Former Mathews residents Constance Ober and Carlton Brooks returned when the Mathews Farmers’ Market opened this spring. They came with product in hand to show friends and neighbors what in 2006 had lured them away from “our adopted hometown of Mathews.” 

Constance and Carlton are the owners and operators of Prospect Farm in central Virginia where they raise Black Angus and heritage Devon-Cross cows (an old heritage British breed), and process and sell the grass-fed beef.

Making the decision to change almost completely the lifestyle that they had enjoyed so very much in Mathews was perhaps always in the back of their minds. “Carlton had always wanted to be a teacher and I had a growing interest in natural farming methods as well as a concern about the quality of our food from conventional farming sources,” said Constance. After much thought those interests came together: “We decided that our lives’ next chapter woul...