ECO SPEAKS CLE

Cultivating Community with Re:Source Cleveland

• Guests: Patrick Kearns, Rachel Ramos, Michael Bartunek • Episode 52

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In this episode, we welcome returning guests Patrick Kearns with Re:Source Cleveland (formerly Refugee Response) and Michael Bartunek with Ohio City Farm to update us on the exciting developments at Ohio City Farm and with its operator, Re:Source Cleveland. Rachel Ramos, who manages CSA sales for the farm, also joins us to tell us about the diverse array of fresh produce available in the 2024 CSA program and the new tiered pricing structure. 

We first spoke with Patrick and Michael in episode 3 two years ago. Since then, The Refugee Response has relocated, rebranded, expanded, and begun a major new initiative at Ohio City Farm: the Roundstone Pavilion. Groundbreaking for the 4,000-square-foot building will take place this year. This next-level investment will bring food to the community year-round by housing a commercial kitchen, a wash and pack station, workers' facilities, a retail hall, and more. 

Last year, Refugee Response rebranded to Re:Source Cleveland, honoring the organization's past 14 years of providing resources to resettled families and supporting them in becoming engaged, self-sufficient, and contributing community members. The farm is central to that mission, growing local food, community connections, and providing meaningful employement. These developments enhance other investments in the area, like the West Side market and the new Metropark taking shape just below the farm along the Cuyahoga River at Irishtown Bend. 

Join us as our guests update you on what's happening on the farm, in the neighborhood, and at our community table. 

Guests
Patrick Kearns: Executive Director, Re:Source Cleveland
Michael Bartunek: Senior Farm Manager, Ohio City Farm
Rachel Ramos: Farm Sales and Marketing Coordinator, Ohio City Farm

Resources
About Re:Source Cleveland rebranding
Ohio City 2024 CSA
Support Ohio City Farm
Support Re:Source Cleveland
About the Roundstone Pavilion

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Diane Bickett:

You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, where the EcoCurious explore the unique and thriving environmental community here in Northeast Ohio. My name is Diane Pickett and my producer is Greg Rotuno. Together, we bring you inspiring stories from local sustainability leaders and invite you to connect, learn and live with our community and planet in mind.

Greg Rotuno:

This episode of EcoSpeak CLE is sponsored by Good Nature Organic Lawn Care. Lawns need care, not chemicals.

Diane Bickett:

Hello friends, today we are checking back in with some of our first guests on EcoSpeak CLE Patrick Kerns, the Executive Director of Resource Cleveland, which is formerly the refugee response, and Michael Bartunek, who is the Senior Farm Manager for Ohio City Farm, which is the largest urban farm in Cleveland and maybe also the country, maybe. Stay tuned. We also welcome Rachel Ramos, the Farm Sales and Marketing Coordinator for Ohio City Farm. Hi there, lots of new and exciting things happening here in Ohio City, so stay with us as we get you all updated on what's happening with the farm in the neighborhood and with the operator of the farm, resource Cleveland.

Diane Bickett:

Michael and Patrick, when we first spoke two years ago, you were our third episode and you were very kind to speak with us on the very first Monday of the new year, and now it's just another cold day in March. But now you are our 53rd or 52nd episode and you've been busy since then. You've been rebranding, you're in a new space. You're developing a global farmers market, the Roundstone Pavilion, and right below the farm there's the Irish Town Bend Metro Park taking shape. So welcome everybody. Let's talk about everything new that's going on.

Patrick Kearns:

Awesome Thanks for having us back. Yeah, good to be back.

Diane Bickett:

So, patrick, can we start with you?

Patrick Kearns:

Absolutely.

Diane Bickett:

Great. Would you just give us a quick overview of Resource Cleveland, the work you do and the connection with the farm for those folks who didn't listen to episode three of EcoSpeaks yeah, sure thing, and thanks for having us back.

Patrick Kearns:

What a great pleasure and congrats on the successful run of 53 shows so far. Really happy to be here. So our organization Resource Cleveland we're now 14 years old, so we are in that teenage mindset and we're continuing to grow. We started off with two different programs about 14 years ago. Right now we're running eight different programs. Our staff are about 35. And every year we're seeing about 1,500 newcomers through our different programs that we're serving.

