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Old April 11, 2016   #7
oakley
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
Posts: 2,303
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We like the honor system. It is all over NewEngland, LongIsland. We take many long driving trips up through Maine, on up through Canada. We pass the same ones every year and only stop if they are open. A few that are small but have closed doors with people tending are often shut and we don't usually bother stopping.

If i have to wait for someone to come out of their home...feeling like i've interrupted something...we just never stop at that one again.

Friendly open stands with a shed roof are common. Most have a simple lock box and an open change box next to it. We usually round up and overpay for the convenience. Or add extra coin to help out. The lock boxes are almost always bolted down.

I checked google image and see many ideas as you probably did. You will know what will work in your area. I designed one about ten yrs ago thinking i might try it out but work got way to busy.

If you need more shelter and want an actual building, at least have your produce out and exposed to pass-by. And under a deep overhang to protect from rain/storms.

I can't see my entrance road from my garden and at that time we did have a few bad teens in the area that were witnessed by a neighbor fussing around our barn...very few bad seeds out there.

Paying someone would be much higher cost than a random stolen tomato or 20 bucks. Much more valuable would be to hire a summer vacation teen to help out in the garden and stock the stand. If you are harvesting in the mornings and stocking a few times a day you can empty the box and know quickly how its going.

We have a neighborhood share stand, three sides, deep overhangs that is for freecycle books and magazines and useful items so i have just dropped off my extra harvest there. My fruit trees are mature now and concord grapes are more than we can use...way more rhubarb than i can use. I pass it on the way to work and the rhubarb is always gone the next day...

Check with your SeniorCenter or some neighbors. Maybe some knitters would volunteer on the weekends and sell their winter knitting projects. Our favorite farm stand has added a new addition with local crafts, breads, an herbal bug spray, a cooler with local eggs, milk and cheeses. etc.

Could even end up being a late afternoon/sunset social time with a couple Adirondack chairs, and a freecycle bookshelf. (i don't want a bunch of neighbors in my home but a roadside Sunday afternoon a couple hours could be fun and social).
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