The Farmer’s Hand: All-Local Market Finds Home in Corktown
| 2 min read
Think about the last item you bought at the grocery store. How much do you know about where it came from? What kind of materials were involved making it? Who was the person who harvested it?
These are the kinds of questions co-owners Kiki Louya and Rohani Foulkes spent more than a year investigating as they researched, interviewed and built relationships with hundreds of vendors across Michigan looking for the right partners to feature at their Corktown Detroit market.
Opened in September 2016, The Farmer’s Hand is a woman-owned artisanal pantry, market and kitchen that specializes in 100 percent Michigan foods, beverages and specialty gifts.
The pair says the process of finding the right local partners is a “lifetime-in-progress.” The products that make it onto the shelves at the Farmer’s Hand are not just about what the packaging says or how they’re marketed, but about the people and passion behind creating them.
Kiki Louya (left) and Rohani Foulkes (right), co-owners of The Farmer’s Hand in Corktown, Detroit.
“We want to know who the growers are, where did they come from, what kind of materials do they use, what do they do?” said Foulkes.
It is this sense of scrutiny that allows Farmer’s Hand customers to rest assured that the products they purchase are “All Honest. All Local.” But it’s not just the customers who benefit from this unique model. The business provides 70 percent of the selling price of their products back to the producer, which is about three times higher than a traditional grocery store.
Louya says the last three months have been a “whirlwind,” but that the response from the community has been nothing but positive.
“We did a lot of research to find an accessible, walkable location that was inside a neighborhood–not just near one,” said Louya. “People keep telling us, ‘thank God you’re here.'”
Take a peek inside The Farmer’s Hand by scrolling through our image gallery below.
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Click here to get a recipe for a homemade golden milk and lucuma chia pot from The Farmer’s Hand.
The Farmer’s Hand is located at 1701 Trumble St. in Detroit. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. For more information visit thefarmershand.com.
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Photo credit: Mike Miller, A Healthier Michigan
