What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

Never been a fan of turnips but the greens I could use in a salad

Turnips have been a surprise for us. Some are very mild. We like them more than radishes for fresh eating.

 

[Acre4Me]

Wh

Yours look Amazing!!!! Why??? we did the exact same thing,,, I dont get it,,,

OK, I am going to RE-SEED again

That happened to us last year. We had a hard time getting them to grow at this time of the season. Soil? Heat? Not sure. I do know they don’t like a lot of heat. Aren’t you in NW, around Puget Sound? Intense heat there last weekend.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

That happened to us last year. We had a hard time getting them to grow at this time of the season. Soil? Heat? Not sure. I do know they don’t like a lot of heat. Aren’t you in NW, around Puget Sound? Intense heat there last weekend.

well and I am watering right now and thinking, maybe my soil drains to good , we only had heat for 4 days and we are back to a high of 70ish and a low of 55,58ish

 

[Grandmas Coop]

Never been a fan of turnips but the greens I could use in a salad

They are very nutritious

 

[pennyJo1960]

Oh should have seen me last night old rat killer me.
Closed the pop door looked left there was rat staring at me had my CO2 pistol shot it like three times. Ran for it life outside I followed with a hard rake, Pinned the thing called BF he came in with a channel lock picked it up said Wow got a big one there. Guess i leaned on the rake hard enough to kill it.

 

[WthrLady]

I went down to the farmers market today to set up. Only sold about $20 and half of that came from one of my regular customers. Our farmers market is barely 2 months old... They keep asking me to stick with it but there were three booths (including me) selling eggs. I also brought some squash and cut sunflowers. The squash didn't do too bad but another lady set up a toy box full of fresh cut flowers including a TON of Sunflowers. So much for that idea.... I told DH that we would do better with some food items. He responded to a link to the Cottage Laws (remember he is a health inspector who has to inspect places like these....). He ended up showing up and busting the guy next to me who had his eggs out on a table. I know he is just doing his job and trying to keep people safe but I felt a bit mortified that he was connected to me. Just feels a bit like a conflict of interest... The guy was really nice about it. He did say he couldn't sell them... Just that they have to stay chilled.

And that's why I don't sell much anymore. I'm following the rules, including licensing fees, classes and their fees(cottage license cost me $65 alone and the class was really meant for restaurant food handlers- so I'm good there now too I suppose), battery operated chillers, new cartons, fresh bags, detailed food labels, and fly by nights are just shoving things on a table in a ziploc and making money. Well SURE they are. I have 63 cents per dozen eggs JUST in new carton and labeled required labels (and that's wholesale cartons) and then there is supplies to clean them and keep them cold, including a remote alarm thermometer to track cooling history and status.

Then there is the baked good side. Same deal. People want fresh and fancy wrapped. Well that doesn't come cheap. By the time I'm done doing up a batch of 4 inched iced sugar cookies, wrapped beautifully, and legally and properly labeled, they're $2 EACH. I can get city dwellers to pay that, but not many. And at $24 a dozen I'm breaking even, or loosing with time and materials.

My neighbor scoffed at a Giant farm loaf of my breaded egg, 100% whole wheat bread being 10$. UM it's a two pound loaf. It's HUGE. I grind my own grain FRESH for every loaf. There are no preservatives in it. There is NO processed white flour at all in it. No chemicals. I bake it when it's ordered. It's as light as a cloud, tastes amazing, and I have to be here and interrupted every hour for 4 hours when one loaf is ordered. :::Grumbling as she's lecturing me on the cost of things while holding a giant $6 cup of iced coffee from the mermaid people:::

::Rant over::
Sorry it's been one of those weeks, where I'm working myself to the bone and feel I have nothing to show for it but a tired, old, broken body and and a crushed soul.

 

[TJAnonymous]

And that's why I don't sell much anymore. I'm following the rules, including licensing fees, classes and their fees(cottage license cost me $65 alone and the class was really meant for restaurant food handlers- so I'm good there now too I suppose), battery operated chillers, new cartons, fresh bags, detailed food labels, and fly by nights are just shoving things on a table in a ziploc and making money. Well SURE they are. I have 63 cents per dozen eggs JUST in new carton and labeled required labels (and that's wholesale cartons) and then there is supplies to clean them and keep them cold, including a remote alarm thermometer to track cooling history and status.

