May 13, 2025 • 31 mins
We explore how to transform your yard from a money drain into an income-generating asset through innovative gardening approaches and direct sales to restaurant chefs.
• Modern properties now cost money rather than generate income, from expensive driveways to high-maintenance lawns
• Microgreens business proved unprofitable at farmers markets due to hidden labor costs and time commitment
• "Cut-and-come-again" garden model allows chefs to harvest their own produce, paying by weight with an honor system
• Raised bed hugelkultur gardening offers an ergonomic solution for growing that repurposes yard waste
• Suburban self-sufficiency isn't realistic, but even small-scale food production can offset rising grocery costs
• Victory gardens provide resilience against supply chain disruptions while keeping you close to home and family
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Holy smokes, it is Tuesday already.
Welcome back to the TradingPost.
I am Trader Stu.
I thought it was Monday today.
I had to go to the funeralyesterday, so I'm all thrown off
and I thought today was Monday.
So I apologize for the lateupload.
If you didn't listen to it onthe way to work, I'm sorry.
So here we are.
(00:21):
I'll get this uploaded as soonas I can, of course, minimal
editing, as I always.
Sorry.
So here we are.
I'll get this uploaded as soonas I can, of course, minimal
editing, as I always do.
That's one of the actually turnoffs I found with YouTube.
With me lately is the overediting.
So anyway, this episode issponsored by the Michigan
Renaissance Festival and Icannot wait until they give me
(00:44):
that schedule of what the newthings are coming up this year.
Last year I went did you ever goto Chocolate Week?
Have you ever gone to Chocolateor Chocolate Weekend?
I forget what they call it,Cocoa Weekend.
Anyway, all the vendors there,if you go to the back of the
park, they're all set up with,of course, desserts and
chocolates and it's like foodtrucks, but you know, chocolate
based.
So it's like, uh, food trucks,but you know chocolate based.
(01:05):
So it's kind of like williewonka went to the michigan
renaissance festival and openedup shop.
You know you get to try all thedifferent flavors and you know
sights and smells and it smellsawesome.
Of course you go back there,even though it's outside, it
just smells like a chocolatefactory.
So, yeah, I hope they do thatagain this year.
I'm looking forward to it.
(01:26):
And, of course, you know yougot to get your turkey leg wire
there and a beer.
But, yeah, the Cocoa Festival orChocolate Weekends that was I
think it was Sweet Dreams orSweet Weekends, I don't remember
, but it was fun and deliciousall at the same time.
And now that we're kind ofcleared from the you know 2020
(01:48):
issues that they were issuingrain checks out for, and it was
crazy when they reopened itshouldn't be nearly as busy as
it was, for when I came, thelast time I was there was when
they allowed everyone from COVIDthe last two years to come in
plus that year.
So it was crazy and I rememberI think I told you the story
(02:09):
last week I got to mess with allthe cars as I walked in and had
just a ton of fun doing thatand my best Captain Jack Sparrow
attire and attitude andcharisma that I could bring
forth to the MichiganRenaissance Festival.
But I've been there before thatand it was always.
It wasn't that crazy, like Imean, I had a park down the road
(02:31):
on a dirt road, and now they'reI think they expanded their
parking lots.
So if you're, you know,avoiding going cause maybe you
had that experience go again andI'll be there and they're going
to actually invite me to theheat, um, the vip, like uh,
media, uh night before they open.
(02:51):
So I'll especially be able toget front row parking.
But I, I like the parking lotsituation.
I don't know.
To me it's a part of theadventure, part of the fun and,
uh, like I said, the walk-in, I,if you go on the left side of
the park, there is the parkinglot, there's a cool little trail
, there's a little bridge, yougo through the woods.
Now I did it.
(03:12):
They do a really good job thereand making kind of everything
part like of the adventure.
So definitely show up, check itout if you haven't.
Yeah, already, it's fun for allages.
My stepson dressed up as DarthVader one year.
That was he's nine, so he waswhat?
What were they?
(03:33):
2025?
So he was five or six years oldand he still talks about it.
So we're going to go again thisyear, obviously again, and we
just had a baby, so I probablywouldn't bring I I don't know.
I've seen strollers there butto me, um, I just don't want to
deal with that, uh with my kid,uh to the strollers, but I see
them there and people on backwith kids on backpacks, all that
(03:54):
stuff because it's fun, andthen it's later in the summer or
in the fall, so it gets cooler.
So the kids, you know, don't uhoverheat I guess you could say
so.
Uh, but I'm excited for it thisyear.
You check it out, all right.
So, real quick, I wanted to talkabout everyone's talking about
side jobs lately, because the,you know, job search is kind of
(04:20):
tough.
I know some people that aregetting laid off.
I myself was one of them, gotlaid off last year, six months
after my son was born.
But you know I got lucky, ofcourse, with the VA, so they
helped me out and if people arehaving issues, there are
resources out there for veterans.
I'm not sure what people aretalking about, but they pulled
(04:42):
through for me.
I don't know, maybe I talked tothe right people or I got a
good place around here, but uh,anyway, they got me through some
a really tough time and um, butyeah, anyway, uh, if they're
you know people in the military,have them check out their local
area resource center and getthem through whatever's going on
.
But everyone's talking aboutside jobs or side come money,
(05:05):
and I wanted to talk real quickabout gardening.
So you know, with everythingcoming up, you know tariffs,
talks and fruits and vegetablesare getting more expensive and
here's the thing with that.
