Christa Ross

Thanks for your replies

I know about (and am very fond of) the new cottage food act. I actually just started my own business using a rentable grange kitchen, however, and it's working out great! As I understand the cottage food law it more applies to things like baked bread or cookies, less 'high risk' (if you will...) foods.

My (soon to be) farm stand will be on a private road and I'm a state certified producer so I'm less worried about the regulations and more concerned about building a structure that will be covering all my bases and also interested in knowing whether others have had success with an idea like this or have any comments on selling in this way.

I decided to try this for two main reasons. The first is that I want to help bring our small community in even closer, to make us all more locally oriented and sustainable. Why make all of my neighbors drive in to get their produce in town when I have everything we need and more right here? The second was as I was thinking about where I want to put my time and energy. I could drive in to market, sell for a couple of hours and come home... Or I could harvest every morning, sell all day at an unattended stand, and have my days free to keep myself busy in the garden and on my other business. I'd much rather put my time and energy back into the land than in sitting at a market (although I have sold at markets in the past and had a blast doing it!)

I'm not sure how much to expect to sell. I'm going to start harvesting small and work my way up as I know there is a demand. To give you an idea I think that I may be serving anywhere from 5- 50 people... who knows.

I think the stand, just based on the materials I have around, will probably be about 2 feet deep and 4 feet wide, possibly with a swing down shelf which could be pulled up at night when we're closed. It would be nice to expand later if it goes well...

Don't think we'll make it portable... Just gonna close her up at night.

It would be really awesome to build in a nook for a fridge... although that may be down the road. For now I think I may just use a good ol' cooler in the shade with some ice packs in it to keep certain things fresh. As (if) it works I'm hoping to reinvest the money I make to improve the stand.

There is some sun so I'll definitely need a roof or something to keep it shady. The other sticky part is that I live on a dirt road and and I'm planning on putting the stand near the road to make it accessible. I'm a bit worried about dust.

I'm going leave it to the honor system and good faith in my neighbors. However, having a hidden box for the money, maybe even that's connected to the stand so it can't just be taken, would be a good idea.

I was also thinking, if anyone has pictures of their farm stand, oh boy I'd love to see it!

Thanks again!

Hi Permies!

I'm new here and loving this site so far!

I'm coming up on one year on my beloved piece of (rented) land and I've been thinking about building a little farm stand. I'd love to hear some of your experiences with this... building plans? does and don'ts? etc. I'm hoping to sell my excess veggies, processed and fermented goods, dried herbs, seeds (from my garden, woohoo!) and some herbal medicine (tinctures, salves, etc...)

Any and all information would be so much appreciated!

I love using organic grape alcohol for my tinctures. When you use a higher quality menstruum my teacher always said, "you're starting with a medicine and going up from there". It's expensive but so worth it if you're hoping to make high quality tinctures.
It's usually very high alcohol content (we're talking between 190 - almost 200 proof... ) so you definitely want to mix it with water to reach the optimal solvent level (always mixing the alcohol and water together before pouring over your herbs). I believe that in Michael Moore's online resources there is a long list of herbs and their ideal alcohol:water tincturing rations.
If you're tincturing a plant that contains a lot of alkaloids in it... say something like oregon grape seed for instance... it won't go amiss to add about 10% apple cider vinegar to your menstruum as well to make sure you get all the goodies you're hoping for

That being said... I used generic 80 proof vodka in my tincture making for years and I was never disappointed by my results.

I also think that using a variety of menstruums for tincturing doesn't go amiss in certain situations. For instance, an excellent 'apertif' tincture I love making is artichoke leaf and dandelion leaf in brandy. It's a great bitters to sip on before dinner to get your digestion movin' and the brandy makes it a more enjoyable 'sipper' rather than the 'just get it down' feeling I have with some vodka tinctures.
Apple Cider Vinegar is also a great menstuum to use for herbs you're hoping to ingest regularly as general health and well being tonics. Although you're not extracting as much as you would with an alcohol tincture you're still getting some goodies out of the plants and, again, you're starting with a medicine if it's organic, raw ACV. Can't hurt.