A few years ago my brother Isaac and I decided that we wanted to make some extra spending money by offering a lemonade stand to our neighbors. Usually, we just asked for donations and our friends & family were very generous in their purchases.
Three years ago, after a successful lemonade stand, we discussed the fact that we needed to make more money. We talked with our grandmother aka “Mimi” and our mom and the suggestion was made to try a produce stand. We reached out to the Amish Community and to local farmers and purchased a small amount of produce – not knowing if this would be successful. We sold out in two hours!
And…that is how Brother’s Produce was born. The first year we just had a home stand – selling produce on the honor system. We had planted a garden but that year a 75-foot oak tree fell on our home and we were displaced for 3 months. We lived in an RV on the property, but we simply could not maintain a garden. We began to buy from the Amish Community visiting their farms and going to their produce sale. Our Mimi reached out to local farmers and bought from them for re-sale. It was important to us to keep prices as low as we could so that our community could support us but still get produce at a good price.
Last year we decided to try the Ellettsville Farmer’s Market, in addition to the Home Stand. Every Saturday thru the summer, we set up from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and sold our produce. That was also very successful, and people began to know who we were.
This year, the summer of 2025, we will once again have our Home Stand operating on the honor system and will be at the Ellettsville Farmer’s Market. We also have a new produce stand, a new canopy, and a kind neighbor sold us a trailer at a very reasonable price.
Stay tuned. See how we grow next.