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About Us

Hello! We are Bruce and Carol Waterman, owners of Waterman's Farm Market. In 2010 we celebrate our 33rd year in business as an Indianapolis farm market! We're a Hoosier Homestead Farm, having been in the Waterman family for over 100 years. Christian H. Waterman purchased the ground at 7010 East Raymond Street, Indianapolis, on June 19, 1877. Bruce's grandparents, Adolph and Ida Waterman, acquired the property on November 16, 1936. They raised strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce and other produce on this property. For many years, Bruce's parents, Norbert and Frances Waterman, raised vegetables that they sold at the Indianapolis Farmers Market on South Street. We became owners of the property on April 18, 1984.

We opened Waterman's Farm Market in 1978. At that time we rented the land from Bruce's   parents. On April 18, 1984, we purchased our farm. Ours is a retail operation with an initial emphasis on Pick Your Own. This option remains available but lifestyles are such that, with both parents working outside of the home in many families, there are fewer people who choose to spend their leisure time picking produce. We offer freshly-picked produce in small amounts for one meal or in large amounts for parties or for freezing and canning.

During corn season, we pick corn every morning so that we can always offer fresh sweet corn to our customers. We are proud of our sweet corn and find that folks really appreciate the quality that we offer. The varieties that we select for planting are those intended for farm market or home garden use rather than for shipping to far away locations. This generally means that our varieties offer more flavor, juice, and tenderness than do the shipping varieties. The differences are particularly noticeable in strawberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, cantaloupes, and green beans.

As if running a busy farm isn't enough for us, we are also active in Indiana farm organizations. Bruce is past president of the Indianan Vegetable Growers Association.  Carol is vice president of the Indiana Farm Marketing Association.  Carol is on the Marion County Fair Board, in charge of the Home and Family Arts Building. We are members of the Hancock Harvest Council, an organization for the purpose of furthering consumer interest in buying local products.

 

Our Mission

The mission of Waterman's Farm Market is to make our customers happy by providing fresh produce at a reasonable price, and to share the joy of farm fun with our annual Fall Harvest Festival. We recognize the wholesome, healthy benefits, as well as the good taste of fresh fruits and vegetables. Most of us could do with more fruits and vegetables in our diets, and we make it easy, affordable, and fun to do so. With our "pick your own" option you can take an active part in food production by harvesting, which accounts for 1/3 of the production costs in some crops. Many of our customers have told us that they like to grow their own vegetables for table use, but they rely on us to grow the produce they can freeze or can. They say this limits the waste that occurs when they can't keep up with the yield in their home garden and that it allows them more leisure time to enjoy their family in the summer. Gardening is a lot of hard work and it requires daily attention, but families can preserve a whole year's supply of tomatoes in one day when they pick it here.