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theripetomatofarm

New to these forums and a markert question for the verterans

Hi there, I'm new to the forums, but not the world of gardening. I have a question about farmer's markets and thought some of you might be able to answer.

First off, I am located in sunny (right now) Victoria, BC Canada. Its a fairly mild climate and only drops below freezing a couple days of the year normally. I have a 200 sq ft greenhouse that I am putting the finishing touches on as well as eight 4' x 8' raised beds. I am mainly growing exotics such as vanilla, aloe, stevia, basil, oregano, jalapenos, and some other herbs such as rosemary, thyme, etc and also some Sundew plants (little venus fly-trap-type things).

My question is, I am approaching the markets in a different way than traditional farmers. Most farmer make produce, vegetables and fruits, and then sell them every weekend a these markets. That is awesome, I buy from them every weekend for what I can't grow myself. For my business however, I am not interested in that. I want to give people the ability to grow it themselves. I'd rather sell someone a huge Basil plant once a year that they can harvest every day than to sell them little containers every week of cuttings from my plants.

So what I'm asking is, are there other vendors like me? Selling tomato, pepper, cucumber, herb starters and full plants? Or do most people just sell the end produce?

Comments (14)

  • Slimy_Okra
    9 years ago

    I do know farmers like that but it is a very minor part of their operation for a good reason. Most people won't be back week after week to re-purchase a basil plant. You will rapidly exhaust your customer base. You want to build your customer base on something consumable, something that needs to be replaced every week or every two weeks.

    Your business model would be more comparable to that of a craftsperson. The difference is that a knicknack would be priced much higher to compensate for the non-consumable nature of the item.

    I also know farmers who do only the thing you indicated but for them it's more of a part-time seasonal job where they sell bedding plants for a few weeks in the spring and then leave the market until next spring. Is that your goal?

    Just my two cents.

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Okra, that was my worry. While I don't want to gouge people, I also want to be compensated for my time and effort. Therin lies my dilemma. I want to change the way people look at food, but I also want to be working in my garden for a living. Can't really do that by selling a hundred $4 plants every spring and then that's it, now can I? Ha ha.

    My other though was also producing value-added products. So every herb I sell also has a dried counterpart (that can be sold not only year-round but also not just locally). And things like Vanilla, don't just sell the beans but actually take the time to make the extract. Same with the Jalapenos. Don't sell the peppers....dry them out, smoke them, and make organic chipotle powder. These things would definitely increase my bottom line, but they would also drastically increase the time and effort.

    I guess for me, maybe its going to be a balance of both. I do appreciate your input though. Its a valid point. It wouldn't be sustainable economically to just sell the plants....not unless you had an endless supply of new customers coming in.

  • jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
    9 years ago

    You have to ask yourself this too, "Are there other vendors doing what I want to do?" IF there are, can I do it better? If there isn't, Why isn't there? Probably one of the reasons is, it isn't profitable.

    Now, I think if you offered a small selection of plants in addition to produce, it would work. I sell produce and plants. My plants are for sale from the end of April til mid June. Most people don't understand that you can keep replanting things until mid August and still get a good crop. I quit selling plants in June because I can barely keep up with my produce. So, education would be the key.

    Also, some people think it is easier to buy plants than start from seed. Zucchini, Cucumbers, watermelon and cantalope are prime examples. I have to remember to grow more of these next year. People are willing to buy them and they are easy money. I start selling Zucchini 2 weeks after seeding it. Maybe selling Herbs plants year around would be a good idea. Selling a larger pot of an Herb and then they could cut their own. Problem is the market maybe limited.

    Jay

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Jay, that's kind of along the lines with what I was thinking. Perhaps my best plan of attack is some combination of straight produce, starter plants, and value-added products. What ratio remains to be seen, but that'll be the fun part!

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Check into local regulations for value-added products. Dried herbs or peppers may be considered "processed food" and require a commercial kitchen and licensing. But personal care products (for some reason, I don't get it) such as herbal and sea salt foot scrubs may not.

    Oh, and plants may require a nursery license, or collect sales tax. Here in my state, fruit and vegetables are exempt from tax, so are jams and jellies (for now), but some "junk food" (I have to look up categories) aren't, prepared meals aren't, and potted plants also require you charge sales tax.

