Delicious Developments

Yesterday we (Tracie, Ashley and I) were discussing what was going to happen during the Fall market season since Tracie had told us in the past that it was a little different from the Summer market season. Somehow I had arrived at the conclusion that savory scones sounded like a good idea. Tracie said Ben, her partner in the beginning, and his wife do make savory scones. She and Ashley both agreed with me, that it sounded pretty tasty, so we are strongly considering it in the coming months. Tracie suggested I write about that conversation in the blog, and it got me thinking about all the product development I do on my own when I'm deciding what kind of cake to make. It lead me to write this list, which I have gone back and entitled it:

Things I have learned to think about in the product development process
(Other than, "does this taste good?")

• Will this compete with any of the other products?
• Would it compete with anyone at the market?
  
• Are seasonal ingredients involved? (This is not always thought about in an obvious way. For example, while we were thinking about the savory scone idea, it came up that this would be a good way to make up for the blueberry and raspberry scones, since those berries won't be in season much longer and thus not as readily available at the price they are now.)
  
• What will the weather be like? (This sounds silly, but you would be surprised how much more chocolate cake you would sell on a cool day than a hot one. )
• How much will it cost to make?
  
• How long will it take?
  
• Is it something that is different enough that people will buy it, but not so different that they are scared to try it?
  
• How easy it is to transport?
  
• Will I be able to leave it out on the table for a couple of hours without it becoming unsafe to eat?
• Is it pretty? (This also sounds like such a weird thing to think about, but it's true...I make a chocolate cake that was pretty tasty...but it wasn't very dark and chocolate-y looking and my sales were really low that week.)
  

I would say my baking background before taking this up was pretty strong...but the business part not so much. I'm learning so much about the business aspect of baking for a farmers' market, and I love it!

Steppin' Out

Steppin' Out was great as a customer, just okay as a vendor. We (the farmers' market) were forgotten about by the city and were only able to set up on Saturday...like we normally do. Luckily we were able to have extended hours on Saturday so we were able to see the extra stuff we made for Friday. I actually ran out of cake and had to go to the kitchen to make more.

In other news, Saturday was the first day of work for our new market manager. She's was so gracious and introduced herself to all of the vendors, and even us interns. I enjoyed getting to chat with her briefly and I am glad to have her there to help us!

I'm So Excited!

Friday is Steppin' Out! I cannot wait. From what I hear about it, this event will definitely be blog worthy! I hope business is good. We have done a lot to prepare for it!

Informed purchasing

It has been a long while since I have written here. I am sorry for that. So many things have happened since my last post. I have moved, gone on vacation, gotten engaged, been to another market, and learned how to make many new treats for people to buy at the farmers' market. However, I also felt it was time to move on from the "today we made x-y-z thing" posts. So today, I'm going to share a little nugget of knowledge I have acquired since becoming a part of the farmers' market community.

One of the reasons people choose to support their local farmers' market is because they understand the importance of knowing exactly where the goods they are purchasing came from. Unfortunately, information a customer at a farmers' market has access varies from market to market. Our primary market at UtGU is very good about keeping the lines of communication open between vendors and customers. Another market in the area...not so much. When a person buys something from UtGU and other vendors at our primary market, they have the opportunity to meet the grower/cook/creator of the goods they are buying, and they can easily find out exactly what goes into the product they are buying. I find I am taking this aspect of our primary market more and more seriously with each passing week.

I don't think I would be breaking new ground if I talked about the fair trade aspect of buying locally and directly from the producers at a farmers' market, so I'll let it be. We know that the likelihood of unfair working conditions is far lower in this community. Also, if it were so, at least everyone could direct the evil eye at that vendor, because we would know all about it. (<--small joke.) We also know about the environmental impact of shipping, as well as the standards of living for livestock raised locally on small farms versus that which is nationally shipped. We know about the benefits of eating wholesome, natural foods. The point of this is not to promote these ideals, but rather to promote the integrity of upholding these ideals.

