This past weekend, my sister and I attended our first vending event for Shades of Green. Our farmers market business that we started this year.
It was held at a local event called “Sample Sunday” hosted by Prairieland Herbs.
It was the perfect place to get our feet wet before we start selling at the farmers market, hopefully, starting on May 19th.
It was a great, low key event, where we were able to meet kind people and get a feel for this new endeavor.
At the event we sold our homegrown starter plants which my sister has done an amazing job with. From the best potting soil to organic composted amendments, my sister has done a phenomenol job growing strong and healthy heirloom vegetable plants.
Most of my job for this event was baking. I spent most of the day Saturday baking and woke up early Sunday to finish up.
All of our baked goods use all organic ingredients including freshly milled whole wheat flour. They were a hit!
It was great seeing so many people eat up the muffins without even realizing they were eating whole wheat baked goods. Just another reason I love grinding my own grains 😉
For this event I made organic banana muffins filled with a chocolate hazelnut spread (Thanks to Bridget and Bake at 350),
organic mixed berry streusel,
and organic cinnamon roll muffins.
I think I’ll make these same varieties for the market with additional baked goods.
For this event we also sold my batter ingredients for organic, freshly milled pancake mix.
I just know when people make this they’ll want more 😉
Our whole purpose for the farmers market business this year is to just have fun and be a part of our local, real food community. We’re going to take it slow and see how we do.
My older sister is going to join us as well and will probably take over more of my role once my new baby girl is born.
For the market we’ll be selling homemade jams and jellies, fresh chemical free produce from our gardens, baked goods, and natural herbal products.
It’s been a lot of fun coming up with ideas and I just can’t wait to get out there.
I have a question for any experienced vendors that can guide me on baking.
How far in advance do you start baking? Do you make batters ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator? Any advice in this area will be truly helpful 🙂
Thanks to everyone that has supported us this far. I’ll definitely share a post on our first farmers market event. Keep us in your prayers as we set out to have some fun in our community.
We’re still working on our website but feel free to like us on facebook to keep up to date with Shades of Green 😉
wow congrats! i’m wondering about that, too!! my thoughts about it: making batters in advance sounds very helpful, but the baking powder or other rising ingredient will loose its function, or be less active. so maybe spare that out and put in right before baking?
I ran a farmers market. Most of my bakery vendors made and either froze, or refrigerated ahead of time. Some things were par baked and then finished just prior to market. You just don’t want to bake very far ahead of time.
sorry, wasn’t finished 😉 the fresher the baked good, the better it is (depends on what you bake, but most of it) so i would do a timescale (you know your baking times already) and count backwards to find out when to start. i would love to hear what you will do in the end, and how it worked out!!
The summer I sold at the farmer’s market, I did most of my baking the day before or day of (our market was in the afternoon). I would try mixing one batch of batter up, keeping it in the fridge and baking the next day – see if it works? I personally always keep my pancake/waffle batter sitting the fridge for a day or so, and they always taste good…if not better?
Thanks Ally! I think I’m going to try that. The baking powder had me a bit worried but might as well try something this week and see how it goes 😉
Wow! This all looks/sounds great! I sold baked goods at farmer’s markets here in San Diego a few years ago. It was one of the best times of my life! I was a crazy person, however, and made a ton of different stuff from stuffed croissants to pies to cupcakes. I was feed ing my ego more than anything else, and along the way I learned that less is more. To answer your question about how far in advance you can make/bake things…I think that all depends on the things you are making. I would always bake my pies and croissants the day of, however I would have everything ready to go (dough rolled out, fruit cut, croissants shaped). With muffins and cupcakes, I think sometimes they are better the next day, depending on the variety, so I’d make them the day before. Really, you have to just figure it out as you go, and do what works best for you without driving yourself crazy!!! Good luck to you and your sister, and congratulations in advance on your new baby!
Thanks for the suggestions Rachel! I would like to try some pies and see how they sell as well. Thanks!
Well if I lived anywhere near Iowa, I would so buy your things. Everything looks awesome and the labeling (which is always important!) looks great!
