Bloom Bake Shop

Nestled right in the heart of Monroe street, Bloom Bake Shop is a neighborhood favorite that has been providing the community with a delicious variety of homemade goods for 11 years. 

Photo courtesy of Annemarie Maitri

After spending much of her life moving around the US, owner Annemarie Maitri came to Madison 15 years ago and found home. Not long after, she opened the doors of Bloom Bake Shop and turned her dream into a reality. 

“Family brought me to Madison and it’s just an amazing place to be. I love raising a family here, and Madison is just a great community overall,” shared Annemarie. 

Photo courtesy of Annemarie Maitri

For Annemarie and her husband Mark, Bloom Bake Shop is indeed a family affair–their three kids also work at the bakery as part of the team. 

French-style pastries, American classics, light breakfast and lunch offerings, and daily baked bread are all on the menu at Bloom. Everything is baked from scratch using fresh and, often, local ingredients too. 

“I think we're known for using fresh ingredients and baking from scratch and really working with seasonality,” shared Annemarie, “We are known for our buttermilk biscuit sandwiches and our sweet potato donuts. We do really amazing layer cakes as well.”

Photo courtesy of Annemarie Maitri

Bloom joined the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market during the market’s second year, where Annemarie was one of the first members on its board. 

“I think it's really grown to be such a great, well-rounded market and the purveyors are fantastic. Some of them established, some of them up-and-coming farmers, and I love that,” Annemarie reflected. “Also being someone that lives in the neighborhood, that we get to be a part of supporting these great purveyors and farmers, I couldn't be more proud to be one of the establishments at the market for those same reasons.”

Photo courtesy of Annemarie Maitri

Bloom uses a variety of ingredients from local farmers and producers, some of whom are fellow vendors at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market. 

Along with seasonal mushrooms from local purveyors, many of the fall flavors have been crafted with apples, pumpkins, and pears from Morren Orchard, a fellow MSFM vendor.

On busy weekends at the market, the Pain Au Chocolat, Market Cinnamon Rolls, Classic Croissants, and weekly Savory Danish are some of the favorite goods that sell fast. Annemarie even admitted that her favorite item is currently the perfectly flaky Savory Danish. 

Photo courtesy of Annemarie Maitri

In addition to vending at the market, Bloom has been doing curbside pickups on weekends and is now only a month away from an exciting grand re-opening. 

While the market season winds down, Annemarie is optimistic for Bloom: “We will be kind of evolving, I mean, much of glue will stay the same. But as everyone's evolving, we will be evolving too.”

Be sure to stop by this weekend to check out the weekly flavor of the famed Savory Danish before they’re gone! Visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School. 

Photo courtesy of Annemarie Maitri

Bayk Madison

Sweet. Savory. Boozy. You name it, and Bayk Madison probably has a variety of babka for it. 

With over 30 different flavors to try, Bayk Madison has turned a traditional Jewish bread into a delicious and versatile treat.

Photo courtesy of Susan Kay

Born and raised in the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, owner Susan Kay went on to receive a degree in bakery science from Kansas State University and then worked in corporate food research and development for 22 years. 

Susan came to Madison in 2018 to fulfill her dream of opening a bakery after leaving Palermo’s Pizza in Milwaukee. Inspired by a fourth-generation Jewish baker she worked with while living in Boston several years prior, Susan saw an opportunity for a babka bakery in the Madison area. 

“When I came to Madison and was looking around there wasn’t a babka baker and so I thought, well maybe there was space for that,” shared Susan. “It’s very much on-trend on both the East Coast and West Coast, really all ethnic breads are.” 

Photo courtesy of Susan Kay

While Bayk’s most popular babka are the traditional chocolate hazelnut and cinnamon flavors, there are over 30 seasonal varieties baked with fresh and often local ingredients.

“One of the things that I think sets Bayk Madison apart a little bit is the fact that I make all of my own fillings, with the exception of the chocolate hazelnut which is Nutella. And if there is an opportunity to have it be from a local farmer or locally sourced, then I definitely do that,” Susan explained of her recipes. 

