Pekarek's Produce

We had a most interesting program at Kiwanis this noon presented by Ryan Pekarek and his wife Katie. The Pekareks live 11 miles north of Seward and have been producing garden produce for the past few years and making it available at Farmers Markets, at their farm and through other outlets. Ryan was raised on a family farm in the Dwight area and received a BS degree from UN-L. His wife is from Lincoln and her BS degree was in Ag Engineering from UN-L. They both went on to North Carolina State where she got her MS in Ag Engineering and he received an MS in Horticulture. They came back to his home area and began producing vegetables on a small scale while farming. After 5-6 years they are utilizing 10 acres for such vegetable production. We will be down to the Seward Farmers Market this Wednesday evening to buy some tomatoes and get better acquainted. The Lincoln Farmers Market in Lincoln is one of their major retail outlets. They also have arrangements with the food service people on East Campus at UN-L and the B & R stores. They have plans for building a "produce shed" on their property and continue to look for ways to bring locally produced, high quality food to more and more consumers. Katie is very much involved in the family venture and also works as an Extension Educator with UN-L and is stationed in Seward. Ryan indicated he is 27 years old, they have 3 children, and it's most heartening to see a young couple that have the ambition and "things figured out" as well as have the Pekareks. Their web site is: www.pekareksproduce.com . Czech them out.