In Guernsey County, From Scratch Co-Op builds community of food producers
By: Amanda Pirani
Posted on:
Thursday, October 30, 2025
CAMBRIDGE, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — It’s been an exciting year for Jaye Lenchis. She recently started a small business with her husband, selling honey produced by their 10 acre apiary. Since starting in July, they’ve added additional homemade products to their stand, like coconut oil soap and cotton dresses.
“It’s definitely been bigger than I thought it was going to be,” Lenchis said. “We’ve sold out of honey the last couple of markets that we’ve had.”
Lenchis sells her products through a farmers market run by From Scratch Co-Op, an organization of local food producers. Business owner Sara Burris says it’s an opportunity that, only a year ago, didn’t exist in Cambridge.
The From Scratch Co-Op market creates new opportunities for local businesses
Lenchis and her husband said their first year of business has been better than expected — they’ve sold out of their honey at their last few markets.
Her beef business began as a side project, after Burris and her husband adopted a sick calf in 2015 and fell in love with raising longhorn cattle. After a few years of gifting meat to friends and family, they decided to start selling at local markets.
But Burris said the options available weren’t the best fit for a food producer.
“People were coming knowing that there were going to be crafts … and not necessarily wanting to take home a package of frozen ground beef with them,” she said.
Then came a fateful conversation with Bree Pye, who uses Burris’ beef for her prepared meals business. The two wondered if they could start their own market centered around local food products.
“We kind of knew that people were doing independent things in the community, but maybe were struggling with a place to meet, or maybe visibility,” she said.
Pye’s landlord gave them permission to lease a lot near her office, and From Scratch Co-Op was born. Now, the co-op has over 20 members and will wrap up its first season of farmers markets this month.
“People know when they come to shop here, they can get their meat, their protein for the week, they can get their grocery staples,” Burris said. “It filled a need that our community didn’t have at the moment.”
With the outdoor market season coming to an end, Pye and Burris have already started planning their next project: a Christmas market, featuring live music as well as both food and craft vendors.
Burris and Pye are both local food business owners in Guernsey County. [Amanda Pirani | WOUB/Report for America]
Founders hope the future will bring more member resources
For Pye and Burris, From Scratch Co-Op is more than the markets it hosts.
They helped members apply for the licenses and insurance needed to sell their products, a process they said can be overwhelming for someone starting out. Members also lead internal workshops for others in the co-op and collaborate to improve their products.
“It’s been really empowering for our vendors,” Pye said. “A lot of them are moms … it’s kind of empowering them to be a contributor to their family, while still being able to have that schedule they want to have.”
In the future, she hopes to expand the resources offered to members, most of whom are running businesses out of their home.
“A dream goal would be for us to have a facility that offers a commercial kitchen space here in town for our members to use,” she said. “Where we can host our workshops, and meetings, and have basically a little community hub.”