    This post was edited by ajsmama on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 9:15

  • Flower_Phil
    9 years ago

    Hi. Ripe Tomato, and hi to everyone else on this forum. I've been lurking a bit but would love to join in with these conversations..
    We are on the Lower Mainland and every year we grow over 3,000 tomato starts for the markets, as well as peppers, herbs, etc..It's a nice start to our market season. Because the climate we share means we can cold frame grow so much, we find it can be quite profitable, and a fairly big share of our yearly sales, rather than a very minor part. We do find we have very loyal customers who come back to us every year. I don't know what else you do, but if you grow enough you'd find it difficult to hold down a full-time job during the hectic spring plant selling season. If you don't have anything to sell the rest of the market season, you wind up sacrificing a lot of earning potential doing other things for just a few weeks of sales, as you've figured out. Don't underestimate how much work it is getting plants to market. On May weekends, we try to do 4-6 markets between 3 of us, and it takes about 12-14 hours on Friday to haul the plants around, sort and allocate the plants for each market, assemble orders, etc. ..
    Is that going to be a heated greenhouse, or an unheated walk-in cold frame? We use three cheap home-built walk-in cold frames, and will probably build a fourth soon. It's beautiful, but you may find you need more growing space. Can you put hoops over some of your raised beds for April?
    Anyway, good luck with your plans! I think if I were you I'd plan for something like 30-50% plants to start and adjust as you go along.
    Chris (Mrs. Flower Phil)

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks ajsmama. I am in Victoria, BC Canada, not sure where to check whether or not dried stuff is licensed or not. Any suggestions? Not sure if Canada even has what you guys call "extension" services.

    Appreciate the tips though. It all helps. :)

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Chris! That is great, sounds like you guys are making it happen!

    I do currently work full-time, although that is hopefully changing soon. I've set myself up with a few passive revenue streams so hopefully it will allow me to ditch the 9-5 grind. ;)

    Yes, the greenhouse is going to be fully heated (tropical) and the raised beds can have cold frames (low tunnels) no problem. There are currently six 4 x 8 raised beds and four 2 x 6 ones. My plan was originally NOT to do farmer's markets. I didn't want to grow produce....I wanted to give people the ability to grow their own. But as you and others have said, you can do both and there is a market for both. I do have a few restaurants lined up for fresh herbs 365 days a year and that was my original plan for the greenhouse. That morphed into Vanilla, Stevia, and Aloe production as pure value-added products.

    So as you can see, I have several avenues to explore and hopefully my final business model is a combination of all of them. We'll see. I am learning the business/marketing side as I go along, but being a "gardener" since I was a kid is helping with the production side, no doubt! :-)

  • Slimy_Okra
    9 years ago

    I live in Canada (not BC though - I am not familiar with your province's regulations). Farmers' market managers would be the best people to contact with your queries. That would also be a good opportunity to find out whether you have a good chance of getting in.

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    A few more beds on the west side of the house. I got the space to grow a lot of cool things....I just have to find my happy medium!

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Okra.....done! :-) Just looking up the local Farmer's Markets and there are THREE within a 4km radius of my house! That's pretty crazy. All three run well into October as well, only problem is they are all on a Saturday. Weird....you'd think they'd NOT want to compete with each other?

    Going to visit one or two this weekend and scope out the scenery. I'll fire off an email tonight to the organizers and see if I can get the specific answers to my value-added questions.

    Thank you very much.

  • Flower_Phil
    9 years ago

    Hi Ripe Tomato, we do have some "extension services " type help available through the provincial ministry of agriculture, although I've never used it.
    Chris

  • theripetomatofarm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yeah, I searched on the web, couldn't find much of anything.

    I did hear back from two organizers of farmer's markets and they said they had no problem with value-added products such as dried herbs or extracts provided they were made with products that I myself grew. So that is a positive first step.

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    I found this - "herbs and flavored oils" are lumped together as "higher risk" foods which may not be prepared at home and sold at market, though jams, jellies, pickles, salsa (not containing animal protein - I'm not sure I've ever seen a salsa with animal protein?) are "lower risk".

    There are certain requirements (labeling, etc.) for lower risk foods. I would think that dried herbs that weren't vacuum sealed would be considered lower risk since the water activity is so low, but you might want to ask for clarification since they aren't specifically mentioned. As far as "herbs and flavored oils" - maybe fresh herbs are not allowed (seems strange)? I'd ask for clarification on that too.

    Here is a link that might be useful: BC regulations on food sales

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