Congratulations on your first week! Add me to the list of people who marveled at the setting. Ours is under an overpass right off the interstate- they kick the bums out for the morning, and it smells like pee :-D. The offerings sound delicious. There are always people at a farmer's market who don't bother to check whether the food is local, but stands like yours usually develop a following- people who will buy whatever you have that week because they trust the quality. I look forward to hearing about how the next one goes!

I usually give my friend David most of the leftovers, he enjoys them. I did bring home the extra peach pie muffins, Kim took two for work today and I had one for breakfast. I forgot to mention, there was a small cruise in the harbor yesterday (around 100) and I had a nice rush on sales then. I gave out samples of the raspberry bars and I think everyone that tried a sample bought at least one. They also liked the sugar cookies. My cinnamon rolls were already sold out by that time. We will get many bus tours that stop in town during color season, they love to pick up things to nibble on. Charlevoix has been on the color tour stop list for many years. Nancy

Actually it is total business sense if this market was in an uban area. I live in one and go to them but they are totally different than a farm market that sells in bulk. They are not selling to people who put up produce, they are trying to get repeat customers who come in every week to buy a little of this and that for the table. If you want produce to put up, go directly to the farm, or establish a relationship with one of the farmers, call ahead and they will bring in extra to deliver to you. I do this when I want produce for canning. Or, there are actually produce auctions where farmers take the stuff they can't sell as top grade, and that's where you can get some buys if there is a glut. That's the way to put up food economically. You can also buy stuff at a greengrocer although that stuff will almost always be from the west, south or Mexico. Could be good, could not be good, depends on the growing conditions in that part of the country and the shipping circumstances. I imagine it is different in rural parts of the country like where Annie lives and where I was brought up, although it is getting harder and harder to find farms where they grow in bulk, particularly if you want organic. Perhaps a CSC, but urban organic farms are usually small because they are near the urban areas, and they survive by charging prices the upscale urbanites will pay. I'm sure that's what she meant by a "fair" price. The upscale price is probably a 400% markup, but that's the price you pay for farm fresh brought to you in the city. To pay less, you have to go to the farms. Yes, it is tragi-comic, and it does concern me that we have come so far away from basic sustenance. Less than 3% of the population is involved in agriculture and even that figure may drop when the present generation dies out. I imagine it is rather disconcerting when you're idea of a farm market is trucks filled with just picked stuff. Nowdays, the best business plan for a fruit or vegetable farmer is to grow specialty crops, and to sell chi chi varieties in small batches to those who can pay. However, many of the folks I know are more than happy to sell to you for preserving if you let them know what's going on and they can make arrangements outside of the market scene. As a side note, some friends of mine joined a CSA and started to get suspicious when their produce allotment every week looked so carpy, and yet when they went to the farm the stuff in the fields looked pretty good. As it went, the farmer was taking the best stuff to the city farm markets where they could get top dollar for it, and giving the leftovers to the CSA members. It's very hard to come up with a great business model in farming, there are so mnay variables that are almost impossible to predict and control.

Oh, Nancy, I just thought, maybe one of your fish mongers could be there, at least taking orders, since you're right on The Lake? (sigh) I suppose that's wishful thinking but it would sure be nice, you could do your grocery shopping before you ever went home and without going to the store! I've eaten your baked goods and they're better than any I've had at the most upscale of restaurants and fancy bakeries, so I'm sure you will continue to do well. Some people might even like it inside better, not having to worry about weather. lbpod, my library is small and full of books too, but most comunities have civic centers, conference rooms in their city hall, township buildings, etc. I only wish I could convince my small county that a year round farmer's market is a good idea. We have two summer markets in the county and they do a booming business in the summer, it would be nice to find all the vendors in one place in the winter too. We have two permanent farm markets but they close for the winter. One is having "pick your own chestnuts" right now, but that'll end the first week of November, then it will close. I can go pick up local honey, maple syrup, organic locally made cheese, whatever, but it would sure be nice to do it all in one spot, under a roof, in a heated space, and with one of Nancy's cinnamon rolls and a cup of coffee! Annie