Farm Focus 2014

THE DAILY RECORD, Wooster, Ohio Sunday, June 29, 2014 — D1

Local Roots business model gaining momentumWOOSTER — The

idea of bringing consum-ers closer to local farms is nothing new for the down-town Wooster cooperative formed in 2009 by a group of interested community members.

Local Roots has been connecting consumers and local producers since that time and is now ready to “take off.”

“We built the runway, now it’s time to take off,” said Jessica Eikleberry, one of the founding mem-bers of Local Roots and former general manager at the Wooster cafe and market.

In the early days when local residents brain-stormed ways to make it easier to purchase locally made produce, they first realized the amount of food grown in the imme-diate area was immense.

But Eikleberry said five years ago there were problems connecting local producers to consumers.

Producers, she said, do not have a lot of time for things that take them off the farm, as the steering committee that formed Local Roots learned for themselves. So the idea was to find ways to make it easier on them and to give as much back to the producers as possible.

“We kind of threw the book out and decided to build it ourselves,” Eikle-berry said. “It was tough because there were no guidelines.”

After developing goals and a mission, the idea of a producer-consumer cooperative was present-ed to the community at the library in downtown Wooster with overwhelm-ing success.

This model, Eikleberry explained, was developed since both sides need and depend on each other.

The main sources of revenues are commis-sions from producers (15 percent, with the remain-ing 85 percent going back

to local producers) or a “display fee” and through memberships on behalf of consumers.

Local Roots Market & Cafe currently works with 105 vendors who sell local-ly made produce, food and even artisan products.

It is currently engaged in its latest fundraising effort dubbed “No Small Potatoes” to help defray the costs of its commercial kitchen, the same year it reached its 1,000th mem-ber. Eikleberry said near-ly 75 percent of members are non-producers.

In March it reached another milestone with more than $2 million in monthly sales and earlier this year increased its paid staff to focus time at the growing market and cafe.

On the flip side, Local Roots tries to keep costs low for itself and oper-ates mainly on the backs of volunteers, who donate hundreds of hours of time staffing the cafe and mar-ket.

Farmer’s markets are great, Eikleberry noted. But the problem with them is they require pro-ducers themselves to spend their time there, whereas at Local Roots, producers can drop off their goods and let the volunteers take over. The cafe at Local Roots opened shortly after the market and uses some of the local products to serve food to customers.

“Through the cafe we can use the extra pro-duce,” which may not be sold in a particular season, she said, and help Local Roots use excess food.

“So many people want us to cook for them,” said Betsy Anderson, anoth-er founding member of Local Roots. “And in that way the cafe helps reduce waste.”

For instance, she said “ugly carrots” which don’t sell in the market can be used in other food items sold through the cafe. With some more exotic produce, Local Roots even holds classes and

seminars to teach people how to cook using some of the available foods.

And because the sea-sons change, Eikleberry said the groceries in the market constantly change. But the new commercial kitchen will help change that.

Today, Local Roots’ new commercial kitchen at the Wooster location has passed state inspection and will help the coopera-tive take the next step for-ward in its maturation.

The kitchen, explained Eikleberry, will help not only prepare food ready

to eat, but will help it pre-serve and process food to have year round.

Perhaps more impor-tantly, the Local Roots model is gaining momen-tum around the country in the age of countless food recalls from large-scale producers.

“There’s always some kind of recall,” Anderson said.

Local Roots last year provided consultation and training for groups in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Canada — and Shelby, Norwalk, Oberlin and Akron in

Ohio — just to name a few places, where resi-dents are banding togeth-er with interests in eating locally. The Ashland mar-ket was also reopened in a new location along state Route 60.

And eating locally helps keep people healthier,

employs more in a com-munity and keeps dollars local.

Reporter Steve Huszai can be reached at 330-287-1645 or [email protected]. He is @GeneralSmithie on Twit-ter.