I appreciate if a customer is not sure what we mean by "blueberry simple syrup", they can easily find out by asking and we can honestly and knowledgeably answer, because we made it! I appreciate that there is no chance of anyone purchasing cakes with "ganache" made from microwaved Cool Whip with the belief that they are purchasing something made from wholesome cream (unfortunately that example is based on a true story). I appreciate that the fact that I can say, "Oh yeah, that bread was baked yesterday, right here in town". Not in some undisclosed factory where it was stored in a place any sort of vermin could get to. I appreciate that people freely purchase goods without excessive packaging (which, by the way, does not always guarantee food safety). I appreciate that so many people are actively involved in community that fosters the success of ethical business practices. I appreciate the dignity consumers feel when they know we aren't assuming they don't know any better, and that if they have a concern we will take it seriously.

I always say this: What goes on a person's dinner plate is one of the best measurements of their life condition. Just imagine how well thought out our customers' other choices are when you consider how conscious they are about buying something as simple as tomatoes, bread and eggs.

June 23, 2009

This is the first post I've written about a Tuesday! Yesterday, I met Tracie, Marsha, Ashley, and Ty at Crow's Nest to pick blueberries and sugar snap peas. It was so much fun! I love my job. This was my first time picking both types of produce.
I was surprised by how tall the blueberry bushes were. I expected them to be low to the ground, like a strawberry plant. But they were nice and tall, so there were plenty of berries to be picked standing upright. I also had a different preconception of how the berries would look on the plant. I (once again) thought they would be scattered throughout the bush individually like strawberries, but they aren't! There are in little clusters...in the case of this year's crop, they are in bunches like grapes! Some of the mid-season variety blueberries were as big as grapes too!
After we had been there for a while, we went over to the greenhouse to pick some sugar snap peas. Now, with these I really had no idea what the plants were going to look like. I was worried that I wouldn't know how to distinguish between the ripe ones, the just right ones, and the overripe ones. But Tracie assured me that there is no such thing as a bad sugar snap pea...unless it looks shriveled and bad...but in that case it's not hard to tell that they're no good. It was so funny (and not funny) because I had been bitten by an ant on the back of my left knee at the blueberry hill...and then when we got to the sugar snap pea vines Tracie said not to worry because there would not be any bugs. I got stung by a bee on the back of my other knee. Of course it hurt at the time, and I think Tracie was worried that I would just be too upset and all that. But it really wasn't a big deal. I just came home, put some tea tree oil on it, and it was fine.

Lessons I learned yesterday:

• Make sure you get there EARLY. ( I saw a couple arrive at the blueberry hill with only 10 minutes to pick... not fun.)
  
• Don't converse loudly. Just because the view of other people two rows away is blocked by the bushes doesn't mean the sound of your voice is blocked.
• If you feel something tickling make sure it's not a bee before you swat it. Actually, it might not hurt to wear some bug repellent.
  
• Eat at least one berry/pea pod off the plant. It will make your life richer.
  
• Bring children with you. They have so much fun, and it's infectious.
  

June 18 & 20, 2009

First, thank you to all the customers who stopped by "le blog" for customer appreciation! I hope you liked what you saw. It was so much fun to see you and hear your comments in person on Saturday!

Thursday was our first day in the Kitchen with Ashley. She is such a huge help! We were done with our work in record time, I even got to take Friday off because we finished that work too. Tracie also had time to make a new product: biscotti! I have never made those before, so it was a new learning experience. It really is a delicate dough so you need lots of extra flour on hand, and you must be very gentile when you shape it and put it on the pan. It was so lively with Tracie, Ashley and me working in the kitchen. It was even more busy when some of the neighborhood kids came over to play with Tracie's son Ty...and Marsha came down for a little bit. It was a nice bustling place to be.

Saturday was ... noteable. There was only a little bit of rain, but it was inconsequential. As a matter of fact the rain was a nice break from the hot sun! There were some crazy wind gusts...which caused The Green Umbrella to topple over. Tracie said it's fixable. But most importantly, there were lots of customers! There were people visiting town for the Master Gardener's convention, people out for the Summer Solstice festivities, people out for the good weather, and most importantly, people were visiting UtGU for Customer Appreciation Day! Many reasons Saturday was a fun day. People were so excited to get their free Oat Power Cookie. Tracie put the power cookies, and the scones in these lovely glass jars! I hope they area weekly occurance. They looked so nice!

