Last Farmer's Market of the Year

I participated in my last farmer's market weekend for the season. The market continues through August, but I foresee the next few weekends being jam packed with canning spaghetti sauce and salsa, traveling, and preparation for the upcoming semester.

I had lots of tomatoes for sale at the market. I sold heirloom tomatoes by the piece and small bags of mixed cherry tomatoes.

Just like last year, the heirloom tomatoes didn't go over very well with the customer base in my area. Many people have never seen a non-red tomato. I actually heard a women walk by and say in a somewhat snide way "Those are tomatoes? They don't look right." Then again, I also heard people pronouncing the word 'kohlrabi' as 'kohl-rabbi' (yes, like the Jewish word). There was also an amusing women wandering the booths shouting out "Does anyone have pomodoro tomatoes? I want to make marinara sauce and I need pomodoro tomatoes." I couldn't bring myself to explain to her that 'pomodoro'  is Italian for 'tomato' and that she was basically asking for 'tomato tomatoes'. I did however, explain that marinara sauce can be made with any kind of tomato (and of course, she proceeded to buy some tomatoes from the Amish vendors instead of from me).

I continue to secretly hate the Amish vendors...I came home with probably 2/3 of the tomatoes I took with me. However, they are currently living out their legacy in a batch of spaghetti sauce.

There were a few things that went over pretty well that surprised me. I sold most of the beets I took as well as all of the edamame (almost every single customer was curious about them). I also sold every single kohlrabi I took, which was almost shocking. I didn't sell a single bunch of beet greens, sage, or tarragon, the swiss chard did not go over well, nor did the sprouts (which always did well last year). The farmer's market is a fickle thing. I don't understand people's choices (my stuff was just as good as the darn Amish people's and my prices were the same), their inability to do simple math, and their lack of food education, but I knew that from last year. 

Farmer's Markets in the News!

Here's a nice article on farmer's markets in the Lansing area that I found today in Lansing's City Pulse newspaper. I'm briefly quoted towards the end (I was interviewed last weekend at my market). Check out the cover art on the paper! It's awesome! I really wish I could get the "Veg Out" wagon printed on a t-shirt (minus the city pulse logo and other text).

First Farmer's Market Results

I meant to mention something sooner about my first farmer's market of the season last Saturday, but I've been quite busy (my comprehensive exams start in 13 days). The market was very hot and muggy. I'm not sure if that was the cause of the lack of customers, but market traffic seemed very sparse. 

Here are some photos to recap the day:

Multi-directional onion...not sure what's going on here. I took four bunches of green onions and came home with four bunches of green onions. At least my parents were happy when they received a giant bag of green onions the next day.

Salad mix with lettuce, arugula and mizuna. I sold all three bags I took. 

I was surprised that I was the only vendor selling salad mix so far. I guess I must have gotten my lettuce planted earlier than everyone else.

Bouquet of cilantro. I sold most of the bunches of cilantro too.

Here are all the crates of perennials and vegetable seedlings waiting to be loaded into the car. I was disappointed by how few of them I sold, yet I still made slightly more than my average market day last year. I'm planning on donating everything that's left after this coming Saturday's market to a local community garden 

On Tap for the Farmer's Market

Here's the complete list of what I'll be selling at the farmer's market this Saturday. Hopefully the weather will hold out and the customers will come in swarms!

Fresh Produce:

cilantro

chives

green onions

(I wish there were more options in this category, but spring is so far behind this year)

Perennial Flowers:

daylily

golden marguerites

yarrow

sedum

lamium

salvia

chrysanthemum

wild ginger

lamb's ears

bearded iris

Houseplants:

spider plant

cat grass

Vegetable Transplants:

heirloom tomato

cucumber

zucchini

pattypan

melon

Herb Transplants:

cilantro

basil

chives

rosemary 

Farmer's Market Finds

I attended our local Wednesday farmer's market (there are actually quite a few farmer's markets in my area) and came home with a wonderful loaf of rosemary potato bread, a pound of raw honey (which I drizzled on the bread), and the two heirloom tomato seedlings I mentioned yesterday (Creme Brulee, and Chocolate Stripes).

I'm happy that farmer's market season is started up now. Not only will I get to try new things at other markets, but I'll make a little money at my own market stand.

I Can't Believe I Did It Again

I can't believe I bought two more tomato seedlings at the farmer's market yesterday. But how can you resist names like 'Creme Brulee' and 'Chocolate Stripes'? I'm big into black tomatoes, so these will surely add to my collection.

In addition, I received an Orange Sungold from a friend. This will be the one and only hybrid in my garden this year, but I hear it is delicious.