By STEVEN F. HUSZAIStaff Writer

From Farm, to Market, to Table

Dan Starcher photos/www.buydrphotos.com A mostly volunteer staff who believe in Local Roots’ mission assist customers in the cafe and market

on South Walnut Street, Wooster.

Jamie Smetzer, left, and Katie Hackett work in Local Roots Market & Cafe’s new commercial kitchen, which will help the cafe and market pro-cess and store local produce to be available year round.

After developing goals and a mis-sion, the idea of a producer-con-sumer cooperative was presented to the community ... with over-whelming success. This model was developed since both sides need and depend on each other.

Jessica Eickleberry, a founding member of Local Roots Market & Cafe

Bakery, cafe is a natural extension of Pioneer Farm

KIDRON — When it comes to talking about “From Farm to Market,” this year’s Farm Focus theme might have no bet-ter illustration than the efforts of sisters Rachel and Deb Geiser, who first created their farm, and are now getting ready to open their own market.

About eight years ago, the Geisers purchased what they have named the Pioneer Farm, and, in every respect, it is one of Wayne County’s pioneer farms.

Located at the south-west corner of Emerson and Zuercher roads, the land was originally sold by the federal government in 1819 to Isaac Sommer, the

head of one of the origi-nal four families that emi-grated from Switzerland to found what became known as the Sonnenberg Mennonite community, which is today Kidron.

Over the years, the land was subdivided and the Sommer family eventual-ly built a new farmhouse to replace the primitive structure they had first lived in. Even so, the farmhouse in which the Geisers live is about 140 years old and its style is

compatible with the state-ly and sturdy Mennonite farmhouses that dot the rural landscape around them.

Rachel said the farm passed through many owners over nearly two centuries, but before they purchased the five acres they now own, it had been owned by a man who was a dealer for Pioneer Seed and had a sign to that effect in the front yard.

“Because of that,” said Rachel, “everyone just

knew it as the Pioneer Farm, so we decided to keep that as the name. The name ‘Pioneer’ just worked well all around for it.”

After purchasing the property, the Geiser sis-ters plunged into working in the realm of sustain-able agriculture, establish-ing about a half-acre of garden to grow their own food, as well as raising poultry, and taking advan-tage of local fruit and nut trees.

Both of the Geisers brought a variety of tal-ents, abilities and experi-

ences to the job

By PAUL LOCHERStaff Writer

Mike Schenk photo/www.buydrphotos.comRachel Geiser gets ready to harvest a few con-

cord grapes. In addition to the grapes, the farm also raises red and black raspberries, currants, elderberries, blueberries and mulberries, which often wind up in their pies and other baked goods.

See Pg. D2 — FARM

Rachel and Deb Geiser have plunged into working in the realm of sustainable agriculture, establishing about a half-acre of garden to grow their own food, as well as raising poultry, and taking advantage of local fruit and nut trees.

D1Farm Focus

Farm FocusFarm FocusFarm FocusFarm FocusFarm Focus2014

A 1997 graduate of Hocking College, she began her culinary career by working as a cook at a remote lodge in the Alas-kan wilderness near the town of Dillingham, acces-sible only by pontoon-equipped planes.

Since then, she has worked as a cook for

country clubs, senior living services, and spent nearly a decade as an executive sous chef and helped man-age a food court at Ohio Wesleyan University. Dur-ing that time, she earned her certification from the American Culinary Asso-ciation as a chef de cuisine.

She has also enjoyed conducting cooking class-es, both at private resi-

dences, for ladies’ groups and garden clubs, and for commercial establish-ments. Additionally, she has conducted after-school programs for kids to teach them how to make healthy snacks at home.

Rachel’s experi-ence includes working at such area industries as Volvo and Gradall, being involved in human resources and business management, running a cleaning company for 15 years and working as a waitress and bartender.

Together, the Geisers believe they bring a broad cross-section of experi-ence to their developing business.

Currently, the Geisers raise 200 chickens, which supply eggs for their own needs, as well as a growing base of customers. They

also raise a heritage breed of turkey, along with ducks and geese.

