Hi everyone! This week's updates are a little late, as we've been gone camping. We'll be super busy again this weekend, and will NOT be doing anything frugal, so really I am just popping in here to let you know I'm still alive until probably late next week.
1. Sold one dozen eggs.
2. Harvested peppers, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, and chili peppers from the garden. We are also eating green grapes from the orchard/vineyard, which are WONDERFUL!
3. Printed out some free music theory games for my piano students.
4. Made cheese with a bunch of milk from the neighbor's cow.
5. Bought a large candle on sale for $1.50. It is a wonderful scent, and now I'm sorry I didn't buy another one. I'm a sucker for candles.
6. Canned some beans and peas that were frozen. I am trying to clean out the freezer for this year's produce and probably more meat this fall. Instead of just dumping the aged produce, I decided to can it. Honestly, we will probably eat the canned stuff before the frozen. I find it hard to remember to defrost vegetables.
7. Earned $71.55 at the farmers market this week. This is actually the most money I have netted per week during the entire season. Fall is a great time to sell at a farmers market. I sold almost all of the perishable bakery and produce items, as well as some of the non-perishables (jams, books, soap, etc.). It was a very good week and I was happy that I had the opportunity to go.
1. Sold one dozen eggs.
2. Harvested peppers, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, and chili peppers from the garden. We are also eating green grapes from the orchard/vineyard, which are WONDERFUL!
3. Printed out some free music theory games for my piano students.
4. Made cheese with a bunch of milk from the neighbor's cow.
5. Bought a large candle on sale for $1.50. It is a wonderful scent, and now I'm sorry I didn't buy another one. I'm a sucker for candles.
6. Canned some beans and peas that were frozen. I am trying to clean out the freezer for this year's produce and probably more meat this fall. Instead of just dumping the aged produce, I decided to can it. Honestly, we will probably eat the canned stuff before the frozen. I find it hard to remember to defrost vegetables.
7. Earned $71.55 at the farmers market this week. This is actually the most money I have netted per week during the entire season. Fall is a great time to sell at a farmers market. I sold almost all of the perishable bakery and produce items, as well as some of the non-perishables (jams, books, soap, etc.). It was a very good week and I was happy that I had the opportunity to go.
Some new things I started selling for autumn: duck eggs, peach cobbler, pear tart, and selective produce (any extra from the garden). The pear tart received a lot of positive comments, but nobody bought it. Farmers market customers usually like buying familiar items, so that was not a surprise to me. The produce sold reasonably well; I came home with two out of eight bags. The duck eggs sold, but only after all of my chicken eggs were gone.
One lady came up and asked how much my eggs cost. I gave her the price of my chicken eggs, which had sold out, and said that I also had duck eggs available. "Duck eggs!" she whined, with a disgusted scowl. "I don't want no [expletive] duck eggs," she grumbled, and walked away.
A couple years ago, this kind of thing probably would have ruined my morning. I don't understand why anyone would speak to a complete stranger that way. However, I've learned that some people don't realize how nasty or rude they are. Others can just make things weird. Earlier this year I had an older man try to barter down something to half price. I didn't budge. Last week another lady bought some grapes and started to eat them. "Oh," she said, disappointed. "They have seeds." Well duh- they are not from the store! I thought. She spit out the seeds, one by one, in front of my booth. I thought about giving her a refund and offering to take the grapes back, but decided not to. She had already gotten into them and I didn't want to re-sell them like that.
That being said, I enjoyed talking to the other customers and making a lot of sales. One man and his mother stopped by and asked for danishes- "those triangle things". "Aw man," he said, "They were amazing! Crunchy, but soft, and perfectly buttery. You should make those again." I love comments like that!
8. Canned peaches. Someone told my mother-in-law that they had seen peaches for $15.00 per bushel, which is a great deal. I told her I would take some, as our peach tree didn't do well this year. When she got to the orchard, she realized that the neighbor had misspoke or misunderstood the price, and it was actually $15.00 per half bushel. I still took a quarter bushel, though, because I really like peaches.
Now here's the frugal part- instead of just canning them all, I used about half of the peaches to make peach cobbler for the farmers market. I sold two cobblers at a profit of $4.50 each. The profit from peach cobbler was enough to cover my cost of ALL of the peaches ($7.50). Therefore, I was able to can seven pints of peach slices for a cost of $0.00.
That is it for now!
-Bethany
One lady came up and asked how much my eggs cost. I gave her the price of my chicken eggs, which had sold out, and said that I also had duck eggs available. "Duck eggs!" she whined, with a disgusted scowl. "I don't want no [expletive] duck eggs," she grumbled, and walked away.
A couple years ago, this kind of thing probably would have ruined my morning. I don't understand why anyone would speak to a complete stranger that way. However, I've learned that some people don't realize how nasty or rude they are. Others can just make things weird. Earlier this year I had an older man try to barter down something to half price. I didn't budge. Last week another lady bought some grapes and started to eat them. "Oh," she said, disappointed. "They have seeds." Well duh- they are not from the store! I thought. She spit out the seeds, one by one, in front of my booth. I thought about giving her a refund and offering to take the grapes back, but decided not to. She had already gotten into them and I didn't want to re-sell them like that.
That being said, I enjoyed talking to the other customers and making a lot of sales. One man and his mother stopped by and asked for danishes- "those triangle things". "Aw man," he said, "They were amazing! Crunchy, but soft, and perfectly buttery. You should make those again." I love comments like that!
8. Canned peaches. Someone told my mother-in-law that they had seen peaches for $15.00 per bushel, which is a great deal. I told her I would take some, as our peach tree didn't do well this year. When she got to the orchard, she realized that the neighbor had misspoke or misunderstood the price, and it was actually $15.00 per half bushel. I still took a quarter bushel, though, because I really like peaches.
Now here's the frugal part- instead of just canning them all, I used about half of the peaches to make peach cobbler for the farmers market. I sold two cobblers at a profit of $4.50 each. The profit from peach cobbler was enough to cover my cost of ALL of the peaches ($7.50). Therefore, I was able to can seven pints of peach slices for a cost of $0.00.
That is it for now!
-Bethany
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