One clarification about farm names and branding: Like I say in the video, the farm name should still be there, it still has a lot of utility. We have business cards out, it's on our farm sign and on our boxes. We have a handprinted farm sign in the front of our booth with our farm name. Overall, our name is on our booth in five or six places, but my larger point is that your values/practices should be the main focal point. That's what will get customers in and coming back. Anyway, you all rock. Thanks!
My wife swears up and down by certified Organics, but I honestly believe its a financial obstacle and additional source of regulation on your livelihood that you never asked for. You can still produce food ethically and sell it. Its about earning customer trust and confidence. Statistics show that very few people will buy Organics if the consistency isn't there. On top of Organics produced outside of the US have absolutely no credibility and ways to be checked other than a inspection periodically at the request of the distributor. I only know this because I worked for Jewel Osco as a teen, and been to their fresh food centers. A pristine maintained product from Florida will outsell organics from anywhere else anyday of the week for example. My store won best produce dept 5 years in a row.
I'm always impressed by your willingness to showcase other farmers/businesses. I wish the world, as a whole, took that approach. Less me, me, me, more us, us, us.
Yeah.... two years later and I'm going to comment. I sold at the market for years. Life got too busy and had to stop. I'm retiring after next year and can't wait to be a part of it again! Love the, "Stand at all costs!" comment. If you ain't a people person, then you better have the best display and product EVER! I REALLY appreciate him being the sales person. I've seen businesses trust sales (no offense intended here) to a young person who gets an hourly wage no matter if they don't sell a thing. I've seen them on their phones.... A LOT!!!! To me, you better have the best salesperson EVER, who knows everything about the business out front OR you've gotta be the face of the farm. So many of my sales started with a conversation that led to shared friend, a planting question, a "How do I grow these?" question. What do I fertilize with? And end up with a sale. Good luck everyone!
I really like your rapport, style, speech, and jokes. You seem like an honest, personable, and well spoken person. I’ll never have a market stand but thanks for another awesome video.
I'm nowhere near anything that you're doing but, I have to say, I am obsessed with your mindset of maximizing results of everything you do regardless of how big or small and it keeps me watching every single video of yours.
Love love love your content! Been running retail, wholesale, and Market for years and your advice is spot on! Heres my thoughts on a few things 1st on pricing. If 10% of your customers aren’t complaining about price, you are priced too low. 2. You mentioned misters but didn’t show one. Using a hand help small garden pump mister/sprayer is how we keep veggies crisp during the heat. It works very well, but only if you remember to bring it AND water 🙄 3. Not always possible, but Try to negotiate to rent booth space with your back to the south! Then use a attractive cloth clipped to the back to keep you in the shade 😎 4. Just reiterating what you said about “always standing and always greeting (even if they don’t make eye contact 😂)”. This piece of advice is HUGE and it’s astounding how farmers or booth workers will fail to do this. I watch sellers looking at thier phone or talking to vendors next to them while customers walk by. And I’ve seen customers walk by and totally ignore my “good morning” only to walk back a few minutes later and shop at my booth. Sometimes there’s a delayed affect but your energy is always noticed. 5. The art of the upsell, which is simply “good morning” at the beginning, and “would you like any lettuce or onions, etc, with that?” at the end of the sale will bring your sales up by 20% on the day. Again, amazing connect. LOVE what you do. And yeah, how DO you find time to make these videos?! 🥕👩🌾🥦💨💰
Yes! #4- I will pass on booths is the people are staring at their phone... for years before I started doing farmers markets myself. If you see me coming & you can't look up from your phone long enough to say hi, you must not need my business 🤷♀️
We are planning our own farm stand out by the road that is cash only and completely self serve. After watching your video I am convinced that is the way to go for us. We are older (way older), very well organized and have faith in the local community and our location. Should be interesting to say the least.
@@timothyfullen8614 You would not believe the horror story. It is one for the history books. I have been a grower for 45 years and never heard of such a series of events. We lost everything to pestilence, late spring hard freeze, inability to lower soil pH, winds so strong that completely destroyed our two week old greenhouse, beetle larvae by the thousands in the soil, flash flood, then drought after we put in 5400 gallon rainwater collection system... I am sure I am leaving something out.
16:10 "Never undercut the competition" I'm in a completely different industry, and I learned this the hard way. There's a reason the market price is what it is. Trying to mess with it, is only going to ruin your profitability.
@@Sly-Moose"undercut" means offering lower prices. The problem is: if you cut prices by 10% you cut 30% of your profit margin. If instead you charge full prices, and work 30% less, you would have the same income, plus a lot more free time.
@@moden321 Ah. So why did the guy say not to undercut your neighbours? Is it because selling cheaper produce is rude or something? I know nothing about this stuff.
@@Sly-Moose If everyone else is selling their product at one price, but you set up and sell it at an obviously lower price, then you're undercutting everyone else. It's not the worst thing in the world if your price on tomatoes is a couple of nickels less than average, but if everyone else is charging $5 and you're charging $3, that's obvious undercutting. In the short term, that's not specifically a bad thing if you're intentionally trying to establish yourself as the cheapest game in town and don't mind being a bit cutthroat about it. But a farmer's market isn't typically a hyper-competitive environment, so while you may sell all your tomatoes, you're doing so at the cost of friendly relations with your peers. In the long term, you'll likely end up hurting your own business as well, since everyone else will have to lower their own prices to remain competitive with you, which will result in the customer base spreading back out across many vendors, leaving you with less customers that are now buying a product you've driven the price down on, resulting in less money for both you and your peers.
Just ordered your book! We are homesteading on 3/4 of an acre in Queensland, Australia. You’re a wealth of information and have been instrumental in our progression towards becoming more self sufficient. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. 🌱✌🏼🇦🇺
Lettuce and other greens, we bag , fold over the top and use a lable to close the bag, this allows air flow with out getting wilted, we use a brother lable maker and off brand lable rolls way cheaper than ink and won't smear when wet. Customers see the farm name and it helps them remember what farm it can from. BTW ..in your video you showed Sunhouse Farm booth .. They are right across from us at our Saturday farmers market in Greensboro NC...small world.