In addition, they grow red and black raspberries, currants, grapes, elderber-ries, blueberries and mul-berries, which often wind up in their pies and other baked goods.

They also have a small orchard that produces apples, quince and pears, and a garden in which they grow their own herbs, as well as tomatoes, aspara-gus, garlic and kohlrabi, the latter from which Deb makes unique French fries.

And while they don’t describe their gardens as organic, Rachel said, “It’s all natural. There are no sprays; no pesticides or herbicides. It’s all sustain-able.”

The sisters cut their teeth on their business by par-ticipating in the Wooster Farmer’s Market, which they say is one of the best

in the region. For nine years at the market, they sold jams, jellies, breads, fruit pies, doughnuts and other baked goods, and fresh produce.

Deb said that on the day prior to the market, she typically baked about 100 loaves of bread, typically selling about 80 of them at the market, and distribut-ing the remainder to other customers that included Hartzler’s Dairy, Shisler’s Cheese House and Local Roots Market & Cafe.

But this year customers at the market will miss the familiar faces of the Geiser sisters, because a new business venture will take them away from that event.

By mid-June, the sis-ters planned to open the Quince Bakery and Cafe in downtown Kidron on the northeast corner of the intersection of Emerson and Kidron roads, in the

space previously occupied by PAWS.

There they plan to offer a healthful menu, with the dishes created from the produce raised on their own farm, or the farms of their Kidron neighbors.

Deb said Quince will offer foods from local suppliers that are “as local and fresh as possible,” including using eggs from her own chickens.

She said the menu will feature soups, salads, com-posite salads and chopped salads as “a way for veg-etarians to get some pro-tein.”

The restaurant and cafe will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Once a month the sisters plan to do spe-cial dinners by reserva-tion only where they can showcase their consider-able talents in the culinary arena.

“We’ll have to see what the interest in that is,” Deb said, adding she believes the sisters can hit “an untapped little market” in the county for such events.

She said that by open-ing early, they can catch an on-the-way-to-work audi-ence looking for “some good coffee and some great bakery.”

“We love food, so we felt this was a good fit for us,” said Rachel.

Asked where they would like to see their enterpris-es be in five years, Rachel laughs, saying, “Well, the house will be painted for sure. And we hope the bakery and cafe will be doing well. We’ll want to be trying new things, espe-cially as it pertains to the dinner club stuff.”

While they say they want to continue to expand their farming operation, Rachel is adamant that, “We’re never going to be a truck patch.” Instead, they say they simply want to make sure that they have plenty of specialty foods to sup-ply what they believe will be their expanding needs.

“It’s amazing to see the kinds of opportunities that come along in this busi-ness,” said Rachel, adding, “The best thing is that you can totally be as creative as you want to be.”

Reporter Paul Locher can be reached at 330-682-2055 or [email protected].

D2 — Sunday, June 29, 2014 Farm Focus THE DAILY RECORD, Wooster, Ohio

Rachel Geiser fills a basket with zucchini as she preps items from the Pioneer Farm to go to market

Mike Schenk photos/www.buydrphotos.comDeb Geiser labels her baked goods for sale at the Farmer’s Market on the square in Wooster. Geiser

and her sister, Rachel Geiser, participated in the market for a number of years, but are opening their own bakery and cafe in Kidron.

Deb Geiser picks a few quince that will be used to make jam or jelly.

Rachel Geiser snips hydrangea blooms from among the gardens at Pioneer Farm.

Fred, the rooster, has free rein over the farm. In addition to garden and orchard produce, the Geisers raise heritage turkeys.

(From Page D1)

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D2Farm Focus

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THE DAILY RECORD, Wooster, Ohio

Cow Patch provides learning experience, produce for students

WOOSTER — The College of Wooster is embracing the concept of locally grown food, buy-ing it from area farmers, but also growing some produce in campus gar-dens tended by students. The area’s climate is one of the few limitations to the initiative.

