Putnam: Saturday pop-up market features produce from urban farms in Lansing, Lansing Township Lansing Grown initiative aims to boost small farmers

Judy Putnam | Lansing State Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Zane Vicknair plans Street Kitchen menu around local produce Lansing Grown initiative promotes food produced by Lansing and Lansing Township urban farms

LANSING – You can be sure your food is local when it says: “Lansing Grown.”

It’s a new marketing concept for food produced by urban farmers in Lansing and Lansing Township.

The second of three pop-up markets with Lansing Grown produce will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday along the River Trail in downtown Lansing. It’s more than a little ironic that it will be held in front of the Lansing City Market, where fresh farm produce has been sadly missing for years.

Laura DeLind, co-founder and board president of the Lansing Urban Farm Project, said the idea was hatched at a retreat earlier this year. The Lansing Urban Farm Project owns Urbandale Farm, which is planted in flood plain land on the city’s eastside. The project has been training urban farmers for a decade through an apprenticeship program.

Now the nonprofit is looking for ways to support the steadily growing number of small urban commercial farms, perhaps numbering two dozen in the city and township.

“It’s just a shame they’re not getting more attention and more economic return for what they do. They add so much to the urban environment,” she said.

More than a dozen business, nonprofit and community groups are joining the effort.

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The first of the three pop-ups, in July, had eight farmers and about 150 customers.

Adam Ingrao, who owns Beewise Farms, said his wife, Lacey, sold honey at the first pop-up and sales were good, mostly driven by visitors to an event at the Lansing Center.

The couple owns a two-acre farm on South Francis and sells honey, herbs and flowers, mostly at holiday markets and through direct sales. You won’t see them at the area’s farmers markets, though they are part of Allen Marketplace’s veggie box program.

“It’s good timing for us,” he said, about the Lansing Grown initiative. “We’ll definitely be utilizing that in our marketing and our branding as well. We try to really make ourselves known as a local producer.”

Another goal of the Lansing Grown initiative will be to promote the use of local produce at area restaurants.

Zane Vicknair, chef and owner of Street Kitchen in Lansing, is already sold on the concept. He said he has shopped for local produce his entire career. He adjusts his menu based on available produce.

Local food is the freshest with better texture and taste, he said. Plus promoting local urban farmers will hopefully increase the market and reduce the costs. He estimates most of his food used in his restaurant is locally produced.

“It was ingrained in me at a very young age. You can’t get better quality produce than when it was picked straight off the vine,” he said.

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam.