Setting out in a new business

We have landlords to pay, neighbors to meet.  We have to feel out our presentation.  We talk endlessly sometimes about what's working, what would work, what product, where to get it, how can we keep it fresh.  We have learned how to plan, we are still learning.  This new spot, as you'll see, has great potential.  Right now we are learning how to be partners with someone who's approach so far has been hard to understand.

New Business

Since last I wrote, SLIW, much time has more than passed and now we are opening up a new direction for our company.  We call it coming home. Terri's Berries is setting up business right down the hill from where we live.  Now I can ride my bike to work just like I do in Costa Mesa and Pomona.  And Terri can take advantage of all the local contacts for produce to open the kind of store she's always wanted.  Chocolate dipping, peppermint barque and fruit-topped candy bars, caramel Granny Smith apples, our very own Lemon-Lime Freeze.  So here we are, she opening the rather casual front fencing while I try to catalog in photos.

Friday and the OC Fair is ...

full of folks taking a free day. And the electric can't wait to go down and brown. But that and the heat doesn't seem to faze anyone except us business people. We scamper for the phone, switch plugs and connections, and generally go into that olde time carney mode of making do with what we've got. Tally sheets instead of cash registers, sell the pre-prepared items, smile at the way we knew this was going to happen, and get on with it.



But man oh man is it summer, or what? The heat is waving the air and we are lucky we have a spot beneathe the trees. And now it's night and we begin to hope they let us close early even though we know we're not supposed to.

Get ready to go

Yes, that's where we are again. Ready to inventory ourselves, and decide what we will need to work this year. Incredible as it seems. Terri has become quite the candy maker. Her designs attract repeat customers and ofter elict requests for special party work. She of course loves it. Being creative and making her customers happy are her to favorite goals in life.

Part of our process is the getting ready part, where we sort through all the pictures and notes and stored up equipment and then play talk out the ways we can set up for the new year.

Order Form

Place your order by email to www.terrisberriesinc@hotmail.com or by phone at (760)753-6764 or by printing out this page with your selections and mailing it to Terri's Berries, 1106 Second St., #315, Encinitas, CA 92024.

The LA Fair and the fire storm

The heat is definitely rising, 102 and no shade, as we make preparations for this year's LA County Fair. This will be our second year there and we have a new location on the corner of the street that we hope will make a difference. You try to learn in this business but the lesson of last year was that the economy really affected the people of Pomona and so far this year the economy has gotten worse. Our plan has been to keep our set up costs to a minimum while making our staff more efficient.

But frankly, that may not be enough. As I said above, the temp is rising and now over the last three days a fire has been raging in the San Gabriel's directly to the west of the fair grounds. We wont know until the fair starts how this will play out but the fair's response to the economic conditions has been to lengthen the fair and to start off on Labor Day weekend with Dollar Day tickets. That's right, admission to the fair on the opening weekend is just $1.00.

Tomorrow, T and I will be back in Pomona getting things ready as we use our sweat equity to pave the way.

Rain, rain, and more rain

That's the situation here. Rain closed down the fruit and flower stand, though we did get a break on Valentines's Day. Rain closed down the strawberry fields and will definitely affect the taste of the crop for the next couple of weeks. Finally, rain has begun to wash and erode whole sections of cliffs above the houses everyone thought were so safe because, hey, it never rains in California.