Heather reporting.
On Saturday the 27th we brought our first round of product to market.
Only one gardener was ready at this time to harvest and sell.
Gardener Katherine has five children and is doing all she can to be able to farm full-time. She picks up shifts at food city to make ends meet, but everything DIY is her passion–growing food, canning, sewing, and even making quivers, bows, and arrows.
Kat only brought a small amount of lettuce mix, spinach, rhubarb, asparagus, and onions to market, but everything sold out. This is a good sign as I think any crops people bring, we will be able to move.
We want gardeners to be part of the selling experience, so if gardeners do not want to staff the farmer’s market booth we will take a 20% commission for the program. If gardeners come to market, they keep everything.
Before market, I reviewed with my co-workers on harvest and post-harvest methods, and visited Kat’s farm. We went over proper harvesting, washing, packing, and storing.
I’ve already learned more about prices at market, and will create a sheet of the specific prices our market will bear, as well as the standard packing of various crops–some things are by pound, some sold in bunches, etc.
Kat interplants onions wherever she can. Beets will be seeded into the other box.
Here are some pictures I took while visiting her place. Total, counting all the tilled-up land and raised beds, she will be cultivating a little under 2 acres. She is happy to be a part of our project, as any extra plants and support we can give her strengthens her chances of success. She’s been gardening her whole life, and has been on this property for seven years. She says “Every year it gets a little bit better”.
She is a force to be reckoned with!
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