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OK, so maybe you've heard the origin story of how I started
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gardening and then came to be a market farmer, which led me to
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getting a degree in horticulture, which led me to
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doing this podcast. The short story is I had a
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really successful, very large garden and I was sick of being
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stuck inside all the time working my day job.
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And I tried to find a way to make some side money from the
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garden and the rest is history. Maybe you've been in the same
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position. A lot of gardeners do really,
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really well a couple of seasons in a row and then realize just
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how much they enjoy being in the garden and growing things and
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they know that they could grow more.
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And then maybe they start de dreaming about setting up a
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little stand at the end of the driveway once a week, or going
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to the local farmers market and setting up a table there, or
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even doing weekly garden boxes in a community supported
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agriculture or subscription style.
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None of those things are far fetched and I've seen people
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just pop in once or twice a season at the smaller markets
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around town with a table full of nothing but the zucchini that
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has gone gangbusters in their garden or the pumpkins that they
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grew way too many of. I've also seen gardeners take it
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one step further and increase the size of the garden and grow
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things specifically to take to the market every week.
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Unfortunately, I have also seen some of these same gardeners be
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extremely disappointed that they didn't sell out of that bounty
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of zucchini or that they planned for so many offerings at the
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market, but almost none of that produced like they'd hoped and
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they didn't really have much to sell.
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Would you believe me if I told you that selling the produce
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from your garden isn't the only way to make money from it?
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Today on Just Grow Something. We are talking 10 different ways
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that you can make money from your garden and only a couple of
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them involve selling the actual fruits or vegetables.
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This is a very, very high level look at the options that you
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have so you can start thinking about what might actually fit
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into your lifestyle. Because let me tell you, after
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17 seasons of selling every week at the farmers market, I will
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tell you it is hard work and there are definitely other
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options available to you. Let's dig in.
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Hey, I'm Karen, I started gardening in a small corner of
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my suburban backyard and now 18 years later, I've got a degree
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in horticulture and operate a 40 acre market farm.
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I believe there is power in food and that everyone should know
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how to grow at least a little bit of their own.
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On this podcast, I share evidence based techniques to
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help you plant, grow, harvest and store all your family's
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favorites. Consider me your friend in the
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garden. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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So some of you know my story, some of you don't.
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You hear a little bit about it in the intro to this podcast,
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but basically I started gardening behind a shed in a
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very small footprint of my suburban backyard.
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We were living in a duplex and did that for a couple of years
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before we moved to our five acre homestead.
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And that is where I really expanded the garden, first to
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1/4 acre, then to 1/2 an acre. And I was running my own small
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business management company at the time out of my home.
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And I found myself sitting there, supposed to be working on
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client work, working on the computer, but my office window
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faced my garden. And I just sat there staring at
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the garden, wishing that I was out there instead of sitting at
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my desk. And that's what got me started
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thinking how I might be able to make a little bit of side money
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from the garden. Maybe I could at least pay for
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the seeds and the plants that we were using to grow our own
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stuff. So basically that we would be
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kind of eating for free if I sold the extra.
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And that is when I came across the concept of a community
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supported agriculture program. And that was what we started
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with. And it was part time for two
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years and then it turned into my full time gig.
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And about a year or two after that, it became my husband's
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full time gig as well. And so we've been selling to the
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public for about 17 seasons now. And for fifteen of those seasons
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it has been my full time job. And then like I said, my husband
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joined me about a year and a half, two years later and he was
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always working alongside me. It just wasn't his, you know,
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his full time income. So this is our this is our
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livelihood at this point. What we have grown and what we
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have sold over the years has changed and where and how we
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have sold those products has also changed.
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Initially I was just growing what I knew how to grow well,
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right, what I had figured out. So I was pretty good at tomatoes
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and really good at squashes. Cucumbers I was really good at.
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We did green beans and then I tried to delve into some of the
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the root vegetables, so more of the beets and the carrots.
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And then we moved into doing some strawberries.
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But we were also raising livestock at that time.
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And so we also were selling the eggs from our chickens and we
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were selling the meat from beef and pork and chicken and Turkey
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and even goat for a very short period of time.
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And then I started to do more value added things as well.
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So I was making my own jams for the family.
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So I started selling jams, different jams and jellies at
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the market. I have done dried herbs and herb
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blends and tea blends over the years.
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We've done some farm merchandise and we started by selling at the
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farmers market. We, we sold out our CSA shares.
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There were fifteen families that signed up that first season and
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they were supposed to pick up at the farmers market.
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And so the idea was they would come and pick up their box from
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us and then we would bring whatever extra we harvested that
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week and we would sell it at the farmers market at our stand.
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And as the CSA grew and our farmers market sales grew, we
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started to sell at more farmers markets.
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And at some point half of my my vehicle would be filled up with
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the CSA boxes and that left me not as much room for the stuff
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that we would want to sell at the market.
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So we started going to more markets because we needed to
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sell more stuff and there just wasn't enough room for it.
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And at some point this kind of got out of control.
