Year-round farming at the Chef's Garden

By Andi Anderson

The Chef’s Garden, a 400-acre farm located in Huron, Ohio, grows over 800 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and microgreens for homes and restaurants. To ensure year-round production, even through the harsh Ohio winters, the farm has innovatively extended its growing season.

Operating two indoor greenhouses, The Chef’s Garden faced the challenge of managing high heating costs during winter. To address this, the farm partnered with USDA’s Ohio Rural Development team in 2017 to secure a Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant. This funding enabled the installation of two biomass-fueled hot water boilers. The boilers use corn cobs from nearby seed corn operations as fuel, heating water that circulates through a pipe system to maintain optimal temperatures for crop growth.

In recent years, The Chef’s Garden has adopted an even more sustainable approach by incorporating recycled cardboard and straw from cover crops into fuel logs. These logs are used to power the boilers, replacing fossil fuels entirely. This eco-friendly initiative has saved the farm significant costs associated with natural gas installations and usage, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the boilers' lifespan.

“Being able to grow produce here in the winter is huge,” said Zach Jones, field production manager for The Chef’s Garden. “With the grant, we've been able to take much bigger greenhouse space into production year-round,” said Zach. “We still get an amazing quality product inside, so it's changed how we do business in the wintertime.”

The Chef’s Garden employs 180 full-time and 22 seasonal workers who manually harvest, pack, and ship produce. This ensures a "field-to-plate" delivery within 24 hours, guaranteeing freshness. With 100 acres under cultivation at any time, their operations are focused on providing high-quality products.

Customers can purchase seasonal produce from The Chef’s Garden online or visit the Farmer Jones Farm Market in Huron to experience the farm's offerings firsthand. By blending innovation, sustainability, and quality, The Chef’s Garden continues to thrive as a model for year-round farming.

Photo Credit: usda