Ted Landel is known to some as the “Plant Pirate” by his hat. Elizabeth Harvey | Collegian

It’s hard to miss Ted Landel at the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market. Rain or shine, Landel sells dozens of plants every Saturday morning from May to October, and locals have come to recognize the “Plant Pirate” by his signature hat.

“One Saturday, a little boy asked me if I was a real pirate,” Landel said. “I told him my ship’s out at the lake.”

Before finding his long-term home in Hillsdale, Landel lived in a variety of places across the country. After experiencing life in the city, he said he eventually found his love for small town culture and nature.

“I lived in Toledo for a year and worked at a greenhouse,” Landel said. “That’s probably when I got interested in growing plants.”

After graduating from Church of Christ College, Landel moved to Los Angeles to live with his aunt and worked at a local bookstore to pay off college debt. He said he only worked for a year before moving back home to Waldron in search of work in a rural town to escape from the urban environment of LA.

“I’m not much for cities,” Landel said.

After returning to the countryside, he bought 10 acres of land in Lost Nation and moved into a railroad boxcar located in the park shortly after. Furnished with only a wood stove to cook his meals and no electricity, Landel lived in this boxcar for more than 10 years.

“There was a creek down the hill so I could get bath water and stuff,” Landel said. “My house payment was $100 per month.”

Landel put down roots for his future gardening business in this boxcar.

“I put a little greenhouse on the back of the boxcar,” Landel said. “I would walk uptown and come to my friend’s auction and we would sell stuff.”

As his business grew, Landel decided to move to Hillsdale in 1995 and started his first job at the Knorr Family Dining Room at Hillsdale College.  

“I was a waiter,” Landel said. “On Sunday mornings, I would cook for the omelet bar.”

In 2017, Landel decided to leave SAGA to expand his business further by starting to advertise his business at the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market around town.  

“I just started growing a lot of plants, and I needed some place to sell them, so I came up here,” he explained.

Landel said since then he has significantly grown his business and enjoyed becoming acquainted with the people of Hillsdale — especially young children enthralled by his ladder displays of plant mugs, his prize-winning greenery, and his hallmark pirate hat. He said children have even given him hand-drawn pictures of him at his stand — pirate cap and all.

“That’s the best part of the farmer’s market — all the little kids and the dogs,” he said.  “There’s so many cute dogs and beautiful children that stop by.”

Since moving to Hillsdale County, Landel said he has been proud to call Hillsdale home for nearly 30 years and has loved the many friendships he has cultivated through the community, including at Hillsdale Free Methodist Church.  

“I got a lot of friends from church,” Landel said.  

Emile Dasch, owner of Bluebird Meadows Farm, said Landel’s enthusiasm and energy is especially infectious during his morning routine of setting up his stand for the day.

“He’s always at the market,” she said. “He especially likes to play classical music as he sets up and takes down his stand. When we pulled up here this morning, he was just blasting that classical music.”

Annette Williams, another vendor, said Landel brings friendliness and personality to the farmers market’s environment.   

“He’s just a super nice guy,” Williams said. “I’ve been coming to the market for seven years, and he’s been here just about that long.” 

Williams has been selling her home-grown mushrooms at her own stand since 2017, but she said she and her husband occasionally turn to Landel for gardening advice.  

“Whenever my husband has a question about growing mushrooms, I’ll say, ‘Go west — the plant guy over there knows all about those things,’” Williams said.

To see his assortment of plants and to meet the Plant Pirate himself, stop by the Hillsdale County Winter Market, which runs every other Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from November 2024 through May 2025, located inside Hillsdale Brewing Company.

“I really like it when people come back and tell me that their plants are growing,” Landel said. “I always wonder.”

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