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Literally we were selling at six different farmers markets
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throughout the week. We would be one of us would be
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there Tuesday evening, one would be Wednesday morning, another
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one Wednesday evening, another one Thursday evening, and then
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we would be at two separate markets on Saturday mornings.
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It was just insane. And it honestly didn't leave us
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a whole lot of time to actually be out into the gardens.
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And so the gardens kind of started to become a total mess.
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And then I started to have less time to be able to do the jams
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and the jellies and be able to dehydrate the herbs.
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And so then we had to figure out, OK, well, something's got
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to give. And it just so happened that we
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added online orders for home delivery during the pandemic
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because we realized that our farmers markets weren't going to
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open on time. But we still had all this
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produce that we had already planted.
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And we still had to figure out a way to get our CSA shares to our
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customers. And so we started delivering.
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And so even after the pandemic ended and all of our farmers
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markets opened back up, we actually kept the delivery
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portion of it because all of our Csas were now being delivered,
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which meant that we could fit more of our stuff into our
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vehicles, which meant that we could finally start to back off
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of the number of farmers markets we were attending every week.
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And that is sort of where we're sitting now.
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I actually don't sell jams and jellies anymore.
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I do still do some of the herbs and stuff.
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I've been drying them, but I haven't had time to do the
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blends or to package up the teas for probably the last two years.
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And so that's something that we're slowly looking at
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reintroducing. We don't sell eggs anymore.
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We don't sell anything other than pork.
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And this will actually be our last year selling the pork in
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terms of meat. And then we have added sales
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from the farm. So we're now open on Fridays and
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we might consider opening up another day depending on how our
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sales are going. So all of that to say, how you
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start selling doesn't have to be the way that you continue to
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sell, and what you start out selling doesn't have to continue
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to be what you sell. If you decide to jump into any
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one of these ventures, you don't have to decide that that's all
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you're going to sell. You don't have to decide that
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that's what you're going to sell from here on out and where and
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how you sell it can change. Also, are there things I would
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do differently when I started selling?
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Absolutely, because I was growing, but mainly what I was
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planning on selling was what I was growing in the gardens.
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My garden planning should have been a heck of a lot different
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than what it was. I did not understand, you know,
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fully how to get a continuous harvest out of those gardens of
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the things that people really wanted the most throughout the
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season. So succession planting, I had to
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learn all of that. I had to learn inter planting
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and would have been able to get a lot more out of my existing
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spaces rather than continually trying to like break new ground
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or to be able to expand the gardens.
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If I had learned how to inter plant much earlier on, If I had
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learned companion planting earlier on, I would have had
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less problems with the insects and that sort of thing.
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So in terms of garden planning, that was one of the major
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things. And it's kind of why I came up
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with or how I came up with my plan like a pro garden planning
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course is because I took all of that information that I figured
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out in terms of learning how to grow for market.
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And I translated it into how people could use that for
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planning their own gardens regardless of the size.
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Because I've got it down to a sort of step by step.
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But it took me years to figure that out.
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The other thing I wish I'd done was to scope out the markets
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that we were going to sell at much better than what we did.
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We quite literally signed up for these markets without actually
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having ever attended them. I have no idea what we were
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thinking. And I should say not we me.
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This was all my doing. My husband had nothing to do
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with any of the planning of this.
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He just said yes, dear and kind of followed along, bless his
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heart. So I should have done more
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scoping out of the markets. So these things that we sort of
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learned as we went along in selling at the markets and now
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selling online and now doing online deliveries and stuff.
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I'm sort of looking at maybe creating another series or a
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workshop series or even, you know, my husband and I have
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talked about maybe doing a completely separate podcast
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talking about how to sell and set up at farmers markets.
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So as you listen to this episode, as we go through all
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these different ideas, if that is something that you are
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interested in learning about, send me a message please, or
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comment in this episode, send me Adm on on social or e-mail me
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something. Let me know if this is something
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that would interest you. A full series on start to
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finish. How do you get into farmers
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markets? What are the things that you
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have to think about? What are the setups that you
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have to worry about and all of these different things that go
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into it. Like I said, today's episode is
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really just going to be a very high level sort of overview of
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the different ideas of what you can do to generate some income.
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But I think folks would really benefit from a sort of in depth
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look at what it takes to sell at a farmers market.
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So if that's something that interests you, please, please
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reach out and let me know and let me know what questions you
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might have too because that might give us an idea of what we
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might want to talk about. So without further ado, here are
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10 ideas for how to generate some income from gardening and
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not all of them actually have to do with selling your garden
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produce. Now, the first one does OK
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selling your produce, that is number one.
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And there are multiple ways that you could do this.
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The first one and the simplest way to start this would be to do
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a roadside or driveway stand. So if you're rural, you live in
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a rural area. If you especially if you live
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like on a gravel or a dirt road and you have a long driveway,
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this just might be something at the end of your drive sort of
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along the roadside. If you are suburban, it might be
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at the edge of your driveway, along the sidewalk or at the top
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of the drive. So people could just kind of
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walk up, kind of think of this like an adult lemonade stand,
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right? Except instead of selling
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lemonade, you are selling the produce, the extra stuff that is
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coming out of your gardens. Now, of course, if you have a
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homeowners association, you need to know those rules.
