Evan Young on Nostr: As a small scale producer of vegetables I am regularly asked why our vegetables are ...
As a small scale producer of vegetables I am regularly asked why our vegetables are priced the way they are. What makes them so special and why, given that we sell direct don’t they cost less? If there is no distribution chain taking their cut, shouldn’t our vegetables be cheaper? The short answer is a solid NO, the long answer lies in the concept of being Frugal vs being Cheap.
A Frugal mindset analyses spending via the lens of quality, longevity, benefit to the purchaser’s life and value for money. A Cheap mindset simply evaluates the price and will tend to settle on the lowest cost, regardless of any other factor. While it is understandable, especially in the post-Covid economy to be careful with your spending, being Cheap always puts you further behind in the long run. Frugality takes a long term view of wealth, health and quality of life and balances them against the cost of an item.
Our farm is managed with hand tools not machinery. Our plants are tended to with love, high level knowledge of plant and soil health, wisdom and a passion to serve our local region with food that nourishes and heals the body. For example our soil is aerated with a broadfork rather than tillage and our Spinach is harvested with scissors and washed by hand.
Commodity vegetables are produced with tractors, a workforce that is indifferent to the end product and consumer, packed onto trucks and driven all over the country to wait in warehouses before going back onto a truck and driven to a supermarket or green grocer. A bag Spinach or a head of Lettuce could be 4 weeks old before you even see it on the shelf. Have you ever bought a bag of Spinach then taken it home only to have it go off in a few days before you even get through the meagre amount contained within?
Our Spinach is $10 for 250g minimum, has excellent flavour and a crunch when you bite into it, lasts weeks and weeks after harvesting and the quality far exceeds everything else available.
Coles Organic Spinach is $4.80 for 100g (more expensive than us) and in the same time span as consuming one of our bags, you could buy 4 or more bags of flimsy Spinach with no mouth feel, limited nutritional value, end up discarding up to half of it and have a miserable experience consuming it as it rapidly goes off in front of you. No wonder people “don’t like salad” they are consuming garbage.
Our produce is for people looking to improve their culinary experiences, health and quality of life all the while supporting a local, family run business that is improving their local environment.
Always be Frugal, Never be Cheap.
A Frugal mindset analyses spending via the lens of quality, longevity, benefit to the purchaser’s life and value for money. A Cheap mindset simply evaluates the price and will tend to settle on the lowest cost, regardless of any other factor. While it is understandable, especially in the post-Covid economy to be careful with your spending, being Cheap always puts you further behind in the long run. Frugality takes a long term view of wealth, health and quality of life and balances them against the cost of an item.
Our farm is managed with hand tools not machinery. Our plants are tended to with love, high level knowledge of plant and soil health, wisdom and a passion to serve our local region with food that nourishes and heals the body. For example our soil is aerated with a broadfork rather than tillage and our Spinach is harvested with scissors and washed by hand.
Commodity vegetables are produced with tractors, a workforce that is indifferent to the end product and consumer, packed onto trucks and driven all over the country to wait in warehouses before going back onto a truck and driven to a supermarket or green grocer. A bag Spinach or a head of Lettuce could be 4 weeks old before you even see it on the shelf. Have you ever bought a bag of Spinach then taken it home only to have it go off in a few days before you even get through the meagre amount contained within?
Our Spinach is $10 for 250g minimum, has excellent flavour and a crunch when you bite into it, lasts weeks and weeks after harvesting and the quality far exceeds everything else available.
Coles Organic Spinach is $4.80 for 100g (more expensive than us) and in the same time span as consuming one of our bags, you could buy 4 or more bags of flimsy Spinach with no mouth feel, limited nutritional value, end up discarding up to half of it and have a miserable experience consuming it as it rapidly goes off in front of you. No wonder people “don’t like salad” they are consuming garbage.
Our produce is for people looking to improve their culinary experiences, health and quality of life all the while supporting a local, family run business that is improving their local environment.
Always be Frugal, Never be Cheap.