Jodief100--- random stuff and BIG news

[jodief100]

The baby is great. He and his momma were both very active this afternoon. I think I was more traumatized then they were.

GoatGurl! It is so nice to see you! Buck kids are easier to sell but doe kids fetch more money as breeding stock. With my reservations to fill I may not have any to take to the sales at the end of summer. The pups are great, Peron is still cautious, Zorya just jumps right in. Peron is in the broodmare barn and he has learned to give mommies a wide berth.

 

[JakeM]

So many beautiful kids. If I was closer, I'd probably get a couple from you.

Good luck with those last two in June/July.

 

[jodief100]

Here is the baby I had to pull. I took this photo when I got home that night, he was only a few hours old. He was huge in this picture and is MUCH bigger now. He and is momma are doing great.

Here are some random photos I took, I just loved these, had to share.

This is Zorya, she is turning into a beautiful girl.

And Jack, on duty as always.

 

[jodief100]

BIG NEWS! We have finally decided to take that HUGE step and sell direct market value added products. We will be selling processed, whole pastured chickens and goat's milk soap, a few eggs and herbs for variety. We have our Farmer's Market booth paid for. Our warehousing license in place, inspection scheduled for our retail food sellers license, getting quotes for liability insurance, our LLC paperwork is filed which includes our sales tax ID, new business cards ordered, banner ordered, tables bought, new tent ordered (Farmer's market requires white, ours was beige) coolers ordered, meat birds in the brooder and processing scheduled. I have 3 batches of soap curing, herbs in the greenhouse, eggs in the fridge collecting more every day and chickens tractors under construction. Lots more to do, checking them off the list, one by one. I need to update my Gantt Chart......

I was so excited last Friday over this- I dug these out of the trash at work. I got six of them and they hold 60 bars of soap each. ABSOLUTLY FREE! aside from a little dumpster diving and pressure washing.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Congratulations.
My wife manages a farmers market for our town.
Is this market sponsored by your town?

 

[Hens and Roos]

That's great- congrats!

 

[jodief100]

We are going to one 30 miles away. It is run by Boone County. We live in Pendleton County which is rural, small and lower income. Boone county is more urban with lots of businesses. The Cincinnati International airport is there and a lot of auto manufacturing. Lots of high income people working in those businesses as well. We figure this is a good place to start. I love our home and our county but most people there don't have the means to pay premium prices for pastured poultry.

 

[OneFineAcre]

That is going to be the challenge with the market my wife is managing. Parks and recreation in our town, Zebulon, received a grant from a foundation to start the market. My wife actually started last fall to launch the market. Our area is not particularly high income either.
Not like the Midtown Farmers market in Raleigh, or the Western Wake Market in Cary ( Local's call Cary "containment area for relocated yankees")

 

[jodief100]

That is the eternal problem Farmer's face. Customer's and markets are not near the farms and we don't' want them near us. Around here, produce at the Farmer's Market sells for about the same it does in stores so farmers at lower income markets do well with vegetables and a lesser extent fruit. It is the premium products that need a higher income market, meats, cheeses, eggs, jams, jellies, wine, breads, sorghum and maple syrup, honey, etc.

I wish your wife luck. It is difficult to start a new market. You have to have farmers signed up to get customers to come and have to have customers to get farmers signed up. The last few markets proposed around here didn't get off the ground. Some people think all you have to do is invite farmers to set up in your parking lot and you have a "Farmer's Market".

 

[OneFineAcre]

That is the eternal problem Farmer's face. Customer's and markets are not near the farms and we don't' want them near us. Around here, produce at the Farmer's Market sells for about the same it does in stores so farmers at lower income markets do well with vegetables and a lesser extent fruit. It is the premium products that need a higher income market, meats, cheeses, eggs, jams, jellies, wine, breads, sorghum and maple syrup, honey, etc.

I wish your wife luck. It is difficult to start a new market. You have to have farmers signed up to get customers to come and have to have customers to get farmers signed up. The last few markets proposed around here didn't get off the ground. Some people think all you have to do is invite farmers to set up in your parking lot and you have a "Farmer's Market".

The town got a grant from the John Rex Foundation to fund the market for 3 years
She's got around 15 vendors already
They are set to take EBT cards and the grant funds a 100 percent match to $10 dollars
Swipe card for $10 get $20 worth
Opening 1 st weekend in May