Where “surf” meets “turf” – a Chesapeake watershed tale

I’d like to tell you a story of two unexpected allies showing us how seemingly different worlds can unite for a shared cause – clean water. In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the Alliance brought together a waterman and a farmer to share their personal stories and professional passions, while breaking bread together. Theirs is a story of the captivating journey from inland mountains and headwater streams of the Chesapeake Bay watershed to the wide-open, salty expanse of the Bay itself. The tale weaves together success stories, hope, and the lived experiences of two people who depend on clean rivers and streams.

“What we do on the land, majorly impacts everything downstream.” – Bobby Whitescarver

Bobby Whitescarver, conservationist, educator, farmer, and owner of Whitescarver Natural Resources Management LLC, is known to many of us in the Chesapeake Bay restoration world. His enthusiasm for soil health, paired with his passion for Whiskey Creek Farm which is operated by his incredible wife, Jeanne Hoffman, is contagious. Bobby is a man on a mission to demonstrate how our lands and communities are connected through water.

For the last 5 years, Bobby has conducted monthly water quality monitoring above and below a 20 year old riparian forest buffer on part of their farm. On average, the trees provide a 55% reduction in the E. coli found in the river.

Val, Jeanne’s loyal cow-herding Border Collie, is never far behind to lend a helping hand (or paw).

Daniel Knott is a Virginia waterman, a Veteran, and founder of Knott Alone – Hold Fast, an organization whose mission is to get fellow veterans out on the water of the Chesapeake Bay to create purpose and connection through shared work and conversation. When Daniel retired from the military in 2016, he found his way to the water to heal his emotional wounds, and has since committed to sharing his work on the water with other veterans to give them a support network to heal.

Daniel Knott shows us his tattoo while sharing his passion for the work he does.

“When I was done with the military, and wanted to retire, I wasn’t necessarily in a good place. So I thought to myself where I’ve been the happiest in my life and it was always doing something on the water, and crabbing was near and dear. So I decided to go from helicopter pilot to crabber.” – Daniel Knott

Daniel removes crabs from a crab pot near the mouth of the Mobjack Bay.

This story captures the individual journeys of Bobby and Daniel, helping us understand how they came to their respective life’s callings. They both talk about responsibility and stewardship of our lands and waters, and the need for togetherness and inclusion in this work. While both men started their work for different reasons, it is clear that they stay in it for similar reasons.

“I think we all want the same thing, we want clean air, clean water. We just have different ways of going about doing it. I think people need to be more responsible for their actions, you know. Owning land, you have a lot of rights, but there’s no mandatory responsibility. So, we need to engrain that in ownership of land or stewardship of the land or stewardship of the water…it comes with a great responsibility.” – Bobby Whitescarver

“…as we educate people, as we showcase how something way upstream in the mountains of western Virginia, will affect the life down here and how it pollutes the bay, they might start caring about it and taking their own individual steps. And that’s when we went [to the Shenandoah Valley.]” – Daniel Knott

With incredibly different backgrounds, Bobby and Daniel and their spouses convened in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley to share a meal together. Bobby, Jeanne, Daniel, and Nicole all met in the Shenandoah Valley, and fell quickly into the routine of cooking a meal together. Daniel wrestles feisty, fresh blue crabs into a larger steam pot, then all four new friends work together to pick crabs for the main course.

Bobby dons a chef’s coat while Val stays close by, hoping for handouts.

You can hear the sizzle, and almost smell the crab cakes and steaks cooking on the stove top.

“…good, wholesome food here means good, wholesome food in the bay. We are many miles away from the actual bay, but we are connected through the water. When the rain falls here, it soaks into the ground. It fills our streams and it flows toward the Chesapeake Bay. And every single person along that journey has an impact on the water quality, there, and in the bay. It is important for people to understand that they really do impact the water.” – Bobby Whitescarver

While Bobby is in the kitchen, Daniel, Nicole, and Jeanne relax around the table.

At the end of the day Bobby, Jeanne, Daniel, and Nicole joined around the dinner table to break bread and come together over shared goals and a shared meal. They all lift their wine glasses as Bobby offers a toast – “so that we may learn the connection between land and water.”

The two families separated by land and profession, coming together leaves us with the reminder that when we set the table and include different perspectives, we can share our stories and realize that we’re all here for the same reasons. When we celebrate the water and the land, the surf and the turf…

We’re excited to announce that this film has been selected to show at Wild & Scenic Film Festival! The Alliance will host four showings of Surf & Turf and many other films in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Cheers to delicious Chesapeake Bay-grown food, cleaner water, and a brighter future. Watch the trailer below!

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