As a Washington attorney in the mid-1980s, Dave Ryan said he never expected to be what he now calls himself: a “greenie.” But two decades after he served as legal counsel in the nation’s capital, the father of three now lives in Clarksville with his wife, Susan, and children, where he produces his own energy, grows his own organic tomatoes and drives a hybrid SUV.
Coastal Point • Jonathan Starkey:
Good Earth Market offers organic products for the community.
“My friends all look at me and say, ‘Since when did you become a green person?’” Ryan said on Sunday as he toured his organic garden. “I never thought about it.”
Just more than two years ago, the Ryans opened Good Earth Market, an organic and natural foods market and farm, where they organically grow tomatoes, peppers, spices herbs and lettuces, pick them, walk them 100 feet and sell them in the market.
In Ryan’s opinion, the insecticide-free food just “tastes better,” he said.
“I just feel better,” Ryan said, when he eats the organically produced food. He added that because the food is not processed for travel, they can grow a thinner-skinned, juicier tomato than any found at a regular, chain grocery store. Ryan said that they grow the foods on the small, still-in-the-works farm without the help of unnatural herbicides and pesticides that might damage the crop. “My personal belief is that organic foods taste better,” he added.
Inside the market, customers can also purchase all-natural or organics soups, beans, produce, teas, coffees, breads and even lotions, soaps and other cleaning products alongside unexpected books and jewelry.
Sue Berzins, a local resident who pushed a cart through the market on Saturday, picked up bread and juices that she said her husband can not find anywhere else locally.
Coastal Point • Jonathan Starkey:
Dave Ryan at his house.
“It’s a nice variety. It’s just a pleasure to shop here,” said Berzins, who had an interesting, poignant way of describing the market. “Friendly. Local. Organic,” she said.
In keeping with the natural theme of the Ryans’ picturesque property on Route 26 in Clarksville, they recently installed solar panels on the roof of their home, which sits as a backdrop several hundred yards south of the Good Earth Market.
Hidden in the back, on the west side of the house, they recently installed 40 solar energy-producing panels atop the roughly two-year-old home. It complements the Ryans’ geothermal system, which saves energy by using ground temperatures to heat and cool the home.
Ryan, who said he was paying $400 monthly on electric bills after Delmarva Power raised its residential rates by more than 50 percent on May 1, expects to only pay about $40 monthly now because of the energy the panels produce daily. In the month-and-a-half the panels have sat atop the home, they have already produced more than 400 kWh.
“I’m probably the only person on Delmarva who looks forward to getting my electric bill,” said Ryan, who plans to eventually install solar panels on the south side of the market.
Ryan received a roughly $10,000 rebate – half of the cost – on the cost of the solar panels and installation from the state’s green energy program, which promotes such green technology. “I think if more people knew about (green energy potential) they would try it. It just makes sense economically,” he said.
It was that economic benefit – not the inner environmentalist– that first prompted Ryan become more nature-friendly. But while walking around the all-organic garden, looking at the energy-collecting solar panels and listening to the almost silent hum of the hybrid vehicle, Ryan’s new self-proclaimed label seems fitting – even if that label surprises Ryan’s friends… or himself.
“I don’t know when I became a greenie,” Ryan said, but “it just makes sense."