On the cake front, I have found that people here are not crazy about Kahlua cake. I hope to be more successful with my next flavor which will be arriving on to market on Wednesday. I'm very excited about it!

June 17, 2009

I am so over this Wednesday rain! That is all.
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I'm looking forward to working it tomorrow!

June 13, 2009

First, I would like to welcome our newest intern Ashley!! She came to market on Satruday to help us out, and I"m so glad she did! She's a quick learner, funny, and just lovely. We were swamped on Saturday morning so we were really glad for the help!

Saturday morning got started a little late. Tracie had some car troubles, so we unloaded her car, loaded my car and had to stop for gas before we went to market. People were beating down the door, so to speak! We hurried the best we could to get set up. I brought one cake for slices and two whole cakes. I thought this cake would sell like crazy- Kahlua cake with Bailey's cream cheese icing. NO. But I did sell my whole sliced cake by the time the market was over, so that was fine. The weather was so great on Saturday, so I didn't mind too much. Overall it was a wonderful market day! I didn't want to leave after my shift was over!

Here are some photos of the wonderful day:

This is our new intern, Ashley! She's a writer and she's writing a book about food. I hope we can help her. I just know everyone at the market is going to love her!

This is Tracie! She's my fantastic boss/teacher! So cute!

These are two customers tasting the cake. They seem pretty pleased with the product that actually made it into their mouths, rather than on them. :o)

June 11, 2009

Today's post will be a little different. I'll start with the things I learned today and then I'll write about the fun bit.

We did lemonade, brownies, chocolate chip cookies ( I portioned those out), granola and Tracie cooked the beans for the hummus. We also did some dishes and unpacked all the stuff from Wednesday's wet and wily market. The only other thing of note from today is that I cut my finger. Luckily Tracie was prepared with the healing cream and Finding Nemo bandage. Luckily it was at the end of the day, and I had already finished the food preparations for the day. I have a bit more to do on Friday than usual, but that's okay since I had Friday off last week.

Now for the fun bit. I was on the Martha Stewart website today and found this!
Tracie is doing a good job teaching me, I got a perfect score!

June 10, 2009

It rained and there was crazy lightning today at market...so I packed up and was home by 5:45. Of course it had all passed by 6:00...but the market was pretty much over once the lightning started. I'm starting to get annoyed with these afternoon showers! I have to say though, in spite of the weather, sales were pretty good for such a short time at market! Tracie had some sugar snap peas she picked earlier today. Those were pretty popular!

In other news, we are going to have a new intern joining our team this week. I am so excited for Ashley (or is it Ashleigh?) is going to start helping us out on Saturday! We had a chat on the phone and it seems like we are going to get on very well. She's a writer and her current project is a book about food. I hope Tracie and I can be helpful for this!

My cakes are coming along quite nicely! I am selling more and more at each market to which I bring them. Tracie suggested that I make business cards so people can order cakes from me. That way, if they would like a particular flavor of cake that I've made in the past they can have them on demand. I had my boyfriend help me with that and on Saturday I will have business cards! I'm so grateful for all the support everyone is giving me with my cakes!

June 6, 2009

Market Day!!! The weather was beautiful! Such a nice change from Wednesday. This was the first Saturday for my cake. I was so nervous, but it did well. I ended up selling out (thanks to my dear friend Takako who bought FIVE!! pieces!). It was funny, the cake was going so slowly. Not many people were sampling it, but as soon as I didn't have anymore cake, people started tasting the samples and asking for it! Weird.

My parents asked me to take photos of the market because they wanted to see where I work. Here are a few:Tracie's delicious baked goods! Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies, Double Dutch Brownies, and Irish Scones!!!


My Key Lime Cake!! I'll have it for the last time on Wednesday. I'm excited about my next flavor...which will be revealed on Saturday!

Part of a sign I made. Tracie added the Tapenade and Bread parts. :o) I see the "S" in berries is getting erased. I need to make a new sign.

Raspberry Lemonade Sample!

I have simply fallen in love with the market, and I love working for Tracie. She's not only been a more than fair boss, but she's supportive of my growth in the market as well as a good friend.