The sustainability effort began in the fall of 2006 with the purchase of apples from Moreland Fruit Farm, said Chuck Wagers, director of cam-pus dining and confer-ence services.

The college uses local produce all year long, Wagers said, incorporat-ing in its menus “as much local produce” as possi-ble, “wherever possible.”

“Obviously, our ability to utilize local produce is affected by Ohio weather and the growing season,” he said, pointing out, “the growing season, coupled with the fact that our stu-dents are not on campus until late August, presents some challenges for serv-ing local produce to our students.”

“Many berries are pur-chased locally during the summer and frozen until students return,” he said, explaining, “oftentimes, the blueberry pancakes students eat from August to November are still made with locally grown blueberries,” but they were harvested and fro-zen during the summer months.

Among area suppliers are Green City Grow-ers, Cleveland, and Oasis Acres, Orrville, hydro-ponic greenhouses pro-viding “all of our salad bar lettuce varieties and basil;” Holthouse Farms, Willard; and Local Roots Market & Cafe, Wooster.

Moreland Fruit Farm, Wooster, “our largest supplier” offers “a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Other sources of local produce are the People’s Garden, Wooster, and the Roger Ramseyer Farm, Smithville, Wagers said.

Some produce is grown right on campus, where “we are fortunate to have two gardens,” he said.

“Professor Matt Mari-ola utilizes the Learning Garden in his curriculum with students,” Wagers said.

“Students in three dif-ferent courses are direct-ly involved in the main-tenance of the Learning Garden and the produc-tion of food,” Wagers said, listing the courses as sustainable agriculture, the fall gardening practi-cum and the spring gar-dening practicum.

About 40-50 students per year “produce salad

greens for sale on campus during the spring and fall, and crops such as cilantro, basil, peppers and egg-plant during the summer for sale to Local Roots and the college’s dining services.

“This is the sixth year for the campus garden known as the Cow Patch,” Wagers said, noting, stu-dent staff and associate dean of students Christie Kracker “will work the garden this summer. The Cow Patch will be plant-ed with a selection of pro-duce that will be dedicat-ed to the campus dining services department.

“This fall there will be a campus program house that will work with the garden,” with eight stu-dents who will dedicate a minimum of two hours per week of service in the Cow Patch garden.

“Both gardens offer a wonderful educational experience for the indi-vidual student and the campus,” Wagers said.

Mariola, visiting assis-tant professor in the department of environ-mental studies, elabo-rated on student partici-pation in the Learning Garden, converted in the summer of 2011 from a vacant lot on the corner of Pearl Street and Col-lege Avenue.

“Every season since then, students do various learning activities in the garden,” Mariola said, including weed manage-ment, composting and comparing fertilizers — topics which are incorpo-rated into his sustainable agriculture course.

Based on student inter-est, he initiated a spring gardening practicum, gar-nering one-fourth credit, in 2013, involving experi-ential learning in prepar-ing the garden for sum-mer, he said.

They raised fast-growing produce, such as arugula, spinach and kale, “with

the idea that we could sell that produce on cam-pus,” Mariola said. “Last summer we sold basil and kale to Local Roots.”

“This summer, we will be growing a variety of crops” — basil, cilantro, peppers and eggplant — “we intend to pass onto dining services and Local Roots,” he said.

The list grew out of a meeting with Wagers and the college’s head chef, Mariola said.

As an environmental studies professor, “all of the classes I teach have something to do with the environment and sustain-ability,” said Mariola, who emphasized “how much students take to garden-ing,” partly as “a welcome change from the class-room.”

Over the years he and his students have been planting a garden, various methods have been used to keep it going over the summer.

The first summer he tended it himself; the sec-ond and third summers, he hired students for a few hours a week; and this summer will repeat hiring students, but also giving students staying at the college over the sum-mer the opportunity to have their own bed.

They’ll be able to grow some of their own food, while also tending the garden, said Mariola, who added that even Peg Cornwell, President Grant Cornwell’s wife, “has a plot over the sum-mer.”

