busy busy

Gosh...been so busy lately trying to get caught up financially. I have found work again off-farm with a friend's company in Edmonton. I've been working there long hours for the past couple weeks and by the time I get home and get some farm work done, I am too bushed to write on the blog. 

Working again and making sure that I have a steady income is good for sure, but a large part of me wishes that the farm would hurry up and accomplish the same thing. I would much rather be working for myself given the choice. It is a catch-22 too...the more I work off-farm, the less I can get done around here and the less income the farm produces. We have made the decision, for the time-being, to reduce our work load with the farmers markets to just one market. Of course we chose Old Strathcona Farmers Market. It is Edmonton's best market and runs year round. It is a difficult market to get in to and we are very fortunate to be there. I want to grow the flour business, but everyone has to take into account that I also need to finish our house, get the landscaping done, work on farm equipment and build some out-buildings this summer. No easy feat even if I didn't have farmers markets and an off-farm job! 

I am contemplating the St. Albert Farmers Market right now though. It is our home town market so to speak and would be much handier for the family to help out with as opposed to the downtown market. I think we will be attending that market within the next week or two. If I am prepping for one market, it is only a little more work to prep for two. We'll see.

If it appears that I am all over the map it is probably true, but there are a lot of external pressures to deal with along with the all important issue of growing the business. I am assuming that next summer will be a steady focus on the big three farmers markets in the area and we'll go hard to make hay while the sun shines.