I've enjoyed this thread. Some of our 2013 hits and misses from first time items were: Hits Mizuna: Comes up quickly from seed, produces abundantly and is a cut and come again veggie. Tokyo Bekana Grew very well here from seed in the spring and fall. We love it raw in salads as an alternative to lettuce. Fingerling potatoes: we grew five varieties and all did well and were DELICIOUS. Did very well at the farmers' market. Zephyr summer squash. These are very delicious and showed good disease resistance and yield. Safari zuchinni. It wasn't a good year for zukes for us, but these kept coming even after the others bit the dust. Red Russian kale. Produced very well. Tasty and tender. Moon and Stars Yellow Fleshed watermelons. We really enjoyed these. Not as sweet as Crimson Sweet, of course, but crispy and delicious. Fails Lemon cucumbers. Produced poorly. They taste fine but not worth the space they take up. Won't plant again. Burgundy okra. The problem with this is that the wildlife couldn't resist it. Deer and groundhogs destroyed it, while hardly bothering the Clemson Spineless. If you can keep the critters away, this would be a good choice. But we won't bother with it again. Creasy Greens (upland cress). This didn't come up at all. Surprising since it grows wild here. We won't bother trying again. Here is a link that might be useful: White Flint Farm

Normally, the blemished fruits are the only ones we get to eat, as all the nice looking ones go to market. The only thing about selling blemished produce at discounts is that people MAY start preferring and or expecting it - just because it is cheaper, leaving you with your unsold picture-perfect produce to take back home. Personally, I would not offer anything except your best produce the first year. Establish yourself, and get to know your market. If you have a client specifically ask about damaged / blemished goods, that's another story. We have restaurants requesting all of our blemished tomatoes for sauce making, so that may be an option. The chicken idea is good too - they like almost everything! Some food banks may be picky about the produce - there is one by us that only wants the good looking stuff, while another will take pretty much anything. Good Luck!

tn veggie - maybe I misunderstand your comment above but I can't say I have ever seen a foot tall plant that still had it's seedling leaves? They usually fall off long before then. Digdirt - I've got 1 foot tall plants with baby fruit AND seed leaves still attached. I gotta pinch those fruit off, but I really don't want to (who wants to kill their first fruit?) Most of my seedlings still have their seed leaves and are well over 1 foot tall. A few lost their seed leaves due to a nutrient deficiency when they were very young (which I corrected. And on the topic of removing leaves below the soil line - yes, I cut mine off about 1 inch away from the stem. I don't want direct soil contact with the inside of the main stem so I allow about an inch of the leaf stalk to remain attached. Last year I broke off the lower leaves right where they meet the stem, and buried most of the stem. Didn't have any disease problems, which would be my only concern with removing leaves directly before burying the stem.

Ooh, that sounds odd... I wouldn't be scared of it all tho. Mold can be killed with mild dish soap I believe... Or at least the powder mildew can. Maybe if you just washed each leaf? I go thru a huge, persnickety routine when I get in plants or leaves. All soil gets washed away and leaves get washed in a mild soap. Looking forward to the pic. :)