The air was sultry and the sun was beating down on the farmers who stood outside the market, offering their produce to the locals who shopped there. Barbara Norden was sweating profusely and her hands were blistered from bending over her table of vegetables and herbs. It had been a long day of selling, and Barbara knew she could barely keep up with the demand for her produce.
As she worked, she found herself remembering a different time, when she lived in her tiny home in the country and grew all of her own vegetables. She could almost smell her garden, and the memories came flooding back.
As a child, Barbara had lived in the same small home, but her father had died before she turned ten. She had lived on her own for most of her life, struggling to survive on the small wages she earned working as a seamstress. Now, though, she was a middle-aged woman and living in an urban apartment.
It was a strange situation to be in. Barbara had never been one to have big ambitions. She had thought she would eventually settle down, get married and have children, but she had never planned to live in an urban apartment. And now, Barbara was a full-time urban farmer.
Barbara’s experience running a small home-based farm had taught her a lot about business, and she was confident she could run a successful urban farm. Her specialty was vegetables and herbs, and she sold many of them to restaurants and grocery stores in the city.
So far, Barbara had been successful in marketing and selling her produce. She had even been offered an opportunity to start her own delivery service, which she happily accepted.
But Barbara wasn’t the only one who was making a go of it. As she worked in her garden, Barbara also noticed two young men huddled over a small table next to her apartment. The two young men were a couple of the men who had been fighting earlier that day in the street, but now they were surrounded by a circle of bystanders.
It seemed that they had resolved their fight and seemed to be more relaxed. As the two men picked up a pickle jar from the table and started making pickles, Barbara realized what was going on.
Both of the young men were going into the city to buy pickles, and they had been passing their food from person to person until they had enough pickles to fill a whole basket. After sharing the pickles with their friends, the young men decided to set aside the pickles and bring the basket back to their friend’s apartment, where they would eventually give the basket to their friend.
The young men had planned it all out and the plan seemed to work well. As Barbara watched, she realized that she could have done the same thing with her vegetables and herbs. If she had more money, she could have brought the basket to a restaurant or grocery store, and sold her vegetables and herbs to the customers. That was the ultimate plan: to start her own urban farm.
Collin Brown was a young man who worked at the market and had known Barbara since they were children. While the young men were sharing pickles with their friends, Collin had noticed that Barbara had started to keep pickles in a basket next to her market stall. Collin had been fascinated with Barbara’s pickles. He wanted to try some and asked her if he could have a jar.
At first, Barbara was cautious, but as the days went by, she started to think about the possibilities of her own small urban farm. Even though she would have to give up some of her earnings to buy her own pickles, she could set aside enough money to buy her own pickles.
Collin had become obsessed with the idea of making his own pickles, and he knew that Barbara was becoming more and more interested in the prospect of running a small urban farm. He spent his days working at the market, visiting Barbara’s booth at the market and trying to convince her to do it.
Barbara and Collin were getting along well, but they still hadn’t been able to convince Barbara’s parents.
Collin had had a hard time convincing Barbara’s parents.
According to Barbara, her parents were afraid that the idea of running an urban farm could become an urban riot. For most of her life, Barbara had been their shy, quiet, unassuming daughter. She needed their support to become a city farmer. And yet, they seemed to be afraid that she would just pick up her pickle basket and start selling her pickles all over the city.
Find out where Barbara learned to sell her pickles here
