By Joe Jerdonek
The Coit Road Farmers’ Market registered another year of improvements in 2021.
SNAP sales increased 10% and $18,000 of food incentives were redeemed by needy customers.
Site improvements included repaving the south parking area, remodeling the bathroom, a new demo kitchen, and renewal of the urban farm area. Murals were added to all sides of the Market building with the support of Food Strong and grants from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Work was started on a food forest using vacant land next to the Market with the support of the Cuyahoga County Soil and Water District. Food Strong used their learning garden on-site to educate youth, and produced monthly Care-A-Van and volunteer events.
The Market earned funding from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) for design engineering to control stormwater on the 2-acre site. “Our goals are to educate the community, beautify the site and reduce stormwater fees” noted Ursula McVey, Americorp Vista volunteer.
The Market is one of six sites in Ohio participating in a 3-year USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program by Central State University Extension Service. The program includes hiring a part-time farm manager for the Market site, and training three beginning farmers from socially disadvantaged or veteran groups each year. For further information on participating, contact Joe Jerdonek at 440-376-9448.
Market Manager, Kevin Scheuring, offers free knife skills coaching every Saturday at 10 a.m. “We identified a lack of decent knives and proper knife skills as a primary deterrent to daily meal prep at home,” noted Kevin.
The Market also offers free cooking demos every Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
The demos for the next four Saturdays are as follows:
Feb. 12 – Sauerkraut
Feb. 19 – Vinegar
Feb. 26 – Saki
March 5 – Spaetzle
The Market is located at 15000 Woodworth Rd, and is open Saturdays, year-round from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
You can find a full schedule of events at www.coitmarket.org.