The Sun Shines for Everyone

“El sol sale para todos” or “the sun shines for everyone.” These were the encouraging words of our first distributor.

The heavy lifting of constant weeding and harvesting is coming to an end. We are going to use the high tunnel this winter to see how long we can extend the season, but for the most part, we are just about ready to start pulling plants out. Then the process of prepping beds for next year begins. (This will most likely be the subject of a subsequent post.)

We have learned a lot this season, through reading books, following other farms, listening to podcasts, talking to extension agents, testing our sales skills at a grocery store and a farmers market, and listening to clients.
From the beginning, our biggest challenge has been US. Do we have the energy, the know-how, the will, and the confidence? Confidence has proven to be the most difficult to build. The things we grow are good enough for us, friends, and family. We questioned if they were good enough to sell, we questioned the interest of the market, and we questioned our purpose in starting this venture.

Since we begin selling, the reward hasn’t necessarily been monetary ( though we hope it eventually is). The reward comes from seeing people’s faces light up when they see, smell, and taste something from their motherland that they haven’t had in years. The reward comes when someone is awestruck with some of the unique flowers we grow that they want to buy the lot. The reward comes when people learn about us and invite us to be a part of a local healthy food project.

It’s still more a labor of love than a commercial enterprise, but the encouraging words of our very first distributor have stayed with us and encourage us to move forward and think about what next spring will look like.