Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market is held inside year-round for your shopping comfort at Cheviot United Methodist Church 3820 Westwood Northern Blvd. 45211. The market is held in the church's Narthex, which is just inside the main entrance of the church. Please note that this location could vary depending on other activities taking place at the church. Follow the happy voices and you'll find us.
My Plum Crazy Farm
Sometimes life just unfolds easily. Such was the case with adding our newest produce vendor, My Plum Crazy Farm. As new customers kept showing up each week this summer - yippee! - I realized we could use an additional produce vendor. Low and behold the solution showed up right at our door step, and quickly too.
Cy Schmidt and Teresa Baker came to LEWFM a few weeks ago to check us out and to see about perhaps joining the market. I love the synchronicity of this. The following Monday I made a farm visit to thoroughly investigate their growing practices. Everything checked out fine and by the following Friday they were the newest member of the LEWFM Collaborative Specialty Market. The picture at right is evidence of only a small portion of their handiwork. They have been very busy!
So that you can get to know them, I asked Cy and Teresa to send me a little bio of themselves and their farm. As you'll see, farming and gardening has been an integral part of their lives. We are fortunate to have them and their produce at our market, thus ensuring a continued abundance of produce to help us Eat Well. Welcome aboard, Teresa and Cy!
I was born and raised in Cincinnati. Some of the wonderful childhood memories I have are of spending time each summer on my grandparent’s farm in White Lily, Kentucky. So much time was spent helping maintain the farm animals and garden on those summer visits. It instilled in me a true appreciation for animals and the earth. It also gave me a good understanding of what it takes to have wholesome, nutritious, delicious food.
Cy
Sometimes life just unfolds easily. Such was the case with adding our newest produce vendor, My Plum Crazy Farm. As new customers kept showing up each week this summer - yippee! - I realized we could use an additional produce vendor. Low and behold the solution showed up right at our door step, and quickly too.
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| Click image to enlarge |
Cy Schmidt and Teresa Baker came to LEWFM a few weeks ago to check us out and to see about perhaps joining the market. I love the synchronicity of this. The following Monday I made a farm visit to thoroughly investigate their growing practices. Everything checked out fine and by the following Friday they were the newest member of the LEWFM Collaborative Specialty Market. The picture at right is evidence of only a small portion of their handiwork. They have been very busy!
So that you can get to know them, I asked Cy and Teresa to send me a little bio of themselves and their farm. As you'll see, farming and gardening has been an integral part of their lives. We are fortunate to have them and their produce at our market, thus ensuring a continued abundance of produce to help us Eat Well. Welcome aboard, Teresa and Cy!
I was born and raised in Cincinnati. Some of the wonderful childhood memories I have are of spending time each summer on my grandparent’s farm in White Lily, Kentucky. So much time was spent helping maintain the farm animals and garden on those summer visits. It instilled in me a true appreciation for animals and the earth. It also gave me a good understanding of what it takes to have wholesome, nutritious, delicious food.
As an adult, I always had outdoor garden projects. My parents also had a decent size garden in
their backyard. With these gardens
available to me, I was able to have an opportunity each season to nurture the
love I have for gardening. It also
allowed me the opportunity to share the memories of my childhood and pass on
the values I have of food and taking care of ourselves to my three sons. My oldest, Brandon Huff, has been doing
organic market gardening for the past eight years. He is currently in Elvira, Oregon running
Ambrosia Farms (ambrosiafarms-localfoods.com).
Roles have reversed as he is now my main go to farm mentor when I have
questions about how to do this Market Farming!!
In the fall of 2014 my dear friend Cy Schmidt bought a home
that sits on 6 acres on Gaines Road in Colerain Township. In the spring and summer of 2015 he allowed
me the privilege of using a couple of areas on his property to have a
garden. He also worked a larger field in
the back area of the property because he wanted to see if the area would be
good for a decent size garden. To our
delight, the property does have nice soil.
It did need some working and still needs some amending, but the
foundation was very good.
During the fall of 2015 Cy said he would like to explore doing
a Market Garden similar to what my son Brandon does and starting a business to
provide locally grown food at farmers’ markets here in Cincinnati. He asked if I would be willing to join him in
this adventure. I said yes, absolutely,
I would love the opportunity to join with you in developing the property.
