I recently read the latest in the popular series of Daily Kos diaries called Vegetables of Mass Destruction, which practically could have been ripped from the pages of hivethrive. The series was created by a writer known on Daily Kos as OrangeClouds115, who is writing an upcoming book on food policy and describes herself as an aspiring locavore. It was pretty clear that the latest piece from OrangeClouds115 was a perfect match with hivethrive when she wrote:

“Jackie’s Jams illustrates how a local entrepreneur who is in touch with the community can find an incredibly profitable economic niche and help farmers, businesses, non-profits, the environment, and individuals too!”

And it all began with some mushy blueberries (unlike the ones pictured here).

She begins the story as follows:

“What can you do with a mushy blueberry? You can’t ship it. You can’t really store it. Therefore, you can’t usually sell it. Often farmers suffer considerable losses when they can’t sell excess or very ripe fruit. Sometimes it’s more cost effective to let it rot in the field than to harvest it if you know there’s no one to buy it.

Enter Jackie Anderson. To her, an very ripe super-sweet (and yes, mushy) blueberry is a perfect ingredient for either Blueberry Chambord or BRB (Blackberry-Raspberry-Blueberry) jam! By selling to her at the end of the season, San Diego’s farmers can recoup some of their losses, and Jackie gets the sweetest fruit available at a sweet price.”

Jackie, a former social worker, didn’t allow her lack of business expertise to deter her. She combined her skills in jam-making with the business background that a partner provided, and set out to sell her jams through farmers’ markets in the San Diego area. With their “explosive” flavor, Jackie’s jams soon developed a following, not only among customers at the farmer’s market, but also among fellow vendors. If it hadn’t been for the people who had come together to create the farmer’s markets in the first place, perhaps the business never would have seemed possible.

Today, Jackie’s business has expanded and she sells her jams to restaurants, hotels, and other local venues in addition to farmers’ markets. She also makes her jams available to buyers online, and has written a cookbook that provides numerous uses for her jams. She has recently begun to make private label jams for farms, turning their overripe berries into jams that bear the farm’s name, allowing farms to profit from fruit that otherwise might have been wasted.

OrangeClouds115 concludes her story with this observation:

“I find Jackie’s story significant because it shows how anyone with enough motivation can enrich their local food community and thrive as an entrepreneur at the same time.”

You can find more of her writing on her websites Persistent Vegetarian State (easy vegetarian recipes), Daily Granola (tips for environmental friendly living), and Recipe for America (food and farm policy), in addition to her diaries on Daily Kos.

Evan