Introducing our first Featured Vendor of 2021...

Hidden Springs Farm!

When I informed our five children, ages 1½ to 9½, our next field trip would be to visit Mark Gibson’s Hidden Springs Farm in Troy, you could have heard the happy explosion a mile away. Mark had recently purchased 8 feeder hogs from us, and the kids couldn’t wait to see Link, Biscuit, Gravy, Ham, Porkchop, Patty, Tub ‘o Lard, and Bacon’s new home.

Yet the oldest two kids were also a bit hesitant – have you ever sold an animal to a seemingly good home, only to be disappointed? We’re raising an opinionated bunch when it comes to factory farms and feedlots, so at almost 8 and 9½, they hoped they’d be content with what we found – boy, were they reassured tenfold.

Our trip had a dual purpose – First, I visit the operation of each vendor on the Market. The better I understand their operations, the better equipped am I to answer questions and promote their businesses and products. Plus it helps assure the Health Department that I am able to vouch for each vendor, and verify the source of each product on the Market!

Second, Mark needed a fellow farmer or farmer’s market advocate to complete an inspection for him to join the Certified Naturally Grown program – the incredible grassroots equivalent to being Certified Organic! My husband and I first personally got involved with the CNG program years ago, and are always thrilled watching and helping it expand. So yay! A lengthy, dual purpose inspection it is!

Knowing firsthand raising livestock organically is both rewarding and difficult, I could intimately appreciate seeing the set up Mark has built, with the help of his hard-working sister, for his cattle, hogs, and chickens. What could be better than seeing the animals thriving under his attention and care, with ample space to run and graze as he regularly rotates them to even greener pastures?

Mark is dedicated to being a good steward of the land, improving the quality of his pastures as well as protecting and utilizing the woods and springs on his beautiful 37 acres, with the help of the National Resource Conservation Service. It was an important change to organic agriculture when he learned of the health benefits, for both his family and his livestock. Despite the extra time and costs involved, he has witnessed and loved all the benefits in terms of taste and health.

This past season, everyone saw so much craziness, it’s overwhelming to consider. And in a year where there were deals galore on feedlot animals, Mark was stubbornly, admiringly committed to both staying intimately local when looking for livestock, and purchasing organic, pastured genetics where possible – feeder calves from Bair Trax Dairy, feeder hogs from us at End of the Road Farm, and even ordering his chicks from the King family of King’s Poultry Farm.

March 2021 marks my 5th anniversary as manager of Miami County Locally Grown, and Mark is a perfect vendor. I am thankful he’s always accommodating, thorough, and just so pleasant to work with – particularly when it took SO long for him to be able to join the Market, waiting for the inspection and paperwork for his Small Egg Producers License. Mark’s generous nature amazes me, and I so appreciate the sincerity with which he wants both the Market and his fellow vendors to succeed.

It is always such fun to visit a new farm with our children. They’ve seen A LOT of farm life, just by growing up and helping out on our own diverse homestead, but especially with all the traveling and visiting we’ve done to other operations. They are as opinionated and stubborn as their ornery parents when it comes to animal welfare and happiness, with our 4 year old recognizing how happy animals are with plenty of sunshine, fresh air, space, and friendliness – or how sad they are without those basics.

So there’s no higher recommendation I could give than my almost 8 year old son commenting the second we’d piled back in the van to head home, “Mom? This is a happy place. If we had to sell the piglets, I’m sure glad it was to Mr. Gibson.” As am I, Buddy, as am I.