Gary Krambeck
Lee and Randy Hoovey of Geneseo, owners of Let Us Farm show some of the many varieties of leaf lettuce that they grown and sell. More photos from this shoot
Gary Krambeck
Lee and Randy Hoovey of Geneseo, owners of Let Us Farm work to harvest chard grown beneath netting to shade it from summer sun. More photos from this shoot
The farmer dips his tongs into tub after tub of lettuce, retrieving bunches of picked-this-morning leaves. Red tinges some of the leaves. Others are dark green and curly at the edges. The farmers' market customers "ooh" and "aah" over the colors and textures. Clearly, this isn't the stuff that goes into bagged salads at the supermarket.
This is Let Us Farm, the cleverly named, local lettuce business created by Randy and Lee Hoovey of Geneseo, Ill.
The husband-and-wife team raise rare lettuces and sell them at farmers' markets, where their customers get to blend different types of leaves into unique salads.
"People come up every single day at the market, just like today, and say, 'I've never had this kind of lettuce,'" says Randy Hoovey, a former computer programmer. He and his wife, a teacher at Galva (Ill.) High School, are longtime gardeners who set their sights on forming a CSA (community-supported agriculture) business. Along the way, however, they uncovered their love of all things leafy. They also discovered that they're pretty good at growing lettuce -- a crop that sets them apart at the farmers' markets where they sell their salads.
"We've sold other vegetables, but lettuce is our niche. It's something that we do well," say Hoovey.
Let Us Farm operates a booth at the Trinity at Terrace Park Farmers' Market in Bettendorf, Iowa, and at the Freight House Farmers' Market in Davenport. Hoovey says they'd like to open a booth at the Geneseo (Ill.) Farmers' Market again soon -- it's the market where they got their start, after all -- but that first they'll need to find someone to staff it. Then there's the not-so-small matter of growing, harvesting, cleaning and delivering enough lettuce to make a third location worthwhile.
"We've been kind of on an upward trajectory," he says, "but we haven't ever been able to produce enough."
Unlike some other food crops, lettuces continually must be sown to ensure an ongoing harvest.
"It is an incredible amount of work," he says. "And then add to it that before market, you're going to pick everything, cool it down for a couple of hours, wash it and load the truck."
Hoovey rises at 5 a.m. most mornings to begin planting, weeding, watering. He often rests during the hottest part of the day, then resumes field work in the late afternoon.
To say the couple's work is a labor of love sounds cliche, but it's an apt description.
Hoovey calls the business a "hobby gone out of control." It's clear from the way he talks about farming that passion for healthy, local food -- food raised in healthy, local soil -- is the foundation for their work.
"We started out wanting to grow what we eat," Hoovey explains. "We had been gardening for years and years -- decades, really. And finally we bought this little place. It's eight-and-a-half acres. We bought it with the idea that we would grow all our own food."
The first seeds for Let Us Farm were sown. By 2008, they were selling produce at the Geneseo Farmers' Market.
This year they moved to the Freight House and Trinity Markets. Business is growing at an exceptional pace. Hoovey says it's all because of the "savvy" farmers' market customers, smart shoppers who know what to look for when it comes to clean, good-for-you foods.
Let Us Farm's leaves are naturally grown and certified by Certified Naturally Grown (naturallygrown.org). In simple terms, Hoovey tells patrons that his lettuces are "cide-free," meaning that they're grown without herbicides or pesticides.
And like all organic farmers, the Hooveys nurture the soil.
"Because we don't have enough to do," Hoovey says wryly, "we make our own potting soil" with earth-derived additives like kelp, which actually contains all the elements of most multivitamins.
After harvest, the leaves are field washed with clean water. Customers are encouraged to carefully clean the leaves with water once more before eating them, and Hoovey jokes that if they find a piece of straw in the bowl, "it's free."
This year, market-goers just might be able to find the Hooveys' beautiful, delicious varieties of lettuce much later in the season than conventional growing would allow. Thanks to a grant from the National Resource Conservation Service, Let Us Farm began constructing a hoophouse in mid-July.
"Last year, our last picking was Dec. 3. We don't know until we get the hoophouse put up what we'll be able to do. But we would hope that it would extend our season a little later and allow us to begin a little earlier."
Like most farmers' market growers, the couple finds fulfillment in providing healthy, clean food to the community. They agree that one of the best parts of farming, in fact, is connecting with eaters on a one-on-one basis.
"I have the most fun ... when I load the truck to go to market. I'm always amazed by how much we can put together," Hoovey says. "And then of course I love interacting with the people at the market. People enjoy it so much. Most people have never been able to create their own salad. And you can't get half the kinds of lettuce at the store that you can get from us."
For more information about Let Us Farm, send an e-mail to LetUsF@yahoo.com.
A taste of Let Us Farm
Chard: A thick, soft leaf with a beet-like flavor. Not a lettuce.
Green Deer Tongue: An old variety of heirloom lettuce. It's delicate and mild. Each leaf has two parts: The tip is velvety and green. The bottom end is crunchy.
Green Leaf Lettuce: Thick, crumpled leaves with a mild flavor.
Kale: A hearty, leafy green -- not a lettuce -- with a cabbage-like flavor.
Oak Leaf Lettuce: Crunchy stems and soft leaves tinged with red around their edges.
Red leaf lettuce: Tender leaves tinged with red.
Romaine: Mild lettuce with large, tender leaves and crunchy hearts.
Tatsoi: Small, tender, dark green leaves that taste like bok choy.
