So how did we, Molly & Ben Oberg, become the owners of Meyer Produce? Sit down for a sec, it's story time folks! Ben grew up in Villa Grove, just under 2 miles from the Meyer farm. Ben has two sisters, one who had a collection of goats, made goats milk soap and sold her goods at the Urbana farmers market. Ben's mum helped with soap sales at the market and became friendly with a lot of the vendors over the years, Jeff Meyer included! Jeff and the Obergs soon figured out they were practically neighbors! About that time, Jeff was looking for a good hired hand to help him at the farm. Ben's mum, Linda, let Jeff know that she had a son that knew how to work. Ben was 15 years old when he started working on the farm. Jeff, being a bachelor with no children of his own, quickly became like family, visiting the Obergs for a family meal every week and playing board games. (We still carry on this tradition, every Tuesday night we have a meal together!) Ben finished high school, attended Parkland college's diesel mechanic program, worked for a trucking company, found out that was not the career he wanted, and quit after a year. He then turned to helping Jeff in the summers at the farm, worked for a local contstruction company in the winter, picked up tree climbing skills and worked side jobs for local tree companies. (All of these skills are still being used today! It's so cool to see how life experiences point us to where we are meant to go) I (Molly) entered the scene late summer of 2012. Ben popped the question (insert ring emoji which I don't have on this program haha!) January of 2013. About that time Jeff was looking to slow down the farm or retire all together. He offered the farm property and business to us as a package deal, and at a price we couldn't say no to. ...and that is how it alllll started. (Now, for dramatic effect, imagine Taylor Swift's "It's a love story" start to play...)
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