I do not certify organic because I use non-organic throw-away veggies from the local food store to feed my worm compost. I would rather my customers trust me instead of the government when it comes to quality. I'm happy to share my growing techniques. I probably spend at least 1/4th of my time talking about gardening to people who are putting in gardens. I have a lot of brassicas, most of which are "weeds" or volunteers in my garden and things like purslane to sell that give me a chance to introduce new tastes and crops to the locale. That's also when I might introduce the name of my farm, " Mustard Seed" and talk about how all the brassicas came from that humble beginning and the faith and persistence that people needed to produce them.
The paperwork sucks. No disagreement there--I threaten to stop being certified every year when I have to fill out the application again haha. The benefit is that a lot of people say "beyond organic" or something like that. The regulation tells the person that the farmer isn't lying. But it's not for everyone. I'll do a video at some point about everything I DISLIKE about organic certification.
@@calisingh7978 1. Healthy soil...2. Diatomacious earth 3.houses for swallows. I sometimes get a few aphids in my Brussels sprouts. That's about it. I live in the north where there are fewer bugs.
I’m grateful you are still making these videos. Good call to drop the podcast hosting and, as always, make us some super rad videos. You’re the best!! I’m glad you have lots of good folks in those other roles now, so thank you! I love your book. I’m on my second read through. 🙏🏽😍
Certified Naturally Grown is an absolutely fantastic alternative to organic certification. CNG also provides (free) FAQ explaining the farming practices for customers.
One thing I like to do is wait until about 10 min before the market starts to put my more temperature sensitive items out ( head lettuce, micros, bagged salads etc). if you put them out half an hour early that, half an hour more of maintaining things that a little patience can get you. Great stuff as always!
This is very helpful! I did farmers markets in the 00's for my tea business, and am prepping my first market garden for next year so figuring out pricing plans is a big help. I needed this.
Wieghts that hang from the corners work better and hold down in wind best i find sandbags to be teipping hazards. Be really cool if you had farmers send in their photos of setups . Also i carry a 1 gallong sprayer thats filled with ice when it gets hot i spray everything to keep it fresh looking
I assume you mean Organic-ish haha, but I think the subtitle is requisite there as "ish" denotes "almost" or "kinda" and that could be read negatively. Like "we don't spray chemicals... ish".
I ran a retail produce business forty years ago so a couple of stand tricks: Use wedge panels on the table tops rather than just two levels, use 'modesty skirts' on the customer side of the tables for better looks and no table hardware/boxes/knees, manage produce colors for best layouts, white paint where you can. I liked your comment about the farmer's focus is the sales side, constant 'fluffing' the produce quality displayed, and reducing table space as inventory drops. Perhaps those roll-up reed shades can cut sun glare late in the day without being as obtrusive as rigid ground mount panels, but make sure to get the white ones and maintain clean appearance of them.
Whats a wedge panel? Whats a modesty skirt? White paint for what in particular? I'm interested in your comment but have no idea what you're talking about.
Normal market man... I think that sparkl in the eyes always shows. Thanks for another great video. I bought the book which is awesome. Though expensive to have it sent here in Greece. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Jesse, another great video. Having great produce that you believe in and know to be the best you can offer is the best feeling and your confidence reflects that to the highest degree..
Re the “something red helps”. Maybe someone’s already mentioned it but the red / green partnership is well documented and often seen in practice. The colour red, placed next to green, makes the green look greener, also the colour green, placed next to red, makes the red look more red. I’m not sure about how things are in your part of the world but, here in the UK, it’s why butchers generally place parsley (or often plastic parsley 😬) around the meat trays in the meat counter - the green makes the meat look more red and ergo fresher looking. Green receives the same benefit.
New subscriber from the mountains of NE Nevada. Your channel is totally deserving of one gazillion subscribers. I hope you get there! Im definitely sharing your videos on fb. Love the campy humor and puns. You do that so well 😂
A video regarding the financial side of being a market gardener would be appreciated. How do you do taxes, insurance, etc? All those things that if you worked a 9 to 5, your company would do for you.
The farmers market near me shops at the same place the grocery stores do. The guy tried to convince me that they grew the romaine lettuce in central FL in August.
Excellent content. I’m starting to sell at markets and I would love to see more content dedicated to being successful at the market. Thanks for your time in making these videos!!
Great tips! One thought about brand name and signage, during and since Covid, many of my local farmers are doing pre-orders and some offer farm pick-up. Also, some farms only participate seasonally so I'm always checking the market website or the farms' websites before Saturday to make sure my favorite farmers will be there. It does help me remember the farm name when I see it on their overhead sign.
Great video, as usual! I see you're selling compost, soon you will look like a pro golfer (walking billboard). Very good idea! You are a showman- great for in-person sales. That is an important factor for market sales, that doesn't come with even the most expensive tent. One thing that may be useful for customers is a heaping area for their purchases, so they have their hands free for more picking. l do not have a market friendly personality, on either side of the game. Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and insight. I plan to take my large backyard garden aka "boutique" farm to market for the first time at the end of this month. Your videos have been so encouraging and your shared experience really helps take so much guesswork off the table. Much love and gratitude. 🙏
The number 1 strategy at farmers marketing is to build a loyal base so you don’t have to go to the farmers market. I did it for 5 years, big markets, very prestigious high income areas full of status eaters. Where the food is grown is always going to be a demographic where the high end is Walmart people, and the rest are Dollar General people. I was scouting a local grocery store the other day, and while reflecting on getting our eggs in there for the same $5.99 organic free range offering they had, a woman opened the cooler to grab some store brand eggs that were $3.99, then noticed the price, then recoiled and expressed she “won’t be buying at that price.” I ran in to her later as she was putting pop tarts in her cart. She didn’t look too healthy waddling around that store. We built a business with people who come to us, and it’s a 200 mile round trip for them. They coordinate with each other and fill their SUV’s up, and often times do a $150-$250 VRBO stay.
