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 My Own Back Yard Herbs & Flowers.

Ann Boyd is the force behind My Own Back Yard Herbs & Flowers.

She's been studying herbs and flowers since she was 19, but it wasn't until her early twenties when she was able to actually plant her own garden that she discovered the wonders that herbs and plants have to offer.

"The plants are here for us," says Boyd, which is her way of saying plants offer an endless supply of benefits: they're nutritious, anti-bacterial, contain anti-oxidants and every plant, tree, shrub (and even weeds) offers benefits and/or remedies that take care of us.

Her love and enthusiasm for herbs started at 19, when she discovered that sage tea could cure her sore throat from tonsillitis, which she caught every year.

At the market, Boyd is best known for her herbs and plants; whether annual or perennial, culinary or medicinal herbs, or vegetable starters, she has them all. Her most popular are herbs: parsley, dill, basil and all the varieties of mints. Her plants and starters are available at the beginning of the market season (May-June).

At the moment, her plants and herbs are in Boyd's garden and custom-built greenhouse at home, and they will be "market ready" in September. 

In the meantime, she offers dried herbs: a zesty Italian blend and herb de provence, in addition to her popular knubby rosemary shortbread, and chocolate lavender shortbread. And for those who are avoiding gluten, she offers gluten-free varieties of both shortbreads.

In fact, her knubby rosemary shortbread is so popular, Boyd says "it pays for my health insurance premiums."

In addition to her edible offerings, Boyd has also concocted a comfrey salve, based off her own recipe, which is a natural analgesic (pain reliever). The comfrey plant - one of the main ingredients - has super-healing properties, including cell-building, and Boyd has been using it in her salve for 15 years.

Boyd's herbs and plants are indeed grown in her own back yard, hence the name "My Own Back Yard Herbs & Flowers;" however, she links the name to her first experience of starting her own garden back in Newark, Delaware in her twenties: "I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz," said Boyd. "I can do this. I can grow my own herbs in my own back yard!" and she has been doing so ever since.

She's been selling at Bluffton's farmers market for close to ten years. She also sells at Hancock County's market in Findlay on Thursdays.

"I do the farmers market because of the community," said Boyd, referring to both vendors and customers. "No matter what the weather, people come out."

In addition to selling plants and herbs, Boyd is also an enthusiastic herb educator. She is teaching a class on cooking with lavender on Sunday, Aug. 25, from 2-3:30 p.m., at The Lavender Hour yoga studio, 221 Broadway St., Findlay.  For more information, go to their website or their Facebook page.

To contact Boyd, email her at [email protected] or call 419-422-5594.

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 Granny's Treats.