Photo courtesy of Susan Kay

Joining the farmer’s market community has supported Bayk’s growth as a business and helped Susan develop relationships with a variety of local farmers and other producers. 

“The savory pesto uses basil from a farm here that is local, and the garlic is local. With the strawberry rhubarb, the rhubarb is from a local farmer here in Dane County,” Susan shared.

Photo courtesy of Susan Kay

Susan came to the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market in 2019 and in addition to vending, became a member of the MSFM board as well.

“I felt it was really important for me as a newcomer to Madison, if you will, as well as a new business in Madison, to just get to know as many people as I could and to use this market, and the market board, as an experience and help spread the Bayk message and also get to know people,” Susan shared. “So from a networking perspective, I think it's been tremendous.”

Bayk is currently operating out of a beautiful bakery space near the East Side of Madison and has plans for a grand opening when COVID-19 restrictions permit it. In the meantime, Bayk will continue vending throughout the farmer’s market season in addition to wholesale retailing, curbside pickup, and delivery orders shipped through USPS. 

Come out and grab a loaf (or two) of babka before the market season is over! Visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School.

Los Abuelos Farley Farm

For Juan Gonzalez Torres, farming means much more than planting seeds and harvesting crops. 

Photo courtesy of Juan Gonzalez Torres

Over the past decade, Juan has been a leader in his community selling and donating produce all over the Madison area, introducing fruits and vegetables grown in his hometown of Puebla, Mexico to farmer’s markets, restaurants, and shelters. 

After moving from Puebla to Madison in 2003 to join his sister Reyna in her restaurant and catering business, Juan spent several years working at restaurants in the Madison area. 

Photo courtesy of Juan Gonzalez Torres

In 2009, he brought his talents and passion for farming to the Gene and Linda Farley Center for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability in Verona. When Juan joined the Farley Center’s farm incubator program that launched in 2010, Los Abuelos Farley Farm was born and named after the center’s owners, Gene and Linda. 

Photo courtesy of Juan Gonzalez Torres

Growing Mexican crops like epazote and verdolagas and adopting Midwestern crops like Kohlrabi and Kale, Juan brings a special fusion of Mexican and Midwestern farming to the Madison area. 

In 2011, Juan started Los Jalapeños CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where members pay for weekly boxes of seasonal produce for 20 weeks. Today, Los Jalapeños CSA has over 250 members with the biggest amount of shares going to support employees at the Epic Farm Campus in Verona.

In addition to Monroe Street Farmer’s Market, Juan sells his produce at Hilldale Market, Northside Farmer's Market, local restaurants, Mexican grocery stores including MariMar and Santa Maria, schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District, REAP Food Group, and Second Harvest.

Photo courtesy of Juan Gonzalez Torres

Apart from growing a wide variety of vegetables, Juan added that what he enjoys best about his job is his ability to sell directly to local consumers and support local residents in need through donating to food pantries. 

Juan runs his farm enterprise in cooperation with his sister Reyna’s local Madison restaurant and catering business, El Sabor de Puebla. Together, the family businesses are active in their communities to foster growth, diversity, and partnership among local farmers and organizations.

Juan’s efforts through Los Abuelos Farley Farm and Los Jalapeños CSA not only bolster the local agriculture economy but serve as a reminder of the power that food has to bring communities and cultures together.

Come explore Los Abuelos Farley Farm’s variety of produce this weekend! Join us at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School in Madison, Wisconsin.

Tower Hill Maple Syrup

Whether he’s tapping trees, chopping firewood, or cooking syrup to rich perfection, Wayne Zimmerman is meticulous in crafting maple syrup down to the very last drop. 

Four years ago, Wayne retired from his job as a state employee and turned to a family tradition and passion that promised to keep him busy: tapping homemade maple syrup at his family farm. 

Growing up on the family farm in Rudolph, Wisconsin, Wayne spent his childhood watching his father harvest maple syrup. After receiving a degree in Dairy Sciences at UW-Madison and then spending years working for the state in health services, Wayne and his sister JoAnn returned to their roots and started Tower Hill Maple Syrup. 

