Yes - contact the farm to table restaurant. We sell tomatoes at $3 / lb - heirlooms included. We normally wholesale those at $2 / lb - but have gone down to $1.50 If we have no takers, then we make sauce, or donate to food pantries.

I've already donated about 100 lbs to food pantries/soup kitchens (the kitchen I donated about 30 lbs to last week told me they got 5 "big bags" - quarts? Gallons? Of sauce out of it. They aren't allowed to can.)

I did contact the fancy restaurant, they didn't answer phone until 11:30 so I just talked to person who answered, left my name and number but chef never called back. I was told they got all their tomatoes from another farm in town.

I made 4 quarts of juice and 6 of sauce last Sun (took all day) out of about 50 lbs, now I've got at least that much, maybe more like 75 I need to use today, mostly "regular" tomatoes as my mom calls them but some heirlooms, I've also been making variations on tomato jam all week.

Last night at market I sold heirlooms for $3/lb and "regular" for $2/lb - wholesale prices this week ranged from $2 - $2.80/lb for heirlooms and "field" tomatoes from $1 - $2/lb. But it was a really slow market, the lady who asked if I'd have cherry tomatoes for stuffing this week didn't come back, and I didn't see the couple who told me last week they loved the Orange Minsk they bought 2 weeks ago. Pity since now I have more ripe.

I only sold about 5.5# of heirlooms (almost half that to 1 lady), 1.5# of colored cherries, 2# of salad tomatoes and 1.5# of SS100 cherries last night. Thank goodness I sold $10 worth of jam.

I want to say things are slow b/c the kids are back in school and people don't have time for weeknight market (all I saw were mothers with preschool kids and sr. citizens) but last week was a good week. But do I need to find another market when the MM says to us (me and honey/beeswax lady next to me) "Oh, don't pay me this week, I'm just glad you're here."

Let's see, no entertainment this week, the Italian ice guy was there, the certified organic farm, the big conventional farm (the girls were hanging out with the ice guy) who still had corn and some summer squash but mostly winter squash and cabbage, etc., the local orchard, the employee of the farm 4 miles from me (had sunflowers and squash, apples, no veggies that I could see), another farm with apples, mums, cider donuts, but no veggies that I could tell, advertising their corn maze, me and the bee lady, and a stall with home energy assessments.

Oh yeah, and all I took were tomatoes picked Monday before the rain on Tuesday, I didn't have time to check what was ready yesterday (I might have had a few zukes, I think the beans are done b/c it's been dry all month, and no one was interested in bok choy or tatsoi a couple of weeks ago so why bother bringing them, or the mustard? They're going to the soup kitchen next week).

I did have 2 ladies stop by early in market to look at my heirlooms - one told the other "This is what I have in my garden right now" - I told her it was a Black Krim, she didn't know what she planted. Another mom with school-aged kids (sorry, I did see a couple at end of market) eating I. ice commented as they passed "We've still got tomatoes in our garden." and an older couple who came in to browse (and at least complimented my tomatoes) commented that they had a lot and couldn't keep up so I gave them the hours of the local food pantry that does take produce the day of pickup as long as it doesn't require refrigeration. Another young mom (again, kid eating ice so a cherry tomato isn't going to taste sweet after that, I would have given a sample) told me she has a friend who sells tomatoes at a different market, and she picked up a pint of cherry tomatoes at the grocery store last week and forgot to use them. Why tell me this?

I guess I'd better grow something instead of tomatoes, b/c it seems everyone has them at home (though not 28 different varieties).

This post was edited by ajsmama on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 9:05

Oh, that chef is doing a cooking demo at another market (practically across the street from restaurant) tonight, should I stop by and give him my card? I don't want to get black-listed as a stalker. But I do wonder if he even got my message last week.