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If you have city codes that require a permit for this, you
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need to know that too. These are things that you have
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to look up. But barring all of that, you can
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just start with a simple table set up, maybe a pop up canopy if
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it's if it's sunny out and some baskets for your produce.
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And that's pretty much it. You get to decide whether or not
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you're going to actually man the stand, if you're just going to
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pop it up out there one day a week and let people know that
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you're there and sit there and sell for a few hours.
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Or you could set it up sort of like an honor system.
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I mean, think of the Little Free libraries that are set up at the
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end of people's driveways. You could do something very
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similar to that. You just have to have a way to
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sort of lock up the money or you just say, hey, you got to Venmo
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me or whatever. There are a lot of options for
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this depending on where you live and you can be as simple or as
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fancy with your setups as you want.
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I will guarantee you if you go on to Pinterest and you just
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look for, you know, home produce stand or pop up stand or
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whatever, I will but guarantee that you will find a bunch of
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different options for people who have made really cutesy fancy
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little things. And then or just pictures of,
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you know, very simple setups with just a table and a pop up
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canopy or even just a market umbrella of some sort, right?
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That's just your little own setup right there in front of
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your house. The next step beyond that would
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be a farmer's market actually setting up a stall at the
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farmer's market to sell your stuff directly to consumers.
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I think the first thing that you need to think about when when
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considering this is understanding the market that
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you are looking at, right? And, and I say your market, and
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I mean that in two different ways.
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One being the actual farmers market itself.
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What is the setup? What are the day, you know, the
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days that they sell? What are the hours, What are the
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requirements for that specific market in terms of what you need
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to bring in your, you know, your setup, the tables, if you need a
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canopy, if you need weights and all those types of things.
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But also understanding the market that is there in terms of
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the customers, what do they want, what is lacking at that
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market that you might be able to provide, Those are the things
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you kind of want to learn. So if you could go to the
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farmers market a couple of times throughout the season,
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understand what the volume of traffic is like and see the
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volume of what the other vendors are bringing so that you have an
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idea of whether or not you will be able to match that volume.
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Don't be like me and just assume that you're going to pop up your
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table at the farmers market and you're going to sell your extra
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and then sell out of your extra within the first 30 minutes of
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the market and have to stand there and twiddle your thumbs
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for the next 4 1/2 hours as people walk by an empty table
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because you did not do your homework.
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So understand your market before you go and talk to the
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customers. Talk to the vendors.
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Not while they're busy, but if they have a chance, you know, at
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the end of their day or during a break, find out, you know, what
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the crowd is like. Talk to the customers and find
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out what they would like to see more of.
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You might find that there is a niche there that you could
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actually fill that you might be very good at.
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There might be plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers and such
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at that market, but maybe there's a, you know, a lack of
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fresh herbs, you know, and you grow fantastic basil and dill
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and cilantro and people would go nuts for that.
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You know, maybe there's plenty of fresh leafy greens, but
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there's no microgreens. So that's what I mean by
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understand your market. Look at your local market and
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where you would be fine to figure out whether or not you'd
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be able to provide the volume that was necessary for that
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market. Some of them are very small and
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one little table with, you know, 20 lbs of produce is going to be
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enough. Others that's not going to cut
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it. So understand that and then
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still know the things before you go like what the setup
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requirements are. Does the market require you to
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have insurance? What type of packaging are you
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supposed to have or allowed to have that sort of thing.
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So there's a lot of nuances that go into that, but just
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understanding the market from a customer perspective is, is a
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place to start. The other option here is to do a
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community supported agriculture program or a subscription box.
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And I and I use those two terms separately, even though
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sometimes you might hear them used interchangeably.
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For me, a traditional CSA is where customers pay upfront for
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a share of your garden's produce throughout the season.
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And you decide how many weeks that lasts and you decide how
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much they pay for it upfront and you go from there.
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The subscription box is a little different.
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They would pay weekly for a box of the harvest.
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And you know, they're not necessarily locked in.
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They can choose whether they want to buy that week or not.
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You can choose how you want to do either one of these if they
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get to choose what goes in the box or if you get to decide what
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goes in the box. What it comes down to is
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planning for this is absolutely key.
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Again, understanding those succession plantings because
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that is essential for a consistent harvest.
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Once you are obligating yourself to giving somebody produce
00:18:03
every, you know, week for a certain number of weeks, the
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pressure really is on for you to make sure that that harvest is
00:18:11
successful and that you have a wide variety of things to put
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into that box. One of the biggest complaints
00:18:19
that I used to hear from people who joined the CSA was that
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there was no variety because the farm they were working with was
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really good at growing leafy greens.
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And they would get boxes and boxes of leafy greens in the
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beginning part of the season, all kinds of greens.
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But then there wouldn't be much else.