Photo courtesy of Julie Zimmerman

Now four years in the making, Tower Hill Maple Syrup is a family affair managed by Wayne, his wife Julie, and sister JoAnn. 

The season begins every March when Wayne makes the commute up to Rudolph from his home in Madison. The tapping process is very precise, requiring perfect temperatures and mornings that begin 3 a.m. 

Photo courtesy of Julie Zimmerman

A few hours and 200 gallons of sap later, Wayne boils it over a fire made from the very same woods where the sap is tapped. 

“I must cook slower than other people because I get a lot of very dark syrup. And that’s what my customers like,” shared Wayne. 

Photo courtesy of Julie Zimmerman

All spring, the family taps, chops, and boils until the warmer weather arrives. Then, it’s time to share their delicious range of syrup at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market every weekend throughout the summer and fall. 

By evaporating the sap slowly and carefully over a wood-burning fire, Tower Hill’s finished products are uniquely robust and unrefined. 

“The larger producers use reverse osmosis to remove half the water before they begin cooking, and that makes lighter syrup. That’s what you find in stores,” Wayne explained. “There aren’t very many places you can find dark syrup in Madison.”

Now in his fourth year as a vendor at Monroe Street Farmer’s Market, Wayne says he’s enjoyed building relationships with customers and fellow vendors from the Madison area. This year, Tower Hill Maple Syrup expanded to sell at the Hilldale Farmer’s Market as well. 

Photo courtesy of Julie Zimmerman

As the weather cools and farmer’s market season winds down, Wayne keeps busy at the farm cutting firewood to prepare for the next season of syrup and drives back to Madison for the weekends to sell the syrup until stock runs out, which he shared is coming quick!

In four grades ranging from Amber, Golden, Dark, and Very Dark syrup, Tower Hill’s products are rich and full of natural sweetness. The best way to enjoy it? According to Wayne himself, pancakes or french toast, of course!

Be sure to grab a bottle of Tower Hill’s Maple Syrup before it’s gone for the season. Visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School.

What Got Gathered

Photo courtesy of Andy Gricevich

Unique, rich, and rare flavors can be found right in our own backyards if we look close enough. Andy Gricevich has been exploring nature’s nooks and crannies for years, gathering a variety of wild-grown fruits, vegetables, and other plants and transforming them into fermented hot sauces, jams, and more. 

Andy first learned to forage as a child, picking blackberries and morels just for fun with his father. After moving from Illinois to Southern California to pursue a music career, Andy realized that he longed for the wilderness and seasonality of the Midwest and relocated to Madison. With a keen eye for nature’s hidden gems and a growing interest in wild foods and fermentation, What Got Gathered was born.

“I moved back to the Midwest after eight years in San Diego and I really just sort of got deeper into the local landscape, and started getting obsessed with wild food,” Andy shared. “In playing with fermentation I made like some really excellent hot sauce very easily, and was sharing it with all my friends and realized I could probably sell that stuff.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Gricevich

For Andy and his partner Nora, What Got Gathered is an endeavor for community building and education just as much as it is a business venture. Before COVID-19 restrictions were implemented this year, Andy enjoyed hosting group walks where he introduced people to the wild foods in their own communities. Since then, he began to offer solo nature walks.

“It's actually been a really good year for private walks. A lot of people want to get out and learn about plants, be outdoors, and add this connection and awareness of what's all around them to their lives,” Andy explained, “you know, to transform the wall of green of plants that nobody knows into the stuff that really stands out.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Gricevich

While Andy does much of his foraging in the local Madison area, he travels across Dane County to gather the season’s freshest plants, fungi, and other wild-grown delicacies. Though he’s always crafting his specialty hot sauces, Andy seeks out seasonal fruits and vegetables as well.

