June 22, 2003
Market was up
Yesterday was a good day at market. I sold every single vegetable I brought with me, and I could have sold twice as much if I had it. And I had even raised my prices a little.
The vegetable grower immediately to my left also sold out of all his produce, and he is a real pro who had brought 4 times as much stuff as I had. It is just as Pete Johnson (the farmer I worked for last year) said -- marketing doesn't seem to be the problem when you have fresh, local, good tasting, attractive, harvested that day, organic vegetables. The real problem is managing production and delivery in some sort of cost effective manner. I wasn't sure I believed him at the time, but so far he seems to be right. Of course, yesterday was a beautiful day up here, and there is a lot of early season demand, so the market was busy. But so far so good. Now I just need to figure out how to grow more vegetables earlier next year.
Posted by peter at June 22, 2003 05:21 AM
I'm glad you had a good day yesterday!!
I see what you mean about managing production and delivery. I think of farming as being all about plowing the fields, and getting enough rain, and pulling the weeds. The end of the line seems like something that just happens: you show up and they buy. But, like you and Pete say, it has to be figured out.
One of the things I enjoy immensely in starting new stuff is the "figuring out" part. Reading a book, talking to people, trying to apply common sense, "trial and error" is fun.
And doing things a little differently, not being a pioneer, but applying a little innovation, is even more fun.
Or at least, it's fun when things work out right. And when it works out, I get enormous satisfaction because, at the early stages, most of it has been mine.
At the same time, when things don't work out, I know it's all mine too!
P.S. While you were having sun yesterday, 140,000 inches of rain fell in New York! I saw Noah going up the Hudson.
Posted by: mike, pgg's dad at June 22, 2003 07:04 AM