Richwood Gardens is more than a local business — it is a story about finding one’s passion for the simpler things in life and harnessing it to make the community stronger and healthier. Even though I handle all of the growing, marketing, and sales operations myself, I am obliged to acknowledge that this project simply would not be possible without the support of my loving wife Lindsey and our two children.

I have always been interested in horticulture – from volunteering in my middle school greenhouse as part of gardening club, right up to the present day with my market garden.

Prior to moving to our 18-acre farmstead just outside of Richwood in northern Union County, we lived on an acre in Powell where I had some fruit trees, a small garden, and some laying hens. I had always wanted enough space to grow some crops or have an orchard on a scale that would allow me to grow for a community market.

One day during the Independence Day weekend of 2017, we were casually searching for properties online and found our dream home. We listed our house the next morning and sold it in three days. While it would take almost another year to build the infrastructure and shape the land, Richwood Gardens was born.

I wanted my market garden’s identity to reflect our new community, the physicality of farming, as well as my military service. The chevrons above the crossed pick and spade in my logo were inspired by my six years of service with H&S Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines out of Brook Park, Ohio. I was deployed to Al-Anbar Province, Iraq in 2005. I strive to continue to honor what the Marine Corps taught me about grit, dedication to duty, and integrity in my business operations even though enough time has passed now that the next generation has stepped up and put on the uniform.

“We should so live and labor in our time that what came to us as seed may go to the next generation as blossom, and that which came to us as blossom may go to them as fruit. That is what we mean by progress.”

– Henry Ward Beecher

We grow stronger as a society when we pass on knowledge, a love of learning, and passion for our interests to the next generation. I am grateful that I get to do all of these as a full-time educator, market gardener, husband, and a father to our two children. It is not lost on me the many ways that education and horticulture are alike.

As a language teacher and world traveler, I have seen how food transcends demographics and brings communities and cultures together. Here’s to another year of spending Saturday morning with the wonderful people of Union County.

Stop by the Marysville Farmers Market some time and say hi. I would love to meet you!