So we do a lot of frozen fruitin my family because my wife
(05:25):
makes smoothies for the kidsdaily, like literally, I'm
talking about daily.
We just bought like a $600blender because she smoked two
of them.
My parents gave us one from, Ithink, their wedding.
It was like a 1970s or 80smodels and she used it for a
couple months and then smoked itLike it got acrid smelling, you
(05:45):
know.
The motor burned out and thenbefore that went through another
one.
Anyway, I digress.
So what I'm getting at is thateverything's more expensive and
we built the garden, tried it.
Then my son was born.
I let it, you know.
Let it go back to nature,because you know priorities.
I don't know people do it.
I don't know how people do it.
(06:05):
I don't know how people do it,man, with the kids and the
garden, and you got maybe a dogor two and then you got the
house and then a job or two andit's a lot, man, right.
So you're constantly going atit.
And my whole idea behind thisto do a side hustle with
gardening would be to not takeme away or my wife away from the
(06:26):
home and have daycare, raisethe kids, right.
So, and I'm not saying likeyou're making a lot of money
here, I'm just saying you know alittle bit of your money here
and there.
You know, I don't think it'slike something that you're going
to quit a job over and they'regoing to, you know, full-time it
, but you might as well make.
My thing is, if you're going todo something, why not a little
(06:47):
bit of side income, money fromit, not saying it's going to you
know make or break or nowyou're going to get ahead.
It's not about that with me.
It's about just kind of likethe hobby paying for itself.
I saw a really cool YouTubevideo.
God, it must have been a yearor two ago and I can't find it
(07:08):
again I think the algorithm orYouTube or like they quote
unquote.
They took it down because itmade a lot of sense and I'll
quickly kind of go over it.
And that's how property used tobe a source of income for
people and now property is asource of debt for people.
Now I'm not talking about ifyou're flipping real estate or
(07:30):
you know, you're buying andselling houses and maybe not
even within a year.
I'm just saying buy a house,sell it three or five years
later and hopefully you breakeven by the time you put all the
upgrades in it and you kind oflive rent free.
And that's the other thing too.
You know people are like, oh,you should put a new kitchen in.
You get money back when yousell the house.
No, you won't.
You'll get maybe 50% of thevalue, I think, let's say, for
(07:52):
bathrooms and and uh andkitchens.
Uh, when you upgrade you mightget half of that back, you know.
So I don't think.
I think that houses are for me.
I've had bad experiences.
I'm on my fourth house and I'velost money on two of them, made
money on one and I'm in one now.
(08:13):
So I'm not really.
I don't have a good warm andfuzzy for houses and real estate
.
I say they're a debt.
I think they're a, not anovelty.
What do you call it?
Like a nice to have?
Don't get me wrong.
My apartment that I was inbefore was crazy expensive and
it was unnecessary.
(08:34):
I think it was like $1,750 amonth and it didn't pay for any
of the water, gas, heat, none ofthat Right.
So it was like two grand amonth to live in this apartment.
And then, of course, mymortgage is substantially
cheaper than that.
But here's the other problem.
Now you're doing upgrades.
I had to put a new roof on it,new gutters.
You know the driveway.
Luckily I can.
(08:54):
My wife and I broke up theconcrete.
I want to patch and pour ourown concrete.
You got to be able to do thingsyourself in these houses,
otherwise they're going to eatyou literally out of house and
home.
So that's to.
My point is that I think they'rea debt until, hopefully, one
day you break even and able tosell it and get your money back
(09:15):
on whatever you put into it,because otherwise, if you're in
an apartment, you're kind ofthrowing away.
Let's just say two grand amonth.
You never get that back.
That's $24,000 a year.
That's a lot of money thatyou'll never get back.
So you know, in a house, tolose $24,000, I mean you have to
be basically a short sale ortotal market collapse, like in
(09:36):
2008.
Which, hey, guess what?
I was part of that crew too.
I had a short sale in my house.
I bought it, I think, in 2006.
In Jersey, in the military, Ifigured I wasn't going to be
there that long.
I would just be in and outwithin two or three years.
And guess what?
(09:57):
Two years later I don't think ayear and a half later uh, oh,
wait, crisis or oh, seven,whatever it was everything fell
apart, right, so, um, so, yeah,anyway, this guy was talking
about.
You know, nowadays we haveconcrete or blacktop driveways
this is the back to the YouTubevideo, by the way um, that are
expensive and before they werejust dirt or gravel or just
grass and they didn't cost youany money, they were just kind
of there.
(10:17):
Now my driveway costs you money, right, the tree roots are
lifting the some of the slabsand it's coming on.
Even I had to break up a slabbecause it was very dangerous
trip hazard.
I had to crack it out beforetrick-or-treating last year
because before that a kid or twotripped on the unevenness of it
(10:38):
.
So I took care of that and itcost me concrete and a
sledgehammer.
But you know, and then whatelse was he talking about?
Oh, grass Grass is a hugedeficit.
I mean, you know, I don't wantto say huge, I guess it could be
.
It could be Like I live in aneighborhood where a lot of
neighbors take care of theirlawns and they have a lot of
yard maintenance crews come out.
(10:59):
They all pay for the yard crewand I got a quote and I think it
was 45 bucks a week for them to, you know, be under contract
for the summer and then, andthat paid for two edgings a year
and a weekly mowing.
And then you have to pay.
