Market Farming

[Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>]

Tara,

First, I've never found anything on the web listing organic produce prices.  
What I do is
check out store and farmers' market prices each week.  I also check the big 
produce
houses for their wholesale prices. (They print a new list each week.  If 
you're bashful
about asking them, ask a restaurant for theirs from last week.)  The key is 
to check
prices each week because they change.  Also, keep track of this and you'll 
see the major
trends very season.

Second, see my post on onion seeds earlier today.  Garlic is in the same 
family.  The
flower heads are usually cut off while still young to cause larger bulb 
growth.  I cut
them off while they're still tender and sell them and replant cloves from the 
largest
bulbs.  (See earlier posts on garlic.)  You can let the plants go to seed 
(really small
bulbs) but it takes 2 years for them to mature and the parent bulbs will be 
smaller.

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm

Tara Stiefel wrote:

> I am new to the list and have hundreds of questions.  My husband and I are
> currently helping a fledgling CSA get started in Walla Walla, WA.
>
> First of all, we mostly have questions concerning PRICES for our organic
> produce that we sell at the Farmer's Market and to restaurants.  I would
> really appreciate any links or subscriptions or ideas anyone knows about how
> to get current market prices for organic produce.
>
> Secondly, we have some garlic that has flowered and we were wondering if it
> was worth letting it go to seed and using the seed next year???