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It is the time of year when I feel like I can breathe a big sigh of relief. There is still plenty to do and I don’t feel like there will be any less going on in our family life or our farm life, but it does feel like we can at least check one thing off the list … Outdoor Farmers’ Market Season is done! I wanted to take a little bit of time today sharing some of my thoughts on this past market season, which was our best by far, and what some of the good things and the bad things were. There are always things that I would like to do better and while I feel confident in the workflow of making transactions with customers I do wish I had a more visually appealing display to draw in potential customers. I also spend some time talking about the importance of having diverse products at the market in order to reach as many customers as possible, and of course how thankful I am for all of our farm friends that support us week and and week out during the market season!
I also spend a little bit of time talking about an interesting quote that I stumbled across from Joel Salatin this past week which interestingly enough fits perfectly into a discussion about farmers’ markets. The basic takeaway from Mr. Salatin’s comments was that you would be better off spending time marketing in other places than spending your Saturdays tied up at a market. While I will say that not all markets are created equal and I do think we have the best market out there for farmers and for customers I will also concede that I don’t completely disagree with what he says. If you would like to listen to the whole interview and specifically his thoughts on marketing check out the links in the list below. In fact I greatly recommend you listen to that episode … especially if you are a young or beginning farmer!
Links mentioned in this episode …
- Crooked Gap Farm Hoop House Project
- Crooked Gap Farm Class :: “How Do They Do That?”
- Permaculture Voices Podcast Episode 015 Show Notes
- Show Transcription of Joel Salatin’s Interview
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We gave up farmers markets a few years ago, except for one we participate in just 3 or 4 times each summer. The majority of our sales are though our farm store here just a couple hundred feet from the house. What we have given up in privacy, there is always someone here it seems, we got back in sales volume. So much more than we ever made at the FM. For some the markets are best but for us…Not enough to make up for all the time in setting up and tearing down for the sale of just one pack of pork chops some days.
I also always wanted to be a farmer from my childhood. Your blog is very helpful and thank you for creating “Beginning Farmer”.