“Right now it's high wild fruit season so I'm going out every day and getting wild plums and wild grapes and elderberries and juicing them and turning them into jellies and sauces,” Andy shared. “Right now I have something like, you know, 20 gallons of wild grapes.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Gricevich

While foraging can often be a solo endeavor, What Got Gathered has blossomed thanks to the help of Andy’s family and friends who are always helping in the process. He’s also connected with fellow foragers in the Madison area to learn and build community. 

Now in his second year at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market, Andy embraces the camaraderie and collaboration between vendors. 

“Being part of that public engaged space, you know, I tend to come away from the market feeling really good and wanting to hear everybody's story,”

Looking ahead into the fall season, Andy is excited to harvest mushrooms, nuts, and continue to connect with fellow Madison residents and encourage curiosity about the nature around them. 

“What I'm excited about is education, more than anything else I guess you could call it, education and community building. And more imaginative cool products. I like making this stuff.” 

Be sure to visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School. 

For more information on What Got Gathered, visit their website: https://whatgotgathered.com/about/ 

Blue Heron Community Farm

Photo courtesy of @blueheroncommunityfarm

For Alex Young and Linsey Stoner, owners of Blue Heron Community Farm, nothing beats looking up and seeing a line of smiling (masked) faces waiting to buy their produce. Blue Heron Community Farm is a first-generation, certified organic farm located in Reedsville, Wisconsin.

Alex learned to love vegetables while spending summers on his grandparent’s garden in Idaho, “At a young age I was really into vegetables -- I was the kid that would go to the salad bar and only eat some red cabbage,” he said. “Vegetables have always been a really huge part of my life.”

After coming from a background in organic vegetable farming, Alex realized he wanted to do direct marketing to farmer’s markets with an emphasis in sustainability. He and Lindsey purchased their farm in 2016 after deciding to settle down in Wisconsin. 

Alex Young. Photo courtesy of @blueheroncommunityfarm

“Outdoors and the environment and sustainability were always a huge part of our lives and so we really wanted to start an organic vegetable farm tailored to local markets,” Alex said. “The dream was to have a business that was just my wife and I. We pretty much do everything ourselves and we like to have our hands in every part of the business.”

Alex and Linsdey, who met 12 years ago at the University of Utah, now work seamlessly as a husband and wife team to run their farm. They are perfect complements of each other, Alex explained, “I grow vegetables and my wife is really amazing at selling vegetables, and so that is what has been one of our biggest strengths -- we have opposite skill sets that complement each other really well.”

Alex described three pillars of being sustainable that are important to them and their farm: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability. They focus on soil health and biodiversity and were certified organic last year. Alex explained how they, “consider the ecosystem of the farm in everything we do, and how our farming practices impact the environment we share.”

Photo courtesy of @blueheroncommunityfarm

Offering a wide variety of different vegetables, Alex and Lindsey want to make sure their customers know how to use what they buy -- which is where their online recipe directory comes in. 

“We wanted people to understand how to cook with kohlrabi or celeriac or some of the more unusual vegetables,” Alex explained. Now, customers can search on their website for any ingredient they want to find a recipe on how to use it. “We think that helps make local food a little more approachable,” he added. 

Photo courtesy of @blueheroncommunityfarm

Blue Heron Community Farms joined the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market partway through last season. Alex explained why they love being vendors at the MSFM, “hands down the best part of the market are the amazing customers. They are friendly, gracious, very well educated about seasonal vegetables and patient with the new market set up this season.”

To shop Blue Heron Community Farm, and other amazing vendors, visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School. For more information on what produce Blue Heron will be offering weekly at the market, Alex urges customers to sign up for their weekly newsletter on their website.

“ We would especially like to thank our regular customers who come every week to support us and compliment our vegetables. We work very hard to grow the best produce we can, and the greatest compliment we can receive is a customer telling us that they love our lettuce or tomatoes.”

Photo courtesy of @blueheroncommunityfarm

For more information on Blue Heron Community Farm, visit their website: https://www.blueheroncommunityfarm.com or follow their instagram: @blueheroncommunityfarm

Once Upon My Countertop

Nicknamed “The Waunakee Pickle Guy,” Andy Fountain, owner of Once Upon My Countertop, certainly lives up to his title. Each week, eager market-goers line up to his booth to get their hands on his homemade jams, salsas, and delicious pickled vegetables. 

