Bay Branch Farm is an urban market garden in Lakewood and Cleveland, Ohio. Our mission is to grow high quality food in a sustainable manner, honoring the soil, the environment, and the people in our community. We seek to share and learn with others interested in urban farming.
Here’s a short history of our journey:
- 2007: started a backyard garden employing Mel Bartholomew’s square foot gardening methods and container gardening peppers and tomatoes
- 2009
- purchased a vacant lot (120′ x 40′) in Lakewood with the intention of developing a market garden – Bay Branch Farm was born!
- lots of soil building, rock picking, learning, and even some growing (mostly cover crops)
- 2010
- attended the OSU Extension Market Gardener training and got a mentor
- created 21 beds for planting short cycle crops like lettuce, radishes and arugula following the SPIN method
- first season at the Lakewood Farmer’s Market
- built a Warre hive and got some bees
- 2011
- built a 12′ x 20′ hoop house
- hosted our first WWOOFers
- first honey harvest
- 2012
- more WWOOFers
- hooked up drip irrigation
- 2013
- downsized our house, upsized our yard by moving from Lakewood to Cleveland
- primary tillage and cover cropping in our backyard in Cleveland
- 2014: Spink full-time on the farm!
- 2015
- became parents and took a year off from growing for market
- purchased a greenhouse, disassembled it and moved it to our house
- 2016: getting back in the game. Check out where to find us.
- 2017: moved and expanded our hoop house, built a tool shed, partnered with neighbors for additional growing space, planted more varieties than any past season
Thanks so much for your interest in our farm!
Contact us to learn more!