of truffle harvesting and our 2010 meeting will be held in Winston-Salem at the Hawthorne Inn & Conference Center. There will be several interesting speakers, wonderful food and, of course, an afternoon excursion. Visit the NATGA website to become a member of the organization or register for the annual meeting.
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. You may contact Patria Properties, Robin Weant, if you would like to purchase property for your own orchard. Just follow the link below.
The Best Is Yet To Come!
