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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Selling Lettuce

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  • From: lucy Owsley <boulderbelt AT voyager.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Selling Lettuce
  • Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:13:47 -0400

early on I put 1/2 pound of lettuce in a 5-a-day produce bag with a label that says what kind of lettuce it is. each bag sells for $3. When the heads ate small I will put 2 or 3 heads in each bag. As the heads get bigger then i put one head per bag and they bags are usually 3/4 to 1 pound but still sell for $3 each. i grow cracoviensis, among other heirlooms, which can get too big to bag (I had several heads that got bigger than 3 pounds last year, my first year growing this type) and I so i did not sell them and let the rest of the huge heads bolt so I could harvest seed for this year. This year I have decided to do my best to harvest all head lettuce before it gets over 3/4 pound.

I also do baby lettuce and spring mix which is cut small, washed, spun dry (as is the head lettuce), refrigerated for a couple of hours than bagged. Spring mix is 6 oz and the baby lettuce 1/2 pound.

At market everything is stored in coolers with blue ice packs with towels between the ice-packs and the greens. generally nothing gets frosty this way. I put out no more than 4 bags on the table at any given time to keep things as fresh as possible.

I choose to put things in plastic because they stay fresher much, much longer than heads exposed to air/wind/heat/sun. I will put any unsold lettuce in the fridge and sell it the next day at my farm store. When it gets more than 3 to 4 days old it gets composted. if you do not have goof refrigeration this will not work as the greens have to stay at 42F or lower.

The lettuce guy at the Oxford farmers market (OH) sells his lettuce out of coolers that have melty ice. The melty ice is messy but there is enough water to keep the heads from getting freezer burn. He has a cooler for each type of lettuce he is selling that week. he sets them on the ground next to his truck and opens the lids and people reach in and get what they want. He sells for $1.50 per head and I would say the heads are rarely more than 1/3 pound. He sells a lot of lettuce




On Apr 29, 2008, at 9:41 AM, Richard Stewart wrote:

I am curious how some of you sell your lettuce both how you package  
it and how you weigh/measure it.


Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
Eaton, OH







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