Right Now Downtown

Kimberly Esque-Marino is the owner of a really cool local indie company catering to dog owners: Potty Pocket.

“We love the opportunity to be among creative individuals who have unique products that are hand crafted with care.  As the small independent retailers are disappearing from the market place it is  nice to know that consumers who are looking for quality items have a place to go and shop.  When we support local artists and farmers, we are supporting our community, thus ourselves.”

 

“It was important to me that they be made here in Ohio.  Potty Pocket is a group effort.  Family and friends have helped to get this idea off the ground.  I designed and make the product, a friend designed the logo and web sight, my sister and husband help to sell them and everyone gives unending enthusiasm and support that has made this challenge a lot of fun.”

 

Check out her website and visit POTTY POCKETS at the market each week. Tell her the Market Maven sent ya!

I wanted to introduce you to The Bergefurd Family Farm this week. I asked them to talk to us a bit about their farm and their booth at Pearl Market:

We are a small family owned and operated farm in Wilmington, Ohio.  Marcia, Brad, daughter Ashley, and sons Brandon, Bryant and Brady and grandson Ethan all pitch in to seed, plant, tend, hoe, pull weeds, harvest, and care for our 40 acres of produce crops in the fields and greenhouses.
We believe that raising our children on the farm helps them to learn a good work ethic. Farming provides them the opportunity to work next to their parents; brothers and sister. We know it is helping them build good personal skills by working with customers at the Farmers Markets. Hopefully after all the work there is a little money left at the end of the season to go to the children’s college funds.
In the fall season we offer school and group tours to educate others the importance of farms, farmers and raising livestock and crops in everyone’s everyday lives.

What inspires you?

It is in our blood and we enjoy every minute of it, probably because we are fourth generation family farmers! If we counted the number of hours we all put in we would make much more $ per hour working at the local fast food shop flipping burgers- but then would our children learn a good work ethic or be able to make change in their heads or have the opportunity to WORK HARD side by side with their parents and siblings?  Would they learn the value of money and that one needs to work for what they desire?
We attend markets May - October and operate a stand at our home year-round. We begin harvesting and getting produce ready daily, including the night before the market. We harvest from 6 pm till midnight. Then again around 4 am we harvest sweet corn for the day. We want the freshest available for our customers! After we stock the home market stand and get trucks packed, we head to our markets in Cincinnati or Columbus.

What are the three top things you wish you would
have known before you started this journey?
1) How much money we would be still investing in our produce farm 25 years later, time and monetary investment is never ending.
2) How Mother Natures weather events can ruin $1000’s of dollars worth of crop in a matter of minutes.
3) How many hours each day our family would have to invest to attend Farmers Markets and to grow produce.

What is your favorite thing about Pearl Market?
The Managers (Adam and Kacey are GREAT!) the people, customers, and the great atmosphere!

Visit us on the web at www.Bergefurdsfarmmarket.com

“There’s no need to sustain the farm if there’s no family to be sustained upon it.” Charles O’Dell (June 2001)

Thanks so much to the Bergefurd farm family! We cannot wait to taste the wonderful produce you offer!

Stop by and tell them hello and tell then the Market maven sent ya!

This week we meet Joan Richmond of Meadow Rise Farm. She talks about her lovely farm in Bellville, Ohio:

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

We grow vegetables sustainably and naturally on Meadow Rise Farm. We’re in our 7th year of growing, and this year is our first at Pearl Market. We’re really excited about participating. Reed and I both grew up in small Ohio towns, moved to Texas for 20 years, and then knew that it was time to come home again. We grow on 1.5 acres, and use practices such as cover crops, crop rotation, compost, and more. We grow more than 35 varieties of lettuce and a dozen kinds of tomatoes, including large, luscious heirlooms like Brandywine and Old German, and much, much more.

Can you tell me a few things that inspire you?

I’m on the board directors of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, and I am so inspired by the farmers that I meet in that organization. Many of them are new farmers, and many more are experienced with innovative techniques and creative approaches. Another element of the growing experience that inspires me are the people we grow for. Two years ago, one family bought vegetables from us weekly. The mother was recovering from breast cancer, and their 8-year-old daughter also had a form of childhood cancer. The government can offer all the regulations in the world, but nothing brought home to me the real meaning of “organic” like growing for Emma. I knew that it truly mattered how we raised each bright radish, each leaf of blue-green kale, and the sweet cherry tomatoes she loved so much. Her continued reports now of being cancer free make me feel like what we do makes a difference. And I have so much fun getting to know our customers, who are really interested in what we do and how we do it, and I learn from them as well. Their positive feedback keeps me excited all season.

Can you tell me the good and bad about working for yourself?

The good is knowing we’re making healthful, delicious food available to the downtown Columbus community. The bad is probably those hot, humid days that are so draining. But I just take a few more breaks on days like that. I’d rather be outside anyway!  We scaled back a bit to what we could handle ourselves with a tiller and lots of hoes. It has worked out very well, and we feel much more self-reliant.

I am ready for some big salads! I am headed over for some lettuce on the first day! Please go check out Meadow Rise Farm
and tell them the Market maven sent you!