Bag Lady

Over the holiday weekend, Jim and I went to several swap meets and festivals. The activities were as diverse as day and night. 

Saturday morning I was set up at 'Lil Farmers Market in Bucyrus. At the close, Jim came to help me pack up, then we had a nice lunch at Carle's Bratwurst before going over to Hobo Days at Bucyrus' historic train depot. The depot is in the process of being restored, and it is amazing. Back at home, I did nothing for the rest of the day. I know, right? Fruit allover the place begging to be made into sauces and jams, and I totally ignored it! 

Along with the (huge!) swap meets at Gibsonburg, on Sunday we went to the Polka, Perogie, and Perch Festival at Port Clinton, held at the same time as the Tall Ships re-enactment of Perry's victory at 'sea' (Lake Erie) during the War of 1812. We finished the day by going to Marblehead Lighthouse and driving through beautiful Ohio farmland on the way home.

On Monday we headed south and went to two swap meets in Johnstown. The swap meet at a sportsmen's club was the largest I have ever seen: a virtual sea of canopies that housed everything under the sun. At one booth I found a box of apple bags, which was a happy find. Most booths at this swap meet were hunting related, being at a sportsmen's club, it made sense. It turned out that the vendor bought the box of bags at an auction because it was combined in a lot that had other things that he wanted.   We ended our two day "staycation" by taking the long way home so that I could spend time with nature photography at Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area. 

All-in-all, it was a very nice Labor Day weekend, even if we weren't able to spend it with our kids.

I am so happy that I found these bags. We are much too small to buy orchard supplies unless we want to pay big bucks for smaller quantities. My method so far has been to line quart baskets with food storage bags, and then put larger quantities in appropriate sized baskets (such as half peck, peck, half bushel, etc.).

 I had to be careful when packing the apples to take to market, to keep the varieties together in case I have a helper with me who is not familiar enough with each kind to recognize them on sight alone. 

Now, with my apple bags, that is not a problem because there is place on the bags identify the type. Even with taking time to mark each bag, my sorting time was cut in half today.

HOORAY

But, the best part is that these are bags made for storing apples (with holes in them), meaning that my customers can pop the bags right in their fridges.

So professional...I hardly know how to act.

I don't know how market customers are going to react to this new system. What was good about the basket system is that people could see the apples because the liners were folded under. Today I am taking baskets with me and when I set up, pop the new bags in them to see how they display. It will help keep the tables tidy, I know that much. Even with this extra step, I am ahead of the game because it will not take that long AND everything will fit in my car better. Gone are the worries that if I have to stop quickly all the fruit will go flying (as it has before...believe me!).

So, today I am a happy (apple sortin') camper

Marcheta *bag lady and proud of it :)