
Honey is a very good farmers market product too. There is a rise in bee keeping in home gardens all over the country which is great because the bees have had so many problems over the last several years. Honey sells fast. Our honey vendor typically sells out of what her bees produce but bees can be tricky to raise. With colony collapse disorder, the use of pesticides in local agriculture, and weather related issue bee keepers can have a hard time maintaining their colonies. It takes a passionate person to raise and produce quality honey.

Plants are not the most profitable but it can be rewarding. In my first year of selling plants I brought mostly ornamental plants. I didn't have a lot of success that year. People came by but traffic by my stand was low and most people didn't have more than a passing interest in my plants. Another vendor at the same market was doing a lot of business selling edible berries like blueberries. They purchased their plants at nursery then resold them at a higher price. Another plant seller at the market also did pretty well selling edible plants that she grew which included strawberries, fig trees, asparagus, herbs, and several other types of plants. This moved me toward the direction of edible plants, specifically heirlooms and open pollinated herbs. It is a market not covered by large box stores. Edible plants sold at the correct times do great but it is very seasonable and by Mid-June the sales drop off since most people have planted their gardens by then. Early in the season tomato and pepper plants sell great then taper off. Herb sales last through the season longer since most of them can be used right away. Box stores tend to get their edibles on the shelves very early which makes it hard to compete toe to toe but by reaching to a more specialized niche plants can be a successful market product.
I'll continue with more farmers market products and how they perform in my next post! (Update; Here's the next post! Growing for a Farmers Market Part 2) If you want more info on running a small nursery business you can check out this series of posts I wrote last year about starting a nursery business. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or on The Home Garden Facebook page. Thank you for reading!