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And, you know, there might be some radishes or there might be
00:18:43
some turnips, there might be something, but there was all
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kinds of things that, you know, it was just too much in the way
00:18:48
of one thing. So having an idea of how to to
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provide for some variety is is also something that's important
00:18:57
there. And then understanding how you
00:18:59
will distribute those boxes. So are you going to have people
00:19:02
come pick up at your home where you garden or if you garden in a
00:19:06
community garden, is it, you know, are they going to come
00:19:08
pick up there? Are you going to do a
00:19:10
combination like we did where you set up a farm stand or you
00:19:13
set up a a farmer's market stand and have people come and pick
00:19:16
that up at the same time that you are selling?
00:19:18
So these are things to just sort of think through before you make
00:19:21
the decision that this is one of those things that you want to
00:19:24
do. So yes, selling your produce is
00:19:26
absolutely probably the number one way to make some income from
00:19:29
your garden, whether it's a roadside stand or at a farmer's
00:19:32
market or through a CSA program. But those are not the only way
00:19:36
is to be able to make a little bit of side money.
00:19:39
The 2nd way to sort of start a garden side hustle is one that
00:19:43
we already talked about that I have done, which is to sell
00:19:47
value added products. So things like jams and jellies,
00:19:52
dried herbs and teas, baked goods.
00:19:54
If you are utilizing your garden produce in baked goods, whether
00:19:58
that's zucchini bread or pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies, or you're
00:20:02
making focaccias that have fresh herbs in them, whatever it.
00:20:05
It is. If there is something that you
00:20:07
can create from your garden that is a value added product, you're
00:20:13
not necessarily selling the produce itself, you're selling
00:20:16
these other things. And if you're good at that, you
00:20:20
know, hey, you know, how to create some really stellar tea
00:20:23
blends or seasoning blends, or you make some really great
00:20:26
sachets out of the lavender that you grow in your garden or you
00:20:31
make this killer strawberry jam, whatever it is, you once again
00:20:37
have to decide where and how you will sell that.
00:20:39
So are you going to sell it directly from the house, from a
00:20:42
stand? Are you going to do a listing on
00:20:44
Facebook Marketplace and have people come and pick it up from
00:20:47
your home? Are you willing to deliver it?
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Do you want to go to the farmer's market?
00:20:52
Are you in an area where some of these things could be sold out
00:20:54
of somebody else's shop? These are things that you have
00:20:57
to understand because different municipalities all have
00:21:01
different rules about what you can and cannot resell.
00:21:05
So if you are doing something in your home, that is typically
00:21:08
referred to as a cottage industry.
00:21:11
So you are participating in a cottage industry, meaning you
00:21:14
know, out of the home, you're not working in a licensed
00:21:17
facility. Therefore, in most areas, you
00:21:21
cannot give your product to somebody else to sell on your
00:21:25
behalf. So you can't make that in your
00:21:27
own home and then have somebody put it in their store to resell.
00:21:31
Even on a consignment basis. This usually applies to
00:21:35
everything from baked goods to your jams and jellies and your
00:21:38
dried herbs and teas. So 90% probably of the places
00:21:42
where you're going to sell, you're going to have to do it
00:21:45
direct to consumer. So that's going to either mean
00:21:48
doing pickups from your house or delivery, or doing it at a
00:21:50
farmer's market, or popping up that little lemonade stand out
00:21:54
in front of your house and selling your jams and jellies
00:21:56
that way. The 3rd way that you can make a
00:22:00
little money from the garden would be through plant sales.
00:22:04
So if you have gotten really good at starting your own seeds
00:22:08
for transplants for your garden, you can grow extra in the spring
00:22:12
and you can do that again in the late summer for a fall garden.
00:22:17
You can maybe educate people on, you know, hey, this is when it's
00:22:20
time to plant the fall garden. So if you can start extras and
00:22:23
you can sell those in the spring and again in the fall, that's a
00:22:27
couple of times a year where you can sell a bunch of stuff off
00:22:30
and then maybe you're not selling throughout the middle of
00:22:32
the the summer time. In some areas you can also
00:22:36
divide and propagate like your perennial plants and offer those
00:22:40
for sale or your perennial herbs and offer those for sale.
00:22:43
In some places, you do need a nursery license in order to be
00:22:46
able to do that. In Missouri, you have to be
00:22:49
licensed in order to be able to propagate perennials that are
00:22:53
coming out of the ground because they want to be able to inspect
00:22:55
and make sure that you're not, you know, passing on any soil
00:22:58
borne pathogens or anything like that into somebody else's
00:23:01
garden. Not every place requires this.
00:23:03
So look up the rules in your municipality and figure out what
00:23:06
you are and are not allowed to sell.
00:23:09
Right alongside this, you could be selling the seeds too.
00:23:12
Again, if this is something that you've done before, you've done
00:23:15
seed saving, you understand how to isolate those varieties and
00:23:19
sell those seeds. Check to see whether or not
00:23:22
you're required to have some sort of a license in your state
00:23:25
and what it requires to what's required to get that.
00:23:28
I used to do that years ago. That was something else we used
00:23:30
to offer was seeds. Yes, I needed a license to do
00:23:34
it. It was super easy for me to get
00:23:35
that and it was no big deal. It was just certain information
00:23:38
that you had to include on the packaging when you sold it.
00:23:42
But once again, with plant sales or seed sales, you do need to
00:23:45
know where are you going to sell these from.