Patrick Kearns:

A lot of our focus has been with teens and youth. We are based inside of high schools helping kids out and we run a lot of afterschool, summer sports, rec and wraparound support services programs for families. So we just put in a new facility athletic facility next to us on the urban community school campus, which is really cool. That's going to come into some of our youth programming this summer and then a lot of developments at the Ohio City Farm and I'm sure that's what we'll kind of dig into a little bit more.

Patrick Kearns:

One of the big changes was obviously our rebrand. So we have a new name which is Resource Cleveland that kind of gives homage back to the 14 years of refugee response but also looks forward and understands that right now we're a different organization, we're working with a wider population of newcomers and we fundamentally believe that folks that we work with, when they get here, they're no longer refugees, they're citizens, they're green card holders, they're asylum seekers and they're looking really to turn the page on that chapter of their life that forced them to become displaced. And our programs are a big part of that, as well as our ability to create jobs at the Ohio City Farm.

Diane Bickett:

Awesome. So I love how you are using the term newcomers now rather than refugees. Was that part of your rebranding effort? Just in terms of the words you use, it's a big effort to rebrand. You have to really be intentional and think through all those things. I've been through it myself.

Patrick Kearns:

Yeah, it is and it was intentional. It's something that had been in our minds for a while, but that really stuck out a couple years ago when one of our girls in our corner 65 program was at school and she was talking on the program. It's like why is everybody calling us refugee, refugee? What does that mean? Refugee was one of those things where it really made us kind of again tick stock and say people, when they arrive here they are actually no longer refugees. That is a period of time in their life.

Patrick Kearns:

I spent two years in a refugee camp in Southeast Asia and it was the people that I lived next to in the camp. They weren't there on a voluntary basis and what our organization is here to do is help families get back to that sense of normalcy that they had before displacement. And that's really where all of our programs are pointed towards. What is going to make a difference, allowing people to be here to work through some of the past issues that displaced them and have a chance to thrive in this place. We want the families to stay here in Cuyahoga County. We want their kids to be successful, and part of the farm work that we do that we're so proud of is the ability to create good jobs. That's where the farm, that's the sole North Star of our farm program is the ability to really take care of our people, and a big part of that next is what we do with the CSA and then what we do with the Roundstone Pavilion to address that.

Diane Bickett:

When we first spoke two years ago, you talked about nylon backup. How fortunate it is for those newcomers to have a resource like you in Cleveland to help them acclimate and find jobs and for the kids to get settled in school. You do fun stuff too, like through sports. Is that what the Roundstone Pavilion is? Is it a sports facility? Oh no.

Patrick Kearns:

The Roundstone Pavilion is the infrastructure on the farm. So that is the multipurpose building that will host the commercial kitchen, the wash and pack stations, the break rooms and stuff and the restrooms for our staff, as well as the market hall. So I think initially we kicked it off and it was like what are we going to call this Farmers market, I don't know. And then we realized that's not really the right term, and I think it was Michael who came up with Pavilion as an inspiration, because that really is a better descriptor of what we're doing. It's going to house many different services and activities and we also want to be very clear. Like we are not replicating the West Side Market. We are not trying to be West Side Market Junior. We are doing something that is completely different and it is really.

Patrick Kearns:

I think 14 years on into the farm project, it's really hard not to have a bathroom inside, right? So the farm team is working on a day that can look like this using the porta-potties outside is nobody's idea of a good day, you know. So we want always to be able to take care of our team members, provide a great job, figure out those infrastructure resources and, at the same time, give us the ability to keep on selling through the winter time. Right, and you know, it's not that we can't grow. We can grow, but we can't wash, we can't pack.

Rachel Ramos:

And if you've never washed greens in 35 degrees with your bare hands in cold water, yes, it's very uncomfortable.

Diane Bickett:

So this is a next level investment for you? Absolutely yes. And how big is it going to be? When do you break ground?

