Over the weekend we had a chance to visit a few pick-your-own farms. With winter quickly approaching in the Midwest, farmers were more than anxious to get rid of their crops before any more hard freezing occurs. This opens up a whole new world of opportunity when it comes to taking home produce in bulk at bargain prices!
Tip: Haggle For End Of Season Pricing
Pick-Your-Own farms all work under their own set of rules and guidelines for pricing on admission or price per pound. But chances are if you call ahead or talk to the owners/managers upon arrival and announce your intention for hauling away a good portion of their goods, they'll work with you on price.
We found farms that normally sell their produce for $0.25/lb had things marked down by almost half just to get the fields cleared before the snowfall comes our way. If your local farms don't have pricing reduced (usually those selling pumpkins and decorative gourds/squash hold off a little longer to maximize sales) don't be scared to ask, especially in these economic times, most places will work with you on cost! Plus canning the last of the fields bounty can make for extra-tasty Christmas presents!
Have you ever haggled for pricing before?
Was it a good experience or bad? Let us know in the comments below!
Related: Hot and Steamy: A Visual Tour of Hot Water Bath Canning
(Image: Flickr Member Fishermansdaughter licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Tags
Tips & Techniques, winter, vegetables, squash, greens, farmers market, root vegetables, pumpkins, pick your ownRelated Links
- Recipe: D.I.Y. Dried Breadcrumbs
- Colorful Cooking: How to Make Colored Pasta
- Grilling Tips: Warm Meat and Frequent Flips
- Tip: Save Your Milk From Scorching
- 8 Tips for Blueberry Picking
Share
Comments (3)
Weekly Email
Top Posts
Top Recipes
- Valentine's Recipe: Killer Blondies
- How To Make Creamy Ice Cream with Just One Ingredient!
- Step-by-Step Instructions for One-Ingredient Ice Cream
- How To Make Scallion Pancakes
- Recipe: Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Top Tours
- Kitchen Gallery: White, Bright, and Clean
- Gretchen & Rachel's DIY Kitchen
- Chris and Heather's Serene and Hippie Kitchen
- James' Tiny Yet Refreshing Kitchen
- Ashley's Bright and Efficient Kitchen
© 2010 Apartment Therapy
I'm interested to contrast comments here against a Re-Nest post asking about people haggling for better prices in the afternoon, near the end of the day.
http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/hot-or-not/hot-or-not-going-late-to-the-farmers-market-to-save-money-087186
view AmitV's profile
I don't haggle at places like pick-your-owns, whilst I do haggle at our regular market (Vic market) when I bulk buy - the way I see it, when I'm buying direct from [smaller] farmers as opposed to through a middleman, the prices are already pretty damned good, and I want to give them as much [financial] support as possible - our budget is such that we can spend what we like on food (after rent, food and wine is our biggest spend - we don't buy much 'stuff'/clothes/etc).
Pick your own season is going to be starting soon here, and I'm so excited it's ridiculous - I've been reading all your ideas here throughout the tail-end of our winter, now I just need kilos and kilos of every fruit that I like!
view FoodieGreenie's profile
Oh my goodness, did i strike it rich at the farmer's market. the man from Hood River with the season's last peaches said that if i'd come back at the end of the market, i could have anything left. the peaches were too ripe to take home. I came home with 30 pounds of nectarines, white and orange peaches. Not one was wasted! then on sunday, i was late to the other market because i was digging sweet potatoes. i passed by the Hood River stand and he had different peaches. He said to take the rest and enjoy them. I came home with 20 pounds of peaches. i shared many with the neighbors as thank-you's for their help during the summer. wow. the strawberry vender gave me the seconds from their stand and the produce stand gave me a blemished, yellow cauliflower. i felt so lucky but i would never haggle with the vendors...i know from selling at the market myself that they never cover their gardening costs.
view lona's profile