But . . . we sometimes DO sell at a farmer's market

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Now, having persuaded you that farmers’ markets are bad for farmers, let me tell you that they are OK for any ‘overflow’ produce you may have.

For example, we always build in some extra margin when planning how much of each crop to grow (this is the ‘safety factor’ in the Bootstrap Market Garden Planner spreadsheet, part of the Bootstrap Pack). If it turns out to be a banner year in the garden, we may end up with more produce than our customers can absorb.

When this happens, we have an arrangement with a neighbouring farmer who does have a market stand; he takes our extra stuff and puts it on his stand, and we split whatever sales there are. This works because:

• His farm is close to ours (1/4 mile), so no long travel required;


• He has a good-looking stand at a strong market, and is a good salesmen so he can usually sell most of what he brings;


• His market day is the day after one of our pick/deliver days, so any extra produce is still fresh (we refrigerate, of course);


• We are not attached to how much is sold at the market, or how much we net. It is strictly for overflow; we would prefer see the stuff we grow used rather than wasted.