Patrick Kearns:

That's a good question. We're not sure yet. It will be sometime this year We'll break ground. We're, you know we just got passed through the Board of Zoning Appeals process with the city on our variances, which was great, got a lot of support and now we're working with contractors to get some bids in, get you know a whole number that we can start working with. And you know our goal is to have it by season of 2025, open for wash and pack that we can utilize for our facilities, and then 2026, open commercial kitchen and retail hall. That's kind of that's kind of the timeline we're working under right now.

Rachel Ramos:

And the whole building will be about 4,000 square feet.

Diane Bickett:

Super that's congratulations, that's super cool, thanks.

Patrick Kearns:

It's. I mean what? What? Six years ago, michael, we didn't have an electric socket.

Michael Bartunek:

No, we couldn't charge a cell phone there, so we've come a long way.

Diane Bickett:

Well, now you've got toilets and electricity.

Michael Bartunek:

And now we have gas heater in our greenhouse. We didn't have a refrigeration. We chored that up. So incrementally we've really improved the infrastructure at the farm over the last say six, seven years and we're really hitting stride with this building.

Diane Bickett:

Awesome. So what else is new on the farm?

Michael Bartunek:

You know, With the Irish Town Bend, we were, or are, losing about an acre of property. have one new employee coming on board this year, which we're really excited about. But instead of kind of being sad about losing a part of the proper, we've actually kind of doubled down and created a community garden on that side of the farm. So with that community garden we're going to be hosting some newcomer families at the farm that will have community garden space as well as help out with some things generally at the farm.

Diane Bickett:

That sounds like a good idea. Better than losing your land into the Cuyahoga River, yeah.

Michael Bartunek:

Yeah. So with the, with the park, you know coming in it has been a long ride. So you know this park has been in the works of planning for 10 years or so. This year we really saw a lot of action with the closure of Franklin, the whole property being surrounded by security fence for the construction, and now the hill is cleared and you can really see the park starting to take shape.

Michael Bartunek:

Resource Cleveland and the Ohio City Farm have been at the table throughout the planning process.

Michael Bartunek:

We had the privilege and honor of being part of a lot of the stakeholder meetings so we were well aware throughout the process of you know what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, how it was going to affect us working with CMHA as well.

Michael Bartunek:

How can we look at these three spaces the CMHA, riverview Towers, the farm, the Town Bend you you know how are these going to be able to work together to move people through, create a better system and standard of living for the residents and those visiting the farm, those visiting the park.

Michael Bartunek:

There's a lot of considerations with parking, but ultimately it's going to be, I think, a really great hotspot for those that live there, those that work there and then those that are visiting there and the Irish Thumbend is really going to be, I think, the connector of that whole side of Ohio City. So being able to go from the West Side Market through the farm, onto the, into the park, spend time in the park, visit our market, there's going to be a lot of connectivity and I think there's been a lot of attention given to how people are going to flow from one space to the next. And you know, with this building, you know that's a part of it. But we're also exploring other opportunities for, you know, people walking along the edge of the farm, say, from the at the top of the hill, being able to access the park, and we're still kind of exploring some of those possibilities.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, I was wondering if it's going to provide access to the farm from people visiting the park. Will they be able to get up there and kind of check out what's going? On and check out the pavilion.

Michael Bartunek:

I think that some of those details, because the park, to be honest, is still we're still pretty far out.

Michael Bartunek:

I mean they are, they have several years worth of work to do on it.

Michael Bartunek:

So we have time to kind of get some of those things in order and our, you know, our building will be going up starting this year but we have not figured out all the fine details. We've had a lot of designs built. Where it shows, you know, are a lot of ideas and designs that show access coming, maybe coming up from the park across Franklin, or, if you'll be able to access from the, the, be the southwest corner of the park, like across Franklin, and then enter through a future entrance on the north side of the farm. Lots of possibilities. I think the way that the farm, the northern edge of the farm, is defined right now, there's a lot of opportunities for multiple points of access for the public. But you know we're pretty excited about exploring those and we've positioned ourselves to be a part of that, that conversation as the park gets developed. And you know we see how people are moving from west side market space and parking through the farm, through the, through the neighborhood and over to the park.

Diane Bickett:

All this revitalization in Ohio City is really exciting, and the west side market, all the good changes there, yeah, what are you planning with the west side market?