“We are constantly looking for more oppor-tunities to increase our amount and broaden our variety of locally grown produce to serve our campus community,” Wagers said.

Reporter Linda Hall can

be reached at 330-264-1125, Ext. 2230, or [email protected].

By LINDA HALLStaff Writer

Stacy Wilkinson of Moreland Fruit Farm unloads fresh produce at Lowry Center on The College of Wooster campus. The Moreland business is the biggest supplier of fresh produce to the college.

Mike Schenk photos/www.buydrphotos.comCollege of Wooster chef Pete Wallin and Chuck Wagers, director of cam-

pus dining and conference services, look at some of the freshly picked hydroponic lettuce that Glen and Lois Smucker just delivered from their greenhouses. The college is embracing the concept of locally grown food, buying it from area farmers, but also growing some produce in campus gardens tended by students.

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Moreland Fruit Farm reputation continues to grow

MORELAND — At Moreland Fruit Farm, every-thing grown falls under the “farm to market” concept,

whether fruit, vegetables or flowers.

When the orchard busi-ness was started, there always was a farm market, said Fred Finney. He started out as a temporary worker,

and he then became manag-er and part owner. He now owns the farming operation with his wife, Marilyn.

Fred Finney became involved in the late 1960s, when most of the apples

grown were boxed up and sent to a distributor in Can-ton. The apples went to stores throughout North-east Ohio.

Today, about 30 percent of the orchard crop is whole-sale, with the rest being sold at the farm.

What’s kind of ironic, is Moreland Fruit Farm has repeat customers coming from places like Ashtabula and Columbus, but many in Wooster think the 8-mile ride is too far, said Steve Finney, a son who helps run the business and is a board member at Local Roots Market & Cafe.

Dr. Harry Young, a pathol-ogist with what is now the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Cen-ter, started Moreland Fruit Farm in 1935. The Davis-Melrose Co., with its Mel-rose Orchard in Wooster, purchased it in the early 1960s. This gave the More-land operation a Wooster market to sell its apples.

When the Melrose Orchard ceased operations a few years ago, More-land Fruit Farm still had a Wooster base from which to sell its goods: Local Roots Market & Cafe. The Finneys were involved in the opera-tion from the beginning.

Local Roots is a “perfect place,” Fred Finney said. “None of us (farmers) do enough business to rent the entire building.”

The downtown farmer’s market has been helpful in getting products from the Moreland Fruit Farm into the hands of end consumers, Steve Finney said. “We can get (the fruits and vegeta-bles) closer to the people.” If they happen to run out of something, people can always run out to the farm.

There has been an empha-sis in recent years for con-

sumers to learn more about where their food is grown and who is growing it.

“People think if they know the farmer and can meet face-to-face, then they think their food is safer — even if the same product (from the same farm) is in a grocery store,” Fred Finney said. “We can’t control what people think if that’s what they want to think.”

It has taken time for Moreland Fruit Farm to build a reputation. Some of the families the Finneys have served are now bring-ing in the third generation and introducing them to the operation.

“Last summer, a couple said, ‘We’ve been coming here for 25 years, and these are our grandkids,’” Fred Finney said.

While it has taken time for the farm to become estab-lished, it has also taken a commitment, and risk, from the Finney family. Every-thing they grow is perish-able. Harvest seasons are not very long, and every-thing has a relatively short shelf life.

“A friend told me, ‘You either sell it or smell it,’” Fred Finney said. “It’s not like hay, corn or soybeans. You can’t put it in storage. We can use controlled stor-age for apples and store them for 12 months, but beyond that is not practi-cal.”

As for the risk, if anyone is interested in starting a similar farm, Fred Finney asks them, “Do you have the resources and mental capacity to lose your entire crop in a single freeze? In 20 minutes of hail?

“If you can’t stand to deal with those things, then don’t get into the fruit and vegeta-ble business. The first three years I worked here we did not have a peach blossom.”

The temperatures dropped to 15-20 below zero each of those winters. Hail storms wiped out the crop another year. Freezes

in the winter and spring have been harmful.

