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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: jay sleichter <jaysleichter AT yahoo.com>
- To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: [Market-farming] Holding produce for Market
- Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:20:50 -0700 (PDT)
Hello, I have a strange question that I am in the need of some help. All summer long, I pick my produce, store in cool basement and fridges or I pick just hours before the market. However, I am starting school next week and I will be unable to go home and load prior to the market. I am going to have to load my stuff at 6:30 in the morning and get to school park in the the heaviest shaded area, teach all day, leave at 3:00 and get to my market by 3:45 and sell by 4:00. I don't have tons of stuff like I did this summer, but I can still make a little money and sell what produce I have and all the jellies that I make. My question is this what will be the best way to store this stuff in my truck during the day. Yesterday was my first time trying this. I was in a hometown for meetings and we had an hour lunch break, so I ran home and loaded up for the market. Here is what I did and the results. Tomatoes I put in my tubs with lids, stacked in truck and covered with heavy blanket. Result: No problem, everything was still cool and looked great. Cucumbers: Put in plastic bags, Took out of fridge, put in big coolers with frozen two liter bottles. Result: Everything was fine, except for the cucumbers that touched the bottle, they froze and had a bad spot. I put a small towel down first, but the bottles moved, I can fix that. Beans: They were picked Tuesday night, bagged up in one pound bags and put in fridge. Out of the fridge and into coolers, same as the cucumbers. Result: Some rust spots and they didn't look good. As the market was going, I was dumping out bags and going through them to get out any beans with rust spots. Should I keep them all together in one big bag or in one pound bags? I thought they were all dry before I put them in the fridge, but I guess I was wrong. Was my problems because of the individual bags, wet beans or something else? I ended up not selling them all and brought them home. I was disappointed. But, I did go through them all and we processed them. There weren't as many bad ones as it looked like before. Peppers: Bagged, in the fridge and put into coolers. Result: They were fine. Okra: Bagged, in the fridge and put into coolers Result: They were fine. Now for things I am going to have later this fall. Beets, Radishes, Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Cauliflower I will pull and wash off the beets and radishes on Tuesday night. I will bundle and sit in tubs with some cold water in the bottom. Will this work if I change the water the next morning before I load them up? This is usually what I do when I am selling the same day I pick, it is usually only 2-3 hours, not 20-24 hours. Lettuce and spinach: I plan on picking the night before, wash and dry, then bag. I am also planning on putting into pound or 1/2 pound bags. Will this work? or will I have problems? Once again, I usually only pick a few hours before I sell these, not 20-24 hours. What will be the best way to store these all day long? Broccoli and Cauliflower I am not worried about. These guys are pretty tough and I am not sure how much I will have. Any suggestions on the best way to do this? Thanks, Jay |
- [Market-farming] Holding produce for Market, jay sleichter, 08/13/2009
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