We've been at the Beaver Street Farmer's Market each and every Saturday for 15 months now. This is an interesting experience. I have been to farmers' markets in every town I am able to visit, and this one is different from any other one in some good ways and in some not so good ways. At most farmers' markets, they have actual farmers. At this one there are more vendors than farmers. They purchase from huge clearing houses and bring the product to the market. I'm talking 50 cases of lettuce, etc. Most of their income is derived from selling to restaurants and other clients who buy several cases of each item.
There is a lot of walk-in traffic from people who know this exists, and that is where we draw most of our customers since we do no retaurant or bulk business like the other vendors do. It is really a challenge to be at this market because the conventional produce is priced so cheaply, it is very difficult to compete. We have an organic sign over our booth so that people can find us, but it also serves to help many of the customers to know where they DON'T want to go!
One of our customers who found us when they were doing their weekly shopping visit to the market were happy to find a vendor who carried organic food. They have been a regular to our stall ever since.
Last Christmas they asked us to make up a gift basket for a benefit auction which we gladly did. Then last month, the guy, who works for a big company in Jacksonville, asked us to participate in a health fair his company was putting on for their employees. We weren't sure what to expect from this as we have never done this before, but we agreed to do it.
Most health fairs are put on for the community. It was interesting to me that this one was for the employees and that they would have enough employees to make it worthwhile. Come to find out, this company does many things to help their employees be healthy. Someone figured out a while back that a healthy employee costs their employers less in terms of health insurance, sick pay, etc. To me, this is a win-win. While they may be doing this to help their own bottom line, it is a wonderful perk for the employee as well.
To encourage their 600 employees to attend the health fair, they were given a sheet with all the booths listed. I guess there were 20 - 25 of us including Duval County Parks and Recreation (what a good idea!), Duval County Health Department (diabetes screening), St. Vincent's Hospital, Weight Watchers, several gyms and personal trainers, yoga instructors, massage therapists, and us. We felt privileged to be allowed to be there as there were no others like us there. We gave out samples of our honey almond butter with celery sticks which was pretty popular, and several people signed up to get our newsletters. They were such a wonderful group of people, and we really enjoyed meeting all of them.
To encourage them to visit all of the booths, they were told they would be entered into a drawing for door prizes if they got little stickers from at least 16 participants. Of course, there were those who only went from booth to booth to pick up the free stuff and get their sticker, but most people genuinely seemed interested in what we had to say. They were either very health conscious or extremely polite!
We particularly enjoyed it from the networking aspect. We met some great people with whom we hope to have a long association. We also got to see our customer, Randy, from a different perspective, and got to see what drives his desire to be healthier. I guess the main thing we came away with was what a great concept it was for a business to do something like this for their employees. I am not a big fan of big business, but I have to admit, I admired their commitment to their employees and their health even when it stands to help their own bottom line. There are other ways to do that, so I see that as a good thing that helps both parties. (I believe the business partnership should benefit both parties - we live in a society where everything is about "What's in it for me?" Our government has trained us well to be very ego-centric, but that's another soapbox!)
I wondered if the employees appreciate what went on that day - the sacrifice the booth participants made to be there (since there were no sales or contracts allowed) as well as all the work management put into the event. I think they probably do. I'll bet this company does not have a high turnover rate...
I was thinking this is why we keep doing the Beaver Street Market in spite of the fact that it is not organic friendly. We have met some remarkable people. I wouldn't give anything for that. When I think of who we wouldn't have met if we had not chosen to be there, it makes me really appreciate the hard times as well as the good...
This week we've got some delicious sprouted garbanzo bean hummus made up to eat with cucumber slices, celery, and corny chips. We feel our hummus is very unique in that we sprout our garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and then mix them with the traditional hummus ingredients: tahini, garlic, sweet pepper, onion, cumin and other spices, lemon, salt, and cilantro or parsley. It really is tasty. Because it is made from a sprouted legume, we were worried that it would be too starchy, but it is very good. We particularly enjoy having a little too much as we love it dehydrated into what we call falafels. These are very tasty additions to our salads or dipped in tahini sauce.
We must be in a dipping mood as we also have our olive cheese spread which is delicious spread on celery or anything else you can think to use it on. yummy. We also have some guacamole this week, no-net tuna, Waldorf salad, and cucumber salad. Of course, our ever present Ranch dressing is available, and we made some sweet and sour sauce to serve over shredded zucchini. We've also got some fresh everyday bread and corny chips along with veggie crisps.
Dessert and snack items include Hawaiian granola, soul dates, candied pecans, crunch meister, apple crisp, key lime pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate cheesecake, curried cashews, and chocolate mousse cake.
As a plug for the produce, the celery is excellent this week, and we are selling it at cost as we like to get it in fresh each week for ourselves, but we can't eat a whole case by ourselves (24 to the case). All items like this (lettuce, cilantro, parsley, celery) we sell at cost, so our customers definately benefit from our personal addictions! Please consider purchasing these items from us so that we can keep getting in a case of them. You won't find a better price anywhere else. I don't know how it compares to conventional produce, but the organic has got such a magnificent flavor, I can't believe anyone would eat these foods conventionally if they could get them at a decent price organically. But maybe that's just me...
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