Burton Hoey vs. Everyone

continued

The court could award her the market and the land it sits on anyway, bankrupting Hoey and severing the family's last link to its farming past. "Part of his conflict is over the question: where does the farm end and town begin?" says Bredell. "And the answer is: it's a farm, not a downtown."

But it's a farm only a block away from one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the state--Dexter's population increased from 1,500 to 4,000 between 1990 and 2000--and instead of fields, Jenny's is now surrounded by new subdivisions. And suburbanites and their governments take a decidedly different view of Jenny's Farm Market than the gruff and grizzled ex-farmer who's eking out a living at the tail end of his family's fortunes.   

[Originally published in December, 2012.]