I have been going through lots of seed catalogs this winter as I am bored off my hiney, and I have come up with many different crops that I will grow this year just for selling at the local farmers market. Some may seem quite odd to some of you but commonplace to others.
First of these will be most obvious-eggs. I plan on buying some birds from a friend who is trying his hand at hatching his own birds. I think I can raise about 12 here with minimal effort on my part. I may have to buy a bit of feed now and then but I'd much rather have them scratch around for most of their food. Actually I would rather use the eggs as a barter item at the local farmers market if I can find a willing person to trade with. At our house we like eggs but maybe not enough to eat everything our birds produce. I would also like to raise quail for eggs. I guess these birds are fairly easy to raise and the eggs are extraordinary. I owe this idea to my wife as she loves watching the food network. I saw Bobby Flay make an eggs benedict with these once and it just looked awesome! These eggs also bring a premium as there aren't many farmers raising quail-yet.
Secondly-Asparagus. Last summer I planted a 4' by 12' bed of the stuff and it took off. Usually it takes a few years before the plant is established enough to take being cut every day. I plan on planting another bed the same size this year with another variety. This will be far too much for us to eat so I will try selling or bartering some at our local farmers market. I may also try pickling the stuff and selling it in jars. Everything is better pickled! I might also try this with extra eggs. It is a great way to store food long term also.
Thirdly-Mushrooms. I can guess what you are already thinking, but these are the kind that are edible and non-hallucigenetic. I purchased what is called "plug" spawn. These are little wooden dowels that are inocculated with mushroom spores. I guess you drill holes in a freshly cut wooden log and drive these dowels in them. Then you dig the end of the log into the ground about 2 inches. This helps keep the log moist. The mushrooms grow best in a damp shaded environment like the woods around my house. I bought spawn of Shiitake, Maitake, and one called Lion's mane(this one apparently tastes like lobster!). I think these taste the best when they are fresh, but they can be preserved for years when they are dried. The website where I purchased these from is http://www.fungi.com/index.html . I highly recommend this company as I had my spawn in 2 days! I would like to also market these to local restaurants, but let's just see how much I get this year.
The fourth crop I will go into here is corn. However, I will not be raising sweet corn as that market is FLOODED and the local farmers around my folks house raise the best stuff I have ever eaten and I'd rather just buy it from them. I want to raise popcorn! I bought a few different kinds of heirloom varieties that I hope to cross this year. The first year of this I probably wont have enough to sell but I'll save the seeds and see what happens. Also, I purchased seed to raise an ancient corn variety that is used for making cornmeal. I wont have enough to sell the corn for cornmeal but I may try to make cornbread or muffins to sell from my very own cornmeal. This will also call for getting a grain mill, which I can use for all the grains I plan to harvest here. Here is a link to the corn varieties I purchased. POPCORN-http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.aspx?item_no=PS17677
Hopi Blue http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.aspx?item_no=PS21179
Anyway, thats all for today. I hope to have many more varieties of things to sell these just seemed to be the most interesting ones to talk about.
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