From Your Farmer
Third-Generation Farmer, John Peterson, writes about the happenings at Ferndale Market.
From Your Farmer: March 2024
It goes without saying that this Minnesota winter has been out of the norm. As a turkey farmer, that’s had its advantages. We’ve spent less time moving snow around, which gives us time to tackle other off-season farm projects. We’ve spent less time worrying about keeping poults warm. We’ve hardly had to salt the market parking lot. And, I [...]
From Your Farmer: February 2024
I’m going to continue the theme from last month, sharing another stroke of good fortune that has sustained us for 15 years in business at Ferndale Market. None of us can do it alone, and nothing has been more central to our continued growth than our partner farms. They’re tops in our “Greatest Hits” of good fortune. I’d argue [...]
From Your Farmer: January 2024
Happy New Year from all of us at Ferndale Market! Many of you may recall that we celebrated the 15th anniversary of our market opening last fall. As we discussed the milestone here as a team, someone jokingly suggested we should release a “Greatest Hits” album to commemorate. We may not have any hits to re-release, but the humorous [...]
From Your Farmer: September 2023
Any farmer will tell you there’s a universal law that extra work always stacks up on a holiday. That’s the spot we found ourselves in this Labor Day. As an employer, I wish nobody had to work on a holiday, but we haven’t trained the turkeys to take a day off, so our team rotates through the holidays to [...]
From Your Farmer: August 2023
We had BLTs and sweet corn for dinner last night. Matter of fact, we’ve been having tomatoes and sweet corn almost daily lately. Since opening Ferndale, I’ve made it a personal goal to go a little over-the-top when local produce is in season. It starts in late May when asparagus is fresh, continues in June with strawberries, and these [...]
From Your Farmer: July 2023
This is one of my favorite notes to write each year because I have the chance to personally invite you to our farm. Yes, we’re hosting our annual Summer Farm Tour day this Saturday morning from 9:30-11:30. We’ll be doing hayride tours through the farm and we’ll have samples to try in the market. I’ll be playing tour guide [...]
From Your Farmer: June 2023
They say the only constant is change. I’ve definitely learned that to be true in the world of retail. Or, in the wise words of our first retail clerk, Marlene Willis, “You’ll never figure out retail. If you think you have, it changes!” Yes, we’ve learned quite a bit in our 15 years at Ferndale Market and one of [...]
From Your Farmer: May 2023
I think nearly every Midwesterner would agree that this winter carried on at least a month too long, and I rejoice at these great spring days we’re having as I write this. Suddenly, our grass is growing inches a day, the neighborhood frogs are back, and the plant rack has made its annual appearance in front of the market. [...]