November 2008
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Highgate Christma Fair 06.12.2008

Stephen & I will be there
With our old goodies
And many more
Come join us

FM:)

***

Sorry: We closed at 2:30 pm today (and not at 4 pm)

We Closed at 2:30 pm Today (and not at 4 pm)

Our old bamboo booth may look romantic,
But it’s steaming hot when it’s hot.
And behind its flair are signs of wear and tear:
Last week it rained in there and there and there.

Now mushrooms and fungi have started to grow,
Mini jumping creatures as well as mould.
So this time we took an open tent, one of those,
But rain poured in FROM ALL SIDES, and so …

******

12,000 apologies to EXPO customer Henry Ho,
who arrived at 3 pm … Oh oh oh oh!
*************************

My Little ‘Fish & More’ Story

Imagine 213 bottles of milkfish.
Imagine 139 bottles of crab paste.
Imagine 67 bottles of fermented mudfish.
Imagine 61 bottles of fermented shrimp.

On December 28, 2007 arrived 480 8oz bottles
Of milkfish and mudfish and crab and shrimp,
Leftovers from the Hong Kong Food Festival,
Left for Fair-and-Healthy, FMIR, to devour.

Our guestroom has long been filled
By Panay & Preda & Southern Partners cases.
So milkfish and mudfish and crab and shrimp
Took shelter in our dining-living spaces.

Two tall columns against the wall!
When will we be able to finish them all?
We are only two dogs and two humans.
Will be taking us a year or more …

Our only outlet is Sunday Farmers’ Market.
I approached churches. I went to clubs.
I checked Yahoo!. I looked up eBay.
I appealed, in vain, to a Filipino store.

Don’t ask me how the bottles slowly went.
Some changed hands at the Farmers’ Market,
Some were sold at fairs, others to stores of friends.
We four consumed 120, for us a joy without end!

Having now accomplished my mission,
I started to ponder, ponder, and ponder:
Elegant and yummy and organic,
K & J Milkfish may stand a chance.

So I looked around and around and around …
And behold! A chance for Milkfish I finally found.
If the supermarket meeting should go well,
My milkfish would land on a Hong Kong super shelf.

FM:)

****

OUR TABLEA STORY (100 - 96 = 4)

Dug out this Tablea Story in an old email sent off to Jun, our dear Tablea producer at Kablon Farms, on 31 December 2007

> Here is our Tablea Story

> A friend who has an organic shop has taken 3 rolls from us to try to sell.
> Three days ago, I asked him how many he has sold.
> He said: one.

> From November 25 to now, we have gone to 9 market days:
> 5 Sunday Farmers’ Market Days from 9am to 5pm
> 4 days at Sai Kung Christmas Fair from 12 to 8pm.

> We had 100 rolls to start with.
> We sold only 3 or 4 on each of the first two market days,
> but sales picked up speed, and now we have only 4 left!

> You know why we have been able to sell so many?

> I have worked very hard to collect nutrition data about cocoa.
> And I have spent a lot of time to sort out the heap of info
> so that we can make a clear presentation to our customers,
> verbally as well as on a mini-poster.
> Our customers and potential customers have all been impressed.

> Two days ago I was invited to talk about Fair Trade
> at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou City,
> the biggest agricultural university in China and in SE Asia, they say.
> Tablea is one of the few products I took along.
> It caught the students’ attention.

> Last night I was at a dinner party
> and there, too, I started ‘preaching’
> to some of the guests whom I have never met before …