Do you want to be tied down to manning the stand? We have guy here who just leaves the money box out with a sign that says make your own change. Things like okra and green beans are weighed and pre-bagged in two pound bags with a price. For things like cucumbers and tomatoes, he has a DIY scale. He claims in all the years, he's only had money stolen twice. A few years ago someone was stealing the produce so he set up a security camera. It was a woman with seven children who was just desperate. He explained that if she would just ask he would give her all she needed, but that stealling was not the right answer.

If you think you might be interested, email me and I'll go into excruciating detail on what he does. It might flatten the learning curve.

I hope you'll price your stuff like some tomatoes I found last summer. Hybrid tomatoes were $2.00 a pound. "Reg'lar" tomatoes (heirlooms) were $.50 a pound. I started to tell her city folk would pay a premium for heirlooms, but decided to just leave it alone.

My biggest concern for you is the safety of your children.

Diane, Go over on the market page and google jrslick and look at what he does with a high tunnel. He doesn't have a lot of acreage, but grows a ton. He is a school teacher that gardens as a side-line.

Diane,

There are many issues to consider.

First of all, if you are in an incorporated area, you need to check zoning laws. If you're out in an unincorporated area of the county, that may not be an issue. If you're in an incorporated area, you also may have to deal with getting a license or permit.

Keep in mind that Seedmama's point about the safety of your children is a very valid one. There are a lot of creeps in the world and by having a roadside stand near the house, you're giving them an excuse to be on your property.

And, speaking of being on your property.....you will need to check with your insurance agent to see if your roadside stand visitors would be covered by your property owner's liability insurance. You may find you'll have to buy additional liability insurance to cover anything that might happen to anyone who is on your property for reasons of commerce.

In some states, selling at an on-property roadside stand is more complicated and more expensive than selling at an established Farmer's Market. Why? Because with an established Farmer's Market that you do not own but merely lease space from, you normally are not responsible for sanitation, handicap accessibility, health permits, testing/verifying of weights and measures, collecting and paying sales tax to your local taxing entity or state, etc. Sometimes some states, counties or cities turn their head and look the other way and ignore small roadside stands on a family's property, but sometimes they don't do that and make you jump through all kinds of hoops.

You might want to google and find the website of whatever university in Missouri is the Agriculture-related university, or just find the website of your state's Ag Extension Service and see what they say about roadside stands. How easily such a stand can/cannot be set up and run varies a lot in every state, but those websites should tell you what you need to know about the legalities and about how much regulatory issues you're likely to encounter there.

I know that in many areas, you can more easily sell if you price items by the basket, box or bag or by a certain price for "each" item, but can run into regulatory issues if you are selling by the pound. If selling by the pound, you have to have a certified, calibrated scale, etc.

I'm not trying to be discouraging, but think you just need to consider all these issues and resolve them up front. It is a lot easier to do it right the first time and stay "out of trouble" with the powers that be than to get yourself into trouble by doing it first and finding out later you should have been jumping through all their hoops. In some states, the powers-that-be are quick to write citations.

Also, are there other roadside stands around you? If there are, and the folks running them are full-time professionals, be sure you aren't undercutting their prices too much. When "amateurs" or even start-up market growers sell for significantly less than the established local growers, it can cause a lot of resentment. I'm not suggesting price-fixing or collusion, but rather just that you figure out the going rate and try to blend in.

My experience with people who stop by and "offer" to buy produce from us (and we don't sell it) is that they want fresh, local produce for next to nothing....like, they want it even cheaper than mass-farmed produce is sold for at Wal-Mart, and if you are being fair to yourself, you shouldn't sell it that you because you'd be selling at a loss to do so. Selling at a loss isn't fair to the professional market/roadside stand growers around you because undercutting them hurts their income and also wouldn't make your family any friends.

Dawn

Seedmama, I've love all of the details. I'll email you later tonight. I'd thought about an honor system as well, as all of the people I've known who have done that have had very little problems. Just an initial thought so will obviously have to give it a lot more thought. if we man it, we'll just have it open at the highest traffic times, not hang out there all day.

Carol, thanks. I'll go take a gander over there tonight. I'd forgotten there's a market section here. I still can't seem to remember that the world doesn't end at the Oklahoma borders.

Dawn, wow. Great stuff! I'm taking notes and will, of course, thoroughly research all of this before we do anything. As you said:

"It is a lot easier to do it right the first time and stay "out of trouble" with the powers that be than to get yourself into trouble by doing it first and finding out later you should have been jumping through all their hoops."

That's why I'm starting to think about and research this a year in advance. Too many things for my itsty-bitsy brain to think about at once. LOL I also need to give myself at least a season to get my "sea legs" in the new setting.

I did look for roadside stands last year but didn't see any other than for fruit. We didn't get here until the last half of September, though, so that might explain it.

I was working my way through the various regulations when my internet decided to turn to crap. The satellite service has restricted speeds for the past week so searching anything is a massive pain. Argh. At least GW still loads for me!

The safety issue is an important one and naive me didn't even think of it. I'll talk to hubby about it and see what we com up with. After what we went through at our OK place, I'm pretty good with the self-defense and scary people. (I've not talked about it but things were not good.)

Ooh, it's 8:30! Bedtime. 'Scuse me while I threaten the short people into comas for the evening. Then I can goof off more...

Diane

Diane, we had a "truck garden" and sold vegetables from our home several years ago. We did it for the income - although I still gave away many many veggies to family, friends, and those who needed them more than I did. I would never do it again. We had some wonderful nice courteous people and met new people - but we also had plenty of jerks who complained about everything, did not respect your hours or your property (they thought since you had a stand they could "tour" the whole place), those who came and stayed for hours, ones who wanted you to "just put my stuff back because I don't like to get up early", "hard luck stories" that I fell for several times until I observed they always had smokes and money for soft drinks and snacks - the list goes on and on. If there is a farmers market or area where you can take your produce and sell it at another location (even several miles away), I would suggest that instead of a stand at your home. Just my opinion - others may have had a better experience.

Thanks, farmgardener. That's one of the things I'm afraid of, especially since I have that problem accepting money to begin with. LOL If I'm going to just give the produce all away, I may as well choose deserving people myself and skip the sign in the yard.

Then again, I've faced the same problems every year I've gardened (and not had a stand or tried to sell them). People just come and take them anyway, whether we're home or not. I'm hoping the new location will solve that. Everyone in our "neighborhood" seems incredibly nice and respectful. But, with the traffic who knows who will show up? At least we have a man-eating dog now who is a very good judge of character. Once we get fence up this spring, he'll have a run that is a "moat" around the garden and chickens. Good luck to any critter, two- or four-legged, who tries to get to the garden & chickens (and us) without shooting him first.

Diane