For example the woman here sells the heck out of hen and chicken plants. Perennial flower starts sell good and also cheap and easy to produce and so do what I might call specialty plants. Along with those I sell quite a lot of tree seedlings which I start from seed and basically for free. I also do fairly well with spring transplants, tomatoes, cabbage and so on. Here for example sweet corn, for all the effort it takes to grow and transport it and the fact it spoils in a day or two sells for maybe $4.00 a dozen where I can sell dry ornamental corn at $5.00 for three ears or $20.00 a dozen. These also have the advantage of not quickly spoiling and the corn at least can even be sold on line and mailed. The two big ones are ornamental corn and ornamental gourds or pumpkins. These alas have the advantage of appealing to a wider customer base. Actually when I produced eggs I had a group of customers already lined up so didn't have to mess with marketing.Īlso from observing the local markets I found that the most profitable crops are not necessarily food, or at least not primarily food, but instead decorations. You can take them home and try again another day. And they both, the honey more so that eggs do not absolutely have to sell immediately. Two exceptions to the non-profitability of fresh food that has to be transported and can be produced on small scale are eggs and honey. The one market I know of that banned that and enforced it was reduced to crafts like candles and baskets. I know of a number of market "sellers" who attend large auctions of such produce and then put it out on tables at a local market. I've visited lots of markets and found it quite common to see large boxes and crates, hidden behind the tables often with product of Mexico on the side. A few days later it's unsaleable at any price. Your pour you heart and sole into growing it and when it is ready to sell, it's ready to sell. One of the biggest issues with growing and transporting to a market is that produce is a perishable product, extremely so in fact. Also when I say small scale I mean as compared to industrialized operations, those I am familiar with are still much larger than my gardens. From what I've seen the successful small scale producers are those that have a location where the customers come to them. You are asking some of the same questions and struggling with some of the same issues that I've had over the years. I appreciate any advice, feedback, critique, etc.! Is an electric fence worth the cost? Do the stinky critter repellants from the feed store actually work? Bunnies get into both, although the fences were more to keep the dogs out, who like to dig and steal my plants. I have about 1,025 square feet of garden fenced in with 2'-tall 1/2" hardware cloth, and the other one is 4'-tall 2x4 welded wire fencing. My other big hurdle is fencing and critter control. I break ground with a broadfork, and use a hoe when needed. Right now I have no specialized tools, either. Plus it's fall, and I wanted to try growing a fall crop while I'm sorting out spring/summer.ĭo any market gardeners here have words of wisdom or warning as I embark on this? How many hours per day do you put into it? Should I start with just mushrooms and one or two other crops in my existing space and expand once I've actually generated some income? Or has anyone gone for broke, set up an full-scale operation in one season, and had success? For me that would look like a real greenhouse/potting shed, a prep/storage area, and removing sod on around 1/4 acre, plus soil amendments. I also keep reading that oyster and shiitake mushrooms, salad greens, and microgreens sell really well. I was considering peppers and zucchini as well. The organizer recommended silver queen corn, rattlesnake beans, okra, tomatoes, yellow squash, and purple hull peas as crowd favorites and said that strawberries, carrots, turnips, fennel, lima beans, English peas, and butterbeans would also be welcome. There's a local nonprofit market that's pretty cheap to sell at. The rest is mostly grass, and I have a 10x16 shed in the front (it's not wired). My chicken run is 624 square feet with a 64-square-foot hoop coop. I have about 1/2 acre fenced, but so far only about 1,650 square feet of that is semi-prepped and ready to be planted. I've thought about it, I've got a slew of half-read books, but I haven't ever put a plan together and executed it. So a series of unfortunate events is propelling me out of my lackadaisical approach to playing in the dirt and into seriously pursuing market gardening.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |