Market Farming

["wiediger" <wiediger AT msn.com>]

One of the venders showed up with peppers at the market Saturday, if you can
believe that.  Greenhouse he say's.  O'Well????

 

We just got back from the Farmers' Market a couple of hours ago and are resting in the cool house and catching up on email before we get back to work in the 90's outside.  At our market today, we had ripe tomatoes and bell peppers from our hoophouses.  We have had peppers for sale since June 9, had over 100 lbs of tomatoes last Saturday, cucumbers and squash since the second Saturday on May, and cut flowers since the first Sat in May, all from our coldframes.  We have been doing this for 7 springs now, and have customers who rather impatiently wait for those first good tomatoes.  The only drawback is that our market allows pinhookers, and we have to explain, a LOT, that our tomatoes are REAL TOMATOES.  We are in zone 6 and have tomatoes about 4 weeks ahead of field tomatoes.  I would think you could be in advance of your season by that margin wherever you are, and when you capture that early market with a great product, you are likely to keep those customers all summer, AND year after year!

 

Paul and Alison Wiediger
Au Naturel Farm
http://aunaturelfarm.homestead.com