Community Corner
Uncle Buck's Garden Secrets: Farmer Math
Veteran apple/vegetable/flower farmer Randy Brown says in farming, sometimes two is less than one.
Every once in a while, despite the best intentions and planning, a crop is ready far from the intended harvest date, or there is a bumper crop and just too darn much of something.
This has happened to me before, and I learned the hard way that when it comes to produce and plants at farmers markets, lowering the price seldom increases sales, you just make less money.
What does work, is the old standby of "buy one/get one", either at a fraction of the first or free altogether, thus accomplishing the intended result—not having to throw the extras away.
Nothing bothers me more than having to dispose of perfectly good flowers or produce, and timing or availability does not always make it possible to hook up with a food pantry or some other willing donation recipient.
Today is one of those days.
I grew too many tomato baskets, big, heavy, full of ripe golf ball tomatoes, they are starting to get on my nerves.
They are everywhere in the greenhouse, on the plant hangers, in the cold frame, at my relatives.
On top of that, three of my lily plantings all flowered at once, creating a double whammy of abundance.
Now, the flowers are easy, we just make the bouquets bigger until the glut is over and they advertise themselves with bountiful blossoms bursting from the vases. But those tomatoes, what to do with the tomatoes...
We have been selling them for $40, (they are quite large) and sales have been good, but I'm done.
There will be no more tomatoes going home with me after market.
So it'll be one basket for $40, two baskets $35.
But no fair buying two and leaving one. You have to carry them both away to get the deal.
Keep on growing.
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Randy Brown, a.k.a. Uncle Buck, sells insurance by necessity and grows flowers by choice here in New Canaan. Look for his chronicles of life as a suburban farmer each Wednesday and tips for your gardening adventures weekdays in New Canaan Patch. Look for his flowers at Walter Stewart's and the New Canaan Farmers Market. Contact him at unclbk@aol.com.
