[PureHarvest]

Van, you are on the right track. I made the comments somewhere here on TV last year that I am done with heirlooms and most likely tomatoes for commercial production. For as much hype as I can find about heirlooms on the web or in print, I just don't see the translation here for sales. Not to mention how much headache they have been to get a good marketable yield. I tried to follow AKMark's advice and posts, but I think my climate precludes me from getting his results. Then Big Beef was my best tasting and producing tomato last year, and I thought, what am I doing chasing all these heirloom tomatoes? And quite frankly, why am I even trying to be a tomato grower at all?
Cole's points are dead-on. I was in Fresh Market in October last fall, and there they were: "heirlooms". SOOOO obvious it was the heirloom knock offs. They were even marketing the runt sized ones that didn't size up during production (about 2-3 ounce size) and they were labeled/branded as 'Baby Heirlooms'.
Then last week, I see the big guru grower in NY at Neversink Farms on Youtube and he loves the heirloom hybrids from Johnny's. The market, like everything else these days, is now so clouded up, and a battle will have to be fought to win and retain educated customers. No thanks.
With all that being said, in some ways I think all that is good business sense. Sell what the market wants.
But then the other part of me is like, no thanks. If I'm not proud about it, I'd just rather not produce it/sell it.
For me, like Cole said, there is too much current to fight at this point. Everyone loves the idea of niches, until it comes time to pony up. Saw the same thing happen when I did pastured poultry. Did we sell them? Yes. Did our customer's love us? Yes. Could the niche sustain my family? NO. Was it a constant battle of marketing and exhausting customer education? Yes.
I know, I can hear someone now, "welcome to business", or "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it". I get that. I work my ★★★ off between a full time job and 3 kids, and another 20 hrs. plus a week trying to be a grower (that is my new self-given title, not a farmer). But at some point, like you said Van, ideology goes out the window. The tricky part is not letting your morals and ethics go with it.
So, I like many of y'all, am going to do things that allow me to enjoy the process and product. I want to get more for my time spent. I am trying to be more of a grower rather than a farmer. I feel like that encompasses more of what I do.
I too am doing flowers, but for cuts. I have 576 Karma Dahlia cuttings coming in May, am going to plant 4 different types of coneflower plugs (360total) for cutting, and am going to direct sow sunflowers starting in April (eventually 1,200 plants).
The sunflower seeds and Echinacea plugs are cheap. The Dahlias are not, but nothing ventured nothing gained. I grew flowers way before I started with veggies, so it's not much of a leap. I am not worried about marketing all of them. I just want to get a season under my belt.
I showed pictures of the 'Magnus' coneflower growing in my pollinator planting last summer (where I got the idea of growing Echinacea for cuts) to a florist, and she said "where did you get those?!, bring me some buckets!" They were so easy to grow. Put down fabric, burned holes and planted. That's it. No fert, no spray. 6-12 stems could have been cut from a 68 cent cutting that was 3" tall when I planted it.
I have a couple of Florists in mind and there is a huge regional distributor a couple hours away. That would be a long term goal if I like the way this goes.

Sorry for hijacking this Van. It was a long-winded way of saying keep doing what works for you and forget all the hype.
The hard part is when you are pressing the efforts because you are trying to leave a full-time job. You push so hard, and try to get it all right and figuring it all out so you can speed up that process and get on the farm full-time. I've been there.
It will help make you better all around if you keep your head right and get wise along the way and your eyes open up, like it sounds like you are experiencing.
I was finally able to acquire a full-time career type of position that is fulfilling, so I was able to step off the treadmill of attempting small scale farming full-time. Now I am just trying to grow so I can afford to live the lifestyle I want to provide for my family.
May this be your best season ever. The landrace is interesting. I need to read up on that.
I will be back to check in with this thread as the season goes on.