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Three women create own farmers market south of Lockridge
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LOCKRIDGE – A group of three women have formed their own miniature farmers market that meets once a month on a farm south of Lockridge.
They’ve dubbed it “Corner Homestead Market,” and they’ve been gathering on the second Saturday of the month at the intersection of Stockport Road and Glasgow Road. The market is only a few months old, having started in June, but it’s already attracting a sizable following.
The women who sell at the market are Melanie Carlson with Wolf Creek Family Farm, Melissa Miller with Farmwife Sweets, and Lauren Clingan with Lauren’s All Natural Tallow Skin Care. The three had started home businesses independently, and when Miller announced an interest in having friends join her at a roadside stand, Clingan and Carlson messaged her to say they wanted in. For the past four months, they have been setting up their booths on the Millers’ land south of Lockridge, which has been in her husband Eric’s family since 1902.
Carlson said they’ve been finding new ways to promote their market, and their event on Sept. 13 was consequently busier than normal. Through her family business Wolf Creek Farm, Carlson and her husband John sell produce from their large vegetable garden and orchard, plus freshly cut flowers from their flower patch that also serves as a great picture backdrop.
“We like to save our seeds and start a lot of plants ourselves in our greenhouse,” Carlson said. “A lot of our tomatoes and cherries are heirloom varieties where we save the seed from year to year, and we do the same thing with our flowers.”
The Carlson family also sells beef and pork, as well as meal kits that include everything needed for fajitas, for instance. The Carlsons’ 9-year-old daughter Anna set up her own booth at the market on Saturday, selling homemade earrings made from things such as beads, buttons, glitter, keychains, decorative leather and more.
Clingan said she started her business after noticing that they had some extra beef fat after butchering a steer. She decided to render it down and, after learning more about essential oils and creams, realized she could turn the result into a skin care product.
“The tallow is really beneficial for your skin,” she said.
In addition to her tallow products, Clingan also sells sourdough bread.
Miller started her baking business in 2022. It began as a fundraiser making sugar cookies for 4-H. The cookies were so well received that Miller decided to bake them on a regular basis, and soon she was expanding into cinnamon rolls, cupcakes and most recently, kettle corn.
The women will be back for their next market from 8-11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, and after that the public will have to wait and see. The Millers own a heated barn, so it’s possible the trio could move in there for the winter months.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