“The things you learn are that the sun comes up every day and things begin to grow in another year,” Fred Finney said. “You will have another crop.”

Fred Finney was involved in starting the Mount Hope Produce Auction, which ties in perfectly with know-ing the farmer and eating locally grown foods. Bueh-ler’s Fresh Foods has been a supporter from the very beginning.

“It’s been one of the most rewarding things of my life,” he said. “We grew it up from nothing. We converted all of those small farms in three counties (Holmes, Wayne and Tuscarawas) from milk-ing six to eight cows and raising 50 pigs to growing produce. It has allowed a lot of small farms, English and Amish, to keep the kids on the farm and given them something to do to pay some bills.”

The auction has supplied food to grocers like Bueh-ler’s and restaurants across Northeast Ohio.

Buying locally grown pro-duce is good from a sustain-ability issue, and customers like it, said Bob Buehler, executive vice president of marketing and merchandis-ing. “There is less trucking, and it requires less fuel to transport.”

Additionally, “We are sup-porting local growers, and we’re helping the communi-ties where we have stores. And, the food is fresher. Sometimes what we have in the store was in the field the day before. It’s a really good thing for us, and the people like it.”

For Buehler’s Fresh Foods, local usually means within an hour’s driving time and not a 500-mile radius, Bueh-ler said.

Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or [email protected]. He is @Bobby-WarrenTDR on Twitter.

By BOBBY WARRENStaff Writer

The van is fully loaded with fresh fruit, veggies and cider and ready to deliver the locally grown produce to Local Roots Market & Cafe.

Mike Schenk photos/www.buydrphotos.comSteve Finney and Stacy Wilkinson man their stand in the Farmer’s Market on the square in Wooster

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Stacy Wilkinson fills the cooler shelves at Local Roots with fresh cider, processed by Moreland Fruit Farm.

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THE DAILY RECORD, Wooster, Ohio Farm Focus Sunday, June 29, 2014 — D5

Raising chemical-free produce, livestock is satisfying

WOOSTER — When Marcus Ladrach of Autumn Harvest Farm takes his grass-feed beef and produce to market, there is always one thing he tries to keep in mind — to “keep it as natural as you can.”

On his 230 acre farm located just northwest of Wooster on Rice Hill Road, Ladrach special-izes in grass-fed beef and certified organic crops. The farm has been there since 1946, when Ladrach said his father first start-ed working the land.

It has stayed in the fam-ily ever since and even-tually changed from his father’s hands to his and his wife’s, Beth’s. In 1996, he said the focus of the farm changed and they started doing organic farming. That was the year, Ladrach said, Autumn Harvest Farm became an Ohio Ecologi-cal Food and Farm Asso-ciation organic certified farmer.

“I like the whole aspect of organic,” Ladrach said. “I feel like it’s better for you.”

By not using chemicals on his crops and by try-ing to farm as naturally as possible, Ladrach said the food he takes to mar-

ket is clean and free from potentially harmful mate-rials.

By practicing organic farming, he said the envi-ronment is kept cleaner, as by not putting chemi-cals on the fields no harmful runoff goes into the water.

Ladrach said his organic farming practices are far-reaching. Alongside his fields of oats, corn, hay and spelt, he said the farm produces a variety of organic vegetables they take to market. Both at the Local Roots Market & Cafe and the Down-town Wooster Farmers’ Market, he said you can find a whole slew of the farm’s organic goods for sale.

“Asparagus is a big thing in the spring,” Ladrach said, explaining the pro-duce they take to market is in season, and when the first Downtown Wooster Farmer’s Market took place on June 7 the veg-etable was in its prime.

While Ladrach’s farm grows plenty of veg-etables, he said its main focus is grass-fed beef. The beef, he said, is not certified organic. While it used to be, Ladrach said they stopped because of the expense and highly involved application pro-cess for certification.

However, he said organic practices are car-ried into all realms of the farm, including the livestock they raise. He noted the pastures where their beef graze are just like the fields where they grow their produce — chemical free.