Michael Bartunek:

So currently, I mean, we don't really have any you know plan for working with the west side market specifically. I think what they're doing is awesome. I shop at the west side market. I think it's a great space. There's a lot of value that that adds to the neighborhood. There's so many great vendors in there. I think what we're doing is just a little it's a little different because we're we're growing food on the property and we're trying to really create jobs through that food and so we, we, we most of our sales are direct to consumers. So we're growing produce and then we're selling it right on the property directly to folks that are consuming that. So definitely a different business model than what the west side market does. Not that one is right and one is wrong. We definitely welcome potential, you know, opportunities to work with them in the future, but okay.

Michael Bartunek:

Did I read something about a global farmers market, so the global farmers market idea kind of, is that roundstone pavilion? So there is the possibility. You know, we look, we're looking at this space and our new roundstone pavilion having a market. We're looking at that space to be able to be flexible use as well, so like if we want to have other vendors, whether those are artisan vendors or food vendors or like newcomer vendors of various types. You know, we hope to use this space for events such as that.

Patrick Kearns:

You know, I think we look at it as, um, this area of Ohio City being a food destination area, absolutely Right. So that is a corridor of fresh foods. Some of those are local, Some of those are prepared, some of those are brought in so that we add more to what the scene is. And you know in terms of where that is going to land. You know, one of the main access points to the park is going to be Right at that bridge avenue.

Patrick Kearns:

Yeah, terminous space right behind the West Side Market parking lot. So you know we're looking at the opportunity where you know if you're a Cleveland or or if you're driving in from out of town, you can park there, you can check out the West Side Market, you can look at, you know, walk through the, you know the Irish town, ben Park, and then visit the, the pavilion and do your shopping on the farm as well. You know, looking at how we can make this a afternoon or a day destination space for folks.

Diane Bickett:

Sounds like what you're doing is is making more connections with the neighborhood and outside of Ohio City as well, which is, yeah, absolutely.

Patrick Kearns:

And you know it, just putting this on the radar and, as Michael said, like you know, putting the newcomer vendors, newcomer food producers. You know that, putting it front and center as a part of our mission, which is so different, right, you know, the idea behind the commercial kitchen is that we can have pop ups that are, you know, different cuisines, different days for lunch, so that people can visit the visit the Irish town, ben Park, stop by and get lunch to go at the pavilion.

Diane Bickett:

Great exposure, rachel. Yes, tell us a little bit about your role with Ohio City Farm and what's new with the CSA program this year.

Rachel Ramos:

Sure, Sure, so, like you mentioned, I coordinate our CSA program as well as our sales of produce to local restaurants which we work with you know about 20 local restaurants and then also our community food donation program. Our CSA, like you mentioned, is the biggest portion of sales that we have, so the majority of the produce that we grow does go directly to our, to our members. This year we will have about 280 members in our summer CSA program and that's 20 weeks of boxes of fresh produce that they'll take home and then another about 100 members in our fall CSA program, which is an extra six weeks that adds on to the end of that summer CSA program.

Diane Bickett:

And the shares are for sale now. They are. Are they close to selling out? Do we have to be worried?

Rachel Ramos:

We are. We're coming close to that time, so, ok, don't delay if you're listening to this and you want to get a CSA share.

Rachel Ramos:

People are always surprised that. You know we ask folks to sign up this time of year, you know, when it's still it's still technically winter out there. But we're saying you got to sign up for your CSA now. And the reason for that is is pretty simple Honestly, for us on the farm side, when folks sign up now, that gives us a chance to say, ok, we know how many people to plan for, we can go ahead and buy our seeds and we can focus on that. We can turn our focus from trying to get people to buy shares to actually doing the work of, you know, getting everything going at the farm for the season. We are just this week firing up the heaters at the greenhouse, getting all the seeds going, you know, for all of that food that will be available in the summertime. So our first share pickup is in June, but right now is really when all that starts.

Rachel Ramos:

So folks can go on our website, ohio City Farm dot com and choose a share. We have two share sizes that we offer. So depending on really how much you cook at home, you can choose whether you want a whole share or whether you just want to buy a whole share, you just kind of want to dabble and get what we call the farmer's choice share, which is a little bit smaller. And we also have folks who you know buy a share and then they split with a friend, they split with another household. They say you know, this is something I really want to support, but maybe I travel during the summer or maybe I'm just not sure about using that much produce. And then we absolutely encourage that people share with someone else. Split it.

