Friday, July 30, 2010

Tips For A Successful Farmers Market



To have a profitable season at the Farmers Market, you must advertise. I sent a query to the Knoxville News Sentinel about a Farmers Market article. We don't want the Knoxville residents to forget about all the delicious locally grown food and baked goods. I suggested writing an article about the Market and the individual vendors. I am working on another article for Rural Heritage Magazine which will include the vendors and their websites.They are all so interesting and many characters among them. It would be good to put out articles every few weeks to stimulate new market customers. We will especially need to advertise during the fall/winter as patronage drops off after school starts again. Many of the growers and bakers want to extend their selling time in the winter so we are looking for an enclosed place in Knoxville and Oakridge. This too will have to be aggressively advertised.
Another place to advertise is on Craigslist or any other local online advertising. I will list what we have to sell and give a discount to anybody who comes thru the craigslist add. It has generated customers.
Brochures are another good idea. These should be distributed in neighborhoods and businesses. I will be distributing them in health food stores, Quilt shops, Wellness Centers, Fitness Centers, Food-Co-ops, Churches, Dental Offices, Pediatric Offices, etc. Knocking on doors and handing them to homeowners is a good idea, too.
As always make sure your stand is attractive and that you have a neat and clean appearance. Don't look like you just came out of the fields ( even though you did). Grubby looking farmers do not make the food appetizing.
An attractive 4 x6 or 2 x 6 banner with your farm name, phone number, and website is very important, too. These can be purchased for about $50-$60. Some folks wear t-shirts, polos or aprons with their farm name.
One piece of equipment you must have is a digital scale. You plug in the price per pound and it gives the weight and total. Customers can see all this info. on the other side.
Of course you must have produce or baked goods that look good. Baked goods should be packaged neatly with your logo and ingredients. Produce must look fresh and clean. Attractive containers with your farm name looks really professional.
Be friendly, even if you feel dead tired and be ready to answer questions. Recipes are helpful for different food items that people may be unfamiliar with.
Farmers Markets have great potential for success and you will find your CSA customers there, too. Have a brochure made up of the foods you will offer, price and for how long. Monthly payment terms can be included. If you stay focused and work hard, you can reach your financial goals and more.herbandplow.com

Thursday, July 29, 2010

How to make a Farmers Market Work






Yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market in Oakridge, TN. As always it was hot and sticky and I was ringing wet by the time I set up, but it was still fun. As always I am impressed with the ingenuity and hard work ethics of the people who sell at the Market. Many of them are quite wealthy but you would not know it because they are so down to earth. One 16 year old girl sells produce to support her horse show habit. She shows Walking horses and racking horses.I talked to a lady and her daughter yesterday who are selling several varities of heirloom tomatoes. I think they have a good niche and seemed to do pretty well. The baked goods always seem to do well, too.
Displays are very important. I have learned a lot from the other vendors. Each stand is very attractive. Piling the watermelons and cantaloupe in front of the table attracted the people. Wicker baskets displaying colorful produce always looks good. I have a huge wicker basket= 4 ft. tall to display my corn.
Ron has been planting lettuce, carrots, squash and radishes. We have to be careful to keep the soil cooled down so that they germinate properly. It will be tricky this time of the year but we will try. The honey dew melons are ready to be transplanted.
I canned 21 quart of tomatoes and used the Turkey Frier to can in. I can put 14 quarts in the pot at one shot. Really speeds up the canning process.
We will query the different vendors tomorrow to see how many would like to continue selling thru the winter. We will have a great variety of fall produce: Various lettuces, carrots, radishes, bok choi, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, etc. Also offering artisan breads, goat milk soap, maple syrup, jams, gluten-free breads, and hopefully this spring we will have bedding plants and heirloom seeds.
We visited Paul Wiediger on Tuesday. He has a great book, Walking to Spring, about High Tunnel Winter gardening. http://aunaturelfarm.homestead.com

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Yellow root , the Spring, and Jumping Boys





