Knapps Fresh Vegies Seeds

[Wi-sunflower]

Yes, the trip was wonderful, tho it could have been twice as long.

While I've wanted to take a cruise, DH has always resisted. And with all the news this last year of cruise ships coming home because of Noro-virus, I think it might be good to wait til they get their acts together on all that.

Actually my cart is rather basic. No inventory at all, but I usually have plenty of most seed varieties. I can print out packing slips easily. And the cart auto sends the customer an order receipt. Sending the "in the mail" email isn't so easy, but not all that difficult. I have a program I like for making labels with varieties and info in a database so I can easily print those. But I just hand print the mailing info on the envelopes.

The postage is a bit of a PITA. I take everything to the post office a couple of times / week. That's because a few years ago when the USPS upped rates, they also changed how they classify bubble envelopes and anything sent with a customs form. The bubble packs I use are no longer classed as a "letter", even tho they are only 6x10, but as a "package".

So now I use paper catalog envelopes or invitation envelopes, with cardstock and paper toweling on smaller orders, since THOSE will still ship as a letter. I do that not for the cheaper postage, but to keep the things in the "letter" box rather than in the "parcel" box. That's because the PO has been doing random "scans" of packages looking for illegal Rx drugs. But those scans CAN kill the seeds or reduce germination a lot. They aren't as bad as after 9/11, but they do hurt the seeds.

The international thing really sucks now. Basically everything I've sent with a customs form on it, no matter how small, gets charged as a "parcel". A 6x10 plastic bubble envelope, weighing less than 2 oz, to Canada was over $6. So if I can make an international order look like a card or letter and not use the customs form, I now do.

For me, the hardest part has been just getting myself motivated to get to work some days. But I'm working on that too.

Carol

[topazgirl170]

For WI -Sunflower, I am sorry to hear about the passing of your mother.

I am a Wisconsinite and I was wondering will be selling plants in Madison or Milwaukee this spring?

[Wi-sunflower]

Yes we will have plants at the Madison market at the Capitol every Sat starting the beginning of May.

We also have the plants set up in the driveway here in West Bend in a self-serve sales area.

We've been looking for a place in the Milwaukee area for several years since a market we did moved locations and the new place wouldn't allow plants (competing with them). If you know any place other than 7 Mile Fair, please let me know. I would prefer some place outside of Milwaukee city limits tho as Milwaukee licenses you to death.

Oh we do go to the St Martin's Fair on the first Monday and will have the plants there for May and June if the weather is decent. Last year we missed May due to the weather and the plants weren't ready.

Carol

[topazgirl170]

Thanks WI-Sunflower. I'll definitely be heading to Madison in May.

What about the West Allis Farmer's Market?

[Wi-sunflower]

I sold at West Allis for over 20 years. But as far as I know, they are strictly a season only market. In other words you have to buy a stall for the whole season. You can't come just as you need to.

We quit WA when their stall prices got out of sight about 15+ years ago. Also a big problem there was that while there are supposed to be a "producer only" market, there was so much cheating that on any given Saturday, at least 1/2 of the stuff being sold came either from the downtown commission vendors or the big wholesale grower in Kenosha. A couple of the biggest vendors were the worst offenders but many of the Hmongs were too. If you complained at all, they would nit-pick YOUR stuff and try to get rid of YOU.

I finally had enough of all that and gave it up.

Hubby had been doing a Wed market in Brown Deer and we did well with the plants there until the market moved locations. Actually the new location right on Brown Deer rd was great EXCEPT for plants. It was in the Lowes parking lot and Lowes didn't want plants as competition. When Lowes went out, they had to find another location. They moved around a couple of times the last 2 years and that hurt as customers couldn't find them. Word is that Wal-mart is taking over the Lowes store and the market will be back there. But I doubt they will allow plants either.

Frankly I wouldn't mind finding some lot somewhere that would allow just me to set-up for Sunday afternoons. It would need to be near some high traffic area. I was thinking the Cabela's up here, but we checked it out last summer and the traffic patern is so goofy there that people would never be able to get to a small independent stand. I want to look in the Falls area, but probably the "Germantown" part a bit north on Appleton ave as I doubt the Falls would like me competing with their Farmers markets. I've looked into them and they are "full".(at least that's the line I always get) Some markets it's who you know to be able to get in.

Carol

[jmsieglaff]

Hi Carol,

Do you sell a lot of the tomatoes you grow in a given year at the Madison's Farmer's Market? It would be nice to try some varieties I have interest in growing but would take many years to try them all in my limited space. When will you be doing your sowing?