A lot of people fertilize andthen they put herbicides down
and pesticides, and you know, Imean you're in the lawnmower and
(11:20):
you got gas, but before youknow your yard was your garden
or part of the field.
You just kind of likesurrounded yourself.
I grew up in the middle ofcornfields up in Frankamuth.
You know I had a cornfield oneyear and then a soybean one year
and then a sugar beet one year.
You know they rotate the crops,right.
So everything every three yearswas corn or something like that
.
But I'm not saying that I wasthe farmer, but I'm just saying
(11:42):
our yard was surrounded by this.
You know, we could have beenback in the day farmers, right?
So then that's how you wouldhave lived.
Now we had a yard and property.
My stepdad had a mower and mydad has a mower.
You know, back then too,whatever like rider.
But you know, again now, ridinglawnmowers are thousands of
dollars, are paying for themaintenance, oil and gas.
But again I gotta, I gottadigress on all of that because
(12:07):
we could just go you you know,crazy with grass.
And then what else was it?
Oh, the garage parks our car.
Now we put we're so bougie thatour cars have a home, a shelter
, which is, if you think aboutit, I mean just think about it,
that's crazy, I mean it is.
So I get it like if it'sraining or snowing.
(12:29):
But then my thing with thatalways was is like, what are you
going to do once you get towherever you're going, unless,
like I, work in a building thathas a parking garage and, to be
fair, not many people use it,because I think it's $50 or $100
a month to pay the landlord tobe able to park your car
underground.
So no one does it.
Because I don't know.
(12:49):
We all live in Michigan, man,we're used to it.
Oh what?
So it snowed?
You got to strip your windowsoff.
Oh poo-hoo.
But again, what are you goingto do when you go to the grocery
store?
It's snowing?
You come out, you got to wipeyour windows down anyways.
You know what I'm saying.
So a lot of things that justdon't make any sense with how
(13:13):
costs and money and what wespend our money on, to me anyway
.
And then he went on to saysomething else about something
that costs us money but or usedto make us money, but now it
costs us money and the wholeyard thing.
And I was just like into itbecause I absolutely loathe yard
work.
I hate it, dude, and it's so.
You know it takes time awayfrom the kids, or you know the
family time.
Or you got to stay home becauseyou got to mow the takes time
away from the kids, or you knowthe family time.
You've got to stay home becauseyou've got to mow the lawn
while the kids go to soccerpractice.
(13:34):
I don't know.
And I had to do that one weekand I was just like this is
stupid, so I'm not paying nobodyto do it.
So you know, and we weregetting, we had a two-bedroom
apartment and by the time, youknow, my other son came around
it would have been way too smallfor us, so we had to get
something different.
But anyway, then you know, oneday the kids will play outside,
(13:55):
and whatever you think right.
I mean, I'm going to buy a playstructure, but maybe they will,
maybe they won't play on it, Idon't know.
The thing is, we live in anarea that has tons of city paid
for tax, dollar, paid for parksthat are awesome, and there's
other kids there to play with.
So I don't know, maybe they'llplay in the back, or maybe kids
(14:16):
will come by and play with thekids and we'll have the cool
house where the kids won't begone.
The kids will be over at ourhouse and you keep an eye on
them.
And that brings me to the otherpoint of my idea for generating
a little side.
Come while you're growing yourown food.
You know you're out in thebackyard anyway.
The kids want to be outside andyou're like so I don't know,
(14:38):
what do you do?
Sit in a chair and scrollthrough tiktok or whatever.
You know what I'm saying likeit's like no, be productive, or
do something.
So I'm like, oh okay, well, Ihave a garden and while the kids
are outside, I'll kind of watchthem in the corner of my eye
while I'm out there and they'redoing their thing and I'm doing
mine, and maybe they help, maybethey won't.
And then that way we're growingour own food and selling the
(15:01):
excess.
And then you also got to checkwith your local ordinance.
So we used to grow microgreensin the basement and we sold them
at Farmer's Market.
To grow microgreens in thebasement and we sold them at
farmer's market and markets I wewere in two or three of them
and you know you dedicate asaturday and or a sunday to
doing this, and at the time, youknow my wife really enjoyed it.
(15:23):
She met a friend actually theystill talk and they still hang
out from the farmer's market whowas also, uh, coincidentally,
the other, like the other microgreens grower at the same market
.
So you know they should havebeen competitors and they called
each other's frenemies.
But you know, since we pulledout of it and we're done with it
, they still talk.
And she did other things too.
(15:43):
She has honey and eggs andwhatever.
But microgreens was a lot ofwork so I put thousands of
dollars into this hobby, right?
So every morning you gottawater the microgreens.
Every evening you gotta waterthe microgreens, and that takes
about a half hour probably total, maybe right.
Each time you're like, oh,that's not so bad, a half hour
(16:04):
in the morning, half hour in theafternoon, yeah, but that adds
up.
And now the night before you goto market you got to cut them,
put them in the containers,label them.
You know you got to put yourstickers on there to be legal in
Michigan.
You know it's really on the upand up and it's kind of like
cottage food law.
(16:25):
But a little bit I think it'sthe same thing.
Actually I can't remember.
It's been so long since we didthis.
I think it's the same thing.
Actually I can't remember it'sbeen so long since we did this.
But what we found out was, bythe time you add up the hour a
day, that's five hours a week,plus another like hour or two
the night before, so that'sseven hours.
And then you got six.
