ANC: Farmer's Market  

Programs

New! Farmers Market Official Forms

Please click here to access the Allen Street Farmers Market form library.

Lansing Localvore Challenge

Allen Neighborhood Center and the Allen Street Farmers Market, along with a great list of local business and organizations, worked together this fall to support the Lansing Area Localvore Challenge, which took place September 8th-15th. Participants will pledged to eat only locally grown and produced foods for a meal, a day, or the entire week.

Here are some great reasons to eat locally:

• For the economy: When you support local farmers, more of your money stays in the community.
• For the environment: Typically, food on the average Michigan plate has traveled 1,500 miles! After transportation, food choices have the biggest impact on the environment and energy use.
• For your health: You can feel safer about your food when it comes from local sources. You can even go check it out and see if it measures up to your standards.

For more information on the "localvore" movement in Lansing, please visit www.lansingarealocalvores.org .

Introducing...the farmers!

We are lucky to work with an amazing group of local farmers! Here are profiles on some of our regulars. Stay tuned for new additions, or stop by the market to meet them in person.

Apple Schram Organic Orchard
Farmer: Jane Bush
Location: Charlotte, MI
Apple Schram is located on West Mount Hope Hwy. Farmer Jane Bush bought the orchard 17 years ago, and today manages the farm organically, producing apple products like cider, applesauce, and apple butter, as well as other farm products and vegetables grown in her hoop house. Jane is also the founder of the farmer's egg cooperative, Grazing Fields.

Wildflower Organic Farm
Farmer: Phil Throop
Location: Bath, MI
A new addition to the Farmer's Market, Wildflower is surrounded by gardens, hay fields, the Rose Lake Wildlife Research Area and no chemical drift! Phil Throop has been growing without chemical pesticides or fertilizers for many years. The farm is a father/son operation with help from neighbors, volunteers, and paid workers. They grow 200 varieties of fruits and vegetables.

Clark Sugarbush Farm
Farmer: Wes and Janet Clark
Location: Mason, MI
The Clark family has been farming for over one hundred years. Wes and Janet grow perennials, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, squash and unusual veggies like purple potatoes on their 123-acre farm. They also produce maple syrup and don't use any chemical pesticides or fertilizers on their plants.

Green Eagle Farm
Farmers: Chéla Ashley and Steve Gross
Location: Onandaga, MI
This family farm offers a variety of produce, including basil, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, collards, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, flowers, kohlrabi, lettuce, okra, onions, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, spinach, strawberries, and much more!

Felzke Farms
Farmer: Jane Landosky
Location: Dewitt, MI
The Felzke Farm has been in the family since 1902. They specialize in strawberries, black and red raspberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, and more. Visit them on the web at www.felzkefarms.com.

Farmer:Karen Gram
Location: St. John's, Michigan
Karen and her husband run a lovely farm up in St. Johns, Michigan. The two have been vegetable farming for 15 years and are second-generation farmers. This year they will have tomatoes (roma and yellow), basil, cilantro, parsley, summer squash, onions, melons, beets, lettuce, eggplant, peaches, potatoes, and sweet corn and pumpkins and gourds in the fall.

The Giving Tree Farms
Location: Lansing, MI
Giving Tree Farm has several programs. They were created to serve the disabled and their families near Lansing, Michigan. The farm has a community-supported agriculture program, horticultural therapy, and horticultural training. They work with Michigan State University's Department of Horticulture on organic research projects, and do research with growing in unheated hoophouses year round. They employ interns and students, as well as people with disabilities.

The Vang Family
Farmer:Boua Chao Vang
Location:Lansing, MI
The Vangs are a Lansing couple who have some of the best looking beets in town. They are new to the market this year and have a variety of produce, including rhubarb, collards, carrots and cabbage.


Meet the Bakers!

Alice’s Kitchen
Baker:Alice & Raymond Harris
Location:Grand Ledge, Michigan
This is the second year for Alice & Ray at the Allen Street Farmers Market and the neighborhood is thrilled that they are back! Alice’s baked goods are truly one of a kind. Her specialties include sweet potato pie, cobblers, sweet breads and cinnamon rolls. Raymond also builds tater and onion bins. This year Alice has featured a variety of pies in a variety of sizes, as well as muffins and cookies.

Back to ANC's Food Page

Resources

• Local Harvest maintains a definitive and reliable "living" public nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources.
• The Food Stamp Program enables low-income families to buy nutritious food with coupons and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards.
• Project FRESH is a program that makes fresh produce available to low-income, nutritionally-at-risk consumers, by using Michigan farmers' markets.
• FoodRoutes.org is a national non-profit dedicated to reintroducing Americans to their food--the seeds it grows from, the farmers who produce it, and the routes that carry it from the fields to our tables.

Buy Local, Eat Well

Questions or comments about the site? Contact us or email ancfranny@gmail.com.