Welcome to Homegrown Bites by Jake's Run!

Tasty food, lamb meat, jams and jellies, fresh produce, and crochet accessories.


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Oh, hey there! I Forgot About the Blog.

Like anything that goes into our freezer, if it’s not in front of me, it no longer exists…

I literally keep a notebook with me at all times to jot down anything I have to remember to do. It’s the only way I can keep it all straight and get stuff done. Plus, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I start a new list each week. Sometimes, it’s one page, other times it’s multiple pages. Let’s face it – we’re all busy. I’m not complaining. Don’t get me wrong. I love this life. But, when it gets busy, days kind of blend together in a blur. In the blink of an eye, a few weeks have passed and I’ve neglected my duties. Looks like I need to add this blog to the list. That being said, let’s summarize the past month.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!

The hubs works 4 days on then 4 days off. On his working days, he works 12 hours. Then he comes home to work more. He cooks, he cleans up. He. Is. Driven. I handle the supplies, the books, the sous cheffing (yep I totally made that up), and whatever else I can do to make his life easier. When he works on Saturdays, he drops our market trailer off at the market, then goes to work. I pick up the team and we arrive soon after to get it all set up and start the day.

Last Saturday, our longest break between customers was 8 minutes. We were able to serve and interact with 97 customers. He’s worked a few Tuesdays alone because he was off from work. The two of us have worked a few Thursday markets because he was off from work.

Between shopping for supplies, cooking, prepping, dishes (OMG – the sheer amount of DISHES!), the laundry, working our jobs, mowing, taking care of animals and just plain RUNNING (some days I have to make 6-7 stops before I can just go home), and life, we have very little free time and it’s all GO GO GO! In our free time, we sleep. Not well in this ungodly heat, but we sleep.

Odd flex, we do a lot of recipe testing. A very cool thing. Sometimes they’re hits, sometimes it’s a miss.

The market season is a long one. Mid April-first week of November. June and July are typically the busiest months. It will taper off when schools starts, then trickle down until the EXTRA SUPER INSANELY CRAZY BUSY Holiday Market to end the season. But we’ll make it. We may need to sleep for the entire remainder of November, but we’ll sleep.

In the meantime, we’re testing out a new product – the Kentucky Hot Brown Biscuit. A scratch biscuit topped with shredded turkey, mornay, bacon, and sliced tomatoes. Last night was the first time we offered it and it was a good seller. We’ll see how it does tomorrow at the big market.

The dream is a food truck. Do we know what we’re doing? Nope. Will we learn? Every day. I remind myself often to “do the best you can, with the knowledge you have and with the best of intentions.” Everything is figureoutable.


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Market Days 05.31, 06.05, 06.07, 06.12, 06.14

It’s been a minute, but I have good reason to not write.

I’ve been tired….

5.31:
Morning market AND food truck event that night. My day began at 4am and I got home at 10:30pm. Step count: 16,490. It was a VERY good day. The next day, I slept and pretty much stayed on the couch because I am old and my body was hurting. Thank goodness W took a day off. Grateful for the Helpers, who, although they didn’t expect to be THAT busy, hung in there and did good work. My Stepmom B pitched in and helped.

6.5:
First Thursday market. Normally, we don’t do the Thursday markets because of our work schedules, but we will have 3 Thursdays in a row where we’re available. It was a Taste of the Market event and a few food trucks showed up. For a Thursday, the crowd was great. It’s a real VIBE. A time for people to hang out and relax.

Left work, ran an errand, rushed home, changed clothes, grabbed a few things, rushed to the market, set up, worked the market. Home. Slept. Went to work the next day. Home after to prep, load, nap, go to market. Interviewed by the local news. Surreal.

6.7:
Saturday market. Up at 4am. Another Saturday. Moist day. Everything feels wet. Spilled an ENTIRE container of sausage gravy in the trunk of my car on the way to the market. Good crowd. Good market. Lunch with the helpers. CAR WASH to hose down the trunk liner and the trunk. Errands. Home. Sleep.

6.12:
Thursday of a very busy week. Monday was errands with 6 different stops after work. Tuesday Board Meeting. Wednesday Blues Fest and prep work. Thursday is game time. Errand after work, home, change clothes, grab stuff, rush to market to set up in time for open. Art at the Market tonight. My actual kid taught the class. Super proud of her. Good crowd, good sales. Late night.

6.14:
Up at 4am, pick up the kids, stop for drinks and ice, stop for doughnuts, set up the booth, Wes is back (YAY!). Nice to be able to actually take a quick walk around the market, buy things, and visit with fellow vendors. Car accident in the parking lot that I had to handle. Some grump people, but most were pleasant. RAIN. Tore down 15 minutes early. WET. Everything WET. Lunch. HOME. Sleep

Here I am, on my one day off, writing, to get it all out of my head.

It’s a lot. Job. Shopping for weekly supplies. The errands. The bills. Car issues. Did I mention my trunk suddenly decided it no long wanted to open? Yeah. That. I’ll have to get the car looked at this week or next. Might have to rent a car for that because I’ll have no transportation and that’s not an option for me or my life.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. But it’s been a lot of fun. We’re building something. Not only our personal business, but the market itself. We have a vision for the market and we’re getting there. Baby steps, but it’s happening. I’m proud of the progress. I’ll eventually take a few days off, go camping, and recharge in the quiet of nature, among the trees. But, in this moment, tomorrow is Monday and the list of “Things To Do” begins anew.