June 4, 2009

Remember how I said it was going to be C-R-A-Z-Y on Thursday? Well, as usual Tracie had a surprise for me. I walked into the basement to find Tracie's friend Beth (who assisted her for many years before I got there) and her mother Marsha, already organizing and working! It was such a relief!

Beth was such a sweet heart! She was so up beat and really organized! That is one quality I really lack, but I'm trying to work on! She shared all sorts of stories from when she was around working with Tracie, and stories about her new baby Cameron. With her help we got all the new stuff put away and organized to make room for the new oven, had Kenny take some things to the YMCA thrift store, and all of the packaging and baking was done! I didn't even have to come in on Friday, because most of the cleaning was finished too!

Tracie also had Ty's "Yaya", Marsha there to help us. She kept the adorable little guy out of Tracie's hair so she could work. She is so fantastic! I love it when Ty goes down for a nap and she can stop in and talk to us for a bit. I love that she reads the blog! (Hi, Marsha!) I just love her!

It really helped me work better to have new people around. I think I worked faster, because Beth was working faster. It was nice, I had all day Friday to bake for Saturday!

June 3, 2009

Wednesday was a big day! Not only did I make my cake for the first time, but Tracie's new oven arrived! I know Thursday is going to be busy since we will be making stuff for Saturday in addition to reorganizing things to make room for the oven. I worked on that a little bit yesterday. She bought a lot ingredients this week, so I put those away and organized them.

I waited until I got to Tracie's house before I cut my cake, because I wasn't sure how big to cut the cake or how much to charge for it. She was so helpful with that, and she even found me an extra pan so I can make more than one cake at a time for Saturday! I decided to go with something that was a reflection of who I am for my first cake, so I made a key lime cake. It was based on my great grandmother's cake recipe and key lime pie recipe. I reworked them into a bundt cake. People reacted very positively which I really appreciated! One lady bought three pieces!

At around 4 the heavens opened! It rained really hard for about half an hour! Luckily Tracie came and brought me some weather proof cloth to cover the table and a rain jacket. One lady was so die hard, she was shopping in the rain and bought a a muffin! Luckily it cleared up pretty quickly and it ended up being a very nice and fairly busy evening. I'm surprised at how few people come to the Wednesday market. It is really nice. In addition to all the vendors who sell baked goods, produce, plants and crafts there are the pizza guys (as I like to call them) and there is usually some live music. Last night it sounded like there was a string trio. Lovely! Wednesday market is just different from Saturday market. It's too bad a lot of people go to either one or the other. Both are wonderful in their own ways.

May 28- May 30, 2009

I have been busy outside of work, so I taking this post to catch up for the whole week and I will try my best not to get behind again.

We did so much this week! This was the first week we were baking for two markets ( Tracie's husband Kenny was going to the other market). Other than the increase in volume, there was not much different about this week. I did learn that Tracie can make her own Kahlua, and she has been known to make it without the alcohol to sell at market. (People can just add their own spirits.) She also makes her own vanilla extract! Every time I think there is nothing more to learn, she turns around and proves me wrong! :o)

Tracie called me on Friday to tell me we have finally hit the optimal Power Cookie size and texture. Hooray! So I will remember that for this week. I also think I'm going to have to start taking lemonade labels home with me on Thursday, rather than Friday. That way there is one less thing to do on Saturday morning, which is already a time crunch. I actually had to do quite a bit of packaging on Friday, which is usually all done on Thursday. Friday was typical. Maybe a little extra from Thursday's leftovers.

Saturday was pretty busy. Tracie did a great job organizing though. She had everything in containers ready to go by the time I got there. She had labeled what went with us and what went with Kenny. We got there in a timely manner even though she had made the tapenade that morning and I had to package it before we left. Thankfully Tracie's mother was there to help us pack. We really appreciated the extra set of hands! It was strangely very slow when we arrived at market, even though the weather was sunny for the first time in about a week! So, I took the time to make a new sign advertising the strawberries Tracie had picked. Of course, the second Tracie left to pick up a few items we needed, I was slammed! All but one of the blueberry scones were gone before 10 am. Crazy! It slowed down a bit and became steady. I made another sign after the strawberries sold out. This one advertised all of our berry products, per Tracie's request. I wish I had written something fun like "Berry Mania!" but instead I just wrote "Berries". Blah. Boring. Oh, well. I'll do a better job next time.

