2016 Farmer's Market

[joseph]

I currently have onion seedlings ready for sale.

I'll bring them to the farmer's market with me starting in May. You can get them sooner than that by visiting me at the greenhouse. They can be planted any time from now till about the first of June. They are my landrace variety, so they have been selected to grow wonderfully in this area. I have spent a lot of effort in selecting for onions that store for a long time on the shelf in a warm/dry room.



Click on the "Notify" icon in this thread if you would like to be notified of new additions to this thread.

[joseph]

Tomatoes that I expect to have ready for opening day of the farmer's market on May 7th...

They consist of 3 sets of plants to be sold as six packs of mixed varieties. There  is one duplicate between the sets, so getting all three will give you 17 different varieties of tomatoes! I have trialed hundreds of varieties of tomatoes over the past 7 growing seasons. These represent the best that I have found for growing in my Cache Valley garden without fertilizers, compost, or -cides. They are mostly smallish tomatoes, so that they can actually have a chance to ripen in spite of the cold-climate and short-season. I tasted every fruit before saving seeds from it. No cardboard tomatoes here!

--- Earliest Red Tomatoes ---
Fern-leaved: A determinate slicer. My earliest slicer.
Brad: A potato leaved indeterminate saladette. Typically my earliest tomato.
Jagodka: A very early saladette. My most productive tomato.
DXX-M: An early determinate from a cross between Jagodka and DX52-12.
Matina: An early determinate saladette.
Early Slicers: From my landrace.

--- Yellow/Orange Tomatoes ---
HX-9: A determinate with early extra large bicolor red/yellow fruits.
Sun4: An indeterminate orange slicer.
Large Yellow: Big determinate with large yellow fruits.
WildX Orange: An indeterminate orange cherry tomato
HX7B: An indeterminate medium sized yellow tomato.
Yellow Pear: Indeterminate. Very productive.

--- Mixed Sampler ---
HX-13: Highly productive smallish red slicer.
Wild X5: The tastiest tomato in my garden last year. Saladette.
Landrace: Could be anything from around 200 varieties...
HX-3: Large yellow/red bi-color determinate.
Brad: Typically my earliest tomato. Red saladette. indeterminate. The only duplicated variety between the 3 sets.
Sun2: An orange cherry tomato

I expect to have some larger plants available as well of the earliest varieties...

Here's what the earliest batch looked like last night.

[joseph]

The tomatoes for the farmer's market are coming along nicely.

[joseph]

I've been making packets of seeds to sell at the farmer's market.

Pricing will be $1 per packet, with "Buy 5, Get 2 Free".

Available varieties are listed on my seed list.

I'm also expecting to bring seeds from my breeding projects, and unlisted varieties of tomatoes.

[keen101]

You've mentioned the mixed tomato plants are a top seller at your farmers market. Curious to know what other things are highly sought after by the people in your area and what things your hoping to produce if you dont currently do or better if you already do. I guess tomatoes would fall under that category.

A quick google search for top sellers in general seem to be Potted plants, eggs, homemade soap, jams, honey, herbs, etc. Perhaps homemade zucini bread would be a hit for your customers. (and i have a soap recipie from a 1950's banned chemistry book if your interested. Lavender or other herbally soaps would probably go down well).

[joseph]

Berries sell very well at my market. They are fiddly to pick, so it's hard to grow very many of them. I could grow a lot more than I do. Four years ago, after my landlady died, I let the strawberry patch go to weeds. I'm still farming it though. So time to plant another strawberry patch. Berries are highly perishable.

Shelling peas sell very well. Again, fiddly to pick, and the season is very short.

I could sell a lot more cherry tomatoes, if I had the patience to pick them.

There isn't much of a market for medicinal herbs, but I make a point of taking some with me every week.

Potted basil plants sell well. I think that I didn't grow enough this year, but I grew 4 flats of basil, so that's a start.

I can't sell watermelon fruits, cause I don't know how to determine if they are ripe. Muskmelons sell very well. The fragrance practically sells the melons without any help from me.

I don't sell any "added-value" products, because I don't want to deal with the horrendous government bureaucracy surrounding them.

I currently have about 56 flats of vegetable plants growing in the greenhouse. Some for me, most for market.

[joseph]

The farmer's market opens for the season on May 7th, at the historic courthouse in Logan Utah, 2nd North and Main. Hours are from 9 AM to 1 PM.

I'm bringing potted plants: Tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet basil, Thai basil, onions, mint, and some medicinals.

I'm bringing seeds: Tomatoes, cucumbers, muskmelon, zucchini, crookneck, wheat, old-fashioned sweet corn, flour corn, squash, Swiss chard, breadseeds, tobacco, mullein, etc.

We are expecting to bring honey, garlic scallions, onion scallions, and asparagus. 

