hey there today we're talk about how I
sell our produce so there are lots of
different ways to sell your produce and
this has been a very highly requested
video and I just want to show you - with
you guys what I've been doing as I
started last year this is my second
season I don't invention that before I
just started selling to friends and
friends of friends and so we started
this box program sort of like a CSA and
that I deliver boxes of food to families
but really it really isn't a CSA because
I think really to be a CSA you need to
take money upfront and the customers
have to share the risk with you but this
is not one of those situations I don't
want to give my opinions about if CSA is
are right for you or not all of this
stuff is just what's what I've been
doing what's been working for me I just
want to share my experience with you
guys I just for a few reasons I didn't
want to take money upfront one is I
wasn't confident my growing abilities
last year and I just kind of felt
awkward about it so the way that this
works and I call it a greens box or
greens box of subscription families get
boxes of vegetables every week we do
this year-round our farm mainly focuses
on greens and that's why I call it a
greens box now we do some seasonal crops
so when those are available they will be
going out as well so right now for
example we have some cucumbers and some
tomatoes and some other stuff and so
those will go out to the way this works
is it's not a formal commitment with our
customers but it is expected that they
get a box pretty much every week and
that ensures that I have somewhat
reliable sales so that I can plan my
production now if it's flexible though
if people go out of town for a week or
two or you know things just happen and
they don't need a box that week that's
totally fine and so it's paid by the
week the boxes cost between 20 and 25
dollars a week and that includes a
deliver small delivery fee and the
pricing is basically based on you know
retail price of these items you know
sort of organic food from Whole Foods or
a farmer's market kind of thing and if
the price of the Box goes over $25.00 I
just charge $25 so a lot of weeks
probably most weeks I put a lot of stuff
in the box and it goes over that but I
just
charge $25 so let me show you what's in
the box this week and then what I'm
going to do is I'm gonna go out into
deliveries and I'll take you guys with
me just so you guys know my schedule is
you know Thursdays I am harvesting
washing and packing and that gives me a
Friday delivery day so those are my two
days that I'm really like locked in to a
set schedule and the rest of the days
are sort of flexible with farming stuff
and making YouTube videos so anyways
yeah so let's let me show you it's in
the box and then I'll you know I'll take
you guys out with me and ride around
today and also I'm gonna bring my camera
with me and so you can meet some of my
customers to see what they have to say
you guys know I like to be as honest and
open with you guys as possible now I
would love to get a custom box of some
sort but when I got started last year I
start needed to set up boxes where are
you boxes from and I really couldn't
find a lot information I bought these
boxes from Uline they're not cheap and
they are waxy so they do last a long
time I'll put a link in the description
for them it's just a figure said and if
you guys have a better box idea that's
maybe a little bit cheaper let me know
they last several rounds my customers no
just save them and then to put them back
up for me so I can pick them up and so
yeah let me show you what's in the box
this week so one thing is we have some
French breakfast radish but one thing is
I always have lettuce so that's one
thing that's always in my boxes that's
one of our main crops and I vary the
size of the bag of lettuce depending on
what else is in the box what I have that
sort of thing so you know the nice thing
about this situation here for me with
these boxes it's a little bit flexible
right it's not I don't have to give the
same thing to everybody every weekend
people actually like it when I switch it
up so a bag of lettuce it's all washed
and it's you know wash and cut ready to
go we have some mizuna this week
sunflower shoots I tend to give pretty
big bags of microgreens and they're
actually a lot cheaper than they would
get in the store but I find that you
know for me in my families I just want
to give them a lot so they can be
generous with it they can make it on
make it parts of salads and and things
like that and not just be a garnish but
to really like you know eat a lot of it
and get a lot of good nutrition I think
that's why we should all be eating
microgreens
we got a couple cucumbers and some
beautiful cherry tomatoes going off this
week I'm pretty pumped about that
another thing that I like to do because
I am driving around most of the day with
these in my car and I do keep the air
conditioning on but I put an ice pack in
here and this has made a huge difference
all my produce was except for the
tomatoes are not refrigerated but
everything else gets washed and then put
in the fridge overnight so it's nice and
cold when I leave in the morning
not so much of an issue in this you know
when the cooler months but in the summer
year it's super hot and so I buy these
guys on Amazon I'll leave a link for you
guys so you can check that out but my
customers know to save these and put
them back out for me but I just put it
in the middle here and that makes a big
difference with keeping these fresh just
while they're out for the day before we
head out I just want to point out a
couple of things about the delivery
situation and you have to know your
customers and and sort of what they're
looking for now most of my customers are
middle class upper middle class and
pretty nice areas and so most of them
just they're willing to pay a few bucks
to have it delivered now is that worth
my time
it compensates it a little bit but the
reality is that you know part of why
this works so well for people is that
it's convenient is delivery right for
you I don't know you have to figure it
out for yourself that it's been working
alright for me it does take most of the
day but I think it really helps sell my
product so this is the first time I'm
actually taking you guys off farm which
is exciting I don't know how much how
often we do this but one thing I you
know Friday delivery days are cool
because you know in reality there's a
lot of hustle and sort of organization
before we leave but once I'm on the road
it's just uh you know it's kind of a
relaxing day I'm driving around I'm you
know interacting with customers and you
know that sort of things which is really
nice so you know I'm gonna take you guys
around and then you know we'll meet some
people and when we get back you know I
can talk about a little bit more like
what makes sense for you guys and how
you should be selling your produce
all right just answer the question you
