How to sell produce from your garden
How to Make Money With Your Garden - Produce Stand vs. Farmers Market
well hello everyone and welcome to the
Emma Gardner produce stand for those of
you that have not seen this I do have a
produce stand that whatever I can't eat
give to my friends and family or donate
to the soup kitchen we have to do
something with and that usually ends up
either preserved in the freezer or sold
fresh and things like you know squash
zucchini beets stuff like that we do
preserve a lot of it but we also want to
sell a little bit of it to to cover the
overhead on the garden so a lot of you
are have been asking me Luke how do me
how do I make money from my garden and
so I decided I would start off this
series on how to make money with your
garden by discussing the differences
between basically a produce stand at
home versus a farmers market stand
because I have done both and so I know I
know the ins and outs of both and kind
of what made me decide to do one at home
so the first thing we're going to talk
about is prices when it comes to prices
at a produce stand you want to be able
to set your own prices and for me that's
really crucial because I find that my
time and my effort and also just the
connection that you have with the
produce you want you don't want to just
be giving it away and that's one of the
things that I found out through the the
farmers market is that the farmer's
market manager basically the overseer of
the farmers market will set not really
set prices but make sure your prices are
within a certain guideline because a lot
of times people will maybe set them too
low and will take all the business
predatory pricing or maybe sometimes
people will have like a similar product
but but have it marked really high for
no reason at all and and they might be
in a really good spot of the farmers
market and the people walking in or say
oh well you know hey you got this I need
this I'm going to buy it and then they
get further into the farmers market
finding out that someone else has it set
same exact item for just less price and
and so they just kind of monitor the
prices so that there's fairness across
the board for everyone now the next
thing is when it comes to location
location is something that is
really crucial to having a produce in
here we are on Main Street which is why
it's very hard to film without having a
car go by because we're right on Main
Street which makes it great for us
however if you're someone that lives out
from the country a produce stand might
not be your type of thing because you
don't have the type of volume so that's
where the volume comes in and that's
where it's really crucial at a farmers
market because a farmers market
everybody knows about it and you have
just a grouping of people just to kind
of a little community and that community
attracts all those people to come in and
and shop and that's where you're going
to have a lot more people coming in at
the same time and you're going to move a
lot more produce as well now that the
next thing ties in the community which
is a benefit for those of you that like
farmer's markets and that is community a
lot of times at a produce stand like at
the house it's just yourself and you
might get a couple friends and have some
produce that one of the you know that
want to join in together and have a
produce stand but at a farmers market
you have so many people that are
bringing their wares and doing their
things and oftentimes you can actually
trade with them for instance when we did
the when we did the farmers market we
would have tomatoes and zucchini and
cucumbers and we would walk down there
and we would ask people if they wanted
to trade and oftentimes we'd find out
that oh you know so-and-so has a bottle
of honey and he's willing to trade for
uh you know three or four zucchini sure
let's do it because that's that's
actually how bartering works and that's
what's really nice is it doesn't
actually cost you any money to get
something else that you need and that's
very able to be done at a farmers market
but not able to be done at a produce
stand and the next thing we're going to
talk about is the table size when it
comes to a table size you can have as
much table space as you want when it
comes to a home produce stand but when
it comes to a farmers market the table
size is actually limited because you
actually have to buy that space and so
when it comes to just making your money
back on your produce you obviously want
to make sure that you're not spending
more money than you're making and
oftentimes I find depending on the the
farmers market the table that the cost
per table can be very expensive and
you'll find that you'll spend more just
on the table
or the tablespace then you do in the
produce that you're selling so that's
one crucial thing that you have to make
sure of and that's that's one of the
things that I that actually deter me
from farmers markets is that the one we
went to the biggest one it was $35 a day
for your for your table space you could
have a 10 by 10 10 anything you could
fit underneath a 10 by 10 10
it was just $35 but $35 I didn't have
enough produce to sell that equalled $35
so I would be even if I sold out I would
just be breaking even and for me that
was not cost-effective because I might
as well have given it to the soup
kitchen or donated to the local homeless
shelter and actually you know made some
people happy which we also do by the way
we do give food to the homeless shelters
and we do give food to the food pantries
um but you know like I said if you're
not making your money on it you might as
well be changing even more lives than
just giving it away basically and the
last thing we're talking about is
organizations often times you find with
the larger the larger farmers market
they're actually a traveling
organization people that make it a job
it's their living to sell produce so
when it comes to a small guy like me
that just is selling produce when he had
some extra it's not really suitable for
me because I can't travel and it has to
be one of those things we really do have
to sign on because they need a certain
amount of people to kind of travel so
that they have the the awareness and the
hype around the size of their farmers
markets so here in Michigan we have the
Michigan farm farmers market Association
