I've missed more days this year than any other year. I've found that your regular customers will come up and ask what happened. This year has been SO hot, I missed week before last. Plus the sales had been really down. After missing that week, last week's sales were 4x what they were on the week before the missing week.

Jay, Is your Wednesday market an afternoon one?? That would be so nice. Our market here is Fri and Sat mornings. Because of school, I can never make the Friday one--and, of course, it's the better day. I'm like Marla; I have missed more markets than ever before--lack of produce and poor sales. I can also thank my Local Harvest customers and my restaurant for pretty much buying me out by week's end. Also, the gardens around here are so bad, the regular vendors are pretty much just selling baked/canned goods and orchard fruits. My pumpkins, winter squash, and melons are starting to come in now, but the melon market is pretty well saturated and people are tired of them. People want tomatoes and green beans, but there just are none. I have great cherry tomatoes, but they just don't sell well here. Last market, I only sold two pints of them.

Brook

Yes Brooke, My Wednesday market is in the afternoon/evening. It runs from 4-7 pm. School is out at 3:15, it is a 30 minute drive and I have customers usually waiting. I get to plan my schedule and I put my planning time during the last 15 minutes of the day, so I have asked if I can leave at 3:00 on Wednesdays only, my principal doesn't have a problem with that.

The hard part is I load up everything, pack coolers and am ready to go to market at 6:30 AM. I have to load before school. We have some really nice shaded all day parking spots that I park in.

Melons did really well for everyone here too, not me. I have been blessed with a plague of beetles and squash bugs this year. Once they polished off the squash, they went for the pumpkins and winter squash, picked up the melons and I don't know where they are heading next. I spray, smash, and they still keep coming!

Cherry tomatoes have been great for me this year. I planted twice as many as last year and have sold just about every pint I picked. Big tomatoes are ok, but slowing down. I still have 3 plantings of green beans to pick, probably 1-2 weeks before I start picking again and they should last me up to the first frost.

It has been strange this year, I am selling my stuff for a little less, producing less, however my bottom line is way ahead. Hmmm, doesn't always add up, but I am happy! I am not bringing anything home!

Jay

At the auction, last week, a bushel of green beans went for $50/bu. Plus for me, they weren't what I'd pick. Very skinny, but someone really wanted them.

We're still selling tomatoes, from our friends, and have started selling the winter squash. Corn and zucchini are not selling now, too much earlier in the season.

One of the 3 market days, is an afternoon market. It's good to be able to pick and pack the same day. Bad thing is that IF there is bad weather to come in for that day, it's usually in the afternoon (during market time). Rain, high winds or super hot. Of course, the market is on a black pavement parking lot which makes things even hotter.
The other 2 markets you need to be there before 7 am, so for me that's getting up at 5 am. I always pack the day before because my brain is not working at that time.

I usually miss 2 or 3 markets annually. 1 because of a huge 4 day "yard Sale" (it is really much more as I rent space to vendors and this year 20K people stopped), 1 because of a party i have not missed in 27 years and generally there will be one more i miss for a variety of reasons. it is looking like this year we may shut down for the season sometime this month if we don't get some rain. Generally we have lots of produce through January but it is too dry (even with drip irrigation) to get much fall stuff started

WOW 20K people for a 'yard sale', that must be a huge one, how large of an area do you use? I can't picture a 'yard', but more of a field.

We use around a 1/2 acre for 15 vendors and parking

Your 'yard sale' sounds like another source for income for us. We have the space, of course we would need lots of advertising, but it is a thought.

It also helps to have US 127 running in front of your farm and the fact that for the past 25+ years the 127 Yard sale "The World's Longest Yard Sale" has been happening and has international acclaim and thus probably a million people a year participate (buy and sell) along the 650+ miles it runs

How sad is this? my daughter got married at 2:30 pm instead of the 12:30 that would have worked better with the church because we didn't have to miss the market that way....

All of our grandkids' birthday parties are scheduled around our market. But 4 out of 5 were born during the market season, 3 of them on a market day. Of course, for the birthday parties, we bring the 'extras' from the market for desserts or treats.

Congrats on your daughter's wedding.

Too funny, I had to put of my wife's birthday and our anniversary last year. They both fell on Fridays. Friday is prep day for Saturday. We also have to plan mini-vacations around market days. Usually leave on Saturday afternoon and back on Monday. It makes it a long day on Saturday.

Does anyone get a feeling that we don't really have a life except marketing? I know I do, at least during market season.

I get that feeling all the time. Sometimes I feel like the mailman, "Nor rain, or snow, or mud or bugs or wind, or tiredness" stops the vendor from the Farmers Market!

As much as I enjoy the fast action and rush of selling, there are some days I am too tired to enjoy it.

I am hoping to move more towards direct sales on my locallygrown.net site. This means less markets, not all bad.

Jay

How is this. Labor day weekend we go on a float trip with about 100 other local folks. so we sell at the market on Saturday then go home reload for the trip then drive down to the campground and get their at 8:00 Saturday night float on sunday and come home on Monday. It makes for a very tiring weekend. I just love the sence of community I get from the trip so their is no skipping it

Jay
Let us know how the online sales work out for you. This spring I was invited to add my produce to an online farmers market. I really liked the idea. The sales were a bit slow at first but just as they started to pick up for me the manager of the online store decided to discontinue the service. I was really disappointed. I did not get a ton of sales through it but it was something that I was hoping would grow. I think the reason why it did not work out was because of the way it was set up.

I think it will work out really good. I am planting away and am trying to have as much produce available as I can. I also am trying to have as much variety as I can too! I was part of one last year with another grower. I decided to go my own way and start one up for me. I am limiting my customers to 20 this first year. I have already signed up 5. I think it will take some time. My first delivery will be September 29th. It might not be much, but it will grow from then. I hope to be able to sell produce up to and after Thanksgiving.

Jay