January 28, 2006 – The Season Begins

Last night it got about as quiet as it gets around here. Sent the kids to bed, went for a short walk in the thick fog (a cloudy, foggy night is very dark in these parts) and then came back and started to order seeds for the coming season.
seed order
We’re excited to try some new varieties, especially since the Grinnell Market seemed to gravitate towards the heirloom type tomatoes. So we got out all the catalogs, a bottle of wine and began. This past year we readied 150 feet for new raspberries, so we ordered 75 feet worth of blackberries, 50 feet of early fall raspberries, and 25 feet of golden fall raspberries.
This is, of course, the best part of the gardening season as weeds, bugs, and hot/cold are absent from the seed catalog photos. This year’s most mouth-watering pictures goes to the Seeds of Change organic seed catalog. As it is near Santa Fe, we checked out if they were open for tours in March when we will visit, but alas, tours are only in the late summer. Some of out other favorite catalogs are St. Lawrence Nursery for northern-hards organic fruit trees, Pinetree Garden Seeds, especially for their small seed packs that lets us try more different varieties without paying more, and Seed Savers Exchange.

3 thoughts on “January 28, 2006 – The Season Begins

  1. Any tips for our first time going ot the farmer’s market? I had a roadside stand in Ithaca, but I know the dynamics will be different in a group setting…do you set your prices when you get to market or before you leave the house, etc. Thanks guys!

  2. Shannon,

    The biggest market advice is to try to price what the produce is worth – not what it costs in the grocery store. Around here, there are a lot of older, retired folks selling at market who don’t need/want to make a profit. It is hard to explain to them that they should not base their prices on the grocery store.

    The products are not similar – store produce has sit in warehouses, trucks, and store shelves for a long time, as compared to your stuff which is hours old. Just ask how much more the “store” produce would cost if it were sent overnight fed-ex! That would be a comparable product (maybe not even then, because grocery produce is selected for shipping toughness, not flavor.

    In Ithaca, I imagine you should have a more sophisticated clientele and maybe the vendors there all realize the worth of their products.

    Our other piece of advice is to have a very nice, clean, plentiful display. It’s hard to sell the last few things of anything – abundance seems to bring on purchases.

    Another thing we do is to price differently for heirloom/non-standard varieties. “Heirloom” tomatoes may be priced 25-50% higher to reflect their rarity and uniqueness. There is something to the notions that if something costs more, it is better. Having a comparison between regular and heirloom tomatoes lets those most interested in price get the “cheap” ones and those interested in a food experience and novelty a choice.

    We also found that the early spring crops required more handling and brought lower prices than the later season fruits/flowers/crops. We didn’t find it worth out time to sell lettuce, radishes etc. in the early season – now if you had high tunnels and could bring crops in before season you’d have something. We don’t have enough level ground to put one up now, but are looking. Good luck!

  3. If you haven’t found them yet, you might want to take a look at fedco. They are a coop that sells seeds, tubers, and trees that are a bit hardier. They can have a limited selection of some things but the prices and quality are great.

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