Selling What You Grow

For the locally-focused, sustainably-minded agrarian, life isn’t as simple as making a product and putting it on the market. Green beans on ebay?…hmm. As you grow from backyard project to a more fulltime endeavor, you find that your operation is too small to fit into major wholesale distribution systems but too big to simply eat it all yourself (no more zucchini PLEASE!). So what are you going to do? For some folks, a roadside stand works well, but that can be part of the great game of “location, location, location.” Our farm’s property isn’t visible from the nearest corner, tucked back on a little gravel road many mistake for a fire lane.

Our first attempts at a garden on the farm beyond Grandma’s raspberry and squash patches began the summer on 1999. By 2001, the efforts had grown beyond our personal consumption abilities. It was time to branch out into something new—selling what we grew in the garden. Back in Madison (which was our last stop in a series of moves before settling down on the farm), farmer’s markets were vivacious, colorful, and sprawling affairs. Up in the Northwoods, however, the idea was still catching on.

Cable had started its first market the summer of 2000, and we joined in on the second season. With our trusty, white minivan and one modest table, I was an eager 15-year-old, ready to please. 14 seasons later, my 90-year-old beekeeping mentor Mr. Rowe (who has the stand adjacent to ours) and I are the longest-running members of the market. The one little table has grown to a veritable production—several tables, gelato in a freezer in the back of the car, fresh bakery items, produce, pantry goods, meats, cheeses, eggs, and fiber arts. It takes two cars to bring everything to the market, so Kelli (our first intern and great farm groupy) and I get an early start on Saturday mornings for this weekly summer ritual. By closing time, we’re well worn out, with all the tear-down, pack-it-up, and put-it-away when we get home still ahead of us.

Anyone who’s vended at farmer’s markets can tell you it’s a lot of work—on your toes, think fast, keep smiling, education-focused work. You and your stand have to represent your whole farm, its ethics, the quality of the food you produce, and your farm’s unique story. Slowly, through the years, you build up a cohort of dedicated folks who come back every year to see you (or send their friends to “the stand with the girl with the pretty teeth”). And, every week, there’s likewise a slew of people who don’t know you from a bale of hay.

But as our farm continued to grow, one market a week was not enough to utilize all the food. Often, produce cannot keep well for a week before sale, so what to do on the other days? We tried attending a Wednesday market in Spooner, and then as part of my Senior Girl Scout Gold Award Project (think Eagle Scouts), I started the Hayward Area Farmer’s Market in 2003, which was originally located at the Sawyer Co. Fairgrounds. Far from a “come on down and set-up” affair, there is an incredible amount of paperwork, coordination, consent, and planning to pull off a farmer’s market.

At the time, all the farmers who were interested in joining the Hayward initiative were already vending (like us) at other markets on Saturdays and Wednesdays. So I contacted the Hayward Area Chamber of Commerce to enquire about area traffic and learned that Mondays (of all days) was the busiest weekday in town for shoppers because of resort and hotel turnover schedules. Well, ok, let’s hold the market on Mondays then and see how it goes. That offered a fairly nice distribution of sales points between Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday markets (Saturday being the sales crescendo).

But as time passed, our farming operation continued to grow and change. Farmwork became more diverse and demanding, we were branching into our own CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture with weekly food shares), and immersing in college academics. Being away three times a week for farmer’s market just wasn’t working for us anymore. And out of those college experiences and maturation of our farm’s scope and goals came the building of Farmstead Creamery & Café—our on-farm retail and food preparation space that works to build community around local foods all week right on the family farm. Now, instead of me having to project “where your food came from” at a constant array of farmer’s market during a short and hectic summer season, any time of the year folks can come to the farm and soak in that environment, the commitment to stewardship, and the delicious and healthful benefits of local foods.

