Farmer's Market

Last week was our first time as vendors at the local farmer's market.  I was not sure how much to take so I didn't over do it, but in the end I could have sold lots more.  I sold spinach, radishes, kohlrabi and cherries as well as fresh eggs and the beautiful garden art my husband handcrafts. 

Within an hour or so we were out of eggs and not long after we were sold out of produce.  I was a little surprised the garden art didn't sell better, but that's okay.  I was pleasantly surprised that the produce did sell so well! 

The hardest part was pricing everything.  I didn't want to be too low so that I sold everything quickly but didn't make any profit on it and I didn't want to be so high nothing would sell.  After our first market we have decided that the price on the eggs was too low but the veggies, I think, were just about right.  I was so excited to go and very glad we did, finally!  This is something I have thought about for a couple years now and finally just made the commitment.  Our market is on Thursday afternoons, which works great for me with a funky work schedule.  

We are debating applying for a market license for meat products, which is required in our state, but will wait until we have a few more markets under our belt.  Next week we will return if we have enough produce, which we should.  We have started picking zucchini and the tomatoes may start  by then and possibly the cabbages could be ready.  Oh and green beans and sugar snap peas should be ready.  Next time I will also try to take dried egg noodles (great grandma's recipe) and maybe some bakery goods (everyone loves cupcakes!).  This is such an exciting next step for us and our hobby farm.  It's also a great place to meet more people who also farm on both large and small scale.

I would call it a success and I look forward to more markets.  We do have more to learn and it is a decent amount of work to get everything ready, packaged and hauled there, set up and to be there for 3 hours selling.  It is quite a time commitment, but well worth the rewards if I can keep up enough produce to continue!

Garden Season Approaching

Garden season is fast approaching us and we have started to get the garden area ready for it.  My husband has done the first tilling of both garden areas and will do it again just before I plant.  This makes the soil nice and loose for easy planting.  He also threw some "fertilizer" on from the chicken house that he tilled in with the first tilling.  Many old timers will advise that chicken droppings are the best!

With plans to attend farmer's markets this year, I have added some new crops to our garden plan.  These include spinach, beets, head lettuce, eggplant and kohlrabi.  These will add to our already large variety of produce including veggies, herbs, cherries, plums and peaches.  I have also thought about planting garlic and cilantro.  I will be mapping out the gardens this week to give me a better idea of what will be planted where and how much we can fit.  We have enough room to add another garden if needed.  I would be planting by next weekend, but since we have 3 dance recitals in those 2 days it will not happen until the following week.  I probably could have gotten it in this week, but with the unpredictable weather we have had I decided it was better to wait.  I get pretty nervous about planting anything before May 1 at least.  

I also am going to do at least some of our garden plant shopping at the local nursery instead of the big name stores.  They often have varieties available that the big names simply don't have.  This would include some of the heirloom tomatoes and spinach varieties to name a couple.  They are a little pricier, but not enough to make the difference to me.

Every year I get so excited at garden planting time.  It is so much fun planning it out, shopping and getting all of them planted.  I always feel a great sense of accomplishment and then the work and wait begins for harvest time.  That is always my favorite!  There is nothing better than the first tomatoes and zucchini.  

As always have a wonderful day!

English River Farms -Our New Adventure!!

Ever since purchasing our piece of heaven on earth, we have been brainstorming ways that we could possibly make a living with our farm or at least the farm could sustain itself.  It is very difficult to revamp a farm, acquire animals and feed them all if you are on a limited budget.  We finally have built our animal herd into something potentially profitable.  Time to start thinking seriously!

We do all we can to save money such as:

1.  Raise grass-fed livestock (except the animals the kids show in 4H) -This allows us to only have to buy feed (hay) in the winter.  Since we don't crop-farm it would never be profitable to feed our livestock grain as it is expensive to purchase.

2. We do 99.9% of the work ourselves.  From fencing to chores to cutting trees and maintaining everything  --WE do it!

3.  We have mostly been able to grow our herd by retaining the young --except last year we did buy quite a few Boer does for our goat herd.  We only did this after deciding our budget could afford it since goats don't cost an arm and a leg.

Recently, we have been thinking more intensely on the profit side of things and how could we possibly make a decent profit.  That is the point in keeping livestock in the first place! (Also, I love them all)  We are truly blessed to have our 40 acres and maybe someday will be able to sustain our living from it.

We have started the process of obtaining a meat sales license from our state which will allow us to sell frozen meat from our home after being processed and inspected at a licensed facility.  This may sound a little sad, but that is in fact what livestock is intended for. (I just keep telling myself that when it's time to refill the freezer.)

The meat we will be selling is goat, beef and possibly lamb.  The animals are grass-fed.  This takes longer, but the meat is tender, flavorful and leaner than grain-fed meat.  We don't use antibiotics but we do vaccinate.  

I am very excited to get this adventure started and start to market our farm, English River Farms.  I have started planning our marketing strategies, also.  I will be putting up a website featuring our herd, our farm and life on the farm.  We will also sell produce this summer at a local farmer's market.  This is also very exciting as we always have extra produce from our huge garden and will be planting some extras this year for this purpose. 

It's always exciting to begin a new adventure and while it is not exactly "new", it will be different.  I do have high hopes for our adventure.  It will take hard work, but that is something we would never shy away from. 

This farm really is our little piece of heaven on earth!