Diane Bickett:

And similarly you also have a flower share through our friend Emily Peck at Freednet Farm.

Rachel Ramos:

We do, and that has been such a fantastic partnership for us. They're fantastic. The flowers are gorgeous. Obviously we love when they show up every week and it just gives folks a chance to be able to add that on to their vegetable share and people just love the flowers every season. It's great. And we do offer pickup both on the east side and shaker Shaker Heights at the Van Aken District, and then also at the farm.

Patrick Kearns:

You know one thing, you know I'll give Rachel a shout out here that she introduced the other year that was a new thing for us was the tiered buying Pricing.

Rachel Ramos:

Yeah, the tiered pricing plan. Yeah, so we currently this is the second year that we've done this We've offered three different tiers of pricing and we really introduced that because we recognize that this, it's an investment for someone to make. You know, we're asking somebody to buy a whole season of vegetables up front, you know, and that's not, that's not something that is accessible for everyone's budget, and we recognize that, but we do want to, as best as we can make it available to as many folks as possible while also trying to reach our goals of allowing our team to make a living wage.

Rachel Ramos:

So our our big focus, really in the time that Michael and I have been at the farm, is just to continually be able to increase our minimum wage, increase the average that our team makes every year, and make that just just our main driving focus when we make decisions.

Diane Bickett:

What are the pricing tiers?

Rachel Ramos:

So I don't have the numbers in front of me. Oh, OK, you do want us to have.

Diane Bickett:

No, no, never mind. People can look it up on your website. I think the full Very affordable.

Michael Bartunek:

Oh, extremely.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, levels for everybody, organic produce Five hundred dollars, I think was somewhere around there, for the full share. Yeah, and you've got.

Rachel Ramos:

So our, our middle tier is what we call the fair farm labor price and that middle price. If everyone purchased a share at that price level, then we would be able to increase our starting wage this year to Michael. Do you know what the number is?

Michael Bartunek:

Well, it does depend, I mean. So I'll say right now we don't have anyone working at the farm that starting wage is less than sixteen dollars an hour this year.

Rachel Ramos:

Great yeah. So, and we're aiming to continually increase that, you know, with a goal of having our minimum be twenty dollars an hour.

Patrick Kearns:

Seven years ago we were nine dollars an hour.

Michael Bartunek:

Exactly yes.

Patrick Kearns:

Right, and that has been really the focus of, you know, our team members Lado, who's not with us today, who has been there since the very beginning of the farm with some of the same guys. You know that focus, that level of understanding of the property, of the ability to grow, and then Michael and Rachel's leadership. I mean it's really we don't have turnover at the farm, Right.

Greg Rotuno:

No, not much.

Patrick Kearns:

I mean our team members come back. We try to make the jobs as best as we possibly can and I'd say I don't I don't know offhand with the latest team member, but Most of them are now naturalized US citizens. A lot of our farmers. They've bought houses here. Their kids are in university. You know. It just shows that you know again, what the organization is able to do is do really cool, innovative things that provide a level of stability so families can stay and thrive here. And you know, I think we're really proud that these families are making Cleveland their home and their kids are doing so well.

Michael Bartunek:

They're making, they're putting down roots and making an investment in their community. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

Diane Bickett:

So much value in just buying a share of vegetables. You're supporting newcomers, you're supporting your own health, you're supporting the community.

Rachel Ramos:

Yeah, and we recognize that. You know that's never gonna be the cheapest option for somebody. And everybody obviously has to make their you know their food choices, whatever they need to make. But we have really tried to center our program as something that if you're choosing that, it's because you really wanna support those fair labor wages and purchase local food that really is working for those goals.

Diane Bickett:

Put your money where your morals are and really is local. Yeah, yeah, yeah it is and you know part of that and it's so much better for you when it's just picked and then you eat it, just in terms of the value to your body.