Justin

[Wi-sunflower]

Hi Justin,

Generally we don't take many of our larger tomatoes to the market because Madison won't let us sample anything that needs to be cut. Heirlooms don't always look perfect so often people won't buy them unless they can taste them. So mostly we just take lots of our small stuff since we can offer a "sample" of any of them without cutting.

If you have some time tho this summer you could visit the farm and wander the planting and sample all kinds of varieties. We had a Tomato Day for 2 summers to do just that, but it was just too much work to continue it on our own.

I should be starting seeds now. I will do some this week. But I want plants a bit larger than the homeowner would want for his own plants. We need plants reasonably decent sized by the beginning of May. I germinate in an upstairs bedroom that I can keep extra warm. That saves me at least 2 weeks of trying to keep the greenhouse warm. Especially important this year and because we heat with 1 of those outside wood water stoves.

I sure hope things warm up here soon. I'm getting so sick of zero.

Carol

[jmsieglaff]

Thanks Carol, I will keep that in mind, but you're right it does seem like that is years away at this point. I'll be sowing peppers in about 3 weeks or so and tomatoes ~March 30. I usually start my broccoli and lettuce ~March 10--but if I still have 18-24" of snow on my garden then, I might delay a week or so.

[topazgirl170]

@wi-sunflower. Thanks for the information about the farmer's market.

I can tell you that when I purchase items from the West Allis Market, I feel that some of the folks there are not friendly and don't really seem to want to answer questions about their products.

For example, last year I bought some patty pan squash. I had never tried it before so I asked the seller "how do I prepare it"? She just looked at me like I had egg on my face and said like any other veggie.

I'll come to see you at the Madison market. I've never been to the Madison Market. I heard it is a real treat.

Shame about Brown Deer Farmer's Market being relocated. I don't have an idea where it will be this year. American is going out of business. Also, I don't if you heard that Pacific Produce relocated to Hampton/Appleton Ave in Milwaukee.

Also, Whole Foods will be opening a store on 112th Burleigh in Wauwatosa by 2016.

[Wi-sunflower]

We had heard that the Brown Deer market was going to be back at the location of the old Lowes. But that was before this American thing and lots of "stuff" can happen over winter. Especially with the manager of that market. We'll see on that one.

I'm not familiar with Pacific Produce but having a Whole Foods near by might be interesting.

A Sendik's moved in here in West Bend about 2 years ago. I need to see if they buy local. If we could sell our winter squash and possibly other things thru them, that would help a lot. I think Hubby and I need to talk about that.

Thanks for the info,
Carol

[Wi-sunflower]

Some info for seed customers --

These last 2+ months since my Mom died have been rather hard for me. I totally lost January.

Right now, I'm doing my best to get orders out in a couple of days. But I do still have a few bad days when I just kind of space out and can't get anything done. So a few orders are taking about a week or so.

Hopefully as the weather improves, so will my attitude toward everything.

Thanks for understanding,
Carol

[Dutch]

Hi Carol,
Wishing you the best and looking forward to the weather improving too. I hope to see you at St. Martins Market in May. I think I'm going to start some eggplant seeds today, they are usually pretty slow to germinate. I hope that El Niño returns this year so that weather the patterns come in more from the west. Take care.
Dutch

[Wi-sunflower]

Thanks Dutch, See you there.


Around the end of December I did germination tests on some of my older seeds just to see how there were doing. I am pleased to say that more than 40 out of 68 varieties were still at 80% or better even tho they are 4 or 5 years old now.

Of those that were below 80%, only 2 were REALLY low so I took them off the site til I can grow new seed. The rest were over 50% but under 80% so I listed them as LG for Low Germination and you will get a double sized pack on those.

I did a quick update on the web site for those changes.

Carol

[Geezer]

Just placed my first order with Knapp's. so many varities, so little space.......

[Wi-sunflower]

And that was quite an order, WOW.

It will be about a week til I can get that out to you.

I'm doing my best, but my health has been up and down like a yo-yo this year. I guess I overdid it a bit last weekend working on my own seeding and some greenhouse clean-up, so I've had a few down days as I crashed on Wednesday.

I got out most of the smaller orders yesterday, but my head was too "fuzzy" to do bigger orders. I'm too afraid I'll make a mistake on the order. As it is yesterday I almost put seed in the wrong packet. Fortunately it was only a 2 pack order and I caught it as I had the wrong packet in my hand. I would almost rather be "laid up" than this weird fuzzy headed, ADD feeling I've had lately.

Carol