Berkley

Berkley native opens new farm stand on 12 Mile

By Jeremy Selweski
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Deb Jacques Cashier Carol Bates assists customers Colleen Wise, of Berkley, Cinda Coon, of Berkley, and Kenneth Burton, of Royal Oak, with their purchases at the Berkley Farm Stand on Sept. 8. Photo by Deb Jacques Cashier Carol Bates assists customers Colleen Wise, of Berkley, Cinda Coon, of Berkley, and Kenneth Burton, of Royal Oak, with their purchases at the Berkley Farm Stand on Sept. 8.

BERKLEY — Laura Uhlianuk had quite a homecoming when she and her family launched the Berkley Farm Stand on Sept. 1.

“It was sort of a mini high school reunion for me; I kept bumping into old friends and neighbors that I hadn’t seen in years,” said Uhlianuk, 43, a Berkley native and a graduate of Berkley High School’s Class of 1987. “On that first day, we were sold out of all our food by 4 (p.m.). I know we’re just getting started, but so far people have been so supportive of us, and they seem really grateful that we’re here.”

The Berkley Farm Stand offers a variety of fresh, locally grown, organic produce seven days a week. Located in the downtown area next to Clark’s Ice Cream at 3312 W. 12 Mile Road, the stand is currently open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, although Uhlianuk indicated that those hours would likely be decreasing soon. It will remain open through Oct. 31.

Above all else, freshness is the key to the stand’s appeal. All fruits and vegetables are grown at the Uhlianuk family farm up in North Branch, where they are harvested and transported to Berkley the next morning. Uhlianuk emphasized that her family’s produce is “truly farm fresh,” because all items are less than 24 hours removed from the soil when they reach the stand.

“Our commitment is that as soon as we pick any food, it goes straight to the farm stand,” she said. “Since our niche is old-world heirloom vegetables, we need to be sure that they are as fresh and as ripe as possible, because they go bad a lot quicker (than typical vegetables). The longer they sit out, the more the nutrients are depleting. We put a lot of effort into making sure that all our foods are eaten in their optimal state.”

Uhlianuk has deep roots in the Berkley community. Her grandparents moved to the city nearly 70 years ago, and her parents met and fell in love at Berkley High School in the 1960s. After graduating from BHS herself and heading off to college, Uhlianuk came home to Berkley and later met her future husband, Lee, a fifth-generation farmer. They were married in 2002 and moved out to Lee’s 100-acre farm in North Branch. They continue to live and work there with their three young children.

The idea for the Berkley Farm Stand was hatched last summer after the family had what Uhlianuk called “an unplanned trial run.” Their son, Ben, just 4 years old at the time, planted his own garden at home and promptly decided that he wanted to start his own market. His parents responded by opening up a small food stand in Laura’s mother’s front yard in Berkley on Tuesday afternoons. What began as a few tables of fruits and vegetables quickly grew so successful that the family began bringing down a full-sized market truck filled with produce each week.

“People were just pouring in from everywhere to buy our food,” Uhlianuk recalled. “We took that as a sign that Berkley really wants this and is ready for its own seven-day farm stand.”

Others in town seem to agree. Dave Hurst, chair of the Berkley Environmental Advisory Committee, believes that the farm stand could create healthy competition with the city’s two commercial markets, Westborn and Hiller’s, by giving residents another option to choose from.

“The Environmental Advisory Committee strongly supports organically grown fruits and vegetables in our community,” he said. “We think that there is clear demand for something like this in Berkley, and we encourage people to seek it out. This is really part of a larger trend across the U.S. as a whole, where there’s been a major push to get back to more locally grown food and more healthy eating.”

Hurst also noted that the BEAC is currently working with the Berkley Downtown Development Authority to try to establish a farmers market in downtown Berkley. While that project is still in the early planning stages, Hurst wondered if and how it might be affected by the presence of the Berkley Farm Stand.

Whatever happens there, Uhlianuk fully intends for her new business to become an integral part of the community where she grew up. The farm stand is hosting a series of free special events and regular activities all season long, including a harvest festival, a Halloween celebration, “farm school” classes, daily children’s story times at 11 a.m. and family fun days every Friday from 5-8 p.m.

“Berkley is a really nice place to do business, because it has such a great feeling of community that’s like nowhere else I know,” Uhlianuk said. “We’ve always wanted to open a seven-day farm stand, and the icing on the cake is that we’re doing it right here in my hometown. It’s really the ideal scenario — it’s like bringing my two worlds together.”

For more information on the Berkley Farm Stand, call (810) 688-4034 or visit www.theberkleyfarmstand.com.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jSelweski@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5004.