from the farm to the market

A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to visit Green Edge Organic Gardens, a veteran vendor at the Athens Farmers Market. Becky and Kip Rondy have owned the 120-acre farm (located at 16232 Henry Rd. Amesville, OH 45711) for the past 20 years. They produce salad mixes, microgreens, vegetables and six kinds of specialty mushrooms, all grown and harvested by hand. In addition to selling at the market, Green Edge sells to local restaurants including Casa Nueva, Village Bakery, Zoë's, The Farmacy Natural Foods, Seaman's Cardinal Grocery and Latitude 39 and selected restaurants in Columbus. Green Edge also has a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program where community members can purchase a "farm share" in return for a weekly portion of the harvest throughout the season, usually equaling out to 10-25 100% certified organic vegetables. (Anyone interested in learning more about the CSA program should click here!)

I visited the farm on a Friday, one of their busiest days. The schedule plays out as follows:

1. Employees arrive early Friday morning to harvest produce.

2. All produce is taken to the packing room to be rinsed:


3. Then bunched:



4. And then packed:


5. Early Saturday morning, all produce is loaded into trucks and vans.

6. And I met up with the Green Edge employees again on Saturday morning as they unloaded their produce as the market:



And there you have it - the food followed from the farm to the market.