My Partner's daughter has been in Dallas for a year and would have been most greatful to purchase organically grown food. she is now packing up and returning to N.Z. There are sure to be others in Dallas who would like to purchase good food. Best wishes. Peter. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 7:01 AM Subject: not CSA, but farmstand
> A couple of days ago I forwarded a newsletter I get from a woman > who runs a produce stand in Austin Tx. Granted, her stand is > practically downtown Austin, but they also have about 60 acres > under production in a smaller town nearby. The stand is in her front > yard and only open Wednesdays and Saturdays. They sell out > usually about midday every time. I'm amazed at the quantities and > varieties they can offer year round. > She calls her customers her 'FOFers' Friends Of the Farm, and > sends out a weekely newsletter to them. > > To find a way to sell blemished tomatoes and past prime peppers, > her husband devised a smoke shed on the farm. He smokes the > romas for several days until they're smoke cured. They're then > either packaged dry or packed in oil, etc. They have a certified > kitchen and produce salsas and other things out of the 'past prime' > vegetables. Because FoodTV featured their smoked tomatoes on a > Food Finds show, their entire Fall harvest is already sold out. > > She even sells Rainwater! I wrote and said, 'you've got to be > kidding'. She said she'd never sell AUSTIN rainwater, but this is > from a man who has a catch and filtration system in Dripping > Springs, and the water is a big seller there at the stand. > > Word of mouth has always been the best way to advertise. If you > have an excellent product people who discover it are always > anxious to tell their friends. Besides the gorgeous organic foods, > this produce stand always has 'stationary items' such as goat > cheese (the water), and organic eggs, coffee, breads, etc. > > I know of another produce stand open year round 24 hours a day > but it is not manned. It's totally on the honor system and seems to > do very well. They do keep a camera trained on the slide the > money goes in and on the parking lot. This farm is basically a > peach orchard but have 4 or 5 large greenhouses where they grow > tomatoes during the winter. (as a rule greenhouse tomatoes are > yucky but these are wonderful as they have the luxury of being vine > ripened and never shipped green.) This one is not organic however. > > I've been wondering about a way to combine the successes of both > of these stands. While we're about 60 miles from any major town, > we're only 5 miles off the Interstate, half way between Houston and > Dallas. I don't know if that market would bear looking into or not. >
