05/13/2026
From Our Hands to Yours: A Vendor Spotlight Series
The Higgs family’s relationship with their land dates back to the 1890s, when Barren Ridge Vineyards was an apple orchard, but John Higgs starts his story in 1961 when he was “the most useless human being you’ve met in your life.” His Pop was working the orchard and John, at 23 years-old and twice failed out of college, helped that summer. Then a hailstorm came at the end of August and wiped out everything. That was when he joined the Army “to get away from here.”
The Army took John to Europe, where he lived for years and worked as a chemical engineer. He fell in love with the wine scene and the culture of Switzerland particularly, where a four-hour meal was commonplace and they “didn’t serve food without wine”. As John’s Turkish friend says, “wine was food”. When John finally returned to Virginia, he and his wife Shelby were determined to bring the European sense of community home with them.
In 2004 John decided to start the vineyard as a retirement project and began the hard work of denuding the overgrown land; they also rebuilt the original apple barn and turned it into a tasting room. He describes that process of starting over as fun and “all a joy”. By 2008 Barren Ridge was open and selling their own wine, and in 2020 they joined the Staunton Farmers Market as a Holiday Market vendor.
Susanna Larner, who is a part of the Barren Ridge chosen family, came on the team in 2020 and suggested joining the Market; now, six years later, she is the Swiss army knife of the team. She helps to harvest, works the tasting room, attends festivals, and runs the Market booth every Saturday. She loves to see her fun people, the dedicated supporters of the Market, and enjoys the relaxing and easygoing atmosphere. Like the winery, she finds the Market to be very community oriented. Susanna adores having John at the Market because it’s “always a good day” when he’s there, even though, at 87 years old (in a couple of months), he does more talking than helping. But it's that intimacy at the Market that reminds John of what he loved in Europe, where “you always go home with too much”, because how could you not?
As we look over the 12-13 acres under vine, and discuss the late frosts this year, we think about the future together. “I’m happy I did it,” John says of the whole experience. Susanna carries her knowledge of Virginia wines, and particularly Barren Ridge’s estate-grown wines, into the Staunton community she loves so much. And I, after a long day, thoroughly enjoy their company and the rolling horizon of the Alleghanies across this beautiful land that feeds our hearts and stomachs.
