Cool Roadside Stands

A shot of the roadside stand we constructed on the retaining wall below our house and on the road during the first few months of 2020. We were selling vegetables starts to help our neighbors plant gardens during the gardening bonanza of those first few "lockdown" months. It was a trust experiment - I always wanted to know if something like this could work here. Unfortunately, we were seeing between 40-60% theft rates, so....had to move the sales front up the driveway in front of the house. Definitely a bit of a bummer, but good learning nonetheless.

Some years back we ran a temporary stall in the local market place, aiming to enthuse people into growing-their-own. With help from some gardening mates we had a range of plants, most growing in containers. We also had a cutaway 'dalek' composter, and I ran a human-powered one-arm-bandit to teach some basic composting principles. (Essentially this is a box with 3 windows, the punter has three 'goes': on their word, myself and a third hand present 3 items in the windows, a mix of greens and browns is a winning line. Somehow last go wins, meanwhile we talk about soggy green mixes, dry browns and banned items.) We stood in front of the stall to better engage passers-by.

I just love this! (sorry for the kind of washed out photo). Maybe it would benefit from a sign that can be seen from the road that states the cost of each bouquet, so people don't have to pull over and go up close to read the price to know if they have enough cash on hand. But it has a nostalgic lemonade stand feel to it.

I love these. I can't wait to be able to put one up. I want to make mine like a chicken coop with a small solar fridge and a place to get out of the sun.

Here's a popular small town bread and flower stand. I haven't tasted the bread yet, but am told it's organic, beautifully wrapped, and delicious.

It seems like putting flowers out front is a popular way to attract customers whether the farmers' market is in the city or rural.