plans to make a roadside stand

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i figured if i did a stand/cart on my front lawn that i would have some sort of note that to please not steal, if you need the food please contact me and we can work something out. i am not looking to over price any excess produce i get from my garden since i grow a lot of heirlooms. i would rather share it than let it go bad or end up taking up more room than i actually have available to me.

i only have a 1/2 acre of property, so i don't have massive amounts of stuff i can grow to make this a living or any kind of huge profit! i would tend to have an overabundance of squashes, cukes, and probably tomatoes that i wouldn't be able to use all by ourselves. in our area they do not regulate produce carts on the side of the road so i do not need to apply to be a business. so i am looking to keep this as a self-serve, freestanding cart that can be left during the daytime while i am working my daytime job.

i have seen one other local that has a stand on their property and they have a cash box chained to the table but they also have a note on it that they have a camera to stop thieves from stealing stuff. their set up is not something i would want to use since it doesn't really have any form to it. just a table and something that looks like an old set of stairs they use to put squash/pumpkins and pots of plants on to sell. it is pretty much a permanent setup and cannot be moved to the side of the property for the season.

 

[lesa]

A friend of mine has a little farm with the accompanying stand. She sometimes mans the stand, but often has a box for payment. She has had very little problem with theft.
She usually has a "free" box, with items that are blemished, etc. I say give it a try. I like to imagine that humans aren't all bad! I have purchased organic garlic and corn, from stands that have a box for the money. I always pay a little extra.
I am going to try to have a few extra transplants and oregano plants from the garden. I'm going to try and list them on Craigslist, and see what happens... Good luck!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

my dh and i were traveling the past couple of summers to do a flea market about 20 miles or so from our house. i was selling lots of my perennials there and dh noticed that they sold better than most of the junk we took to offload! this year i would rather choose to use my time around the house and garden and not waste the $$ on gas. we could always yard sale the stuff and not pay a table space fee and save us more $$ by staying close to home instead!

i watched something a few nights ago on an episode of Bizarre Foods about out in California where the stores would toss the produce each night instead of donating it to local shelters. there were 2 ladies that raided the receptacle bins for stuff that was still good and cooked it up for the homeless. sounds a little gross but they were looking for the good stuff that had just been thrown out and not spoiled yet. it was called the Food for Bombs program! after seeing that i would rather see any blemished food go to use than just be tossed to spoil!

even though i have chickens that would gladly eat the bad stuff i would still rather it go to someone in need if it was still good! i have stuff that is being grown this year just for them! (my chickens got a little too fat last summer on some of my over abundance of stuff! )

 

[vnsseed]

my dh and i were traveling the past couple of summers to do a flea market about 20 miles or so from our house. i was selling lots of my perennials there and dh noticed that they sold better than most of the junk we took to offload! this year i would rather choose to use my time around the house and garden and not waste the $$ on gas. we could always yard sale the stuff and not pay a table space fee and save us more $$ by staying close to home instead!

i watched something a few nights ago on an episode of Bizarre Foods about out in California where the stores would toss the produce each night instead of donating it to local shelters. there were 2 ladies that raided the receptacle bins for stuff that was still good and cooked it up for the homeless. sounds a little gross but they were looking for the good stuff that had just been thrown out and not spoiled yet. it was called the Food for Bombs program! after seeing that i would rather see any blemished food go to use than just be tossed to spoil!

even though i have chickens that would gladly eat the bad stuff i would still rather it go to someone in need if it was still good! i have stuff that is being grown this year just for them! (my chickens got a little too fat last summer on some of my over abundance of stuff! )

Just do it, that's how we started. You don't need alot of land to produce an abundance, and you have the right attitude to make it work for you. It's quite rewarding when you make enough to cover the cost of what you planted for yourself. Good luck, feel free to contact me if I can be of any help!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i am wanting to put up a little stand somewhere myself. i live out quite a ways so i cant have one in the yard. if i do have a stand it will be a card table and beach umbrella. ha ha! then you just load it all up and come back tomarrow. i could make a sign to keep there. but i need to find somewhere that would be good... :/ hmmm........?

 

[lighthawk]

Chickie... The nieghbor of a friend of mine (he is retired) grows a large crop of tomatoes and other veggies. He built a small garden stand mounted on a trailer. Every day after harvesting he loads up the stand with all the produce his family can't use and parks it at the end of his driveway. Nothing but a little cash box for payment and he doesn't even lock the box so customers can reach in and make their own change. End of the day he hooks up the tractor and drives it back into his barn. No worry about overnight vandalism and to date he has never been ripped off. I asked him once about someone just taking produce and not paying. His response was " If they need it that bad and can't pay then I'm happy to help them out".
I would say go for it. If you run into problems or hassles you can shut it down. Better than letting it go to waste. IMO.

 

[vnsseed]

Chickie... The nieghbor of a friend of mine (he is retired) grows a large crop of tomatoes and other veggies. He built a small garden stand mounted on a trailer. Every day after harvesting he loads up the stand with all the produce his family can't use and parks it at the end of his driveway. Nothing but a little cash box for payment and he doesn't even lock the box so customers can reach in and make their own change. End of the day he hooks up the tractor and drives it back into his barn. No worry about overnight vandalism and to date he has never been ripped off. I asked him once about someone just taking produce and not paying. His response was " If they need it that bad and can't pay then I'm happy to help them out".
I would say go for it. If you run into problems or hassles you can shut it down. Better than letting it go to waste. IMO.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

thanks Dave and lighthawk for the encouragement! i was thinking that i could just roll out my tempered glass table (don't use it often anyways) and if i could find a nice big market umbrella that would work! i could just strap the can for the money to the handle of the umbrella.

i'm usually home about 4-4:30 in the afternoons so i always get about 2 hours of traffic running by my house. there's even a small ball park and the Dept of Public Works is across the street so i would get the people that are traveling out from work there or to the game across the street. my neighbor works at the DPW and comes home about 3pm so i am not too afraid that something would happen without him noticing or his wife who does house cleaning for the other neighbors nearby!

 

[momofdrew]

Chickie
I have thought of doing the same thing.. My DH has been urging me to do this for years...I always have too much rhubarb, asparagas,squash and tomatoes then I know what to do with...
A friend of mine used to put her produce in the back of her pick up truck and parked it in her drive and left a shoe box for the money...she has never had a problem with theft...


{PS are you off Exit 11???}

 

[vfem]

I generally see people on the side of the road with a pick up truck and cover over it then put out produce on the tail gate... ocassionally they have tables laid out with extras. That way they can move from location to location as they feel like it.

I just sell my extra's to the little farm stand down the street, and they can sell for me. They also carry my jams and jellies at no cost because it fills shelves when the season is slow with available produce. The fuller they look the more customers stop!

They bought an old barn and then gutted it for their stand, it looks old and decaying... and very country! People love stopping for the vibe they get from it! And it looks so awesome with tons of heirloom tomatoes piled up in a bin for $1 a lb!!!