00:23:48
So are you going to do it from home?
00:23:49
Are you going to take it to a market?
00:23:51
Can you sell them to a local garden center and have them
00:23:56
resell them on your behalf? Is that something that is
00:23:59
allowed in your area? Do you need a nursery license in
00:24:02
order to be able to do that? If they are just annuals and a
00:24:06
lot of places the answer is no. You don't have to have an
00:24:09
inspected nursery to do that. You can start and propagate your
00:24:12
own annual vegetable seeds or seedlings and be able to have a
00:24:17
local garden seller sell them on your behalf, whether that's on
00:24:20
consignment or you sell them to them outright and they sell it
00:24:24
to their customers. So you have a few different
00:24:26
options there. But plant sales are a really
00:24:28
good way to make some money from your garden, especially if you
00:24:33
are really good at starting your own seeds and your own
00:24:36
transplants. The next side hustle you might
00:24:39
consider would be cut flowers and floral arrangements.
00:24:42
If you grow fabulous flowers and you know how to put those
00:24:47
together as good looking fresh floral bouquets, they sell like
00:24:54
hotcakes. I can tell you at the farmers
00:24:55
market, our flower growers always have a line of people
00:25:01
wanting to buy their flowers. You also have the option at that
00:25:04
point to maybe sell them to local florists.
00:25:06
If you do a really good job at the things that they like to put
00:25:08
in their displays, then you can actually approach them and say,
00:25:12
hey, this is what I'm growing this season.
00:25:14
Would you be interested in buying now if you're going to do
00:25:17
it that way, you really ought to approach them the season before
00:25:21
and give them an idea of what it is that you actually grow and
00:25:24
see if they would be interested and set your kind of situation
00:25:27
up ahead of time so that you're not increasing what you're
00:25:30
growing. Hoping to sell them to local
00:25:32
florists. And then, you know, not being
00:25:35
able to connect with any of them and having too many flowers.
00:25:38
But you could just go ahead and do those bouquets and sell them
00:25:41
at the farmers market. You could also offer weekly or
00:25:45
bi weekly or monthly flower subscriptions to local
00:25:49
customers. You know, a subscription doesn't
00:25:52
necessarily have to be for produce.
00:25:55
You know, you could do that with flowers if you're really good at
00:25:58
that. That is not something that I am
00:25:59
good at. I can grow my own cut flowers
00:26:02
for in my kitchen, but I do not know how to arrange them
00:26:05
properly and it's not something that I am really good at making
00:26:09
these, you know, tall plants stand up and I just leave that
00:26:12
to the experts. But I have been known to buy
00:26:15
flowers from my other vendors at the farmers market.
00:26:18
So again, where are you going to sell these?
00:26:20
If you decide to do bouquets and you know you want to sell them
00:26:23
already pre made, are you going to do at the farmer's market?
00:26:26
Are you going to set up a little pop up stand at the end of your
00:26:28
driveway? You going to list them on
00:26:31
Facebook marketplace? Whatever it is, just know what
00:26:34
your outlet is going to be and cut flowers and floral
00:26:37
arrangements are absolutely something that you could do to
00:26:40
make money from your garden. One that you might not think of
00:26:43
would be to give garden tours or give little workshops if you
00:26:49
have a really unique garden layout or a just a stellar
00:26:55
setup, you know, that's very, you know, pleasing to look at.
00:26:59
People will pay you to come and get a guided tour of not just
00:27:04
what it is that you're growing, but how you're growing it or how
00:27:08
you have it laid out or what your trellis system is.
00:27:11
You can hook up with a local growers group or university
00:27:17
extension services programs that offer tours if you really have
00:27:21
something special to offer. It's not, it's not as far
00:27:25
fetched as it sounds. You can also host workshops on
00:27:28
different gardening techniques or pest management or composting
00:27:32
or plant care, whatever it is that you are really good at.
00:27:36
You know, think about when you're talking to your friends
00:27:39
who also happen to be gardeners or who have maybe an interest in
00:27:42
gardening. What questions are they asking
00:27:45
you that you are always able to answer?
00:27:48
Whatever that is, it must be something that you're good at
00:27:52
because you're giving them the answers they're looking for
00:27:55
knowledge you have it. That is something that you could
00:27:57
host a workshop on and it doesn't necessarily have to be
00:28:02
in your garden or at your home. You could do something like that
00:28:05
at the local library or at the, you know, Community Center.
00:28:10
There are different ways that you can get into doing, you
00:28:13
know, either tours of your garden or giving workshops and
00:28:16
teaching other people how it is that you do your gardens because
00:28:20
every technique is different different and every gardening
00:28:22
area is different and you have something to offer.
00:28:26
If you have been successful at even one thing in your garden,
00:28:30
what kind of goes along with this but in a much different
00:28:35
manner is number six, and that is online content and products.
00:28:38
This is a bit more difficult and I'm actually speaking from
00:28:43
experience here because this goes into a lot of what I do,
00:28:46
which is either blogging or vlogging or online courses,
00:28:50
ebooks, guides, podcasts, that sort of thing.
