Local Food, Historic Roots, Modern Comfort
Photographer / Ethan Snyder
The owners of The Downtown Farm Stand are rekindling the nostalgia of authentic farm-to-table cuisine from real, local farmers while restoring one of downtown Muncie’s oldest buildings.
Dave Ring and his wife, Sara, run Muncie’s only all-organic food delivery service, deli and grocery store — The Downtown Farm Stand.
Ring’s great-great-grandparents operated The Crescent Grocery Store in Muncie during the Great Depression. The bygone grocer, located on Willard Street, served suet dumpling soup and provided home deliveries by horse and wagon.
The Downtown Farm Stand is a destination for local, sustainable and organic food in east-central Indiana. Organic farmers themselves, the Rings opened the grocery store in 2007.
The Downtown Farm Stand has recently reinvented its deli to offer nostalgic comfort foods that follow modern wellness trends. The “Hoosier Classics” menu features breaded pork tenderloin, fried chicken with spicy garlic aioli and grass-fed smash burgers served with fresh-cut fries made from organic potatoes fried in local pasture-raised pork fat.
Modern, natural food trends are based on high-fat, low-carb diets with no processed seed oils. All groceries at the brick-and-mortar farm stand are produced organically and are 100% free of chemically processed vegetable oils such as soybean, canola and sunflower oil, GMOs, petrochemicals, synthetic hormones and antibiotics.
In the 2010s, Ring says Americans were adventurous eaters craving exciting, global dishes from celebrity chefs. In the 2020s, Ring believes Americans hunger for nostalgia, comfort and familiarity.
“Our inspiration is to give people traditional, delicious Indiana comfort foods that they aren’t likely to make at home,” Ring says. “We make them with good, healthy ingredients like local pasture-raised meats, no seed oils and organic produce that is not laden with pesticides.”
Jan Largent has been a regular customer since The Downtown Farm Stand opened. The 88-year-old currently volunteers at the grocery store by preparing produce. Largent says she cares about the Rings and values having organic food available. She said what she loves most about The Downtown Farm Stand is the Rings’ integrity. Each summer, she brings them a fresh bouquet of zinnias from her organic garden.
“Organic is important to me,” Largent says. “I knew a time when chemicals were not a part of farming.”
Largent grew up on her family farm in Harrison Township and experienced the joyful surroundings of fruit trees, a henhouse, wild blackberry bushes and a grape arbor. She said her commitment to organic food comes from caring for the land, her faith and her interest in health.
The Downtown Farm Stand’s egg suppliers include Spring Valley Farm in Columbus, Indiana, and Wholesome Meadows Farm in Bluffton, Indiana. Local pasture-raised meats include chicken from Prairie Hill Farms in Selma, Indiana, pork and turkey from Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Indiana, and beef from L & S Farms in Vallonia, Indiana. Honey and maple syrup are supplied by Bastin Honey Bee Farm in Knightstown, Indiana.
Ring believes agriculture is the foundation of civilization and that supporting a local organic food system can lead to a stronger economy.
“If we have more farms and food available, we can have spin-off businesses like cheesemakers, bakers, dairies, meat processors, canning factories and more,” Ring says. “We could drastically increase tourism when we become a place known for good food.”
This holiday season, The Downtown Farm Stand offered house-made, organic, local eggnog and will soon launch pies, including Indiana’s official state pie — sugar cream pie. This summer, the store will serve scoops of homemade, organic ice cream.
The Downtown Farm Stand is the only grocery store in the food desert of downtown Muncie and accepts EBT. The store offers a complete selection of fresh produce, bread, milk, eggs, meat and everyday staples, as well as organic pet food and toiletries.
The Downtown Farm Stand operates out of one of downtown Muncie’s oldest buildings. The nearly 150-year-old structure, located at the corner of Main and Mulberry streets, has previously housed a drugstore and a cigar shop. The Rings recently donated the building’s 1890 ledger to the Delaware County Historical Society.
The Rings purchased the 11,000-square-foot building in 2018.
Ring is restoring the building’s original terrazzo tile, hardwood floors and woodwork. Lower facade renovations were completed last fall. Ring is completing the historically accurate repairs and restorations himself and collaborated with two Ball State University architecture students on the design.
Ring says The Downtown Farm Stand looks forward to providing a real experience in a world of “fake everything.”
“Nostalgia for a simpler time when our world was based more around an agrarian economy is real,” he says. “We provide those experiences every day when people taste our food and get to taste what real, unprocessed food from local farms tastes like. We’re excited to make simple things like homemade ice cream and my grandma’s pie recipe. That’s about as authentic as you can get.”
Grocery store hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The deli is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Downtown Farm Stand deli also regularly vends at the Farmers Market at Minnetrista.
The Downtown Farm Stand is located at 125 E. Main St. For more information, visit downtownfarmstand.com or call 765-288-3775.