and that is one that literally travels
all the way from Ohio up the up to the
the U P on the Upper Peninsula and they
travel all around and it's something
that I just can't do because it's not a
living for me to sell produce like that
so it's not suitable for me to do that
so I had to go to the smaller ones where
it was just kind of come as you are and
whatever you have and and I like that
but again it was the table fee and I
just found that it was really
counterproductive to be giving a table
fee only to you know just sell as much
just to cover the table fees so
well hey everyone we actually had to
come indoors and it actually turned out
to be a blessing in disguise because it
reminded me of some other things I want
to talk about really briefly and that
was whether if you have weather that is
you know kind of poor raining or windy
or you know whatever stormy you can
actually come indoors just throw a tarp
over the stuff you don't wanna get wet
and walk indoors where is at a farmers
market you really can't do that because
at a farmers market you've already
driven there and you've already packed
up the car put the tent in put the
tables in put the produce in put any
chairs in or whatever and as you really
got a commitment to just stay there and
just hold it out and you can't throw in
the towel and say okay you know what
today I'm not going to open up because
you're Hardy there so you might as well
and so that's kind of one of those
things it kind of can give you a little
bit miserable and I've definitely had my
fair share of miserable days at the
farmers market so it's one of those
things where over time you really do get
spoiled having a home market because you
can just set up a produce stand outside
and if it rains walk inside or we live
in a really good neighborhood so we can
just leave the produce stand out there
even overnight so where is that a
farmers market you only have a produce
stand open maybe once once a week twice
a week with a produce tent at your house
you can actually just have it all week
long there's no limit to how often you
can have your produce stand open so it
can truly be just an honor system or you
leave a bucket with a slit and they just
drop in money and take produce or you
can man it when you're there and um and
or you can do a little bit of both where
is that a farmers market there is no
such thing as honor system there you
have to pretty much man it all the time
so there's a lot of benefits to having
it at your house but there's also a lot
of benefits to having it at a farmers
market as well but the last thing we're
talking about is why I chose obviously
to have it at my house because I did I
chose it for the main reasons of price
selection that was a big one because I
find that my produce um it warrants a
higher price and I don't I'm not so
confident that I say well my produce is
better than everybody else's it's just
I've actually I've actually physically
tasted other people's produce and
trying their stuff versus my stuff and
the way I grow mine and what I grow them
in they have a lot more sweetness a lot
more condensed sugars a lot higher water
content and it's just a very much higher
quality vegetable and so why would you
not have a higher price for that but
again you can't have a higher price at a
farmers market because the prices are
are pretty tightly regulated now another
thing that I like to have is is space I
like to have lots of table space and if
I'm spending $10 per table that's not
really cost-effective for me because I
found that I would spend just as much as
I made and if I'm barely breaking even
it's not worth my time and it's also not
worth the fact that I'm basically giving
produce away that I could actually give
away to someone that actually really
really needs it so you know there's
another thing and so the and the very
last reason why I chose it is just
because it's efficient
I have the Main Street right outside my
window RS on my door and and so I have
the volume that you'd get with a farmers
market but it's also at my house where
if I don't want to open up that day I
just walk indoors and leave a bucket out
there for people to put money in or if I
want to man it I walk out there in mana
you know it's it's really based on my
own personal preference for that day but
the next thing and the very last thing
that we're going to talk about is what
you should do and the best way to make
money using your garden whether it's a
produce stand or farmers market is to go
off your personal preference it is
really based on your variables and what
you want to do make a pros and cons list
based on what I told you and simply see
if that's what fits you if you live out
the country a farmers markets going to
be your type of thing but also make sure
if you run to a farmers market make sure
you have enough to cover the table costs
and also make sure that you're willing
to give the prices that they're that
they are asking because you do have to
match those prices there typically I
have found something really they're
pretty loose on it but all the ones
around me that are that you're going to
do well at you have to set your prices
and then the very last thing is do you
want to maybe barter you want to trade
for for goods and or do you want to just
just sell your produce and so if you
want to trade for other people's maybe
eggs
or honey or bread or whatever you're
going to want a farmer's market that's
me something for you and those are all
cool things that I did enjoy but once I
laid out the pros and cons list the home
the home produce stand was my type of
thing and it best suited me so there you
go there's the pros and cons for farmers
market versus home produce stand
hopefully you all enjoyed and hopefully
you learned something new and if you do
sell produce let me know I really would
like to know who sells stuff out there
at a farmers market or a produce stand
and kind of what your opinions are on
that because it's a really cool subject
to talk about so let's get some
discussion going in the comments box
below or head over to the Facebook page
and I'm actually going to make a post
where you can actually discuss back and
forth with other people the pros and
cons of a produce stand vs. farmers
market so until next episode this is my
garden reminding you to grow big or go
home I'll talk to y'all later
see you guys bye
