By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Bluffton Farmers Market is the place to be on Saturday mornings in town. According to the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce, our town "boasts the best farmers market in northwest Ohio."
In celebration of our small but mighty farmers market, the Icon will be featuring a market vendor each week over the course of the summer.
This week's feature vendor is Seasonal Sun Farm.
Seasonal Sun Farm is a multi-generational farm and business owned by Ben and Daisy Sutkay, with their sons, Levi, Ezra and Caleb, plus Daisy's parents, Mark and Julie Bankert.
The farm offers pea, radish, and mixed microgreens, and fresh, organically grown vegetables, such as heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash (when they are in season). They also occasionally offer Einkorn cinnamon rolls, which are made with a heritage (non-GMO) flour.
"We are striving to re-establish the connection between the farmer (us) and the consumer (our customers)," said Daisy Sutkay. "A connection that is built around quality products, trust through transparency, and interdependent relationships."
They've been operating for two years, but this is their first year selling at Bluffton's farmers market.
When asked where the name - Seasonal Sun Farm - came from, Daisy Sutkay explained, "The sun provides energy each season of the year. Yet our nourishment from the food we grow is seasonal. Our farm is dependent on the sun to bring forth seasonal diversity. It’s a constant source of energy that provides us with nourishment."
The farm's focus is on providing naturally grown, nutrient dense food, which led them to growing microgreens. Mark Bankert is quite passionate about these little wonders: "Microgreens are the toddler stage of a plant’s life, larger than sprouts but smaller than baby greens. They can be grown indoors under lights; therefore, are a great way to add fresh, nutrient dense greens to your diet during the winter months." The microgreens are grown from certified organic seed without chemical fertilizer.
According to Bankert, microgreens contain higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than the mature plant; therefore, they are beneficial in promoting good health. These mini-veggies have been proven to contain 4 to 40 times higher levels of some nutrients than their mature leaf counterparts.
Microgreens are also highly convenient, because they can be used with minimal preparation and included in a sandwich, as a salad, or mixed with other salad greens.
Much like you put fresh basil or cilantro on a dish just before serving, these microgreens work best when added in raw, at the end; they lose their vitality and nutrients when cooked. (The Icon strongly suggests you try them mixed with boiled eggs and mayo, as a kind of egg salad.)
You can just eat the tops (leaves) or munch both leaf and stem, both of which are quite tasty. The three varieties have their own kind of flavor to them. You are welcome to taste-test these mini-veggie wonders at Saturday's market.
These microgreens can also be purchased at the Food Store.
In the future, Seasonal Sun Farm hopes to have pastured pork, chicken and eggs available at the farm.
Seasonal Sun Farm will be at Saturday's market on alternate weeks - they will be at the market on Aug. 3, Aug. 17 and Aug. 31 and then alternating weeks through the rest of the market season.
The farm is located on 7272 Hillville Road, Bluffton. To contact them, call (419) 348-8390 or email [email protected]. Check out their Facebook page for periodic news and pictures of farm happenings.
About the Bluffton Farmer’s Market
This story is part of a summer series on Bluffton Farmers Market vendors. The market is open each Saturday through the end of October from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Citizens National Bank parking lot, 102 S. Main St. For vendor information, contact Greg Probst, market director, at [email protected].
Next week's vendor featured will be Taste Tempters.
