By Louise Swartzwalder It is 5:30 a.m. on a Friday in Lakeville, Ohio. I have my truck loaded with tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, peppers, a host of other vegetables and cut flowers. I am off to a market in Olmsted Falls, a suburb of Cleveland, an hour and a half drive from my farm. Saturday, at 6:30 a.m., my truck is loaded once again to go to a market in Wooster, Ohio, where I sell vegetables, flowers and a few breads. On Sunday, I am in Takoma Park, Maryland, loading a van with breads, pastries, pies and cookies, preparing for the Takoma Park Farmers’ Market. For 18 years, since 1984, I have been a participant, as a baker at the Takoma Park market, the premier producer-only market in the Washington, D.C., area.

For the past two years, I have been farming part time at our family farm in Ohio, trying to establish myself in the Ohio farmers’ market scene. I refer to myself at the commuter farmer. Wooster, Ohio, and Takoma Park, Maryland, are 400 miles apart. It’s a seven-hour drive, or a one-hour airplane flight from Baltimore to Cleveland. In Maryland, my husband, John Hyde, and I own Takoma Kitchens, a wholesale and retail bakery that operates seven days a week and sells to 11 farmers’ markets and specialty stores. With my sisters, I own Crestwood Family Farms in Ohio, 300 acres farmed mainly by tenants. Inspired by Washington, D.C., markets and by my belief that our farm should be farmed by someone from the family, I applied last year to the Wooster producer-only market. This year, I added the Olmsted Falls market, one of the North Union farmers’ markets that is in its first year. The bakery is still standing, although downsized, and I want to expand my farming enterprise. I spend Sunday through Tuesday or Wednesday in Maryland, fly to Ohio on Wednesday or Thursday and return on Saturday night.

The logistics of my travel have been fine-tuned. I have rides to and from airports, and I pack no clothes. I have a household set up at my childhood home, and my truck is at the farm. The enterprise is doable, but with its down sides. Work at the bakery is managed by John, who devotes hours not required of his other job. Inevitable disasters occur which cause stress for John and me, long distance. Several times this year we have had to scrap a smaller market, because of production or manpower problems. We have reduced the number of markets we do from 15 to 11 and cut the number of employees. Staging Takoma Kitchens markets is difficult because of our size. We produce almost 100 items, not just breads, and those require special wrapping and handling. We offer pies, tarts, scones, bread sticks, focaccia, Spanish specialties, cakes, and a full line of fine pastries. Many items have to be wrapped on trays to be served individually to customers.

When we set up a market, it is like transporting an entire store, with three salespersons. So any difficulties we have in baking, wrapping or loading cause severe problems. With a key member of the organization absent (me), John’s work load is doubled. At the farm, I am limited by the time I can spend. I originally wanted to concentrate on cut flowers, but found the Wooster market saturated. I am not growing some items that don’t require daily maintenance. But I am also growing heirloom tomatoes and specialty items, and some don’t get the attention they deserve. I have one helper who takes care of watering. I am still at the stage where I obsess about every tomato I lose, but I’m getting over it. I haven’t been able to engage in long-term projects such as constructing a greenhouse or installing irrigation, although those are things I plan to do. Bakers are an important part of the markets in the Washington, D.C., area, and John and I have both served on the board of the Takoma Park Farmers’ Market, incorporated four years ago. Markets in Ohio seem to be about 10 years behind the East Coast. Last year, to start at the Wooster market and supplement what I had growing, I sold break from Takoma Kitchens. I was the only baker. The bread was a hit, so much so that this year five vendors showed up with baked goods.

My venture into farming has our farmer friends applauding, and employees and friends wondering when we’re going to move to Ohio. We actually are nearly as committed to markets in Maryland (particularly Takoma Park) as we are to markets in Ohio. So for the moment, we’ll do both.