Last week on block day, Mr. Stewart took the majority of the class to help out at the farmers market in town center. For the rest of us who stayed back, he had two videos for us to watch. Both of them were by Curtis Stone, author of "The Urban Farmer". In these videos, he details how he takes care of his farm, and goes over some tips and tricks to a successful sales day at the market.
In the first video, "This is How my Farm Works", he shows us through his mass-producing backyard farm system. To grow as efficiently as possible, he rotates his plants four times a season, each time a quick growing crop. His farm has an entire section dedicated to post-harvest preparation, using cooling and compression boxes to keep his plants fresh, and machines that tie bundles quickly. Some tools he uses that are specifically designed for mass farming are a two-wheel tractor, and a tiller.
The majority of the second video, "A Day at the Farmer's Market" is a timelapse of Stone and his crew setting up their market, but there is some explanation in there as well. He explains that in order to sell as much as possible, the stand must be organized in a way that makes it look like you have a lot of product. "The illusion of abundance", as he calls it. If customers see that the boxes are full of produce, they will be more intrigued and interested in buying more.
For local Marin farmers markets, go to marincounty.org and go to the farmers markets section. A lot of information is included with each one, including times and days they are open!
Rachel Berg
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