Travis@bloosquall,thanks for the plug and compliment.When considering price pay attention to what the competitors are selling for and adjust your price up or down according to quality.In a price war everybody loses.I have a high base price for those who just want to buy a bulb or two and any sales over two pounds[I have a $30 minimum] and give a 20% instant discount(its easy to figure in your head) which encourages larger sales.Most large sales occur during planting season[sept.-nov.] with most sales in Oct.If you overproduce your market demand,which is easy to do,you will have unsellable stock no matter how cheap or awesome it may be.I have a box of mixed varieties at a cheap price some are small(2"minus),broken bulbs,highly irregular shapes and just plain ugly.I sell basically two sizes-2"-21/2"planting grade and 21/2"-3"gourmet grade same price.More than a half dozen varieties leads to consumer confusion.KISS-keep it simple stupid.I had 16 varieties this year and am cutting back by a third and also overproduced the market-left over stock.Sales $10-15k.Grew 12,000 bulbs,10k sellable this year and cutting back to 10k planted and hopefully 9k sellable.Some new varieties just did not perform/disappointing.My Spanish Roja outsells and outperforms everything I grow and that goes for the other vendors also.I have the highest and lowest prices in the market.I planted 6k Roja last year and about half were gourmet size.Most consumers will buy the largest bulbs;big sells and junk will break you. Guru Engeland claims its difficult for a grower to surpass 1500 pounds of hand-crafted garlic and I would totally agree.You have to keep 200-300# for planting.So you will probably end up with 1000# of quality bulbs.At 8 bulbs to the pound avg.you will have to plant 12k+bulbs;lots of work and preplanning. A 1000# at $6 pound will give you a gross of 6k now deduct expenses(fertilizer,marketing,etc.) You figure it out.You would probably make more money standing on a street corner with a sign saying,"WILL WORK FOR FOOD".I been selling and growing garlic for 15 years and have been insulted and praised but I'll be damned if I'm gonna work for nothing.There is no competition with junk and agri-garlic.Be proud of your product,grow the best.Yeah,I still have garlic for sale.Van Foeken Farm

Deeby, I've had the same problem as you. First I was thinking I could go to the local high end stores and get some heirlooms ... they don't even know what they have and half of the time they probably aren't even heirloom tomatoes as you and me are thinking. I've been wanting to go to the farmers market too but not much in my region as far as tomato and it is a long very early drive. If you don't get there early and if there happen to be any heirlooms, the restaurant buyers come around 6am and they probably get sold. But the people that sell aren't usually the same that grow and I don't even know if they always want to tell what variety they grow. Really disappointing. No way I could have confidence always that what you get is identified properly and for that matter from a cross bred bubnch of intertwined tomatoes. The only way to be sure is to get the seed from a reliable place, or a source in this forum. It took a lot of the fun out of it. But I get how you want to do tomato-tasting to figure out what you want to spend time growing. Hope you really enjoy the Cherokee Purple!

I think I posted my testing of mixed sprouted grain a few years ago but you may have not been interested at that time...actually I doubt anyone cared, lol. Maybe Grainlady. I tested a dozen grains and most 'woke up' the germ embryo in 12-24 hours with a few rinses in filtered water a couple times. You should sprout your own. No different than sprouting any seed for growing except just the tail of the embryo is needed for a 'sprouted' grain. It is no longer the bean but on the way to a plant. Easily/easier digested. Cooked the same way. High heat for 5 minutes, then a simmer for 30-45. Fresh bean so much better than shelved grocery purchased. I make a mixed sprouted grain every weekend. And start micro-greens for salads just on auto-pilot. I don't pressure cook, just my grain pot as I need to start a few varieties 15 minutes ahead, then add the quicker cooking beans/grains, then the final ones 10 min later. No trouble at all. Just a back burner while prepping our usual Sunday night dinner. Lat night we had mixed grain with ShrimpCreole. And enough grain, like every week, for a few days of a breakfast grain.... 5-6 cups, not a big load. It has a NYC name for vegans. Forgot what it is called...but a pearl barley? cocoa base almond/cashew cream, then mixed sprouted grain, granola, fresh fruit...mixed nuts. Addicting and I have zero allergies but love it. Very gut tolerant.

You are a fountain of information! I thought Looking Glass was a strong possibility. I got the other one because it looks like Special Angel. Didn’t think I would be so lucky. I’m thrilled with all of them.