This week, Tracie gave me the most exciting news! I get to make a couple of cakes to sell at market this week!!! YAY!! I hope everyone likes them! I hope I can live up to Tracie's expectations. I hope I don't disappoint the customers who come to UtGU for only the most delicious of treats! For my first week, I think I'm going to make Bundt cakes and cut them into slices so people can get an idea of what kinds of things I can do, and eventually move into selling whole layer cakes in the future. I'm just a bag of emotions over this. I'm excited, nervous, grateful and happy! Thank you for this opportunity Tracie!

May 27, 2009

This week Tracie and her family went out of town, so it was up to me to pack up everything and go to market by myself on Wednesday! Of course I was really nervous. I was mostly worried about forgetting something important that would violate a health code, like ice packs. I did forget the lemonade samples and the ice for the lemonade bucket...but both of those things were niceties rather than necessities. So in the end I had done an okay packing job.

Wednesday afternoon rolled around packing was the least of my worries. It was raining. Hard. I called Tracie and she told me about the Hour-By-Hour forecast on weather.com and it said it was going to clear up by 2 pm. So, my gracious boyfriend and I went and loaded everything up in the rain, believing it would be over by the time we arrived at market. It lasted a little longer than we had expected. I didn't get set up until 2:30, but after that the weather was very nice. The rain had actually scared away some vendors. About three of the ones from Draper St. were not there. But there was still a fair showing.

At first business was extremely slow. But at around 4 pm it really started to pick up. I think people were anxious to get outside since it had been raining for a couple of days. We did okay business. I think it hurt a little that there was a driveway between me and all the other vendors and the vendors on the other side of me were not there. I looked a little unestabilshed. But as always Tracie's high quality products prevailed. I sold out of the blackbean hummus and all but one of the giant chocolate chip cookies. Tracie made a little bread for this Wednesday market, per the request of some customers last week, and those customers did show up and buy bread. I think it felt good on both ends of those transactions. I thought it was cool to be able to work so cooperatively with the customers. Several lemonade bottles were returned, which was appreciated. While scones, power cookies and muffins rule the morning market, the afternoon market sales lean more towards the grocery items. People mostly buy hummus and bread. And it looks like they will be oscillating between the cookies and the brownies for their weekly indulgence. I had a couple of people say that they were going to try one this week since they had the other last week. Lots of people asked about that sold out tapenade. ;o)

I broke a boundary for myself during the market. I usually don't interact too much with the other vendors. I'm just an intern after all. But I ran out of change and had to go to one of my neighbors for help. Luckily one of my neighbors was Jenny, the market manager. She's as nice as can be, so my experience was a good one. Her neighbor (I am sorry to say I did not catch his name) was lovely enough to help me out with my change situation.

I think the rush is usually at around 5 or 5:30 for Wednesdays. However, since most people started coming out around 4 it was pretty slow by 6 or so. So I waited until 6:30 before packing up a little earlier than when the market ends.

I went to trivia night with some friends, for some needed unwinding on Wednesday night, but I was so proud of myself for being able to handle all of that!

Small lesson update

I kind of had a little experiment going on with the signs I've been making. I decided to feature one item at a time. On my first sign I did a lunch menu with four or five items...no increase in sales. Then I did just lemonade: we sold all but two bottles. This past week, I did something crazy like Olive Tapenade, of which we had A LOT. I just found out that it sold out on Saturday! My hypothesis was right! WOO HOO!!

May 23, 2009

Saturday is Market Day! I have been very busy this weekend, so this is the first opportunity to write!

I arrived at 7:15 to help Tracie load up the truck for market. Once everything was loaded up, I went to the store for a few odds and end, and dropped my car off at home so I could ride my bike to the market. ( I saw all those tow trucks! Maybe 8- 10 cars must have been taken! I didn't want my car to be one of them!) In spite of the ruckus ( tow trucks) there were a lot of people enjoying the weather and the market! It was significantly more busy than it had been the previous two weeks. Lots of visitors from out of town ( I suppose for Memorial Day) were there. One man from Michigan loved Tracie's Irish scones so much, he bought one and ate it right there...then bought another one and ate it right there...then(with no less than a mouthful of scone) asked her if she could mail him some!

