held on June 17, 2017 was our first vendor event, and we were quite nervous. The Cornell Cooperative Extension holds this event every year and it is always well attended.  We had been to numerous craft shows, garlic fests and other festivals over the years but had never dreamed we would be one of those hopeful few stationed in their tent, waiting for customers.

Our day started early as Ron planned for us to arrive on site at 6 am.  Didn’t quite make that goal.  It look us longer than expected to load everything into the trailer and then head out.  We had to stop along the way to get more ice.  Our mushrooms had to be kept cool during the day and the more ice, the better.

They had allowed set up the day before and Ron and Jo had taken advantage by getting the tables and tent setup.  We were among the first to arrive on Saturday, but could see that most tents were already set up.  Unloading came first, the best fun.  I had bought lots of plastic bins to sort and organize different groupings.  The table covers and displays, cooking, our THF shirts, sample serving stuff, our paperwork, and of course, Ron’s favorite – shit happens bin.   That had duck tape, scissors, note cards, clips, and anything else we could think of that just might have been needed.

We got the tent sides up and set up the tables and started organizing everything.  Right away we could see that it was to be tight working conditions.    No more than two people could really be in the tent at one time.  This was going to be an issue later on.

Our hopefully eye catching front table ready to go.   Mushrooms will be sold in one or two quart amounts.  We are so not ready to get involved in selling by weight.  That involves a special and expensive scale and lots of paperwork.  My head hurts just thinking about it.

On the right of the tent, I had lavender, ginseng and calendula for sale.  This was a side effort but one that made sure we fit into the “herb and flower” part of the event.  Our first attempt at growing plants for sale.  Time will tell how well they do.

Once we were fully set up, I started the final steps of getting my bows onto the logs.  Hot glue is not the easiest thing to shove a piece of wire through.  I ended up asking Ron for help.  As he got to sit down again, he was in his element.   I wish I had remembered to bring a large needle, but then thought of using one of our large skewers.  That worked a treat and Ron had the bows ready to go in short order.

Everything was ready and we all took a deep breath.  Off to take advantage of the coffee, juice and donuts for the vendors and change into our Tiny House Farm T shirts.  Then disaster.

I could not find our jar of cash.  The quarters and one dollar bills I had set aside to bring as our seed money.  After searching all the bins in and around our site, I grabbed the car keys and headed  home.  Just over a 20 minute dash each way and I was back with cash and we were ready to go.   Already people  were at our tent and Ron was giving them his spiel.  I just needed to get him to stop talking and start cooking the mushrooms.

Once he finally got going, we hit our second stumble.  The plan was to use garlic scape pesto in a pastry bag and pipe out a small amount on top of the shiitakes.  The pesto was too chunky for our pasty tip.  I had to scramble to get the tip off and use one of our toothpicks to get some pesto on each serving.  Then a dash of Sirarcha sauce on top.  We served this in bamboo leaf boats.  And they almost overshadowed the shiitakes.  Everyone loved those things.   Foolishly I never got a shot of our plate of samples.  Too much going on.  A few hours in and I had given up on the pesto.  We just offered plain shiitakes.  They were hit enough.

Brother in law Don was a surprise part of our work crew.  He arrived about an hour after start time. Next year, I have to remind him to tell the CCE staff that he is a member of our team so he gets in free.   Don is always a delight to have around and he knows as much about our shiitake process as Ron does.  A good salesman to have on our side.

Ron sliced mushrooms, hit the frying pan with olive oil and then butter and kept sautéing and talking.  The man never shut up, but everyone just ate it up.  He was obviously born to this role.  I offered the samples and gave my lower key version of our sales pitch.  Our mushroom bolts quickly had sold tags on them.   Annoyed at myself for not getting the perfect shot of a row of sold logs sitting just outside our tent.    Just too busy dealing with our customers.

Jo and Don were out of the tent most of the day and they both paid the price.  Two things on our list for next year – sunscreen and something to give us more shade.  Jo chatted with the ladies next door but kept an eye on me.  She made change and handed me bags as I headed for the mushrooms in our coolers.  We sold mostly quart size bags.   So we are thinking about ways to organize them better for next year.  And we are certainly planning to be a repeat vendor.

By 1:30 pm we were totally sold out of both bolts and mushrooms.  We even had a list of people Ron was going to contact about getting bolts the following weekend.  We spent the next two hours talking with people who would have bought mushrooms, if only we had them.  Ron was so in his element.  There is quite a bit of a teacher in him.

Exhausted is the only word for how we felt at 3:30 pm.  Both mentally and physically.  I take my hat off to anyone who does a weekend event.

I have to give a serious  shout out to Greg Potter.  He created the rack for holding our mushroom bolts, the display stand for our shiitakes and the stand for Ron’s display bolt.  They were simple and elegant and more than did the job for us. Check out Greg Potter’s Woodcraft for other examples of the amazing work Greg does.

It was an amazing experience.  One that we are already looking forward to in 2018.  We did not have high expectations for this event, after all it was out first and we were selling what some who call an unusual product.  As Jo says, we were gobsmacked at just how well we did do.  Ron might have actually had a good idea, after all.  Just don’t tell him I said so.