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Post by oldmobie on Aug 25, 2016 20:00:03 GMT -5
 my friend found out that a creeper lives in the house behind her (convicted child molester!) and she has 5 kids in the house Nicely done. Carrying off the extra dirt and smoothing the mulch made all the difference. I can't even see where you put the creeper! |
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Post by steev on Aug 25, 2016 20:36:26 GMT -5
Um; that might be the red "barn"?; whatever.
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Post by squishysquashy on Aug 26, 2016 19:56:33 GMT -5
Thanks, steev! I have no idea what the "going rates" for an edible garden service would be, or even how to calculate what my income needs are. There's a couple in the next city over who do basically what I want to do that I need to talk to maybe, but I know no one does this in my town and there's for sure a demand for it. I would like to make my focus an educational one for those that would like to learn to grow food themselves, but maybe have 1 or 2 clients that just don't have time and want me to do it. And for sure they need to know what I need access to, and I'm going to have to make some strict requirements for how dogs are handled lol! And I will definitely try to start super slow. Maybe just partner with the farm store at first and do a few really basic classes along with helping them build a demonstration garden. Eventually I might want to grow to a full on "natural landscaping" service, once I've figured out how to stand on two feet and have learned more about trees, native plants, and design. I've been wanting to take a permaculture course, but it's not in the cards right now. Time management is probably going to be my greatest struggle, as it has been all my life. |
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Post by philagardener on Aug 26, 2016 20:46:01 GMT -5
Maybe call around to a few landscapers and ask, as a potential "client", what would charge to work in your area. Don't sell yourself short, get some happy clients of your own (who are willing to be references) and you have a start!
And remember to lift with your knees, not your back!
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Post by steev on Aug 26, 2016 22:49:16 GMT -5
Again, the "going" rate is what you're willing to sell your time/labor for, rather than doing your own thing (which may be more profitable, money aside); what other people are willing to work for is what they can get/think their time/labor is worth. You REALLY don't want to compete in price with people of lesser expertise; knowledge is more valuable than brute strength; you don't want to work for anyone who doesn't get that.
The thing about people who'd like to grow their own food, but haven't gotten around to it, is that they mostly don't want to do it; they just think the idea is cool; "We're gonna raise our own sheep, shear it, spin the wool, and knit our own sweaters." Bullshit, cubed!
Factor in the cost of equipment, maintenance, and hired grunt labor (so you don't trash your back); I may be putting too much of my experience on what you want to do, but advice is worth at least what it costs; we understand that this is free.
May you be well and successful.
Apropos of your seamstress-skill, my aunt, with whom I lived from 12 to 15, was a seamstress/instructor for Singer sewing machines; she sewed many clothes for us; those were the days of big skirts for girls,, so she'd buy prints from which to sew skirts for her daughter and use the same to sew shirts for her son and me; can you imagine what it was like to be "the new kid in town", small, and wearing a shirt patterned with flying pheasants? I so understand badgers; there's really no such thing as fighting "for fun", unless you just have nothing better to do, which is pretty lame.
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Post by squishysquashy on Oct 31, 2016 21:30:38 GMT -5
Well, it's official, y'all! We have a garden company!  We don't have a whole lot of business yet, but we're slowly working the kinks out. In September, we began a restoration of our first client's garden. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of it before we got started. These beds were piled high with these tall, scraggly asters. Here they are after we removed them. We also restored that long bed at the fenceline and planted it to buckwheat and clover until spring.  Here it is, newly planted with some store-bought plants and some beets and kale that I started (and neglected up til now.) This was early October.  And here is the progress as of last week. I love that purple bok choy. So pretty. I have yet to taste it myself, but my client says it is really good with the recipe I gave her. She had no idea what to do with it at first, but I don't think she'll want to be without it from now on!  Also, that silver lemon thyme is neat, why am I just now finding out about that?  I HAVE DRILL! lol. Our sort-of-business-partner is having us put in a demonstration garden at their store for our showpiece garden. We figured out how to build a nice raised bed for cheap out of cedar fencing. They are 6x3 and a foot deep, and we built two so far.  Then, the next problem to solve is...you can't fit a cubic yard of soil mix into a Corolla. So we borrowed a friend's truck. A big ol' truck. ...We need a truck. Also, it take AGES to fill two raised beds with a cubic yard of soil mix, especially when only one of us can use a shovel efficiently. Sorry truck friend! We owe you one.  Eventually we just started shoving the soil into the beds with our hands! Honestly I have no idea how Larry got up into the truck, especially without me seeing him do it! I must have been really focused on shoveling.  I don't always work in a dress, but when I do, I prefer a granny dress.  We planted all kinds of stuff in that bed. Short season cabbage, mustard greens, radishes, herbs, green onions, garlic, shallots, beets, chard, and bok choy. Stuff that usually does well in fall in Texas, but wow, what a hot one it has been. It was at least 85 degrees today and my plants are NOT happy. I also have a suspicion that the soil mix we got is deficient in some nutrients. A lot of my plants that aren't supposed to be purple varieties are showing purple. I guess that's Phosphorus? By the way, one of the squares of Choi is Joseph's landrace. It will be interesting to see how it does here. It was definitely the very first thing to germinate. It even beat the radishes! A lot of them are purple in the stems. Are they purple varieties or are they undernourished? We shall see. But speaking of purple choi, the farm store where we're building the beds gave me total freedom regarding what to plant, so it will be my experiment station for variety trials and breeding. Of course, I'd rather it be in-ground for such a purpose, but I don't have that option here since the area is hard-packed caliche under the grass. Anyway, I can't find an open-pollinated purple choi. Do they exist? If not, I may play around with the different purple hybrids and see which I like. |
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Post by steev on Nov 1, 2016 1:44:07 GMT -5
Good for you! I fell into that "pond" 38 years ago, and I've been paddling around in it ever since. I don't really make that much money, but I've got clients been with me 35+ years; what else would I do, play golf?