Reminds me of when my sister-in-law made a big thing about our "expensive" organic peanut butter, saying she wouldn't be able to afford to feed her husband if she bought products like that, but then a few days later they were out at a corporate steak house. Well, I wouldn't be able to afford organic peanut butter if I went to steak houses. Lol
For the red produce draws the eye of the customer. That's colour theory right there. Just look at YT thumbnails and fast food places. So having contrasting/complimenting colours next to the red produce helps, like green or yellow.
Organic is good. I get that your customers understand what I means, however it's tricky and expensive. Also I've heard some stories about how how some of these folks that check your farm pit have never left the office. They don't know what they are looking at. I'm hoping Naturaly grown becomes known, bc it seems more achieveable for smaller farms. I also like that it's more community oriented.
Been kinda binge watching your videos for the last few days and subscribed as well. Definitely interesting and worth while content. I'm not sure if I could keep up with the kind of growing a farm like yours produces. I really want to market garden and my area needs a truly organic farmstead. There's virtually none in my immediate area. Unfortunately the locals are not at all health conscious which would be a challenge. The kinda people who shop at dollar stores for everything they survive on. Though there is a decent handful of home gardeners around here. We do grow a substantial amount of our own foods but obviously could do much better. Especially in the light of today's commercial foods it's imperative to avoid store bought stuff like the plague. Though I want to expand to market gardening we do have an edible and useful plants nursery. That's our claim to fame at the moment. More geared toward exotic edibles for the permaculture and food forest crowd. We now are trying the nursery thing out as a full time venture. I've been doing it for a decade on the side and working part time elsewhere. Now it's all us finally as I was feeling the urge to go for it after the small town family construction business I worked for got swallowed by the cold corporate conglomerate that moved in over night. My boss sold the place without saying a thing to anyone and one day the new owners just showed up and started changing everything. Completely blind sided. However it forced my hand to go for it so that's a blessing nonetheless. Anyways great videos and look forward to seeing some more!
Did a market for years and it all came down to a few things .. the CUSTOMERS and MARKET MANAGEMENT. Too markets in the same area and a market with 'farmers' that don't farm .. kills a market in a heartbeat.
Hi, I absolutely love your channel. I too am in KY, Berea, and recently retired. I am in the process of setting up my garden and would like to hopefully turn it into a business (after feeding my family). Can you suggest what to grow and sells best for spring, summer and fall. Also have you tried growing potatoes in raised beds? If so, can you suggest what size is best: ?x?x?. Do you have any experience with setting up a roadside stand?
I work night shift so I rarely get to the market but my roommates go a lot. I do live in an area where there’s a lotta road stands farms or eggs and such, if it’s not manned I’ve noticed a lot of contradicting signage, keep it simple. Dang rack o carrots says for sail, 5 dollars a bunch, and on the other side it says don’t take, order pick up only? Idk but I do want me some eggs and carrots 😂
Two questions, first how do I know at a farmers market that the produce has been grown in nutritionally rich soil? And secondly why are organic vegetables more expensive when they are grown without the use of chemicals which seems like it would be cheaper to grow.
You can’t really tell by looking at it but there is a very good chance a market will have better quality then the supermarket. Organic is more expensive because you spend more on labour and crop loss and get lower yield
@@joncourey1095 The grocery I worked at and shopped had in the produce section a picture of a farm with tan soil that looked lifeless. A lot of people wouldn't question that and say it was a good farm. I practice no-till and leave the soil covered all year. I'm building soil, and when I dig to plant I see lots of worms, which I take as a good thing.
It takes several years to build up soil to be sustainable and highly productive. Input becomes less except for labor. It also takes faith to do so. I watched as Christian farmers in the 70's made the transition trusting in God and their neighbors to get through some very lean years.
I second what @JonCourey said here. Flavor is one indicator. It usually does look healthier, but that can be fudged a bit. One thing is certain is that "organic" does not automatically denote healthy soil. For that you may have to ask some more questions, maybe "What do you do to maintain soil health?" If they get real geeky on you, that's a good sign. Maybe others can suggest some good questions.
@@notillgrowers if you want to get obsessive, you could use a brix meter to measure the sugar content of the food for comparison. Better “taste”/“higher sugar” probably more nutrition
I've never seen setups at the markets I've been to that look as nice as the ones pictured in the video. The sparse selection just laid out on a white table always leads me to avoiding that booth!
Use the square reader that you can set on the table. If its the one that connects directly to your phone physically its clunky AND you won’t receive the payments from Apple Pay and google pay. And the customer can run the card themselves
Do you only go to your local Farmer's Market or do you travel the hour to Louisville/Lexington? What kind of travel time is the limit for you, and how many markets a week is the limit for you? I've got markets around me up to an hour away in towns/cities at various sizes and days and considering just how many it may be worth attending (even to the point of hiring market attendants to cover them). The largest I'm tempted to go for is Springfield, MO at an hour away, because Kansas City and St. Louis at 3 hours away each seems like too far.
How much time and money do you spend on the process, as a farmer, to prove you are certified organic? I ask because I have had people who do the certifications for organic labeling say that they don't really believe in the label. They point to the fact there are ways around the rules and that the time/cost isn't worth it. They typically say that the best way to know what you are getting is to know your farmer. What say you, the farmer?
Thank you so much for all your content on this channel. I've learned a ton! I do a weekly market and would love to use boxes to stack my produce higher. The market is ALWAYS windy, being so close to Lake Superior. How do you keep them weighted down? Bags of greens aren't going to do it.
Hey Jesse Big respect to your grind at the markets! I design and build landscaping and hardscaping projects working long hours , thinking about starting a side gig for produce sales not sure if I got what it takes , looks like you really got to be on your A game ! Keep rocking Bk from PA
You can do it!! I run a super small landscape company with my husband in Arkansas. Market gardens were always the dream and now we've been doing farmers markets for 3 years now...slowly adding on. This year we're throwing caution to the wind and are going all in. I mean we still have our other gigs but now we'll be full time farmers and part time everything else. Trust me...itll never be the "right" time. Just roll with it!!! ❤
Also, you want to make sure you have enough supply to keep customers happy up to the end of the market. Selling out early may seem great but soon you get a reputation for this and people will shop elsewhere. Another point is to go to farmers markets that are worth your while. You grow all year and if there a few customers, it isn't worth it.