Although Andy has been cooking since age five or six, canning is what truly caught his eye. He grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where the growing season is pretty short, so canning is a common thing for most farmers. He learned the art of canning from his grandparents on both sides. 

After graduating from Carthage College in Kenosha and moving to Wisconsin, Andy decided to bring with him his favorites from childhood, and began growing and canning his own food. His hobby quickly grew into the successful Once Upon a Countertop after a friend suggested that he sell his products at local farmers markets. 

“The biggest joy is watching a customer come back to our booth at the farmer’s market and be like ‘there were the best I’ve ever had,’” Andy explained. “Canning and pickling is a lost art, for me to be recognized as an accomplished master of canning and pickling is exciting.” 

Offering 10-20 products its first year at markets, Once Upon a Countertop now creates over 50 different varieties of canned foods, 90% of which are homegrown.

Andy, alongside his wife Stephanie and three children who serve as “taste testers,” create all of their recipes and products entirely from scratch — the name Once Upon a Countertop refers to how Andy literally makes his products on his counter!

This is Once Upon a Countertop’s second full season at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market. Despite his relatively new status as a vendor, Andy describes the MSFM as becoming “a family thing.”

“[The customers] know that we’re there for them, and our customers are here for us too,” Andy explained. “They want to see us succeed, they want to see us continue at the market, so there’s a good blend of community and caring which makes the market unique.”

Additionally, the customers at the MSFM help push Once Upon a Countertop to try new and exciting recipes, Andy explained.

“At the Monroe Street market you see people that want to try new things,” Andy said. “That helps us twofold, because they’re coming to us with an idea that we can turn into a great product but it also gets them knowing that if they have an idea they can come talk to us.”

Andy detailed an interaction he had with a customer last year who approached him and suggested that he try making a jam with honey because she loved his jam but was trying to cut back on granulated sugar. Although he had never considered it before, Andy gave it a try and it is now one of his most successful products.

“When you have people that start out as strangers and now a lot of them are friends and family, when you have people walk up to your table and take a chance on you and eventually help you succeed, there is no way to express the amount of appreciation that you feel.”

Once Upon My Countertop will be offering around 40 different products at the MSFM, ranging from strawberry rhubarb jam to dilly beans to crisp bread and butter pickles with cauliflower. As Andy exclaims, “if you haven’t had bread and butter cauliflower, you haven’t really lived.”

To shop Once Upon My Countertop and many other amazing vendors, be sure to stop by the Monroe Street Farmers Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood College.

“I can’t put into words just how much we appreciate and how loved we feel at [the MSFM.] When you have people walk up to your table and take a chance on you and eventually help you succeed, there is no way to express the amount of appreciation that you feel,” Andy said.

For more information about Once Upon My Countertop, visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/onceuponmycountertop/

Lyna Cafe

When you speak to Angelina Vang, owner and founder of the Lyna Cafe food truck, there is one thing she makes very clear: “[Lyna Cafe] is my passion.”

Born and raised in Thailand, Angelina and her family were forced to abandon their home and came to the United States seeking refuge. She was fourteen when her family arrived in Wisconsin in the dead of winter, and she remembers her first experience of Madison as being “super duper cold.”

Angelina decided to travel back to Thailand in 2018 in order to take cooking classes in her native language of Hmong. Upon returning, Angelina started Lyna Cafe alongside her husband Adam, who is originally from Laos. The name Lyna Cafe was inspired by Angelina’s birth name from Thailand: Alyna.

“I love to make food and to serve people,” Angelina explained. “I can feed them [to be] happy so I’m happy.”

Angelina and Adam’s three children also help run Lyna Cafe, and were a core motivation for why they started their business.

“I have three kids and they’re helping me too, so hopefully I can do Lyna Cafe for many many years to support my kids to go to school,” Angelina explained. “I need [the profits from Lyna Cafe] to help my kids go to school.”