There will also be dried beans, and dried flour corn for eating.

[joseph]

Honey in pint jars.

Potted plants: early varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, toothache plant, sweet potato, basil.

Herbs: Cilantro, parsley, thyme, spearmint, oregano, sage. Time to make poultry seasoning!

Vegetables: Asparagus, leaf lettuce. Perhaps onions and/or rhubarb, depending on how ambitious we feel in the morning.

[joseph]

Long time, no post. Sorry about that.

This week daddy is bringing honey, and garlic. He usually brings a bouquet of flowers as a table decoration. Offer him about $5 for it and he's likely to let you take it home with you.

I'm bringing the first pint basket of tomatoes: almost full...

Bringing lots of fava beans. I really like them sautéed in butter, or added to a stir-fry. The pod is fibrous, so they should be shelled first like shelling peas. Some people like to shell the individual beans, but I like eating the skin. To me, it's part of the charm of fava beans.

Also bringing culinary and medicinal herbs:

Yarrow
Parsley
Spearmint
Oregano
Sage
Thyme

Sorry that I forgot to harvest Mullein. If you are into wild-crafting, you might check to see if it's starting to flower. That's a perfect time to pick it.

I'm bringing a few potted plants: Toothache plant, spearmint, thyme. And the last older potted grape vine. It's Interlaken, a green seedless that does very well here. I'm expecting to bring more varieties of grape vines next week, or the week after, depending on how they grow between now and then. I'll bring Egyptian Onions if I remember to throw them on the truck in the morning.

I thinned the carrots and beets, so I'm bringing a few small ones. The beets are beautiful colors. The greens are very luscious right now.

[joseph]

For the farmer's market on August 20th, I am expecting to bring:

Honey
Ambrosia, sugary enhanced sweet corn
Garlic
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Apricots
Crookneck
Zucchini
Sage
Thyme
Spearmint
Tobacco

There will probably be other things....

As always, we don't apply poisons to the garden. We eat this stuff too, and one of the rules that I live by is "Nurture yourself with vibrantly healthy food".

Here's what last week's market table looked like:

[joseph]

We took the following to the farmer's market on 2016-08-27:

Honey,
Tomatoes,
Cucumbers,
Crookneck,
Zucchini,
Tobacco,
Apricots,
Yellow Mustard Seed Spice,
Tomatillos,
Onions,
Garlic,
Broccoli,
Cabbage,
Sweet Corn,
Dry Beans, (the earliest of the early harvest)

We expect to have about the same sorts of things next week. I'm working today on getting the breadseed poppies ready. I think that I'll get one more harvest from the juicy apricots.

Also for the market on September 3rd, I'm expecting to have crates of sweet corn for freezing. Price will be $10 per crate. It was the best seller last week.

[joseph]

The truck is loaded and ready to go to market first thing in the morning.

It contains:

Honey,
Red Curie winter squash,
An orange pumpkin,
cucumbers,
tomatoes, including some really tasty yellow/red bi-colored ones,
the last of the yellow plums. They are very sweet this week. Purple plums will be ready next week,
tomatillos,
sweet corn,
raspberries,
And perhaps a few things I forgot to mention.

No tobacco this week.
Dry beans may be ready to harvest next week. I just started picking the earliest of the early.

With frost expected any day now, I expect that I'll start bringing winter squash next week.

 

[joseph]

We're heading into the farmer's market in a few minutes.

We are bringing honey like always.

The truck is filled to capacity with butternut and maxima winter squash. Pricing is $10 per crate for storage squash, or $1 to $4 for smaller squash. Maybe up to $10 for some of the 60 pound maximas. There was a second crop of buttercups. I am thrilled because they are my favorite tasting and best selling squash. There are also a few birdhouse gourds and mixta squash.

I'm bringing Glenora black seedless grapes. They are my favorite tasting variety. I'm also bringing rooted cuttings.

Also bringing:

tomatoes
dry beans
sunflower seeds
apples
plums
storage onions
raspberries
yellow mustard spice
and other things

[joseph]

October 22nd will be the last farmer's market for the season.

We'll bring honey as always. Stock up now to save a trip out to Paradise during the winter.

I've been picking lots and lots of apples, and will make them available by the half-bushel for a great price: $10 per half-bushel.

I've also dug carrots: Huge carrots great for soups and cakes.

There is a little bit of winter squash left, and lots of decorative gourds, and some pumpkins. I'm bringing pumpkins with hull-less seeds. Carve a jack-o-lantern, and save the seeds. There are no annoying shells to remove before eating the seeds. I'm bringing some already dried pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and yellow mustard spice.

I'm expecting to pick some sage.

There are a few tomatoes left.

I'm expecting to bring turnips with greens.

Thanks for a great season!