asked me before yeah yeah go ahead yeah
so I love getting these boxes from Josh
the vegetables are obvious
super fresh Parviz them like a day or
two before they come they stay fresh
longer than anything we've ever bought
the grocery store either so that's
that's nice having the lightest a
freshman like two or three weeks yeah
it's it's I know where the food comes
from it's super fresh super healthy it
just made a lot of sense for me hi my
name is Rachel and I've been a customer
of sat Hill farm for a couple months now
it's been really great to have a box of
produce come to my house every week I
know that that box of produce is coming
from a local farm in my area I've met
farmer I and it's it's been really great
to explore new recipes to try and
satisfy all of those things in the box
plus not having to buy eggs from grocery
store anymore I think it's really
awesome so I know that this stuff is
like hormone free I know that it's
organic I know that it's local and I
just love being a part of it
hi my name is Stephanie and we started
getting the set in Hill Farms boxes
because we really wanted to provide our
family of six with quality food and get
to know where our food comes from and
it's really important to us that we have
the sort of relationship with the
farm-to-table process for not only for
my husband and I but also for our kids
we have four children and it's really
important to us that they understand the
process of in which we get our food we
are a vegan household so that
automatically means that we have this
big relationship with food and quality
and sourcing so we were really
appreciative for all that josh is done
and the food that he provides to our
family so I just got back from doing the
deliveries so I did all my family
deliveries and I also did my restaurant
too and I just want to say a big thank
you to sy Rachel and Stephanie for
getting in front of the camera and
talking about their experiences with the
with the boxes
so it doesn't take up the whole day
today was a little bit longer than usual
I was chat with people and recording
stuff but yeah not a full day for me and
yeah so I just want to explain a little
bit more about this you know as I said
it's it's pretty much a weekly thing for
most people there are pluses and minuses
about every sales outlet that you have I
like this a lot because as I said when I
started I wasn't super comfortable with
taking people's money upfront I also
didn't want to have I want to have more
consistent cash flow I didn't want to
have it just all up front as well so
there are the minuses to this are that I
lose customers here and there for
various reasons and I'm constantly
having to look for more customers I've
been varying between sort of about 15
and 25 families total and so that's
something that you have to keep in mind
let's talk about a couple other sales
outlets too I think farmers markets are
a great idea I don't personally I
haven't done one and the main reason for
that is I just am not really willing to
give my Saturdays at this time I want to
be home with my family but it can be a
great situation for a lot of reasons one
is you don't have to do marketing you
just I mean you have to do some
marketing while you're there but ahead
of time you don't have to do as much I'm
all take that back you should definitely
do some social media stuff always for
your business but you know you just show
up with your products and you're there
and that's it you take care of it
you know that's something like mine is a
lot of coordinating there's a lot of
emailing and communicating with
customers and that sort of thing and I
think the two benefits of something like
this and a farmers market is that you
can be a little bit more flexible about
what you produce right because they're
not ordering specific items the boxes
for me are not customizable at all and I
only offer one size so that's just how
it is
and having an outlet like that can be
really beneficial so you can sort of try
to get rid of some products that you
need to get rid of or you know you can
just change things up a little bit now I
really believe that it's cool to have
more than one source of sales outlet
like for me with the restaurants and
then also with the boxes it gives me
that flexibility chefs are gonna have
very specific things they want and I'm
able to take what I don't sell to them
and give it to my families now sometimes
I hold things for my families and no
games to the chest but that's a whole
other thing so those are the sort of the
sales that's now the other one that you
can consider is selling retail and
selling packages to go to supermarkets
and things like that
I'm not interested in that one of the
main reasons is because you don't get as
much price per pound and it's not the
only driving factor I mean yes you know
you don't get you make more money if you
sell direct to customer but you also
have to keep in mind like the cost that
goes into marketing and communicating
and coordinating and all that stuff
because you know there's a lot of time
that goes into that so you know for some
people if they're going to push a little
bit more volume maybe it makes sense to
do something in a retail situation or
sell to an aggregator a company that
collects a lot of produce from farmers
and then resells it so there's a lot of
things for you to consider this is just
what I've been doing and I just wanted
to pass this on to you I know I get a
lot of questions about this and this is
sort of where I'm at right now
there's no perfect solution you also
have to do a lot of market research in
your market you have to know what you
can sell how much you can get for things
you know if you're in a really rural
area and you think you're just gonna
crush it with microgreens is there a
market for it are people gonna buy it
are they gonna give you the money that
you know you can make on it people often
ask me about prices and I cannot tell
you how much to charge for things you
have to figure it out in your market
what people are into what you know if
they're willing to spend that much on
certain items and you know go to a
farmers market check out local coops
things like that talk to chefs you know
I in the house I start selling to chefs
you talk to them say hey is this about
what I should be charging what have you
been paying for this and they'll tell
you like you just you know you got to be
open about it with them and you know
they've been they've been really
supportive so anyways I wanted to share
this information with you I really hope
you enjoyed this and yeah just want to
give you another idea about what you can
do anyways and that's why I got for you
today so thanks for watching please like
the video subscribe to the channel if
you have not already and if you haven't
clicking a little bell so notified when
I put out a new video and guys thank you
so much for watching I appreciate it
I'll see you the next one I know it's
will put this at the end OPI takes in
the end