Being a farm owner / food truck / farmers’ market vendor comes with its shares of ups and downs. There are the highs of seeing your favorite people at each market, knowing you’re going to give them your very best. We share our life experiences, offer compliments, congratulations, or words of comfort. We listen to their updates, their exciting stories, their accomplishments, their funny experiences, their memories and the general day-to-day of lives shared. It is, by far, the best part of being a vendor. Trust me, most vendors are not out there rolling in the dough and living high off the hog on their revenues. What we do takes a lot of hard work, wearing many hats (grower, chef, jam maker, maid, chauffeur, bookkeeper, marketer, shopper, organizer, banker, landscaper, farm hand, shepherd – well, you get the picture), and an extreme level of dedication. There is never enough time or money when you’re a vendor, but I guess that’s everyone’s story these days, isn’t it?

On the farm itself, we celebrate new lives of lambs entering the world. We shed a tear when we lose one. We enjoy our fresh eggs and tomatoes fresh from the vines. The blackberries and blueberries are juicy. The herbs are fresh. The apple and plum trees are maturing. The trees and grass are beautiful. Moonlit evenings with fireflies covering the trees and fields in glittering light. We embrace the quiet and solitude that is living in the country. Don’t mind the mess and the weeds – we’re busy here.

Not all days are great. For example, just this morning, I was reminded of the beginning of my market morning exactly one year ago:

Yep, that’s gravy. In my trunk. a FULL container of gravy. The only gravy we had for that day, with no time to make more. The pot shifted as I drove. Luckily, I have a trunk liner, but it was still a huge mess to clean up. That gravy ended up destroying the closing mechanism to my trunk and cost $428 to repair. My car smelled SO BAD! **HELPFUL SUGGESTION** A bag of charcoal with the front cut open and laid flat will absorb odors and worked wonders on this situation – highly recommend.

I can look back on this and laugh – now. That morning however, was a different story. I had to tell our customers we didn’t have any gravy. I felt so bad that day.

But, the day still happened. We still fed people and enjoyed our time with them. After it was all over, we packed up, ate lunch, hit the car wash to absolutely BLAST the liner and clean out as much of the mess as possible, then we went home to rest and start the process all over again.

Overall, this season has been really good. Last year’s helpers moved on, so we had to find new ones. Then one we hired had to step away. We had a friend step up to help and hired two really great people. It’s been a lot of learning, teaching, and improving by everyone. With the increase in business (THANK YOU!!), we’re learning new ways to streamline our processes to create a smoother and more enjoyable process for customers.

We appreciate your support and your patience. We look forward to seeing you each week. If you keep showing up, we’ll keep cooking for you! Until next week…..

This blog is written by a real person – not AI. 🙂