Now my total tomato count is up to at least 115 plants (including 22 varieties). Many of these are for my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, or for the farmer's market (which starts Saturday, by the way). However, that still leaves 56 plants (including 21 varieties) for my personal garden. Good thing I expanded my garden so much this year.

A small portion of last year's haul.

It's gonna be a good summer...

Halfway House

Here's what my deck looks like this time of year, every year.

Lots of seedlings hardening off, free plants from work, stuff for the farmer's market, empty pots, and the all-purpose kitty litter buckets that I seem to accumulate even though I don't have a cat.

And this isn't even all of it! I have more on my picnic table and more in the basement.

I'm only slightly addicted to gardening...

Cat Grass

I thought I'd try growing some cat grass for the farmer's market (which starts two weeks from tomorrow). The seeds cost about $1.50 for a packet, which was enough for four pots. I'll probably sell each pot for $1 to $1.50, so it's a good deal on my end.

I discovered that this stuff grows crazy fast! Germination occurred in a couple days and the plants are of sellable size after only a week and a half. Hopefully there are some folks with hairball infested cats at the farmer's market.

I was recently at a pet food store and they were selling kits for growing cat crass (which cost something ridiculous like $8). The brand was claiming that "cat grass is better than oats!"...except that cat grass is oats dummies.

Farmer's Market Decision Making

With the new year in way, it's time to start planning my 2011 market garden. But before I do that, I need to decide what farmer's market(s) I'm going to sell at this year and decide if I need to scale up or scale down. 2010 was my first season as a market gardener. I learned a lot about planning ahead, harvesting, what customers tend to buy, what they shy away from, and customer habits.

Last year I sold exclusively at one particular market. This market was relatively new (in it's second season) and was in a lower income area.  Due to a combination of poor weather, overall low attendance, and lack of food-educated customers, my first market season was somewhat discouraging. If I continue at this market in 2011, it will be on a limited scale (only a few weekends over the course of the summer).

I've been looking at other options for selling my produce from the Green Zebra Market Garden. My options are:

1) Switch to a different market
2) Alternate between more than one market over the summer
3) Start my own CSA (community supported agriculture)
4) Bail out of the market gardener's game and grow vegetables entirely for my own pleasure

Option #1: Due to my commitments with graduate school, I'm am restricted to farmer's markets that are on Saturdays or Sundays. There are only two markets in my area that fit that schedule (one being the market I did last year). The second market is slightly farther away from me, but may have a larger customer base.

Option #2: I may lose customers loyalty if I'm not at the same market every weekend (not that I had any loyal customers), but maybe a two-market system will help balance out my gains and losses.

Washing mizuna for the farmer's market

Option #3: I would love to do my own CSA, but I'm not sure if my garden is large enough to support a CSA. I could offer only a limited number of shares, but even this might be tough. Growing enough food to fill just one CSA share each week would require me to have 4-6 different crops ready each week throughout the entire summer. I know from experience that some weeks there is plenty to offer, but other weeks there's almost nothing. As an aside, I could include fresh eggs in my farm shares starting in June or July (assuming there aren't any legal issues).

Another advantage of a CSA system is that there are no rainy market days. The worst part about doing a farmer's market is spending all the time and effort harvesting, washing, and packing up produce only to have it rain on market day. Generally sales are down and you end up bringing most of the produce back home with you. What am I supposed to do with 30 heads of unsold lettuce? Donating excess produce to a food pantry is always an option (and I have done this), but doesn't help me support my gardening passion (addiction?).

So much lettuce and no one to buy it...

Option #4: Participating in the farmer's market was a lot of fun last year. I got to do a ton of gardening and had a blast talking with customers about growing food, recipes, and community news. However, planning and running a market garden is stressful. You don't know for sure if crops will fail, if your vegetables will ripen on time, if it's going to thunderstorm on market day, if any customers are going to show up, etc.  I don't depend on the market garden for my personal income, so is it worth the time, effort and stress?

In another example: I love growing heirloom tomatoes. However, the customers at my farmer's market don' like buying them! Many of my customers have never seen a non-red tomato before. The customers in my area tend to buy the usual bright red hybridized beefsteak tomatoes (you know, the ones that look exactly like the ones at Walmart). Anything unusual in color or shape doesn't tend to sell very well. Should I cater to customer preference and stop growing the kinds of plants that I love?

Gardening for personal pleasure is a lot less stressful  because you can grow exactly what you want. Also, if your crop isn't ripe by a specific day, no big deal...you eat it later when it's ready.

There are pros and cons to all four options. Luckily I don't have to decide immediately. Any wisdom or advice out there?

I put in an entire cut flower garden in 2010, but bouquets were a flop at the farmer's market!