EAST LANSING, Mich. — “We’ve been here at the East Lansing Farmers Market for 11 years and we’ve been farming full-time for about 20 years,” Pooh Stevenson said proudly.
She and her husband own Owosso Organics and she says that’s 20 years rain or shine.
Like many farmers, this year, they’ve been hit with a little too much rain.
“We have standing water on some of our fields still and it has prevented us from planting some of our main crops,” Stevenson said. “We have our spring plants in but we haven’t been able to plant in earnest for about 6-7 weeks.”
The crops Stevenson brought to the East Lansing Farmer’s Market were just a product of the 40 % they had planted. Usually, she says she’d be about 80% done with planting by now.
Phil Throop, owner of Wildflower Eco Farm agreed.
“It’s caused a delay on some things,” Throop said. “I’m lucky that I’m in rolling, well-drained soil, so I can’t plant the day of rain but if it’s dry for a day or two then I’m okay.”
Stevenson and Throop have been vendors at the East Lansing Farmer’s Market since the beginning in 2009.
“Diversity is really the key to being able to be successful in a farmers market,” Throop said. “Surprisingly things like Kohlrabi do really well, so it’s funny what niches you find. Things you wouldn’t expect, you know who would've thought kohlrabi would be a big seller.”
The weather hasn’t discouraged them from sharing their produce with the community.
“I’m honored to be a farmer,” Stevenson said. “You know, I mean it is a really special relationship we have not only with the ground that we grow on and the plants that we plant and the vegetables that we harvest but the relationships that we have with the customers. They genuinely do appreciate the food.”
This farmer’s Market caters to growers like them. Everything there is 100% handmade or grown.
“Every once in a while we’ll have a regular customer that comes and they’ll buy all of their produce from us and they’ll make a special meal on that Sunday with just stuff from the farmers market so it’s kind of special in that way,” Stevenson said.
The market will be at Valley Court Park in East Lansing every Sunday until October 27th. You can check out the weekly vendor lineup at this link.
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