When I first started selling at a farmers market, one particular customer would stop by my booth and pester me with questions. He wanted to know the variety name of each vegetable offered for sale, where I purchased the seed, what the taste difference was, which kind kept better and finally, which one was “best.” My patience wore thin as I silently wondered what “variety guy” was going to do with all of this information, and I often had to ask him to wait while I dealt with a paying customer. One day it finally dawned on me — he was only asking exactly what my other customers wanted to know. Every piece of produce that you put out on your table for sale has a story behind it, and most farmers market customers want to know more than carrot, corn, or bean.

In those early days I was content with signage scrawled on blank 5×8 cards with a selection of colored markers. My kids were younger then and loved to decorate the cards with pictures of vegetables or use special lettering for a particular variety. The effect was homespun, but the amount of information on each card was minimal, and I ended up doing a lot of talking to make each sale. These days, however, I spend several hours preparing my signs on my home computer, just as carefully as I prepare my produce for market. Working off the pick list that my crew has used to harvest in the field, I prepare signs in formats that are standardized by produce family. I save templates of the best-looking signs to ensure that my font and layout styles are consistent from variety to variety, and so that my best efforts lead to overall sign improvement. While it is fine to pick a decorative font for your farm name or a variety name, chose a clear, simple font that reads well in bold face, like “Ariel” or “Comic Sans,” and stick with it to tell your stories.

Say you are not a storyteller? Someone has already been telling you stories, and the chances are you have a stack of them in your house! Take a look at the variety descriptions in your seed catalogs and think about what made you pick a certain variety over another. I have used some classic lines, almost word for word, right out of the catalog listings. “A voluptuous chartreuse beauty, sassy and spicy like apple pie,”* is an almost over-the-top tomato description for Aunt Ruby’s German Green that came right out of the 2006 FEDCO Seeds catalog, who in turn had lifted it from a Washington Post article. You probably have a storyteller hooked to your phone or cable line, and the various Internet garden sites provide plenty of inspiration for variety descriptions. I grow up to 14 types of garlic, and it can be a challenge to differentiate the subtle variations in flavor. I almost begin to feel like a writer for “The Wine Spectator” when I describe smooth beginnings, perky flavor peaks and earthy finishes, but my customers really want to know what differentiates the varieties of garlic, and how to make the best use of each variety in their cooking. If you are tastebud-challenged, the provenance or lineage of a variety can be a story in itself. Phrases like, “Found on an Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest… “ or, “Named for the hero of a Russian legend… “ will catch your customer’s eye and help you make the sale.

Once you get the hang of telling stories in a few lines, you may wish to add a few recipe “teasers” to your signs. Make them two or three lines, quick and easy recipes to get your customers thinking with their taste buds. Just as you cannot help salivating over your seed catalogs, trigger the same response in your customers with hot button words. Some examples are, “Try braised leeks on whole wheat toast, topped with Gruyere cheese melted in the broiler,” or, “Make kale chips: just rinse, tear into pieces, toss in olive oil, top with salt and sesame seeds, and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until crunchy.” Most of your customers are already cooks, looking for the finest local ingredients, and it often only takes a nudge to make them want to try something new. Sometimes a little humor can liven up your signs. When the overwintered kale starts to send up those tender, non-bitter flower shoots, I use, “My teenage sons refuse to believe this is kale.” Speaking of adolescence, I have had great success selling lettuce labeled as “teenage”, by putting 3-4 smaller heads of different varieties in a single bag. That is an example of a sign that invites a question from your customer, like the straight man in the comedy routine, “You see, it is not baby lettuce anymore, it is not yet full grown, and boy, did it gave me a hard time out in the field!”

Do not be afraid to let your creativity extend to changing variety names. I tried selling radish seed pods under their unfortunate catalog name, “Rat Tails.” They were attractive, delicious, unique vegetables and they sat frustratingly unsold for two weeks straight. All it took was a new sign christening them “Radish Scapes” to get the customers interested and a good product off my table. Similarly, I used the Internet to uncover an alternate name  for a wonderful fingerling potato, commonly listed as “La Ratte” in many catalogs. Sales were markedly improved under the “Princess La Ratte” banner. You may find that a sign for “Mortgage Lifter” moves more of the exact same tomatoes than a sign for “Radiator Charlie’s.” Remember that there is an unwritten rule that allows for renaming any seeds that you have saved for a few seasons. As those plants naturally mutate and adapt to your locale, they may well deserve to be renamed. When you look around your farm, you will see that there are many more opportunities for story telling. What questions are asked repeatedly of you at market? What makes your farm different, or what techniques have you developed that add something special to your produce? The more information you can convey through your signs, the more time you can spend making sales happen. The more you let your customers into your unfolding story, the more engaged and loyal they become.