One season down

     After a lot of hard work, from planting seedlings and building bees boxes to picking and distributing hundreds of pounds of vegetables and gallons of honey, one season has passed.  It was not always easy.  In fact, it was almost never easy.  There was a lot to learn and even more to do.  Alicia and I did a lot of planning and really had no idea what to do or where to start.  How does one just know what everyone wants at a farmer’s market?  And how does one even get that far?

     There are many challenges to consider when starting to market produce or any type of goods to the public.  How much do you need?  Will they buy it?  How much will they pay?  How do we make them notice what we have over someone else?  Then one must consider how much he can sanely manage to care for?  There is planning for what and where to grow, how to control weeds, how to care for (trellis, prune, etc.) the plants, picking and packaging the finished product, and how to pay for it all.  It is easy to throw your hands up and let it all go, but if one does his best, he can make it all happen.

     I had ambitions of planting an acre of corn, two hundred tomato plants of 20 varieties, hundreds of feet of vines for beans, peas, and cucumbers but let’s be realistic.  There is only so much time in a day.  The commercial farmers make it look easy.  They have huge tractors with every type of equipment that has been developed over a hundred years, plus the use of several types of chemicals to make it all just work.  Most of us are not that fortunate starting out.

     There is definitely a sense of achievement to be found when looking back at a season of growing completed; especially when everything was done without the aid of all of the modern conveniences of chemicals and heavy equipment.  Controlling weeds was probably our biggest challenge.  It seemed as though the task was never ending but through it all there was much gained in relationships, knowledge of nature, and confidence in self from being a part of the Twin Towns Gardeners’ Market.

    To grow for a market one must first consider the time that he has to devote to the project.  I spent 20 to 40 hours per week working at all of the tasks on top of working a full time job.  Each phase has its challenges.  As one phase ends another is typically beginning, such as the transition between planting and maintaining the garden.  When planting, you must have place to for everything which even when mapped out ahead of time tends to morph into a new form.  As soon as some of the items have been transitioned from either a seed packet or a window sill to the garden, the plants already in the ground will need to be weeded to keep the roots from getting too deep.  When everything is in the ground one will have to start to trellis and prune what is growing.  Then, of course, there are more weeds to pull or hoe.  There are always more weeds.

     While hoeing one realizes that he needs to make boxes to sell the produce and then there is a table, a sign, a cash box….  It just keeps going.  And guess what so do you. 

How things got started...

     One season has passed since I started the putting my skills and curiosity to work for the community.  My desire to grow things and to be part of a community has taken the twist into reality through Jake and Arielle's creation of the Twin Towns Gardeners' Market.

    In 2007, I bought a small 6 acre farm near Wyndmere, ND with visions of growing fruit and vegetables like my family did as I was growing up in central MN.  My visions at the time were with the intent to grow for my own family not exactly to grow for the public, but it is funny how life can turn in a new direction at a moments notice.

     When I started a garden of my own in 2007, I picked a twenty foot square plot of my lawn were I planted potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, onions, some greens, and a few other things.  I had to peel the sod off and till the ground with a shovel because that was the extent of the tools I had.  Needless to say there were a several blisters formed and many gallons of water consumed before the initial step was complete.  I planted the seeds and plants as my parents and grandparents had showed me when I was growing up.  The season ended with plenty of goods to eat.  The next season, I used the same plot, again with success other than more weeds than I cared to ever see.  I was graced with a bounty of potatoes and ripe tomatoes, but something was missing. 

     When I was growing up, we had many fruit trees and grapes.  Between my parents dairy farm and my grandparents place next to ours, we had a selection of about 10 apple varieties, chokecherries, plums, and currants.  Every year I would learn more about the trees and how they grew - I was hooked. In 2009, I took a stab at it.  I planted four varieties of apples, a couple peach trees, some pears, cherries, and plums.  To top it off, I planted three varieties of grapes in a small trellis system I made. 

     By now, I had an inkling of starting a small farmer's market stand.  Where else would all of my fruit go?  It was more than one person can eat or even give away in a small town.  Another year went by some trees made it to the next season and others did not.  I planted some varieties of trees that were a stretch for the area and probably didn't give them the attention they needed.  By this time, I had been introduced to the idea of starting a market in Wahpeton with Jake and Arielle.  And so it all began....