Patrick Kearns:

So and you know part of that. You know the new infrastructure at the pavilion is, you know, taking the next step to make this produce more accessible. So you know our goal is when that you know market opens where we're selling our produce and you know potentially some of the families that have their plots on the farm are able to sell their additional produce there as well that we are able to process EBT payments we're able to accept different ways of payment and benefits coupons.

Patrick Kearns:

Again, making this, you know, demystifying local organic food right, turning it into something that is very accessible and then connecting that with a commercial kitchen where we can, you know, do our kitchen programs with our kids. They can learn about, you know, you know meal planning on site and then open that up to the public as well. So you know, we're looking at this investment, not just what it's gonna do to build our business model stronger, but also how it can continue this mission across the communities that we serve.

Rachel Ramos:

Being able to have that space where we can actually welcome people to the farm and have them not just standing out in the elements as we have been. You know, right now we have we'll have a tour group come and if it's rainy that day, well it's gonna be tough. You know, we can't really do much programming when we don't have any space undercover. So this is gonna give us the opportunity to be able to have so much more community outreach and be able to welcome people to the farm and actually have a space to do that.

Diane Bickett:

Very exciting. I wanna continue the conversation about the Roundstone Pavilion, but wanna take a quick break here while we thank our sponsor, good Nature Organic Lawn Care and we were laughing earlier because Patrick has such a great voice for radio that we thought he would read our promo sponsor.

Patrick Kearns:

Oh, happy to do it and happy to give these guys a shout out.

Diane Bickett:

Go for it.

Patrick Kearns:

I would like to thank Good Nature Organic Lawn Care for sponsoring this episode of EcoSpeak CLE. Good Nature can help you have a beautiful yard without all the chemicals. For 25 years, good Nature has been providing healthier and safer solutions to all kinds of issues. If you want suburban green lawn, but without the chemicals, good Nature can help. If you'd like to turn your lawn into a pollinator lawn, good Nature can help. If you'd like to spend time in your yard without being attacked by ticks and mosquitoes, good Nature can help. If you'd like to keep weeds from overtaking your mulch beds without resorting to roundup, good Nature can help. Check out Good Nature today at ygoodnaturecom that's W-H-Y goodnaturecom or call them today at 216-641-9800.

Diane Bickett:

That's fun. That was awesome.

Greg Rotuno:

You did it better than.

Michael Bartunek:

I could you did it better than.

Rachel Ramos:

I could.

Diane Bickett:

You said you had a theater background, so I could totally see that coming out right now. Okay, so back to the Round Stove Pavilion. What's the capital investment and how are you raising money for this?

Patrick Kearns:

Sure thing we're not at the final bids yet. We're anticipating this is going to be around $900,000 for the total buildout. That includes the infrastructure. It includes the commercial kitchen, all the utilities and then the design fees in the permitting process. We are very fortunate to have our signature partners on this Round Stone that the pavilion is named after, investing in this the Gun Foundation, private donors as well as Cuyahoga County, which has stepped up to support the commercial kitchen. So we are really making a lot of progress to hitting that total goal. We still have a couple of milestones to hit, but I think once people see what this is, they see the really nice design of the building that our architects young designs put together. It really captures the imagination and what I think this will be able to do for not only the farm but the community and for putting something different in front of folks. I think we're gonna close that gap pretty quickly, but anybody out there listening would like to sign up for a sponsorship.

Diane Bickett:

No doubt. How do we sponsor?

Patrick Kearns:

Yeah, you call me.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, you email Patrick directly With your trackbook in hand. He takes Venmo.

Rachel Ramos:

PayPal, absolutely.

Patrick Kearns:

Anything and everything, patrick at resourceclevelandorg.

Rachel Ramos:

Show up to your kid's scout, you know your cup scout meetings, bar Mitzvahs, whatever, it doesn't matter.

Patrick Kearns:

Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

Diane Bickett:

Well, good luck. I think that's just amazing. A few other questions. So Michael want to know if the Great Lakes Brewing Company Brewmaster Dinner is scheduled yet for this summer.

Michael Bartunek:

It's not scheduled yet, but it is going to happen at some point. Good, we have a date scheduled, yet.

