Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Stratton.
Melanie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born into a family that has been fruit farming the Utah Valley for over five generations. I was blessed to grow up running through fields, and building forts and treehouses in orchards of endless trees that surrounded us.
In the ’80s and most of the ’90s, Orem was still quite full of agriculture. Nothing compared to what my parents reminisce about, but I still remember when there was not one grocery store, rather a several small locally owned markets. It was beautiful and I tear up often when I remember the beauty of the valley back then.
When I was about three years of age my parents bought a garden center, Cascade Shadows in American Fork, UT. Many of my fondest memories come as a child working and playing alongside my sisters and parents. We worked the family horticulture business in the springs and sold at the local Farmers Markets each summer and fall starting at a very young age. We always have/had the most beautiful fruit and flowers.
One of the many and most important things I learned from my parents is the pride and value of hard work and a job done right. I cannot express my pride in my parents for that part. I never have to worry about what I am selling because I always knew/know that it is the best on the market. Our beloved friends and customers have faithfully returned each year to both market and garden center with enthusiasm and it supported more than our bellies.
In my 20s, I had an enjoyable career at The Hard Rock Cafe while attending the University of Utah, but decided to leave in order to return to the family business and eventually start out on my own. I wanted to make time for my own passion, art and visual communication (I studied English and received a BFA in Photography). I also wanted to reconnect with my roots. Since starting The Fruit Basket in 2015, I have learned so much about myself and my own family history. I have love and sorrow as I see our spaces develop and history disappear. Today, most of the farms have dwindled and are gone.
Yet still, there is no place I feel closer to family past and present than when I work on the farms that do remain, especially in the cherry trees. Something about the cherries that hold so much power and healing energy for me. I have been able to learn so much from my father, and grandfather before he passed away.
When I started farming and picking the fruit myself with my friend MaryAnn I had no idea of what we were doing. I had sold the fruit for more than 30 years, but I had never done any picking. I was surprised how much I didn’t know. But my grandfather was always there. He would check the boxes we had picked each day and put them in the cooler. At first, he told us we were doing it all wrong. He educated us and then continually checked in on our progress. Before long my father himself was noticing that the cherries we were picking were looking better than the ones he was. MaryAnn and I were meticulous about having the best.
We made sure every cherry had a beautiful long stem and that they were the fattest and darkest on the trees. Not all cherries leave the trees, we gotta give our fair share to the birds. I feel the spirit and love of the land. I get inspired by pride in the hard work my family did to help establish and farm Orem and the valley. It’s challenging to see that many people never question where their food comes from. The absolute most insane is the amount of young people who are amazed that I myself or my family grew the food that we eat.
I started The Fruit Basket in 2015 with my friend MaryAnn Albertson. We began by climbing the many cherry trees and picking and advertising as many as possible. At first, we started a small tent on the side of the road with not much luck. We needed a space where we could offer the cherries in mass. Lightbulb moment!!! I had always worked my parent’s markets in Murray each year, but what about us signing up for our own. Thus began our relationship with the Provo Farmers Market and the many amazing people here. We had also joined the Sugarhouse Farmers Market mid-season and enjoyed the opportunity to expand our reach to many friends in that area.
In 2016, MaryAnn left the business to tend to other interests and priorities. That year, I also met my now love partner Rolando and we share two gorgeous daughters. Without his help and support, it would have been impossible to start a family and continue my fruit business. He helped me pick fruit, set up and break down my booth, take care of the baby and sell. Our first daughter Rome was born on a Wed. I was working at the usual Wed Sugarhouse market the week before she was born, and we returned the following Wed. As a family, we figured it out. We ran the stand and worked the farm as a family, like my parents and their families before me. Again, I felt so connected and proud to be honoring my family heritage and sharing with my loved ones the life I remembered dearly.
My customers, fellow vendors, and now many referred to as friends have taken part in seeing my children grow alongside my business. They ask each year how my daughters are doing when they aren’t there and are always delighted when they can come back to say hi. My daughter Rome was a weekly attendee for the first couple of years, then Rain joined the lineup. They each had their turn in the swing and pack n’ play behind my table full of fruit. Sometimes screaming and sometimes being the cutest big-eyed babies ever. This past year they played wild with the other vendor’s kids and had a blast!
In 2018, we left the Sugarhouse market and joined the ever-impressive Sunset Markets run by Jessica Carter and her husband Kelly of Carter Farms. Since joining their market in Springville they have also expanded to Orem with much success and for me an absolute delight! We also joined the Daybreak Farmers Market last year and will be making a much larger appearance this season. It is hard to juggle demand. The people of Utah want fruit, but there are not always people here to work it. So today, I run with the weather and play it by the book the best I can.
