for $20 I would include 6 or 7 items weekly, like 1 bunch of herbs (most people do not know how to use them), a pound of onions, a pound of beans, a pound of potatoes, a couple heads of lettuce, etc..

for me an item is a bunch, bag or box of something I would have sold at my farm store or farmers market so like 1 pound of kale, a half pound of lettuce, etc..

I have found too much food is worse for people than too little in the long run because when they have too much they end up throwing a lot of it away (and they will very rarely tell you this fact because they are embarrassed that they are wasting the food you worked so hard to grow and harvest for them) and than won't join up again.

I also think you should find a farmers market and hone your skills there as FM's are very forgiving individual customers (especially friends and family) who will complain about all sorts of things, especially if you make mistakes with succession planting, have some crop failures for whatever reasons, etc., and run short of food. At a farmers market because there are other vendors if you run short your customer will likely find what they want from another person and will be back the following week.

Oh and be very consistent, never miss a week, be it at the FM of delivering baskets. That is how one builds a customer base.

Thank you so much for the honest advice! I never thought about the friends/family vs farmers market customers that way- it makes quite a bit of sense.

I definitetly plan on expanding next year to allow for enough produce to get me through our short (3 month) farmers market, but I'm looking forward to making some extra cash this summer to make that possible :)

Also, thanks for suggesting 6 or 7 items- I would have been scratching my head wondering if I should do smaller quantities of more items or not- THANK YOU!

Any other suggestions/critiques are warmly welcomed, I've learned so much on this forum just following posts, and I know you guys have much more information that I do at getting this started!

Anyone else? Tips or hints? Judgement or critique? I welcome any and all comments! Trying to do this the right way, and want to build my customer base RIGHT! Thanks in advance!

How I started was by increasing my already large canning garden. I doubled what I planted, thinking that I could just can or donate. I found out that over the years, I actually planted 10-20x of what I would have planted for just me.

By going slow, I learned along the way, both good and bad. I would recommend that.

Include a list of what might be available for the season and have your customers mark what they do NOT like. Saves you a lot of produce wasted. It is a little more work to sort who gets what, but they will be pleased with twice the carrots and no eggplant, for example. And, you could have them mark number 1, 2 and 3 for favorites (not everything just 3 things).

Include some simple stir-fry, grill, or steam instructions / recipes for some of what you have in the CSA basket. I'm always amazed that a lot of people have had such a limited variety of produce from the grocery store or have only had stuff from the freezer dept. that they don't know what to do with something new.

Include a comment card in each basket. Let them say thank you, or that there were too many flea holes in the kale, or whatever.

For selling at Market the one thing I found is that some people are hesitant to ask the prices. Therefore, be sure you have excellent signage and in large enough print that they can read the price without their glasses.

At Market, have bags printed with your farm name, email, phone number, or just stickers to put on "thank you" bags so that when they get home they will remember where they got that delicious corn or whatever. Business cards get lost and are good only if you get them really cheap. I make up flyers on my printer and put one in each bag but that is because I offer 60 or so different jams and customers don't want to read every label standing there at my table, but will take the flyer home for later. You might want to have something similar with what is in season each month for your short Market presence.

Nancy

For cheap signs, I use 3x5 index cards that I pick up at back to school sales.

I also print my own business cards, they're not fancy, just the basic contact info. I love the idea of putting that info on stickers on the bags.

You guys are truly phenomenal- I've asked around to numerous farmers market vendors and didn't get anywhere near the advice I did here...

I've got my first delivery tomorrow- 4 baskets (small, but a start!) thanks again, I will be back for many more questions as I delve farther into this!

I've found that neighboring farmers will look at you as a possible competition, which you are. And in this economy, each new farmer is a possible decrease in the established farmers' money.

Even after working this business since 2000, I've learned from this forum. I just wish I had found it earlier.

Marla

My advice is very basic - "you have to start somewhere, but start". So many people want to do something but they never take that first step. The only way you can get anywhere is by taking that first step. Your business will change as you learn and evolve into whatever you become in the future. Where you'll be ten years from now may not be anything like what you hope for today.

Currently I am taking a break from market gardening while I fix up my new place & garden. In my spare time I help people self-publish books they've written (since I work in publishing). Virtually all of them get very worked up about their project being "perfect", worked up enough that it stops them from moving forward. I find myself saying over and over that this is your first book, your next book will be better and the one after that will be even better - but you'll never start down that path unless you take that first step. Just do the best you can with what you have.

my family's farm: thankfully, i live in a really rural cattle ranch area, and no one farms out here... so I really do have a niche market (hence the high demand)

And thank you triangle john, I really am a perfectionist about a lot of things, and that is what has kept me from "starting" until now. I've had so many compliments on the quality/rareness of what I offered last week, and seriously feel bad turning people away (I've had at least a dozen more interested), but I've told them that next spring I am expanding, and will contact them then. Its a fine line between over-extending myself and not having any of the fruits of my labor for my family, and turning people down and thereby possibly losing future customers. In the meantime, 3-4 customers a week definitely will pay for my expansion next spring! And I encourage anyone reading this, who might be interested to comment and ask any questions... as my venture matures, I hope to be able to answer them :)

katydid, I'm sure you will share your experiences, as all of us have.

I understand the fine line, the first few years I had to buy produce to preserve for my own family since I sold EVERYTHING that I produced. It is hard to turn people down when they really compliment your endeavors. But you have to make that decision.

This year, while your producing what you can, LEARN

So a follow up as to how its going...

Been almost 4 weeks now, and I've sold on average 3 baskets a week at $20/each. I'm also selling (with a disclaimer that I've been doing it for years, but not a certified kitchen) jams/jellies/pickles/syrups. In total, I've made over $400 this month!

I've been so overwhelmed with the response of my weekly customers friends and families that i have almost 20 more ready to make the weekly commitment! i thank you all in the responses I've received, I need to decide now how "BIG" I want to get, but still enjoy my gardening hobby... thoughts on this??

A hobby is one thing, but growing for money=making is a different thing. You will need to decide which one you want. A hobby can make you some extra money, but it can soon get to a point that you're working harder than you really want to. Learn to quit at the point that you're not enjoying it.

I have learned that the jam/jellies/such can add up many more dollars, but then again it's alot more work. I found that I could can the juice quickly during the summer, then make jellies during the winter for the following season. I made 40 different varieties until hubby stopped me, I wanted to try so many more. This was 10 years ago, before all the rules and restrictions on selling them. Our grandkids are still eating them, since they couldn't be sold at our market.

Marla