From a full basket to your first market stand.

Do this

1. 1List every crop you've grown successfully at least twice. Cross off anything that wilts, bruises, or browns within a day of harvest.
2. 2Rank the survivors by pounds per bed foot and by price per pound at your local market. Multiply. That's your revenue per bed foot.
3. 3Pick three anchor crops (the ones you'll bring every week) and one to two rotating features (seasonal — strawberries in June, garlic in July, pumpkins in October).

Field tip · If a crop's revenue per bed foot is under $8 for your area, it's a hobby crop, not a market crop. Grow it for your family, not your stand.

Do this

1. 1Call your county health department and ask: 'What do I need to sell whole uncut produce at a farmers market?' Write the answer down verbatim.
2. 2Register a business name (DBA or LLC). An LLC is cheap and worth it the moment you sell more than a few hundred dollars.
3. 3Get a state sales tax ID if your state charges tax on produce. Most exempt whole produce; almost none exempt value-added goods like jams or breads.
4. 4Get $1M general liability insurance. FLIP and Food Liability Insurance Program are the two most common; expect $250–$400 a year.
5. 5Apply to your target market. Most markets have a written application, a fee, and a waiting list — apply 3+ months out.

Do this

1. 1Walk your target market once as a shopper. Write down the price of every crop you plan to sell. Note whether it's organic, whether it's bunched or weighed, and what the display looks like.
2. 2Set your price at the median of what you observed. Not the low, not the high. Median.
3. 3Calculate your break-even per unit: (seed + soil + water + your hourly labor at $20/hr) ÷ units harvested. If the median market price is below your break-even, either grow it more efficiently or don't grow it for market.
4. 4Round to clean numbers: $3, $4, $5, $6. Nobody wants to fish for coins.

Field tip · The Harvestead sales tracker will do the break-even math for you once you log a season of costs and harvests.

Do this

1. 1Build a harvest schedule counting backwards from market start time. Leafy greens: harvest before dawn the day of. Tomatoes/peppers: previous afternoon. Roots (carrots, beets): 1–2 days out is fine, kept cool.
2. 2Harvest into shade. Move to a cool space within 15 minutes. Field heat is the enemy — every degree above 45°F cuts shelf life.
3. 3Wash only what needs washing. Roots: yes. Leafy greens: dunk-and-spin, then bag dry. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, garlic, onions: never wash — buff dry with a soft towel.
4. 4Weigh and bunch the night before. Rubber bands for greens, twist ties for herbs. If you can bag it the night before without wilting, do it.

Do this

1. 1Get one 6-ft folding table minimum, two if your market allows a 10x10 booth. A pop-up canopy with 25 lbs of weight per leg is non-negotiable — one gust ends a lot of first seasons.
2. 2Add height. Milk crates flipped upside down, a wooden stepped riser, a hay bale — anything that lifts baskets 6–18 inches above the table.
3. 3Group by color, not by crop family. Reds together, greens together, purples together. Shoppers eat with their eyes.
4. 4Overfill your baskets. A half-empty basket signals leftovers. Keep a backup tub under the table and top up every 30 minutes.
5. 5Print one clear price sign per crop. Same font, same size, same color. Chalkboard tags look folksy but get lost — a printed 4x6 in a card holder wins every time.

Do this

1. 1Bring a starting till: $50 in ones, $40 in fives, $20 in coins. Total $110 in change to open.
2. 2Set up a card reader (Square or Stripe Terminal). Charge it fully the night before. Bring a backup cable and a portable battery.
3. 3If your state charges sales tax on any item you sell, decide once: tax-inclusive pricing (price on the sign includes tax) or tax-added. Tax-inclusive is faster and shoppers prefer it.
4. 4Keep a running paper tally as a backup. Phones die.
5. 5At the end of the day, log every sale in your Harvestead sales tracker so revenue-per-crop starts building.

Do this

1. 1Open with the crop, not a greeting: 'These tomatoes were picked at 6 this morning.' Shoppers stop for information, not 'hi how are you.'
2. 2Have one sentence per crop rehearsed — origin, variety name, and one cooking suggestion. 'Cherokee Purple, an heirloom from Tennessee, slice it thick with salt.'
3. 3When someone hesitates, hand them the crop. Physical contact triples the buy rate.
4. 4Say the price out loud when you hand it over. 'That's three-fifty.' Never make a shopper hunt for the number.
5. 5Collect emails or phone numbers with a clipboard: 'Want to know what I'm bringing next week?' Half will say yes.

Do this

1. 1Weigh out every crop you brought home. That's your waste number. Aim for under 10%.
2. 2Log every sale by crop in your Harvestead sales tracker. Include the price you actually charged, not the sign price (discounts happen).
3. 3Write down what sold out in the first hour and what didn't move. That's your grow-more and grow-less list for next season.
4. 4Send a thank-you text or email to anyone who gave you contact info within 24 hours.

Do this

1. 1Every fourth market, offer one small free sample (a cherry tomato, a snap pea). Give it to shoppers who came the previous week. They will bring a friend.
2. 2Once you have 30 emails, launch a weekly 'What I'm bringing Saturday' email every Wednesday. Three sentences. Don't overthink it.
3. 3Add a second channel by month three: a small CSA (5–10 boxes), a restaurant account, or a farm stand at your own driveway. This is when the revenue actually starts to compound.
4. 4Track your best market day of the season. Next year, that's your baseline, not your ceiling.

Field tip · Everything you build here plugs directly into the sales tracker. Pricing, waste, revenue per crop, and repeat customers all show up on your dashboard.

Do this

1. 1Total your season: revenue, hours, expenses. Divide revenue by hours. That's your true hourly wage.
2. 2If it's under $15/hr, either your prices are too low, your crop mix is too diverse, or your beds aren't productive enough. Pick one to fix next year.
3. 3If it's above $25/hr, you're ready to scale a bed count, add a market day, or bring on help.
4. 4Either way — write a one-page season review. What surprised you. What you'll drop. What you'll double.