We named the farm Plum Crazy Farm. It is a fun little story as to how we came up
with the name. Fall of 2015 Cy decided
he needed a plow vehicle. He got online
and started his hunt. He found an old
Jeep Cherokee that is this Crazy Bright Purple color and bought it as his plow
vehicle. I was over one day in the fall
and he said let’s take the jeep back in the woods. So off we drove down the back end of his
property through some trails and down, down, down toward the bottom of the
hill. We got to a couple of places that
were kinda wet and challenging to drive through. I told him instead of turning around and
heading back up, it might be better to take the straight shot out of the woods
and come up on his neighbor’s property and go out their driveway…..so that is
what he did.
As we came out of the woods, his neighbor was standing in
her driveway with her son (her son being someone Cy went to school with). They did not have happy looks on their faces
as they saw this crazy purple colored jeep coming up out of the back of the
property and onto her driveway. We
pulled up, stopped, and got out to say hello and explain what we were doing
driving around on her property with a jeep…..she and her son got a good laugh
out of us and her son referred to Cy’s jeep as his “Plum Crazy Purple Jeep”. From there the name was born. We decided right then the name of the farm
needed to be Plum Crazy Farm because of the farm vehicle, which is the Purple
Jeep and due to the fact that we must be Plum Crazy at our age to think we can
start a “Market Farm.”
So here we are today me at 52 and Cy at 57 and I can say for myself that I am thrilled and impressed at what we
have been able to accomplish. So far, things are going well. We have a garden full of wonderful produce
and we have had what it takes to step up to the plate and meet the challenges
that we have faced. We are committed to
staying with the values of growing organic with no synthetic chemicals or
pesticides. This does bring with it more
physical labor commitment to keep ahead of the challenges of the environment. Prayers for our adventure are
appreciated. I give my most sincere
thanks for the opportunity to be a part of Lettuce Eat Well Farmers’
Market.
Teresa : )
I, too, was born & raised in Cincinnati. My grandparents
had a small farm & ran a market stand. Extra products were taken to a
larger farmers’ market. When I was very young I lived next door to them.
Grandpa never had a tractor. He had a horse named " Babe ". He and
Babe were a team and worked and played well together. Some of my earliest
memories were riding Babe & holding on to the horse collar while Grandpa
& Babe did their daily chores.
My dad also had a large garden as did all of his brothers.
They all had a reputation of selling quality produce. Mom took care of canning
until we got a large freezer by the time I got to high school. We lived next to
Grandpa until I was in grade school and we moved about a quarter mile down the
road. At that time we got our own animals and their feeding, watering,
and stall cleaning became my daily assignment before and after school.
During the summer or any time Grandpa needed help I was asked to
help. Often Grandpa & I picked then Grandma & I would shell beans, peas
or clean and sort produce. I was often the primary berry picker. After
school it was a quick check on the animals then head to grandparents to work till supper then clean up, do homework, check animals then bed. It wasn't all work. We made
time to fish, hunt and go on vacation. My parents & grandparents taught me
a lot about life: how to work hard, making time for the important things, being
responsible, & standing up for what you believe.
I loved the outdoors and nature so off to college I went. During
the summers I started working at and hiking at a local Park District. I
graduated with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Natural Resource Management
and applied to graduate school at U.T. Knoxville. The Park District also had an
opening and I applied and was hired. I was very fortunate to get a job with a
great organization in my field.
Along the way I was married and had two great kids Steve and
Cindy. Both have gotten married during the last year. I retired a few years ago
and spent
more time playing with my old cars and some rental property. That
was until I bought this property. It keeps me busy, sometimes too busy.
Teresa is a great friend & I am lucky to have her in my life. Being
retired and having land, I thought I would try a garden. Teresa said, sure she
would help. Everything grew well and somehow morphed into this market garden.
Overall it has been a lot of hard work so far. It is bringing back some fond
and not so fond memories (No Lima beans grown here ). All other non G.M.O.
crops welcome. Now, where should we plant those plum trees ???
NOTICES
***The Pickled Pig will not be at market this week. He will return the following Friday, July 8.***
***Just a reminder that Mahlon is at market the first Friday of each month with his pastured pork. He looks forward to seeing you this Friday.***
Following is an update from Pete and Linda at HTA
***The Pickled Pig will not be at market this week. He will return the following Friday, July 8.***
***Just a reminder that Mahlon is at market the first Friday of each month with his pastured pork. He looks forward to seeing you this Friday.***
Following is an update from Pete and Linda at HTA
*** Different Faces for Honey Tree Acres at LEWFM ***
Over the next 4 to 6 weeks you will be seeing various faces from Honey Tree Acres at the LEWFM Market. Linda will be having some outpatient surgery that will require 4 to 6 weeks of recovery and healing. While we cannot replace Linda at market, we will have numerous folks stepping in and assisting until she can return. Rest assured, they will all greet everyone with a friendly smile!
