Salomon Gardens @ Ann Arbor Wednesday Market

Salomon Jost with some of his lettuce

Last Wednesday I dashed to the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market on my lunch hour. I was on a quest for cherries, so I rushed by a vendor who was calling out to shoppers about his beautiful lettuce. A little while later, after getting lunch at Monahan's, I was feeling more leisurely and this time I stopped. 

And I was glad I did.

Salomon Jost of Salomon Gardens is selling what has to be the absolutely freshest all-organic lettuce at the market. When harvesting, he undercuts the roots, washes off the soil, and stores the lettuce in a cooler under high humidity. At the market, he sets out the beautiful full heads of lettuce in trays of ice water. Even after hours of sitting outside in the heat, his lettuce is crisp and alive. So alive, in fact, that I wanted to take my head of lettuce home and plant it in my garden. (The lettuce, harvested at its peak, would probably soon bolt in my garden, which would, of course, rather defeat the purpose.)

He has a total of fourteen varieties, including green butter head, red oak leaf, green oak leaf, red romaine, green summer crisp, and red summer crisp. About five were available on the day I stopped by. Prices are based on the size of the lettuce head, ranging from around $2.50 to $4, which I appreciated as I could pick the size that best meets my needs.

Salomon is new to owning his own business, but he isn't new to farming. His agriculture experience goes back to high school and more recently culminated in 2008 with a Masters of Science from the MSU Department of Horticulture, with his research centered around compost. In between high school and graduate school, he worked on a family dairy farm in Wisconsin, a large diversified farm in Germany that did everything from livestock, dairy, and vegetables and grains, a small farm with just 14 hand-milked dairy cows in Switzerland, and a large farm in Brazil producing dairy, medicinal herbs, and vegetables where he oversaw vegetable production for 2.5 years. All were biodynamic farms. 

Back in January, Salomon was talking to friend and farmer Jim Koan of the organic Al-Mar Orchard about not having a job since graduating. Jim offered Salomon the use of some hoop houses at Al-Mar Orchard, and Salomon Gardens was born. He is starting with organic leafy greens, but intends to branch out to a full range of vegetables and herbs from beans to zucchini.

He currently sells at the Ann Arbor Farmers' Market on Wednesday, and on Sunday's at the East Lansing Farmers' Market.  In the Fall, he will transition to the Saturday markets in Ann Arbor where he hopes to offer winter crops of Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce mix, kale, collards, and squash, but at present he is enjoying the more moderate pace of Wednesdays and the opportunity to get to know his customers.

Of running his own business, Salomon says, "It is very different doing everything than joining an existing farm organization. I have at least five fires, each with two or three irons to tend to. With the supportive farming wisdom of Jim and Albert (Jim's father) Koan I am to keep on task - just enough - without getting too overwhelmed.

"Market day is just great! I get to meet and talk with the people who are having a great time with friends, family, and enjoying the overall experience. It offers me an opportunity to balance the rest of the week of direct farming. Rather more extroverted, a bit less physical, but just as fun!"

To contact Salomon, email: [email protected]

Comments

[jules]

Very interesting! I love it when you do posts like this.

[Jen of a2eatwrite]

Thanks for highlighting this, Kitchen Chick - I didn't know about Salomon Gardens - I'm excited to check out Salomon Jost's lettuces and other greens.

[Tricia]

Aha! That explains why I haven't seen him on Saturdays - he's not there. (I used to be a Wednesday regular but this year I'm a Saturday.) The lettuce looks beautiful in that photo.