12 minute read
A Walk on the Flower Side
And now, our scholarship recipients:
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Credit Union of Ohio recipients:
Rachel Binion Kar’lyn Kelley
Wesbanco recipients:
Morgan Reed Adeline Wheeler
Mt. Carmel recipients:
Katlyn Dreyer Chloe Clark
ToolTex recipient:
Jack Foley
Remaining 2020 High School recipients
Makayla L. Miller Kennedy Fulks Russell Zhu Kari Lamb Emily Creasap Angelina Mosely Lindsay Donaldson Andrew Renninger Annabella Rose Briggeman Anais Fernandez Sydney Stoll Maria Rossi
Affiliate recipients:
Camryn Rush Hailey Kimmel
Schools the recipients plan to attend include: The Ohio State University, University of Miami, Miami University, Youngstown State University, Columbus State, Pennsylvania State University, University of Cincinnati, Otterbein University, Malone University, Ohio University, University Of Findlay, Bowling Green State University, University of Alabama, Capital University, John Carroll and Baldwin Wallace.
The next scholarship deadline will be July 1 for affiliate scholarships and renewing scholarships. Click here to learn more and for application details. R
Farmers’ Market Virtually a Success
Team work and quick actions allowed the Grove City Chamber Farmers’ Market to move to a virtual platform that would fall within acceptable health guidelines brought about from COVID-19 challenges.
Vendors were eager to sign up and submit their information, while behind-the-scenes work took place in everyone’s home offices. Many vendors are now reaping the rewards of the adaptation. Events Coordination Marilyn Reiner shared that the market has been well-received both in number of customers and positive feedback sent her way.
Because rules and regulations are constantly changing, Marilyn noted the importance of having market plans that are fluid and adaptable. In her role she is “trying to anticipate all the issues, the ‘what if’s” as plans for a ‘normal’ summer market are explored. The goal is to be able to bring vendors back in some capacity later in the summer.
There is still plenty to be learned and worked through as Marilyn mentioned taking along her rolling tape measure to the next pick-up to experiment with marking off spaces and visualize the amount of space required. ‘Plenty of space’ might be the only definite to work with at the moment. Markets in other towns and even states that have returned to a ‘live’ format are also being explored to see what can be learned from them, and what may or may not work for Grove City.
Even as live market options and plans are being entertained behind the scenes, Marilyn encourages customers to keep thoroughly checking the Market vendor website as newcomers can and will be added. One vendor to join soon will be offering gluten-free pasta.
Communication has crucial, but also tricky, to the team work required to pull off the Market. Instead of bringing everyone together for a meeting in the conference room, everyone is now at their home offices and communicating digitally.
But through it all, there’s a common goal that many have set for their work and personal lives and Marilyn echoed it: “Trying to maintain as much normalcy as possible!”
To virtually browse the market vendors and then place an order with them, visit: gcchamber.org/2020-farmers-market-vendors
IT’S AS EASY AS 1...2...3
SHOP VENDORS
ORDER & PAY PICKUP ON SATURDAY
GCACC Spring 2020 Virtual Farmers’ Market Customer Information
SAFETY/SOCIAL DISTANCING PRACTICES The following practices are in place in recognition of recommended safety, social distancing rules and practices pursuant to State and County Health regulations. This allows our market to function with safety in mind for all involved.
CUSTOMER PROCEDURES STEP 1 - Go to the Chamber website at www.gcchamber. org/farmers-market and click on the blue button “SHOP & ORDER ONLINE” to view the list of participating vendors, their products/produce available that week, contact information and order deadline.
STEP 2 - Contact the individual Vendors that you want to buy from and place your order. Purchase from as many Vendors as you would like and pay each Vendor by way of their individual payment method. No payments can be made at the Market!
STEP 3 - On Saturday go to the Drive Thru Market Entrance on west Park Street. You will be asked your last name and will be given directions to the table/ area designated by the first letter of your last name. A Chamber volunteer will place your order(s) in your vehicle as directed, (place in trunk or rear seat). Orders will not be handed to you and cannot be put in other bags.
You will be asked if you have dairy or meat orders. If so the volunteer will get them for you and place in your vehicle. You will follow the exit signs to leave the Market.
Customer Benefits • Continue to enjoy local farmers’ market vendors while avoiding crowds and practicing safe distancing. • Buying local means that food is not being transported over state lines or shipped from another country. • Limits number of people handling items. • Constant source of locally grown / home prepared goods.
CUSTOMER ORDER PICKUP IS SATURDAYS 8:15 AM- 11AM
A Walk on the Flower Side
by Sarah Hann
Aunique visitor experience, and business, is in full bloom at Darby Creek Field and Flowers. Becky Moehl, along with mom Judy Roush and the rest of the family, will begin welcoming visitors to their Orient-area flower farm on June 13. The outdoor experience allows visitors up close access to the flowers and the opportunity to select a plant to take home and replant. But like most plants, the business didn’t grow to full bloom in a single night.
The Beginning
Word came out that a favorite flower farm of Becky and Judy’s would be hosting their final summer. How else would a mother-daughter duo enjoy the final summer of a favorite Ohio destination?
“Let’s take a road trip!” Judy announced when recalling the day. The duo traveled down to the Greenfield, Ohio area farm but instead of returning with memories, photos, and perhaps a few flowers… they returned with the idea of buying all the plants.
At home near Orient on the family farm, there would be plenty of room for the flowers to flourish. Becky and Judy could dive into a new business adventure as each had left the professional workplace.
