We shall not even discuss the fact that I am never, and I mean never on time with my Christmas gifts for my sisters, Mary and Patty.  Not for lack of trying of course, but I simply cannot get my timing right. It is even worse when I have decided I am going to make them something. This year was going to be different. After the garlic fest, we had no major doings scheduled for Tiny House Farm. Just the normal weekly dealings with our microgreens. Ron was actively planning to meet with other restaurants  in his efforts to bring more of them into the fold.  And of course we have to normal getting ready for winter projects. So all I had to do is getting started with my great idea for their gifts.

Ron was going to be busy with his own doings.  He found a few classes he was going to attend.  I happily encourage him in finding more.  Now that he is retired, he is, to put it bluntly, under foot.  For year before, he would leave for work an hour before I did, so I had that time to myself.  If I took a day off, I tried to plan it when he would be safely at work.  Now, if I take a day off or work from home, he is there.  Ugh.

I know he is all about meeting people at these classes but I did not expect he would meet someone who would throw my holiday schedule totally out of whack.  But he did, of course.  at a tarping class held by Cornell University. Tricia Park, who is an Air force vet was in attendance and she talked to Ron about her work organizing the Cazenovia farmer’s market. They are held every third Saturday of the month and she thought we would be a good fit.

End result is that we signed up to attend our first farmer’s market.  Again we had no real idea of what to expect or how to plan for it.  No shiitakes in the winter months, of course which made our planning much easier.  We just had to grow microgreens to sell.   We chose our standby greats – peas, leeks, radishes and a new fave, sunflowers.  I will admit that I was skeptical about the sunflowers.  Not something that most people would think grow as food.  But they are really yummy.  But we now have another fiddly thing to grow.  And another seed you have to soak before starting on the pads. While the peas also expand when soaked, sunflower seeds expand much more.  So you have to make judgement call about how many to start with.  Too many seeds on a pad and you will not have good and even growth.  Overcrowding is not good.

Then you have to weigh the seeds down for the first 3 or 4 days.  Ron first tried one of our cutting boards covered in plastic wrap.  That was a no go as too many of the seeds stuck to the wrap.  So he bought a brand new cutting board, cut it down to size and then sanded the cut edge smooth.  We have 4 of them now and they work a treat.   The next issue with them is the seeds hulls.  When you are growing outside as flowers, the hulls are not a issue.  They simply fall off as the plant gets bigger.  We really want most of them off before we make delivery at one of the restaurants we sell to. That will require a bit more research to find a method that will work for us.

I had more than enough soap, lotion bars and lip balm on hand to sell. Just had to make fresh body cream and a few more of my stuffed mushrooms. I will be suggesting them as tree ornaments this time. Our instructions for this market was to be festive and Christmas.  So we had to change up our normal display.  New ribbon for the logs and a bit of decoration on each bow. And Ron was being a pain about the bow. Decided he wanted red, green and white raffia for the decoration bit. That meant a trip out to the store to find those colors only to have him decide the white would not work after all. So back to my original raffia colors .

Graphic designer or not; sometimes Ginny does know best. I had to change my basket of skin care products display too. The basket I have used since our first event was not working out. If I took even one thing out of it, the basket went wobbly.

Next I had to come up with way to display my stuffed mushrooms and our magnets and bumper stickers. A small Christmas tree was perfect for the mushrooms and I repurposed a framed cat picture of my Mom’s for the magnets and stickers. Always makes me happy to find a way to use what we already have instead of buying more stuff.

December 21st and we were up before dawn as usual. This would be an easier event as no shiitakes, no tent and just 3 tables to set up. But that still a lot of other things to pack up and load into our vehicles. As usual we had plastic bins all over the place that had to go. They do take up a lot of space, but are the best and safest way we have of hauling things around. All 3 of us were going but Jo was just there to help unload. We hit our first hiccup with Ron’s Transit. The blower has been not working for sometime now and that morning, he was greeted with a frozen over windshield. Inside the vehicle. Scraping was not going to cut it. So my hair dryer and a long extension cord were put into use to melt the iciness. Ron rigged it together and we left it running until we were ready to leave. Then we started loading everything up. Again our microgreens were the trickiest as they could not be stacked on top of each other and had to be where things could not fall on top of them either. We were loaded and ready to go right on time, which set a good mood with Ron.

We arrived at the American Legion Post 88 in Cazenovia NY at 815 am and were delighted to see we could jump right into unloading. Tricia took us inside and identified our spot which was, per Ron’s request, on the lower level. It was a huge change being inside a building for an event. There were a few tables to move and some chairs to shove out of the way. Tricia had lots of help on hand to get this stuff done. Once everything was out of all the vehicles, Jo headed home and we got started with our set up. This was going to be tweak as we go because it was all new to us. We got the tables set up, shoved all that we could under the tables and then started working on our displays. Move this or that and then step back to take a look, over and over until we were both satisfied. Tricia stopped by a few times, checking to make sure we didn’t need anything. The doors would open at 10 am and we were ready long before that. As usual, I was restless with nothing to do. Ron loved being ready so early and spent his time walking around talking to the other vendors. He is always on the lookout for new contacts.

The new signs he had made focused on the holiday season and made sure the people walking by could tell who we were and what we had to sell. We had a slow start to the day and for the first 30 minutes, were worried that our day was going to be a bust. Then Ron sold the first log and both took a relieved breath. Being freed from shiitake sautéing left Ron with more ability to grab people’s attention and hawk our goods. His technique might seem a bit, shall we say, brusk, but it is who he is. A wannba carnival barker. But it worked. We sold all 15 of the logs with most of them being that unique gift you are always looking for. I did a little dance every time someone bought one of my stuffed mushrooms and ended up selling more than at any other event.

We had a good day at our first farmer’s market and we will be looking into attending more of them in the future. This was a good first market for us to start with. Tricia did a great job organizing and promoting it. It will be interesting to find out how well our shiitakes will do at one of these markets. The microgreens drew a lot of interest with most being happy to give them a try. We sold a respectable amount, but we are always hopeful that we will start selling more of them at the events we attend. It is all about getting the word out there and then getting people to try them. That surprising burst of flavor is what tends to hook them.

And these ladies really enjoy our microgreens. Being one who hates waste, I found a co-worker who has chickens at her house. So every week or so, I bring a bin full of our leftovers to her and the family has fun feeding them to the girls. Works out well for us as Anna shares with us the odd dozen eggs. And Ron got a great and fun video to post on THF facebook page.

You will be glad to know that I finally finished my sister’s gifts and they will be mailed out this week. Just don’t tell them. I want it to be a surprise.