The blackberry wine I am trying to make has hopefully now entered the fermentation stage. Although I will be in New York when it is happening, so hopefully the troops here at home will keep an eye out for any explosions.
I am a man, and I as such I never, ever, sew things. Especially not dollies.
-A
Bburg
http://www.downtownblacksburg.com/farmersmarket.shtml
bbfarmersmarket@gmail.com (emailed request for additional information and application)
Article: http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/wb/xp-74712
Roanoke
http://www.downtownroanoke.org/market.htm
Application: http://downtownroanoke.org/application_to_sell_on_the_market.pdf
Handbook: http://www.downtownroanoke.org/market_handbook.pdf
Honey is considered a prepared food and requires “an inspection report from the Virginia Department of Agriculture.”
Signs have to be approved by the Market manager.
“No person shall make a public outcry, engage in “hawking,†play any musical instrument (except for Vendors who are demonstrating a musical item that they have crafted), or give other entertainment while selling on the Market, whether for personal pleasure or for public enjoyment.”
Radford
http://www.mainstreetradford.org/market.php
Application: http://www.mainstreetradford.org/images/2006%20Farmer%27s%20Market%20Application.pdf
Other Items
Growers’ Permit
“A current, valid certification sticker signed by an Inspector from the Virginia Department of Weights and Measures.”
Sales tax ID number
Updated 31 July 2006
Due Date……….Status………Task
———————————————-
14 July 06……Done…..Contact advisor w/ go ahead
14 July 06……Done……Prepare rough outline for proposal and send to advisor
24 July 06……Done……Locate references for writing business plan
24 July 06……Done……Read, read, read and write up notes – Business Plan
28 July 06……Done……Submit first draft of proposal to advisor
TBD…………..—…………Revise proposal and submit to advisor (repeat until done)
24 July 06……OVERDUE…..Collect documentation on area farmers’ markets: rules, applications…
24 July 06……OVERDUE…..Read, read, read and write up notes – Markets, etc.
29 Sep 06……—………………Research users / customers and write up conclusions
29 Sep 06……—………………Research competition and write up conclusions
29 Sep 06……In progress…..Observe area farmers’ markets and write up observations
27 Oct 06…….—………………Analyze resources and needs for various options
27 Oct 06…….—………………Complete analysis of which products to sell and where/how
10 Nov 06……—………………Draft Business summary
10 Nov 06……—………………Draft Mission / Goals
10 Nov 06……—………………Draft Financial Plan
10 Nov 06……—………………Draft Marketing Plan
10 Nov 06……—………………Draft Market Production Plans for next 3-5 years
10 Nov 06……—………………Draft Personnel / Personal Plan
17 Nov 06……—………………Submit first draft of business plan to advisor
1 Dec 06……..—………………Prepare old class projects
TBD…………..—……………….Revise and resubmit plan to advisor until approved
TBD…………..—……………….Self Analysis
1 Feb 07……..—……………….Submit completed package to advisor in time for application for Fall 07 semester at VT (March 1, 2007)
The sheep are here.
The ducks are here, too.
“Touch it!”
“No.”
“Come on! I really want you to touch it.”
“No. I’m not gonna touch it.”
“You’re gonna touch it eventually. You should touch it now so it doesn’t scare you when it happens later.”
“I don’t care! I won’t touch it!”
“Please touch it? I want to know if you think it’s strong enough.”
“I’m not a sheep.”
We put up the fence today. It got tangled. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a knife handy. I don’t think electric fences work too well when they are cut to shreds. We finally got the tangles out and got the pieces all set up and got the charger plugged in. Then we had to drive back to Cburg for more poles. We were there this morning already. Blerg. But hey, the fence is up!
We also got some hay and cracked cornn for the sheep today. The folks at GFF said the sheep’ve been eating cracked corn, so we figured we should have some for them when they get here. Speaking of feeding critters, I picked Japanese beetles for the ducks. The last few days there have been hordes of them on the blackberry plants down by the road. Today I only found about a dozen. I never thought I’d be sad to not be able to find Japanese beetles on my plants.
Bburg Farmers Market ~10:00 am
We really need to get out there early because by 10:00 am most of the stuff is sold. I was peeking around this time and saw lots of empty baskets and boxes in folks’ trucks. One vendor had a table that had nothing on it but a table cloth and a wilted sign.
There was no music or food tent set up this week. I need to find out what the schedule is for that stuff. It seemed to really attract a crowd. There didn’t seem to be as many folks there today, and the crowd seemed to be older. I saw one Asian family.
I also noticed that most of the female vendors were wearing skirts.