No, you got eight hours in themarket because I started I had
(16:50):
to be there at seven to set up,and then it was eight to two,
shut down by three.
So you're there from seven tothree, man, you know.
So you gotta factor all thathours in and then by the time
you make your money, you'renegative.
You're just negative, dudeyou're.
I don't know how people do it.
So what we figured out was isyou gotta sell microgreens by
the flats to like chefs atrestaurants.
(17:11):
That's the only way, with nocutting, you just grow it, you
know, deliver it to like chefsat restaurants.
That's the only way, with nocutting, you just grow it, you
know, deliver it, get your moneyand go.
That's the only way, becauseyou're not spending hours in a
market and you're not cuttingthem and weighing them or
whatever you were doing.
So that's how you gotta makemoney in microgreens.
I don't know all these peopleon youtube talk about making 10
grand a month doing microgreens.
Man, that's a lot and just aton of work.
(17:33):
Of course you got to haveemployees at that point in time,
I guess.
But, man, I tell you.
So she was going to grow what.
Was it Something else?
Oh, baked bread, and then putup like a farmer's stand in her
front yard.
Right Now, we're not in an HOA,we're in a township, but you
can't just do that.
So we found out that even ifit's on wheels, it can't be out
(17:58):
in the front yard, you can'tsell stuff out of your yard or
something like that.
But the loophole was, they toldus, but you can do it off of
your porch.
So we have the covered porch.
So if we set up like a shelfshelving system or whatever
shelves out there, kind of likethe mobile or like a garden cart
(18:20):
, what do you call them?
A roadside veggie stand, butit's not roadside, it's in their
porch.
So you're not getting peoplethat are just going to be able
to drive by and see it and stop.
You got to know about it.
So then I just happened to be atthe Oakland Thrive and a guy
(18:41):
just I don't know how we gottalking about this, but he said
somebody up in Flint or GrandBlanc area does a cut and come
again concept with her garden,where she talks to I don't know
how many chefs a couple handful,whatever, doesn't matter and
she charges by the pound and thechefs come out, they cut the
(19:04):
lettuce, she teaches them how todo it the first time and that
way they don't kill the plant, Iguess, and then they cut what
they want.
She has a scale, they weigh itand then she has like a box what
do you call it?
An honor box, or you know where.
You just put cash in it andyeah, that's how she does it.
So she don't cut harvest stock,you know, it's all fresh.
(19:29):
So everyone wins.
She wins by saving just a tonof time.
She's not going to farmer'smarkets, she's not spending.
You know what is it?
16 hours a weekend, whichyou're done, you're not doing it
.
And then you can't not go.
What happens?
If you want to go camping, oryou know you want to go up north
, or the family wants to comeover and visit, you're gone from
(19:51):
the morning until the afternoon.
You've been out in the sun allday.
You're exhausted.
When you get home You've got tounpack and whatever.
And then what?
You're going to visit withfamily or whatever and friends,
you're done.
You're smoked, you're done.
You don't want to do nothing,right?
So no more markets for her.
The chef, or chefs, are happybecause they get the absolute
freshest produce that you moneycan buy, literally because
(20:14):
they're going out there andcutting it themselves and
they're not paying for producethat's garbage, because a lot of
these top-tier chefs I live inMetro Detroit.
We have some nice restaurantsaround here, right, and they use
only like the best, highestquality ingredients, of course,
and you know how.
When you buy strawberries, thebottom ones are mushy.
(20:35):
Or you know, you get lettuceand you got brown spots or
nibbles here and there.
They are only cutting what theywant.
So they're paying for all ofits good.
They're not getting a crate.
I used to work, I was a pantrychef, I used to be this guy.
So our family owner restaurantin uh, frankamuth called uh
(20:55):
Harry's Bistro, and before thatthe Blue Dolphin, and I was the
salads and uh, the dessert guy,and so I went through the box of
these.
Uh, it was the first time Iever had, like you know, those
flowery flower salads.
It's like a spring mix, I thinkthey call it, and it looks like
(21:16):
you're eating roses.
You're eating like really fancy, like bib lettuce or whatever
and this other kind of noticeberg, you know what I mean.
And then you got like there'spurples and reds and orange and
all kinds of cool differentcolors and this looks like
you're eating a bouquet and uh,and orange and all kinds of cool
different colors and it lookslike you're eating a bouquet and
you think, oh, these guys,these restaurants are getting
(21:37):
top-tier lettuce.
They must all be good anddelicious.
No, it's not.
I had to go through that Everybox, every crate.
It came in like a like, youknow, an orange box, whatever
you know, like the orange fororanges, and a rectangle and
with wrap, a wrap around it,like plastic wrap, you know, and
uh, like a garbage bag, I guessyou could say.
(21:58):
And you'd open this thing up.
And sometimes the lettuce wasall bad, it was all slimy or
black or moldy or mildewy.
You threw the whole thing away,man, you're not gonna.
Some of it was unsaligable andnow some of it the top was was
fine until you got to the bottom.
But you know you had to gothrough and hand sort it and
then rinse it and all that stuff.
I mean, don't get me wrong,you're going to rinse the
(22:19):
lettuce anyways, but the fact ofthe matter is you're not.
There was no time saving.
You know I had to go througheverything anyway manually and
anyway manually and make sureonly the best got to the plate.
So you know it's a.
All I'm saying is I love theidea.
I guess is what I'm going forhere, because, um, the all here,
but here's the problem.
