A Colorful Market Table

[efisakov]

mmm, yamy...
Nice tomatoes and so early.

[bower]

Even though they are mostly reds, the variety of shades and shapes and sizes makes your table stand out from the competition (Never seen anything so uniform as those "baseballs"!!).

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks. You can tell how firm the red baseballs are by how deeply they are stacked. My tomatoes would never take that kind of handling.

Originally Posted by wildcat62

Those look great. I'm curious how you are able to accommodate people using the snap cards or do you? Do you have to have a card reader or how does that work?

Both markets I attend have just one card reader at the market. Customers can buy wooden tokens from that booth with their card, spend the tokens at the other vendors, and then we turn in the tokens at the end of the month. We just started this system this year.

[BigVanVader]

Same here. I toured a tomato farm near Frip island years ago. The Mexican workers were picking the tomatoes green filling a laundry basket type holder. When it was full they literally tossed them into a huge sorter. I ask if any got bruised and the guy laughed and said no, those tomatoes are as hard as a watermelon rind. I said yeah probably tast like one too. Everyone has been complaining this year about getting tomatoes that never get soft and when they finally cut it the inside is just mush. I tell em to stop buying that crap and maybe they will stop growing it.

[Cole_Robbie]

When my grandpa had a peach orchard, he had a few trees of Georgia Bell. It's an old variety, a white peach that is delicious. But a gust of wind, or perhaps a dirty look, would bruise them, they were so tender. We could only stack them a couple layers deep in the bushel baskets.

Years later when I lived in Florida, I happened to drive by a Tropicana plant. They haul oranges in a semi-truck dump trailer, then back up to the plant and unload them like it's a load of gravel. Doing that with peaches would make one giant smoothie.

I heard one vendor of red baseballs say to a customer that she had 1,000 plants. I did not see her sell one tomato. I cannot imagine what she is doing with that many tomatoes.

[Hollylasue]

I don't sell at market but I love visiting the local markets just to look at what people have and support other farmer's.However very few that I have seen actually grow heirlooms or know about the produce.I did meet a young family at the market who knew his product, offered samples of cherries and knew how to prepare his more unique stuff.I bought 3 baskets of cherry tomatoes, squash and zucchini which I have plenty of from my garden just because he could make you want to try it.I plan on visiting his booth again.On a side note people here seem to prefer the crappy produce even though fresh is everywhere.I went by the Saturday market trying to find dill and garlic no-one has any.So I stopped at the grocery store and people were buying corn and watermelon instead of getting fresh at the market 5 minutes away.It baffles me.

[Cole_Robbie]

I've seen one vendor sell tomatoes labelled as heirlooms, but they are actually the "heirloom-type" hybrids, which have unusual looks, but taste like hybrids.

The only other vendor I have seen selling heirlooms is a $4/lb organic vendor. I very rarely see them sell a tomato. They must be moving their stuff through CSAs. I bought one of their tomatoes last year just to try it. They wouldn't tell me the variety. It was not bad, better than any hybrid at market, but was watery, probably from being grown in a high tunnel. I saved the seeds, but I never did grow it out.

I joke with customers all the time that if they would just save the seeds from the tomato they are buying from me and grow it themselves, then they'll never have to buy tomatoes from me again. I'm actually being serious, but everyone thinks that's funny.

Here's this morning's market table: http://i.imgur.com/WjTB8cU.jpg

[Cole_Robbie]

It rained on today's market.

Here's a quick pic from behind the table: http://i.imgur.com/r7mXgPi.jpg

Cherry mix: http://i.imgur.com/SfDm8ET.jpg

Handful of Red Bumblebee F1: http://i.imgur.com/tcdDwRo.jpg

[Gerardo]

Are the yellow/white cherries Wapsinnicon?

[Cole_Robbie]

Bosque Blue Bumblebee. The first fruit that ripen don't get as much sun, so they don't turn as blue. I grew it last year. I like it, nice sweet/mild flavor, good producer, closer to a saladette in size, so they fill up boxes easily.

[Hollylasue]

Your table is so pretty.I would definently shop your booth before anyone else's.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thank you. I had fun with those two green Beryl Beauties in the pic. I gave one to my stepdad, who thought I was playing a trick on him by getting him to eat a green tomato. Then he wouldn't stop going on and on about how good it tasted. He managed to talk one of my customers into trying one, who agreed. I'm glad I warned her first about not getting the juice on her. It flew everywhere when she bit into it. She liked it a lot though. She had fun walking around showing people that she was eating a green tomato.

[Hollylasue]

This was my first year for a GWR and that are delicious.We tried Cherokee green and green zebra.Cherokee green has become my daughters favorite.

[Cole_Robbie]

I really like Cherokee Green. Mine turn almost all the way yellow. It's like a yellow tomato with a really nice zing.

Cherries for market tomorrow: http://i.imgur.com/dlGjW02.jpg

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Hollylasue

This was my first year for a GWR and that are delicious.We tried Cherokee green and green zebra.Cherokee green has become my daughters favorite.

Cherokee Lime is even better.