Natural Born Salesmen

I had no idea that the boys were natural born salesmen.  I thought that I would have to coax them into talking to any customers who might come our way, that they might be too shy or nervous to speak with adults that they didn't know. Boy, was I wrong!

There they are, my two little entrepreneurs behind our first ever Mattamuskeet Momma table at the Belhaven Farmers' Market. We had decided earlier in the week that we would make our debut at the Market this weekend, so we worked diligently, putting the finishing touches on our preserves. We made twelve half-pint jars of beautiful, rich Blueberry Citrus Preserves that taste just like the warm center of fresh blueberry pie with soft notes of orange and lemon zest, and twelve half-pint jars of Seedless Blackberry Preserves, a deep purple spread with just a hint of lemon zest to complement its sweet-tart goodness. We used what ribbon we could find around the house to dress up the jars a little bit, and we packed them carefully in boxes for the trip into town. The boys whole-heartedly agreed that I should bake up some fluffy loaves of Cinnamon Swirl Bread because "that was their favorite and people would want to buy it from us", so I stirred, kneaded, and baked 6 rolls of soft bread swirled throughout with melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon. We wrapped it fresh from the oven late Friday afternoon, placed our labels and ingredients stickers on top, and we were ready to go.

The Belhaven Farmers' Market is open on Fridays and Saturdays, and of course the boys wanted to go both days.  Thunderstorms had plagued us off and on all day Friday, but by 4:00, the sun finally started to peek out.  We decided to chance it.  We were the only ones at the Market when we arrived at 5:00, but, buoyed by the excitement of our new enterprise, we quickly set up shop and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Every time someone drove by slowly and looked our way, the boys screeched "Look, it's a customer!" only to say "Oh.  Nevermind,"  as the car continued on.  Eli kept himself entertained by building small mountains in the gravel that covered the ground.  Finally, a car turned into the market, and a nice man walked up.  To us.  Our first customer!  Mr. Julian Goff was a wonderfully sweet man who decided to try our bread and preserves.  He couldn't have come at a better time, as the boys who had earlier been flying high on enthusiasm, began to wilt with the evening humidity and lack of excitement.  We thanked him for coming to see us, and then we went back to waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.  At about 6:30 I decided to throw in the towel, my decision aided by lack of traffic and the tired grumpiness that was beginning to over take the boys.  Though we only had one customer, I still felt that the evening was a success just because  we actually did it.  It is one thing to talk about making things and selling them at the Farmers' Market, but it is an entirely different thing to load up three little boys, our inventory, and all of the other necessities for a long wait on a warm summer's evening and actually go out there!  The evening was made even more of a success when I returned home and found that Mr. Goff had visited this blog and left an incredibly warm comment about our food and my boys, and I will always be thankful for his thoughtfulness.

The boys begged to try it again on Saturday morning, and 8 o'clock found us back in the parking lot of the Farmers' Market, this time greeted by a whole different scene.  There was a hustle and bustle of set-up at the front stalls, and Cole, Greyson, Eli and I grabbed our things and headed for an empty table.  We heard a lady ask us if we were setting up, and we said "Yes!" in all of our goofy excitedness.  She gave us a searching look, and began to explain the market to us.  All I can say is, thank goodness for Elizabeth Gurganus!  In my eagerness to begin our Market experience, and not being able to find a thing on the Town of Belhaven's website about the Market, I just assumed you showed up, grabbed a table and sold stuff.  No, no, no.  The tables all belonged to vendors, the stalls were rented by vendors by the day or by the month, and we needed to go visit the Market manager and register.  Seeing the deflated faces of my boys, Elizabeth took care of us and pulled an extra table from the back of her van.  She helped us set up, and introduced us to everyone.  She makes beautiful hand-made jewelry, purses, aprons, and all manner of pretty and useful items - from wallets, to bibs, and so many other items is a gorgeous array of fabrics.    Heike, in the next stall down, sold a lovely array of art, from bird houses to pillows to stepping stones.  Beverly was the main attraction of the morning, however, with her fresh blueberries and mouth-watering baked goods and preserves.  

Archie and some of his beautiful local produce.

With the added vendors on this Saturday morning, there was much more traffic coming in and out of the market, and the boys were soon caught up with the buzz of activity.  So many people to talk to and see, and yes, customers even came to visit our little borrowed table!  The boys were ready this morning, and when the first person showed interest in our goods, Cole asked, "Would you like to buy our bread or our jam?  It's really good."  Greyson piped in "Yes, and if you buy one thing its $5, and if you buy two things, then it's $10.  Don't you want to buy two things?"  I had to put my hand over my mouth so I didn't laugh at loud at their earnest sales pitch.  And this was no fluke, but instead, was repeated over and over again during the morning with no coaching from me.  It was nice to see how seriously the boys were taking our venture, and the responsibility that they felt for selling the things that we made.  Or maybe it was just the visions of the Legos they wanted to buy with their share of the profits that had them so fired up.  I wasn't looking the gift horse in the mouth.

We stayed until about 10 o'clock, and then we packed up and headed off on a supply-buying trip to Greenville.  I had a table to buy, among other things!  We had a great first weekend at the Market. We met some amazingly nice people, vendors and customers alike.  Everyone was warm and kind, and made us feel welcome right from the start.  At the Market, even if it was for a brief couple of hours, I felt like the four of us were a part of something that we could be proud of.  It was a great feeling.  

I want to thank any of our customers who might be reading this for supporting us in our fledgling efforts at local food commerce, and please tell me what you think of our preserves and bread in the comments section.  The boys and I are already hard at work for the coming weekend, where we will have some new bread and preserves varieties.  We spent last evening picking figs from our monstrous ancient fig trees, and we will be making half-pint after half-pint of glorious golden jam.  See you on Saturday!