Running a Roadside Stand
With the onset of Corvid19, it became apparent early this year that 2020 would be anything but normal. As the year progressed from January to March that “new normal” (a term now so much over used I can’t believe I just typed it!) would cause our usual outlets for selling our garlic to be cancelled. One by one, four of the five garlic festivals have been cancelled. It’s likely that it will only be a matter of time until that last one is put off until next year too.
So I decided to put a small roadside stand at the end of the driveway to at least have some control and a small outlet for our garlic and potatoes. Some days it’s surprising, some days it’s disappointing much like how our government is handling this crisis. Don’t get me wrong each sale is great to have but some days there isn’t any, and that can be particularly discouraging, especially in these times. Who needs more discouragement?
I never was that kid in the neighborhood that set up a lemonade stand. To much fun doing other things in those days – sandlot baseball, bike riding, going to the local community swimming pool, playing basketball, etc. The entrepreneurial spirit had yet to kick in. Besides we lived on a side street with no foot traffic and very few cars drove down it, so sales likely would have been as awful as living on a dead end street.
Simple life lesson on how complicated and dedicated you have to be just to run a simple stand 5 to 6 days a week at the end of your driveway. Daily picking and stocking of produce – tomatoes, cucs, hot peppers, sunflowers, etc. on top of the weeding, planting and mowing that I’m already doing. I’ve just complicated my life, for what? I went from five garlic festivals to nearly a daily mini one at the end of the driveway. But what else I’m I going to do? One thing I seem to have is time and boredom sets in quickly with me. So for now this gives me a purpose during a time when many of us seem scared, lost or confused, as many of the things we thought we could reply upon are no longer reliable.
I know one thing for sure, the next time I see that kid selling lemonade I’m buying some and thanking him for his or her dedication and hard work. Life can be tough as we all well know with our current experiences of Covid19, so we need to encourage each child as much as we can for our collective future, whether their selling lemonade, hawking veggies or just being a kid playing sandlot baseball.
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