Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Things Heat Up

 I picked the last of the little dab of spring lettuce I planted.
 It's been 100 degrees the past two days here, so any lettuce in the ground would certainly bolt any minute. Cooling a bit now -- should be only 89 degrees by Saturday -- yippee!
In spite of the heat, Adam baked some great French bread. We're so thankful for air conditioning! We've had a considerably stressful week for a variety of reasons, so we've been trying to lay low, you know, take one day (or hour) at a time, and recover. Adam recovers by cooking and baking. I recover by knitting. Thus, my gray shawl is quite close to being done. 
Last year, the farmers' market was stressful, but (thankfully!) this year, it is not. Now each Saturday morning is one of the happiest parts of each week for me :) Here's the market on Saturday. We have about nine vendors lined up with our tents, trying not to melt.
 Here's my table -- soaps, bee balm, lip balm, salve plantain, lotion bars, bath salts. Various yarn items.
 The banner Adam ordered for me last year has worked out great -- sturdy and bright. It's important for customers to know who you are and what you're selling.
 It's shady under the tent. I hang my larger yarn items on hangers so they sway in the breeze. Not many people buy them in the summer though. But they look good!
 I took my gourds for the first time. Nobody bought one ... yet.
 I took my seashell chimes too, and nobody bought them either ... yet.
But somebody bought a slim pink scarf I made over two years ago with some ribbon yarn. I've taken it to the market week after week, month after month. I've found that eventually the right customer
comes along for nearly everything, if I wait long enough. A young girl came by with her grandmother, fingered the sparkly pink yarn, loved it, and ... poof! Away it walked! So the chimes and the gourds will sell. I just make them available until the customer who'll love them, comes along.

Stay cool out there! Enjoy your summer and don't let the crazy stress get to you.

7 comments:

Pom Pom said...

The market sounds like a lot of fun. I understand about the melting problem! Yikes!
xo

happyone said...

Your table looks great with all your things out. : ) Good luck with sales.
It never gets that hot here - hottest about mid 80's. We didn't even use the AC last year. I don't even know if it works anymore!!

Dasha said...

I love the birds lined up on the posts along the waterfront. I see it all the time. We have a lot of pelicans around here. They look so funny perched on posts marching out into the water. They look like they are too big and might just topple over, but they never do of course.
The market stall looks lovely.

gretchenjoanna said...

That banner/sign is beautiful. It would draw me to your table!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Your banner is wonderful and a good draw for customers. I like your table set up with your homemade balms, etc. Very nice.

Are your gourds empty? Are they made into a birdhouse? I've seen them painted or stained. I just did a quick search on you tube and came up with this interesting video and there are lots more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axCf3GIlmdA

How neat that the pink scarf sold!!!! It is always exciting having a sale. Have fun and keep creating. Once people realize you are at the market and have handmade goods to sell, they'll be back and tell others too.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Ida said...

Well I must say you do a wonderful job it looks like with your booth. I love the banner.

Deborah Montgomery said...

do you do online orders?! maybe you could do an etsy shop like FlowerLady. I would buy the seashell chimes!
Looks very professional with the banner. Is there a story behind the name Red Robin?
My son is in NC looking for apartments right now. He said it was 90, with the AC broken in the place he's going to be working!! But they were headed for the beach last night to cool off.