Jam Fest

A quick report on the farmer's market jam "Rockin' Rhubarb" success!

I got a wild hair and decided to make enough jam to sell at our once a summer official sustainable world farmer's market. I had decided this shorter before leaving town for 3 weeks. And the market was to happen the Sat before school started. So, a little insane project by which to end the summer!

As you might tell from earlier posts, my neighbor has opened up her backyard rhubarb to some of us neighbors, and we've been harvesting all summer. I decided my "thing" at the market would be that everything I sold had to contain rhubarb. That would make sense because something in what you sold had to be grown in Juneau, so I was safe with the rhubarb jams. And rhubarb muffins.

So, some lead up.

I decided the jam not only had to taste good but also had to look cute (so would buy it!). I found some great fabrics in Juneau and in a great sewing store called Bolt in Portland. I enlisted the help of several fine friends who helped cut out fabric (thanks Bethany and Jenn and Lynn!).

Evidence of the cute fabrics:

Here's the assembly station:

Here I am at the opening of the market - that's about 130 jars of jam ready to go. I had a great place - my table was in great sight-lines of the entrace to the hall. Excellent!

You can see how cute the jams are! You'd buy one! I had raspberry rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb, orange rhubarb, triple-berry rhubarb, sugar free strawberry rhubarb jams and a little bit of rhubarb sauce.

Here's the table after about 3 hours --- sold out!

All in all, a pretty successful venture. Crowd favorites were the triple-berry rhubarb jam and the orange rhubarb jam. I need to maybe venture out into the world of savory things next summer with a rhubarb chutney of some kind. Stay tuned!