Oak Shade Farm Named Culpeper Chamber of Commerce 2026 Agribusiness of the Year

CULPEPER, VA — On Monday March 16, 2026, The Culpeper Chamber of Commerce was proud to announce Oak Shade Farm as the recipient of the 2026 Agribusiness of the Year award. The recognition came during National Agriculture Week, a fitting moment to celebrate a family farming legacy nearly five decades in the making.
Nestled in the rolling hills of northern Culpeper, Oak Shade Farm was founded by Jim and Sally Mello, who planted their first pine seedlings in 1977 and built their log home by hand in 1985. What began as a dream has grown into a multigenerational family enterprise that today spans three neighboring family farms, nine grandchildren, and even two great-grandchildren — all of whom have worked the land and carried its traditions forward.
"We are a small but much visited part of Culpeper's farming community," said Sally. "We are so glad for this honor."
From the beginning, Oak Shade Farm has operated on strictly organic principles with no pesticides and no herbicides, working with the land rather than against it. Jim describes the farm's guiding philosophy in his own words:
"Our focus has been on what our piece of land can produce, and how we could apply our energy and intelligence to its development. Our land produces trees, and we converted some of them each year into firewood to heat our house and barn, and to sell. Oak trees yielded the raw materials for shiitake mushroom production, and these became an important part of our offerings at the market."
That same spirit of resourcefulness and intentionality is reflected across everything the farm produces today:
Christmas trees - White Pine and Norway Spruce, grown on the farm
Seasonal greens - wreaths, winterberry bundles, pine and holly sprays, and garland
Shiitake mushrooms - grown on oak logs harvested from the farm's own woodlands
Honey, beeswax candles, and beekeeping - rooted in a 70-year love affair with honeybees
Homemade jams
Fine crafts and fine art - including oil paintings, hooked rugs, weaving, and handcrafted woodwork such as Adirondack chairs and picnic tables
The farm is as much a destination as it is a business. Generations of Culpeper families have gathered around the farm's firepit, gazing out at the Blue Ridge Mountains while choosing their Christmas tree.  It is a tradition that has forged lasting friendships and warm community bonds year after year.
Jim and Sally are quick to credit those who helped along the way. "Mason Hutchison, Tom O'Halloran, and Carl Stafford helped us a lot," Jim has noted, along with the support of the Culpeper Agricultural Center, where the family took early farming classes, and the Warrenton Farmers Market, where Oak Shade Farm has been a fixture for decades.
Now at age 89, both Jim and Sally remain deeply active on the farm; Jim in his woodshop crafting outdoor furniture, and Sally in her mountain-facing studio painting and hooking rugs. The couple credits their son Roger and daughter-in-law Ulrike, who live on the farm, for helping manage daily operations, alongside daughter Jeanne and son-in-law Richard, and son Frank and his wife Claire, all of whom farm adjacent land.
Looking ahead, the family has an ambitious new vision: a Heritage Craft Center in their farm's hospitality building, where visitors can discover and try their hand at blacksmithing, weaving, rug hooking, quilting, and woodworking, many offered through free lessons to the community. "It is never too late to have a new goal," Sally observed, pointing out that Jim installed solar panels and purchased a sawmill at age 85.
With all three neighboring family farms now growing Christmas trees, the future of agritourism in northern Culpeper looks bright. As Sally puts it, "the future of tree customers in Northern Culpeper is rosy” a sentiment echoed by great-grandson Sam, who recently promised his Nana that when he gets big, he'll get a tractor and scare those deer away.
The Chamber will present the 2026 Agribusiness of the Year award to Oak Shade Farm at the 112^th Annual Meeting & Awards Banquet on November 5, 2026, at Germanna Daniel Technology Center.
 
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