In high school my daughter, Rachel had to present a “life project” to graduate. She wanted it to be something she loved. Her dream is to ride for the US Equestrian Team but she does love to cook. We decided to start a fig jam business. It had to be unique to intrigue our Ashland foodies. We have fig trees on our farm. We thought figs are interesting so we created several recipes and headed for our local farmer’s market. We learned you can’t just show up and sell. It took months to prepare. We took classes to learn the regulations required to sell at market. We developed our marketing and business plan and talked with other farmers. We recently moved from Ohio to Oregon and really hadn’t felt part of the community. Our farmer’s market community is fabulous. They have become our new extended family. When I sell one of our jars, I feel proud that something that I made helps our community and our family.
