Want to sell your homegrown produce at the Ypsi Farmers Market? You can through this program.

On the Ground Ypsilanti is an “embedded journalism” program covering the city and township of Ypsilanti. It is supported by Ann Arbor SPARK, the Center for Health and Research Transformation, Destination Ann Arbor, Eastern Michigan University, Engage @ EMU, Washtenaw Community College, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, and Washtenaw ISD.

Ypsilanti-based gardening nonprofit Growing Hope wants community members to help shape the future of a program that allows home and hobby gardeners to share a cooperative farmers market booth.

Farmers Market Assistant Manager Annalee Miklosek says the idea behind the program, called Ypsi Grows, is to allow amateur gardeners to sell produce at the Ypsilanti Farmers Market without having as much produce as a commercial farm. They might even be able to vend just every other week or once a month.

“Say a homeowner is growing on a small plot of land and only grows two types of produce. They wouldn’t be able to come to market with six cucumbers, but if they join forces with several others, they’ll be able to offer a booth full of produce,” Miklosek says.

Miklosek says Growing Hope staff created an interest form for the program last fall, but response has been a bit slow. Only four people had completed the response form by April, and talks fizzled out with most of the respondents.

Miklosek notes that Growing Hope has had success with the model under a different name, the Ypsilanti Growers Cooperative, from 2012 to 2016. Growing Hope staff feel it would be a viable model again now.

Miklosek says she could go forward with programming the booth, but Growing Hope staff want the growers to build the program from the ground up.

“I want the people running it to also be the ones making decisions about how frequently they’re going to attend, what kind of produce they’ll offer, and how they’re going to market themselves,” Miklosek says.

Anyone interested in the Ypsi Grows program can fill out the interest form here or email Miklosek at annalee@growinghope.net.