The Sage Garden
Farmer
Products
Markets
About
Our unique family farm, specializes in the production of year round lettuce and greens. We use responsible practices to build up our soils vitamin and mineral content and therefore offering you the most nutrient dense produce possible. You can find our products year round at the Columbia Farmers Market, Clovers, and Hyvee. .
Programs and Partners
Production Practices
We grow without the use of synthetic herbicides and pesticides. We use compost, fish emulsion, kelp, and azomite to amend our soil.
Location
Hallsville, MO
Manager
Erica and Brandt Parker
Brandt and I are both first generation farmers. 2017 was the first official year. We both now work full time, year round on our market garden.
We have been selling at the market since 2016. I only had a few vegetables at this time. I was slowly learning how to grow and sell the vegetables. The next year (2017) Brandt and I decided we were both going to commit to pursuing our dream of having a market garden and providing healthy food to our community. We both became full time farmers. We have spent the past year building up our infrastructure, enabling us to be more efficient and sustainable.
We are focusing on greens and roots. Specifically, salad greens and lettuce. We are growing a variety of salanova lettuce which can be used as a head lettuce or easily broken up into a salad mix. Our goal is to provide lettuce year round. Especially, during the summer and winter months when there is not a lot of lettuce and greens available. To do this we are using a couple techniques to keep the lettuce cool during the hottest months, preventing it from becoming bitter and bolting. In the winter we will utilize a high tunnel, caterpillars, and row covers.
We sell at the Columbia Farmers Market for many reasons. We LOVE the people and the atmosphere. It is a Saturday morning tradition, to be at market conversing with other farmers, listening to music, engaging with the people of our community, and educating people of all ages on the varieties and nutrition of our produce! The Columbia Farmers Market enables us to make a career of growing vegetables, rather than a hobby. It also opens us up to meet many local chefs and restaurant owners which in turn grows our business.
We enjoy watching the whole process. We get to see from start to finish, the seed going in the ground to a child biting right into a carrot at our booth! This is not just a job, but a dream. Our family is nourished from the food we grow and taught lesson after lesson through the trials and errors of farming. We feel that what we are doing effects many people of our community in a wonderful way.
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