It was really steady and busy, which was great! I have noticed that I'm getting better at adding up all the prices, and I've figured out some patterns, like if a person buys a loaf of bread and a hummus it always adds up to $10.00 . Also, just like I did, everyone loved the old fashioned lemonade jar! It was so cute! I didn't really learn anything from that...I just noticed it. One lesson I learned was that people really are not picky jerks. We had extra fudgy brownies this week. They weren't the prettiest... but man oh man did they still look delicious. And people snatched them up! I learned, it doesn't have to look pretty...just delicious. If your product is good, its good. There are no two ways around it. Also, people realize ( and I think are glad to know) that all this stuff is made by a person. It's not made by a machine that can do it exactly the same way every time. Just a woman who is doing the best she can.

As an assistant, it is an important part of my job to just listen and observe. In the time that I have been here, I have heard a lot about this new farmers market. This week especially people were talking about the effects of the construction on business. Some said the noise and dirt would drive people away. Others thought moving the market out of the way of the construction would turn people off. I have also learned that there won't be any room for growth in this new structure...but it will be nice and permanent. Coincidentally, there is an interview in the current issue of 16 Blocks with the business owners of the shops and restauraunts that surround the farmers market. Most of them originally supported the idea of developing the market, but now, they are not completely happy with what is projected to be the final outcome of the new venue either. I still don't know enough to speak up on the matter, but these are really, all of the opinions and information I have been able to glean on the matter. Maybe this is a little off topic from what I usually write. Maybe these opinions and concerns are only meant for the vendors to be concerned with (not the interns), but I have already grown to care about what happens to the market, and how it affects this town. I hope it is not too late for these concerns to be addressed.

May 21, 2009

Yesterday was so great! I feel like Tracie and I really bonded, which makes our working environment that much more pleasant! We got so much work done yesterday! There will be two types of lemonade, muffins, a new scone flavor, lots of brownies, in addition to the small errands we ran. Oh yeah, and there are all the things she makes that I don't help with!

It feels good to know how to do a number of things on my own now. We can get more done because she doesn't have to stop and teach me how to do as many things.

One task of note from yesterday was the making and packaging of the lemonade. I washed and sanitized all of the bottles, put all the lemonade into bottles and into the sample containers. We are also going to try a new labeling system. It is very cute, but it is also very practical. The new labels can have more information, are easier to keep dry in the ice bucket and don't leave sticky stuff on the bottles which makes it easier to recycle them. It's pretty exciting!

I have to say, I am so glad Tracie is my mentor in all this. She is very good about listening to my ideas and taking them seriously. She really is genuinely interested in my growth and success in the farmer's market community, and I appreciate that. I even told her about some ideas I had for when I have my own stand (someday). If it was someone else, I might be worried about them stealing my idea, but not her. As she said, "I have too many things to make as it is!"

May 20, 2009

I went to the Wednesday market...all by my self! Well, technically Tracie helped me set up, and Kenny helped me break down...but the rest of the day was all me! It was not as busy as the Saturday market, so it did not get overwhelming.

Since it was Wednesday, we didn't have have all of the UtGU offerings. She sent me out with chocolate chip cookies, brownies, power cookies, lemonade, chocolate chip scones, muffins, loaves, two kinds of hummus and tapenade. Some people were disappointed I didn't have black bean hummus or bread. Others were sad that I was there, and not Tracie. For a hot second I felt kind of bad. But then I realized it's just a testament to how good Tracie's is at her job. People really look forward to coming to her stand on Saturdays to visit and pick up some mighty tasty food! I'm so fortunate she's teaching me how to develop relationships like that. It wasn't all disappointment for the customers. Some of them recognized me from the past couple of weeks, which was so nice!

I have to say, I think Tracie made the best hummus and tapenade she's ever made yesterday. It really was just perfect. I was so surprised only a few people bought some. Maybe I'm just not that good at selling hummus? What did sell very well, were the brownies and the lemonade. I think I sold all but 5 or 6 of the brownies, and all but two of the lemonade bottles. **Business lesson: I'm so glad I got another chance to make the sign for our table, and test out my "one featured item at a time" idea. I chose the lemonade, and I think it contributed to the number of bottles sold.