00:28:54
Sharing your gardening tips, your techniques through either a
00:28:58
written blog or a YouTube video blog or doing it on social media
00:29:05
or a podcast is absolutely viable.
00:29:10
But trying to make money from it is a bit more difficult than
00:29:15
just sort of doing one-on-one in person classes because the way
00:29:19
that you monetize those things, the blogging and the vlogging,
00:29:24
is through ads or through sponsorships or through
00:29:27
affiliate marketing. And it is definitely a sort of
00:29:30
slow burn. Now, if you're just doing it
00:29:33
because you enjoy it and you love doing that, which is kind
00:29:37
of what I did when I first started the podcast, it was just
00:29:40
in order to share the information with people and
00:29:43
teach people how to garden and the monetization of it sort of
00:29:46
started to come later. You're doing OK, great.
00:29:49
You don't have any expectations at that point.
00:29:51
But if you really are expecting to make some side money by doing
00:29:54
this, it takes a very concerted effort to start doing ads and
00:29:59
find sponsorships and find products that you can be an
00:30:02
affiliate for and it doesn't happen quickly.
00:30:06
It has to be something that you are very consistent about and
00:30:09
something that you can be very patient with.
00:30:13
Online courses, that's a whole different story.
00:30:16
I mean, if you can develop an online course or a webinar or
00:30:19
something on various gardening topics that you are really well
00:30:21
versed in, I mean, you can throw them out there and you know, who
00:30:27
knows how many people are actually going to sign up for
00:30:29
it? Does it take some effort to be
00:30:31
able to like actually develop those courses?
00:30:33
Absolutely. It took me forever to put
00:30:35
together my very first one, the plain like a Pro one, and I've
00:30:39
been working on several others of them over the past year.
00:30:43
And it takes time. Your situation is going to
00:30:48
dictate how much time you can spend on these things.
00:30:52
And then you have to spend time marketing these things and
00:30:54
getting people to lay eyes on them and decide that this is
00:30:58
something that is for them. Same thing goes if you are
00:31:01
writing ebooks or other types of online guides.
00:31:05
You know, everybody is looking for information in one way or
00:31:10
another about their gardening, right?
00:31:12
And there's and you constantly have people looking for, you
00:31:15
know, doing Google searches or doing online searches for very
00:31:18
specific topics. If you can find out what those
00:31:20
topics are, you can write and sell e-books that are about
00:31:24
those specific topics. But again, there's marketing
00:31:27
that goes along with that. And there's a lot of time in
00:31:31
actually writing and researching, making sure that
00:31:34
you are actually passing on not just your own knowledge, but
00:31:36
also the correct knowledge to other people because you don't
00:31:41
want to be, you know, giving people bum scoop.
00:31:43
Basically, it takes a lot of focus to do these types of
00:31:49
things. And they are things that I am
00:31:50
constantly working on in the background of my business
00:31:55
because Just Grow Something is a side hustle to my farm that you
00:32:00
know, the farm started as a side hustle to my garden, but then
00:32:03
became my full time job. The farm comes first, then this
00:32:06
podcast and my consulting clients, and then I get to
00:32:10
create the other content like the ebooks and the online
00:32:13
courses that are always in the works.
00:32:16
If it sounds like a lot, it is. And it's why I'm really loving
00:32:19
this seven day challenge from Magic Mine because it's gotten
00:32:22
me into the calm focus that I need to accomplish even more in
00:32:28
my day because, you know, my day wasn't busy enough as it was.
00:32:31
I just got back from a trip to visit family last weekend.
00:32:34
I didn't bring any Magic Mine with me because I was traveling
00:32:36
light, like one backpack on the plane light, and I was actively
00:32:40
trying not to work while I was there.
00:32:44
When I got back, I went about my first day back to working.
00:32:48
And I realized about halfway through my day as I was trying
00:32:52
to focus on writing podcast episode notes and doing the
00:32:56
previous week's bookkeeping for the farm, that I just wasn't
00:32:59
keeping my focus. I was all over the place.
00:33:01
It was only when I went to make an iced coffee to wake myself up
00:33:05
that I remembered I hadn't taken my magic mind with my coffee
00:33:08
that morning. It's really amazing the
00:33:11
difference it's making in my productivity and how I actually
00:33:16
noticed now how my focus tends to wane in the afternoons when
00:33:21
I'm not taking it. It works so much better
00:33:24
alongside my coffee in the morning for just sustained
00:33:27
energy and focus. Again, me grabbing a coffee in
00:33:31
the afternoons. Now if I grab a coffee just
00:33:33
because I love my coffee, that's a totally different story.
00:33:37
You can try Magic Mind and get your own productivity boost by
00:33:40
going to magicmind.com/just Grow Something and using code.
00:33:45
Just Grow something 20 at checkout to save big on a new
00:33:50
subscription or 20% on a one time purchase.
00:33:53
I am all about this stuff. It's my little green happy
00:33:56
productivity shot. magicmind.com/just grow
00:33:59
something with code. Just grow something 20 at
00:34:02
checkout to get yours. Speaking of subscriptions, that
00:34:07
is #7 on our list of things that you can do as a side hustle in
00:34:11
the garden. Subscription boxes.