Cool, love my fellow Kentuckians. Just know that, as I say in the video, I'm deadly serious at market and busy as all get out. But don't hesitate to say hi.
We have been putting a cooler on the table with a big sign saying lettuce and customers just open it up and pull their lettuce out. We're also farming in SC where it gets brutally hot and market days are often 95-100 humid degrees.
I wish someone would discuss, from the planning stage, how near your farm needs to be to a population center and tge demographics/economic profile of the community. Like, a farm in a county 300 miles from a town with a population over 1100 people, is that viable?
This may be a dumb question but Im new to selling at Farmers Markets. Do you actually sell the pulp 1/2 pint containers with the produce or do you bag the produce up and keep the containers for future use? This will help me on how many I should buy in bulk. Thanks in advance
Personally, we use thin produce bags to line all of our containers, then fill. When purchased, just roll up the bag and hand it to the customer. Quick and easy. If a pulp container gets wet or stained, we toss it.
Not a food grower but a micro urban flower farmer. I agree that the most important thing is not your brand but the quality of the product. I am not certified organic - really hard to do in Canada as it takes 6yrs to "organify the soil" - so I say "organically grown".
Saturday is a roughly 8 hour day and Sunday is roughly 6 (though I go early to enjoy a bagel on Sundays, so not sure if I count the full 6). That puts my full week (peak season) at about 45-53 hours. Give or take.
Can you say Organic grown crops even though I'm not certified yet? Or is that something that could get me in trouble? If anyone is wondering. Yes 100 percent organic grown. No fudging here lol
So, I have a question for you, I am part of a garden club, we have a booth at our local Saturday market. We sell eggs, from several different members of the club, I have pushed to have the eggs kept in the cooler until customers come and ask for them, but a lot of the older club members insist on displaying the eggs and replacing them on the table as soon as they a sold, I have seen and talked to other vendors at my market and other markets in my area, and pretty much all go with my method of operation. So basically, I what I am asking what your or anyone else opinion might be on the issue? Also, part I must admit that part of my opinion is base upon wanting to be fair with all members selling eggs at the market, because some of the old timers play favorites and sell their eggs or someone, they are close to eggs before newer or less vocal club members. I know this is a little long winded, but I can say selling at a club sponsored booth can to a degree be a micro version of the sort of politics that one could have to deal with in the market in general.
The issue of whether to cool eggs is determined by whether they are washed. Unwashed eggs can be at ambient temp . But once you wash them, the bloom has been removed, exposing the shell to bacteria, thus needing to be chilled. Being that you are selling from different people that would be hard to detect. When we display a carton on the table, we have an ice pack under it, which keeps it plenty cold. Put pack in a zip lock to avoid carton getting wet.
I really appreciate that you take the farming and markets seriously. Please don’t become a RUclips farmer. I realize the allure (read “money”) is strong. But RUclips viewers can totally sniff out the fakes-usually clickbait tiles are a good telltale.
I can't promise no clickbait titles haha but I can promise that I would drop the RUclips thing in a second if I had to chose between the two. The money we make on this channel just goes back into our content creation pot.
The tent that I was required to have for an open air market had to have a fire rating specifications that it met. Other key things was that that reading had to be printed on the label of the tent that was verifiable by the fire department as well as have inground anchors or minimum 10 pound weights per leg. Let us…lettuce know 😂
One clarification about farm names and branding: Like I say in the video, the farm name should still be there, it still has a lot of utility. We have business cards out, it's on our farm sign and on our boxes. We have a handprinted farm sign in the front of our booth with our farm name. Overall, our name is on our booth in five or six places, but my larger point is that your values/practices should be the main focal point. That's what will get customers in and coming back. Anyway, you all rock. Thanks!
My wife swears up and down by certified Organics, but I honestly believe its a financial obstacle and additional source of regulation on your livelihood that you never asked for. You can still produce food ethically and sell it. Its about earning customer trust and confidence. Statistics show that very few people will buy Organics if the consistency isn't there. On top of Organics produced outside of the US have absolutely no credibility and ways to be checked other than a inspection periodically at the request of the distributor. I only know this because I worked for Jewel Osco as a teen, and been to their fresh food centers. A pristine maintained product from Florida will outsell organics from anywhere else anyday of the week for example. My store won best produce dept 5 years in a row.
I'm always impressed by your willingness to showcase other farmers/businesses. I wish the world, as a whole, took that approach. Less me, me, me, more us, us, us.
I love this I participated in my first market yesterday 1 for $4, or 3 for 10 and sold out in 1 hour ty for all the help.
Nice! Congrats!
What were you selling?
Were you selling pumpkins?! 😂
Yeah.... two years later and I'm going to comment. I sold at the market for years. Life got too busy and had to stop. I'm retiring after next year and can't wait to be a part of it again! Love the, "Stand at all costs!" comment. If you ain't a people person, then you better have the best display and product EVER! I REALLY appreciate him being the sales person. I've seen businesses trust sales (no offense intended here) to a young person who gets an hourly wage no matter if they don't sell a thing. I've seen them on their phones.... A LOT!!!! To me, you better have the best salesperson EVER, who knows everything about the business out front OR you've gotta be the face of the farm. So many of my sales started with a conversation that led to shared friend, a planting question, a "How do I grow these?" question. What do I fertilize with? And end up with a sale. Good luck everyone!
I really like your rapport, style, speech, and jokes. You seem like an honest, personable, and well spoken person. I’ll never have a market stand but thanks for another awesome video.
I couldn't have said it better.
Aww thank you
I'm nowhere near anything that you're doing but, I have to say, I am obsessed with your mindset of maximizing results of everything you do regardless of how big or small and it keeps me watching every single video of yours.
Edit: the fact that you liked this at 04:46 on Monday morning, nice touch
Love love love your content! Been running retail, wholesale, and Market for years and your advice is spot on!
Heres my thoughts on a few things
1st on pricing. If 10% of your customers aren’t complaining about price, you are priced too low.