Angelina described that what sets Lyna Cafe apart from other vendors and food trucks is that her food is all homemade, specifically her well-known egg rolls and crab rangoon.

Lyna Cafe began selling at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market after customers asked them to, “because they love [our] egg rolls,” according to Angelina. She explained that she loves everyone at the MSFM, from the management to the customers. 

“They’re all really nice,” Angelina said. “The customers really support me there.”

Lyna Cafe sells boba drinks, egg rolls, crab rangoon and ice cream. Make sure to stop by the Monroe Street Farmers Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School. 

For more information on Lyna Cafe, visit their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Lyna151/

Observatory Hill Farm

As passionate about the sheep that they shepard as they are about their “family” at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market, Cindy and Mark Mackenzie of Observatory Hill Farm are a vendor that you will not want to miss.

Observatory Hill Farm has been at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market since its first season, and they truly feel they are part of a greater community. They contrasted the MSFM with other markets that can often feel impersonal or sterile. 

“I love [the MSFM], it’s just got such a homey vibe,” Cindy said. “People come from the whole neighborhood around there, you see the same faces every week and it starts to feel like a big family. It’s got a great feel to it,” Mark added.

When explaining why they love farming, the couple pointed to the name used for farmers in Mark’s native country of Australia -- “primary producers.” They both were attracted to the idea of being a producer rather than a consumer.

“I’m at the origin of things. I’m hoping to put food on people’s tables and create wool that helps people to keep those original homemaking skills alive -- that is what I find fulfilling about it,” Cindy said. “When I sell fleece to a customer and I know that they are taking that wool and turning it into yarn and knitting it into some garments, it's very fulfilling for me to know that I provided them with that.”

Mark also explained where his love for farming stems from, “when I was growing up we always had a small farm with cattle on it, and one of the things I learned was that there was always something to do and I really like exercising my brain to do that. I love solving issues and constructing things, and there’s always plenty of things to do like that on the farm.” 

Cindy and Mark met in Fiji while she was serving on the Peace Corps and he was on an overseas assignment. Engaged within six weeks, they lived in Australia for a few years before returning to the United States so that Cindy could attend graduate school at UW-Madison. 

Cindy always had the “crazy idea of having a farm,” and indoctrinated Mark into her plans, and the two decided that Madison would be the perfect place to make their dreams come true.

“Madison is a really forward moving environment with lots of opportunities around, it’s a pretty high tech place,” Mark explained. “The whole progressive nature of Madison is where we wanted to be, so we were thrilled to find this property and think ‘wow, we could actually settle here!’” Cindy added.

After buying the land that would become Observatory Hill Farm, Cindy and Mark spent the next ten years preparing for their farm, which they truly “built from scratch.” In fact, the ten year anniversary of their farm is coming up this August.

“We’ve been learning through trial and error because it’s really hard to find a sheep school that you can go through,” Cindy jokingly explained. “It’s been a lot of joys, sorrows, blood, sweat and tears, and just learning everyday as the years have gone on.”

Growing up, Cindy would visit her relatives’ farms in Iowa and always felt envious of their lifestyle. She knew early on that when she was older she wanted to have a farm of her own. After learning how to spin the raw fleece of a sheep, she decided she wanted to “get even closer to the land” -- which is why they chose to work with sheep.

Now, they couldn’t imagine their lives without their sheep.

“I just love these sheep… everyday I feel deprived if I haven’t had my time,” Cindy said. “Honestly, I really enjoy being around them. They’re kinda like big dogs, which is really important to us.” 

Their love of their animals shows itself in the care they provide for them. Cindy explained that there is an old adage among sheep farmers that a sick sheep is a dead sheep. To these shepherds, it’s a myth.

“We have a higher standard of care for our animals than I’ve seen on other sheep farms,” Cindy explained. “For other people I understand it is just a money making venture but for us we really love our sheep and we want to do the best we can by them.”

At the market, Observatory Hill Farm provides “everything [their] sheep can give,” which includes cuts of lamb, brats, hand-spun yarn and lamb skins in a variety of colors.

