This is the sixteenth article in a Vendor Profile Series intended to share the history and diversity of the Market through the stories of our vendors, as we celebrate our 25th Season. This article is written by journalist Barry Courter.
It would not be overstating things even a little bit to say that Rachel and Jonathan Otto have pretty much grown up at White Oak Valley Farm and Chattanooga Market.
The brother and sister from Cleveland started a small business selling corn and heirloom seeds while high school students almost 20 years ago, and over the years they have developed an understanding of what sells and what doesn't in part thanks to the market.
And, over those years, many of their patrons have become more than just customers.
“For the last, what, 10 years, we've been there almost every single week,” she says.
Rachel says both she and her younger brother have always liked growing things, so when it came time to find a summer jobs as students, they thought why not take advantage of the 10-acres their parents owned.
“I love growing things and we needed a summer job, and my parents always had a garden. My brother got the idea to grow a corn field one year and do that for his summer job.
“I started the heirloom seed company. That's how we got started in agriculture. I grew a bunch of different things and sold them on eBay during the winter. So it was all mail order and we actually developed a catalog, a website and had a full seed company going. And that was actually how we first came to the Chattanooga Market.”
“We were just out of school and we wanted to farm.”
They started at the Chattanooga Market with a really tiny booth, she says.
“I mean, we'd make $100 a day at that point. And we just kind of grew with the market.”
They fairly quickly learned that harvesting seeds was not only a lot of work, but that what customers really wanted was what the seeds would eventually become.
“We had a lot better success selling produce locally than seeds,” Rachel says.
“And one thing led to another, and my brother liked growing vegetables. Doing seeds is really hard. It's a lot of work because you have to process them all, and you can't sell them for a lot of money.”
Over the years they've expanded the farm by acquiring land, including buying a farm from a market vendor they met who was ready to sell, near the original family acreage
“The Chattanooga Market's kind of been there, you know, really as a central part of the building of our farm.” - Rachel Otto
Today they grow produce on seven of the 78 acres that make up White Oak Valley Farm.
Rachel says the two are constantly trying to keep up with what customers will be looking for, meaning they have to guess correctly before they plant the seeds.
For years, people wanted a certain variety of tomatoes, and then they wanted peppers. The next year watermelons were the big seller, she says.
“When we first started at the market down there, we couldn't sell corn at all. Nobody ever bought corn. And I'd say in the last three years, they've wanted corn.
“Kale...we used to sell kale like crazy. Now people just kind of are like, 'oh yeah, you got kale,' and they walk right by.”
Rachel says Jonathan stays mostly on the farm tending the crops while she, along with help from their mother and father, Judy and Kevin, work the booth at the market.
“So a lot of people know their names. Probably more than ours at this point because they're always there. Jonathan works more on the farm here and then I'll go help them. But they're always there every week because they really like doing the market and connecting with customers. They really enjoy that every week being there.”
Rachel says it's those personal relationships, like having customers asked about them when they missed a couple of weeks because of car trouble, for example, that they have developed over years that are so special.
“It does happen at other markets, too, but I think because we've been in Chattanooga so long, you know, we've had customers that have bought from us since we started there.
“They're still coming and we've watched their kids grow up.
“It's like you get that connection every week.”