00:34:13
And I'm not talking subscription boxes like we talked about with
00:34:16
like the CSA program where it's all produce.
00:34:20
Think of things like garden kits, right?
00:34:22
Things that you're putting together with seeds or tools or
00:34:25
instructions for specific garden projects that you have
00:34:28
successfully done in your own garden.
00:34:30
Or kits with everything someone would need to grow their own
00:34:35
herb garden or a specific tea blend or a salad box, specific
00:34:39
salad greens, things like that that make life easier for
00:34:45
somebody who is trying to do something new always go over
00:34:50
really, really well. And you could just do this, you
00:34:54
know, start locally, either slip listing them on Facebook
00:34:57
Marketplace, you could do them at a farmers market stand.
00:35:00
You could sell these at like craft shows or holiday markets.
00:35:04
And these types of things you actually could sell to local
00:35:08
shops or sell them on consignment in local shops.
00:35:13
You can test the waters. You can see how well they go.
00:35:16
You can try different packaging options and different, you know,
00:35:19
combinations of things to see what really works.
00:35:23
First of all, what you love to put together, because none of
00:35:27
these things are going to work if you don't enjoy actually
00:35:30
doing it, right? So if you think if you're really
00:35:34
good at making fairy gardens, right, or if you're really good
00:35:38
at, you know, making little gnome homes or whatever, you can
00:35:43
sell those kits to teach people how to do that.
00:35:46
You can just start locally and test it out.
00:35:47
And then if you get really good or if you get good feedback or
00:35:51
it seems to be doing well, you could actually expand to online
00:35:54
sales that you could ship. These are things that are easy
00:35:57
enough to ship if you have the right packaging.
00:35:59
So you can either do it through Etsy or you could create your
00:36:01
own online shop on your own website.
00:36:04
So these types of things are really popular and they're
00:36:08
really fun for people when they have an interest in something,
00:36:11
but they either don't know where to start or they're just looking
00:36:15
for something that's new and fun and fresh or a little bit of a
00:36:17
surprise. If it's something that's
00:36:19
different every single month and they get it automatically,
00:36:22
number one, that's automatic money in your pocket every
00:36:24
month. That is a nice little side
00:36:25
hustle and it's a surprise for them.
00:36:28
They get to open. If you've ever had one of these
00:36:30
subscriptions, it actually is kind of fun.
00:36:32
So that's another really good way to kind of start a garden
00:36:34
side hustle is with subscription boxes of different like kits.
00:36:39
Now if we go back to selling the actual produce, one other option
00:36:45
that you have is to focus on specialty crops.
00:36:48
So maybe this is something where you can develop a niche market
00:36:54
for a very specific type of produce.
00:36:57
So maybe it's heirloom varieties, Maybe you specialize
00:37:00
in growing and selling the really unique or heirloom
00:37:04
varieties of the fruits and vegetables that are common in
00:37:07
your area. Maybe it's microgreens.
00:37:10
Those have a really high market value.
00:37:13
They can be grown year round. And maybe you're at a market
00:37:17
where there's lots and lots of other types of produce, but
00:37:21
maybe microgreens aren't there. And these are something that
00:37:24
maybe you could also, you know, sell locally to either the local
00:37:28
grocery store because it's technically like a plant.
00:37:32
It's not necessarily produce, you know it, it can be sold at
00:37:36
the grocery store, but could also be sold in other markets as
00:37:38
well. Maybe you're really good at
00:37:40
medicinal plants, you know, either medicinal herbs or other
00:37:44
plants that are used and have medicinal properties.
00:37:46
Maybe you can grow and sell the plants or you can sell the
00:37:49
harvest from the plants. Now be careful on this one with
00:37:54
your wording though. Don't get in trouble by claiming
00:37:56
the plants or a harvest from a plant will specifically do XY
00:38:01
and Z. The FDA is very specific about
00:38:04
what they you know, we can say that plants do or don't do
00:38:06
definitively and you know, so usually it's you should say what
00:38:11
they may do and I'm using Bunny ears.
00:38:14
This may help you with XY and Z is usually what you have to say,
00:38:18
but if you are into the medicinal plants and you grow
00:38:21
them very well, you might be able to, you know, create a
00:38:24
niche market for yourself in terms of medicinals #9 would be
00:38:30
to sell gardening services. So are you really good at garden
00:38:35
planning? Are you really good at garden
00:38:38
design as a service to other homeowners?
00:38:42
You know, can you lay out a garden space really, really well
00:38:46
and make good utilization of it, or are you really good at kind
00:38:50
of conceptually creating these things that just look absolutely
00:38:54
beautiful? This is part of what I do with
00:38:56
my garden consulting services. Most of what I do is the actual
00:38:59
garden planning, but I do help with design services when
00:39:03
needed. The other thing that you might
00:39:05
be interested in doing is helping with installation and
00:39:07
maintenance. You know, if you've got somebody
00:39:10
that OK, yeah, I have this idea and I want these raised planters
00:39:13
over here, but I need this also tilled up etcetera, etcetera.