2. You mentioned misters but didn’t show one. Using a hand help small garden pump mister/sprayer is how we keep veggies crisp during the heat. It works very well, but only if you remember to bring it AND water 🙄
3. Not always possible, but Try to negotiate to rent booth space with your back to the south! Then use a attractive cloth clipped to the back to keep you in the shade 😎
4. Just reiterating what you said about “always standing and always greeting (even if they don’t make eye contact 😂)”. This piece of advice is HUGE and it’s astounding how farmers or booth workers will fail to do this. I watch sellers looking at thier phone or talking to vendors next to them while customers walk by. And I’ve seen customers walk by and totally ignore my “good morning” only to walk back a few minutes later and shop at my booth. Sometimes there’s a delayed affect but your energy is always noticed.
5. The art of the upsell, which is simply “good morning” at the beginning, and “would you like any lettuce or onions, etc, with that?” at the end of the sale will bring your sales up by 20% on the day.
Again, amazing connect. LOVE what you do.
And yeah, how DO you find time to make these videos?! 🥕👩🌾🥦💨💰
All great points, thanks!
Great additions here, thank you! I love the last sentence in #4. 100% true.
Yes! #4- I will pass on booths is the people are staring at their phone... for years before I started doing farmers markets myself. If you see me coming & you can't look up from your phone long enough to say hi, you must not need my business 🤷♀️
Thank you for the additional tips! All great advice.
Thanks sharing this to the :The Organic Alliance Community, "Fresh And Natural Is The Standard 🥕!" 👍
We are planning our own farm stand out by the road that is cash only and completely self serve. After watching your video I am convinced that is the way to go for us. We are older (way older), very well organized and have faith in the local community and our location. Should be interesting to say the least.
Did you do it? How’d it go?
@@timothyfullen8614 You would not believe the horror story. It is one for the history books. I have been a grower for 45 years and never heard of such a series of events. We lost everything to pestilence, late spring hard freeze, inability to lower soil pH, winds so strong that completely destroyed our two week old greenhouse, beetle larvae by the thousands in the soil, flash flood, then drought after we put in 5400 gallon rainwater collection system... I am sure I am leaving something out.
Here's wishing you a safe and prosperous 2024 @@MrBwalendy
@@MrBwalendyoh my goodness! Better luck in the future. You’ve got all the bad luck out of your way now.
16:10 "Never undercut the competition"
I'm in a completely different industry, and I learned this the hard way.
There's a reason the market price is what it is. Trying to mess with it, is only going to ruin your profitability.
What's undercut mean in this context?
@@Sly-Moose"undercut" means offering lower prices.
The problem is: if you cut prices by 10% you cut 30% of your profit margin.
If instead you charge full prices, and work 30% less, you would have the same income, plus a lot more free time.
@@moden321 Ah. So why did the guy say not to undercut your neighbours? Is it because selling cheaper produce is rude or something? I know nothing about this stuff.
@@Sly-Moose If everyone else is selling their product at one price, but you set up and sell it at an obviously lower price, then you're undercutting everyone else. It's not the worst thing in the world if your price on tomatoes is a couple of nickels less than average, but if everyone else is charging $5 and you're charging $3, that's obvious undercutting. In the short term, that's not specifically a bad thing if you're intentionally trying to establish yourself as the cheapest game in town and don't mind being a bit cutthroat about it. But a farmer's market isn't typically a hyper-competitive environment, so while you may sell all your tomatoes, you're doing so at the cost of friendly relations with your peers. In the long term, you'll likely end up hurting your own business as well, since everyone else will have to lower their own prices to remain competitive with you, which will result in the customer base spreading back out across many vendors, leaving you with less customers that are now buying a product you've driven the price down on, resulting in less money for both you and your peers.
I love how you encourage people to share their ideas. I have gained insight from you as a farmer's market customer. Thanks
Just ordered your book!
We are homesteading on 3/4 of an acre in Queensland, Australia.
You’re a wealth of information and have been instrumental in our progression towards becoming more self sufficient.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
🌱✌🏼🇦🇺
Hi! Did you find an Australian online retailer for this book?
@@aimeet3609 I found copies on Amazon. But I ended up going to No till growers.com ultimately, I wanted to directly support them. 🙂
@@ourrealfamilylife4530 great idea!
G'day Qld from Tassie
Great video as usual! That kid at 5:12 is my best salesman! Thanks for showing our set up. We get many compliments on it.
It looks great!
😮😢😅
I’m 😊😊😊😊😢
5:47 days 😮😊😊
😅😢
Lettuce and other greens, we bag , fold over the top and use a lable to close the bag, this allows air flow with out getting wilted, we use a brother lable maker and off brand lable rolls way cheaper than ink and won't smear when wet. Customers see the farm name and it helps them remember what farm it can from. BTW ..in your video you showed Sunhouse Farm booth ..
They are right across from us at our Saturday farmers market in Greensboro NC...small world.
I do not certify organic because I use non-organic throw-away veggies from the local food store to feed my worm compost. I would rather my customers trust me instead of the government when it comes to quality. I'm happy to share my growing techniques. I probably spend at least 1/4th of my time talking about gardening to people who are putting in gardens. I have a lot of brassicas, most of which are "weeds" or volunteers in my garden and things like purslane to sell that give me a chance to introduce new tastes and crops to the locale. That's also when I might introduce the name of my farm, " Mustard Seed" and talk about how all the brassicas came from that humble beginning and the faith and persistence that people needed to produce them.
Also the paperwork and record keeping is an unwanted chore as well. Not worth it IMO
The paperwork sucks. No disagreement there--I threaten to stop being certified every year when I have to fill out the application again haha. The benefit is that a lot of people say "beyond organic" or something like that. The regulation tells the person that the farmer isn't lying. But it's not for everyone. I'll do a video at some point about everything I DISLIKE about organic certification.
@@markclemmens2862 I just found out about Certified Naturally Grown from a comment here.
What’s your best advise to control bugs
@@calisingh7978 1. Healthy soil...2. Diatomacious earth 3.houses for swallows.
I sometimes get a few aphids in my Brussels sprouts. That's about it. I live in the north where there are fewer bugs.
