Filling the cup at Titus Farms, one market at a time

Rebecca Titus, owner and CSA manager of Titus Farms in Leslie and winner of Best Farmer in City Pulse’s inaugural Top of the Town People Contest, has been attending farmers markets her whole life — first as a child under her parents’ care and now as a vendor bringing vegetables, cut flowers and eggs to customers year-round.

“I’ve been going to farmers markets since my mom could shove me under the table in a bassinet,” she said. “I’d play with my Barbie dolls under the table at Meridian while she sold vegetables.”

Titus Farms was founded by Titus’ parents, Paul and Rose, in 1982. She grew up on the farm and now leads a team of seasonal and part-time staff, including market workers. Her parents still help out, her father with mechanical work and her mother with the farm’s laying hens.

Titus launched the farm’s community-supported agriculture program in 2005 during her freshman year at Michigan State University, after her father experienced a serious medical emergency. With help from MSU professors John Biernbaum and Corie Pierce, she started the program to help the farm cover costs between harvest seasons.

“Right now, I’m paying for labor and supplies, and I won’t harvest that crop until the fall or late summer. And we don’t get the money back until we sell those items,” she said. “Thus, having a CSA has been really helpful to sort of even out all those risks in our farm.”

The program began with 50 members and has since grown to about 250 in the summer season and around 100 in the winter months — numbers that have held steady for years.

The farm’s income usually comes from “around half CSA, half farmers market,” she said. “It’s a great balance for us to be able to sell our goods at the farmers market.”

The farm sells at the Meridian Farmers Market year-round and the Allen Farmers Market in the winter.

“We used to go to a lot of different markets, but we’ve really homed in on those two,” Titus said.

What’s on the table changes with the seasons.

“It can be more difficult in the winter — there’s less opportunity for those summer crops, obviously, like tomatoes and cucumbers,” she said. “But you can still get really beautiful spinach, wonderful potatoes and super sweet carrots. You can also get some really unusual things like rutabagas and turnabagas, which are like a cross between a turnip and a rutabaga.”

All of it is grown without artificial heat.

“We’re really trying to do it with less input and energy,” she said. “They’re all passive solar hoop houses, so we just get what we get.

“We grow things sustainably,” she continued. “Our vegetables and cut flowers are grown using sustainable, organic methods. We’re not certified organic, though.”

The farm also practices cover cropping and crop rotation and maintains habitats for pollinators and beneficial insects to support soil health.

“We’re always looking for ways to be more efficient,” Titus said. “Not just with time, but with resources.”

Markets aren’t just where the food ends up. Titus sees them as a way to connect with the community and showcase the farm’s bounty.

“For us, farmers markets have always been a way to fill our cup. A way to feel more active with the people we grow the food for,” she said. “I see people I went to high school with, or their parents, or their kids. I’ve watched kids grow up at the market.

“I also feel like it’s a great place for me to display my goods in a really artistic way,” she continued. “And when people compliment me on how beautiful things are, it’s a way for me to feel the love.”

She noted Titus Farms is “always looking for help at the market.” The ideal candidate would be someone who wants to learn about the ins and outs of farming.

“Planting something, watching it grow and then harvesting it is a very unique and rewarding experience that I don’t think a lot of people are able to enjoy,” she said. “I wish more people would try to grow gardens and get to know this sort of work and the reward that goes into farming.”