If you have ever thought about selling home grown fruits, vegetables, or herbs or home made items like jams, canned goods, and baked goods at your local farmer’s market, it is time to decide whether this will be the year. Although the air is still chilly and there is still plenty of snow on the ground, farmer’s market vendors and organizers are beginning to get things in order for the upcoming market season. The markets here in Vermont do not open until mid – May, but there is much to do between now and then.
The first thing that you can do is gather information about what markets are in your local area. There may be a variety to choose from at different times and on different days of the week. Some may have limitations on what products are sold there. Some may require that you pay up front for your booth for the entire season by a specific date and others may have a weekly fee. Gather as much information as you can, and get right to work on the next item of business – deciding what you will sell.
Deciding what to sell can be both fun and mind boggling at the same time. You want to sell something that you enjoy producing, whether that means growing vegetables and herbs, making delicious jams and jellies, or (my favorite) baking things that have people running back to your table for more. Of course, just because you like to make it does not mean that people will buy it, especially if it includes ingredients that appeal only to a select group of people or ingredients that are expensive and raise your prices. It is also better to offer a few things that will sell very well than to try and offer something for everyone and sell only a little of each.
Once you know what you will sell, look at your market information and choose which markets you will participate in. You can create a schedule where you produce on certain days and sell on others, or any sort of schedule that fits your needs. If there are multiple markets, you can be as busy as you would like to be.
I love selling baked goods at farmers’ markets and this time of year makes me think about whether and when I might be able to do it again. When I sold baked goods a couple of summers ago, I did two markets each week. I baked the night before each market while my son was asleep, and I took him to the markets with me. He was only about six months old, and was rather easy to care for – all I needed was a baby sling, a blanket, and a few toys. Now he is almost two and a half, and he will have a baby brother in about a month. Needless to say, if I do go back to the markets, it will not be for a few years when my children are a little older.
Photo by acrylicartist on morguefile.com.