Ladrach said raising beef and produce for mar-ket organically presents its own set of challenges and said helping him get the job done are his sons, Will and Ben Ladrach. Will Ladrach said work-ing on an organic farm has been good to him.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” he said. “But it is enjoy-able.”

From tending to the animals to working in the fields, the young farmer said one of the parts he

likes the best about work-ing on the farm is being his own boss. He said it provides an opportunity to “be on your own clock” and explained he chooses his own hours and what project to work on next.

Marcus Ladrach said he agreed with his son and explained “doing it your own way” is what helps to make the job great. Addi-tionally, he said working with his sons is an added bonus.

“It’s nice to know family is interested,” he said.

Reporter Thomas Doo-han can be reached at 330-287-1635 or [email protected].

By THOMAS DOOHANStaff Writer

Will (left), Marcus and Beth Ladrach have two not-so-mini boxes of miniature gourds ready to go to market.

Mike Schenk photos/www.buydrphotos.comWill (left), Marcus, Johnny the dog and Beth Ladrach try to keep all that they grow on Autumn Har-

vest Farm as close to natural as possible, without chemicals products.

Marcus and Beth Ladrach arrange their produce early Saturday morning at the Farmer’s Market on the square in Wooster.

“(Farming is) a lot of hard work, but it is enjoy-able.”

Will Ladrach, Autumn Harvest

Farm

D5Farm Focus


Hobby turns into business for Trautwein family

DALTON — What started as a hobby for the Trautwein family has now turned into a season-al business with Hilltop Orchard and Flowers.

Growing fruits, veg-etables and flowers over about two acres of prop-erty, co-owner Ann Traut-wein said she sells all of her produce at the Down-town Wooster Farmer’s Market through Main Street Wooster every Saturday in the summer months.

“We were doing a little bit here, and we would sell them to another person (at) his market,” Traut-wein said.

“When we had older children, we had these

girls where it was kind of their summer (job). ... So we tried it, and liked it, and kept going with it.”

Customers typically can find bushels of tomatoes, peppers, green beans and pints of fruit for sale, but Trautwein said it all depends on what

is ready for market or if she decides to experiment with planting new pro-duce.

Last summer, Trautwein said she picked 1,000 pints of raspberries to sell at the farmer’s market, but any sort of berries typically sell fast.

“Red raspberries and peaches and blueberries go really quick,” Trautwein said.

In addition to produce, the Trautweins also sell baked goods from cook-

ies to cakes to quick breads.

After one person from the farmer’s market stopped selling breads, customers quickly began asking Trautwein to sell more bakery items such as yeast breads.

“People were asking for bread, so we started to venture into that,” Traut-wein said.

With the baked goods, that’s where Trautwein said she tends to get cre-ative with flavors by using different herbs or using unusual combinations like her now-popular rhu-barb bread.

“Most people look for zucchini bread and banana bread. We have a few basics. People like things (when) they know what they are, but then everybody’s looking for something a little bit dif-ferent, and the rhubarb bread was one of those that we started and peo-ple would come back for that,” Trautwein said.

For any fruits that don’t fit into the pints for mar-ket, Trautwein said they use the fruit for multi-flavor jams, including the best-selling strawberry rhubarb.

Although mums are sold in the fall, Trautwein said she doesn’t focus on flow-ers often because it takes more time and effort than gardening, which is a big-ger passion. From time to time, Trautwein will take sunflowers and gladiolus flowers to sell.

Hilltop Orchard and Flowers will set up shop at the Downtown Wooster Farmer’s Market every Saturday through Oct. 25.

By ABBY ARMBRUSTER

Staff Writer

Peppers are a popular item at local farmer’s markets.

Kristi Trautwein readies some cherry tomatoes for market. What started as a hobby for the Traut-wein family has turned into a seasonal business with produce and flowers sold at local markets.

Ann Trautwein shows a tree her husband, Dennis, grafted to produce four kinds of apples — yellow delicious, red delicious, liberty and mutzu.

