Bringing Market to Farm

Photo by Jennifer Nice

The Stufflebeams currently farm 12 of their 22 acres. By dividing the cultivated land into four quadrants, they easily fill a 32-week growing season.

According to Brad (shown above with his wife Jenny and daughters Carina, bottom left, and Brooke), Home Sweet Farm is a growing and learning environment, not a setting, and the Stufflebeams wouldn't have it any other way.

Bringing Market to Farm

Hobby Farms Magazine May/June 2008

By Jennifer Nice

While farmers’ markets are popular and fun for consumers and can be worthwhile for farmers, they can also be a risky endeavor.

Customers know they must arrive early if they want the best selection.

For farmers, it means getting up before dawn, driving long distances, setting up before the market opens and then driving home again after a long, exhausting day with no guarantee of profit.

The Stufflebeams started selling at farmers’ markets, but stopped for these reasons. Then Brad came up with an idea that would bring the market to the farm, rather than bringing the farm to the market.

Furthermore, his idea would guarantee availability of goods to the customers and sales to the farmers, thus eliminating the uncertainty for both.

They started “Monthly Market Day” at their farm by utilizing their network of fellow local farmers.

Customers pay a one-time fee of $38 to participate, a nominal fee Brad charges simply to raise their commitment level. (The Stufflebeams’ CSA program members are automatically enrolled in Monthly Market Day.)

“Their membership allows them to pre-order food from nine different farms,” explains Brad. “When they drive out here, sometimes 60 miles from Houston, they know the food they want will be here.”

Monthly Market Days are held on the third Sunday of each month during the growing season. Customers pre-order from the Home Sweet Farm website, where they can select local, artisan cow and goat cheeses, yogurt and sour cream; grass-fed beef, lamb and bison; pastured poultry; bread; eggs and honey, as well as a large variety of organic produce.

Brad compiles the orders from each customer, then gives each farmer one order.

“It’s easy for the farmers because they only have to deal with the one order I give them and they come to Monthly Market Day knowing that their product is already sold.”

The Stufflebeams charge the farmers a fee for organizing the market and they usually accept payment in the form of goods.

Monthly Market Days are open to the public.

“We don’t turn anyone away, but the guaranteed availability is for our members,” says Brad.

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