Plowboy Produce Auction
Open April through October on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday starting at 11 am with bidding at 1 pm sharp. Call (931) 829-1114 or email plowboyproduce@yahoo.com
For everyone who wants to see a lot of Amish produce in one place, then Plowboy Produce Auction is the place to be! There is also locally grown non-Amish produce here, so you get the best of both farmers. The Amish have signs on the road telling you what they have, but sometimes they have things that are not on the sign. At Plowboy Produce Auction, they bring what they have for you to the same place. You don't need to track down the Amish people to see if they have what you are looking for. The Produce Auction is still an auction, so you have to go to their office and get your number to bid. This number identifies you as the winner of the produce when the auctioneer says the produce is sold to you, the buyer. Bidding is easy, and the auctioneer is not difficult to follow. Upon winning your produce, you can pay for it at the same office window you got your number. The auctioneer helpers will turn in the winning numbers to the office that indicates your win! Kids also love to hear the auctioneers talk, so bring them with you!
Plowboy Produce Auction lots of pumpkins.
The auction report sets the value of the produce statewide and estimates the cost of each vegetable and fruit you can buy from a commercial produce stand. The auction amounts start with the bottom allowable price from the market report and rise as people bid the price up. If you are lucky enough to bid on individual produce with a lot of quantity, you might get a real bargain over the same produce from a standard grocery store that imports its produce from other countries. There is also a table of "first come, first serve" baskets of various vegetables and fruits you can buy right then at the Produce Auction. The amount of produce is often confusing to a non-auction bidder used to grocery store offerings. We will try to demystify the terms and amounts in the table below.
Common Auction Terms And Amounts
- The Master - A 12 pint or 6 quart master container or "flat" is common for berries.
- The Bushel - Is 32 quarts or 4 peck equal to 2,150 square inches of volume.
- The Peck - Is used in dry goods and equal to 8 dry quarts or 538 square inches.
- The Piece - An individual single piece of vegetable or fruit like a watermelon.
- The Bag - A grocery style bag or about half a bushel. Large corn bags hold about 50lbs.
- The Box - Is a cardboard box of various sizes but the bushel box is most common.
- The Bunch - The bunch is an amount of produce you tie together with a rubber band.
- The Crate - Is when you want the most produce. This is the amount you can put on a wooden crate and usually involves a truck and dock to be moved. Call ahead before you go to the auction so they can arrange for you to accept and load your crate onto your transport vehicle of choice or delivery method.
The types of Amish gardening and seed propagation
The Amish in Ethridge usually have two gardens. One for themselves and the bigger garden to sell produce to customers. The yard around the Amish homes is considered land that can grow vegetables, so you may see gardens grown right up to the front and back doors. The Amish have no use for play areas when work can be done. The home usually has many children who have daily chores to water and tend to the garden. When the harvesting begins, they will help pick and clean the vegetables for canning for winter. This is why they have so much additional produce at their stands by their homes. The money they get will buy more rings and jars for canning season and other items. Some of the Amish vegetables will be used for seed saving for future use. Many Amish families own greenhouses, so they start seedlings faster and get transplants in the ground quicker than the seed would grow on their own. Having the Amish come to Plowboy Produce Auction is a great way to see the best that they have to offer under one roof.
The seasons of Amish fruits and vegetables in Tennessee
The Amish people's produce is not offered year-round like a grocery store that imports items from other countries. Their produce is grown within their season of growing. We will give you a reasonable estimation of when you can expect the produce you want to be ready for harvest. Remember that greenhouses can produce vegetables and fruits ahead of the growing season. You can find produce at Plowboys Produce Auction ahead of schedule, so call, email, or message them to see what is coming to the auction.
