If you’ve strolled through a farmers market, noshing on a hot dog slathered in dijon mustard and smokey dill-pickle relish, it’s likely you’ve already sampled everything that symbolizes Elizabeth Riffle and Riffle Farms.
By Andi Petrini / Photo above courtesy of Lauren Somero Photography
The bison hot dog and the use of a locally made relish from Virginia Beach showcase Riffle’s priorities: sustainability, whole-food nourishment, and supporting local businesses.
Riffle—who goes by Liz—is the owner and operator of Riffle Farms in West Virginia and the Riffle Farms Market & Co-op in Norfolk. The bison farm is one of about 400 operations east of the Mississippi River, Riffle said, and the harvested meat is available for sale at the Norfolk market and farmers markets in Hampton Roads. “Who thought we would be raising bison in West Virginia and selling it at the beach?” she said.
Liz Riffle also will be featured in a Smithsonian exhibit highlighting the American bison that opens May 7 at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. “I grew up with horses, so farm life has always called to me,” Riffle said. “…We had a nice amount of property and wanted to put something on there we could eat, and feed our growing family, but maybe something we could also sell and offset those costs….We’ve grown from having eight animals to 50.”
The goal, both with how the bison are raised and harvested, and selling the products, is to “make food simpler,” Riffle said. “We’re bringing it back to simple food. Simple, real food.”
Raising Bison
The bison farm in West Virginia started in 2017. Liz Riffle said it’s mostly a family business, with help from her husband Jimmie and his brothers on the farm, and her mother, who manages the co-op in Norfolk, in addition to a few other employees. Liz and Jimmie Riffle met while both served in the Navy Nurse Corps. Liz Riffle said the family takes the phrase “you are what you eat” to heart after working in health care.
Jimmie Riffle was last stationed in Norfolk, and the Riffles also have a home in East Beach. While Liz was commuting to visit, she brought meat to sell at a farmers market one week. While selling bison in rural West Virginia where farms are abundant was difficult, the lack of farmland in densely populated Hampton Roads was an opportunity. “I sold 200 pounds of meat in two hours,” she said. “It would have taken me half the year where I was going. There’s a lot of people here who want this meat; I thought this is amazing.”
Riffle became a regular at Hampton Roads farmers markets in 2019. While farmers markets are great for business, they also are seasonal. Riffle said she wanted to expand the business and decided to open the market and co-op in Norfolk in 2024.
Local Goods Year-Round
Riffle modeled the Riffle Farms Market & Co-op after stores she visited in the Pacific Northwest while in the military. “We recognized as well,” she said, “we have made so many lovely connections with vendors and like-minded farmers, we wanted it to be an indoor farmers market.…We talk weekly about what…people are interested in. It’s a lot of fun to do it that way.” The market in East Beach is, to Riffle’s knowledge, the only of its model in the area.
Riffle stocks bison products at the market, including the best-selling hot dogs, ground meat, and rib eyes. The co-op rents space to 29 vendors, and Riffle said she would like the number of vendors to double. The vendors offer a diverse array of products, including pasta sauces, cheese, seasonings, honey, rice, micro greens, tallow lotion, and eggs. Riffle also said she sources some products from West Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas that supplement what’s available from local vendors.
Riffle said vendors who have whole-ingredient products and humanely raised animals take priority. This co-op is intended for customers similar to Riffle. “My grocery shopping is way easier now,” she said. “It’s for folks who are really looking for whole food products, locally based. And those dollars are going back into the community they’re living in.”
The fresh eggs stocked by Rehoboth Farms in Suffolk and a Maryland vendor are a top seller, Riffle said. Jessica Guptill, who runs Rehoboth Farms with her husband Josh, said they could restock eggs every week and can barely keep pasture-raised chicken breasts in stock at the co-op. Guptill and Riffle met while vending at farmers markets, and Guptill has been involved in the co-op since it opened. “I wanted her to succeed with it and gave her all of my creative juices,” Guptill said. “…Liz did a great job sourcing out the location and knows the community. It was just a very intentional way to improve the neighborhood and community.…The people there have a connection with Liz and the other producers.”
Know What You Eat
Jimmy and Liz Riffle have been married for 12 years and have two sons, ages 3 and 6. “I knew I wanted my kids to have that [farm] experience,” Liz Riffle said. “It’s a great place for boys to run around and be muddy. My boys need that.” Being raised on a farm has prepared Riffle’s children, especially the 6-year-old, with an appreciation of knowing where their food comes from.
“We don’t waste anything, and we definitely don’t waste meat,” she said. “I love now that when we have a new meat or something on the plate, he asks me what its name was because he knows some farmer raised that animal. And that melts my heart….He’s a conscious eater of food.”
The Riffles homed in on bison because a nutrient-dense diet helps prevent inflammation that can cause chronic diseases such as diabetes and celiac disease. “From a nursing standpoint, bison is only red meat on a cardiac diet, she said. “…You can have bison rib-eye every night of the week because it’s that healthy.” She added that bison also is leaner than chicken and has more omega-3s than salmon.
The animal is native to West Virginia, and bison are more sustainable or regenerative than any other large mammal because they are native to the continent, which has the flora/fauna it does [in large part] because of the bison. “These animals have evolved on this continent and are very good at eating where they are available,” Riffle said.