Great tip on the market space allotment, extra square inches/feet = extra $$$
Nice New England Compost hat! I just picked up two 1 yard slings from them a few days ago. Best compost I’ve ever used, it’s fine like coffee grinds.
I’m grateful you are still making these videos. Good call to drop the podcast hosting and, as always, make us some super rad videos. You’re the best!! I’m glad you have lots of good folks in those other roles now, so thank you! I love your book. I’m on my second read through. 🙏🏽😍
Certified Naturally Grown is an absolutely fantastic alternative to organic certification. CNG also provides (free) FAQ explaining the farming practices for customers.
That looks like a very useful alternative.
Good to know!
One thing I like to do is wait until about 10 min before the market starts to put my more temperature sensitive items out ( head lettuce, micros, bagged salads etc). if you put them out half an hour early that, half an hour more of maintaining things that a little patience can get you.
Great stuff as always!
This is very helpful! I did farmers markets in the 00's for my tea business, and am prepping my first market garden for next year so figuring out pricing plans is a big help. I needed this.
Wieghts that hang from the corners work better and hold down in wind best i find sandbags to be teipping hazards. Be really cool if you had farmers send in their photos of setups . Also i carry a 1 gallong sprayer thats filled with ice when it gets hot i spray everything to keep it fresh looking
Thank you for the information, Poke a few holes on the lettruce bags or use mesh netting.
We had a sign that said:
“Organ-ish:
No toxins, No Bureaucracies”
I assume you mean Organic-ish haha, but I think the subtitle is requisite there as "ish" denotes "almost" or "kinda" and that could be read negatively. Like "we don't spray chemicals... ish".
Im stealing this once I get my farm built and to market.
I ran a retail produce business forty years ago so a couple of stand tricks: Use wedge panels on the table tops rather than just two levels, use 'modesty skirts' on the customer side of the tables for better looks and no table hardware/boxes/knees, manage produce colors for best layouts, white paint where you can. I liked your comment about the farmer's focus is the sales side, constant 'fluffing' the produce quality displayed, and reducing table space as inventory drops. Perhaps those roll-up reed shades can cut sun glare late in the day without being as obtrusive as rigid ground mount panels, but make sure to get the white ones and maintain clean appearance of them.
@jvin248 thanks so much for these additions! I like the white paint idea. Was just thinking our coolers looked a little rough. Appreciate it.
Wedge panels?
So what’s a wedge panel?
Whats a wedge panel? Whats a modesty skirt? White paint for what in particular? I'm interested in your comment but have no idea what you're talking about.
This is a most beautiful video- so very helpful
Thank you!! ❤🎉
Normal market man... I think that sparkl in the eyes always shows. Thanks for another great video. I bought the book which is awesome. Though expensive to have it sent here in Greece. Keep up the good work.
That's super awesome to hear! Thank you
Thanks Jesse, another great video. Having great produce that you believe in and know to be the best you can offer is the best feeling and your confidence reflects that to the highest degree..
Great video, I spend countless hours thinking about my booth and tweaking
it.
My contact lens was cloudy and I read that as “twerking” not tweaking. 😂
I was like, that’s quite a market!
@@buktababe I mean..that really would be something... probably not a good something
Re the “something red helps”.
Maybe someone’s already mentioned it but the red / green partnership is well documented and often seen in practice.
The colour red, placed next to green, makes the green look greener, also the colour green, placed next to red, makes the red look more red.
I’m not sure about how things are in your part of the world but, here in the UK, it’s why butchers generally place parsley (or often plastic parsley 😬) around the meat trays in the meat counter - the green makes the meat look more red and ergo fresher looking. Green receives the same benefit.
Same with red/yellow
🤣 “How am I THAT old?” 🤣 it’s sad how frequently I ask myself this question too!
New subscriber from the mountains of NE Nevada. Your channel is totally deserving of one gazillion subscribers. I hope you get there! Im definitely sharing your videos on fb. Love the campy humor and puns. You do that so well 😂
Aw thank you!
Amazing video thank you for sharing👌🏿🇬🇧👊🏿
A video regarding the financial side of being a market gardener would be appreciated. How do you do taxes, insurance, etc? All those things that if you worked a 9 to 5, your company would do for you.
Your local USDA office can tell you who carries insurance. Find a Farm CPA for taxes. It’s form F that you need to fill out.
@@starkeyfarmstead currently going through all of this, finding a farm cpa has been frustrating especially at my size and scale.
The farmers market near me shops at the same place the grocery stores do. The guy tried to convince me that they grew the romaine lettuce in central FL in August.
You have shared a wealth of knowledge. That's alot
Excellent content. I’m starting to sell at markets and I would love to see more content dedicated to being successful at the market.
Thanks for your time in making these videos!!
Great tips! One thought about brand name and signage, during and since Covid, many of my local farmers are doing pre-orders and some offer farm pick-up. Also, some farms only participate seasonally so I'm always checking the market website or the farms' websites before Saturday to make sure my favorite farmers will be there. It does help me remember the farm name when I see it on their overhead sign.
You and Josh are Johnny on the spot, keep on lacing us with this market gardening game..
Beautiful video, thanks for sharing.
Great video, as usual! I see you're selling compost, soon you will look like a pro golfer (walking billboard). Very good idea! You are a showman- great for in-person sales. That is an important factor for market sales, that doesn't come with even the most expensive tent. One thing that may be useful for customers is a heaping area for their purchases, so they have their hands free for more picking. l do not have a market friendly personality, on either side of the game. Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and insight. I plan to take my large backyard garden aka "boutique" farm to market for the first time at the end of this month. Your videos have been so encouraging and your shared experience really helps take so much guesswork off the table. Much love and gratitude. 🙏
The number 1 strategy at farmers marketing is to build a loyal base so you don’t have to go to the farmers market. I did it for 5 years, big markets, very prestigious high income areas full of status eaters.
Where the food is grown is always going to be a demographic where the high end is Walmart people, and the rest are Dollar General people. I was scouting a local grocery store the other day, and while reflecting on getting our eggs in there for the same $5.99 organic free range offering they had, a woman opened the cooler to grab some store brand eggs that were $3.99, then noticed the price, then recoiled and expressed she “won’t be buying at that price.” I ran in to her later as she was putting pop tarts in her cart. She didn’t look too healthy waddling around that store.
