Roanoker Brings Wide Range of Experiences and Food to Table

The Roanoke Valley’s newest local food advocate got his start as a radiation safety expert in a nuclear power plant.

Mike Scott, a southwest Roanoke resident, recently started roanokevalleylocavore.org. The new website is designed to be the region’s one-stop shop for information on local food growers and producers of all types and how to taste their wares.

It’s a big leap from Scott’s start in the nuclear power industry in 1981. Fresh out of Virginia Tech with a degree in biology and a minor in “health physics” (read: radiation safety), Scott’s job at nuclear power plants in Florida, South Carolina and Colorado was to tell workers how long they could be in certain areas of the plant before their radiation exposure got too high.

Scott followed that with a seven-year stint at the University of Virginia Health Science Center, where he was involved with the handling of the radioactive materials used for medical treatments in cancer patients.

A move to Ferrum, where his first wife had taken a new job, brought Scott, a Hinton, WV native, back to his country roots. With opportunities in the nuclear industry scarce in Franklin County, Scott earned a master’s degree in instructional technology and found a job teaching at Franklin County High School. “You didn’t need a crystal ball” to see that there would be a need for people who could integrate technology into the classroom, says Scott.

A few other moves ensued before Scott ended up in his current position as Coordinator of Instructional Technology for Botetourt County Schools.

So how did someone versed in nuclear physics and computer technology end up becoming an advocate for locally-grown food? Scott blames his roots, so to speak.

“In my family background from West Virginia, I had come from a generation who considered growing food a part of their lifestyle,” said Scott. “They all had gardens. ‘Local’ was your home.”

Scott’s parents moved their family from Hinton to northern Virginia when Scott was a child to take teaching positions. Local food “was one of the things that we lost,” Scott said. “In Fairfax, we bought into this whole industrial, urban food thing.”

In 2009, Scott and wife Theresa Bell joined a local community supported agriculture (CSA) venture in Floyd County. For an up-front investment, the CSA delivered fresh local produce once a week to the Natural Foods Co-op on Grandin Rd.

“The CSA gets you one step closer to people who are doing it like your grandparents did,” said Scott. “You do make a significant financial investment. We made more effort to cook and eat locally in our house. It was a lifestyle change—to eat better food.”

Scott believes that eating locally could help solve the nation’s obesity epidemic. “If people have a choice to move in that direction,” said Scott, “it might change their health habits.”

Scott sees economic benefits for the region as well. Besides health care and technology, “what else can expand in terms of the economy?” said Scott. “There is plenty of arable land that can provide an economic base. This region historically could sustain huge numbers of people.”

Soon, Scott’s interest in local food collided with his interest in technology. After a meeting with the extension office at Virginia Tech, roanokevalleylocavore.org was born. “I was looking for resources in one place,” said Scott. The extension office plans a paper version later this spring.

The website was launched in mid-February and has attracted 42 submissions from local producers who receive a free listing. The list includes such diverse producers as the Blue Ridge Poultry Co-op, Foggy Ridge Cider and Berry Ridge Farms and Gluten Free Bakery. Scott, who runs the site on a volunteer basis and has spent around $100 for its setup, says he now receives about three new submissions a day. A Facebook page has attracted around 50 fans in just two weeks.

In addition to spearheading the new food website, Scott is also a “star” in a local band.

MWB (for the band’s three founding members, Mike, Woody and Brian) plays at the Coffee Pot on Brambleton Avenue and other venues on occasion. Scott, who plays guitar and sings, says it all started with some guys singing at a New Year’s Eve party who had the dedication to “practice and learn a few songs.”

“I’m surprised anybody would allow us, or ask us, to play,” said Scott of the group, whose staples include Dylan’s “Tangled up in Blue” and “Ice Cream Man” by Van Halen. “If you have a lot of friends and they drink a lot of beer, they ask you to play.”