Hey everyone! Once again, I'm here with an update on the Farmers Market Experiment. It was cold and rainy this week, but I'm still happy with the progress we're making in logistics. SIL worked the market this week, while Hubs & I slept in and did the neighbor's goat chores.

Remember how last week I sold strawberries? I did manage to pick and sell one quart this week (the season is almost over), but I did have something else to sell... sour cherries! The cherry tree on our property decided to spill over with fruit this week. I made cherry preserves with 8 or 9 quarts (to sell, of course!) and then on Friday I found some time to pick fresh cherries to sell. I ended up picking four quarts and selling three of them.

My brothers also brought some mulberries. As I mentioned last week, selling produce is a win-win for everyone because it draws more people to the booth, and the seller gets more money because there are fewer costs of production (ingredients, etc.). Unfortunately, as one customer put it, "Everyone has a mulberry tree in their backyard". Thus, the mulberries weren't a big hit.

Making Progress with Small Batches
One thing that I'm getting better at is making just enough food for the farmers market. It is tempting to save time by making bigger batches, then selling that big batch over the course of several weeks. However, it's best to sell things as fresh as possible. This week I figured out how to make smaller batches of marshmallows, toffee, applesauce bread and banana bread. This is a great accomplishment, because smaller batches mean less waste and less wasted money. Remember my toffee dilemma from a couple weeks ago? I've figured out that the most toffee I can sell is three bags... more like one or two on a normal day. If I make a batch of toffee that costs $3.50, I've created $18 of potential profit. If I only sell one bag, then the batch has paid for itself but I'm throwing away $13.50 of profit. This week I made a $2 batch of toffee (two bags) and sold one bag. Not only did the batch pay for itself, but I made $2.50 worth of profit. Baby steps, baby steps. At least we're not going backwards anymore.

This week I also decided to make some plain sandwich bread to sell. This cost me $0.75. Unfortunately the bread did not sell, but I blame it on the rain and the fact that it was possibly overpriced. The good news is that I only "wasted" $0.75, and I'll be able to use it this week in my meal plan. So nothing was really wasted. 

I also made some herbal tea that didn't sell, but it was hastily packaged and also possibly overpriced. This week I will find better packaging for the tea.

The Bottom Line

Income
Marshmallows: $1.50
Toffee: $4.50
Jam: $7.00
No-Bake Cookies: $3.50
Rice Krispies: $3.50
Banana Bread: $5.00 
Cherries: $9.75
Strawberries: $3.25
Total Income: $38.00

Expenses
Booth: $4.00
Tent: $5.00
Costs of goods sold: $6.98
Total Expenses: $15.98

Total Net Profit: $22.02

My costs of goods not sold this week was $8.02. However, I'll be taking the banana and applesauce breads to a church potluck ($5 value... $1.77 cost to make) and we will eat the sandwich bread ($0.75). Extra toffee ($1.21) will go to one of Hubs' lucky customers. This only leaves $4.26 in "wasted" ingredients between the extra rice krispies ($2.52) and no-bake cookies ($1.74). And I'm sure Hubs will be happy to take care of those for me.

Weather Does Matter
Profits were still decent, especially considering the rain. Hey, remember my four-dollar day? Or my seven dollar day? We've been... kind of unfortunate this year with the weather. Each week I keep track of weather in addition to who worked the booth and any other notes. I've posted a graph below for your amusement.

Just to clarify, "Day's Profit" means my net profit for the day. My average profit for the past 9 weeks has been $22.38 per day. My highest net profit to date has been $42.84, my lowest $4.03. On average, our booth has been grossing about $100 per week. Now that's with three different vendors at one booth, but it's encouraging to know that it is possible to sell that much if you have the right products. Our highest grossing day was $180.50 (Memorial Day), and our lowest grossing day was $63.25. 

Is it worth it, after nine weeks, to continue selling at the market? I think so. Why quit when you're just starting to get the hang of it? By now I've kind of figured out what the most popular, most profitable products are. It's fun for me to think of new products or marketing ideas during the week, and to crunch numbers after every market day. It's kind of like my weekend hobby.