The Trautweins keep a hive of bees to help pol-linate flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Dan Starcher photos/www.buydrphotos.comAnn Trautwein picks green beans to sell at the farmer’s market. Growing fruits, vegetables and flow-

ers over about two acres of property, Trautwein said she sells her produce at the Downtown Wooster Farmer’s Market through Main Street Wooster every Saturday in the summer months.

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THE DAILY RECORD, Wooster, Ohio Farm Focus Sunday, June 29, 2014 — D7

Growing great produce is a labor of love for Gnizak

LAKEVILLE — On a single acre of farmland in Holmes County, Mary and Joe Gnizak manage to grow a wide assortment of vegetables for the Down-town Wooster Farmer’s Market, for Local Roots Market & Cafe, and for South Market Bistro.

With so little land, they have learned to be creative with their planting space.

Inside four tunnels, three of them covered in plastic, Mary grows peas, lettuces, tomatoes and more. Addi-tionally, along the side of a steep hill, she has beds set aside for carrots, squash and onions, to name just a few of the many vegetable varieties.

“Because we’re on a hill, the ground shifts down as we till the ground,” Mary said, pointing to the notice-able erosion. “So Joe start-ed putting wooden boards at the bottom of each bed to keep the dirt in place.”

The boards create a ter-racing effect similar to an Asian rice field, but for Mary, it’s just a tempo-rary solution to one of the many challenges she has to face in order to get her food to market.

In the summer, Mary often works from early in the morning to late at night, seeding, tending and picking, with only just enough of a break to eat lunch.

After investing so much time, “you really have to love doing it,” Mary said, adding, “It’s my hobby. If I make any money, I just count that as a bonus.”

Life in the winter is a bit easier, and “you almost get to relax,” Mary noted. Yet there’s still plenty to do, like plan for the sum-mer, order seeds and plant potatoes.

Every year, Mary tries to plant something new. That’s how her gardens have continued to grow, since the early ’90s, from a personal hobby to a full business.

“We had so much that we began selling to friends,” Mary said. “Then I started selling to farmer’s markets, and it just continued to expand from there.”

For every vegetable at the Gnizak farm, there are at least several dis-tinct types. Mary plants a wide variety of squash, for example, from the stereo-typical to the exotic, differ-ent specialty peppers, and she even has 12 kinds of garlic.

All the plants are seed-ed in regular dirt, which is kept nutritive through compost and fish emul-sion. The plants are then watered by means of drip tapes.

After a couple months of careful tending, on aver-age, the plants begin to yield vegetables. Some of them have only a few days before they go bad, so it’s crucial to pick them at the right time to sell as soon as possible — no small chal-lenge.

“I go by flavor and taste them as I pick,” Mary

explained. “What tastes good to you will probably taste good to your cus-tomer.”

After the vegetables are picked, Mary cools them in water, places them in a cooler and transports them to their final desti-nation.

Because of high gas prices, the transportation alone is often the most expensive part of the whole process, Mary said, and sometimes she’s not even sure whether she’s

made a profit.Still, the quality of the

vegetables, the satisfac-tion of making so many good things come from the ground, makes it all worth it in the end, said Mary, who also noted, as she worked her way through a group of pea plants, that “there’s noth-ing like a fresh pea.”

Reporter Brandon Zaf-

fini can be reached at 330-674-5676 or [email protected].

By BRANDON ZAFFINIStaff Writer

Mike Schenk photos/www.buydrphotos.comMary Gnizak keeps a cover over these young lettuce plants to give them a better start. She has four

tunnels that produce peas, lettuces, tomatoes and more.

Mary Gnizak loves gardening and growing pro-duce. She adds something new each year and now has 12 varieties of garlic.

Snap peas is just one of the many vegetable varieties that grow in the Gnizak greenhouse.

Heading back to the house with a fresh picking of peas, Mary Gnizak checks her raised bed full of carrots.

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Farm Focus 2014