While the surgery is relatively routine and doesn’t raise any alarms, no surgery is minor or insignificant.
Please keep Linda in your thoughts and prayers!
*** COMING SOON ***
Honey Tree Acres is partnering with a local farmer to bring regionally grown organic yellow popcorn to the Lettuce Eat Well Market in the very near future. This popcorn is grown in the Indiana, Ohio and Illinois region and is certified organic.
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
Newsletter compiled by Mary A. Hutten, Market Manager
Some of you are long-time readers of the newsletter; others are new to the market and are reading the newsletter for the first time. This section is included each week to bring your attention to important happenings around the market and around town.
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Pre-ordering Pays Off
Have you ever arrived at market to purchase your favorite item/s from your favorite vendor/s only to be disappointed because the vendor/s sold out of the item/s? Did you know that no longer has to happen? At LEWFM you can pre-order your items and pick them up any time during regular market hours. Pre-ordering not only pays off for you, it also helps the vendors know how much to prepare/harvest, which greatly reduces waste. Pre-ordering is a real win-win for all, and it only takes a few minutes of your time to plan ahead and place your order. Given the importance of Eating Well, getting into the habit of placing your pre-orders each week will likely become a high priority on your weekly To Do List.
There are two easy ways you can place your pre-orders, in person at market or via email. Here's how the email ordering works: Email me at LEWFMLOCAL@GMAIL.COM and ask to be added to the vendor email pre-order list. Each week you will receive an email from the vendors detailing the items they have available for you to order that week. Reply to their email, letting them know the items you wish to order, then come to market on Friday to pick up your items.
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For a full listing of our vendors, their products, and services including:
Have you ever arrived at market to purchase your favorite item/s from your favorite vendor/s only to be disappointed because the vendor/s sold out of the item/s? Did you know that no longer has to happen? At LEWFM you can pre-order your items and pick them up any time during regular market hours. Pre-ordering not only pays off for you, it also helps the vendors know how much to prepare/harvest, which greatly reduces waste. Pre-ordering is a real win-win for all, and it only takes a few minutes of your time to plan ahead and place your order. Given the importance of Eating Well, getting into the habit of placing your pre-orders each week will likely become a high priority on your weekly To Do List. There are two easy ways you can place your pre-orders, in person at market or via email. Here's how the email ordering works: Email me at LEWFMLOCAL@GMAIL.COM and ask to be added to the vendor email pre-order list. Each week you will receive an email from the vendors detailing the items they have available for you to order that week. Reply to their email, letting them know the items you wish to order, then come to market on Friday to pick up your items.
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For a full listing of our vendors, their products, and services including:
- Kids & Krafts, 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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Please share this newsletter with friends and family to help spread the word about LEWFM!
Produce Perks
For those who noticed the logo at the bottom of the newsletter recently and wondered what it means, here is the good news about a new program. Produce Perks is an incentive program that is meant to encourage and help those who receive EBT (formerly known as food stamps) purchase more produce. Produce Perks is a dollar for dollar match (up to $10), with the matching dollars used on produce. The Produce Perks website offers the following additional information:
Please help us spread the word about this very worthwhile program. One way to help get the word out is to stop by the market management booth to pick up brochures to share with those you know who receive EBT benefits. You could also leave brochures at your church, doctor or dentist's office, or any locations that would permit you to do so. For those who noticed the logo at the bottom of the newsletter recently and wondered what it means, here is the good news about a new program. Produce Perks is an incentive program that is meant to encourage and help those who receive EBT (formerly known as food stamps) purchase more produce. Produce Perks is a dollar for dollar match (up to $10), with the matching dollars used on produce. The Produce Perks website offers the following additional information:“Produce Perks” is an initiative modeled after a similar program in Cuyahoga County. Focus is on access and affordability of healthy fruits and vegetables for under-served consumers.
Produce Perks are incentive tokens given to customers at participating farmers’ markets who use an Ohio Direction Card (“electronic benefits transfer” or EBT card) to purchase food. A customer wishing to use their food assistance benefits can swipe their card at one central terminal, located at participating market’s information booths, and ask to withdraw a desired amount. The market provides tokens for the transaction and additional Produce Perks that can be spent on fruits and vegetables. As the name suggests, Produce Perks are only good for purchasing fruits and vegetables. All other tokens purchased with the Ohio Direction Card are good to use on eligible items at the market.
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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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