Reaching my goals is very important to me here on the homestead. It means I do everything in my power to keep moving forward. I set both large and small goals, write them down and work towards them everyday. One large goal that I had was to build a Farmstand for our driveway to sell fresh produce out of.
The dream
We bought our home in 2011 and it was a total blank slate. It was a house, a garden shed and a shop in the middle of a 3ft tall field. Our first spring, we put in a garden. I knew I eventually wanted to make an income off of our property to help pay for the garden expenses. That first year, the dream of a Farmstand at the end of our driveway was planted in my brain.
while reaching your goals, if you fail, dont give up!
Our first garden in our new home was a disaster! An epic fail! We found out that we have clay soil and everything died. What little we did get to grow, did not produce any food. We took a couple of years and did a ton of soil work. We purchased dump truck loads of top soil for 8 years straight and will continue too each year as we go forward.
2017 the year the farmstand was born
2017 The Little Lace Cottage Farmstand was born. My husband took an old storage box he got for free at work and stripped it down to just the metal frame. I picked up a good amount of wood for free that year. He used that for siding. We also had some old, tin roofing from the 1950’s sitting by the garden shed. We used that for the roof. To build the shelves, he used more of the scrap wood that I had sitting around, Yes, this makes me seem like a wood hoarder and I am not ashamed. Most of it comes with nails. I like to spend an afternoon with a hammer, a cold beverage and my phone to listen to podcasts and get to work pulling nails.
How much did the Farmstand cost to build?
Short answer is a box of screws and time. I wanted to use all reclaimed and salvaged materials. It is very important to us to reuse or buy second hand. We do our best to not buy anything new if it can be avoided,
The Farmstand turned out better than I ever dreamed! When I first envisioned our stand, I was going to use an old garden potting bench. The plan was to put wheels and a roof on it and call it good. My husband knew that I would soon outgrow it and not be happy. It would be way too small and frustrating!
how it works
year one
The first year was a bit of a learning curve. I only had it opened on the days that I had off of work. So it was only open 2 days a week. I struggled with figuring out how to stock it while working. The signage out on the road wasn’t the greatest and was not very visible. But, I learned a lot the first year and never gave up.
yEAR TWO
Year two was amazing. I kept the stand open everyday and actually left the open sign out on the road everyday unless I had to actually close down for the day. We stocked it full every day after work and had a few regulars who shopped every week. I spent some time over the winter, and hand painted all of my new signs.
Our biggest hit in the stand year two, was pumpkins. We grew so many and it was hands down the best seller.
Our stand is 100% self serve. I put out the produce and we have a cash box bolted on the wall. Thankfully, we have only had a few thefts. Before, I had a metal box bolted to the wall, I had a wood bread box as our cash box. Someone ripped it off of the wall and stole it. Joke was on them though, I hadn’t had any sales that day. It was completely empty. I didn’t let the negativity stop me.
Year three
Covid19 hit early spring 2020. With quarantine and the Canadian border being shut down, we were not exactly sure how it was going to work out this year. We planted anyways. Some beds we even planted 3 different times, as our ground was so wet from the rains. The seeds kept rotting instead of germinating. Between the extremely wet spring and the awful soil we purchased this year, the gardens did not do the greatest. We kept on going and we found people were searching for more and more local food.
We had an amazing year three. I met a lot of our customers and found out that we have a lot more regulars. It made me even more excited to keep moving forward and I cannot wait until the 2021 gardening season!
Reaching your goals or a dream
While reaching your goals, do not put it off thinking it will never happen! Just do it. Take one small step and just start. You will never achieve your goals and reach your dreams, it you do not move towards them daily. I had a dream of sharing my farm fresh produce with my community. I wanted the food to be grown as close to nature as possible. Free of added chemicals. I have such a love for gardening, I wanted to share with my neighbors. Eventually, I want my gardens to be able to pay for themselves. To be self sufficient, if you will. We are not there yet, but each year brings us closer and closer. We will be moving forward and I cannot wait to see what year four brings us.
Follow our little Farmstand Projects on Instagram @thelittlelacecottagefarmstand and on Facebook at The Little Lace Cottage Farmstand
If you are interested in looking at more posts of our gardening, please click HERE.
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