Profile: Bench Farms
April 21st, the Maumee Valley East …
Northwest Ohio is one of the best places in the state for birders
(http://www.bsbobird.org/,
http://www.ohio-nature.com/ohio-birds.html) and,
for many of those birders, at stop Bench Farms for bird-friendly plants is an
integral part of the area’s attraction.
Bench Farms, owned by David and Cindy Bench, offers fifty-five varieties of
salvia, many of which can help attract birds and butterflies to even city
gardens (learn more about gardening for wildlife at
http://www.enature.com/gardening/). Another specialty is geraniums,
especially scented varieties, of which Bench offers more than one hundred.
Gardeners won’t find this diversity at “big box” stores, but the independent family-owned businesses which make up the Maumee Valley Growers are each unique, formed by the inclinations of the owner and flexible enough to respond to customers’ requests.
Requests from Bench’s customers have helped to shape the wide variety of
heirloom vegetable plants on offer as well, especially tomatoes, hot peppers,
and ethnic vegetables. Even foodies who don’t have time to garden can find
what they want at Bench’s roadside market (open from July to October) or from
their new subsidiary Shared Legacy Farms, where David and Cindy’s son Kurt is
offering an 18-week vegetable subscription service
(http://www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/).
Shared Legacy, founded in 2008 by Kurt and his wife Corinna Bench, continues the Bench family farming legacy that dates back over two generations.
Bench Farms is located on Route 2, just a few minutes from Maumee Bay State
Park. The Grainary, a country gift store located in a barn on site, offers
distinctive gifts including unique ironwork garden art made by a local artist.
From April through the fall, the Greenhouse is open from 9AM to 8:30PM,
every day.
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Contact the Maumee Valley Growers for more information (fill in the message and send it)