Prices (probably a lot the same as last time):
Cherry tomatoes – 2.50 lb
Honey – 7.00 pt
Garlic – 4.75 lb; 0.95 each
Bell peppers – 0.75 each; 3 for $1.00
Cucumbers – 2.75 lb
Swiss chard – 2.50 lb
Potatoes – 1.50 lb
Green beans – 2.25 lb
Onions – 2.50 lb
Tomatoes – 4.00 lb
We also went to two markets in Bburg that had local produce. Here are their prices:
Store 1:
Green beans – 3.55 lb
Squash – 2.84 lb
Chard – 2.84 lb
Bell peppers – 3.21 lb
Garlic – 5.68 lb
Onions – 2.13 lb
Eggs – 2.84 dz
Store 2:
Tomatoes – 2.49 and 1.89 lb
Onions – 0.99 lb
Long squash – 1.69 lb
Garlic – 3.50 lb
Potatoes – 1.29 lb
Bell peppers – 2.29 lb
Cucumbers – 1.19 lb
Asian cucumbers – 1.19 lb
Flat green beans – 1.69 lb
Blueberries – 3.99 lb
Yesterday Andy called me at work and told me the blackberries are starting to be ripe. He said he’d picked one or two when he was down checking the mail and planned to go back later in the day to pick some more. When I got home, I parked the truck at the craft shack and walked back to the blackberry brambles that are growing along the fence on the front of the property. Low and behold, Andy was there already picking!
There’s a sort of ongoing thing with me and Andy. When I hit the driveway at the end of the day, I’m focused on a couple things: whatever story happens to be on NPR, avoiding bunnies, the current state of the driveway and the weeds/wild flowers leaning over the driveway that I get to hit when I pass, the level of the pond, the ducks waiting for me, dinner, bills, knitting… Lots of stuff. So, when I get to the house, and Andy’s not there and then trundles up later asking, “Did you not see me jumping up and down waving by the pond/at the craft shack door/by the mailbox/near the barn???” …Well, is it surprising the answer is “No?”
I really try to look out for him, I do. The problem is, he keeps moving. At first he would hang out by the pond. So, I started slowing down a bit as I passed the pond to look for him. Then, though, he decided to hang out at the craft shack. So, I had to start to pay attention to the craft shack AND the pond. Luckily, when he was hanging out in the middle of the driveway down by the mailbox…that time I did see him. Because, well, he was in the middle of the driveway. (If he had been standing slightly to the side of the driveway? That’s a different story.)
Back to the story. I walked up to the blackberry patch, and there Andy was. He seemed excited!
“Yay! You heard me yelling!”
“Umm…..ermmm….”
“You remembered I said I’d be here and you heard me yell as you went by and you stopped. Awww!”
“Ummm…well…No. I just decided to stop. *cough*”
He then seemed a bit sad and yet again confused at how I could have missed him yet again. But, he recovered quickly when I began to help him pick the berries. Blackberry picking is painful. The thorns on the plants are bigger and meaner than on raspberry plants, and, according to Andy, the sting lingers. In addition to the patch on the front fence, we also found a smaller patch near the apple tree and another on the steep slope at the curve in the driveway by the pond. We also found a lot of poison ivy. I did not pick the berries sitting on the poison ivy. (I hope.)
Here’s the day’s bounty (berries plus the three tomatoes we’ve picked so far this year). It’s about a quart or so and weighs 2lbs.
Blackberries look a lot like bunny cecotrope-y poo, which is the poo that the bunnies eat back up because it still has lots of good stuff in it. If you have bunnies you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t have bunnies, you are probably gagging right now. In bunny reference material, they often say these bunny poo candies look like clusters of grapes. In truth, the bunny poo candies look like blackberries.
This bunny poo, however, is the normal poo poo type. It looks like cocoa puffs. In this case, the bunny poo looks like a smiley of cocoa puffs.
Sheep fence arrives today. Sheep on Sunday!
Just so all of you who were holding off visiting because I could not make ice cream without jury-rigging up the machine using pantyhose strips know, I found the ice cream machine lid. It was inside one of the nightstands.
Recently Sana was staring intently out the front door, so I looked outside to see if there was a kitty friend. Cabol looked up and said ‘Is there a walnut on the porch?’
Sent first draft of proposal to advisor yesterday. Wasn’t real pleased with it but felt stuck. Today started reading more farmy related books. Part-Time Farming was written back in the 80s in the UK, but as in many things, the issues are still pretty pertinent today. There is a definite UK slant to some of the info (particularly the legal stuff), but I think the main ideas will be useful.