After years of being a haggling, farm-fresh food shopper, I became a farmer and learned a lesson: I never knew how expensive it was to grow your own food to sell to others.

Being a small scale farmer, you still need the equipment and time like the big guys, but you still don’ have the immense scale to really save. You understand if you’ve ever been to Sam’s Club, you save when you buy in bulk.

You can only imagine how much these massive farmers are saving.

It’s kind of like if you bought a custom dress–you can’t compare it to the price of a dress from an overseas sweat shop. This artist had to purchase everything at pretty much the same price you would plus add their time and expertise.

As a small scale farmer (i.e., you’re not shipping products out by the tractor trailer load), or any small business owner, you have to records the costs of running a business. Many don’t.

We shouldn’t require our farmers to work for free, or crafters, yet, that is the expectation.

And that time is off normal hours and is usually away from family.

And that is why so many go out of business or don’t stick around to sell to the general public.

So, now that I have been on the other side of a hand-crafted, artisan business, my haggling days for this type of work is over. I respect that the person behind the product has thought through the pricing.

And once again, Aaron was right. –Julia