So what do you?
(22:40):
So for me I got, I'm prettyjacked up like I need, I need to
find a way to that's easy onthe rig, right.
So my shoulder, back, neck,feet, knees, right, like so I'm
in my mid forties and beenthrough the rigors of the
(23:03):
military and have you know thelabel to show for it.
And so the whole idea was, whenwe put this garden in two years
ago, we'd get a raised bed witha bunch of cinder blocks.
So every day on the way homefrom work, I'd stop by Lowe's
and I'd pick up I think it waslike four or six cinder blocks,
cause that's all my Jeep couldhold and that's all I could like
(23:24):
really.
That's all I really wanted todeal with.
So I would just slowly buildthe wall up and I think it's
three or four center blocks high.
So, and it did.
Well, it's a hugelkultur styleraised bed, right.
So it's not like, uh, was itthree foot?
I think it is tall, with justcenter blocks, and it's not just
(23:46):
full of dirt Like that'd be.
Oh, my God, it'd be so muchdirt.
So I threw a bunch of old logsin there that were, you know,
rotten.
People branches on the side ofthe road, you know whatever
right, I just filled this thing.
Oh, leaves, tons of leaves.
That was so fun and cool andeasy, remember, you know, I
don't know about you guys, butwhen I get leaves in my yard,
(24:07):
it's leaves in my yard, dude,it's.
I'm I mean I'm mulching it, Iam putting it in the bins and
there's multiple weeks withmultiple, you know, 10 or 12
bins per week going out to theroad.
It's total waste.
I'm like man, what a waste.
I wish we could use this.
I really wish I could compressthat and turn it into logs or
(24:28):
something like that.
You know, again, here we aremore work, I know more labor,
but uh, anyway, what I was goingfor here was I just put it in
this pit with all the logs on itand I just layered this thing
full of leaves and wood and uhlike.
So the soil is super awesome inthis raised hugelkultur bed.
I even did a youtube video onit and I since then took it all
(24:49):
down because I was just like,not, it got away from.
It got to be a lot more workthan I thought.
I thought that with a raisedbed there wouldn't be so many of
the issues that you get whenyou're in the ground.
Nope, woodchucks find it, thebirds find it, the weeds find it
, the grass finds it.
It's still a pain, it's still alot of work and I don't really
(25:12):
enjoy it.
I don't like, uh, I reallydon't like yard work.
But here I am trying to garden,I guess and that's only because
you know it's kind of like Idon't want to say
self-sufficiency, I hate thatword People have no idea what it
takes when they can't orderstuff anymore to be
self-sufficient, right.
So we were raising rabbits andyou know I was going through
(25:33):
pounds of feed, like all thesebags.
And when I remember when thetrain, the railroad, went on
strike, well, I had to sourcedifferent food because the
rabbit food that we were gettingfrom wherever California, west
Coast or whatever was no longeravailable to come out here to
Michigan because they went onstrike to shut down.
So I had to get something else,which whatever.
(25:54):
But all I'm saying was minor,slight little hiccup, but big
deal, because rabbits, you knowthey eat right.
So you can't just like feedthem grass from the yard, I
guess, is what I'm trying to sayso.
Self-sufficiency, no, but canit help maybe alleviate some of
the budget?
I guess because and or the foodand transportation system,
(26:17):
right, I think we're going toget back to this again.
I call it my victory garden inthe backyard because I was
trying to mimic what they weredoing back in the day on a
smaller scale, to try and see ifwe could do it first.
And we did grow corn and beansand pumpkins, but the thing
woodchuck's got the pumpkins youknow what I mean.
So and the birds, I got topaint these rocks red, I guess,
(26:41):
and make them look likestrawberries.
So anyway, all I'm saying isthat you know, we're going to
try something like that with thegardening, again on the small
scale and easy on the rig.
So I'm going to bend over.
That's why I got the raised bedis what I was getting at with
that one to make it easier onall the you know joints and
things of that nature.
(27:01):
You can just stand up and justwalk around and do it.
And then the other thing Iwanted to do was the aquaculture
.
You know, it's like hydroponics, but with fish, and then that
opens up a whole different canof worms too.
But now you got all theseraised beds that you just got to
fill the water and nothibiculture or dirt, because
it's just water, so you got thataspect of it.
If you're growing lettuce, whichis the best way to turn a
(27:21):
profit from what I've read andfound out and what chefs most
desire, because lettuce is whatgoes bad the quickest, so that's
what you're going to get, notcorn or beans, right?
So the chefs want microgreens,lettuce and things like that.
So, trying to turn a profit Ifanybody's ever done this, by the
(27:42):
way, I'd like to know, becauseit seems like I know you're not
going to make I think I've readyou can make maybe $10,000 a
year, you know in Michigan, andhey, $10,000 is that might pay
for your whole aquaculture setup.
The first year maybe I don'treally see myself making $10,000
, but that's a pretty big setup,I think, and it wouldn't be
(28:02):
this year, that's for sure,because the kids well, my
littlest one can't really playoutside unmonitored yet.
So maybe next year maybe I'llstart setting up for it.
So what I was getting at withthis the whole thing was people
were asking me about trading andbartering, and this is if
things are getting tough.
(28:23):
They say that during the GreatDepression the farmers didn't
really feel it that bad.
It was all the city folks thatfelt the Great Depression right,
because they were the ones withthese jobs that were kind of
given to them.
But when you're a farmer, youknow they still ate.
