Off to Market

September 25, 2012, 8:23 am
Filed under: September 2012

Ready for the auction

September 25, 2012

Today, I will take our last load of pumpkins to the produce auction. The harvest is complete. Our little experiment is done, as far as, the produce is concerned. I won’t know the final numbers for a few days, but the mere fact that it’s over is satisfying to me. This job is a lot of work.

Yesterday, I spent much of the day remembering my mother’s passing five years ago. I searched my life for a little while, and am sure that mom would be proud of me. I am doing exactly what I said I would do. She would be proud too, that the spletz have been planted 😮

The produce auction is a neat place. Like any auction, buyers and sellers are in abundance. Your stuff may not top the sale, but the opportunity is there. This is a wholesale auction where grocerymen purchase produce for local stores. It is a wonderful asset to have one so close to us…. auction that is.

I may have been able to get a few more local dollars by selling retail here at the farm, but I don’t have any structure in place to make that happen. My schedule and time, at present, doesn’t allow for much in the way of retail marketing. I am glad however, to be selling the entire crop… only the culls remain, much to the delight of the pigs.

Whomever coined the phrase ” like a hen on a June bug” apparently never saw ” a sow on a pumpkin”! They love the small and imperfect fruit. They eat it noisily and greedily, smacking their lips with every bite!

Our endeavor in the vegetable producer’s role has been educational and entertaining. We have learned much and are still learning. You just never know when a conversation will turn to pumpkin stems… and when it does, I can stand proudly and say, “Handles are important!” .. followed by, “Don’t pick them up by the stem.”

So, it’s off to market we go and in doing so, can scratch this job off our list! Oh, what a wonderful thing 😮