Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2018 - 56

By GINNY NEIL

ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE

Elora Overbey
COMES FULL CIRCLE

"There's been a culture shift and people don't raise gardens like they used to. I wanted to teach people to
grow their own food, so they can teach others, because there's a huge connection between good fresh food
and good health." -Laurie Berman-founder AMI.

COURTESY OF AMI

ABOVE: Chickens are relatively new to the AMI
experience. These Barred Rock pullets are ready to
help control the bug populations near the gardens.
FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE: Elora
Overbey picks supper spinach in the greenhouse.
The lodge, a half a mile above the farmhouse
and gardens, comfortably accommodates sixeight farm-stay visitors.
The farmhouse and gardens are tucked into a
high valley at almost 4,000 feet on the western
edge of Highland County, Virginia.

BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

lora Overbey's face lights up when
she talks about food and family. "Our family's love language is
food," she tells me. "It's a shared
passion." So, it's no surprise that
she eventually ended up at the Allegheny Mountain Institute.
Perched against the clouds that drift
across the mountains of Highland County, Virginia, the Institute is remote, even
by mountain standards, but the vistas,
learning, and lifestyle are, as Elora says,
"magical and impactful."
Founded in 2011, AMI's motto is
"Growing Food. Building Community."
Fellows, who are typically young adults
"near the beginning of their careers," are
selected "based on their passion for creating a more sustainable food system and
their change-making potential."
Being a Fellow at AMI is all about the
food and the community. It's about learning to grow, not only from seeds planted
in the greenhouse and garden, but also
from the community of Fellows who've
come there to learn with you.
Overbey came to AMI by way of what
she refers to as "a series of overlapping
concentric circles." She began her postcollege career as a freelance photographer
and journalist in Portland, Oregon with a

desire to tell stories about communities.
She supplemented her income by working at an Israeli-themed food cart. There,
she learned that she loved to cook, and
that she was intrigued by the way that
food defined the quality of human life.
Then, Overbey moved back to Virgina
and began volunteering with her mom
at Lynchburg Grows. She became more
interested in the idea of food deserts: urban areas where there is no easy source
of fresh produce. As she helped with the
program's Veggie Van, Overbey ran into
people who didn't know what to do with
the vegetables that they were buying.
"Something was missing," she says.
"The tools I had weren't helping me address the issues of teaching people how to
access good food and take charge of their
own health."
When Overbey saw a posting for a Fellowship at Allegheny Mountain Institute,
she realized her life had come full circle.
Not only did the program emphasize the
same passion her family found in sharing
and preparing food, it's also possible that
one of the buildings was constructed with
the help of her mother, who attended
timber-framing classes there when it was
Bear Mountain Outdoor School. Overbey says that "life is strange and does full

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Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2018

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