We love to eat what we grow

Along with the marketability of heirloom fruits and vegetables, you can't beat the taste and versatility in my opinion. Heirloom vegetables are what people should be looking at today with the rise in home cooking and buying and eating local.
While everyone thinks of tomatoes when it comes to heirloom vegetables, we have grown some really great looking, tasty heirloom varieties of other crops. Black seed Simpson lettuce, Banana melons and Pink Banana winter squash have all been very profitable and very good eating for us. Again, I point to diversity and the fact that these varieties were developed with taste in mind and not to sit around on a store shelf.
In order to stay up in a niche market with competition from the number of rising tailgate markets, Dad and I have become readers of food pages and watch a number of food shows. I think Dad is probably more into it than I am but the point is that if people are using it on TV to cook with and it has a following, then it is worth exploring when it comes time to grow it.
In addition, we always eat what we grow. Coming from a big Italian family I think that goes without saying. But it is a bonus to be able to tell your customers about your experience with food you grow, especially if you have a favorite recipe. Grilled asparagus comes to mind as a food that fits that bill in recent years.
One of our best sellers has been fingerling potatoes. Up until a few years ago, only very fashionable restaurants were serving these little spuds. They are great because you don't have to peel them. You can just cook them and they are versatile, being used for mashed potatoes to potato salad to breakfast home fries. We have sold a lot of them because Dad knew the history and the utility of the vegetable and was able to pass it along to the customer.
In addition to having fresh vegetables, people appreciate it when you give them ideas on how to prepare them. I think people have been swept up in the locavore tide and want to get out and experience what fresh local food is about. That means trying new things such as fingerling potatoes or another good seller for us, heirloom Zucchino Rampicante. If you can give them an idea along with a recipe card, they will not only be back for more, they will be your best customer. Time and again, we've made sales with people who bought the stuff the week before crowing to other customers how good it was.
Another winner for us has been French filet string beans. Again, you usually find these in a good restaurant that caters to higher end customers. These string beans are slender and their flavor lasts longer than the Blue Lake beans. We usually sell out of them each time we get them to market. Last year we had a severe deer problem as the wild creatures took more than their share. So along with the customers and the wildlife, we get high marks for French filet beans.
We live in a Golden Age of food right now. As a farmer, I have got to use that to my advantage, especially with the small acreage that I cultivate.
I often wonder if my Grandfather would have liked what his farm has become. My uncle Sam, Grandpop's oldest son, says he would. I know that if Grandpop knew that heirloom vegetables could sell, he would be doing just the same as we do.