It was a great day. I learned a lot, and met a lot of nice people (as I usually do at market). I appreciate that this job is not stagnant, and yet Tracie never gives me more than I can handle. I'm looking foward to the next lesson.

May 16, 2009

Market day! I really love it. It's so nice to wake up early, get all your work done (if you want to call it that...it's such a lovely and friendly environment), and still have the day ahead of you. Plus, the market is really the pulse of the town. As someone new to the area I find the market to be an absolutely enthralling place!
Yesterday I didn't write because there wasn't that much to write. I made a sign for the table this week. It turned out really cute...I always forget to take pictures! I listed a sample picnic menu for three using things you could buy from UtGU. A loaf of bread, hummus, lemonade and the 3-for-$5 desserts. I included a picture of our green umbrella, however I think it looks like a spider web...oh well. I hope I have another chance to do the sign because I think this one was a little busy. Maybe it would be better to try one featured item at a time.
Tracie also sent me home with a pan of brownie batter yesterday! I am so grateful! I baked it up when I got home, and my boyfriend and I have been picking at it. It is my first successful batch of brownies ever! Today, a little boy pitched a fit because his dad wouldn't let him have one (a brownie) for breakfast...I don't blame either of them.
Today's market was steady, not terribly busy. I like that because we got to talk to all the customers and really connect with them. I think that's important. I'm getting better at counting the money and I'm more knowledgeable about the stuff so enjoyed the market more this week than I did last week. Some people remembered me from last week, which was nice. I try to remember all of them. I haven't been so hot with names, but I will be soon.

May 14, 2009

The lesson I learned from yesterday: get your butt in gear, Nissa! I guess I did a lot yesterday, the batches were bigger, and there were a few other odds and ends I took care of, but I felt like it just took me entirely too long to get those brownies done! I don't know what was wrong with me yesterday, but that will not be the case today.

On a less personal note, I did learn some valuable things from Tracie. In all my years of making simple syrup, I never thought to make strawberry simple syrup using the caps of the strawberries. That way you can use the rest of the strawberry for something else, rather than wasting a whole strawberry on syrup, or throwing the caps away. Waste not, want not! I also had my question from yesterday's entry answered. The bottles are clear Bordeaux bottles, some with screw tops some with sample corks. They cost 50 cents to a dollar each depending on whether or not you order them in advance, and the tops are about 10 cents each. You can get them at any place that sells wine making or beer brewing supplies. You can reuse the bottles, but not caps.
I look forward to market tomorrow, Tracie says it will be pretty busy with graduation falling on the same day.

May 13, 2009

Yesterday was pretty busy, Tracie had just gotten a lot of new supplies. There was sugar and flour to be put into containers, chickpeas for the hummus, black beans and other miscellaneous items to be organized. I also had to cut up the dried apricots (used for bread and scones) and put that into a container, as well as the dried cranberries. This week there will be two flavors of lemonade, so we had twice as many bottles to clean. (I'm lame and broke two bottles...sorry!) I also cleaned out all the big Tupperware so we have a place to put all the batter for this weeks market.
This list of things to do is not very long but it was actually pretty time consuming to cut up all those apricots, and the bottles took a bit of time. I guess I knew there were little bits of baking that were time consuming like that, but I never though about it on such a large scale. It probably took me at least 45 minutes to cut them up! Another thing I learned yesterday was that you cannot reuse the lids on the lemonade bottles, I assume for the same reasons you cannot reuse lids on canning jars.

I think we are making ginger lemonade today, so I'm very excited to learn about that! I do have one question: where are the lemonade bottles from? They are so cute, and reusable to boot!