00:39:17
Is that a service that you can offer?
00:39:18
Do you like getting your hands in there and actually kind of
00:39:21
doing the creating of the new space?
00:39:23
This is not something that Ioffer with my just grow
00:39:26
something garden consulting, but I know plenty of people out
00:39:29
there who do do this as sort of a side hustle.
00:39:32
You know, I will come till your garden for you or I will come
00:39:35
put your raised beds together for you or I will, you know, mix
00:39:38
your potting mix together for you and install it in those
00:39:41
raised beds. So, you know, gardening
00:39:43
services, whether it's in terms of design or installation and
00:39:47
maintenance, can be a way to make some money from your own
00:39:51
gardening knowledge. And then if you're really
00:39:55
adventurous, the last one would be to rent your garden space so.
00:40:00
If you have a really beautiful garden area and you have an
00:40:04
outdoor gazebo that is in there, could you rent it out?
00:40:09
Is there a local photographer who would love to take sessions
00:40:13
for people in your garden? You know, can you rent it out
00:40:17
for like tea parties or something?
00:40:18
Or if it's really big, you know, a family reunion or something,
00:40:22
you know, do you want to get into like event hosting or could
00:40:26
you rent an area of your garden out to people who want to garden
00:40:32
but they don't have a space of their own?
00:40:34
You know, community gardens in my area are really few and far
00:40:38
between. And a lot of the time those
00:40:39
community gardens are actually run by the Master Gardeners
00:40:42
program and they do it to raise produce for donation.
00:40:48
There are some areas that I pass by once I get further up into
00:40:50
the city where there are definitely community gardens.
00:40:54
But a lot of those gardens plots are always taken up and it seems
00:40:58
like there is always a need out there for an allotment or for a
00:41:02
garden plot to be rented. So is that something that you
00:41:05
would be able to do? Do you have an area where you
00:41:09
could actually rent out a space to people who really want to
00:41:11
garden, but they lack a space to be able to do it on their own or
00:41:16
at their own home? So with all of these, I think
00:41:22
there are some overarching themes or ideas behind them,
00:41:27
right? Number one would be
00:41:28
understanding your market. Know what products or services
00:41:31
are in demand in your area. Or if you plan on going online
00:41:35
and doing online sales or online courses.
00:41:39
Is there a demand out there for what it is that you are trying
00:41:42
to offer when it comes to what you're physically selling?
00:41:47
I think quality over quantity is probably, you know, a really big
00:41:53
balancing point sometimes when it comes to farmers markets.
00:41:58
Yes, you feel like you need to have a lot of stuff in order to
00:42:02
be able to offer it, but if that stuff isn't really good quality,
00:42:06
it's not gonna matter because nobody's gonna want it.
00:42:08
So quality over quantity definitely, but then also
00:42:12
focusing on, you know, being able to meet the market demand.
00:42:16
And then marketing goes along with every single one of these.
00:42:20
You're going to have to somehow either use social media or local
00:42:24
advertising or word of mouth or whatever it is to promote
00:42:28
whatever business it is that you start on the side to, you know,
00:42:32
gain some money from from your garden.
00:42:34
And then anytime you can diversify, if you could take two
00:42:38
of these ideas and combine them, offer a variety of products and
00:42:42
services, whatever it is, just to kind of, you know, reduce the
00:42:47
risk and increase the reward in terms of revenue stream.
00:42:52
I always say, you know, diversifying is absolutely
00:42:55
necessary because if one thing doesn't sell, at least you have
00:42:58
something as a backup. That's it. 10 different ideas
00:43:07
for making money from your garden, and they don't all
00:43:10
involve selling the actual produce itself.
00:43:13
Yes, that can be part of it, but value added products are always
00:43:17
in demand. And putting kits or boxes and
00:43:19
things together for people that they can't or don't know how to
00:43:23
do themselves almost always has a market.
00:43:26
And teaching people to do those things for themselves.
00:43:30
Yeah, that's my jam. That's why you're here listening
00:43:33
to me, right? If I can take my experiences and
00:43:36
education and teach people how to do it themselves, then so can
00:43:41
you. You don't have to have a degree
00:43:43
in agriculture or 20 years of gardening experience.
00:43:46
You just have to have more experience and education than
00:43:51
the folks that you're teaching. So if you've successfully
00:43:55
started seedlings for transplant into your own garden for years,
00:43:59
teach that. If you have a fantastic herb
00:44:02
garden every year and you know 1000 ways to use them, teach
00:44:06
that. Whether it's in a conference or
00:44:08
it's in an e-book or it's an online course.
00:44:11
Whatever it is, start small. Share the knowledge, share the
00:44:15
joy, and maybe you can make a little money from the garden
00:44:19
too. Until next time, my gardening
00:44:22
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden, and we'll
00:44:24
talk again soon. Thanks for listening to another
00:44:28
episode of the Just Grow Something podcast.
00:44:30
For more information about today's topic and to find all
00:44:33
the ways you can get in touch with me or support the show, go
00:44:36
to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com. Until next time, my gardening
00:44:40
friends, keep learning and keep growing.