According to the Mad Farmer’s Collective website, The “Mad” in Mad Farmers Collective isn’t an acronym and it isn’t really that angry — it’s a nod to farmer-poet Wendell Berry and his Mad Farmer poems, especially his “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”.
Mad Farmer’s Collective is one in the ecosystem of urban agricultural businesses in Indianapolis. These businesses include farms, restaurants, markets and producing partners. Buying from one helps them all and helps the ecosystem thrive.
“Basically, we are just doing what we can see to do, to help the city be a healthier place,” said Amy Mathews, co-manager of Mad Farmer’s Collective, a 1 ½-acre farm on the southside of downtown. The collective supplies locally grown produce and plants that celebrate Indy’s potential for vitality. Mathews underscored that Mad Farmer’s Collective is a frame for selling the produce they grow, sharing the market space with smaller specialty growers, providing plant starts for home gardeners in the spring and feeding their community. This is only a small part — what matters most is the ecosystem.
And, we must not diminish the small. As a devotee of Adrienne Marie Brown’s classic text “Emergent Strategy,” I know that, “Small is good, small is all.” Small is sustainable, replicable and guards against burnout. Small under promises and over delivers. If we all do small and mind our own corner of the world, the world is smiling.
It felt bigger than “small” when I met Mathews in the greenhouse of their family farm last week, however. It felt warm, a balmy 20 degrees, but we had felt -7 degrees the day prior. Stepping in from a snow-covered field, after driving miles of icy roads southward, I was filled with deep comfort at rows of emerald carrot tops flourishing in the greenhouse. It felt like a huge hug. Make a farmer friend and try it yourself. Thirty minutes in that greenhouse was better than three SAD lamps.
What a privilege it is to have folks like Matthews growing fresh food in Indianapolis. A city that, despite being nestled in an agricultural powerhouse, has more food deserts than most other places in the country. But Matthews has seen a lot of positive changes in our food scene since she began growing here in 2011.
The Mad Farmers Collective story starts when Matthews of South Circle Farm and Matthew Jose of Big City Farm met in 2011. As their businesses grew, they each developed a reputation within the food scene. After five years of (mostly) friendly competition, they decided to collaborate. When they were joined in 2017 by a third farmer, Leslie Gottschalk, the Mad Farmers Collective was born. Since then, they have deepened their connections to Indy’s food ecosystem by appearing on restaurant plates and neighborhood markets.
Thirteen years ago, the only Saturday farmer’s market was way up on the north side, inaccessible to many folks in the city, and with limited space for farmers. The Garfield Park Farmers Market, established nine years ago by culinary tastemaker Ashley Brooks, Garfield Park resident Julia Woody and dozens of community volunteers, has been crucial to planting roots for the Mad Farmer’s Collective.
As with many farmers, a big piece of the Mad Farmer Collective’s business pie is getting out to the Garfield Park Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. A market needs farmers and also people to buy and eat what is grown. It is precarious, and like in all food business, turnover is a likely outcome.
Mad Farmers Market also works with Purdue University on organic farming research and bringing urban agricultural classes to the community. They provide produce to some of Indy’s culinary hot spots, allowing chef’s imaginations to run wild with locally grown seasonal offerings. And they work with speciality producers from across the state, giving them a wider platform and Indy consumers only the best to savor.
You can consume the fruits of Mad Farmers Collective’s labor by going to the Indy Winter Farmers Market on Saturdays or by ordering from their website on Tuesdays and picking it up on Wednesdays. Follow @madfarmerscollective on social media to see what they have growing.
The Ecosystem
Mad Farmers’ producer partners
Samuel Petershein
David Doud’s Countyline Orchard
Mad Farmers’ restaurant and small business partners
Borage (opening soon)
Other Indianapolis urban agricultural organizations and farmers to follow and support
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