| MaineFarmer - 1/2/2026 09:31
Interesting,maybe the softee syndrome is coming west.We decided when given the cold shoulder that we would focus our efforts at our of the beaten path farm market.It worked well.Our tag line on most radio /tv ads sticks it to the flea market type markets.."Beths ,,A REAL farmers market",,this was brought about by the unwelcome mat they laid out ..
It hasn't come with issues in the past. The banner we put on the back of our tent says "We sell only what we grow." There have been a couple over the years that go to local amish produce auctions and buy and resell things at the market. They tried to deny it but we were at the auction selling some surplus sweet corn that week and saw them loading produce into their truck.
As far as the u-pick, it seems to be cyclical. We've been in strawberries since 1995, up to around 2005ish we started to notice a drop in picking volume. 2008 and stock market issue, volume picking returned. 2016ish, it started to trend down slowly. 2020, it flew back to pick large volume and I didn't grow enough. 2024 and 2025 have started same trend of slowing. 2025 can't be said definitive because yields down because of Neo-P disease that ran through strawberry industry. |
2025 Photos
