This Fall and Winter, give yourself a break from cooking every night and have fresh homemade soup and artisan bread delivered to your front door! Every Monday, Keveney and Luke Bair, owners of Redwing Farm Soup, deliver fresh soup and bread to their customers in Union, Ronceverte, Fairlea and Lewisburg, and 5 miles beyond. It’s a souper idea!

On Sunday, November 20th, Keveney and Luke invite you to their Redwing Soup & Bread Tasting! Starting at 12pm, they are hosting a Soup and Bread Tasting at St. James Episcopal Church on S. Court Street in Lewisburg. St. James welcomes anyone to attend the 10:30am service before as well. This is a great opportunity to try new soup and sign up for their monthly soup deliveries.

Here is the November Redwing Soup Menu: (it’s always one carnivore and one vegetarian and comes with two loaves of fresh artisan bread)

• Monday, Oct. 31: All-American Chili & Savory Butternut Squash Soup
• Monday, Nov. 7: Thai Chicken and Veggies and Hot and Sour Soup
• Monday, Nov 14: Beef Vegetable and Coconut Ginger Carrot Soup
• Monday, Nov 21: Chicken and Mushroom and Roasted Garlic Potato Soup

Learn more about Redwing Farm Soup owners, Keveney and Luke, with our Q&A

How long have you made soup?

We started Redwing Farm Soup deliveries this past February, but I’ve been making soups for over twenty years. I had very good influences. My mother always made delicious food. We canned a lot of food we raised in the garden and my father was a hunter and fisherman and apple orchardist so I was very well fed as a child.  I also spent a year in France as an exchange student and fell in love with the food. It was the highlight of that year. The two mothers I lived with taught me several of their family recipes. I loved being in their kitchens!

We are really enjoying these soups!! All good! The pea soup was totally fabulous>>> excellent ham pieces, yummy peas with just the right herbs, and all around an A+!  Very delicious, very handy! – Laurine Yates, via facebook.

What inspired you to start this business?

The idea came from an article I read years ago about a DC entrepreneur who also had a love of soups and started delivering them to subscribers. It paired well with what we have already been doing on our farm for ten years, growing high quality produce and heritage pork. We also have a strong network of very diverse local farmers who can provide almost all of the key ingredients, even down to the cornmeal and flour for the breads. I had experience cooking for a crowd by making farm to table lunches for Greenbrier Episcopal school on Fridays. Each winter my husband and I always discuss the direction we see our farm going, this past winter, we decided to try this.

How often do you make the soup?

I cook on Saturdays at St. James Episcopal Church in Lewisburg. It’s a great location and community.

How did you find this location?

We talked to several people about commercial kitchens we thought might be able to rent to us. St. James Episcopal was our first choice. They are extremely community oriented and accommodating. Our daughter also attends Greenbrier Episcopal School so we were familiar with the staff and church.

What kinds of soups do you make?

Each week we make one omnivore soup and one vegetarian soup. A list of examples would be…Beef and Guinness Stew, Gumbo, Split Pea Soup, Thai Lentil and Sweet Potato, Redwing Farm Chili, Cream of Mushroom, Potato and Cheddar Soup, Minestrone, Chicken Enchilada Soup, Chili Verde, Asian Beef and Noodles, Carrot Soup, Balsamic Tomato Basil Soup, Italian Meatball Soup, Hot and Sour Soup, Butternut Squash Soup, Indian spiced Lamb and vegetable.

Where do you get your ingredients?

We try to shop at the Lewisburg Farmer’s Markets each Saturday for vegetables. We also directly contact farmers for larger orders of chicken, beef and lamb. We use our own pork for the most part. This winter we’ll be shopping at the indoor market at the fairgrounds and ordering from Monroe Farm Market. We are very lucky to be literally surrounded by good food.

What are your most popular soups?

The most popular soups so far have been Chicken Enchilada Soup, White Chicken Chili, Cream of Mushroom and Italian Wedding Soup.

What is your favorite?

The Hot and Sour Soup. Asian flavors are not very familiar to me, but it was delicious!

What if a client is not home?

Good question! Several customers leave a cooler out for the soups. I use mason jars to package my soups so they leave the empty jars in the cooler on Monday and I leave them fresh soup and bread. Also, if someone is going out of town for the week we just skip that week and pick up the next. It has worked out very well. Some folks have me leave the soup in their fridge and I am honored that we live in such a friendly place where that is an option. I also deliver to workplaces, especially if customers live outside of my delivery area, but work in town. There are many options to make it easy for everyone.

How much is this service?

It is $100 for four weeks. This includes two quarts or 4 pints of soup and two loaves of bread…artisan bread, cornbread or one of each.

How do you customers pay you?

Cash, check or paypal. For renewals, I send a renewal sheet with the soups on week three and they can choose to continue or not when I come the following week to deliver.

Do you take special requests? I will always do what I can. I have customers that do not eat certain meats and usually they double up on the vegetarian option that week. I will certainly try to make a specific soup if someone asks.

What is the best way for our readers to reach you? By emailing us at redwingfarm1@gmail.com, calling 304-647-8017 or messaging us on Facebook. We have a sign up sheet with a list of upcoming soups for you!

– HashtagWV #83, November 2016