Spring | Summer | Fall-Winter |
|---|---|---|
March-May | June-August | September-February |
Asparagus, broccoli | Apples, Beets, Broccoli | Fall Apples, Beets, Beans |
Cauliflower, Carrots | Blackberries, Blueberries | Blackberries, Broccoli |
Cabbage, Greens, kale | Cabbage, Cauliflower | Cantaloupes, Carrots |
Lettuce, Mushrooms | Cantaloupes, Carrots | Cabbage, Collard Green |
mustard greens, onions | Collard Greens, Cherries | Corn, Cucumbers, Grapes |
Raspberries, Spinach | Corn, Cucumbers | Eggplant, Herbs, Kale |
Strawberries, Turnips | Eggplant, Peas, Grapes | Honeydew, Kale, Lettuce |
Various Herbs | Herbs, Honeydew, Kale | Mushrooms, Okra, Peas |
Flowers | Lettuce, Beans, Mushrooms | Mustard Greens, Pears |
Ornamental Ivey | Mustard Greens, Okra | Peaches, Peppers, Plums |
Started Seeds | Nectarines, Onions | Popcorn, Potatoes |
Tomato Plans | Peaches, Peppers, Plums | Pumpkins, Squash |
Pepper Plants | Potatoes, Raspberries | Sweet Potato, Raspberries |
various Vines | Squash, Sweet Potato | Tomatoes, Winter Squash |
Greenhouse Plants | Tomato, Watermelon | Turnips, Watermelon |
Annual Amish Furniture Sale
The Amish furniture sale is also held at Plowboys Produce Auction every spring, around March, and draws a large crowd because this sale only happens once a year. Keep up to date with us and like Plowboy Produce Auction on Facebook to see if they will offer two shows or when the next sale date will happen!
So what is the difference between the auction and going to the Amish farms?
The main difference in buying directly from the Amish people is that you must know where to go and what the farm has to offer. You never know if the people before you bought all the produce or if they still have any left. Plus, we have asked the Amish for produce, and they went out and got it from their garden and put it in a bag without being cleaned or prepped. At the Plowboys Produce Auction, the produce must be cleaned and packaged consistently with commercial sales. This means no bad or rotten produce makes the cut, while on their farm, you may get a bad apple every so often. Now you won't find peanut brittle, chow chow, jellies, molasses, and other Amish-made goods at the produce auction, so we recommend both bidding at the auction and buying directly from the Amish. There have been plenty of times the team here at Amish of Ethridge mentioned we were looking for something, and the Amish farm we were sold us their own supply. You will find the Amish can meet your demands or tell you where another Amish family has what you want.
The Amish signs by the road tell you only a small sample of what the Amish people offer or specialize in. We have bought eggs and even dog collars from Amish who didn't have it on their sign. Just don't cause a traffic accident by stopping on the road to read the sign. Bring plenty of cash and coin, and don't go on Sunday, and you will be ok to shop directly from the Amish people here in Ethridge, Tennessee!
Enter your address into your GPS and come over to Plowboy Produce Auction and hear the auctioneer's banter to get people to bid on the best Amish produce you can buy! Below is a small photo gallery of photos we have taken as an example of what you can find at the produce auction!
Please see their Facebook page where they update the market report often and show new things coming to the auction. The furniture sale and consignment sale are always updated as new items are added so that you can see if there is anything you may want before coming to the sale. You can always comment or message them for questions you may have and get a response quicker than replying to the contact us page on their website. See their link or share this page with the links below!
Annual Consignment Sale in October
Plowboy Produce Auction Sale.
The two annual sales are the furniture sale that happens in March or April and the consignment sale that happens in October. These two sales bring very large crowds and have a lot to see. The furniture sale is neat because if you do end up losing your bid or just want to see what is available from the Amish community, you can meet the person who built the piece you are interested in. He could make you another one or customize the design. The consignment sale is all kinds of farm equipment that people want to sale directly so it can be bought for cheap so bring a truck and be looking at the Plowboy Produce Auction Facebook site as the weeks leading up are showing the sale items as they come in! We leave a link to their webpage below!
See the button link below where you can go straight to the Plowboy Produce Auction webpage to get more information before you go on your trip!
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