“I didn’t need to be retired anymore!” Judy told us with a laugh and a smile.
But, the business move on paper was easier than the process of bringing 22,000 plants from Greenfield to Orient. Over the course of one-and-a-half months, they made five trips to the Greenfield farm, each time with around 20 people to assist. Proper identification had to be assigned and maintained on the plants and for the last piece to the tricky puzzle… they had to wait for the opportune planting time (this point was echoed by the fact our Zoom interview call took place on a rainy day when no garden or field work was possible). “We know how to grow things!” she said of their family heritage in plant agriculture.
The Business
The business was able to be built off of Becky’s experience in agriculture and her interest in all things horticulture, landscape, and plants.
“We know how to grow things!” she said of their family heritage in plant agriculture.
With family along and already involved in working the farm, it was easy to get the whole family involved in bringing Darby Creek Field and Flowers to life. And while there is strength in numbers, there can also be challenges. Becky and Judy pointed out that any family business challenges arise from adding more people rather than Becky and Judy not being on the same page. But working the family farm allows them all to be together across the generations, right down to the five granddaughters Judy pointed out.
With a family farm already in business, it became important to develop a distinct name and even brand for the flower farm. As Judy explained, they “wanted an identity separate from the seed farm.”
Naming discussion went back and forth with family and friends, perhaps a time where bringing in many voices made things complicated. Eventually ‘Darby Creek Field and Flowers’ was chosen to reflect the farm’s Big Darby Creek location. Even the individual fields were given names, with the inspiration coming from a Columbus Zoo trip.
In addition to the flower farm, Becky offers some landscaping services and noted the native planting side is growing. Native plants would be plants native to Ohio and can do things such attract butterflies or other benefits to our Ohio ecosystem.
Working in agriculture was nothing new for Becky, something that was new would be marketing a business, especially online. Becky pointed out that it was a “whole new world” and even though she had worked in agriculture business before, marketing was someone else’s task. Now she was the owner of a flower farm that isn’t a green house and is also not a flower shop; it’s an outdoor floral experience.
The Experience
Darby Creek Field and Flowers gives visitors the rare opportunity to explore flowers as they are in the field, and choose which one(s) will go back home to their own flower beds and gardens.
“It’s not a green house,” Becky explained of a customers’ experience. “(They) dig the flower and transport it to their own home.”
With 13 fields and roughly 850 varieties, there are plenty of floral options. Many visitors will want to take in the colors and country air, and some enjoy the photography opportunities presented, including Becky’s own photographer friend.
Judy pointed out that it’s a great to educate and inform those not as familiar with flowers, fields, or farms the care for the land and what goes on outside of the city. Being only ten miles outside of Grove City, it’s a quick trip a colorful place with a slower paced, casual experience. And while many will return to town with flowers and plenty of instructions, Becky and Judy know they’ll take home one other thing: “The experience of coming to a rural area.
Darby Creek Fields & Flowers
Here’s a quick run-down of the basic information in you’re interested in visiting Becky and Judy’s flower farm destination this summer!
Location: 11500 Darby Creek Road, Orient (this is just south of Orient)
Open dates: Fields will be open June 13- August 1
Everything is outside and the paths are gravel, so we advise on watching the weather and choosing your footwear wisely. Want to follow along or have a question?
Visit darbyflowerfields.com for all the way to reach out to Becky and Darby Creek Field and Flowers.
GARDENING TIP: “FLOWER TRANSPLANT”
Unlike most perennials it is okay to transplant daylily’s during bloom ( June & July) as well as Spring, Summer and Fall. The Daylily has a very hardy rhizome root system that is durable and will live through a transplant to new soil. Daylily’s will grow and multiply every year. Between years 3- 5 you will want to divide and separate the flower to maximize bloom!
Experiences for a Lifetime
Randy and Connie Wegener are in the experience business.
Their travel agency, RCW Vacations, was born out of travel itself. As Randy explained, they had been on a cruise, struck up a conversation with another traveler who was a travel agent herself.
“The more we talked, she said give me a call if you are interested and I can help you start your own travel agent business,” Randy said. “Years later after thinking what I am going to do when I retire, I remembered her.”
He called the woman in 2013, while still working full-time, and by this point as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Randy himself has a history for a fascination with geography and a curiosity for the world beginning as child when he would study maps. The US Army supplied Randy with his first taste of travel and life outside of Ohio when he first departed for basic training and then to Vietnam. When he returned to college he had the opportunity to travel around Europe as a class tour.
“So, sold my car and for one month traveled all over Europe with a group of 40 all for $1000,” Randy explained. He was hooked.
Fast forward to the 2010s and Randy is still traveling the world, now with Connie along with him, while they make plans and arrangements
so that others can explore the world with less hassle. 2020 has put a damper on travel (see our supplemental story with Randy’s thoughts on the current state of travel and traveling safely), but it hasn’t taken away the joy of memories or the hope of future trips. Randy is still adding to his bucket list!
Travelers of all ages bring their ‘bucket list’ trip ideas and goals to Randy and Connie who help bring those dreams to life. Some come with just destination ideas and a budget, and others bring along a few more details. Many are simply overwhelmed by all of the options.
“The internet has vast amounts of information which can be overwhelming,” Randy remarked. “I help narrow down the choices geared to the client.”
For clients struggling to make decisions, Randy will offer his top three options based on the information brought to him, such as destination or budget. He’s also able to help clients find that new vacation destination that is slightly out of their ‘normal’, such as a jump to an all-inclusive resort destination, and in the end everyone has been happy.
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