[jcr1709]

A story and photos about my garden stand. I named it the "College Fund Self Serve Garden Stand". The intention is to share the fruit of my labor with neighbors, plus put the money into an account to be used when my daughters go to college in 15+ years! Perhaps it will be enough to to pay for a semester after 15 years? I also want them to respect the work it takes to earn a little money....I find it sad how some young ones today just assume money exists or "grows on trees", and they are entitled to just spend or get whatever trinket they want.

Back in early March my girls helped me moisten the seed starting mix, make soil blocks, sow the mostly heirloom tomato seeds and nurture them inside until May. Then we harden off for a week, and then put our 64 plants into the ground. Right now is the height of our season and picking takes a large part of our morning. The girls love to pick with me, mostly eating the beans and cherry tomatoes...I however, do the snipping of our precious heirloom tomatoes.

My colleagues at the culinary school I teach at leave every plastic berry container after class on my desk instead of discarding ,so I can reuse them for the garden stand. It's amazing how many of those accumulate in a years time. My customers often return the next day to the stand to return those containers from the tomatoes they bought the previous day to get reused again! I go home almost nightly with a few 5 gal. buckets of vegetable scraps from school to add to the compost piles that feed our gardens. The students really love the fact that their vegetable scraps do have some other value, rather than going into the dumpster. I installed two rain barrels and even in this hotter, drier year here I have not had to use the garden hose.

I simply sell each package for $1. I fill up small half pint containers with mixed or sometimes a single variety of cherry tomatoes. For other tomatoes they usually get one tomato unless they are smaller like Bloody Butchers where I may give them as many as 6. It's self serve so I want an easy system for the customers and for my own inventory purposes. I think many people get turned off when they see scales out at a little stand like mine. Some of our farmers markets here in CT charge $7 a pound for heirlooms. I can see a small bit of shock in many people when they have their heart set on a particular tomato, and that big Striped German will cost $13! Ouch!

When I put the tomatoes, etc. out on the table, I simply count how many units are there and keep that number in my head. When I come home late at night I count how many are left and subtract that from the original number and then open the cash box and count. I am happy to report that all my customers in 2010 have been entirely honest! It gives me a bit of faith in humanity even in these difficult times. I do two live television cooking segments weekly for our local NBC station, and I lead my garden stand customers to the website for my recipes using the seasonal produce.It seems to help provide some encouragement for them to buy some items when they have some cooking guidance.

When we put our tomatoes at the stand my three year old often says "But Daddy, we won't have any tomatoes for us". I say "yes we will , and isn't it nice to share them with our neighbors?". We usually consume any items left over from the previous day or any items that are on the verge of splitting or other malformed tomatoes that may scare most people. I am debating about putting a small sign down at the stand explaining that some of the beauty of the heirloom tomatoes is their imperfection and inconsistency ....and the taste is well worth it. I will admit to growing a few hybrids that suit those that just assume a tomato should be perfect and round.

I hope I'm not making this post too long....it has not restricted me yet. I do sincerely appreciate all the wonderful information and advice the Tomatoville community has provided me for my now 3rd year of active gardening. At the same time, that expertise and advice in it's own way is also helping to provide what I hope is a positive and nourishing upbringing for my children. Thanks for taking the time to read my story and I hope you enjoy our pictures.

Jamie