Home Grown Farm Market Anchors Local Agriculture, Preservation And Food Access In Lexington Park

LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — On the edge of the Lexington Park Development District, where preserved farmland begins to stretch toward the Chesapeake Bay, Home Grown Farm Market has become a steady gathering place for fresh food and community connection.

Inside the red pole barn at 21078 Three Notch Rd., shoppers find seasonal vegetables, pasture-raised meats, farm-fresh eggs, baked goods, milk and specialty crops grown right here in St. Mary’s County and across Maryland. But the market is more than a place to shop. It represents a long-term investment in agriculture, food access and rural preservation.

The market operates on county-owned property through a long-term lease agreement with the St. Mary’s County commissioners. The building itself was constructed using grant funding aimed at strengthening agricultural infrastructure and creating stable marketing outlets for local farmers and seafood producers.

Its roots trace back to Maryland’s tobacco settlement era. When the state reached a master settlement agreement with tobacco companies, a portion of the funds was directed toward helping tobacco farmers transition to alternative crops and sustainable agricultural businesses.

In Southern Maryland, that effort was carried out through the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC), which directed funding toward land preservation, infrastructure projects and support for farmers. Home Grown Farm Market stands as one of those long-term infrastructure investments — designed not just for a single season, but for decades of agricultural sustainability.

Today, the market is managed by Home Grown Farm Market LLC, a seven-member limited liability company made up of local agricultural stakeholders. Vendors and volunteers operate the market, covering utilities and maintaining the facility while keeping it accessible to the public.

Donna Sasscer, a founding member of Home Grown Farm Market and a former agriculture and seafood division manager with the St. Mary’s County Department of Economic Development, said the market was never meant to be just a seasonal gathering place.

“It was a three-legged stool — the buyout, infrastructure and land preservation funds,” Sasscer said. “Our goal was to put infrastructure projects in place so that once the tobacco money was gone, they would still be here to support the agriculture and seafood community.”

Sasscer worked for 33 years in county economic development and helped secure grant funding through SMADC to build facilities that would support farmers well beyond the life of the tobacco buyout funds. Home Grown Farm Market, she said, is one of those investments.

“You can preserve all the land you want, but you have to give people a way to make a living,” Sasscer said. “This market has become all about the community.”

Today, the market’s mission remains the same: support local farmers, ensure profitability and make local fresh food accessible to the entire community, including residents who rely on SNAP, WIC and senior nutrition benefits.

“If you want to support local farmers and get some of the best food you can buy, this is where you come,” Sasscer said.

Southern Maryland Shops Local And Supports Agriculture

Olga Sylvia said she visits Home Grown Farm Market as often as she can, drawn by the freshness and quality of locally grown food.

“What you find here is really, really good food grown locally, and it’s fresher,” Sylvia said. “A lot of it is organic and you can find gluten-free food.”

Sylvia said she values the direct connection to farmers and bakers. She said the freshness, customization and community impact make it worthwhile.

“It’s like having a baker in your backyard,” Sylvia said. “You are going directly to the farmer or the baker, you’re supporting your neighbors, the local agricultural community, and it’s good for everybody.”

Donell Burton said he learned about Home Grown Farm Market from a friend and has been shopping there regularly since last summer. He described the market as a place where customers can find fresh produce, natural products and high-quality meats that he believes stand apart from traditional grocery stores.

“This place is amazing. They have natural products here, fresh produce and great meat from butchers,” Burton said. “You can’t get the same quality inside your regular supermarkets.”

Burton said shopping local is not only about supporting farmers, but about protecting personal health.

“If you shop with your local farmers and your local butchers, not only are you supporting your local sources, but you’re taking care of your health,” Burton said.

While visiting Southern Maryland from Pennsylvania, Maritza Vargas said she stopped at Home Grown Farm Market specifically to purchase beef tallow with lavender for homeopathic use.

“Coming from where I live, we have huge farmers markets,” Vargas said. “So, coming to this one — it’s what I expected.”

Jen Westbrook said she visits Home Grown Farm Market nearly every week, depending on what her family needs. She is drawn to the market’s natural products and locally sourced foods, saying she prefers more nutrient-dense options and fewer chemicals than what she finds in traditional grocery stores.

“I just like to do things more naturally,” Westbrook said. “I think it’s more beneficial, more healthy — more nutrient-dense food for the family.”

Westbrook regularly purchases raw milk, meat products and handmade soaps and said she values supporting farmers.

“It’s very important to me to support the community here,” Westbrook said. “It is a lot of hard work being a farmer, and they don’t always get the appreciation they deserve.”

