Non-profit I Can Grow farm and market is going strong

By Deborah Buckhalter

Published: May 21, 2008

The ‘I Can Grow’ Farmers Market has opened for the season near Cottondale, with a special incentive for peach buyers.

If you buy $7 worth of peaches, which are all Jackson County-grown, you get a “Super Sweet” onion, according to I Can Grow Executive Director Glenda Hutzel.
The market is an enclosed, air-conditioned building at 2035 Palmview Road, just off U.S. 90. about two miles west of the Cottondale city limits.
Open since May 2, the spring market will be open through the end of July.

And after a brief mid-summer hiatus, the fall market will open at I Can Grow, the fall season running from Sept. 22 through Nov. 2.

The non-profit I Can Grow farm and market exists to provide employment opportunities for disabled residents of this area. Founded in 2001 by the Hutzel family in part to assist and provide meaningful experiences for their developmentally disabled son, the operation has expanded. Today, the farm provides seasonal jobs for a half-dozen non-relatives with a variety of disabilities.

For instance, workers there help harvest and package the spring produce grown on the farm.

In addition to peaches, the spring offerings include nectarines, mayhaws, blackberries, blueberries, sweet corn, and other produce.

Among its holdings, the farm boasts 180 peach trees, a combined 700 bushes of blueberries and blackberries, and six mayhaw trees.

Throughout this season, the market is open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

I Can Grow accepts for payment the WIC coupons distributed to mothers of young children, and coupons distributed to the elderly, Hutzel pointed out.

Hutzel also offers her produce at the Jackson County Farmers Market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and has invited other producers to bring their locally Florida-grown wares to her farm, especially on days when the farmers market in Marianna is closed.

In its first three years, the farm received $35,000 annual grants from the Able Trust to get itself firmly established, but now depends on smaller, private sector grants as it continues to work toward total self-support.

In fall, other crops will take center stage. Autumn offerings are expected to include pumpkins, gourds, cabbage, collards, broccoli, ornamental corn, corn stalks, and fresh cut sunflowers.

In fall, from Sept. 11 through Nov. 2, the farm will host Fall Farm Days, during which families can bring their kids there for horse-drawn buggy rides, tractor-pulled hay rides, catch-and-release fishing, and picnics on the grounds.

Last October, the farm acquired a pair of Amish-trained draft horses which resemble miniature Clydesdales, and an Amish-made wagon for the rides they’ll be offering in the fall.

Fall hours will be 8 a.m. until dusk on Monday-Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday Fall Farm Days.

School children regularly visit the farm in fall for field trips, Hutzel said.