Market Musings: Earthy name, local food

When walking through the Fulton Street Farmers Market, many of the local farms that ascend to the popular shopping spot tend to have one thing in common: their names. And no, not necessarily because they all have the word “farm” in it, but rather many feature a last name. However, one farm from Kent City does not fit that bill: Earthkeeper Farms.

Earthkeeper Farms is a chemical free farm, meaning that they spray no inorganic pesticides or herbicides on their crops, in addition to not using synthetic fertilizers. It’s all organic compost and manures to grow their crops. That’s a lot of fancy words for someone who may not be familiar with the farming business, but Molly Froysland, who was working the stand, was reassuring about the process.

“It’s better for your health,” she said. “You’re not consuming toxic chemicals, and it’s better for the ground because you’re not messing up the biology and the natural cycles of the soil.

“Once you taste it, you can taste the difference.”

Earthkeeper has a diversified vegetable crop on their land, including kale, lettuce, garlic, tomatoes, collard greens, bok choy, Asian greens, and spinach.

Like most farmers, Froysland is adamant about buying and growing local.

“To me, it’s about supporting your community,” she said. “You’re buying from places that haven’t been shipped from far away, which use a lot of resources, and it’s not going to taste as good. It’s great to know that when you’re buying something, the person that you’re buying it from put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it.”

Earthkeeper Farms makes the trek from Kent City weekly to set up shop and show the Grand Rapids community the benefits of buying local, from the way they grow it, all the way down to when you take a bite. Keep an eye out for their stand next time you make your way to the Fulton Street Farmers Market.