Matthew Marez said he and his family stop by Home Grown Farm Market nearly every week. He described the market as more than a place to buy produce — it’s a community experience where they’ve built relationships with vendors over the past five years.

“We’ve really gotten to know a lot of the regular vendors,” Marez said. “It’s been a really good experience for us, and we come year-round.”

Marez said the difference in taste and quality keeps them coming back, particularly for farm-fresh eggs, milk and baked goods. He noted that once customers become accustomed to locally sourced food, it’s difficult to return to mass-produced grocery store options.

“There’s a stark difference — it’s just a much higher quality,” Marez said. “It is extremely important for me to support that. This is something we want to preserve.”

Sara Chari said she shops at the Home Grown Farm Market most weeks during the summer, seeking fresh, locally grown produce and a sense of community she doesn’t find in larger grocery stores.

“It feels more like a community type of place,” Chari said. “It’s the same people coming a lot of the time, the same vendors you’re seeing, and people are always happy to tell you about the products you’re buying.”

Environmental considerations also factor into Chari’s decision to shop local. She said reducing the fuel used to transport food long distances is important to her, and she appreciates knowing her produce was grown nearby.

“The produce was grown here, so it didn’t have to ship from hundreds of miles away in big trucks,” Chari said. “It’s fresher, and you can ask the people in charge of it what the story is behind it.”

Heather Pilesky said her family visits the farmers market more often in warmer months but makes a point to return year-round. Beyond fresh food, she said the variety and uniqueness of items keeps her coming back.

“It’s just a very family-friendly environment,” Pilesky said. “They have the toy section so we can get the kids here and they stay entertained while we shop the local farmers.”

Pilesky said she prefers shopping local, and that the freshness, quality and taste have clear differences from traditional grocery stores. She also noted the convenience of having a winter market option, saying many seasonal markets close entirely during colder months.

Local Food Access On Protected Land Will Feed The Community For Generations

Food accessibility remains central to the market’s mission. Home Grown Farm Market participates in Maryland Market Money, a statewide program administered by SMADC. The initiative matches federal nutrition benefits dollar for dollar at participating farmers markets, helping families stretch their food budgets while supporting local farmers.

The market accepts SNAP benefits, WIC coupons and senior nutrition program vouchers. Eligible customers can increase their purchasing power when buying fresh fruits, vegetables and other qualifying foods.

That layered structure — county-owned land, long-term agricultural infrastructure funding, statewide nutrition incentives and local volunteer management — places Home Grown Farm Market at the intersection of federal, state and local efforts aimed at strengthening community food resilience.

At the same time, the market maintains a strong focus on clean eating and local sourcing. Vendors offer organic vegetables, specialty produce such as figs, fresh meats and handmade food products, many grown just miles away. Several farmers who sell at larger regional markets also participate, creating a diverse selection that often surprises first-time visitors.

The location itself was intentional. Positioned where development meets protected farmland, the market reinforces the connection between preserving rural land and keeping agriculture economically viable.

Barry Roache, a founding member of Home Grown Farm Market, said the market was created about 12 years ago with a partnership through St. Mary’s County, which had purchased the roughly 150-acre farm as part of the Mattapany Rural Legacy Area, which was connected to Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program, a statewide effort to preserve agricultural land. Roache said the founding families utilize about eight to 10 acres of the property.

“The county bought this farm to establish the northern corner of what’s known as the Mattapany Rural Legacy Area, so this land would remain open and agricultural as much as possible,” Roache said. “It was a good cooperative effort from a number of different sources that came together to make it happen.”

Funding to construct the building came in part from infrastructure money tied to Maryland’s tobacco buyout settlement, which helped farmers transition from tobacco to alternative crops and direct-to-consumer produce sales.

Roache said that once the land was established, “we got a site plan, found a contractor to put the building up, and were able to capture some of that tobacco settlement infrastructure money to help make it happen.”

Abby Trossbach serves as market manager and is from one of the seven founding farm families behind the southern St. Mary’s County market. She said each founding member contributed expertise to help design and establish the building, which now operates as a cooperative effort.

“Seven of us came together from different farming backgrounds — organic, grain, pumpkin, natural farming — and everybody handled what they were most familiar with,” Trossbach said. “That’s kind of how it came to be.”

Trossbach said, “Everything is right here,” and the goal is simple: bring a wide variety of Southern Maryland-grown products into one accessible location, particularly in an area where access to fresh food options can be limited.

Looking ahead, the surrounding county-owned property is expected to become part of a broader passive recreation and waterfront access initiative, further tying agriculture, preservation and community use together in one shared space.

Home Grown Farm Market operates year-round and is open to the public each Saturday at 21078 Three Notch Rd., Lexington Park, MD 20653.

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