They ate their, the pigs andthe cows, and you know they had
the veggies.
So not saying I'm city boy andnot saying the country, I'm
(28:46):
suburbs.
So I'm not an urban prepper, ifyou want to call it that, I'm
suburban, which is pretty decent.
I've got a third of an acre.
So if I could just get my moneyback on the investment and maybe
the power, that's the otherthing.
If the grid goes down, what doyou do with the aquaculture set
up?
It just seems like a lot ofwork.
It's very overwhelming.
And I just thought about thisbecause I was talking to a guy
(29:10):
at church the other day.
They have a garden there,community garden, and they need
volunteers for it and I'm likeman, I can't even get mine going
, you know, let alone you knowthat.
And then we just struck upconversation and I was like man,
it'd be so cool to earn anincome.
And I talked to the guy aboutthe cut and come again.
I'm like, oh, we could do that.
So you know, I'm going to stopit right there as I'm kind of
(29:32):
going down rabbit holes, butthat's it Again.
Check out the MichiganRenaissance Festival this summer
.
Slash fall and I will see youall on the next one, next Trade
Tuesday.
Take care, be good or be goodat it.
Holy smokes, it is Tuesday already.
Welcome back to the TradingPost.
I am Trader Stu.
I thought it was Monday today.
I had to go to the funeralyesterday, so I'm all thrown off
and I thought today was Monday.
So I apologize for the lateupload.
If you didn't listen to it onthe way to work, I'm sorry.
So here we are.
(00:21):
I'll get this uploaded as soonas I can, of course, minimal
editing, as I always.
Sorry.
So here we are.
I'll get this uploaded as soonas I can, of course, minimal
editing, as I always do.
That's one of the actually turnoffs I found with YouTube.
With me lately is the overediting.
So anyway, this episode issponsored by the Michigan
Renaissance Festival and Icannot wait until they give me
(00:44):
that schedule of what the newthings are coming up this year.
Last year I went did you ever goto Chocolate Week?
Have you ever gone to Chocolateor Chocolate Weekend?
I forget what they call it,Cocoa Weekend.
Anyway, all the vendors there,if you go to the back of the
park, they're all set up with,of course, desserts and
chocolates and it's like foodtrucks, but you know, chocolate
based.
So it's like, uh, food trucks,but you know chocolate based.
(01:05):
So it's kind of like williewonka went to the michigan
renaissance festival and openedup shop.
You know you get to try all thedifferent flavors and you know
sights and smells and it smellsawesome.
Of course you go back there,even though it's outside, it
just smells like a chocolatefactory.
So, yeah, I hope they do thatagain this year.
I'm looking forward to it.
(01:26):
And, of course, you know yougot to get your turkey leg wire
there and a beer.
But, yeah, the Cocoa Festival orChocolate Weekends that was I
think it was Sweet Dreams orSweet Weekends, I don't remember
, but it was fun and deliciousall at the same time.
And now that we're kind ofcleared from the you know 2020
(01:48):
issues that they were issuingrain checks out for, and it was
crazy when they reopened itshouldn't be nearly as busy as
it was, for when I came, thelast time I was there was when
they allowed everyone from COVIDthe last two years to come in
plus that year.
So it was crazy and I rememberI think I told you the story
(02:09):
last week I got to mess with allthe cars as I walked in and had
just a ton of fun doing thatand my best Captain Jack Sparrow
attire and attitude andcharisma that I could bring
forth to the MichiganRenaissance Festival.
But I've been there before thatand it was always.
It wasn't that crazy, like Imean, I had a park down the road
(02:31):
on a dirt road, and now they'reI think they expanded their
parking lots.
So if you're, you know,avoiding going cause maybe you
had that experience go again andI'll be there and they're going
to actually invite me to theheat, um, the vip, like uh,
media, uh night before they open.
(02:51):
So I'll especially be able toget front row parking.
But I, I like the parking lotsituation.
I don't know.
To me it's a part of theadventure, part of the fun and,
uh, like I said, the walk-in, I,if you go on the left side of
the park, there is the parkinglot, there's a cool little trail
, there's a little bridge, yougo through the woods.
Now I did it.
(03:12):
They do a really good job thereand making kind of everything
part like of the adventure.
So definitely show up, check itout if you haven't.
Yeah, already, it's fun for allages.
My stepson dressed up as DarthVader one year.
That was he's nine, so he waswhat?
What were they?
(03:33):
2025?
So he was five or six years oldand he still talks about it.
So we're going to go again thisyear, obviously again, and we
just had a baby, so I probablywouldn't bring I I don't know.
I've seen strollers there butto me, um, I just don't want to
deal with that, uh with my kid,uh to the strollers, but I see
them there and people on backwith kids on backpacks, all that
(03:54):
stuff because it's fun, andthen it's later in the summer or
in the fall, so it gets cooler.
So the kids, you know, don't uhoverheat I guess you could say
so.
Uh, but I'm excited for it thisyear.
You check it out, all right.
So, real quick, I wanted to talkabout everyone's talking about
side jobs lately, because the,you know, job search is kind of
(04:20):
tough.
I know some people that aregetting laid off.
I myself was one of them, gotlaid off last year, six months
after my son was born.
But you know I got lucky, ofcourse, with the VA, so they
helped me out and if people arehaving issues, there are
resources out there for veterans.
I'm not sure what people aretalking about, but they pulled
(04:42):
through for me.