We built a business with people who come to us, and it’s a 200 mile round trip for them. They coordinate with each other and fill their SUV’s up, and often times do a $150-$250 VRBO stay.
Reminds me of when my sister-in-law made a big thing about our "expensive" organic peanut butter, saying she wouldn't be able to afford to feed her husband if she bought products like that, but then a few days later they were out at a corporate steak house. Well, I wouldn't be able to afford organic peanut butter if I went to steak houses. Lol
My book got here yesterday! Thanks for the help.
Does anyone know if there are any good alternatives to plastic bags to display lettuce without wilting?
Another solid video, thanks for doing this Jesse!
For the red produce draws the eye of the customer. That's colour theory right there. Just look at YT thumbnails and fast food places.
So having contrasting/complimenting colours next to the red produce helps, like green or yellow.
Awesome video... solid advice. Thank you garden wizard! 😆
Organic is good. I get that your customers understand what I means, however it's tricky and expensive.
Also I've heard some stories about how how some of these folks that check your farm pit have never left the office. They don't know what they are looking at.
I'm hoping Naturaly grown becomes known, bc it seems more achieveable for smaller farms. I also like that it's more community oriented.
Super helpful video, thank you!
High density gold advice. Great video.
What is your opinion on end of mark remaining items? There’s alway people asking for deals or free stuff … how do you manage that?
oh man that is jam packed with straight facts thank you
😂 love watching your videos and the “dad jokes/puns” are the best!
Been kinda binge watching your videos for the last few days and subscribed as well. Definitely interesting and worth while content.
I'm not sure if I could keep up with the kind of growing a farm like yours produces. I really want to market garden and my area needs a truly organic farmstead. There's virtually none in my immediate area. Unfortunately the locals are not at all health conscious which would be a challenge. The kinda people who shop at dollar stores for everything they survive on. Though there is a decent handful of home gardeners around here.
We do grow a substantial amount of our own foods but obviously could do much better. Especially in the light of today's commercial foods it's imperative to avoid store bought stuff like the plague. Though I want to expand to market gardening we do have an edible and useful plants nursery. That's our claim to fame at the moment. More geared toward exotic edibles for the permaculture and food forest crowd. We now are trying the nursery thing out as a full time venture. I've been doing it for a decade on the side and working part time elsewhere. Now it's all us finally as I was feeling the urge to go for it after the small town family construction business I worked for got swallowed by the cold corporate conglomerate that moved in over night. My boss sold the place without saying a thing to anyone and one day the new owners just showed up and started changing everything. Completely blind sided. However it forced my hand to go for it so that's a blessing nonetheless.
Anyways great videos and look forward to seeing some more!
He has all your psychedelics and trips 🍄lsd, dmt and chocolate bars 👆🏻👆🏻cbs oil and all pills etc. thank me later
Jesse! You're awesome 🙌 thanks for the great info!!!
Really great info. Thanks for taking the time!
Thanks for sharing, giving my comment for the algorithm support!!
Did a market for years and it all came down to a few things .. the CUSTOMERS and MARKET MANAGEMENT.
Too markets in the same area and a market with 'farmers' that don't farm .. kills a market in a heartbeat.
So informative but easy to watch thanks
You're in Lawrenceburg? I'm originally from there! Next time we come to visit family we'll definitely have to purchase some produce from you all.
Thank you! Amazing information! Do you have an advice on POS systems?
Thanks Jesse!! great info
Hi, I absolutely love your channel. I too am in KY, Berea, and recently retired. I am in the process of setting up my garden and would like to hopefully turn it into a business (after feeding my family). Can you suggest what to grow and sells best for spring, summer and fall. Also have you tried growing potatoes in raised beds? If so, can you suggest what size is best: ?x?x?. Do you have any experience with setting up a roadside stand?
So helpful, thank you!!!
Thanks so much for making these videos and all you are doing! You're an inspiration to all of us
I work night shift so I rarely get to the market but my roommates go a lot. I do live in an area where there’s a lotta road stands farms or eggs and such, if it’s not manned I’ve noticed a lot of contradicting signage, keep it simple. Dang rack o carrots says for sail, 5 dollars a bunch, and on the other side it says don’t take, order pick up only? Idk but I do want me some eggs and carrots 😂
Two questions, first how do I know at a farmers market that the produce has been grown in nutritionally rich soil? And secondly why are organic vegetables more expensive when they are grown without the use of chemicals which seems like it would be cheaper to grow.
You can’t really tell by looking at it but there is a very good chance a market will have better quality then the supermarket. Organic is more expensive because you spend more on labour and crop loss and get lower yield
@@joncourey1095 The grocery I worked at and shopped had in the produce section a picture of a farm with tan soil that looked lifeless. A lot of people wouldn't question that and say it was a good farm. I practice no-till and leave the soil covered all year. I'm building soil, and when I dig to plant I see lots of worms, which I take as a good thing.
It takes several years to build up soil to be sustainable and highly productive. Input becomes less except for labor. It also takes faith to do so. I watched as Christian farmers in the 70's made the transition trusting in God and their neighbors to get through some very lean years.
I second what @JonCourey said here. Flavor is one indicator. It usually does look healthier, but that can be fudged a bit. One thing is certain is that "organic" does not automatically denote healthy soil. For that you may have to ask some more questions, maybe "What do you do to maintain soil health?" If they get real geeky on you, that's a good sign. Maybe others can suggest some good questions.
@@notillgrowers if you want to get obsessive, you could use a brix meter to measure the sugar content of the food for comparison.
Better “taste”/“higher sugar” probably more nutrition
I've never seen setups at the markets I've been to that look as nice as the ones pictured in the video. The sparse selection just laid out on a white table always leads me to avoiding that booth!
Yet those are the ones who need your purchases the most.
Your videos are great.
