The Flavor of Virginia in Every Scoop

“Who knew an accountant would be making homemade ice cream?” Kathy Lewis laughed.

Lewis started her professional life using her fingers on adding machines. When they weren’t calculating, her fingers created gift baskets filled with Virginia-made items. The gift basket hobby turned her into an entrepreneur, complete with a small store. About six years ago, she couldn’t resist sticking her fingers into the ice cream she sold.

“I think that Hershey’s Ice Cream and Edy’s ice cream, I think those are all good products, but they don’t use any local ingredients,” Lewis said. “They don’t promote Virginia in any way, and my thinking along that line was this ice cream is OK, but, something richer. I just want something richer. I had no idea that would be at the level we are now.”

Where they are now is selling Lewis’ homemade ice cream at places like the Kingstowne Farmers Market. “The ice cream took off once we hit the Farmers Market. I really think the Farmers Market did so much for us,” Lewis said.

Plus, Lewis said that at farmers markets “I don’t have to go roaming all over looking for the quantity of fresh fruit that I have.” Her flavors change with the harvest seasons, even including pumpkin in the fall.

Two years ago, Lewis and her husband moved the business to Winchester from Middleburg. For most of the 12 years the business was based in Middleburg, it operated as the Middleburg Creamery (the name is still on her truck). They’ve changed the name to Red Fox Creamery, but have kept the commitment to local ingredients.

Lewis is also committed to good ice cream, despite the fact that she “really can’t remember what made me think about ice cream, except that, I mean, this is good but it’s not great.”

“For me, when I make butter pecan I want to taste some pecans,” Lewis said. “I don’t want a flavoring syrup that tastes like a pecan. I wanna chew on pecans. So that was one of the things that sparked us.”

Lewis also remained open to every opportunity to move her business forward.

“Nothing is impossible,” she said. Lewis added that she “never had any food-oriented career. Even when I started my hobby it was stuff I didn’t have to make. I just had to buy. And so it certainly is a turnaround from what I thought I would be doing.”

Lewis encouraged other entrepreneurs to go with something they love, especially “when you have just an idea and it’s really sittin’ there, and you’re wondering will this work …you just gotta work it through.”

With the laugh of a person who has followed a winding road to running her own business, Lewis also said, “If you think you can do it, you probably can.”

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Red Fox Creamery

130 N. Loudon St., Winchester, VA 22601, 540-545-8630,redfoxcream@verizon.net, coming soon: www.redfoxcreamery.com

Kingstowne Farmers Market Hours: Fridays, 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.