I don't know, maybe I talked tothe right people or I got a
good place around here, but uh,anyway, they got me through some
a really tough time and um, butyeah, anyway, uh, if they're
you know people in the military,have them check out their local
area resource center and getthem through whatever's going on
.
But everyone's talking aboutside jobs or side come money,
(05:05):
and I wanted to talk real quickabout gardening.
So you know, with everythingcoming up, you know tariffs,
talks and fruits and vegetablesare getting more expensive and
here's the thing with that.
So we do a lot of frozen fruitin my family because my wife
(05:25):
makes smoothies for the kidsdaily, like literally, I'm
talking about daily.
We just bought like a $600blender because she smoked two
of them.
My parents gave us one from, Ithink, their wedding.
It was like a 1970s or 80smodels and she used it for a
couple months and then smoked itLike it got acrid smelling, you
(05:45):
know.
The motor burned out and thenbefore that went through another
one.
Anyway, I digress.
So what I'm getting at is thateverything's more expensive and
we built the garden, tried it.
Then my son was born.
I let it, you know.
Let it go back to nature,because you know priorities.
I don't know people do it.
I don't know how people do it.
(06:05):
I don't know how people do it,man, with the kids and the
garden, and you got maybe a dogor two and then you got the
house and then a job or two andit's a lot, man, right.
So you're constantly going atit.
And my whole idea behind thisto do a side hustle with
gardening would be to not takeme away or my wife away from the
(06:26):
home and have daycare, raisethe kids, right.
So, and I'm not saying likeyou're making a lot of money
here, I'm just saying you know alittle bit of your money here
and there.
You know, I don't think it'slike something that you're going
to quit a job over and they'regoing to, you know, full-time it
, but you might as well make.
My thing is, if you're going todo something, why not a little
(06:47):
bit of side income, money fromit, not saying it's going to you
know make or break or nowyou're going to get ahead.
It's not about that with me.
It's about just kind of likethe hobby paying for itself.
I saw a really cool YouTubevideo.
God, it must have been a yearor two ago and I can't find it
(07:08):
again I think the algorithm orYouTube or like they quote
unquote.
They took it down because itmade a lot of sense and I'll
quickly kind of go over it.
And that's how property used tobe a source of income for
people and now property is asource of debt for people.
Now I'm not talking about ifyou're flipping real estate or
(07:30):
you know, you're buying andselling houses and maybe not
even within a year.
I'm just saying buy a house,sell it three or five years
later and hopefully you breakeven by the time you put all the
upgrades in it and you kind oflive rent free.
And that's the other thing too.
You know people are like, oh,you should put a new kitchen in.
You get money back when yousell the house.
No, you won't.
You'll get maybe 50% of thevalue, I think, let's say, for
(07:52):
bathrooms and and uh andkitchens.
Uh, when you upgrade you mightget half of that back, you know.
So I don't think.
I think that houses are for me.
I've had bad experiences.
I'm on my fourth house and I'velost money on two of them, made
money on one and I'm in one now.
(08:13):
So I'm not really.
I don't have a good warm andfuzzy for houses and real estate
.
I say they're a debt.
I think they're a, not anovelty.
What do you call it?
Like a nice to have?
Don't get me wrong.
My apartment that I was inbefore was crazy expensive and
it was unnecessary.
(08:34):
I think it was like $1,750 amonth and it didn't pay for any
of the water, gas, heat, none ofthat Right.
So it was like two grand amonth to live in this apartment.
And then, of course, mymortgage is substantially
cheaper than that.
But here's the other problem.
Now you're doing upgrades.
I had to put a new roof on it,new gutters.
You know the driveway.
Luckily I can.
(08:54):
My wife and I broke up theconcrete.
I want to patch and pour ourown concrete.
You got to be able to do thingsyourself in these houses,
otherwise they're going to eatyou literally out of house and
home.
So that's to.
My point is that I think they'rea debt until, hopefully, one
day you break even and able tosell it and get your money back
(09:15):
on whatever you put into it,because otherwise, if you're in
an apartment, you're kind ofthrowing away.
Let's just say two grand amonth.
You never get that back.
That's $24,000 a year.
That's a lot of money thatyou'll never get back.
So you know, in a house, tolose $24,000, I mean you have to
be basically a short sale ortotal market collapse, like in
(09:36):
2008.
Which, hey, guess what?
I was part of that crew too.
I had a short sale in my house.
I bought it, I think, in 2006.
In Jersey, in the military, Ifigured I wasn't going to be
there that long.
I would just be in and outwithin two or three years.
And guess what?
(09:57):
Two years later I don't think ayear and a half later uh, oh,
wait, crisis or oh, seven,whatever it was everything fell
apart, right, so, um, so, yeah,anyway, this guy was talking
about.
You know, nowadays we haveconcrete or blacktop driveways
this is the back to the YouTubevideo, by the way um, that are
expensive and before they werejust dirt or gravel or just
grass and they didn't cost youany money, they were just kind
of there.
(10:17):
Now my driveway costs you money, right, the tree roots are
lifting the some of the slabsand it's coming on.
Even I had to break up a slabbecause it was very dangerous
trip hazard.
I had to crack it out beforetrick-or-treating last year
because before that a kid or twotripped on the unevenness of it
(10:38):
.
So I took care of that and itcost me concrete and a
sledgehammer.
But you know, and then whatelse was he talking about?
Oh, grass Grass is a hugedeficit.
