Getting ready for the Farmer’s Market

This week we are focusing on getting ready for the Farmer’s Market.  Opening day is this Saturday, May 7th.  I’m excited, I’m nervous.  Trying to be positive in the hopes that we will sell enough to make it all worthwhile.  We will be selling under the Belfire Botanicals banner, this is a representation of what our banner will look like:

Market Banner (pic from my computer screen)

I designed the banner and it is being made by a local company.  They are doing a great job for us…and if you know me, you know I can be pretty anal and picky about stuff like that….LOL.  I am designing and printing all of our product labels and info cards as well.  What do ya’ll think of the Blue Ridge Mountain background?  I found that pic online somewhere years ago and just loved it.  We thought it appropriate since we live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge.

We will be selling as the sign says…LOL…TinMan’s herbal teas and remedies.  Plantain & Thyme tea, Chamomile tea, Stormfyre’s Sweet Dreams tea, Tea of Tranquility, to name a few of them.  Eventually we will be adding some of his tonics and salves.  We will have some potted herbs and veggies ready for planting, some dried herbs and possibly some of my breads for sale as well.   If I can get my act together enough this week to make them!  Currently I have calendula, borage, motherwort, holy basil, cayenne peppers, grindela gumplant and jewelweed (for poison ivy rash…LOL), elacampane, St. John’s Wort, and several more I can’t remember the names of right now.   We will have lots of tomato plants for sale as well.  As the season progresses we will also be selling some of the veggies we have grown.

This year is definitely going to be a learning experience.  I have spent a good portion of time trying to find a local supplier of plant containers.  I’ve researched buying them online but the shipping costs are a killer!  I can get over 500 (I know, that’s a lot, but it’s the least amount in a case) 5 inch round containers for around $80 but the shipping is anywhere from $50-$70.  Makes ordering them online very cost prohibitive.  However, diligence pays off and this morning I finally found a somewhat local farm supply where we can go and buy them and we won’t have to buy case lots of 500.  It’s over the line in NC about an hour from here but it will be cheaper and quicker to go get them than to pay for shipping.

I also know that I am wanting a bigger greenhouse (already…LOL) so I can get started earlier in the year next year.  I love planting the seeds and watching them grow.  I hope that next year we can have an even bigger presence at the market as a plant seller.

Okay…tired of fighting it…LOL.  As I am writing this blog (and on most days whenever I’m sitting here at the computer) my cat has come to join me, right in front of my laptop.  Today she is very insistent and wants to say hello to ya’ll…..everyone meet Callie Cat…..

Callie Cat

She is very persistent today, will not move….LOL.  I put her down, she bounces right back up!  Isn’t she cute?  Her Charlie Chaplin face and those big eyes….most of the time she looks like a deer caught in the headlights.  She and her sister Rebel are constantly into stuff as all kittens should be….smile.  They have just turned a year old last month.  Callie is a snuggler and Rebel is a touch-me-not….too funny, cats and their personalities.  I could do a whole blog on that 🙂

Okay, cat snuggled in….what else are we up to on the farm?

Fence posts going up around the front bed

Well, we got the posts for the fences that we are putting in around the garden beds.  TinMan started sinking those this past week and he has almost finished getting them around one of the beds.  He is sinking them by hand, using a post hole digger.  Know anyone with an auger?  That is one tool that is going on the farm wish list for equipment.  That is one thing about farming….the equipment needs are many and the costs for it is well….right now out of everyone’s budget.

While he has been busy sinking posts I have been planting.  I have put in a salad patch with carrots, red and green romaine lettuce, a tangy and sweet mesculin mix, butterbib lettuce, radishes, chives and some spring bunching onions.  I’ve planted over a hundred green and red cabbages.  Garden peas.  Put in 4 more rows of corn, silver queen and a peaches and cream heirloom variety.   The first few rows of corn and cucumber seeds that I planted are starting to shoot up out of the dirt.  Our potatoes have come up and are looking great.  The squash and zucchini are also growing well.  I will be heading outside in a bit, the potatoes need hilling up along with the squash and zucchini.  I’m going to get a workout doing it too….despite all of the heavy rain last week the ground is hard as a rock.  We have great dirt, but also lots of that good ole wonderful southern red clay.  We are due for rain tonight and tomorrow,  and if I don’t get the ground turned over all the water will just wash out around the plants.

Oh, guess what I heard the other evening when I was out in the field?  A Bob-White….haven’t heard a bob-white call in years.  We have lots of birds around here…I love birds, they are amazing creatures.  We need to get some more feeders and some hummingbird feeders too.  Ah well, that is another tangent I could head off on today 🙂

Well, it’s 11:11 am….hmmm.  I guess I need to get moving and head on outside.  Lots to do.  See ya’ll later!

Blessings, Storm