Market Farming

[Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>]

On Feb 6, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Vern and Amy wrote:

> We have such a hard time ripening tomatoes in our cold mountain  
> valley that I finally agreed this morning with my wife to try  
> selling green tomatoes for pickling and frying early in the season.

I've been selling green tomatoes at market for years; not in large  
quantities, but some of them will sell here. Some people will buy them  
even after the ripe ones are ready.

When I first started going to market, people occasionally asked me,  
"Do you have green tomatoes?" The first couple of times I didn't  
understand the question; it was a late year, and I thought they were  
asking whether I had tomatoes that would be ready for a later market.  
About the third time I was asked the question the light finally went  
on in my head and I said, "Do you mean that you want to buy some?"

Put out recipes with them, so it's clear what you're selling them for  
(there are a couple of varieties that ripen green, and you want to  
make sure people know what they're buying), and also for those people  
who've only heard of "Fried Green Tomatoes" but have no idea how to  
make them; but in my experience many of the people who buy them  
already have their own favorite recipes.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale