Tuscarawas Valley Farmers Market tour highlights local growers

A great deal of care and expertise go into growing the produce that two Amish farms sell every Wednesday at the Tuscarawas Valley Farmers Market.

The produce — potatoes, squash, sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, green beans and cherries – is grown in large greenhouses or in carefully cultivated fields in the rolling farmland of north central Holmes County, just south of Fredericksburg.

The hard work and dedication of the men who operate Weaver’s Truck Patch and Yoder’s Family Produce was showcased during a recent tour sponsored by the farmers market. The two farms are the anchor produce growers for the market.

Those on the tour included representatives from Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital and Park Street Pizza. Both establishments purchase fresh produce through the farmers market’s Food Hub program.

Also on the tour was Laura Sirot, a professor at the College of Wooster who is running for the state Senate in the 31st District, which includes Tuscarawas County.

The farmers market has been running the tours for around 10 years to educate the community about what it takes for area residents to eat well, to eat healthy and to eat local, according to Mark McKenzie, the chairman of the committee running the market.

“We're fortunate that we're surrounded by people who still have that knowledge and are willing to make the commitment to do that so we can eat and eat well,” he said.

On the tour, Jonas Yoder, owner of Yoder’s Family Produce, explained in great detail how he grows tomatoes in one of his greenhouses. The large structure was filled to the brim with towering tomato plants, laden with green and ripened tomatoes.

As the plants grow, Yoder extends the twine that holds up the plants to pull the plants up so that the tomatoes on the bottom are not touching the ground. If they become wet, they will begin to rot, he explained.

Yoder purchases bumblebees from a company in Michigan to pollinate the tomato plants.

At Weaver’s Truck Patch, the family produces maple syrup in addition to vegetables. The sugar maple trees on the farm are tapped to produce the syrup.

Jenny Yoder, who works at Park Street Pizza, said she was impressed by the care and stewardship the farmers demonstrated.

She noted that purchasing high-quality produce is important for Park Street.

“It's something that at Park Street we care about a lot. I feel like it sets us apart from most pizzerias. It's not quite farm to table, but it's as close as we can get without growing it ourselves. Farmers that are giving us produce directly from their fields that's vine-ripened and putting that on a pizza, you can taste the quality in the pizza itself. It shows a lot of care,” she said.

Caleb Stokey, food service director at Union Hospital, was taken by the amount of care the owners put into growing their produce.

He also highlighted the importance of purchasing high-quality produce. “This showcases to people that not everything has to come from a big box distributor. Supporting local and using local produce is just as important, if not more important. Meeting people and using that product shows a sense of community,” Stokey said.

Weaver’s Truck Patch has been providing produce to the farmers market since it opened in 2008. The business is operated by Ervin Weaver in partnership with his brother, Eli.

About 50 acres on the 140-acre farm are devoted to growing produce.

“We are satisfied with doing the farmers market. We see a lot of repeat customers, a lot of faces we get to see every week. It's good to interact with the customers,” Ervin Weaver said.

Yoder agreed.

“Working with the farmer's market has been very, very good. It has been gratifying to feel that the farmers market management team really, really feels for the customer. So, it really feels good to be there. It feels like home, a lot of friends we make there at the farmers market. So, it's really a good farmers market to go to,” he said.

Yoder grows produce on 12 acres.

The market, held Wednesdays from 3-7 p.m. at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds in Dover, runs through mid-October.