Finally, this year’s field-planted all-lettuce mesclun and spinach were ready for harvest, and that’s all I brought in to the farmers’ market, but in decent quantity. Unfortunately, I still underestimated and was sold out by 10:30 (the market runs 7:00am-1pm). It kinda looks good, being sold out, but really, if you’re doing things right at the market, you want to go home with a very little bit left over. That means you’ve brought enough for everyone who comes by, and have enough to display more than the last one or two of each veggie—it’s a pretty tried-and-true rule that selling the last of anything is harder, one of the few rules that seem useful to me. Overall, I don’t give much thought to sales tactics: with really fresh, high quality veggies, clean presentation, and a (genuinely) cheerful, helpful presence, word of mouth should do the rest. But making the food look attractive I think is a pretty basic part of food enjoyment and…celebration, and having enough for an inviting display right till the market ends is part of that. Of course, selling all you can is another part…the farm may be tiny, but there are still things to buy and normal-sized bills to pay! ;)
That looks good though Mike.
I still can’t get my ground tilled, we’re having yet more rain and nearly everyday there are two or three areas on the national news that have been flooded due to localised thunderstorms. There are quite a few close to me but apart from my well and eventual vegetable field, touch wood, I’ve not had a problem – today’s downpour was 10mm in 10 minutes but the rain was over in 15 mins.
Just noticing that you are in the Certified Naturally Grown program. I signed up for it; seems like a more meaningful alternative to organic certification.
Our market got inundated today and I sold out in a little over an hour. It was the first real summer market, and I will plan accordingly from now on (although I’m not sure I have enough produce.) Luckily for me, my last customer bought five bags of greens, cleaning me out all at once and not leaving an orphan bag to go begging!