Blountville farmers market hopes to have permanent shed

Wendi Niebruegge returned to the family farm six years ago and is playing a key role in Sullivan County’s agriculture community and an effort to establish a more permanent farmers market here.

“I love being able to see my daughters play in the same trees that I played in when I was young,” she said.

Her farm, Indian Brook Farm, was founded nearly 100 years ago just outside Blountville. Named after a spring that runs through the property where Native Americans gathered water, the farm features rolling hills and pasture land.

Niebruegge’s father, Haynes Pendergrass, grew tobacco and corn on roughly 50 acres when she was young. The work was hard. Tobacco is labor intensive, but Pendergrass said he enjoyed working the land. He held down a regular job at Eastman Kodak during the day and tended to the farm in his free time.

His daughter loved growing up on the farm, Pendergrass remembers. Niebruegge, 41, was involved in 4-H and spent a lot of her free time riding tractors and tackling tasks around the farm. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

After high school, Niebruegge moved way, got married and settled down with her husband, Craig, in South Carolina. Then one day her husband returned from a run during a visit to the farm and talked about moving to Tennessee, surprising Niebruegge.

“He said there was a house for sale in a subdivision next to the farm,” she said.

In the mid-1990s, Pendergrass had stopped growing tobacco and grazed cattle on the original 50 acres and 50 acres that were leased. He was getting older and could use the help.

Niebruegge and her husband talked about growing natural beef and free-range chickens at the farm. They wanted to take advantage of the budding local food movement and the return to more naturally grown food. The couple convinced Pendergrass to let them manage the farm.

“When we were on the mule [above the farm], before we moved, we would dream and think about who would buy the products,” Niebruegge said.

The family bought the house next to the farm and built a greenhouse and started a small garden plot. The pasture was converted to organic fertilizers. A chicken coop was constructed.

The farm started to sell the meat, produce and eggs directly to the public. The response was positive.

Two years ago, Niebruegge was contacted about a farmers market that was starting in Blountville. Sullivan County Extension was making the parking lot available at the Sullivan County offices and was looking for those who wanted to sell their produce.

When the market opened, Niebruegge sold meat and eggs. Before she knew it, she had been recruited and was named president of the newly formed Blountville Farmers Market board.

Dennis Houser, a Sullivan County commissioner from Blountville and a Blountville Farmers Market board member, said Niebruegge is a good fit for the position.

 “Wendi is excellent at promotions and organization,” he said.

Around a dozen vendors sell products every Thursday during the growing season, and the market is an important part of life in Sullivan County.

“It became like a community gathering place, a social network,” Houser said.

Over the last two years, the market has become more organized. Bylaws are being drafted and the market is seeking formal non-profit status. At the same time, a new location is being sought as the parking lot is exposed to the elements, both rain and sun.

“You and your produce and your customers were wilting in the summer,” Niebruegge said.

The board decided to build a covered pavilion in Blountville. Sullivan County is a partner in the project. The structure could serve as a gathering place for Sullivan County residents and house the market each week, Houser said.

The structure will be built behind the old courthouse. The exact location has not been decided, but the Sullivan County Building Committee has given the project its blessing.

The county has also offered to donate the labor for the project and will make electricity available.

The challenge now is funding. Grants were sought, and Farm Credit Services and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture awarded the market a total of $4,000. The market board can contribute a couple more thousand dollars to the pavilion project but around $7,000 or $8,000 is still needed.

The market is soliciting donations from local businesses for the remaining funds.

Niebruegge wants agriculture to thrive in Sullivan County and knows the market can play an important role. She sees demand increasing for locally grown agriculture products and has watched her own business grow over the last two years.

She is amazed at how many people contact her and want to purchase products directly from the farm. She sends out weekly emails on what products are available. In the beginning, friends were the only buyers. Eventually, friends of friends inquired about buying meat or vegetables. Now, people contact the farm, although they have no connection to it or the family.

Many are embracing a healthier lifestyle, as evidenced by other local farmers markets, in Bristol and Abingdon, that have proven to be popular and successful.

“So many people buy our sweet corn because it is non-GMO [genetically modified],” Niebruegge said.

All of this has made Niebruegge excited about the future.

“We are so blessed that people like what we are doing,” she said.

To make things interesting around the farm, her husband is always experimenting. He created a new seed germination system in the greenhouse and a gate system in the pasture. Last year, he wanted to grow turkeys at the farm. Like the chickens, the turkeys roam freely.

“One day, I walk outside and the UPS guy is backing up across the driveway,” Niebruegge said. “He said, ‘What is that?’”

An adult turkey in the driveway scared the driver.

Niebruegge said the best part about returning to the farm has been family. Her dad still helps around the farm, and Pendergrass likes the farm’s direction.