Christina
Mehlhorn
June 27
Just Another Manic Market Monday
Today the market was a big question mark. Firstly, it was the first day that there would be actual products to be sold. Additionally, I was not entirely sure how the harvesting process for the day would be. Would I have help? Would it already be harvested and packaged by the time I got to the farm? Secondly, there was the element of the rain. It was on and off raining that day and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to be out there anyways. When I arrived at the farm, I was briefed by Oliver on the trays that needed to be found and harvested. Because my co-intern would be coming a bit late, I realized that I would be going at this process alone. I spent the next hour running around the farm to find trays and harvest them. Once all the packages were created, I began to bring all of the materials needed for the market, including but not limited to the table, chairs, and tent. On a typical Monday, there are about four booths along the street we are set up on for the market. Today, however, there was one farm out
with their table and that was it. The rain began to come down. I was nervous that the first time we could actually sell something was going to be a bit of a bust. Regardless, I stayed put and waited for people to come. Surprisingly, dedicated people came out for produce even in the weather. Every few people, one would stop to quickly speak with me about the greens. Out of the handful of people I sold to on Monday, one of them was someone who stopped on the previous two Mondays and said that they would definitely come back when we had the product. Everyone else that stopped that day just happened to pass me to get to the other farm stand. We ended up packing up very early due to the increasing rainfall. Overall, the market wasn’t as much of a fail as I had originally believed. I realized the importance of simply showing up regardless of what one thinks the outcome will be. If I hadn’t simply been where I was, all but one of our sales wouldn’t have happened. As a result, I believe that those who enjoyed the greens they bought will hopefully return even though they didn’t go into the market with the idea of becoming our customer. Furthermore, being out there in the rain demonstrated the company’s commitment to the customer. It sent out the message that we will be there just in case any customer decides to come out regardless of the conditions. I hope to see some of the customers from that market return.