By LOIS KINDLE
lekindle@aol.com
Council Growers Sod Farm will host its first Council Farmers Market — a community-wide, family friendly celebration of farming, on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Admission and parking are free.
“It’s a modern spin on tradition, is a little bit old fashioned and a little bit trendy,” said Jessica Colabuno, event co-organizer and the sod farm’s garden center manager. “It’s a way for us to support our agricultural community, share resources with the public and each other and build awareness of our farm.”
Jessica Colabuno and Becky Council will be on hand Oct. 10 to welcome you to the upcoming Council Growers Market, where you can shop, eat, learn and enjoy time outdoors with other members of the community. Be sure to visit the Plant Nursery, while you’re there!
Visitors can expect the market to be both fun and informative.
Set to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it will feature 20 to 25 vendors selling everything from fresh produce, local poultry cuts, seafood and sourdough bread to local honey, microgreens, jams and jellies. Area business resources like Oops A Daisy, EarthBox Garden Center of Ellenton and Sassy Pop will be on hand selling fresh floral arrangements; an assortment of EarthBoxes; and popcorn, kettle corn and homemade soup mixes. Pour Intentions will sell coffee, and Plant It Forward, an organization empowering youth through gardening and communication, will offer a variety of seeds.
Ruskin’s honorary mayor, Earl Bush, and his boss, Annette, will have their Sweet Tea Tiki Bar food truck on hand to serve up deviled crabs; hush puppies with hot honey butter; Brisket, Egg & Cheese traditional Bush Boys and newly created Southern Fried Steak Cuban sandwiches; signature frozen sweet tea and more. Bush will also officiate the market’s official ribbon cutting.
The market will also feature live jazz and soft rock music by a garage band of Lennard High School students, and kids can get fake tattoos and tackle an obstacle course.
A UF/IFAS extension entomologist is bringing bugs along and presenting educational information on insects.
Council Growers will have plants, pottery, perennial peanut and sod pieces for sale, while Council Oxford, of Ruskin, will furnish all kinds of information about fertilizers, herbicides and turf supply items.
And while you’re there, be sure to check out the garden center’s wide selection of Florida native and Florida-friendly yard and landscape plants; colorful annuals and perennials; fruit, shade and palm trees; herbs; vegetable starts; butterfly attractors; succulents and cacti, crepe myrtles and more.
The market is featuring a basket raffle to benefit the South Shore-based Robert L. Howard Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the legacy of Robert (Bobby) Howard, a beloved Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy and U.S. military Veteran who passed away in 2023. The foundation focuses on empowering local youth through scholarships and community initiatives, continuing his spirit of generosity and service.
All of the market vendors are donating items for the basket raffle. Every raffle ticket entry will help expand the foundation’s reach in the community.
“This is a farmers market run by farmers,” said Amber Council, who co-owns Council Growers Sod Farm with her husband, Travis. “We want to share our farm and the farming experience with everyone in the community, and we hope to make this an annual event.
Council Growers Sod Farm is at 3226 24th St. SE, Ruskin. For more information, call 813-633-8665, visit its Facebook page or email admin@freshsod.com/.
The farm’s next event will be Cookies with Mrs. Claus on Dec. 5.