It is a project based internship, and my project involves the farmers' market. Much of our produce goes to a local brewery, Blackwater Draw, but the rest we sell at a local farmers' market. So, Saturday morning I met up with two other people at a little parking lot in Bryan to sell the produce we had bundled the day before. I cannot say I was super excited about waking up early Saturday morning, but it was so worth it. Here in the BCS area, there is a definite distinction between the students and the locals. To be able to talk to the people selling produce at the booths around us and also customers was lovely. I really wish there was more interaction between the locals of the area and the students. We really are one community sharing this Brazos Valley and can learn so much from each other.
 A bit of what we had as we kept most of it in coolers and restocked when things sold |
The lady at the table next to ours sold olive oil that she produces from her orchard in Italy. (Hire me, maybe???). The lady on the other side was asking us if we knew any student groups that would collect cans for a project she is doing in Guatemala. Contrary to what one might expect, there was no competitive spirit. "You want some carrots? Well, we are out but that person across the way looks like they still have some." The olive oil lady brought us over her extra samples of bread cubes and a dish of olive oil to eat at the end (so so good). The guy from two tables the other way gave me a bag of lettuce he had leftover as he knew he would not use it. There's really no competition. Just community. And maybe that's because of the nature of the occasion. Sustainable agriculture is a tough way to make a living. Mass producing pesticide laden produce is so much more profitable. Maybe the spirit of camaraderie is born of necessity. If we didn't stick together, we couldn't survive. I'm not quite sure and I do not want to be the new kid who thinks she knows it all. Moral of the story: people are good, y'all.
From a business standpoint, sales were pretty good. I do not have much to compare it to though. We sold some of the produce at cheaper price than I think we normally would have because of some freeze damage. Most of those things sold out. I was surprised that we sold out of both kinds of Kale (Red Russian and Dinosaur) as we had lots of it. I was also surprised that we had a few bunches of romaine left at the end as the Romaine was so good looking. (Yes, veggies can be good looking. See carrots above). We also had a bit of collard greens, some peppers and quite a few mustard greens left, but sold out of everything else. I think people did not buy as much of the collard and mustard greens because they do not quite know how to eat them. They really are tasty though so I am considering making little cards with serving suggestions / recipe ideas and some nutrient info to give out and see if that affects whether people buy more of the less familiar items. I kept track of all the sales and put these into a spreadsheet after I got home so that we can keep track of how much we sell of each thing, what is most popular, how much money is made from each crop, etc. It will be interesting to compare to future weeks. I am also planning to survey people who come out the market to get ideas for the future.
I look forward to spending more time out at Howdy Farm next week and helping out a future markets.
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