I have been a market grower for 10 years at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market. I grow bedding plants in the spring, cut flowers through the summer, mums in the fall and value-added products at Christmas. My husband works at Ford Motor Company and I manage the farm. We own 14 acres, but I farm only about 2 acres. We also have four hoophouses, which are used to start bedding plants.

Our farmer’s market is exceptional. It is located in downtown Ann Arbor and on a peak Saturday in spring or summer there are easily 150 vendors. There is overhead shelter with parking, and the market master schedules many special events such as ice cream socials, cooking with seasonal food, and live entertainment. Parking can sometimes be a problem for customers because the market is so popular.
I am continually amazed at how vibrant our market is from the Saturday after Thanksgiving until Christmas. Approximately 100 vendors participate at this time of year. You can find every kind of fresh holiday greenery, including trees, wreaths, roping, table arrangements, and kissing balls. The market still has plenty of produce, such as apples, squash and kale. Many crafters also sell at the market this time of the year.

I have been going to the market during the Christmas season for seven years now, and it has become my second biggest money-making time (bedding plants in spring bring in the most). Our market has a policy that vendors can sell only what they produce; at least 66% must be products that are grown or raised, and the rest can be crafts. I take pride in selling many items that I have grown, and Christmas is no exception. In fact, most of what I sell at Christmas originated from what I grew.

I make and sell olive oil based herbal soaps, with each variety made for a specific purpose. I make 15 varieties of soap, including tea tree and lavender, which is very healing; calendula soap, in which I grow a high oil content calendula (Erkfurter), make an infusion, and then make soap with it; Aloe and comfrey soap, which is wonderful for the face; and peppermint soap, which is invigorating, just to name a few. I sell these soaps all year long (my customers would be bummed if I didn’t have them year round). These soaps have become the base of my Christmas sales, but I still wanted more products to go with my soaps.
I decided to stick with the herbal theme, and created bath salts, which I sell in single bath size and offer them 3 for $5. I find that when you have things priced like this, people tend to buy more. I also make herbal bath bombs, which are the type you throw into the tub. Like a giant fizzy bubbling in the bath water, they fill the air with herbal aromatherapy. I package these in colorful cellophane wrap, and sell them for $3 each. They catch the customer’s eye and sell like crazy. For the record, I use only pure essential oils in all my products which I order in bulk from Liberty Natural Products. Keeping with the bath theme, I also make herbal tea bags for the bath. These are giant tea bags which I get from Lavender Lane. I fill them with herbs I grow, oatmeal (to soften the skin), and various essential oils. I make five different recipes, including muscle relief, stress relief, p.m.s. blend (my customers get a kick out of this one), and cold & flu. I sell these 2 for $5. I make sachets using these same giant tea bags covering them with fabric, and these sell 3 for $10.

One of my best selling products at this time of the year is potpourri. I dry flowers grown throughout the season, and chop some up to make potpourri. I make 10 different kinds of potpourri with various herbal themes. I color coordinate my potpourri, such as purple for lavender potpourri, romantic is pink, blue for stress and my popular Christmas potpourri, white with pinecones, berries, spices such as star anise. I sell them in small, 5” x 7” ziploc bags for $3 each. I have to make more every week, because it’s the kind of thing people don’t buy just once. I also package essential oils in .5 ml bottles for resale. People like to purchase these to freshen potpourri or for other personal uses, and I have priced them affordably.

Keeping with the herbal theme, (you can see how this can get out of control!) my new product this year is catnip mice, I always try to add a new item every year. I got the idea for these mice from The Herb Companion. They are quick to make out of felt and, filled with catnip, just too cute.

I also sell pressed flower pictures. I gather flowers throughout the season and put them into phone books to press and dry. I use sticky notes to label pages of the phone books as to what flowers are being pressed so that I may find them quickly when I am creating. One of my best sellers in this area are bookmarks. I have a big basket of bookmarks priced at $3 each. I laminate the bookmarks, which brings out the color of the pressed flowers. I use my laminating machine often. I make all my signage on my computer and then laminate them for a professional look. They last all season and then some. Laminating machines are quite affordable now (about $100) and I highly recommend one. I also sell pressed flower cards, suitable for framing, and these prices vary.

One of the hottest items I bring to the market are my Thai pepper swags and wreaths, but I only have them for one week, because I quickly sell out. This idea came about out of sheer laziness. I grow 16 varieties of hot peppers in the summer and I hate to pick Thai peppers; it just takes sooo long! I turn them into swags and wreaths. They dry beautifully and are useful in the kitchen. I now plant several hundred feet of Thai peppers. On that first Saturday after Thanksgiving I bring these to the market and sell out in no time. What a colorful sight, piled high on the table!

The product I take the most pride in that I sell at this time of the year, are my beloved gourds. I love gourds. I grow them every year and have a huge stash of many kinds. I clean the gourds and turn them into useful items. Christmas ornaments are my best selling gourds, and they sell for $15 each. I clean the gourds, drill a hole in the top, insert a gold string for hanging, and paint them. I also sell gourd birdhouses and gourd bowls. I will do custom work for customers who request it. My husband built a wonderful display for these gourds and it really catches the customer’s eye. Most don’t even realize how many varieties there are and what can be done with them. It creates a very unique display that helps me stand out at the market.

To round out my Christmas inventory, I sell dried flowers and dried arrangements. With all this color at Christmas and the uniqueness of the product, I do very well at Christmas. Rarely does a customer buy just one item. They tend to get caught up in the herbal theme themselves. Most of my items make great Christmas presents and are not readily available anywhere else.

There is one caveat to all this wonderfulness: the cold weather. I am a warm-weather person and thought I would never be able to stand around for eight hours outside in the elements. Well, I learned to dress for the cold. Most of my customers barely recognize me in my full Carhart ensemble. I also wear L.L. Beans -60 degree boots and stand on a mat to keep my feet warm. We are fortunate to have electricity at our market so I bring in my salamander heater and heat about 6 stalls around me. But the thing that keeps me the warmest is money coming in.