How a suburban Phoenix family turned their backyard into a neighborhood farm stand and cafe

The suburban street that Jill Birt and her husband, Mike, call home is quiet most days. But on Saturdays, the gate opens and the family's backyard turns into a lively community hotspot.

In a shed decorated with decades-old knickknacks and family photos, customers can pick up a carton of farm-fresh eggs or homemade salsa from the refrigerator and browse Blue Rooster t-shirts and hats. Outside, there are baskets of vegetables grown on-site, like potatoes, cucumbers and avocados, and the Birts even offer salsa mix bags of tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeños and lime juice that come with instructions for how to use the produce to make fresh pico de gallo. A makeshift outdoor cafe with colorfully painted tables and chairs, many of which have been donated by the community since the Blue Rooster opened eight years ago, serves coffee and wood-fired pizza to the crowd of mingling neighbors who catch up while kids play or do arts and crafts.

Located on 91st Avenue just north of Pinnacle Peak Road, Blue Rooster produce stand is a beloved hobby-turned-business. Jill, 55, keeps a busy schedule as a high school counselor during the week and then works as the head of the Blue Rooster on Saturdays. Mike runs his screen-printing business by day and comes home at night to tend to the garden. And their ten children, aged 14 to 32, gather each weekend to help share the family bounty with their community.

"I mean, nearly all my kids have jobs, and my husband and I both have full-time jobs, so this is like more of a hobby, and it's a ton of work but it's amazing," Jill said. "We love it."

How a family pastime became a family business

When the family first opened Blue Rooster in 2014, it was little more than a card table where they sold their farm-fresh eggs. Mike had a few planters in the garden growing basil and tomatoes, but the larger part of the yard was filled with a sand volleyball court that the Birt children played on.

"We were a little farm just for our family, because we have 10 kids," Jill said. "One day, Mike was like, let's just do this, let's do a produce market. It started out really little, teeny. We would just come out here on the weekend and we would sell a dozen or two eggs, a little bit of produce. We didn't really have much because most of it was used for our family."

But as the north Peoria neighborhood grew, the Birts' business expanded with it.

Mike started planting more fruits and vegetables in his garden. He studied hydroponics and implemented a more sustainable system for watering.

"He's always had a green thumb," Jill said of her husband. "It literally is the labor of love. He sits there and he nourishes every little plant."

About three years ago, Jill and Mike applied for a restaurant permit and started selling wood-fired pizza and coffee in addition to their produce and products. Now, Jill runs the front-of-house checkout area, where she can talk with the community and keep an eye on operations, while Mike typically stands at the outdoor kitchen, making pizzas for customers.

"I love being out here with the people, hanging out and talking with the families," Jill said.

The rest of the Blue Rooster's employees are the Birts' children and some friends. Though their eldest daughter, Tatume Villanueva, 26, has moved out of the house and gotten married, she and her husband both come back to work at the Blue Rooster each Saturday.

"I feel like it just brought us together as a family," said Villanueva. "Nowadays, in most families, everyone's so involved in technology and their own schedules. This is something that brings us all together for eight hours on a Saturday, and sometimes more because we normally go out to lunch afterward as a family and just talk about our week."

Sharing family traditions with the Peoria community

When Mike's father passed away in 2016, his mother Jan Birt came to live with the family, bringing with her dozens of boxes of belongings, including heirlooms like her first toy, first purse and other antiques as well as numerous family photos. She spent a lot of time in the family garden and chicken coops and then used her treasures to decorate the shed.

"She would come outside because she didn't really have anything to do," Jill said. "We had a few chickens, so she'd wash the eggs, and it would take her hours, just scrubbing those eggs. It was so great for Mike's mom. She passed three years ago, but honestly until she was ready to go, she would come out every day and wash her little eggs and put them in cartons."

Toward the end of her life, Jan was diagnosed with Dementia. But while her memory was no longer as clear as it once was, Jill said that using her belongings to decorate the shed of the Blue Rooster served as a physical way to preserve some of her most precious memories. It's also helped create a one-of-a-kind environment full of deep family history.

Despite these personal touches and the location in the Birts' backyard, Jill said the Blue Rooster belongs to the community as much as it does to her. And, in addition to the family heirlooms on display, many items come from community donations.

"Like this little apple thing right here," Jill said, pointing to a wooden bucket of red apples. "It makes me laugh, because it was just sitting by our gate last weekend. When people find things that they think would be cool here, they just drop them off. I'll decorate with anything."

'Every week is a little bit different' at this community farm stand

Like many other small businesses, the last few years brought a number of unforeseen challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But unlike other businesses, the Blue Rooster was never required to close down entirely, due to being a completely outdoor establishment. In fact, Jill said that "they wanted people like us to be open."

Jill and her family did their part to keep everyone safe by removing some tables so that they were all spaced properly apart, installing sanitization systems and wearing masks and gloves while interacting with the public.

"I think people really appreciated us being open at that time," Jill said.

More recently, the family business has been affected by rising prices due to inflation. Jill said items like pizza boxes, egg cartons and checkout bags as well as feed and supplies for the pigs and chickens have all risen in price, affecting the profitability.

But the community does what it can to help sustain the business, Jill said. As providing checkout bags became more difficult, many regular customers started bringing reusable shopping bags. And to encourage more reuse, those who bring back their old egg cartons receive 50 cents off their next dozen.

"Every week is a little bit different. Some weeks, we have lots of foods and other weeks we don't," Jill said. "I think people just kind of like coming and enjoying sitting with their kids. It's super relaxing."

How to visit the Blue Rooster produce stand

Blue Rooster sells locally grown fruit and vegetables, homemade scrubs, honey, eggs and other produce. The cafe sells iced or hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Pizza specials vary by week.

Details: 23621 N. 91st Ave., Peoria. facebook.com/blueroosterproduce.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Parking: Along the east side of the street on 91st Avenue

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Reach the reporter at endia.fontanez@gannett.com. Follow @EndiaFontanez on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Story of Blue Rooster: a metro Phoenix family's farm stand and cafe