Picking and Selling

On Friday we began the day by walking in the forest to find Ramps, wild onions that grow rampant in cool places where the sun is able to peak through. They only grow in spring, so they are very in demand at the market. I had never heard of them until project began, but since I began working as an organic farmer I feel like all I hear is "ramps ramps ramps." They grow naturally so it's an easy thing to have at the market. The problem with ramps is that the roots grow very deep, so the easiest way to get them is to dig your fingers deep into the soil and just pull with all your might. Using a shovel or a pitch fork is easier, but you usually end up breaking the onion part. So with our hands covered in dirt, we emerged from the dewy morning forest with lots and lots of wild onions. It was the first time I had been in the Snake Hill Woods, and it was beautiful. Savery showed us this cave area where two rocks have come together to create a ravine. She thinks it was created by some sort of glacial movement. I'm not exactly sure, but I'm excited to explore it. On Friday we also transplanted ginger from pots Savery had been growing in her basement into the ground. The ginger is from Hawaii, so we're crossing our fingers that it survive the temperamental Cleveland whether.

This morning David and I went to the market again. Savery's husband wasn't there so we were especially instrumental in setting up the space and selling. This morning we only had ramps, syrup, and beef, and it rained, but we still sold a lot of products. The ramps sold out, and a few restaurants bought about ten gallons of syrup total, but I think the greatest success was the ground beef. Savery decided that instead of leaving sausage out to sample we should put ground beef out in hopes of selling more ground beef. As soon as people tasted the samples they began buying. The best thing was watching peoples' faces. Often times, people would take a sample, start to walk away, then turn around as they tasted it to come buy beef. It was pretty amusing.

On the business side, David and I are learning how community development can conflict with personal gain. We suggested to our sweet, loving sponsor that maybe she should sell her ramps for $3.50 because everyone else was selling them for $4.00. She kindly explained that people had undercut her prices before and that it created a bad market environment, and didn't let other people survive. "We want to create a community here," she explained. And they have. It's amazing how many people come out in the rain for their veggies, organic beef, and fair trade coffee.

I just wonder if she could be so generous if she did not have her husbands sizable inheritance to use for other expenses. It's hard to tell.