Does anyone on the list do mail order,
especially for products such as garlic or flower bulbs?
-----Original Message-----
From: Alliums
[mailto:garlicgrower AT earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003
5:02 PM
To: Market Farming
Subject: [Market-farming] Re: Mesh
storage bags for garlic
Mike wrote:
Where is a good place to get small
mesh bags? I m hoping to find something that comes in a spool of a long
hose/sock that I could cut to appropriate length??
If you find a place, let me know! It's a good idea.
What I need is a creative way to
storing my garlic, and also a means to package them neatly to give a nice
look.
Since I deal primarily with seed stock, I store my garlic on wire racks in an
airy, north-facing room. I *never* let stored garlic heads touch each
other -- that way, if there is a disease, it doesn't spread everywhere.
Most garlic sellers seem to stack the bulbs individually and then put whatever
the customer wants in a plain brown paper bag. I've also seen folks sell
garlic as bunches with the stocks and roots still attached!
At our local market, I put my different varieties in labeled baskets and then
let folks pick their own. Seed stock seems to sell over the Internet or
phone, so I weigh out what folks want at home.
Who knows what onion diseases they
carry and may pass on, besides their not looking nice.
Yeah, I worry about this, too. There's an orange mesh bag that Florida citrus
comes in -- my mom saved them for me and I used it for seed stock since I
figured that citrus fruits and garlic are *not* going to get the same diseases!
;-) I use the onion bags for "culinary" grade -- stuff folks are
going to eat immediately and will never be planted.
The Phoenixville market requires fees for insurance, etc. As I only sell
garlic there (as it's what I'm known for and since I do trials, I've got
*plenty* of it in all shapes, sizes and flavors), I team up with another
non-profit organization I have ties with and sell under their tent (although
last year, I ended up under someone else's tent because we were talking and
they had more room. I suspect this year with the new market manager, I better
stay with the folks who paid the fees! ;-)). We're very careful to price
our stuff as the folks who actually need to make a profit so that customers
understand what is needed to produce quality organic produce.
The Phoenixville market has an orchard grower who doesn't arrive at the market
until his trees are producing, so if you become a "speciality"
grower, I don't think anyone would expect you to show up until your crop is in
season.
BTW, if anyone is looking for garlic, especially seed stock, e-mail me off-list
and I'll send you my varieties/price list. My USDA trial report won't be
done until the end of September, but if folks want a copy, just let me know
off-list.
Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community
Garden
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street,
Phoenixville, PA 19460