Make sure to shop at the Monroe Street Farmers Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School in Madison, Wisconsin.

For more information on Observatory Hill Farm, visit their website: http://observatoryhillfarm.com/wp/

Southpaw Fruit Farm

Local food, made interesting and available.

Enter Southpaw Fruit Farm -- because that’s exactly what they aim to do. Opened just last year by Abbi Smith and Mark Gallo, Southpaw Fruit Farm is located in Waterloo, Wisconsin and grows a variety of exciting flowers and fruits. 

Described by Abbi as a “little postage stamp in a sea of soy and corn,” Southpaw Fruit Farm offers Wisconsinites exciting and new produce options that they may have never experienced before. 

“We choose to grow varieties that you can’t just find at your local grocery store,” Abbi explained. “We want to have people open up their range of what's available in terms of fruit or flowers.”

You won’t find just typical produce like sunflowers or apples at this farm. Abbi and Mark are making an effort to offer a variety of produce and maybe introduce you to a new fruit of flower that’s different from what you’ve known. 

“We love growing our own food, and we love farming as a way of providing interesting local food to our community but also as a way to improve the environment around us.”

— Abbi Smith

With a combination of over 20 years of farming experience, Abbi and Mark met working on another farm before deciding to open up Southpaw Fruit Farm. Abbi began farming by working on an orchard, so her first love was growing fruit. She then began growing flowers on the side and learned to love it.

Abbi and Mark also decided to combine fruit and flowers on their farm because of how complementary the two are -- flowers help pollinate the fruit. This is just one example of how they operate with an environment-first mindset. 

“A lot of farms in Dane County grow with sustainable growing practices or with the environment in mind, and we're definitely part of that,” Abbi explained. “Everything we do is to improve the environmental system that we are a part of.”

Southpaw Fruit Farm’s main focus is biodiversity and building up their soil, so they plant a lot of native pollinator plants, grow diverse crops and use standard organic practices. Their flowers are grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. 

“We love growing our own food, and we love farming as a way of providing interesting local food to our community but also as a way to improve the environment around us,” Abbi said. “That’s who we are--that’s our focus.”

The decision to sell their produce at local farmer’s markets came from the love of connecting with customers and being able to meet the people that buy their products. Abbi and Mark chose the Monroe Street market specifically because of the strong emphasis placed on community and community building.

This upcoming season is Southpaw Fruit Farm’s second year at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market. They will be offering fresh cut flowers, as well as dried flowers later in the season. Also later in the season, Southpaw Fruit Farm will be selling a variety of melons, gourds, winter squash and decorative corn.

“We're trying to grow local food that people love to eat and that's affordable and that's accessible,” Abbi said. “We want to have people open up their range of what's available in terms of fruit or flowers.”

Be sure to visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Edgewood High School.

For more information on Southpaw Fruit Farm, visit their website: https://www.southpawfruitfarm.com

Follow Southpaw Fruit Farm’s Instagram: @southpawfruitfarm

Hermsdorf Farms

Hermsdorf Farms is not your average farmer’s market vendor—for more reasons than one. 

Many vendors are not actually in the city limits of Madison, but Hermsdorf Farms sits less than ten miles from the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market. In fact, Madison’s eastern city limits run directly through the farm, with about a quarter of the farm’s total 270 acres belonging to Madison.

But that’s just one way that Hermsdorf Farms sets itself apart from others. Unlike many other produce vendors, Dean Hermsdorf, head of Hermsdorf Farms, follows a strict chilling process to ensure that his produce is perfect every time. 

Within one hour of being harvested, Dean’s sweet corn is put under refrigeration (a highly specific 38 degrees,) which helps prevent deterioration of the crop. In fact, if you visit their stand at the Monroe Street Farmers Market in the morning, what you're buying will probably still be cold. 

Sweet corn that isn’t chilled in this way can lose much of its flavor and have a shorter life expectancy. Because of this, the Hermsdorfs urge you to refrigerate it as soon as possible after buying.

