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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

I think it’s natural to romanticize farming, or maybe business ownership in general. One of my mottos here is that we should try to solve problems so our customers don’t have to. In today’s business speak, we’re trying to eliminate pain points, so we work hard to make it all look easy. But, as any business owner would tell [...]

Out of nowhere, everybody seems to know the price of a dozen eggs. We’ve grown all-too-accustomed to this by now. The last three years have taught us to lurch from empty shelves to price hikes. Between pandemic-induced supply chain issues, inflation, and changes in our shopping behaviors, we sure spend more time thinking about the complex levers that impact [...]

It seems like one of the recurring themes in my recent podcast feed and reading list has been the so-called urban rural divide. Most interestingly, I seem to bump into this from both sides of the table. I’ll read in an agriculture publication that the urbanites don’t get it, and then I’ll hear on the radio that it’s the [...]