Thanks Kim!
Awesome!! Best of luck to you guys…I am anxious to read/hear how it goes for you this year. My husband has been nudging me to get plans in place for selling my chemical-free heirloom plants, produce etc. next year here in Eastern Iowa-he is working on greenhouse ideas etc.-I think we are in the same boat, we live in town as well-we have a large fenced-in yard which is wonderful but we are still confined in the fact that we only have so much space for projects like this!! Your plants & baked goods in the pictures look incredible—Good luck to you & your family!!!
To you as well Steph! I’m anxious to get to the market to see how we do 🙂
Thanks Kathrin and Heather! This will be a learning experience for sure!!
Hi, just wondered if ur sis grew those gorgeous tomatoes in a heated greenhouse? I have been trying to grow, with limited success, heirloom tomatoes mainly for myself an friends. I use organic potting soil an tried liquid sea magic for fertilizer this year an I am in this process of dumping about 100 of my 200 plants. And yes I could just about cry when I think of the work. We had very warm then cold weather and all I have is a small hoop.house that.sits on.my deck. I am thinking the cold stunted an burned them. Thanks for any advice u can give me.
Hi Jenny. Our greenhouse is not heated. We have them growing in a shed turned greenhouse sided with a tough plastic material. (I’m not exactly sure what it’s called) With the odd warm weather we’ve had this year, it’s been able to keep it’s temperature up in the range it needs to be. We’ll see how the weather fairs next year and if we’ll have something different by then. I’m so sorry that you had to get rid of so many plants. That’s heartbreaking. I did have a makeshift small hoophouse at my home which didn’t work as well as the shed. If there’s one thing tomato plants hate, it’s the cold. I wonder if because it was up on your deck that cold air was coming in from below. I’d try putting it right on the ground level next time.
Diana, I must say I’m lucky enough to live in Iowa! I’m a couple of hours from Des Moines and my hubby and I have discussed going to the DM Farmer’s Market rather than the one in Omaha one weekend. Are you there on Saturdays, downtown?
Hi Nikki. Thanks for stopping by! You’re going to love the Des Moines Farmers Market! No, we are definitely not at a size to be able to sell there. This past opening weekend they had an estimated 40,000 people attend. Yeah… it gets busy! So one tip… go early. You live two hours away which makes it difficult but I’m telling you, after 9:30am, you’ll be fighting crowds literally shoulder to shoulder. I’m there every Saturday at 7am. I’m pretty sure we’ll be selling at the Beaverdale Farmers Market which will be held on Tuesday evenings from 5-8pm. Much smaller.
Thank you so much, Diana! I can’t wait to check it all out! 🙂 Omaha has a fabulous Farmer’s Market, but it’s nowhere comparable in size to Des Moines! However, the atmosphere alone is AMAZING! Good luck with your Market endeavors this season!!!
How fun and exciting Diana! I have toyed with the idea of doing the farmers market thing in a year or two here in MN, once our garden is more well established. I always wondered if there were laws about selling food made at home. Any more it seems like the gov. has something to say about everything we sell. For some it can be hard to even trade food. It’s been an issue in MN with all the legal stuff going on surrounding local, sustainable farmers.
I hope you have great success with the farmers market. One of these days I hope to make it to the Des Moines market. My mom drives from Cedar Rapids on occasion to go to it. Next time I’m in town for the weekend, maybe we can head there. Would love to visit you at the farmer’s market too! I hope you and baby are doing well!!!
It’s so good to hear from you Therese! Yes, if you’re EVER in town… contact me, okay 😉 We need to get together as I’d love to hear more about your new homesteading journey. Take care and I can’t wait to hear about your baby news 😉 xoxo!!
Everything looks so simple and fresh! Hope you guys have great success. Obviously, most important is to build relationships with the people who buy your stuff. This is a great opportunity for you guys to speak out about your faith. Don’t be shy!
Also, how did you make the wrap around the cinnamon rolls?! I love it! I find I like baking my cinnamon rolls in muffin pans better… gives me big fluffy rolls ;o)