Selling Great-tasting Heirlooms
(Page 5 of 5)
August/September 2001
By Brook Elliot
What's coming in the future? In the planning stages right now are a series of annual market grower meetings. "We'll ask our most successful growers to be the speakers," Cavanaugh says. "But the most important aspect is that we'll bring all the farmers together where they can discuss their marketing techniques, and share with each other what's selling, and how they sell it."
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GSHSS is also planning to expand frequency of its publications. Right now, for instance, it publishes an annual magazine called the Summer Solstice edition. It includes articles on heirlooms, the history of various varieties, gardener profiles, farmer profiles, and information about growing and selling heirlooms. "The farmer who reads that can come up with a lot of information on what works," Cavanaugh says. Plans are to expand the publication to a quarterly, and to include more articles on marketing and selling.
In the spring GSHSS publishes its Reprint Edition, which includes excerpts from its vast collection of old seed catalogs. These are often used as marketing tools by growers. "One of our growers in Maine, for instance, specifically asked for copies of catalog pages that show the varieties she grows," Cavanaugh notes. "Seems that when customers see them, they say something like, `this is coming out of an old seed catalog. I need to try that.' Several of our growers have picked up on this, and we'll be doing more of these reprints."
Since the heirloom movement's beginning in the mid-1980s, there has been one stumbling block to its growth. Heirloom growers have been mostly home gardeners and history buffs. The general public and restaurateurs might have heard about the great flavor of heirlooms, but had no ready local sources. GSHSS and similar organizations have taken several giant steps towards closing that gap. More are on the way. For more information, contact: Joe Cavanaugh, Garden State Heirloom Seed Society, PO Box 15, Delaware, NJ 07833, 908475-4861, njheirloom@earthlink.net .
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