Bates' Hilltop Troqué Garden was established in 1986 on the southeast edge of the Nebraska Sandhills near Anselmo, NE by Max Bates and family. The eco-market garden started as a strawberry patch consisting of ten, two hundred foot long rows of day-neutral strawberries. This unfortunately, was before university studies figured out they didn't grow well on the Great Plains. In 1988, tomatoes and watermelons were added to the garden patch. However, the strawberry patch was discontinued in 1998.
In the summer of 1988, my daughter Amy and I took a pick-up load of tomatoes to the North Platte Farmers' Market, 65 mi SW of Anselmo. We didn't know zip about farmers markets. We arrived at the market around 9:30 A.M. and quickly found out the market was closed to vendors at 9:00. Yet, the market had a shortage of quality tomatoes, so the market manager looked over our load and let us in stating that it would be the last time we could get into the market after 9:00. The North Platte Farmers' Market opened at 7:00, so we had missed the morning rush. Needless to say, with Amy's charm and our beautiful tomatoes we sold all 640 lbs of tomatoes for $6.00 a flat by 11:45. On the way home, Amy counted up the money and said "Dad this is the way to do it!" My wife Linda said that my gardening was a hobby that had got out of hand. As members of the Custer County Sustainable Ag Society, Max and fellow gardener Gary Lawerance, organized a farmer's market in Broken Bow, NE.
In 2000, Bates' Hilltop Troqué Garden moved to Stella, NE located in southeast Nebraska. Max helped organize the Nemaha County Farmer's Market located at the fairgrounds in Auburn, NE. Max has been a vendor in the market for 14 yrs and the manager of the market for 12yrs.
In the summer of 1988, my daughter Amy and I took a pick-up load of tomatoes to the North Platte Farmers' Market, 65 mi SW of Anselmo. We didn't know zip about farmers markets. We arrived at the market around 9:30 A.M. and quickly found out the market was closed to vendors at 9:00. Yet, the market had a shortage of quality tomatoes, so the market manager looked over our load and let us in stating that it would be the last time we could get into the market after 9:00. The North Platte Farmers' Market opened at 7:00, so we had missed the morning rush. Needless to say, with Amy's charm and our beautiful tomatoes we sold all 640 lbs of tomatoes for $6.00 a flat by 11:45. On the way home, Amy counted up the money and said "Dad this is the way to do it!" My wife Linda said that my gardening was a hobby that had got out of hand. As members of the Custer County Sustainable Ag Society, Max and fellow gardener Gary Lawerance, organized a farmer's market in Broken Bow, NE.
In 2000, Bates' Hilltop Troqué Garden moved to Stella, NE located in southeast Nebraska. Max helped organize the Nemaha County Farmer's Market located at the fairgrounds in Auburn, NE. Max has been a vendor in the market for 14 yrs and the manager of the market for 12yrs.