Not only does Dean work to perfect every crop through refrigeration, he is also always working to improve. He constantly experiments with the crops he puts in the ground, testing new growing methods against old to make sure his method is the best.

Dean doesn’t do it all alone though -- Hermsdorf Farms is a family farm through and through. His two children, Emma and Josh, both grew up active in 4-H and now help their dad run Hermsdorf Farms. Both in their early 20s, they are working to become nurses when they aren’t working on the farm. 

Josh and Emma Hermsdorf

In fact, farming runs in the Hermsdorf family. A fifth generation family farm, it was founded by German immigrants who landed in Milwaukee, WI in 1880. Dean’s grandparents began selling milk, eggs and poultry from a horse-drawn cart. Dean himself used to milk cattle, but has now been growing his fresh produce and famous sweet corn for over 20 years.

Hermsdorf Farms has been a vendor at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market since 2015. Aside from their famous sweet corn, Hermsdorf Farms will also be selling green beans at the market this upcoming Sunday. The following week, look out for cucumbers and summer squash, and at the end of July for tomatoes, bell peppers, cantaloupe and watermelon.

Make sure to visit the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays to shop Hermsdorf Farms and other amazing vendors.

Unconventional Acres

Ben and Mel Dickinson. Photo taken by Twig and Olive.

“Our goal is that for everything that we use or touch, we leave it better than we started with.”

For married couple Ben and Mel Dickinson, this commitment to bettering their surroundings, coupled with their passions for food and nutrition, led them to create Unconventional Acres--a farm with regenerative agricultural practices focused on the wellbeing of the land and animals around them.

“We only have one planet. No matter what we do we’re trying to give back to the land and trying to improve.”

— Mel Dickinson

Based in Arena, Wisconsin, Unconventional Acres will be available for online orders at the Monroe Street Farmer’s Market this season, offering grass-fed, pasture-raised beef and pork. Unable to be at the market in-person because Mel is in her third trimester of pregnancy, they offer same-day delivery for orders placed before 12:45 p.m. 

Both Wisconsin natives, Ben and Mel met in Milwaukee and lived there for five years before moving out west to Colorado. With a shared love for cooking and Mel’s passion for nutrition, the couple decided to begin growing their own food.

Photo taken by Twig and Olive.

“I started to delve into the quality of our food and where it came from; how it’s grown or prepared really interested me,” Melissa explained. “We thought we were gonna do homesteading and do our own proteins and veggies and the whole nine yards, and then we got into it and decided that we really liked it.”

After eight and a half years in Colorado, the couple decided to move back to their home state of Wisconsin and transfer their homestead into a small farm. Inspired by the local food movement in Colorado, Melissa and Ben wanted to provide food for their community and give back to the land around them.

Photo taken by Twig and Olive.

Both first-generation farmers, Melissa and Ben are growing Unconventional Acres rapidly and consider themselves to be very much “under construction.” Despite it’s new status, and doing everything on their own, Unconventional Acres is integrating many modern agricultural practices to improve the environment around it. 

“We only have one planet,” Melissa exclaimed. “No matter what we do we’re trying to give back to the land and trying to improve.”

Unconventional Acres utilizes silvopasture to restore and rejuvenate their forest into a usable habitat for their animals. Prioritizing animal welfare, Melissa and Ben practice free handling and on-farm harvests of their livestock.

“Seeing the wildlife come back and the biodiversity and the cattle thrive in the forest--it’s an amazing thing,” Melissa said. “We really care about our land--we absolutely love our land.”

Unconventional Acres just restocked at the start of July, so their grass-fed beef and pork will be available at the market this weekend. Processed cuts of pork, like bacon and sausage, will be available in a few weeks. 

When speaking about what she is most excited for in the future, Mel explained, “being able to connect with the community and provide them with a source of protein that they can know and trust.”

Photo taken by Twig and Olive.

For more information on Unconventional Acres, visit their website: unconventionalacres.com

Follow their Instagram: @unconventional_acres and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unconventionalacres