Marquisa, My husband, myself and our two kids opened up a roadside stand last year for the first time. We took over by grandmother's 2 acre garden and took advantage of the good location and opened a stand on the edge of the road during the summer and stayed open until Halloween. We were open weekends and then in the fall we were open full time for 3 weeks during fall harvest. We used a big metal mailbox attached to a 12 foot wood table for when we were gone (as we don't live there but a few miles away. We left produce out with and signs for pricing and the honour system was kept. Our phone # is listed on a sign so people could contact us right away if needed. We would check it everyday and restock produce during the week and be open on Saturday and Sunday 8:00 to 5:00. I also sold vegetables directly to friends, members at my sister's health club, co-workers....all because of word of mouth and letting people know what I had. I ran off a produce list and made posters up and posted them on every bulletin board I could find. I listed all the varieties of vege's we had and when they were available. Our stand consisted of the big tent(awning)I purchased from WalMart for $30 that we placed two table under and then placed various other tables and other containers around the awning. You need some kind of protection from the sun as some vegetables will wilt and shrink quickly if left out. We thought we would sell more vegetables than we did...late July was slow at the stand but I sold a lot to my other buyers. My neighbor daughter runs a mexican restaurant and she purchased the majority of my peppers and onions after I gave her a flat of various vege's to use. Some of my best customers were the ones I gave them a new variety of squash or vegetable to try and they would come back out and bring a friend or family member. Summer crops that sold include red and white potatoes....red being the top seller. We sold by the pound and had the small potatoes already bagged. We sold white, purple and yellow onions 3 for $1.00 or a flat crate of them for $3.00. Tomatoes were late this year and so the majority of our crop we started selling late in August. I sold so many to my coworkers and neighbors I usually didn't have a large supply on hand. Top seller was Celebrity and the cherry or Sweet 100 varieties. The zucchini were tricky and had to be protected from the sun after they were picked. Tip:The eightball variety gets too large very quickly so you need to keep this picked everyday. Come fall we had 9 varieties of squash and around 17 variety of pumpkins and we sold around 800 pumpkins and 450 squash in our stand. I also sold broomcorn, field sorghum, indian corn, popcorn and ornamental gourds. The broomcorn was a huge hit with the local ladies for fall decoration and was so easy to grow....I would sell it for either $3.00 or $5.00, depending on how big of bundle they wanted. We sold out broomcorn in early November. It was very profitable and we had lots of fun running the stand and meeting new people. As to your questions, I can help with a few suggestions... " Is there a formula or "best guess" as to how much of which vegetable we should produce for our potential customer base? Vegetables can be tricky,in the sense of knowing what will sell and what won't. We grew cucumbers, zucchini (both Fordham and Eight-Ball varieties), tomatoes(14 different varieties), onions, squash, peppers (bell peppers, jalapeno, chili, and hot peppers). The cucumbers and zucchini has to be sold more quickly and protected by the sun. I would pickle or freeze the extra or leftovers. Grow varieties of vegetables you will enjoy to eat or can process and keep for later time. Don't go overboard on peppers or tomatoes until you know you can get rid of them. For you if you have limited space look for bush varieties of vegetables to plant. You can interplant some varieties...find a new farmer's almanac and it will help you figure out what varieties of vegetables can be grown with each other or with flower varieties. "What proportion of your garden would you dedicate to cut flowers and how much to vegetables?" We were going to have cut flowers at our stand and we planted large zinnias, cosmos , sunflowers and marigold on the edge of the vegetable garden...we went to the farmer's market and found that their was lots of competition. We sold some flowers at our stand on weekends in August... we placed big vases or buckets full of different flowers and sold then for $3 or $4 per bundle. It was a pain and not our main seller...once we started selling broom corn I gave up on selling fresh flowers. Plant what you can grow easily, know you can rid of(sell, give away, freeze, or can) and grow what you will make the most profit on. Our best and most profitable was small ornamental gourds. I had wagons full of them and sold them for 5 for a dollar. I planted 4 packets of mixed ornamental gourds and ran them up fences to save space. We sold a large supply of potatoes and squash in the fall. Many varieties of squash come in bush variety so they don't vine out as much. " When is the peak time for sales? In the morning or evening when people are coming home from work?" Saturday mornings were always good and late Sunday mornings(after church would let out) we got quite a few regulars back. I always opened up at 8:00 in the morning and my regulars would rely on it. On weekdays I would check the lock box and work in garden for a couple hours and be available at stand and we got quite a few people to stop on their way home from work. Best advice I can give you is.. Have a nice and full looking display. Clean your vegetables, have sacks and hand them out or have large supply of them(I used old grocery sacks or bought small brown sacks at Walmart). Keep your product display full and and colorful. Also know your product..the more you know about variety, ways to cook it or process the better...I kept my favorite recipes on a recipe run off sheet and would hand them out to regulars. Use signs on the side of the road and tie balloons to your mailbox or to fence posts on weekends. Many people would see balloons and think our stand was a garage sale and would slow down long enough to catch interest to what we were selling. I wish you the best of luck .... we had a wonderful time with our stand and look for forward to this upcoming summer and fall. email me if you have any other questions.... Sue from Hawk Valley Garden Dickens, Iowa

I wish I had a picture for you of a stand in PA that we visit. It was setup just as you referred to on a wagon. 1) You need a wagon that is not to tall. 2) set up benches or trays for your product on an incline. These can not be too long as your customer will have to reach. 3) An awaing that will not only cover the produce but your customer should be made of a quality vinaly or canvas. Try to figure where the sun will be so as to cover the product well. 4) have a place for packing your prduct. If this is a self serve then have it in the center. Provide bags and a honor system cash can. One tip. Make a cash can out of a lockable mail box, the type that mounts on the wall. Bills go in the top. A change can will give the customer change. Keep your prices simple. $ for a dollar, 2 for a dollar. 5) Since your stand is mobile put up a good strudy sign with your name and times the stand will be there. You can also promote things that are plentifull on your sign too. Hope this helps, if you have more question you may email me at hopefarm@adelphia.net Take care Tom

BRAVO !! "Conflict of Interest" is right !! This is a subject that burns my wick at both ends !! At two of the markets I (grow it myself/vendor) go to, the market master is a vendor, he buys 90% plus of his produce (from across state line and from Lower Michigan), he sells from 2 or 3 roadside stands (not at his farm)7 days a week, he goes to 3 markets a week, he has hired help. Some times he buys produce (where ever) then sells part of it to another vendor at the same markets, they both sell the same %*@& !! at the sametime. At one market in another town, where he is also the market master, he drives right by the market (where all us vendors are setting up) he goes to the senor housing development's parking lot and sells for about an hour, then comes back just 5 min before the real market starts !! Our market has a rule "Signs for products sold must be displayed at the market and must be clearly labeled with the product origin, farm name, location of the farm, price, and how it's grown i.e. Certifed Naturally , Conventionally Grown,i.e. Non-compliance could result in disciplinary action and/or penalty". Notice the word "COULD" Ha Ha. The 2 vendors I'm talking about, almost Never have any kind of signage except a price sometimes on some things !! I'll be adding MORE to this later today, have to go out and do some transplanting. Deb

Have you considered taking a "care package" of your fresh picked veggies to some of the chefs at the nicer restaurants in your area? Alice Waters of Chez Panisse has arrangements with local farmers to purchase what they grow. If you have unusual items, it might be worth your while to give this a try and cut down the number of days you have to set up and break down your stand. A link that might be useful: The Food Revolution of Alice Waters' Chez Panisse www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9848900