Bowerman Blueberries’ family-run farm and market hand-pick their bushes to ensure quality and flavor. Andrew VanTil, co-owner, joins Nick to talk blueberries (including wine), diversifying business, and connecting with customers through Market Wagon. cover art

Bowerman Blueberries’ family-run farm and market hand-pick their bushes to ensure quality and flavor. Andrew VanTil, co-owner, joins Nick to talk blueberries (including wine), diversifying business, and connecting with customers through Market Wagon.

Bowerman Blueberries’ family-run farm and market hand-pick their bushes to ensure quality and flavor. Andrew VanTil, co-owner, joins Nick to talk blueberries (including wine), diversifying business, and connecting with customers through Market Wagon.

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 Episode 14 Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (00:01): Today, we're gonna have a conversation with Andrew VanTil of Bowerman Blueberry Farm and Farm Market. They're in West Michigan and if you have tasted blueberries that you bought from Walmart or Kroger, you probably tasted their blueberries at one point or another. So how does a farm who has national distribution in some of the largest retailers in the country, find the value in connecting directly with you on Market Wagon so that you can know their farm, their name, and chat with them so that you can know where your food came from. Happy 4th of July and enjoy the episode. Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (00:35): Welcome to More Than A Mile, a local food podcast from Market Wagon, focused on connecting you to local food through farmer stories from across America. I'm Nick Carter, your host, a farmer and CEO and co-founder of Market Wagon. We are your online farmers market with a mission to enable food producers to thrive in their local and regional markets. Food is so much more than just nutrients and calories. It's actually the fabric that holds us together. And I look forward to crafting a generational quilt of farmer stories and experiences, the victories and challenges of individuals, families, and teams doing their part to help democratize food in America. Thanks for joining me for this episode of More Than A Mile, and thank you for buying local food. It's one critical step in making an investment in food for future generations. Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (01:26): Well, my guest today is Andrew VanTil from Bowerman Blueberries in Michigan. And welcome to the show, Andrew. Andrew VanTil (Bowerman Blueberries Farm Market) (01:34): Good morning, Nick. Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (01:35): Great to have you here. Thanks for joining. So this is our 4th of July episode. We're coming up on the middle of the summer. Is that holiday, does that have a big spike for you guys or what kind of impact does that have on your farm? Andrew VanTil (Bowerman Blueberries Farm Market) (01:48): Oh man. 4Th of July. It's really the start of the season for us. You know, we start harvesting blueberries about a week after the 4th of July. But I think it--I think it really signifies the start of summer for a lot of people. You know, it, here in Michigan, it's, you know, cherries become available right around the 4th of July. We start harvesting blueberries about a week after everybody's out of school, everybody's in summer mode and, you know, for us, it really, it kicks off the summer of amazing Michigan produce. Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (02:21): Awesome. And blueberries are your main thing. Is there anything else you guys grow? Andrew VanTil (Bowerman Blueberries Farm Market) (02:26): So we have dabbled in a lot of things. We have grown strawberries here on the farm. We've grown raspberries on the farm, we've grown pumpkins, you know, it's all been a matter of you know, figuring out how to bring customers in, not only during this time during the 4th of July when things are really busy, but you know, kind of extending that experience out into other parts of the summer. So, you know, we used to grow asparagus to kick things off really early. That was--that was hard. I'm not gonna lie . And like I said, we then moved into, we did some strawberries, we've done some raspberries, you know, we've tried a lot of different things. And what we found is that, you know, everything that you grow, everything that you do on the farm, it requires a lot of passion, you know, and for us, our passion is definitely it's definitely in blueberries. So while we have done a lot of different things and we've allocated a lot of different space on the farm for different fruits right now we're back to what we started with, and that is blueberries. Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (03:27): Sticking with the core. Andrew VanTil (Bowerman Blueberries Farm Market) (03:28): That's right. Nick Carter - Host (Market Wagon) (03:29): Okay. And one of the things I've heard you say, I wanna get a little bit into your family farming background, and I've heard you say farming is family. Tell me about that phrase, how that works into your colloquial. Andrew VanTil (Bowerman Blueberries Farm Market) (03:43): Yeah. So we know that better than anyone here at Bowerman's, you know we are truly your quintessential family farm. I--right now Bowerman is run by me, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law. Mom and dad still live here on the farm. They're pushing their mid seventies and, you know, they're honestly still the hardest workers on the farm. And I, I don't think they're ever they're ever gonna quit which is great because we absolutely love having them around. But it, as, you know, as we've grown, we've taken in even more you know, more family members. So now I have another brother-in-law, who's working here at the farm. We're starting to see our nieces and nephews get to the age where ...

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