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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] market continuity

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: Jay Sleichter <jaysleichter AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] market continuity
  • Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:08:46 -0700 (PDT)

Last year was my first year to do an online "Winter Market" with www.rvp.locallygrown.net.  I would highly recommend it.  We started signing people up for the winter market in August and promised produce until early December. I wanted to play it safe instead of promising the Moon and coming up short. We started in November and Due to the Demand, we did weekly orders until Christmas.  Then we stopped until the first week of January then did every other week until mid April. 

We had 20 families or couples signed up.  We put our quantities online and they ordered what they wanted. We had produce, baked goods, cheeses, meats, and Jams and Jellies. I was doing about $150-$200 a week in sales.  This was good for me.  We didn't get rich, but it did make Christmas a lot nicer!  Also these were sales I would have never had in previous years.

I learned that we need more customers, probably about 40 families would be good.  We had lots of produce that went to waste because we couldn't sell it fast enough.  Also I learned that I need to do smaller plantings, more frequently. 

This year I am growing a lot more storage crops, winter squash and sweet potatoes in particular, to sell during this winter market. 

We also had a one time only market the week before Thanksgiving at my hometown farmers market.  We had pretty good sales, I would like to try to do this again, maybe every two weeks from after Halloween until Christmas.  It  seemed that the demand for produce dropped off greatly after Christmas.

Jay

Jay's Jellies, Produce and More
Clay Center, Kansas
www.jaysjellies.com
http://highfarming.blogspot.com/





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