In addition to being fun, the market gives me a place to sell the things I make at home. What are Hubs and I going to do with a whole orchard of fruit? What are we going to do with the extra produce, herbs, and scrap lumber lying around? If I don't sell it or give it away, it will all just sit and rot. Selling the extra things I make is the "industrious" part of industry & frugality.

If I were to do the market all over again, I would take all of the best-selling products of we three sisters-in-law, and only sell them. This would eliminate unprofitable products and the cost of goods not sold. I would only make as much perishable product as I could sell (now that my records tell me how much that is!). All of my big purchases would already be made and I would drive a more fuel-efficient car for fewer overhead costs every week. I would spend a few hours each week baking, and half the day Saturday selling. According to my records, with this amount of work I would end up grossing $100-$200 per week, netting 50-75% of that. I don't think you'd become a millionaire from it, but it's not bad for a weekend hobby. And remember, most hobbies end up COSTING you.

This coming Saturday, we won't be at the market in observance of Independence Day.
Til next time!
-Bethany  

Harvesting
Some people have had success spreading an old bed sheet under the tree, and then shaking the branches until all the ripe berries fall off onto the sheet. I tried this last year, with mixed results. I did get more berries in less time, but I also got a bunch of green berries, twigs and other debris that needed to be removed. About half of the ripe berries landed on my sheet, and the other half bounced off into the grass. For this reason, I keep picking each berry by hand. It takes time, but so does picking out debris. My mom has had success with just leaving the sheets on the ground, and the berries drop on their own, without shaking. This way you have less debris to pick through, and it's less work. Just be sure to weigh the sheet down with a rock if it is a windy day. I don't bother removing the mulberry stem. It is already enough work to go and pick the berries, let alone de-stem every single one of them. After picking, I soak the mulberries in water to drown/scare away the bugs, and then freeze the berries.

Other Uses for Mulberries
One of my other articles mentions using mulberries as a kind of permaculture chicken feed. The berries are high in nutrients and plentiful. The trees also provide shade for chickens. Mulberry leaf tea is said to help stabilize blood sugar.

Do you have mulberry trees? What do you use them for?

Every once in a while, I feel like I'm beginning to get the hang of this farmers market thing. This week was...

Read my book, One Season at the Farmers Market, to see how this week was! 

Sage is one of the easiest herbs I've ever grown. It's commonly used in poultry and pork dishes, but can also be used to flavor cheese. Sage has some medicinal benefits as well. Historically, it's one of the oldest herbs recorded; the ancient Egyptians used it as a fertility herb. Ironically (or .perhaps not?) it tends to dry up a nursing mother's milk supply. Because of this I had a hard time finding uses for sage as a teenager. I couldn't use it much in cooking because my mom was constantly nursing one baby or another.

Sage is a perennial, which means it will grow back year after year; each year bigger and better than before. My 6-7 year old sage plant has gone through two transplants and from a 3" pot has grown to be four feet across. In early-mid summer, it has pretty blue-lavender blossoms. When winter comes, the sage leaves freeze and dry up. Even in the winter then, you can still be picking sage.

Fresh sage leaves can be cut or chopped into small pieces before adding to soup, sauces, etc.

I like chickens, I really do. I think chickens are awesome because they make eggs, meat, and compost. They're simple to butcher, and also easy to take care of. No milking, no de-worming, hoof trimming or dehorning. Any 5 year old can take care of chickens.

My main beef with chickens (as stated in this article) is the cost of feed and chicks. Why buy a $3 chick and feed it $3 worth of feed, only to end up several months later with a butchered bird worth $5? Egg production is the same way. It doesn't make much sense to me, therefore, to go the traditional route of buying chicks and feed at the feed store. In my last chicken article I discussed some alternative feed options. Today I'd like to discuss an alternative to buying chicks and chick feed.

The Broody Hen
The hen that takes care of her own chicks is a dying breed. It's kind of a mystery how the whole thing works. I did some research on broody hens a while back, but left it at that. Several weeks ago I was farm-sitting and the farmers told me they didn't buy new laying hens because several of their hens were brooders. Whoa! I was delighted to find that the whole broody hen idea actually worked. At the end of the week they let me take home one of their brooders with her three adorable chicks. 