I have solid spaces and loyal customers of my own just as my parents did. Each year provides its own challenges. Sometimes the fruit freezes, and sometimes there is an influx and everyone has their own. Last year, it was simply hard to find help in order to expand and there was a drought. It’s never a steady paycheck and there is a lot of planning and foresight in order to live off an income made in a matter of months. It has been good training for my art business though. Budgeting is very necessary and if done right it can be a fulfilling lifestyle.
One of the main and most important things that I have realized is the need and desire to teach the younger ages where their food comes from and that it is fun to grow and make your own food from scratch. It isn’t a hard thing but it can be intimidating. I want to show it as approachable. Many young women in the area have a strong desire to cook from scratch, grow and preserve their own food, and support a simplified life. I feel a responsibility to educate and encourage people, show that it is cool easy, and fun to do that. I want to share the joy and importance of supporting local farmers, artisans, and artists, and to show how highly gratifying it can be.
It is necessary for the local economy. To know where their food comes from is a joy I see in the faces of many of my customers. Seeing their delight at my new bounty each week is flattering. Cooking with fruit is wonderful and is so healthy. Preserving fruit is satisfying and is something that is valued in the local community. If I can help those that are interested feel more confident and excited to try it I will.
Along with side my art business Romello Studio Designs and the Fruit Basket, I started Mel’s Market and Delivery in 2021 as a way to merge my fruit business, my art, and other local makers’ baker’s sowers, and growers. It is a work in progress and only another outlet for me to offer our beautiful fruit and flowers. But without a doubt, the local farmer’s markets are the bread and butter of our business.
I have to build a good business online, but nothing compares to the open-air markets, the community, energy, spirit, and personal history. It’s my backbone and absolutely necessary to my business.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In farming, no year is the same. We are at the constant mercy of mother nature. Having children grow presented a new obstacle. They became more mobile so I had to start doing my events alone while Rolando tended the girls at home on the nights and Saturdays, I was working at the market. So I adjusted and became a one-man-show.
I always made sure to buy a certain type of tent. It is one that I can set up and break down myself. With Rolando working and taking care of the kids, I also now loaded and unloaded my booth alone. We are talking about more than 30 boxes sometimes that always weigh more than 20 pounds… It was my workout for sure, lol.
My grandparents both passed away in 2021 and my parents have aged progressively so that has changed a lot now that I am still trying to adapt to. Covid also presented the obvious obstacles.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
It is hard to know what I am best known for, I suppose that in The Fruit Basket that would be the fruit and my knowledge of it. We always have high-quality great flavor and I like to personally specialize in education. That might sound weird, but whether it’s fruit flowers art, or an idea, I speak with passion because I love and believe in its importance and the beauty of it all. I ask my customers what they need, what they want, and what their lifestyle is like?
So that I can help them find what it is that they need. Not all peaches pears apples etc. Taste the same, bottle the same, bake the same, not everyone has time to bottle in August but they do in September. I know what varieties we have what they are good for and when they will be available at market so that they can expect and plan for successful preservation that won’t put any added stress on their schedule. Sometimes someone has a dinner party and needs the perfect basket that is ready for dessert tonight. I know what basket of fruit they should buy. I love to give away extra produce that would normally be called ugly or bound for waste.
My customers love that I take part in picking the fruit and that it comes directly from our farm to the box to market. We are definitely best known for our peaches. At the market, I am known as the peach lady. Personally, I am an artist every day of my life. I am a photographer and painter. I’m an empath and an intuitive. I connect with nature and share that in many forms and I have realized that sharing the fruit is one way that I am able to work that energy in a positive and loving way.
Because of the decline in farming in Utah and my desire to share my art I am currently trying to blend the businesses somehow. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but it is a dream. I am extremely proud of the connections I’ve made and the ability to educate the local community in a way that exists outside the classroom. Perhaps that is the connection that I have and that sets me apart.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Throwing soft tomatoes at the end of markets, chasing frogs and snakes in the greenhouses and putting them in buckets, building tree houses in the orchards with my siblings and cousins, and building mountainous castles from the bales of peat moss at the garden center as my parents worked the retail. Working and playing alike.
Contact Info:
- Email: melsmarketstore.utah@gmail.com
- Website: www.melsmarket.store
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melsmarket.store
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefruitbasketut
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/melsmarketanddelivery
Image Credits
Melanie Stratton and DBA Romello Studio Designs