May 9, 2009

First Saturday at Market!!!
It was raining when I arrived at Tracie's to help her load up her truck for the market. So we waited a bit for it to let up. I didn't realize how much stuff people bring to the market at one time. It's not just 1o or 15 cookies...it's an entire truck load! She had baskets for displaying the items, a cooler for perishable things, three tables, table cloths (not necessary, but nice) all of the items to sell, towels to cover the items, sample cups, Tupperware to carry most of it in, bags for the customers to take their things home in, and of course a huge green umbrella. Oh yes, and the cash box with change. It really is a lot of stuff to remember, so the first, and probably most important, universal farmer's market lesson for the day was: organization and preparation are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. She had already put most of the items for sale in the Tupperware ( I assume the night before) which was helpful. It also helped to have her many Saturdays of experience. If it was me, I would probably need a written check list because that's how I operate. It wouldn't matter how many weeks I had been to the market. It took about 30 minutes to load up the truck, and about 30 minutes to set up at the market.
Once we got to market, the sun came out (Tracie shared another trick of the trade with me: it is always possible to will the rain away. ) Her regulars were there as soon as we arrived. Some of them returned her bottles, and hummus containers for reuse. Tracie offers these customers a $0.50 credit on their next purchase. I think this deal is genius. Not only is it good for the environment, but it saves her on cost, and the customers are always happy to have their loyalty rewarded. Another deal she offers is to have some of the items, which are $1.75 individually, priced at 3 for $5 which the customers can mix and match. (i.e. A customer can buy a scone and a cookie for $3.50, or they can throw a muffin in the mix and it's only $5) This is an extra $1.50 she wouldn't have made, had she not had the deal in place.
One regular customer in particular was such a funny character, lets just say she was no shy violet. She had the scoop on everyone at the market, all the vendors anyway. She was telling us how rude the one of the other bakers was because they were selling something similar to what we had at UtGU, only two tables away. This was my second universal farmer's market lesson: remember that the market is a community. Make sure you are communicating with the other vendors. This fosters diversity in the products which not only makes it a more enjoyable experience for customers(who wants to go to a market with five places to buy muffins but no fresh bread?), but also encourages a more cooperative rather than competitive spirit among vendors.
Another or Tracie's method's I picked up on was to have everything in baskets, covered with some fabric (European style) rather than stuffed into plastic. Every person who walked by commented on how good everything smelled and looked. The copious and casual look of the table, combined with the samples we had set out created a very organic and welcoming environment.
I had a very enjoyable experience on Saturday, I look forward to next week!

May 8, 2009

First business: I forgot to write down that I left at 2 today.

Also, Tracie was baking so she left me this lovely list of things to do today. (It really is lovely, it has sunflowers on it!)

I'll skip the salutations, and just paraphrase what the tasks are:

Put the brownie boxes away, package tapanade, label hummus and tapanade, wash dishes, clean cooler, shop vac around mixer, wipe down mixer, wipe down counters, fold towels clean towels, put dirty towels in a pile, take out trash.

Not too many new lessons today, just basic stuff anyone would do in a kitchen. :o) Can't wait to learn lots tomorrow.

I'm meeting her tomorrow morning at 7:15 am, to pack up for the farmer's market. How exciting!

May 7, 2009- First day!

This is to be a journal of my experiences as an assistant/intern at Under the Green Umbrella, a booth at several farmers markets in the area where I live. I'm pretty excited about the whole experience. All of the tasks seem to be pleasant: baking, packaging, picking berries, attending the farmers market, having to do the dishes is an infentesimally small price to pay for having a job that also includes keeping a blog! :o)

On my first day of work I expected to be very bored. I expected it to be a day of watching while Tracie (the founder of UtGU) explained everything. I was pleasantly surprised to find the work to be very hands on immediately. It was a busy day. My tasks included: packaging pasta salad, washing dishes, portioning out cookie dough, preparing brownie batter, bottling blueberry lemonade, and packaging several flavors of hummus.

I learned some very useful things from Tracie (which I imagine will be happening on a daily basis) like how to make 18 batches of brownies at one time and that I'm not a freak who can't make brownies in an 8x8 pan (apparently it's the nature of the pan to either have a raw center or concrete edges). She told me getting your kitchen inspected is not nearly as daunting as it sounds and its a really a great investment. I also learned how to keep homemade juices from fermenting by using a yeast prohibiter to clean the bottles. Tracie let me know about different places where people can pick their own produce (which is very useful if you want to use the very freshest ingredients. And low cost, too!) and a little bit about berry plants.

I don't really have any pressing questions yet. Any that I had, were promptly and graciously answered by Tracie. I'm sure Saturday morning at the market will having me asking a lot of questions.