Chicago-Area Grower Finds Niche Market Selling Heirloom Tomatoes To Restaurants
December 12, 2013 
At Leaning Shed Farm, grower Dave Dyrek produces approximately 70 varieties of heirloom cherry tomatoes.
Photo credit: Dave Dyrek
When Dave Dyrek hit midlife, he bought the farm — literally. Dyrek and his wife, Denise, bought 30 acres of land in Berrien Springs, MI, as a beach-side weekend getaway in the summer. After starting small, the couple’s garden continued to grow yearly from a few hundred tomato plants to a large endeavor.
After years of giving away most of his produce to friends, five years ago Dyrek chose to turn his weekend getaway into a business and sell his tomatoes and vegetables. Dyrek realized, however, that life on Leaning Shed Farm — named for a building on the property — wasn’t easy.
“I thought it was going to be a lot of fun in the sun, and still I’d be able to go to the beach, which is 10 minutes from our house. The reality is, it’s a lot more work than I ever imagined,” he says.
Dyrek grows approximately 70 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. He also grows several different varieties of heirloom beans, peas, zucchini, summer squash, garlic, cucumbers, peppers, and strawberries.
“I wanted some crazy varieties. Different shoots, color, flavor profile,” he says. “(Flavor is) the number one priority. As far as disease resistance, that kind of stuff takes a backseat. I know it’s kind of backward compared to the conventional tomato farmers, but we accept major losses in our crop, mostly heirloom tomatoes.”
Dyrek says that he expects to sell only about 50% of his crop each year. Many heirlooms don’t make it out of the field because they crack and generally don’t last more than three to four days,
he explains.
Make A Name For Yourself
Despite how difficult heirloom vegetables can be to grow, Dyrek has made a name for himself and his produce stand at the Green Street Market in Chicago and the Frankfort County Market in Frankfort, IL. “We’re known as the tomato people,” he says. Being the face for his produce is vital, notes Dyrek, but so is having a quality product. Leaning Shed Farm offers recipes to complement the produce they sell. Dyrek has noticed a boost in sales from something as simple as giving potential buyers a use for his unique produce.
He also sells produce to Chicago-area restaurants. This year he tried something new, contacting his usual restaurant buyers in advance and notifying them of what produce is available. His news was well-received.
“We’d have orders for a few thousand dollars before we’d even show up and they would be packed, boxed, and invoiced,” he says. Dyrek also makes it a point, with his wife, to visit most of the restaurants he sells to in the off-season to show his support.
While being in business for only five years, Dyrek says that the one constant has been the extreme weather. “People talk about the weather and what a crazy year — too dry or too hot. The way I’m looking at it is that is normal,” he says. “Or it certainly seems like it is going to be normal from this point on. We’re going to have droughts, we’re going to have wet years, we’re going to have cold and hot and that is a reality. I can’t imagine there would be any perfect-type years out there.”
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