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  • From: Home Grown Kansas! <hgkansas AT sbcglobal.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bagged Salad Mix
  • Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 07:08:00 -0700 (PDT)

Lettuce is processed every day at our place - except weekends.  Thursday we processed about 60 lbs. of cut lettuce mix, 15 lbs. of mesclun, 20 lbs. of spinach and about the same of arugula.  We use sinks made from a plastic 55 gallon barrel cut in half length wise.  There are leaves, seeds from elm trees and at this time of the year caterpillars that have to be removed from the lettuce.  The caterpillars drop to the bottom of the sinks and the leaves float to the top.  The greens are rinsed in one sink, moved to clean water in the next sink to be rinsed again and then spun.  Packaged in vented bags - 8oz. for retail sale and 1 lb. to 3 lb. bags for restaurants.  Moved into a cold shed to cool down.   
 
We do not get the high price indicated by someone else.  Restaurants can purchase a cut lettuce mix for approximately $2.60/lb from a warehouse.  We feel lucky to sell them fresh local lettuce mix for $4.00/lb.  The 8 oz. bags sell for $2.50 retail at the farmers markets that we attend.  Micro greens sell for a much better price with a lot less processing. 
 
We feel grateful to have these products to sell this time of year - increased cash flow is always appreciated after the winter months.  All it takes is one hail storm to bring it to a halt.  Last year during one storm we received hail for 20 minutes straight - it was like a food processor had just gone through the garden - had just put out 200 tomato plants the day before.  Last night we had storms - Tornado destroyed the whole town of Greensburg, Kansas and we are in line for more of the same tonight.  Welcome to the Land of Oz.
 
Good luck to all this season.
 
Home Grown Kansas! LLC
Lz and Pat
Wichita, Kansas     

Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:
I do it the same way, but I only do 5-10 pounds a week. I have a mix of
red and green leaf lettuce; this year I'm growing all heirloom varieties.
I also do a Spring Mix with kale, lettuce, Mizuna, and whatever else I
have...it's very popular. I don't have a spinner (or didn't...I found one
over the winter); I rinse it and put it in a bin with drainage in the
fridge for a couple hours. It's about the right moisture content when I
bag it; it stays fresh and slime-free for many days.

I can't get the price you do around here. I charge $2 for a 1/2 pound bag
(I guess I should raise my price!).

Lynn Wigglesworth
Peasant Farmer
Tioga County, PA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wiediger, Alison"
To: "Jan Leitschuh" ; "Market Farming"

Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bagged Salad Mix


> We (and that really means Paul mostly) cut mesclun with scissors into a
> plastic bin. The bin goes into the cooler until harvesting is finished.
> We use a plastic garbage can -- kept exclusively for washing produce -
> to hold wash water. Paul loads the salad spinner basket, dunks it
> several times into the water, agitating as he dunks. Allows to drain a
> few seconds, puts into the spinner, spins water out. Then empties clean
> mix into a larger plastic bin. From there, one of us fills the bags.
> We use a 1 gallon plastic food storage bag we get at Dollar General -
> $1.00 for a box of 40 - and put 1/2 pound in them. We fold over the top
> (no zippers, no ties) and put the bags in a produce box to go back into
> the cooler. For Farmers Market, we move them from the box into a
> camping cooler with ice (with cardboard separating the ice from the
> mesclun) before we leave for the Market.
>
> The salad spinner makes a huge difference. We do 20+ pounds on many
> weeks, not a huge amount, but way too much to spin in net bags around
> our (Paul's) head. We sell it for $4.50 per 1/2 pound, $8.00 per pound
> and rarely have enough to supply demand.
>
> Alison Wiediger, Au Naturel Farm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jan
> Leitschuh
> Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 3:03 PM
> To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [Market-farming] Bagged Salad Mix
>
>
>
> How do you all do your bagged salad mix?
> This spring I tried a little, and it sold well.
> However, I eneded up grumpy and overworked, and even though the price
> was higher than banded heads, it didn't seem like enough return for the
> labor. I know there must be a better processing system.
> Can anyone share their method - how do you cut, clean, what bags do you
> use, general pricing for your area - or steer me to some online
> resource?
> Thanks in advance.
> Cottage Garden Farm
> NC
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