Re: Farmer's Market dilemma

Seems to me the first thing you need to do is clarify FM policy. What exactly do they consider "home grown"? If competitors are selling patented plants, what assurance do you have that A the plants were not bought in or B were not illegally propagated.
Guess that means I would continue to press my case and pursue the legitimacy of other vendors. It likely means that you will not get a satisfactory resolution this season/year. But it should assure more or less smooth sailing when you apply next year. 


On May 25, 2007, at 2:27 PM, Christopher P. Lindsey wrote:


Hi everyne,

   I'm hear to ask some advice.

   I applied for booth space at the Urbana 'Market at the Square'
   (a farmer's market) hoping to sell last weekend and/or this weekend.

   Unfortunately, they denied my application because they said that
   you're not allowed to sell anything that you have purchased from
   someone else.  I've been going back and forth with them about it,
   trying to understand what that means exactly.  They have several
   other growers there selling patented/trademarked plants, so I know
   that the growers have purchased them from wholesalers.

   Anyhow, they've offered to re-evaluate my application and perform
   another inspection on Thursday, but they still haven't made it clear
   what their policy is.  It could be that I'm not allowed to sell some
   plants that haven't been in inventory for a year, or I can only sell
   plants that I've propagated myself, etc.

   But the real question I'm trying to answer is whether or not it's
   worth it this late in the season.

   The earliest I could sell would be June 2 (or maybe even June 9),
   and I have to commit to 11 weekends at $15 apiece, which is roughly
   every other weekend through November.  That means that to break
   even, I'll need to sell roughly 40 plants over those 11 weekends.
   I'll also need to spend six hours on each of those weekends, using
   up 66 hours of my time.

   Here's my question:

   Will I sell more than 40 plants over 11 weekends this late in the
   season?  Is my time better spent applying those 70 hours getting the
   online store going and getting the stuff ready to mail out a catalog
   next year instead?

   I'm interested in all arguments for and against.  I'm leaning
   towards not doing it because of the timing (how many plants will
   I sell in October?) and trying to invest in the Web site instead.
   I could take the $165 that I would spend for the market and use it
   for Google AdWords, even.

Thanks,

Chris

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.1 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Sunset Zone 25
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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