Business

    Shoprite is no more, but the plaza is not entirely vacant. The gas station and car wash are still operating and Lago Pizza is still open    The pizza place and Italian restaurant is operated by Júlio Ortiz and Esperanza Forero.

    “We started just with a take-out,” said Forero.

    Ben Coleman, of Mountain Run Farm, decided to go chemical free after his son was born.
    “I didn’t feel good about sitting him in a field that I just fertilized,” he said. “We made a point never to bring chemicals down this driveway.”
    He has built the soil with manure and he said this has brought the soil to life.

    D&L Cattle, in Goode, is run by a father and son team. The D is for David Arrington and the L is for Lynwood Arrington, David’s father.

    “We’ve raised cattle for several years,” said Lynwood Arrington.
    Previously they sold cattle to the market, but they began direct marketing to the public this year, in February, an idea that a cousin suggested. It sounded like a good idea and they began working in September, 2011, to put a plan in action.

    Doug and Lucy Overstreet didn’t originally intend to farm.

    They initially started raising livestock at Idlewild Farm because they were concerned about what was in the food they were eating. Their solution was to raise their own.
    Then friends started asking to buy some, so they expanded. Doug saw it as a way to make the whole project pay for itself.