Diane Bickett:

So that was, if those of you don't know what it is. So Great Lakes will bring their Brewmasters and their chefs and they will prepare a delicious meal using all the food created or grown on the farm but also brought in from some of the other farmers in the area. You sit on a big, long table down the middle of the farm, overlooking Cleveland, watching the sunset. You hear presentations from the Brewmaster and the farmers themselves, and the pairings are delicious.

Michael Bartunek:

Yeah, the hook is the pairing of the dish with a specific type of Great Lakes beer. That's the real, unique part.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, and we sat across from a couple farmers. It's like the highlight of my summer last summer, aside from Greg's wedding, of course.

Greg Rotuno:

Food was very good.

Diane Bickett:

Food was delicious. So I think it was in end of July or early August last year, so keep your eye out for that. So the eclipse, given your location.

Rachel Ramos:

Uh-oh, we better start planning it.

Diane Bickett:

I mean, are you planning any eclipse viewing parties from the farm?

Rachel Ramos:

That's the first we've thought of it.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, so Sorry you're going to be overriding, I'll be announcing ticket sales later. You might be able to use that as a fundraising tool for the pavilion that is not a bad idea. For 20 bucks you get a.

Patrick Kearns:

When you're lawn chair, you'll get a carrot sampler.

Diane Bickett:

Whatever you can find in the dark, I pay 20 bucks for a free pair of glasses in a carrot sampler.

Patrick Kearns:

That's a good idea.

Diane Bickett:

All right. So one final question for Rachel. What type of things can people expect to see in their farm share this year? I know you grow so many different things, Michael. What are the key things?

Rachel Ramos:

Yeah, gosh, I mean the cool thing about joining a CSA, right, is that you get to see the season unfold, how it does on the farm, you know.

Rachel Ramos:

And that starts out with, you know, all the leafy greens that we're so excited to see in the spring time, when it's been such a long time since we could have that on the farm, and then, you know, kind of moves into the summertime when we have all of the, you know, tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers and things like that. Every year we always love the time when we kind of sit down and we look through our seed catalogs and we decide what new varieties we want to try. So, like every year, we're going to have, you know, some new varieties of tomatoes that we're excited about, things like that, you know. And then and then move into the fall and it goes, goes back into some of those, you know, more leafy greens and the root vegetables and things like that as we move into the fall season. So you really get to get to see, you know, how the how the season changes through the produce.

Michael Bartunek:

It's a continual process of figuring out a what do people want be what grows really well at the farm and see you know what, what items can we, you know, financially grow like that? Are that make the space worthwhile? So some things will grow just because we want to have variety in our CSA. But they're, you know, they maybe are a little bit more work. Some things were able to grow fairly easy and then those items are some of the more one those ones were able to like offer to restaurants and for wholesale and stuff like that.

Diane Bickett:

We have to maximize our space, because you were six acres. Now you're five acres, it's true.

Rachel Ramos:

And we're not like farms, where you can just, you know, keep expanding folks who have, you know, more unlimited space, maybe out in the countryside.

Michael Bartunek:

I like to think of it like maybe we're getting slightly smaller, but we're getting smarter at the same time. So I don't feel like it's getting smaller.

Rachel Ramos:

Yeah, we're getting more efficient getting better each year at what we do.

Michael Bartunek:

You know that space, I think of it as you know Rachel myself, lado, the site manager and all the folks that work there. It's like we have a relationship with the land there, and I mean like that, the actual soil and the land and the more you know it, the more the relationship you have with it and it yields like it, the more value is there, because we understand what grows well there and we understand what doesn't, and we're not kind of fighting, we're kind of more. Each year I feel like we're more in step in step with what the what we need out of the land and what it's providing to our, to our market and to our CSA. So I like to say that each year we're just getting a little bit better at this and a little bit better at this.

Diane Bickett:

Sounds like it. So is there anything else you would like to add? What last pitch? Or?

Patrick Kearns:

what hot peppers do we got this year.

Michael Bartunek:

Yeah, that's a good question. So we have two different varieties of jalapenos. We have one called Jedi, one calc called El Fuego. We have these tight or tight chili peppers are a variety called bottle rocket which we did grow last year.