Up early and ready to pick purple hull peas today and then off to the farmers market . While we were cleaning the spring out we found we had a huge amount of yellow root which from what the sources indicate is the same as golden seal. We will make tinctures and salves with it. We want to get the spring ready for our own use soon.Ron and Seth probably scooped the mud out which was probably 18" thick. The spring hadn't been used in years.
Check out herbandplow for CSA news.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Fall/Winter CSA and Summer pie recipe


Here is a great raw food frozen pie recipe: It is called Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie but you use carob instead of chocolate. make a crust with 1/2 c. raw walnuts ,1 c dates and 1/2 c coconut- blend without water or use 3 T water) in blender until powdery and a little sticky- press into pie pan. Place almond butter in pie shell.
In food processor or blender add: 2 large avocadoes or 3 small ones; 1.3 c. carob powder; 1 c. pure maple syrup (or agave syrup, honey or dates.)
Blend until creamy, If you want darker chocolate taste, add more carob. If you wnat it sweeter, add more maple syrup, agave, or honey. Pour mix on top of the almond butter. If desire, crumble 2 T of crust on top of pie for garnish. Place in freezer overnight. Do not use in glass pie pan. Glass gets too cold and makes it difficult to remove the pie.
Fall/Winter seedlings are started: cabbage, broc, leeks, cauliflower, celery,melons. We drove over to Smiths Grove to visit with Paul Wideger who wrote the book on High Tunnel Gardening. He was very generous with his time and answered a lot of questions that we had. He does a lot of mesculin lettuce, radishes, carrots, turnips, leafy greens, tomatoes and strawberries. Tomatoes and strawberries are ready a full month ahead of everybody else. This is done with no heat. He does have an inflation fan in the high tunnel so that is one source of electricity. We will plant some lettuce and spinach- keep the ground cooled by keeping it wet and planting in the evening. Paul sprouts his spinach before he plants it. We will try that. So much to do.
Off to the farmers market tomorrow. More melons and purple hulls to sell then we will have a break. We are trying to get more organized so that there are few breaks during the season. We are also trying to extend the farmers market for the winter. Will have to network with other vendors to see the possibilities.
For our CSA we are networking with others to provide artisan bread, jams, maple syrup, goats milk soap, possibly honey along with our produce. herbandplow.com

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Rain. We needed it and now we have had it for the last 3 days, but who is complaining. Forget the market today but tomorrow we go to market with our fresh corn, potatoes,peppers, & green beans. By the end of the week we will have melons. Our CSA brochures and Homestead Dream Maker brochures should go to print this week. We are planting for our extended fall and winter garden: cabbage, melons, tomatoes, broccoli, cauli, eggplant, leeks, peppers and more. Everything will be started in trays- even the huge variety of lettuce. Everything except carrots and kolrahbi Anybody interested in extended gardening must read Elliot Coleman's books. They are excellent. A good seed source is from Johnny's seeds; their quality is excellent and they are generous with info and advise for the seasoned and aspiring gardener. Can't wait to taste those french melons.
Succession planting and hoop tunnels will extend our market garden and pulverize our grocery bill .
My Market Gardening article will be published in the July/August edition of Rural Heritage. More articles are in the making. This is fun.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Seed order from Johnnys seed for this fall accomplished. Garden is doing well. Praying for rain. 60% chance today and tonight. Planted cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, cleery, cukes, tomatoes in trays to transplant for fall garden. We will operate a CSA from September until May.
We will start digging the pond in a few weeks in the smaller creek bed. Great area, shaded, wet will hold water well and be essential for irrigation. Cleaned out the spring now we have to rebuild the walls-great supplemental water.
We have been accepted for the certified naturally grown status. Our farm will have to be inspected then we are official.
Lots to do. Salves to make and CSA and Homestead Dream Makers brochures to distribute. This should be posted on HerbandPlow.com, too.

Sunday, July 4, 2010




We have been doing the farmers markets this week and enjoyed meeting the friendly people. We are also working on our CSA brochure for the fall/winter 2011 season. Also in the make is the brochure for our homesteading projects. We are offering services to build a self sufficient home and prepare individual homesteads for self sufficient living whether it be capturing their spring, designing their gardens or building their house, wood sheds, barns, etc. Included in this post are some pics of our new post and beam and the market garden.

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