Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK You might have been hearing that marketing is becoming much more experiential. At the farmer’s market this means participating in onsite cooking demos. Farmers showcase their offerings by preparing them and giving out free samples. My intern Bryon Hall roasted...
Courtesy of Bryon H., Saskatoon SK Over the last two weekends at the Saturday farmers market I learned creative ways to increase exposure and sales. The first one was the transition from being an outdoor vendor to an indoor vendor. The challenge was notifying as many customers as possible that Wally’s...
Courtesy of Bryon Hall, Saskatoon SK One of the most beneficial things I’ve done with Wally has been market day selling. Very quickly I realized it wasn’t as simple as it looked. However there are some key things I have noticed make a difference. Engagement covers all of these things...
Courtesy of Bryon H., Saskatoon SK This week I had quite an interesting experience. Wally took me out to one of his backyard plots to harvest horseradish. What I was expecting was a typical looking SPIN plot with beds. When we got there it was barely noticeable what we were...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SKÂ Deliveries are killers. They are a huge time suck and expense.I’m hearing from other farmers that the fuel and labour costs are getting harder to justify, no matter how valuable the face time with customers is. I feel your pain....
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK I have lived in two worlds at our local farmers market. For the last several years, I sold year round indoors at our fixed stand. But in early May, Gail and I switched to an outdoor stand in front of...
Courtesy of Linda B., Abundant Life Farm, Walker Valley NY A SPIN-Farming workshop I did in Virginia brought up an important point – and that is new markets and ways to market. In the section of Virginia in which I gave the workshop they had a heck of a waiting...
SPIN farmers work with Nature, rather than against her. Sometimes she returns the favor, and sometimes she doesn’t. That is what makes farming so thrilling. In essence, you’re working with a business partner that always keeps you guessing. For me, this spring has been a real nail biter. What I...