Amending with organic matter will (eventually) fix that caliche; that's what's doing it on my farm; I admit it's not a quick fix, but one must think "tortoise", not "hare". "Hare" is Agribiz.
If that's Larry's truck why wouldn't he be in it?
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Post by philagardener on Nov 1, 2016 5:49:43 GMT -5
Looking great! Good luck with your new ad'venture!
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Post by richardw on Nov 1, 2016 12:47:44 GMT -5
Well done, how long should that cedar last for ya reckon?
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Post by squishysquashy on Nov 11, 2016 18:02:11 GMT -5
Oh man, the forum must have logged me out. I didn't see your replies til now!
Lol Steev, that's not our truck. It was a big truck and pretty high off the ground. Larry can't jump, so he must have done some kind of Shamu move to get up in there and I somehow missed it.
Richard, I'm not sure how long the cedar will last, but it will probably be several years. We replace fences around here about every 7 years if not less often. Or more often if a big storm comes through, but think my beds will hold up to storms better than fences.
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Post by squishysquashy on Jan 8, 2017 23:27:56 GMT -5
Hello! Things are finally picking up around here after the holidays! It's been a while, so I thought I'd update. Here's the farm store that is helping us get started. Their sign was a little weedy, with a lantana that rarely bloomed because it didn't get enough sun...  ...so we planted some more edibles! Perennial shallots, chard, purple choi, silver lemon thyme, Mexican oregano (Poliomintha), and of course rosemary...  Our first client's beds as of late November.  Our first harvest was Shunkyo radishes from Carol Deppe. They were awesome! I will say that they were very happy in a raised bed, but did not like the blackland clay when we first tried growing them 2 years ago. The kids are super excited about their garden, and I think they are eating things they wouldn't normally eat. They really liked grazing the microgreens (no pics of that.)  You CAN fit two raised beds worth of wood, and all your tools, into a Corolla!  We have a new client who has 5 acres! We will be on this learning journey together, and I will be helping her get her homestead started. At least 3 of those acres is a big pond, and we're in the middle of the post oak seam that runs through north TX, so there is a lot of shade. For as much space as there is on this property, there is not a lot of good growing space for vegetables. I think after we build a few beds for her, our focus will shift to more of a "food forest" direction. I'll be learning trees next!   We've done so much shoveling in the last week! Usually our clients like to help us fill up the beds and it goes so much faster. We throw in some free plants for their efforts.  I don't have many pictures of our demonstration garden at the farm store because I had a few setbacks and it is gnarly. First I realized that the soil mix I used had ZERO nitrogen available, so I added some bone meal and worm castings, and that perked the plants right up, but they had been in stasis for weeks before I figured that out. Then, I guess because my little plants were weakened, we had an aphid infestation. THEN...we had lowest temperatures I have ever experienced in TX in my LIFE! 40mph winds with windchill of -1. What is this? No one could have forecasted that. Lol! So my planting in front of the sign was torn to shreds, and the majority of Joseph's Bok Choi and all the radishes were desiccated. We had put frost blankets on them, but frost blankets don't stop winds like that. The farm store folks were very understanding, of course. My client's plants came through just fine with all the blankets she threw over them. So, along with a few more new bed builds, my next project is to kill the aphids, and plan all my spring plantings. I will be trialing heat-hardy lettuces this spring, as well as bok choi varieties and moschata squashes. Also spaghetti squash, since my clients seem to be fans of that, but I don't usually have good luck with pepos. I will TRY to do updates of my experiments here, when I remember. It'll be good for me to keep a consistent log of everything here. Spring comes so fast! |
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Post by philagardener on Jan 9, 2017 6:20:04 GMT -5
Looking great! You seem to be thriving, along with those helpers, and building new skills!
Part of what you are doing, in educating folks to grow plants, is getting them to appreciate what farmers to every day!
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Post by oldmobie on Nov 24, 2017 19:56:58 GMT -5
Well, it's official, y'all! We have a garden company! 8:56 |
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Post by squishysquashy on Nov 24, 2017 21:53:49 GMT -5
oldmobie You found us!! That's so cool! Well, now everyone knows why I fell off the face of the earth! It's been a whole year in business, most of that time spent learning the difference (as quickly as possible) between growing my own garden and growing for others who actually expect some kind of harvest. Fortunately, most of my gardens have been productive enough to at least impress my clients! Unfortunately, still having some trouble with the demonstration beds, of which there are 4 now. ONe of them was built by attendees of one of my bed-building classes and they had a lot of fun doing it. I think we have found a solution, though--turns out my plants seem to really love horse manure more than any other compost I've tried. So, we haven't gotten to do much experimenting with new varieties in the demonstration beds, but I do have some pretty cool pictures that I've been wanting to put up here for a while now. Just haven't found the time until now. The holidays are a slow time for garden building, so maybe I can do a few tomorrow. So much has happened, I don't even know where to start! *also, it super annoying how my pictures always disappear on here after a while. I don't know why that is, and it seems really time-consuming to post them to a picture archive site AND facebook, but I guess I have to do that if I don't want my pictures to mysteriously vanish?
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Post by steev on Nov 25, 2017 0:47:36 GMT -5
So glad you're back: I lost it with that video, but doubtless just me, there.
Apparently things are going well for you, which is a blessing; stay well, ambitious, and prosper.
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