Well, if I want to be part of the community again I think setting up at the farmer’s market might be a good idea. Rindge’s farmer’s market is pretty sad, only a few vendors, but they’re great people with some lovely items and it’s a short venue – 3-6PM every Thursday. My mother had a bunch of soap she’d made last year which had lost their labels and most of their scent so she wanted to have a sale table of $1 soaps. I wanted to set up some of my art and baked goods but since moving I have noticed all my stuff is missing! I don’t know where my completed works are, I don’t know where my supplies are…. it’s a total mess. All I could find were some magnets. With that being said I felt I couldn’t go wrong baking some stroopwafels. For all you out-of-the-know stroopwafels are a kind of syrup filled cookie made in the Netherlands. Dutch people are nutty for them – with good reason! They are delicious and insanely addictive. They’ve also recently started showing up in different countries. If you’re really lucky you can sometimes find them in the US at Wegman’s or in specialty shops. But what’s the fun in that when I can bake them myself? I thought the novelty of these cookies could catch on and if I could sell them and keep showing up at the market I could get repeat customers having no competition. If I am successful with that I can even start playing with it and make up new flavors.
So I started at the Rindge farmer’s market since it’s right in town. Most people had no idea what the strange cookies were, many people tried the samples I left out (and let me tell you – it was HOT that day, 86 degrees and I discovered the only thing better than a stroopwafel is an ooey-gooey melted stroopwafel! Good thing no one was making ice cream to put with them – I would have thought I died and went to heaven!) I was shocked how many people knew what they were – everyone who had traveled out of the country really… and all those people bought some cookies! Told you, they’re addictive. And they come with good memories so it’s really lovely to discuss past travels with new and familiar faces.
With such little pedestrian traffic I can’t say I made out like a bandit or anything, I made enough to pay for the table, but I am encouraged to try other local markets – perhaps in Peterborough and New Ipswich. I will be checking those out next week to see if I should set up a table there. I have a feeling Peterborough will have better customers for me because it’s a wealthier town more likely to have world travelers and people willing to spend money on art. New Ipswich is another heavy hitter for the area because it boasts better foot traffic.
Now I have started this year’s farmer’s markets, I have my garden growing, and am working on hauling out a work space for my art, I would say life is going pretty nicely at the moment. Sometimes I feel it’s all going by too slowly but then I grab my keys and take another adventure. That’s what life is all about – leaving joyous footprints wherever you go.
If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!
