Selling Produce

I am brand new at this - still do not have my box together. I just found a good source for organic heirloom seeds and have an order on the way.

I am single and retired, I know that I am certainly going to produce more than I can use -- so I intend to sell some at a small market on the main street of my small village. They are always looking for vendors and the spring producers will be long gone (traditional planter) by the time my goodies are ready to go.

To make a big bundle would be difficult, but, if you can afford to start small - establish a following in your area, and produce quality/quaint produce, they will come.

For instance my first seed order includes round cucumbers and mini melons from heirloom seeds, amongst other things. It is the kind of "stuff" that can't be found in any supermarket and no Monsanto's type companies have corrupt the genetic structure of mother nature's work. 

In my so-called supermarket, beans come from Egypt and a stingy little plastic bag costs a fortune, if I were willing to eat them. Mine will look like something from a treasure chest, if I can manage to outwit the small midnight bandits. I will be able to sell all I can produce.

If you outthink your competition, grow what they can't get, you might just do well on a smaller scale. No business gets rich the first time out of the starting gate.

The only reason I would not be able to sell to my local store manager is because he is locked into whatever his franchisor delivers ---- and I would not sell at the prices they pay for the stuff they call "food."

In any case, I would survey your market; find out what people want and can't get. Specialize in a couple or thee of those products and let folks know when they are available. They will beat a path to your door.

Repeat and rinse over two or three years and grow as you go.

Have you seen Kale that grows two types of leaves - both the straight and the curled ones. Neither have I, but people in this village will be seeing it later in the season --- from organic/heirloom seeds. No one else around here will have it.

So don't be discouraged - go for it - just start a little smaller and work up to the goal established in your business plan. Every business has one.

Good luck

Sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure how much produce I'm going to get out of my two SFG boxes this first year. It's all a big experiment for me. But you have a goal ... go for it!

Sounds like you are telling us how it went and how to copy your success before you did anything yet. I applaud your drive, but it seems a bit early to give advice on how you succeeded before you've even planted, unless there's far more to your story than appears in your post. What's the rest of the story?

You are right. This initial post somehow got confused. It was a reply to a very discouraged lady hoping to make 50K a year selling produce and was looking for a quick solution to her quandary.

You have to read both to see what I mean. Missed the boat - posted in the wrong place. It was intended to offer her advice as to the possibility of attaining her goal with patience, persistence, and a good marketing plan. The basis of building any business.

In this I do have experience.

I am only feeding myself, so I will have excess and I will move some at the wee market for sure. Not her 50K target - but still enough to recover some of my cost for this first year set-up. I do, however, have no intention of becoming heavily involved once again. Too late for that in  my case. I am firmly retired - 25 years this fall, and have no intention of becoming fully involved again.

In my efforts to find my needed basic supplies, I have already identified a glaring need for certain goodies in this market.
 

The world goes around and opportunities present themselves in many ways, should one recognize them. The One I see here will be passed on to a local dealer, no stings - who will become more heavily involved than he already is, if I know him.

on Facebook:

http://www.naturalnews.com/050119_Denver_urban_farming_local_food_movement.html#

I was talking to a landscaper the other day and he told me about his friend. His friend planted hundreds of asparagus plants, and harvested no spears for the first three years. Just let the plants get established. This is his first year harvesting now, and he's making $2,000 a weekend at the local farmers market, and has a lot of grocery stores buying his product separately. Making money hand over fist now.

There's certainly a lot to be said for patient investment -- and for identifying a need and filling it. Especially if it's a relatively expensive need, perhaps? Asparagus ain't cheap!

Smart man. Identifying a market with a good value.

I love reading entrepreneurial stories like this.