I put my mama hen in with the milking goats. If one of the goats gets too close, she pecks at them. At night, her chicks huddle under her wings for warmth and protection. During the day, she shows them how to scratch around in the compost pile, looking for worms and bugs. It is so much fun to watch. I even took a video for you all. :)

For just Hubs and I, a couple hens will provide enough eggs and some meat. I'm hoping to get a few more laying hens before summer's end, as the chicks obviously aren't old enough to lay (plus I don't know if they're boys or girls!). The hens will be kept for egg-laying/brooding, and the roosters will eventually be butchered for meat. Before this I was thinking about incubating some eggs, but a broody hen is so much easier. Who really wants to be flipping eggs four times a day? 

I believe that a broody hen is a perfect sustainable chicken solution for small-scale homesteaders. A mother hen will do all the work for you- feeding, watering, sheltering. She can even do a BETTER job than you can! That is, if you're lucky enough to find her.

Do you have a broody hen? Any tips for encouraging broodiness in hens?

This week we have yet another first for the Farmers Market... 

To see what happened this week, read my book; One Season at the Farmers Market.

I didn't grow up using herbs for seasoning, especially fresh herbs. In the past few years, I've really gotten better at seasoning my food with things beside salt, butter, and cheese. Hubs introduced me to cilantro, an AMAZING herb used fresh in many Latin American dishes. Last year I grew some just because he liked it. We used it for tacos on Wednesday, but I could never find another use for it. This year we had volunteer cilantro EVERYWHERE and I am using it in anything & everything that includes taco seasoning or salsa. 

Couponing With Bethany: Episode 2

We made some small gains in the couponing department this time. I say "we" because it took both Hubs and I to figure out how to use Ibotta.

The Loot
This week we got a free bottle of all-purpose cleaner, and also 20 cents off our weekly 40 cent yogurt that I use for yogurt starter. 

Problem #1: Missing the Deadline
I would have gotten the yogurt for free, but instead of shopping after the farmer's market on Saturday (traffic was HORRIBLE due to festival/parade stuff, plus the truck was making a funny noise), we went shopping on Sunday. Unfortunately by Sunday, Checkout 51 did not have the yogurt rebate still up, and so we only got one rebate from Ibotta.

Problem #2: Bethany Doesn't Have a Smartphone
Me trying to figure out Ibotta = disaster. Hubs had to talk me through it and show me how to work the app on his phone. Some of the Ibotta deals are only available on the phone app. Once we did it, it was pretty easy though. Basically you have to find what you want on the Ibotta (website) app, then scan both the item barcode and the QR code on your receipt. I still thought it was a lot of work for 20 cents. That being said, it will be much easier the next time I use Ibotta.

I like Ibotta and Checkout 51 because they have rebates on "any brand" items that commonly include milk, eggs and produce. These are good healthy things that many people buy anyway. I think the best way to use rebate sites is to do your shopping and THEN see what they have rebates for. Otherwise you'll find yourself saying, "Oh, Ibotta has a rebate for artichokes and Smirnoff this week. We should eat artichokes and Smirnoff!" instead of eating the free asparagus and drinking the free water that you have at home.

Hopster Free Cleaner
I didn't grow up using "all-purpose cleaner" aka colored scented water, but Hubs appreciates it when the house "smells clean" so I decided to get a bottle. This required that I go to Hopster.com and jump through some hoops... make an account on their site, sign up for an email thing and also like the Simple Green page on facebook. Then I was able to print out a $2 coupon to use on a $1.97 bottle, making it almost free (don't forget about taxes, Krazy Coupon Lady!). I believe this deal is still going on, so head over to Hopster if you'd like some nearly free all-purpose cleaner. 

Happy couponing! 
-Bethany

To dry dill weed, cut some sprigs from the garden and lay them out on a cookie/baking sheet and put in a gas oven for a day or so- however long it takes to dry. You can also use an electric dehydrator, but the dried dill pieces are small and tend to fall through the holes in the dehydrator tray.

Seeds or seed heads can also be used. In pickling, many times an undeveloped seed head is used. The developed seeds are also often used. These fully matured seeds can also be planted next spring.

Good luck growing & using dill!
-Bethany

This week at Farmer's Market was a little odd. 

To see why it was odd, read my book; One Season at the Farmers Market.