from San Juan Naturals
You can start a business in your back yard, field or small acreage; I have long been such a grower, and I constantly visit and write about other such small businesses in my area and around the country.
I have grown and sold herbs and flowers for years. I have also written three books on growing and marketing (published by San Juan Naturals) and I talk and correspond with growers and small herb business people all around the world. (Some of the most frequently asked questions are here.) I will try and field any questions you have by e-mail, and hope you can also help me learn ever more about being successful starting and running small horticulture and herb businesses in our backyards, our greenhouses, or at our kitchen sinks. The updates on our pages will be made on the Q & A page.
Lee Sturdivant
Starting A Culinary Herb Business
One of the simplest businesses you can start is growing
culinary herbs to sell as green, fresh-cut herbs to your local super markets
or restaurants.
Every produce manager in the country (in many other countries, too) is being asked to supply these herbs because every cook book, every magazine article about health, gardens, food and cooking is pushing, pushing fresh green herbs. These are not a fad: fresh green herbs are a permanent part of the food and health scene in America, and they will only become a bigger part of that scene in the future. Green culinary herbs are here to stay.
The produce managers who are responding to all this pressure for fresh cut herbs, want to deal with local producers because local growers can deliver fresher, longer lasting herbs, thus saving the market some money. Local growers can also deal with any special orders, and help their market customers learn how to use herbs, etc. So, with that kind of local interest, you should perhaps consider starting a fresh culinary herb business.
First of all, of course, you must know how to garden successfully. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Gardening well takes lots of time, thought and effort. And gardening organically can take even more effort at first, so learning gardening comes first. Then concentrate on learning to grow the following herbs: Basil, Dill (the ferny kind), French Tarragon (never the Russian), Peppermint, Oregano, Sweet Marjoram, Rosemary, French Sorrel, Chives, Parsley, Thyme, and Sage. There are other herbs that you may want to consider, but these are the primary culinary herbs, the ones you can sell to your local markets and to the chefs at your local restaurants.
The going wholesale price these days is $1.25 per packet of herbs. That's about an ounce, or a little more, of each herb--often 12 or 15 stem tips. They usually retail at just under $2 a packet. Herbs produce a lot once you get them going. You can easily pick thirty to forty packets in an hour--once you've had the practice.
For further details on this herb business, see the page concerning our guide: Profits From Your Backyard Herb Garden.
Cut Flower Business
This is another small business that you can start in
your backyard: growing cut flowers for market. I sold both herbs and flowers
to my local super market for years--both are welcome products. Ask any market
gardener which crop sells the best and pays off the best and chances are
his answer will be: "fresh cut flowers." Lots of people grow up
hating vegetables, or barely tolerating them (the fools), but almost everyone
grows up knowing that fresh flowers are a very, very special item. You can
send a family a gift of a two week supply of fabulous vegetables for forty
five dollars; you can barely send them a single bouquet for that much. So
consider starting a cut flower business from your backyard or field.
After you grow them, how do you market them? Following are some ideas to think about, and for further details on a cut-flower business, see our pages concerning Flowers For Sale:
Do you get the idea? If you can learn to be a decent gardener you can learn to earn money from even a small garden devoted to the kinds of things that have a local demand in your area.
I visit every market gardener and farmer's market I can find. This past year I have been smitten by fingerling potatoes and pea vines as greens. Have they appeared yet in your area? Both are unusually delicious, and sell very well. Neither are yet in my super markets. What new crops are you noticing?
I also have a strong interest in medicinal herbs, and see that whole area as another one of those little door openings for small market gardeners to pass through. All over the country these days, naturopathic doctors are setting up their practices using traditional plant medicines. They are looking for people to make high quality herb medicines for them, they are looking for herbs to grow themselves so they can make their own medicines. Herbalists are traveling the country these days teaching medicine making in even the smallest towns; I think that the demand for organically grown medicinal herbs will increase dramatically in the next few years. For details on many other herbal business ideas, see our pages on Herbs For Sale.
If you are already doing some of this, I'd love to hear from you: what advice do you have for newcomers? What's selling well in your area? What should I be out there learning about?
If you have questions, send them to my e-mail address at naturals@bootstraps.com. I'll be happy to answer any that I can, or tell you where to get the answer.
I look forward to hearing from you.
For information about Lee's books,
check out the Bootstrap Guides page!
Return to the San Juan
Naturals homepage
Frequently Asked Questions |
The Newsletter | Our Booklist
Online Gardening Resources
| How To Order