Then there is the baked good side. Same deal. People want fresh and fancy wrapped. Well that doesn't come cheap. By the time I'm done doing up a batch of 4 inched iced sugar cookies, wrapped beautifully, and legally and properly labeled, they're $2 EACH. I can get city dwellers to pay that, but not many. And at $24 a dozen I'm breaking even, or loosing with time and materials.

My neighbor scoffed at a Giant farm loaf of my breaded egg, 100% whole wheat bread being 10$. UM it's a two pound loaf. It's HUGE. I grind my own grain FRESH for every loaf. There are no preservatives in it. There is NO processed white flour at all in it. No chemicals. I bake it when it's ordered. It's as light as a cloud, tastes amazing, and I have to be here and interrupted every hour for 4 hours when one loaf is ordered. :::Grumbling as she's lecturing me on the cost of things while holding a giant $6 cup of iced coffee from the mermaid people:::

::Rant over::
Sorry it's been one of those weeks, where I'm working myself to the bone and feel I have nothing to show for it but a tired, old, broken body and and a crushed soul.

I understand... I have a good job and make a good salary. I'm not doing this for the money but mostly to break even on feed costs for my chickens alone. I also do it so my daughter can learn about being an entrepreneur... But not at the cost of being upside down. My time is far more valuable than that.... I do need to get rid of these eggs or end up throwing them out. I'm not trying to quit my day job.... Just break even on a micro level.

 

[WthrLady]

I understand... I have a good job and make a good salary. I'm not doing this for the money but mostly to break even on feed costs for my chickens alone. I also do it so my daughter can learn about being an entrepreneur... But not at the cost of being upside down. My time is far more valuable than that.... I do need to get rid of these eggs or end up throwing them out. I'm not trying to quit my day job.... Just break even on a micro level.

Exactly. But even the micro level isn't free. Time is money, even.
I'm upside down on eggs because Nature Mart in town sells organic eggs now for 99 cents a dozen to get people in the door, and I think Whole Paycheck matches if they are carrying the same brand that week, or even if you ask the manager will cut you a break to keep you from going across the street. They loose money on the eggs, but make up for it in other places.
Even the farmer's market people can't sell out their eggs anymore.

I sell my eggs for 3.50 a dozen and that includes a weekly route delivery my customer's have to be OK with. I combine that route with other things in that area so as not to eat it on gas $.
I dropped one customer that would treat me like eggs on demand. 3.50 for the dozen eggs, 20 mile round trip. Gas and time ALONE on the dirt road was 3.50, then the carton, label and cleaning. Pfft.
All of our farmer's markets, even in the small villages, have a sign up/selection process. The committees make sure there isn't any one item being over sold so that people have choices, and there is always a fee to be there. And there is a preference given to those that LIVE in the village. Makes it tough to sell things IN season, when EVERYone has corn, tomatoes, peas at the same time. Usually it's two or three tents, for hours in the hot sun. All the markets usually end up being junk sales after a couple of years, as farmers have more important things to do with their day than sit around a wait for customers.

I was a seller at one lady's business to help draw customers to her place, my customers went there because I was there and then shopped her sales. Then she started taking 30% of my sales. UM...'scuse me?!? I was even or at a loss to start with. .

 

[pennyJo1960]

Guess I am small potato then .. I never really deliver people come here and I am 4 a dozen and 6 for 18

 

[Grandmas Coop]

Oh should have seen me last night old rat killer me.
Closed the pop door looked left there was rat staring at me had my CO2 pistol shot it like three times. Ran for it life outside I followed with a hard rake, Pinned the thing called BF he came in with a channel lock picked it up said Wow got a big one there. Guess i leaned on the rake hard enough to kill it.

OUTSTANDING!!
a 22cal air rifle would nail that sucker