My First Farmers Market Stall as a Home Baker 👩🏻🌾🥕
Last Saturday I had my first stall at the Farmers Market 😊
I wanted to share my experience as a first-time vendor at a local farmers market and what it’s like starting a small home baking business with a cottage license.
For some reason, having a stall at the Farmers Market wasn’t something I’d ever really pictured myself doing, but looking back now it makes perfect sense. I’ve been cooking/baking for years, and many of my jobs have revolved around food and customer service. Periodically I’d flash back to my times at the baseball field snack shack or my previous Sunday job at the golf course.
There was a difference this time: I was smiling and waving good morning to people who were coming for my food and I was in charge of everything ( I liked that).
Thinking that, it made me feel proud of myself, but then kind of laugh since like I said, this just had become something I wanted to try and happened to work out really well.
I started my sourdough journey recently, in December 2025, and since then I’ve continued making sweet and savory loaves every week for friends and family. At first it kept me excited trying something new and then before I knew it, people were texting every week asking what I was making and it just grew from there. It’s kind of crazy to think that was only five months ago because I’ve done so well and learned so much in such a short amount of time.
A friend of mine who sells his own farm and canned goods around town recommended the Farmers Market to me about a month ago, but at the time it didn’t totally appeal to me; most of the breads I was making included cheese, which required a commercial kitchen and inspections if I wanted to sell to the public. There’s one commercial kitchen and I’d worked there before - I don’t really want to go back.
Then about two weeks ago the idea of selling at the Farmers Market came back to me.
I’d gotten exhausted working Sundays at the golf course (my sixth workday) and was feeling burnt out. I thought I wanted to focus more on my bread, but realistically I knew I didn’t have more energy to pour into it and about six loaves a week was my limit at the time.
The tricky part about leaving the golf course was: between that, my office job, and the golf course, I was making just enough to cover my bills and still support my hobbies and business ideas.
I began to brainstorm ways to replace the income I’d lose from leaving the golf course, when the thought of the Farmers Market resurfaced. I went to their website and saw that the first market of the season was happening that Saturday and also discovered that I only needed a cottage license, a food handler’s certification, application, and $10 to get a booth!
Because of the cottage license, I wouldn’t be able to sell my cheese loaves, but I was more open to other ideas now.
A cottage license lets you legally bake from home as long as you follow a few rules: you sell directly to customers, avoid perishable ingredients, and label everything with ingredients, allergens, your business info, and a note that the food wasn’t inspected by the health department.
Since last year I’d already done commercial baked goods, this process felt less intimidating and I’d already met the health inspector before, so I reached out and he was able to meet with me the next day and approve everything. I really appreciated how easy everything was - it’s not always like that lol.
I emailed my forms to the Farmers Market coordinator and waited to hear back.
I received the response that there was a waitlist, but they’d reach out after the first market if space opened up.
I was a little disappointed, but like I said, I’d only fully committed to the idea a couple of days earlier, and was still scheduled to work that Sunday at the golf course.
I thanked them, and decided to still show up in person with my printed application just in case.
That Saturday morning, my aunty and I went early to the market, about 8:30 am. It was a bright and pretty Spring morning; the market was a medium amount of busy. We saw some empty booths, which was encouraging the waitlist might not be an issue. Eventually, we found the manager, I handed over my paperwork, and after talking for a bit she told me I’d have a spot for the following Saturday!
I was so happy that everything ended up working out, so much so that I put in my notice at the golf course the next day. The pressure was on - I’d committed lol.
I had a week to figure out how to scale up my baking. I’d been doing some research and ended up using the pizza stone and boiling pan of water under method. I managed to preparing 12 large loaves and 48 mini loaves. The mini loaves were a completely new item that really worked out. I wasn’t sure if anyone would care about them, but they ended up being one of the most popular items of the morning.
Of course there were definitely stressful moments leading up to the market: sticky dough problems, no test time for the new loaves, I even missed my alarm the morning of the market! but somehow everything still came together and it felt difficult but manageable.
Saturday morning started off cool and a little windy but it slowly warmed up and with the sun came people.
My booth setup was a few beige extra curtains from the house and I used some baskets from around the house to hold the mini loaves. I used a large wooden frame to clearly list products and prices.
Nothing was overly polished, but it felt warm and homey, and people seemed to respond to that.
At first, people would nervously glance at the booth and then quickly look back forward and keep walking. I started genuinely saying good morning or hello without worrying about sales and that worked - more people felt comfortable to browse. I tried to be welcoming in the way I’ve been in my customer service jobs - answer questions, being available, and then stepping back instead of hovering.
Weirdly, the bread almost felt like a separate product from me. I didn’t feel as if I was trying to push anything; I just wanted people to have a good experience at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning.
That ended up being the shift. The less I tried to force anything, the more organically everything happened.
People especially loved the mini loaves and they ended up being what drew most people in.
Other vendors would come by to introduce themselves and say hi, and everyone was incredibly kind and encouraging. It would surprise me when someone seemed impressed by my answers or products because I still felt pretty new to all of it. But then I guess I had done other things like this for most of my life.
By 11 a.m. I had almost sold out, and by noon I only had three loaves left: two chocolate chip and one rosemary roasted garlic mini. I even got a catering contact and had a few people disappointed I’d already sold out.
That made me feel good and when I packed up, my booth neighbors told me I did a great job and said they’d see me next Saturday.
This week I start again!
My view from the Farmers Market stall
New “mini” labels
fin!
