You know what they say about flamingos? That if you happen to find one brushing its teeth, it means you will grow delicious vegetables. We haven't gotten any feedback from our customers yet, but I'm sure they are finding them delicious as I type. One of the great things about direct farm marketing is that you get to meet the people who will enjoy the food you've been working so hard to grow. We're really confident about the quality of food we grow, so we have no worries in that respect. However, one thing I'm concerned with is that very few people had ever heard of the unique veggies we had for sale. And when people don't know a veggie, they ain't gonna buy it. It's intimidating I guess. It sure is silly to be intimidated by a vegetable. I mean, it's a vegetable. But I know when I'm in the market, I never buy for instance, jackfruit, because I have no clue how to pick it or what to do with it. It sure would be easy to look it up on the internet, though. I think only one or two people bought kale and chard (and those aren't that uncommon!) We wound up giving away nasturtiums. Oh, and you can forget about kohlrabi and senposai all together. Those two were destined to fail if Swiss chard was having a rough time getting to someone's plate. Since the three of us come from a CSA background, we are used to the comfort of being able to grow all sorts of wacky stuff and being able to get "rid" of it each week when people came to pick up their shares. If they received 2 vegetables they had never heard of, it was okay because they were also receiving 8 other vegetables they had heard of. The unique ones were a chance for people to learn and try something new. How fun! An insider's secret is that it also helps "pad" the share. Trying a new vegetable is like learning a new language. Once you learn it, you know it. If you like speaking Urdu, by all means, speak Urdu. If you don't like speaking Urdu, then stop. Actually, it's nothing like learning a new language, but it sure is a chance to live a little, you know. So throw caution to the wind, and chomp down on some chioggia beets and kohlrabi tonight.