Use the square reader that you can set on the table. If its the one that connects directly to your phone physically its clunky AND you won’t receive the payments from Apple Pay and google pay. And the customer can run the card themselves
Do you only go to your local Farmer's Market or do you travel the hour to Louisville/Lexington? What kind of travel time is the limit for you, and how many markets a week is the limit for you? I've got markets around me up to an hour away in towns/cities at various sizes and days and considering just how many it may be worth attending (even to the point of hiring market attendants to cover them).
The largest I'm tempted to go for is Springfield, MO at an hour away, because Kansas City and St. Louis at 3 hours away each seems like too far.
How much time and money do you spend on the process, as a farmer, to prove you are certified organic? I ask because I have had people who do the certifications for organic labeling say that they don't really believe in the label. They point to the fact there are ways around the rules and that the time/cost isn't worth it. They typically say that the best way to know what you are getting is to know your farmer. What say you, the farmer?
Thank you so much for all your content on this channel. I've learned a ton! I do a weekly market and would love to use boxes to stack my produce higher. The market is ALWAYS windy, being so close to Lake Superior. How do you keep them weighted down? Bags of greens aren't going to do it.
I love roadside veggies
Hey Jesse
Big respect to your grind at the markets!
I design and build landscaping and hardscaping projects working long hours , thinking about starting a side gig for produce sales not sure if I got what it takes , looks like you really got to be on your A game !
Keep rocking
Bk from PA
You can do it!! I run a super small landscape company with my husband in Arkansas. Market gardens were always the dream and now we've been doing farmers markets for 3 years now...slowly adding on. This year we're throwing caution to the wind and are going all in. I mean we still have our other gigs but now we'll be full time farmers and part time everything else. Trust me...itll never be the "right" time. Just roll with it!!! ❤
How much do y'all usually gross per hour at an average farmers market?
Also, you want to make sure you have enough supply to keep customers happy up to the end of the market. Selling out early may seem great but soon you get a reputation for this and people will shop elsewhere. Another point is to go to farmers markets that are worth your while. You grow all year and if there a few customers, it isn't worth it.
Great information and thanks for your work. I live in KY and would love to come to your market. Can you tell me where it is located?
Found it online. I live about 1.5 hours away in Eastern KY. Will definitely make a trip to Lexington. Thanks again and really enjoyed your book.
Cool, love my fellow Kentuckians. Just know that, as I say in the video, I'm deadly serious at market and busy as all get out. But don't hesitate to say hi.
How about a bamboo screen/share for the sidewall?
So how do I go about asking questions of your market manager? I have a couple...
We have been putting a cooler on the table with a big sign saying lettuce and customers just open it up and pull their lettuce out. We're also farming in SC where it gets brutally hot and market days are often 95-100 humid degrees.
I wish someone would discuss, from the planning stage, how near your farm needs to be to a population center and tge demographics/economic profile of the community. Like, a farm in a county 300 miles from a town with a population over 1100 people, is that viable?
This may be a dumb question but Im new to selling at Farmers Markets. Do you actually sell the pulp 1/2 pint containers with the produce or do you bag the produce up and keep the containers for future use? This will help me on how many I should buy in bulk. Thanks in advance
Personally, we use thin produce bags to line all of our containers, then fill. When purchased, just roll up the bag and hand it to the customer. Quick and easy. If a pulp container gets wet or stained, we toss it.
Link for your green produce boxes you had tomatoes in?
great advise!
The markets I shop at around Oakland, CA have QR codes for Venmo and PayPal prominently displayed.
Not a food grower but a micro urban flower farmer. I agree that the most important thing is not your brand but the quality of the product. I am not certified organic - really hard to do in Canada as it takes 6yrs to "organify the soil" - so I say "organically grown".
Paper towel in the lettuce bags maybe. Soak up the moisture first
Gold!
I'm the first person watching this :))
How many hours do you send each day at markets?
Again from home to home hours?
Saturday is a roughly 8 hour day and Sunday is roughly 6 (though I go early to enjoy a bagel on Sundays, so not sure if I count the full 6). That puts my full week (peak season) at about 45-53 hours. Give or take.
@@notillgrowers That’s enough work, though weekends you get to mix with customers and see the rewards of market gardening.
Can you say Organic grown crops even though I'm not certified yet? Or is that something that could get me in trouble? If anyone is wondering. Yes 100 percent organic grown. No fudging here lol
So, I have a question for you, I am part of a garden club, we have a booth at our local Saturday market. We sell eggs, from several different members of the club, I have pushed to have the eggs kept in the cooler until customers come and ask for them, but a lot of the older club members insist on displaying the eggs and replacing them on the table as soon as they a sold, I have seen and talked to other vendors at my market and other markets in my area, and pretty much all go with my method of operation. So basically, I what I am asking what your or anyone else opinion might be on the issue?
Also, part I must admit that part of my opinion is base upon wanting to be fair with all members selling eggs at the market, because some of the old timers play favorites and sell their eggs or someone, they are close to eggs before newer or less vocal club members.
I know this is a little long winded, but I can say selling at a club sponsored booth can to a degree be a micro version of the sort of politics that one could have to deal with in the market in general.
The issue of whether to cool eggs is determined by whether they are washed. Unwashed eggs can be at ambient temp . But once you wash them, the bloom has been removed, exposing the shell to bacteria, thus needing to be chilled. Being that you are selling from different people that would be hard to detect. When we display a carton on the table, we have an ice pack under it, which keeps it plenty cold. Put pack in a zip lock to avoid carton getting wet.
Nono, you're awesome!))
I really appreciate that you take the farming and markets seriously. Please don’t become a RUclips farmer. I realize the allure (read “money”) is strong. But RUclips viewers can totally sniff out the fakes-usually clickbait tiles are a good telltale.
I can't promise no clickbait titles haha but I can promise that I would drop the RUclips thing in a second if I had to chose between the two. The money we make on this channel just goes back into our content creation pot.
I am entertained. And educated! Also, blood turnips. 😆
The tent that I was required to have for an open air market had to have a fire rating specifications that it met. Other key things was that that reading had to be printed on the label of the tent that was verifiable by the fire department as well as have inground anchors or minimum 10 pound weights per leg.
Let us…lettuce know 😂
Good job
Where do you get your half pint containers?
I think these came from webstaurantstore.com