Pop-up farm stand to be offered at Riehm Produce Farm on Saturday

Riehm Produce Farm is working with local merchants to offer a pop-up farm stand with curbside pickup Saturday afternoon. Diane Riehm owns Riehm Produce Farm with her husband, John. Their son, Phil, also is in the business, which has existed for about 31 years. "We're a fifth-generation farm," Diane said. Diane said family members started doing online sales of their vegetables three years ago and then were delivering them to parking lots or corporate businesses. "It just blossomed when we went online," she said. Diane said that because of coronavirus, a group in Pennsylvania kept getting asked a lot about what was going to be done with inventory. "Can we make this online computer system do a one-time pop-up kind of thing? And, they were very successful with it," she said. Riehm Produce Farm piloted the program last week and was successful, she said. People put their names on notebook paper and opened the trunk from inside the vehicle, and workers put the bag inside. "They drove off," Diane said. Diane said people easily kept a 6-foot distance, and Riehm Produce Farm workers wear plastic gloves all the time with food safety. According to information from Riehm, the farm mainly has four crops – spinach, carrots, apples and fingerling potato – and has a few kohlrabi, radish and turnips. Shared Legacy Farm in Elmore is providing onions. The base cost is $15, and people can add more vegetables along with extra items from other vendors. Extra items available for purchase include artisan bread from Bella Cuisine Cooking & Catering, Fremont; ground coffee from Bailiwick's, Tiffin; goat milk soap from New Haven, Bloomville and Fremont; maple syrup and jam; Girl Scout cookies; and a bunny craft project. People can sign up by visiting the farm's website at funacres.net, scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on the event. The deadline to sign up is noon Thursday. They will get to choose what's in their share and and customize the contents once they've checked out. Cards are to be charged when the delivery page closes at noon Thursday. Curbside pickup is 1-3 p.m. Saturday at the farm, 7244 N. SR 53. People should enter the south driveway, pull up to the red doors of the roadside stand and put the name that corresponds with their farm share in their vehicle window. Workers will place the goods in the vehicle. Diane said some of the farm's crop will be ready in May, and the farm can do more pop-up stands then. The farm's regular vegetable boxes program usually doesn't start until June 1. For more information, contact Riehm Produce Farm at riehmfarms@gmail.com or (419) 992-4392.