Tour of the Markets-Luther’s Farm Market, Richfield OH
Join me as I not only check out a great farmers market, but walk through the fields of a multi-generation farm! Starting their operation in the 1900s, this farm has been through a lot of change, and today stands strong, farming 90 acres of their own land and 400 acres rented. C’mon, let’s meet the family!
A visit to the farm isn’t polite without first meeting the helping hands. A wonderful charm of this market is that everyone was very welcoming, and the outer buildings were open for you to meet the animals.
They were use to being greeted and happy to say hi!
Well…most of them were. I’m always impressed when I see a turkey this close at their pure size. What a beautiful animal!
And goats of plenty! The morning’s musical soundtrack was to their beautiful singing!
As I walked in, I came around the side of their crops, and for those of you that have not been on a farm, the size alone really puts in perspective the produce that we will be buying!
Gearing up for the weekend, today started with yoga on the farm! We were just coming off of a few days of rain, which was very needed for everything, and made an almost mystical feel to the morning dew. A pleasant surprise!
Taking place on the farm itself, on the weekends, the family invites other vendors to join for their open fair, which brings any number of booths. This was a holiday weekend so the participation was slightly lighter, but that did not stop a great display of vendors and visitors! (this photo is to show my tour guide for the day 🙂 )
A lot of surrounding farms were present with their home made goods. This farm was set in a very rural setting, and I was quite impressed at the variety present!
Beautiful displays with so many types of creations!
A good number of textile goods were available, in really stand out colors! Gorgeous craftsmanship all around!
I’d be lying if I didn’t say more than a few of these found their way into my market bag….absolutely delicious!
I was blown away at the amount of arts that were present here. For the size and location of this market, this was really above and beyond the typical offerings available.
It was hard to side step the amount of gorgeous flavors and decorations on these sweets! And so beautifully created!
The outer building is their permanent market stand, and offers the Luther’s farm produce as well as many local options.
To greet you coming in, there were a lot of starter plants and herbs.
As well as great flowers! Not only ready to plant, but in creative arrangements and containers all around the building!
Inside the building felt like a general store. It was so charming, with refrigerated produce, as well as several chest freezers of meats.
Way above the typical butchered meats, there were lots of jerky, sausages, burger patties, etc in many creative flavor pairings! (I apologize for these last few photos with quality-the negative side effect of budget documentary 🙂 )
At first glance, this seemed to be a small building on their lawn, but walking through, there was EVERYTHING available! The inventory was really next level. It was very clear that there was much love and labor put into every crop, not only in the harvest months, but canning, and making goods for the whole year!
To fully round out your cart, there was a plethora of sauce creations, making for some great thought provoking meal planning!
Obviously, I had to pause and learn a bit more here. I was visiting on Father’s Day weekend, and they were hosting ‘dogs with dads’, where they had a hot dog bar, accepting only donations back to local charity.
The wheel was made by this gentleman himself, serving not only to grill hotdogs today, but to take part in pancake breakfasts.
And not to be outdone by pancake breakfasts, these cannons were also hand crafted by the Luther gentlemen, getting ready for this fall to take part in a pumpkin shooting contest!
If you make the drive to Richfield (and I highly suggest that you do), be sure to check out their calendar of events! I found that most weekends seemed to showcase creative and family friendly events!
This week brought a lot of challenges (let’s be honest…and some donuts and fudge!). This was both fun and, well, challenging for me, as I find myself holding what I would consider a basic holy trinity of cooking (garlic, onions, and carrots). To showcase these ingredients will pose its own challenge but I will give it my best shot. I’d love to hear what you come up with or feedback on my creations!
Seared Mahi Mahi with Sesame Mustard Greens and Carrot Stir Fry
Roasted Onion Burger Balls with Big Mac Sauce
Zucchini Potato Skins with Scallion Sour Cream
Baked Tilapia with Candied Carrots and Olive Carrot Green Gremolata
Carrot Green Tabbouleh Salad with Cauliflower Rice
Thanks for following along! Sorry to eat in front of you, but there was no way I was leaving without enjoying one of these delicious hot dogs (they even had their own home made relish!). While touring markets is a main focus, the best part of this journey for me has always been meeting new people and sharing experiences. This farm is a beautiful example of love and hard work, and family coming together. I would have a hard time sharing anything more wonderful and true to the heart of farming and farmers markets than this story. Thank you to all the farmers out there and the Luther family for the work that you do!
If you haven’t been following along, this is a part of the Tour of the Market series that I started in the summer of 2022, as a way to explore various farmers markets and try cooking with the local and seasonal offerings that they provide. I’d love to have you follow along with me as I continue this journey! Check out the past tours here.
You can also catch the recipes as they are published by liking and following Goddess of Garlic via Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest! If you’d like to see video tours, many of these are also available on TikTok.
Thanks again for tagging along on this journey!
Hannah (your fearless culinary visionnaire)
