MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – J and H Forest Farms finally opened their first permanent location on 3rd Street in Marquette after years of craft shows and farmers markets. “We’ve been doing farmers markets around the UP and we’ve had such good support we decided to open a shop and see where it goes,” said Dewey Horton the shop’s co-owner.
From the shop they sell their unique wood artwork that the shop’s other co-owner Amy Horton said you can’t find anywhere else, “It’s one of a kind type of thing, it’s handmade,” said Amy. “I literally invented the idea so it’s nice when people go to a craft show or a market or something they see something completely different that they’ve never seen before.”
Beyond artwork, they also sell a variety of herbal soaps salves, lotions, and other topical solutions, all of which are homemade from ingredients grown and foraged from their farm in Deerton, “Everything that we do, we grow the herbs ourselves,” said Dewey. “So there’s no chemicals in it, it’s all with herbs and other natural products like beeswax and herbs we grow ourselves. We grow 55 different medicinal herbs.”
They also grow some herbs to help the environment, “We every year plant a different endangered species to Michigan, so a species that’s native to Michigan and endangered,” said Dewey. “We plant it to try and grow it then we’re going to distribute it and try and repopulate Michigan.”
After years of markets they say their happy to be a permanent fixture in Marquette’s community, “Marquette has always been so supportive of our business that it just was a no-brainer to open something up here,” said Dewey.”
But they still plan to continue selling at farmers markets around the UP, “It’s always good to outreach to the community, it’s always good to have your face out there,” said Amy. “And we have a lot of friends that are doing farmers markets and craft shows so it’s nice to be around them too and not just here in this space.”
J and H Forest Farms is open from 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday. They also do custom orders and ship their products, both of which can be found on their website.
