Hyde Park Farmers Market: Nourishing the community

By Kate Alexander

Started 21 years ago by Judy Williams and Mary Ida Compton, the Hyde Park Farmers Market made its debut in the parking lot of US Bank with a handful of vendors, a small group of patrons and the desire for local, sustainably raised, healthy food. While the venue may have changed, the desire has become the driving philosophy behind the current market’s farmers and food artisans.

“We have between 30 and 35 vendors depending on what time of year,” Liz Stites explained. “All of our vendors are full-time, family-owned businesses who are at the top of their game…Half of our vendors or more are farmers, a third are certified organic, all of them use sustainable practices.” 

A sustainable market

In addition to practicing sustainable farming, the market also focuses on the development of a sustainable community — encouraging food artisans and farmers to purchase and trade ingredients from one another, as well as donate any unsold produce to non-profits like St. Andrews.

Meet a few of the farmers

Running Creek Farm

Part of the Hyde Park Farmers Market since the beginning, and in their 22^nd year of production, Jim Lowenburg and his wife Karen are about as local as you can get, growing an impressive variety of produce and flowers on 1.5 of their five acres right in Mt. Healthy. 

Like several others at the market, they did not begin as farmers. Jim reminisced, “We started out with an interest in gardening, looking for more space to garden and it sort of expanded and got to the point where it was no longer a garden, but a small farm.”

Now they are growing full-time, focused on providing a wide variety of quality produce to fulfill people’s needs on the dinner table. 

“It’s hard work but fulfilling work,” Jim stated. “Being outside producing something that people appreciate is worthwhile, and I think the extension of that is it does help build community. There is a community of vendors at the market, vendors and shoppers as well. I’ve gotten to know people over the years and certainly have regulars who come week after week as well as folks who are new and I appreciate them all.”

The Eaton Farm

Owned by Liz and Jerry Eaton, this 115-acre family farm in Indiana has been serving the Hyde Park market since 2008. While Jerry has always known and loved farm life, Liz found farming through her desire to raise healthy, organic food. Since taking over 16 years ago, the couple has made it their philosophy to focus on providing nutritious, responsibly raised produce and meat that’s not just good for people but good for the environment. 

“We use regenerative methods for our growing practices,” Liz explained. “For the beef, it’s 100 percent grass-fed, which is the most ecologically friendly. For our omnivores (pigs, turkeys, chickens) they’re on rotating pasture, and because they can’t get all their nutrient requirements from the pasture alone, we supplement them with a non-GMO feed that we grind on the farm. Then for our produce, it kind of goes hand in hand with the animal operations because we’re able to get a lot of the manure from our animals for our fertility instead of importing.”

The success of these sustainable practices shows in the line of customers at their booth every Sunday. “We’re really grateful to be part of a market where farming is valued,” said Liz. “The patrons really make it possible for us to have this as a vocation.”

For their CSA visit: www.theeatonfarm.com/csa

Rich Life Farm

Started in 2020 by husband wife duo, Pete and Emalee Richmond, this specialty farm is one of the newest additions to Hyde Park, selling gourmet mushrooms.  

What began as a self-taught hobby to pass the time quickly grew into a business and a way of life. Emalee said, “We wanted to be able to invest the best of ourselves to each other and ourselves,” to which Pete added “It’s about living a life of purpose.” This rich life philosophy motivated the couple to research, learn and seek mentorship to start a farm of their very own.

Now they cultivate mushrooms year-round in a 2,000-square-foot controlled environment using organic practices and sell to local restaurants, grocery stores and the Hyde Park Farmers Market. 

“Our philosophy with farming now is just try to keep it simple,” Emalee concluded. “We just want to put out a consistent product that’s the best product we can possibly grow and get good healthy food to anyone we can.”

Visit the Hyde Park Farmers Market on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. To stay up to date, sign up for the weekly newsletter at hydeparkfarmersmarket.com.