Farmer's Market - First Week

Last Saturday was my first time at the local farmer's market.  I had a lot of fun and learned a ton.  It was also exhausting! 

 I had three days off from work right before the market, so I worked on making up a lot of products to take to the market.  Things like lotions, scrubs, bath whip and bath melts.  I wasted a TON of time making solid bubble bath bars - it was/is a giant failure.  I will get the recipe right eventually though!  It made great bubble bath - just a little lacking in the 'solid' part!

I should have spent more time making lotion.  I ended up only taking hazelnut coffee creme and sold out very quickly.  

It was interesting to see what people bought.  The things that I think are amazing - didn't sell!  LOL!  Like this rainbow soap.  It's so pretty!  I didn't sell a single bar.  However, oatmeal, milk and honey?  It doesn't look like much, but everyone wanted a bar.  

Other things:  Very important to have a "sniffy" bar out for people to handle and....sniff!  I was sure people would love these Gardener's soap.  But I didn't have a bare bar out for people to handle and I sold - zero of the gardener's soap.  Coffee soap, however?  Sold out!  I have to make some more now.

My signage needs work.  99% of the people didn't see my sign, even when they were standing right in front of it.  They would still ask - how much are these?

People will pay $20 for 5 bars of soap - after they think about it for a while.

They will grab 4 oz of lotion for $10 with out pausing.  

'Doh bring business cards!  One of those things I ran out of time to do.  I really needed business cards.  This next week I plan on putting my business cards with a small soap sample.

People like to get a little something when they 'check out'.  I had white paper bags that I put purchases into and I would tuck a soap saver in with their soap.  People really liked that!   I also put a copy of a brochure from the handmade soap guild, but I only had 10 copies and I ran out pretty fast.  Next time more copies!

Never sit down.  I stood the entire 5 hours and greeted people with a friendly word, smile (I smiled SO much) and say something about your product like, "These handmade soaps make great gifts!"  

This next Saturday will be my last week at the market, so I hope it goes well!  

Even with all the mistakes I made: I sold a lot and I was VERY happy with the amount that I made.  If I had sold any more I wouldn't have enough for this next week!  

Can Jam June: Cherry Spice Jelly

I'm too late for the Can Jam round-up, but I wanted to share my creation for the Can Jam challenge. It was inspired by my recent trip to the Spice Market in Seattle.

Cherry Spice Jelly

64 oz cherry juice

4 Tbs "Market Spice" loose tea

tea bag

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

1 cup sugar

In a large saucepan bring cherry juice and tea to a boil. Remove tea bag, add pectin and return to a boil. Add sugar and return to a hard boil that can not be stirred down. Pour into prepared jars and process for 10 mins. in a boiling water bath canner.

What do you do when you have a 5 gallon bucket of frozen cherries?

Pit them.....

...................... and make jam!

In the pic above you can see a couple of my souvenirs from our trip to Washington. I like to buy milk in glass bottles while I'm on vacation and then bring the glass bottle home as a souvenir. They come in handy, holding homemade juices, broths and iced tea.

You can also see the tea I bought at the Public Market in Seattle at the Spice Market. It has cinnamon oil in it, which adds a sweet, but not sugary flavor to the jelly.

Putting the tea in a tea bag.

Cherry juice and tea bag.

Finished jelly.

It is very tart, but has a sweet cinnamon aftertaste. It tastes like the perfect essence of cherries.

Pike's Market: Savor Seattle Tour Part 2

Pike's Market - Savor Seattle Tour cont.

Amazing selection of pastas. We bought a few and sampled some chocolate linguine. Hmmm? Very different.
Mom and me by a flower stall.

Flowers!

I wanted to buy them all!

Yum!

Look at the size of these shrimp!

We stopped for a break at the Crumpet Shop and had many, many cups of tea, a crumpet with butter and honey and plenty of people watching.

Mural at the Crumpet Shop.

Mom buying some fruits and vegetables from Frank's Market.

We bought some smoked fish here.

Mom and me resting and drinking some more Market Spice tea with our new Market Spice bags.

Mom and Dad.

After all that food what could be better than a nice piece of gum?

Preferably not ABC gum!

Mom and Dad.

Dad and me.

Chickens! Yay!

This shop had all kinds of eggs - duck, quail, goose and chickens.

These are a few of the delicious things we bought (and ate!).

This butter was so, so good. We bought 2 tubs (in 6 days) and ate every bit.

Black velvet plums. So sweet!

A little collage.

Challenge: Can you make a meal from the above ingredients?

Sea beans. These were awesome. Just don't microwave them. They have sea salt ('cause they're from the sea) and the salt sparks in the micro.

Rainer cherries. Really amazing eaten on the beach.

Kumquats. My new favorite food. You want to kill yourself while you're eating them, because they are sour, but then they are sweet and ahhhhh delish and you want to eat another one. And another one and another one.....

Mangoes.

Mom making dinner. Yum!

Morels in sage butter. So, so good. Like vegetarian bacon fat. Crispy, chewy and salty.

Dad and me enjoying our sage butter morels.

Market Spice 'um spices? Tea and nice little tea bags and yeah spices too.

Bread, cheese and tomatoes.

Ah, dinner view!