A Fork in the Road

It's amazing what eight days and one phone-call can do to make a two-year-old dream melt like a magnificent ice-sculpture in the heat of summer.

The purpose of this blog "Journey to the Farmer's Market" was to have a place to archieve all the fun, frustrating, and exciting preparation that happens behind the scenes of a farmer's market vendor.

It's a bad habit, but I can be a really good procrastinator if I put my mind to it, and this blog motivated me to keep going. It's like accountability. If I know someone--yes, faithful reader, I mean you--is sharing this journey, it motivates me to make that call, start that menu, make an ingredients list...and so I did.

Last Thursday I called the Linn County Health Department and asked a woman what it would take for me to sell ice-cream at the Noelridge Park Farmer's Market. What she said next made the ice-sculpture's nose literally dive off it's face and dash into a pile of slush (okay, I'm being dramatic. It's for effect...bear with me).

She explained that I would need to get a Food Processor’s License, and gave me a name and number to call for info. To make a long story short, she said potentially hazardous foods (like ice-cream…yes that includes soy) must be made in “a separate facility other than a home.” It has to be packaged in an authorized plant. So, I won’t be selling ice-cream at the Farmer’s Market...not unless I want to get the license (which I'm pretty sure is not free) and make the ice-cream someplace else.


I felt like slush (aka "crushed"). What if I had found that out two years ago? Why did I wait until I bought the awning, made a home-made menu etc. etc. etc.

Here it was. A fork in the road. We're always faced with a choice. We can sit down and throw a tantrum. We can regret ever starting the journey in the first place. Or we can choose the third option: Have your cake and eat it, too (after all, if you come to a fork in the road, use it!)

So, I am. I'm in the kitchen again, making ice-cream for friends and family. My market will look different, maybe it will be a birthday party, or a backyard picnic...but I'm going to keep learning. And who says I couldn't use an awning for that?

Keep your dreams alive. And, don't forget to let yourself eat a little cake.