Our garden is doing really well. I am so proud of it. The house is still currently at a standstill, but I should hopefully be getting the sewage permit this week, or at least getting the perc test complete. I’ll feel better once we really get the ball rolling on this. In the meantime we are diligently working on the garden! We have been weeding at least every other day. We have 20 poblanos that have actually started growing. That doesn’t count the HUGE number of buds and flowers on each plant! There are also hot banana peppers growing, and there are buds on at least 1/4 of the tomatoes and two habanero plants. I have to start planning what I am going to do with them so that I’m not scrambling to put stuff together and letting vegetables go to waste like I did last year. We also picked 3 pints of black raspberries yesterday and are hoping to get at least another 3 pints before the end of the season. The blackberries should be starting to ripen in the next week or two and we have at least 20 times more than we have raspberries (although C has said I am not allowed to sell anything with blackberries since they are his favorite).
Also once the farm gets an address, which is any day now, we will be setting it up as an official farm, business license and all. I will also be taking the class that the state offers to allow me to start selling my canned goods. It’s only $50 and one afternoon and I’ll be able to, which is very exciting!! Here are my thoughts so far: I would like to can a BUNCH of sweet relish. It’s impossible to find sweet relish that doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it. Here is my plan for selling the canned goods: We will charge a $1 jar deposit which we will waive if you bring us a jar (or bring your jar back). The cost of the goods will be different depending on what is inside but most everything will only cost about $2. Preserves will be closer to $3-$4 because of the amount of effort it takes to collect the berries (since they are wild and have thorns, tons and tons of thorns). I will also be selling baked goods like sweet breads, doughnuts, artisan breads, and french bread, all for about $2-$3 each. I know I am not asking much for these things but the amount I am putting into them isn’t much and the whole goal of the project is to show people that you can eat really healthy for the same, if not cheaper, than what you are currently spending on food. It’s not going to make us rich, but that isn’t our goal anyway. We want people to start making the switch away from processed food to good healthy non-man made chemical foods. We use organic cane sugar (if we dont use our honey), unbleached unenriched flour, sea salt, etc. Plus everything we make is low sugar so that also helps. I can’t wait until we start selling our processed chickens too. once we really get going (our five year plan) my goal is to be selling about $500 a month through the farm. That will pay for supplies and all of our bills. We have a long way until we get there though. One step at a time.
