This week, the spotlight shines on Casey Miller and his wife Mary Ann of Greener Portions, one of our newer vendors. Their story below tells it all.
What started out as a new hobby for us has blossomed into a full scale commercial growing operation. In early 2012, seeking higher quality and natural foods, we built a small aquaponics system in the front window of our house. Aquaponics is a water based, recirculating growing method that utilizes fish waste as fertilizer for the crops. It is a completely natural process, and the best way to describe it is a man-made ecosystem. We hoped to harvest fresh ingredients for cooking and sharing with our friends and family. A few things happened over the course of the next few months that would lead us here today. One, we quickly realized this method of growing was incredibly efficient and the results were amazing. And two, as we looked around the city for fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs, we realized that often times the quality of what we saw in the stores was simply not that great and was coming from very far away places. This led us to a very important question- why isn't Cincinnati producing fresh food for Cincinnati?
What started out as a new hobby for us has blossomed into a full scale commercial growing operation. In early 2012, seeking higher quality and natural foods, we built a small aquaponics system in the front window of our house. Aquaponics is a water based, recirculating growing method that utilizes fish waste as fertilizer for the crops. It is a completely natural process, and the best way to describe it is a man-made ecosystem. We hoped to harvest fresh ingredients for cooking and sharing with our friends and family. A few things happened over the course of the next few months that would lead us here today. One, we quickly realized this method of growing was incredibly efficient and the results were amazing. And two, as we looked around the city for fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs, we realized that often times the quality of what we saw in the stores was simply not that great and was coming from very far away places. This led us to a very important question- why isn't Cincinnati producing fresh food for Cincinnati?
Fast
forward a few months. During a simple evening walk, we discovered what would
now be our home away from home and the place we would launch our dreams. Hidden
among a group of greenhouses formally known as RC Witterstaetter & Sons
Florist, was a barely used, 4,600 square foot, fully automated facility that
was begging to have some new life breathed into it. With some very generous
support and guidance from our family we broke ground on building the
infrastructure of our operation in December 2012. Our journey had begun!
We built a 2,000 square foot growing operation that can hold thousands of
fruits, vegetables, and herbs along with many other flowering plants. We have
no synthetic inputs and great care was taken during construction to ensure only
food safe materials were used to create our system. We cannot use anything on
our crops that could harm our plants, our fish or our micro-organisms which
provide a perfect balance for growing delicious produce.
This leads us to today, where we have had successful harvests of lettuce, basil, tomatoes, strawberries, edamame and peppers, with more produce soon to follow! We've sold to Daisy Mae's Market at Findlay Market and can be found weekly at LEWFM. Most recently, Greener Portions Aquaponics teamed up with Primavista, a gourmet restaurant located on the west side of Cincinnati, providing Chef Prince with fresh produce for their menu. We are currently gearing up for cool weather crop season and are focusing on romaine lettuce, eggplant and various greens, along with a few surprises!
This leads us to today, where we have had successful harvests of lettuce, basil, tomatoes, strawberries, edamame and peppers, with more produce soon to follow! We've sold to Daisy Mae's Market at Findlay Market and can be found weekly at LEWFM. Most recently, Greener Portions Aquaponics teamed up with Primavista, a gourmet restaurant located on the west side of Cincinnati, providing Chef Prince with fresh produce for their menu. We are currently gearing up for cool weather crop season and are focusing on romaine lettuce, eggplant and various greens, along with a few surprises!
NOTICES
- Winter Market: Although a month remains of the summer market, we are busily working on the planning of the winter market. Some changes will take place which we believe will enhance the overall market. We are in the final stages of planning and will be including updates in future newsletters, detailing all the specifics. So, please stay tuned!
- Are you interested in purchasing a Farmers' Almanac, or a Farmers' Almanac calendar? If so, talk with Jenny of Angela's Homemade Pies booth for the latest edition. And while there you can purchase some yummy homemade desserts, along with artisan cheeses from Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese. Also, Jenny is working on a new item she will hopefully be ready to unveil soon. Keep checking in with her.
- We are busting to tell about a new vendor that is expected to start very soon, one who will supply items many customers have requested repeatedly. Because we don't know if they will be starting this Friday or next, we will hold off making the announcement. Check in at market this week for the latest update. How's that for suspense?
REMINDERS
While some of you are long-time readers of the newsletter, people who are new to the market are reading the newsletter for the first time; therefore, the Reminders section is included each week so new folks can see what's happening around the market and around town.
VENDORS: We currently have openings for an egg/meat vendor and a produce vendor. If you are interested or know someone who might be, you may email us through the link below.
Vendors/Volunteers Click Here!
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For a listing of seasonal produce, visit CORV's Website.
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While some of you are long-time readers of the newsletter, people who are new to the market are reading the newsletter for the first time; therefore, the Reminders section is included each week so new folks can see what's happening around the market and around town.
For a full listing of our vendors, their products, the weeks they attend market, and their services including:
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WANTED: VOLUNTEERS. We're
always looking for volunteers! If you're available to lend a hand at
the Market any time between 1:30pm and 7:30pm on Fridays, or during the
week for more behind the scenes activities, check out the link below to
contact us!- Kids & Krafts (available starting at 4:45), where the kids can have loads of fun so you can leisurely shop the market
- Many food and non-food items
- and a list of vendors who accept credit cards
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VENDORS: We currently have openings for an egg/meat vendor and a produce vendor. If you are interested or know someone who might be, you may email us through the link below.
Vendors/Volunteers Click Here!
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For a listing of seasonal produce, visit CORV's Website.
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Please share this newsletter with friends and family to help spread the word about LEWFM!
We hope to see you real soon at Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market!
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