Plant Sales and Farmers Markets

This morning is the annual Lebanon Council of Garden Clubs plant sale. Members of the three Lebanon area garden clubs donate plants from their gardens and sell them to the public to raise funds for the maintenance of the Lebanon Station, home of the Lebanon Council of Garden Clubs. It's raining, of course, but that didn't stop the crowds from coming. I am a member of the Town & Country Garden Club and contributed Hosats, for-get-me-notsnettle, bergamot, iris, coral bells and a couple of Rutgers tomato plants.  All together the club members donated over 500 pots of plants to the sale.

While I was loading my car with my donated plants, I suddenly remembered the Saturday mornings in Indiana when my ex-husband and I were members of a little home grown farmers market. The market took place Saturday mornings from 7:00 am to 11:00 am in downtown Zionsville. We sold eggs and I always took a chicken with me every week to represent the flock. I had a lot of different breeds, as I do now, so I could bring a different breed each week. We were the hit of the market. We also sold flowers and vegetables.  Our day started at 4:00 am when we'd pick all the fresh produce and load the car. Most of us had pickup trucks or SUV's and just sold our stuff out of the back of the vehicle. It as great. At first we had mostly women up early before the rest of the family our buying. There was a coffee shop 1/2 a block away and one gentleman had a table full of homemade (actually baked in a church's kitchen) scones and breads. The ladies got their coffee and scones and shopped. Pretty soon they started bringing the whole family, including dogs.  It was just idyllic.

The Council of Garden Clubs owns a former train station and grounds. I am proposing we start our own Saturday morning farmers market at the Lebanon Station. It would be a good way to make extra money for the upkeep of the station. There is a bakery and coffee shop next door and the excursion train brings in loads of people. Perfect!  Now all I have to do is convince the garden club ladies to go for it - and fine someone to help oversee the Saturday mornings when I am  working at the museum.