The Small Farms & Urban Gardens of Goshen

The Good of Goshen • The Farms of Goshen

From food to flowers, we grow just about everything in Goshen.

A walk through Goshen’s farmers’ market provides a snapshot of the bounty harvested by our dynamic community of local growers: fresh produce, microgreens, meat, flowers, and jams. But what only conversations with the area’s small farmers and urban gardeners can reveal is the extent to which growing practices have evolved to be more responsive to changing consumer attitudes about what makes good food. Innovative and tireless, Goshen’s local growers are thoughtfully developing and implementing lean farming practices — sometimes in their front yards — and sharing them, quite literally, around the world.

At the same time, families who have farmed in northern Indiana for generations are revisiting growing methods or changing the focus of what they grow on their farm, all while exploring new ways to sell their products. These growers are actively working to create a life in farming that makes financial sense because, in so doing, they will be able to sustain the work in fields and orchards they believe contributes to the lives of their own families and those of their neighbors.

In Goshen, you’ll find a flower farmer who knows just what should go into an arrangement because they remember which ones were special to your grandmother; an artist who now raises hogs on their property; and a lifelong organic farmer who did the work of obtaining a certification identifying him as such when his customers called for it.

What these local growers all share, however, is deep gratitude for the support and enthusiasm of the Goshen community for what they bring to market. It is their customers, they say, that makes farming here so rewarding.

So growing goodness is nothing new to Goshen, but click through on our stories below to read more about how this fresh crop of farmers is creatively and responsibly working to feed — and beautify — the slow food movement.