Chesapeake Farm to Table is building an online farmers market

Chesapeake Farm to Table offers wholesale food from small, sustainability-minded farms in the Baltimore area to local restaurants. It ensures chefs can get exactly the kind of produce, meats and cheeses they want, and that the goods are fresh, said Executive Director Heather Hulsey.
As the restaurants were using the service, Hulsey found that individual residents were asking about getting that kind of service as well. To make it happen, the org is bringing a farmers market online.
At the Chesapeake Farm to Home website, there are goods from more than 25 farms available. There’s no delivery at this point, but customers can pick up the items on Wednesdays at Culinary Architecture, Remington Wine Company and Towson Tavern.
“People can really buy what they want and as much as they want,” Hulsey said. “It’s harvested to order and they’re getting things straight from the farm.”
It’s an expansion for the org, which was founded by Calvert’s Gift Organic Farm. Operations for the online market will be run out of B-More Kitchen, a food incubator that opened recently in Govans. From a tech perspective, Hulsey said they can use the same customized software that was used to fulfill the restaurant wholesale orders.
For the farmers, it’s a new chance to offer food to customers in a business where “every zucchini matters,” Hulsey said. Most of the small farmers use organic practices. They sell at farmers markets, but often aren’t available in grocery stores.
“Every piece of produce they pull off their small farm literally makes a difference,” she said. “In order to make a living they need to use their plot of land to the fullest.”