Acorn Farmers Market – The transition is beginning with Meghan Berry’s help

Acorn Farmers’ Market and Cafe will be coming to Manchester later this year.

submitted by Ruth VanBogelen, Acorn Farmers Market and Cafe

In January 2019 after the news that the Manchester Market was closing, the owners of Argus Farm Stop came to Manchester to talk to a group of Manchester residents about the store model they were using at two locations in Ann Arbor. You might call Argus Farm Stop an EXTREME farmers market because both stores are open every day (around 90 hours a week) selling locally grown/made food on behalf of regional producers. The owners talked about how they were able to get their store going in about a year. They choose an L3C business model that is used by low-profit businesses with a social mission. Immediately a group from Manchester started dreaming – how could we get an Argus-like store in Manchester?

No one stepped forward with start up funds for a Manchester store, so volunteers decided to go the non-profit route and raise the money. The non-profit application was submitted in May 2019, and received in July. The Board of Directors is getting close to having the funds needed to renovate, equip and stock the store to be like Argus Farm Stop. Soon Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café will be up and going. In the meantime, the Acorn Farmers’ Market will serve as a place to buy healthy food to make homemade meals.

We are very lucky that Meghan Berry has joined the Acorn Farmers Market operation as both market manager and and organizational development manager. Meghan worked at Argus for two years including working on their Food Hub. What better way to get the market up and going than with operation methods already ‘figured out’ at Argus?

To help everyone get to know Meghan’s perspective on “food” and other things, we asked her a few questions:

Why do you think the Argus stores are so popular – especially because there are so many big box grocery stores in Ann Arbor?

People enjoy shopping at farmers markets because the food is fresh and often unique to the region or season. Stores like Argus offer the fun of a farmers market but with the convenience of a grocery store by staying open all day, every day. If the weather is bad or you just didn’t make it to market, customers can still stop at Argus and buy the same items from their favorite local producers. Customers also love knowing that their shopping dollars stay right in their own community–split between the grower and the store. Argus and Acorn are “growing the local food economy” by encouraging a strong food production system in southeast Michigan.

What is a Food Hub?

There are many different styles of Food Hub, but the common idea is to bring small farms together to sell to large buyers and expand the market for locally grown healthy food. When we were starting the Argus Food Hub, I built an online catalog of produce and meat from several farms and sold to restaurants, schools, and community groups. While one small family farm might not have enough carrots to supply a restaurant, five farms working together do!

Part of the fun of a farmers market is talking to the farmers/vendors. Will we lose that connection at Acorn?

Acorn Farmers’ Market and Café will have a coffee shop and be a place for the community to gather, including vendors. Farmers and producers will be at the store regularly to deliver fresh food, and we hope they will pause for a coffee and a chat with their customers. Market staff and volunteers are also an important part of connecting consumers to farmers–I love to tell guests how their beef was raised or that their lettuce was harvested just this morning. Shoppers at Acorn will know exactly where their purchases come from so the experience is never anonymous like shopping at a big grocery store.

Tell us about your farming experience in Alaska…

I’ve lived and worked on farms in Alaska for about three years altogether. Last summer I interned for an organic vegetable farm in the Matanuska Valley, outside of Anchorage. The Alaskan farming season is short and intense. The soil thaws late in the year, but 24 hours of daylight helps the veggies grow huge. Last year’s state fair winning cabbage weighed 77 pounds. One of the greatest challenges is keeping moose out of the fields–they absolutely love cauliflower.

What do you most admire about people who have dedicated their career to farming?

I admire farmers for their depth of knowledge, ingenuity, and the range of skills that farm work requires. Farmers and food producers do it all–they are entrepreneurs and do the physical work of producing an essential product. At this moment in time, we see more than ever how essential the people are that create our food staples out of nothing but seeds and soil.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.