Farm-to-table at new Market Barn at Blooms & Berries

The new Amish built Market Barn at Blooms and Berries

Many Lovelanders know to travel the few short miles north of town to see the areas largest, perhaps best, selection of flowers and vegetables. Or, to pick-your-own strawberries or blueberries. Many know the treats that await come fall and Halloween on the Probst family farm – Blooms & Berries Farm Market and Garden Center.

The auxiliary, road-side stands are now open. One is in Manville across from  Kroger on St. Rt. 48, and in Loveland at 10910 Loveland Madeira Road. The Loveland location this year will remain on the same side of Loveland Madeira Road., but it will be 1/4 mile closer to I-275.

Now, a new treat awaits on this “working farm” just up the street from downtown Loveland at 9669 S. St. Rt. 48. It is their new, Amish built, Garden Barn.

Jeff Probst is excited, exhausted, and busy. When interviewed for this story, he had to get up from hands and knees where he was applying caulk to sawed seams in the new concrete floor of the almost finished barn. He is just finishing the busy season of selling their large assortment of herbs, bedding and vegetable plants, hanging baskets and planters. The strawberry season has just ended and they are full steam ahead into a pick-your-own blueberry season. Add to all that, they just re-opened their two remote produce stand locations.

“All wood. We had an Amish construction crew here over the winter, and we built it to better offer all our products right here on the farm. We will have some future exciting things like cooking classes and other events. In the meantime, it will be just like our roadside stands and people can come out and visit the working farm and enjoy the produce right at the farm.”

Jeff Probst

Inside the barn on a very hot day, it was cool and pleasant. Probst explained, “We designed it to be as energy-efficient as possible.” He installed all LED lights and what he described as “highly efficient” ceiling fans. He has no plans to install air conditioning or heating units. The barn is designed to take advantage of natural ventilation and the tall ceiling takes heat up and away from the customers, produce, and his employees. He said, “The peak in the ceiling takes the heat away and kicks it right out the back of the building. We installed a lot tall windows to bring in natural light.” Probst said in designing the barn he was really conscious of heat management, “Because you can’t have good produce in really, really hot conditions.”

“People don’t generally know how to store produce. Produce is very much a logistics game and that’s one of the main reasons buying local is so important. You cut down on your logistics from farm to table. It is important because of the storing, the holding, and the breakdown of the nutrients and the carbohydrates and what not.”

Probst said that sweet corn for example, “When you take it off the stalk, you want to buy it as quick as possible, keep it as cold as possible, hold it and keep it that way, and eat it as quickly as possible.” He said that’s why on his farm they don’t make people buy a certain amount. “They can purchase one or two ears because we want them to enjoy what they can eat in a day or two — and then come back for some more, freshly picked ears.”[quote_right]“They can purchase one or two ears because we want them to enjoy what they can eat in a day or two — and then come back for some more, freshly picked ears.”[/quote_right]

As much as anything, the new market barn is built to benefit the staff. Probst said, “So they could feel they were being as efficient and as organized as possible. We have great staff.”

“The biggest, most important part is that the barn will be tremendously beneficial to the staff. We have great people working for us, but they couldn’t get their job done in an efficient way. They couldn’t get their job done in a space where they could be organized and well-kept and it got to the point where if we were to keep these really good people, and bring on new good people, we needed to be making an investment in our infrastructure and facilities.”

Prost also said they needed a facility where they could be processing food, not just picking it.

All three locations are open Monday through Thursday from 9 AM until 6 PM, on Friday and Satuday from 9-5,

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Directions

Farm Location:

Blooms & Berries Farm Market
9669 S. St. Rt. 48
Loveland, Ohio 45140

Latitude: 39.289775
Longitude: -84.209696

Directions from
Cincinnati, Ohio

1. Take I-275 toward Loveland/Indian Hill.
2. Take exit 52 and turn left onto Loveland Madeira Rd.
3. Take the second right onto Kemper Rd.
4. Turn Right onto West Loveland Ave.
5. Turn left onto OH-48.
6. We’re on your left! See you soon!

Can’t Find Us?

Give us a call at (513) 697-9173

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and on Sundays from 10 AM until 5 PM.

In the future Probst wants to experiment with a farm-to-table breakfast or a guest chef who will have a sampling of basils for appetizers. He said, “We are not quite where we can do all those things yet, but we might do some trials later this summer. There is going to be a lot of content planning going on over the winter.”

In the spring of 1999, motivated by a desire to move their careers back to working the earth and teach their kids the value of hard work, Jeff’s father and mother, David and Cathy Probst, fired up an old 1957 family tractor and plowed enough ground to plant 5,000 strawberry plants. Cathy started an assortment of plants in a small greenhouse David built. At that moment, Blooms & Berries Farm Market was born. Jeff said, “Our fourth-generation farm has been part of our family since 1939. A lot has changed in the past seventy-plus years, including the sad passing of my dad in 2005. Today, however, we like to think Dad would be proud of how far we’ve come.”