This year, the farmer’s market in Hayward is trying out a new location to have better visibility and parking access for customers, and we were approached about whether or not our farm would be interested in rejoining the initiative. Some folks wanted to pick up CSA shares there, and we did give the idea serious consideration. I’m sharing my response to the committee here, which helps to illustrate the choices farmers have to make when building a comprehensive plan for selling what they grow.

Hi farmer’s market team!

Thanks for your note. Sorry it’s taken us a while to get back to you. We’ve had over 40 lambs already, baby chicks, gardens, interns, and more and have just really been running ragged and on no sleep, but I hope you are enjoying today’s sunshine and sense of spring!

In our CSA program, we work very hard to be as accommodating and flexible as possible for folks. Most programs offer one pickup day, while we maintain two, as well as the flexibility to choose your date, pickup location (four options) and style of share, as well as working with folks who have food allergies. So we really are trying to do our best to meet the needs of as many people who would like to be in our CSA program as possible.

It is, however, good to know that CSA shares aren’t a full “free choice” option like shopping at a market. In a CSA program, you’re giving your commitment in advance to the farmer and trusting that they will make good and tasty choices in their weekly selection—having fun with the surprise package and being flexible in meal planning. This method doesn’t always work for everyone, so that’s why we offer “custom orders”—working on-on-one with clients who wish to pick up whatever it is they desire at a CSA drop off point. It gets to be a lot of record keeping on our end to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible, but we keep perfecting the system.

We have been crunching the numbers as to whether we could accommodate a second farmer’s market in our schedule this summer. Unfortunately, with our current market obligations, the new Pizza Farm Nights schedule on Thursdays and Saturdays all summer, growing Farmstead Creamery as well as running a full-time farm operation, taking on a farmer’s market on a Monday just isn’t going to work for us this year.

Mondays are our only day off at the Creamery, which means it’s our “barn mucking, chicken plucking, hay baling day”—when all hands are on deck for the big projects. Having one or two people off the farm, while it is a sales opportunity, jeopardizes the viability of the farming operation, which is the heart of what we do. Our first year at Farmstead Creamery, we were open every day and just took off occasional days for these big projects, tracking sales and numbers of folks coming in. Mondays were consistently slower than any other day, throughout the season. We therefore felt that this would be the best day to close, since we would theoretically disappoint the least number of people coming to Farmstead. Mondays are by no means a “day off” on the farm, but we do need a day just to focus on keeping the farm running, the garden tended, and the animals healthy and well maintained.

I’m sorry if this is disappointing for you and the farmer’s market initiative. We wish you all very well with your endeavors to revitalize the project, and we hope that you have a great summer! We will still be bringing shares into Hayward on Wednesdays, we’ll be at the Cable farmer’s market on Saturdays, and of course there is pickup at Farmstead. Thank you for inviting us to participate in the Hayward farmer’s market this summer, but there gets to be a point where being stretched too thin is neither healthy nor appropriate, and we have to make priorities. That isn’t to say that things may chance in the future, but that’s where we’re at for this summer.

Again, thanks for thinking of us and supporting local.
Laura Berlage
North Star Homestead Farms

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Whatever your unique situation may be, if you’re interested in selling what you grow, start small, try different things, and find out what works for you: what type of environment you enjoy working in (market, CSA pickup, farm store, wholesale), who your best clients are (full-time residents, part-time folks, rural, city, schools), where your sales point needs to be to best meet your needs (on farm, off farm, through co-ops of farmers, through distributors). Stay true to what you do, who you are, why you are doing this. Stay transparent, invite folks to come and see your operation, and tell your story. As more people become enlightened eaters, they’ll want to have better ownership and knowledge of where their food comes from.

For many, like on our farm, there’s a juggling of many hats to make it all work. But in the end, when you’re doing what you love, the biggest rewards is not selling the head of lettuce so you can pay the electric bill—it’s knowing that your lettuce is nourishing folks who care and that you were able to connect them with an eating experience that works to chip away at the industrial food onslaught. I know where my food comes from, do you? See you down on the farm sometime.