Rachel Ramos:

Our team has strong opinions on things like this. We are all yes and we sit down every year with the whole team and the whole team gets to weigh in on. I absolutely hate this variety. We can't grow that anymore or we need to have this, and tight chilies are one that's got to be on the list, rachel being the one exception to everyone that works at the farm has a pretty big obsession with hot spicy.

Michael Bartunek:

I was going to say who on?

Diane Bickett:

who on your team can tolerate the hottest pepper? Everybody but me. You have like ghost pepper.

Michael Bartunek:

We don't grow some of those super, super hot ones. I mean they're fun to grow, but in reality most people like to talk about them and not really like to eat them there's exceptions. Well, we do grow Fresno peppers and you know chili peppers are just a fun thing. You know to, to, to use to grow. We grow Jimmy Nardello peppers, which is like a fun Italian variety of sweet pepper that are long and kind of creepy looking I really like those are incredible flavors and we were introduced to those by Karen Small Chef, Karen.

Rachel Ramos:

Small who has been such a good, incredible supporter of the farm and one year she said could you grow me some Jimmy Nardello peppers that I could have at the restaurant?

Michael Bartunek:

And then we love them so much now that you know we've been growing them and I think, yeah, I think that's what you get when you, when you're looking at a CSA from the Ohio City Farm, is like well, we grow, you know, around like 50 different types of vegetables. Inside of those types, we grow so many different varieties and it is all of our passion within the farm team to constantly be looking at what are the new varieties that are available that we can source seed from. What are people talking about? You know why is this one new tomato seem like? Is it, is it all that we'll try it? And we'll be like no, it's not.

Michael Bartunek:

Or we'll be like, oh my gosh, it's the next thing, and then it's in our rotation for four, five, six years. That's that. That is the kind of stuff that we are paying attention to and that's what you get in a CSA. You get all those little, all those little decisions and enthusiasm that we've been putting into all of our work over the years. It all kind of culminates into one very thought out box of produce.

Diane Bickett:

Well, your farm stand be open this summer while you're the farm stand will not be so the farm stand.

Michael Bartunek:

So the construction yeah because of the construction, hopefully opening in, you know, with Ronstone Pavilion and get there.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, so get your CSAs.

Michael Bartunek:

That's right.

Patrick Kearns:

Get them now, before the opportunity through the CSA and on May 18, starting at, I think at 9am, on our campus site, our partners, tomato Monster, will be doing a plant sale here with some of the proceeds going to to the farm. We're also opening our sports facility at that same day will have music and food. So it's an open community event, starting in the morning with plant sales and then having some foot saw and soccer demonstrations as well. So definitely, if you're in the neighborhood, walk by, check it out. You can see the whole campus. It's kind of a cool place.

Rachel Ramos:

Yep and the pre orders are open now for those plants from Tomato Monster. They grow all kinds of incredible tomatoes and peppers, things that you you will not find elsewhere.

Michael Bartunek:

Yeah, they do a great job.

Rachel Ramos:

They do, they really do, and so you can. You can check out their website for the pre orders for that.

Diane Bickett:

Do you have an e newsletter that people can sign up for? We do Stay in touch with all this information. If you go to OhioCityFarmcom.

Rachel Ramos:

it will pop right up and invite you to put in your email address to join our newsletter.

Diane Bickett:

Great.

Rachel Ramos:

Which we follow us on Instagram, yep, and follow us on social media. On Instagram we post really frequently just at Ohio City Farm and you can cool see what we're up to.

Diane Bickett:

Well, thank you so much for coming back on our show Nice to meet you, Rachel. This has been great. I'm very excited for you and all the things, thanks.

Patrick Kearns:

Thanks for coming back on us. Enjoy the cookies.

Greg Rotuno:

Absolutely.

Rachel Ramos:

Thank you.

Greg Rotuno:

We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak CLE. You can find our full catalog of episodes on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available the first and third Tuesday of each month. Please follow EcoSpeak CLE on Facebook and Instagram and become part of the conversation. If you would like to send us feedback and suggestions, or if you'd like to become a sponsor of EcoSpeak CLE, you can email us at hello at ecospeaksclecom. Stay tuned for more important and inspiring stories to come.

People on this episode

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Diane Bickett

Host
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Greg Rotuno

Co-host