Basil And Beyond: Lakewood Resident Finds Success In Urban Farming

The chalkboard by the cash register announces in colorful letters: Special Salad – Geauga Greens, picked Thursday.

A wall stocked with fair-trade coffee and a glass case full of fresh-baked organic and vegan goodies hint that in this place, quality food reigns supreme. The good smells coming from the kitchen attest to that. Ambient jazz plays counterpart to the click of half a dozen laptops, while outside the steamy café windows, the rain drips steadily on.

Just after 4 p.m., a woman with short dark hair bustles in from the damp, followed closely by two little boys. Flashing her signature grin, she introduces herself and settles her sons at one of the wooden tables, giving them a chewy-looking molasses cookie, a fresh cinnamon roll and an assortment of small toys. The boys are familiar with this place and look as though they feel at home here, probably because this restaurant, the Root Café in Lakewood, is one of their mother’s business clients.

Their mom happens to be Cindy Bischof-Steinbrick, founder of Basil and Beyond, an urban farm located in the heart of Lakewood. A working farm operating within city limits seems like a quaint notion, but here in Northeast Ohio, where the local food movement is exploding, the concept of urban farming could soon feel completely natural. And being natural is what it’s all about.

Cindy, 36, operates a non-certified organic herb farm out of her own backyard. She first became interested in locally-grown food about seven years ago. “The local food movement began to pick up momentum, and it appealed to me,” she said. 

It was not until 2008, however, that she first had the idea for Basil and Beyond. A longtime resident of Lakewood, Cindy graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology. She worked in the non-profit sector for many years, but when her first son was born in 2003, she opted to stay home. In 2008, she was preparing to re-enter the job market when the economy took a downturn. Undaunted, she began to consider her options for self-employment. Combining her passions in gardening, local food stewardship and cooking with fresh food, she came up with the concept for Basil and Beyond. Running her own business, however, was not something with which Cindy had any prior experience. 

“It was very small getting into it,” she said. “I read a lot of books and asked a lot of questions of friends in the business. I did not take any farmers' market training courses, though they are offered.” Most importantly, she said, she was not dependent on making an immediate profit on her business. She started in the summer of 2009, simply growing herbs in her garden alongside the vegetables she grows for her own family, not using any synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. “We make all our own compost,” she said proudly.

Her first customers were members of the Lakewood Earth and Food (LEAF) Community. Cindy had been participating in LEAF Night, their weekly cooperative program featuring fresh food (including the popular City Fresh program), art and music, and products from local vendors. Programs like City Fresh, where members buy a “share” of produce in advance from the farm of their choice and pick up their delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables each week, known as Community Supported Agriculture, are becoming increasingly popular.

“I was a consumer of local food before I was a producer,” Cindy said.

She felt it was important, especially for her children, to understand where food comes from. Additionally, food produced locally has a positive impact on our environment and our local economy.

“The food grown here in Ohio is mostly corn and soybeans,” Cindy said. “Most of our fruits and vegetables are grown in California. They depend on fossil fuels for transportation, and with oil prices rising and the issue of water and irrigation in California, it just doesn’t make sense. More people are conscious of environmental issues. And it’s become more important to support local businesses.”

Keeping our food dollars in the area is a happy boon to the local economy. But most people choose local food simply because it tastes better and is healthier. Crops picked when they are ripe and eaten soon after harvest have more flavor, better texture and retain more nutrients – particularly vitamin C – than produce picked in advance and shipped from a distance.

“I can provide a product that no wholesaler can,” Cindy said. “You can never buy a three-hour-old bunch of herbs from a wholesaler.”

Her customers couldn’t agree more. Julie Hutchison and Bobby Breitenstein are co-owners of the Root Café. They were understandably pleased to have a source of fresh herbs move into the neighborhood.

“Our motivation is to reflect what we would eat in our own household – local, organic food,” Julie said. “We work with the LEAF Community, so we knew Cindy. When she started Basil and Beyond, she came to us.  Her herbs are beautiful – just gorgeous! She picks them in the morning and delivers them to us that afternoon. It just worked out really well.” 

In addition to the Root Café, Cindy sells her herbs to area restaurants and farmers' markets. By the end of last season, she began to feel that the potential demand for her herbs would soon exceed her production capabilities.

“Local food is exploding on the consumer and restaurant scene,” she said. “The farm to table concept is very hot. It’s not a matter of getting customers, it’s a matter of having to turn people away. Like, [last summer] I talked to a chef at 4:30 on a Monday, and by 6:30 that evening he was calling back, saying ‘Can you come back? I'm interested...’”

To keep up with this trend, the 2011 season will bring some changes to Basil and Beyond. Cindy will still be growing 11 kinds of all-natural herbs at her garden in Lakewood, but to satisfy customer demand, she and her husband have recently bought property in North Royalton where she can greatly expand her growing capacity.

“This year I am planning on planting a crop for Lakewood Community Service Center,” Cindy said. The center, formerly known as Lakewood Christian Service Center, provides fresh produce to the needy through their hunger center.

For those in favor of supporting local food in our region, Cindy has some suggestions:

“Vote with your dollars. Buy food at your local farmers market. Visit U-Pick farms and preserve your seasonally fresh harvest. Support restaurants that serve locally grown produce, or if you don’t know, take the time to ask them if they buy locally.” 

In a business climate such as this, in which consumer demand exceeds grower production, opportunity is ripe for the picking. According to Cindy, there is room for more local growers. “If anyone else is interested in going down the same road as I have, the market is there,” Cindy says. “Definitely try it as a part-time job for one or two years.”

As for potential crops? If she wasn’t so busy growing herbs, Cindy thinks there are a few other crops that would sell well locally: small fruits and berries, sprouts, and mushrooms.

The record-breaking spring rains of 2011 may have delayed Cindy’s planting schedule, but they will not slow down demand for her fresh, tasty herbs. People all over the Greater Cleveland area have tasted the difference. It looks like local food is here to stay.

For more information, check out these local food organizations in the greater Cleveland area:

Basil and Beyond: http://www.basilandbeyond.com

the Root Cafe: http://www.theroot-cafe.com

LEAF Community: http://www.leafcommunity.org

the City Fresh CSA program: http://cityfresh.org

North Union Farmers' Market: http://www.northunionfarmersmarket.org

Local Food Cleveland: http://www.localfoodcleveland.org

Lakewood Community Service Center: http://www.lcsclakewood.org

Pick Your Own: http://www.pickyourown.org/OHcleveland.htm