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Old June 26, 2011   #29
Wi-sunflower
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 2,591
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One thing about any of the above suggestions is to see what IS already being offered at your market.

If others are selling bags of cut lettuce and micro greens, don't try the micro lettuce sprouts. People won't buy that when they can get the big grown in the ground stuff.

I'm also finding that there is a window of opportunity for "sprouts" in general. I sold a lot last week. But because there is more "real" produce available now, this week it just sat there.I think late in the fall and if you have an indoor market, during winter and then again really early spring are the windows for sprouts.

In the past I've also sold the radish pods. If they are picked at the proper time they have the consistency of sugar snap peas but the flavor of radishes. Great addition to a salad or stir fry. I have a couple of restaurant customers that pickle them too. I usually cut the bunches and band a couple together and sell them that way. But this week at our Wed market it was SLOW due to rain so Mom took them off the cluster and we sold them in cups like berries or pea pods. Even tho we sold them for more than twice the price they sold as fast as we could pick them.

On the way home Sat we had to do our "rough count" of our take twice because the first count seemed way too good for what little we had. But it was right due to ALL the radish pods we sold. Mom was picking them all day and Ray and I were "hyping" them til we were both about horse from offering samples. But the samples really sold them.

Radish pods are an odd and unpredictable crop. If the weather isn't right they will get hard in a day or 2 and you won't be able to sell them. This week it was easy picking because we had cool wet weather and they had just plumped up. Next week we will have to be careful to only get the green pods and not any that are too "lumpy" or yellow as those are dry and awful. But we should have at least another picking from this planting and we have several more plantings coming.

The thing is, you have to constantly change your products as other try to do the same things you do. But sometimes you luck out as we did this weekend.

Carol
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