I mean, you know, I don't wantto say huge, I guess it could be
.
It could be Like I live in aneighborhood where a lot of
neighbors take care of theirlawns and they have a lot of
yard maintenance crews come out.
(10:59):
They all pay for the yard crewand I got a quote and I think it
was 45 bucks a week for them to, you know, be under contract
for the summer and then, andthat paid for two edgings a year
and a weekly mowing.
And then you have to pay.
A lot of people fertilize andthen they put herbicides down
and pesticides, and you know, Imean you're in the lawnmower and
(11:20):
you got gas, but before youknow your yard was your garden
or part of the field.
You just kind of likesurrounded yourself.
I grew up in the middle ofcornfields up in Frankamuth.
You know I had a cornfield oneyear and then a soybean one year
and then a sugar beet one year.
You know they rotate the crops,right.
So everything every three yearswas corn or something like that
.
But I'm not saying that I wasthe farmer, but I'm just saying
(11:42):
our yard was surrounded by this.
You know, we could have beenback in the day farmers, right?
So then that's how you wouldhave lived.
Now we had a yard and property.
My stepdad had a mower and mydad has a mower.
You know, back then too,whatever like rider.
But you know, again now, ridinglawnmowers are thousands of
dollars, are paying for themaintenance, oil and gas.
But again I gotta, I gottadigress on all of that because
(12:07):
we could just go you you know,crazy with grass.
And then what else was it?
Oh, the garage parks our car.
Now we put we're so bougie thatour cars have a home, a shelter
, which is, if you think aboutit, I mean just think about it,
that's crazy, I mean it is.
So I get it like if it'sraining or snowing.
(12:29):
But then my thing with thatalways was is like, what are you
going to do once you get towherever you're going, unless,
like I, work in a building thathas a parking garage and, to be
fair, not many people use it,because I think it's $50 or $100
a month to pay the landlord tobe able to park your car
underground.
So no one does it.
Because I don't know.
(12:49):
We all live in Michigan, man,we're used to it.
Oh what?
So it snowed?
You got to strip your windowsoff.
Oh poo-hoo.
But again, what are you goingto do when you go to the grocery
store?
It's snowing?
You come out, you got to wipeyour windows down anyways.
You know what I'm saying.
So a lot of things that justdon't make any sense with how
(13:13):
costs and money and what wespend our money on, to me anyway
.
And then he went on to saysomething else about something
that costs us money but or usedto make us money, but now it
costs us money and the wholeyard thing.
And I was just like into itbecause I absolutely loathe yard
work.
I hate it, dude, and it's so.
You know it takes time awayfrom the kids, or you know the
family time.
Or you got to stay home becauseyou got to mow the takes time
away from the kids, or you knowthe family time.
You've got to stay home becauseyou've got to mow the lawn
while the kids go to soccerpractice.
(13:34):
I don't know.
And I had to do that one weekand I was just like this is
stupid, so I'm not paying nobodyto do it.
So you know, and we weregetting, we had a two-bedroom
apartment and by the time, youknow, my other son came around
it would have been way too smallfor us, so we had to get
something different.
But anyway, then you know, oneday the kids will play outside,
(13:55):
and whatever you think right.
I mean, I'm going to buy a playstructure, but maybe they will,
maybe they won't play on it, Idon't know.
The thing is, we live in anarea that has tons of city paid
for tax, dollar, paid for parksthat are awesome, and there's
other kids there to play with.
So I don't know, maybe they'llplay in the back, or maybe kids
(14:16):
will come by and play with thekids and we'll have the cool
house where the kids won't begone.
The kids will be over at ourhouse and you keep an eye on
them.
And that brings me to the otherpoint of my idea for generating
a little side.
Come while you're growing yourown food.
You know you're out in thebackyard anyway.
The kids want to be outside andyou're like so I don't know,
(14:38):
what do you do?
Sit in a chair and scrollthrough tiktok or whatever.
You know what I'm saying likeit's like no, be productive, or
do something.
So I'm like, oh okay, well, Ihave a garden and while the kids
are outside, I'll kind of watchthem in the corner of my eye
while I'm out there and they'redoing their thing and I'm doing
mine, and maybe they help, maybethey won't.
And then that way we're growingour own food and selling the
(15:01):
excess.
And then you also got to checkwith your local ordinance.
So we used to grow microgreensin the basement and we sold them
at Farmer's Market.
To grow microgreens in thebasement and we sold them at
farmer's market and markets I wewere in two or three of them
and you know you dedicate asaturday and or a sunday to
doing this, and at the time, youknow my wife really enjoyed it.
(15:23):
She met a friend actually theystill talk and they still hang
out from the farmer's market whowas also, uh, coincidentally,
the other, like the other microgreens grower at the same market
.
So you know they should havebeen competitors and they called
each other's frenemies.
But you know, since we pulledout of it and we're done with it
, they still talk.
And she did other things too.
(15:43):
She has honey and eggs andwhatever.
But microgreens was a lot ofwork so I put thousands of
dollars into this hobby, right?
So every morning you gottawater the microgreens.
Every evening you gotta waterthe microgreens, and that takes
about a half hour probably total, maybe right.
Each time you're like, oh,that's not so bad, a half hour
(16:04):
in the morning, half hour in theafternoon, yeah, but that adds
up.
And now the night before you goto market you got to cut them,
put them in the containers,label them.
You know you got to put yourstickers on there to be legal in
Michigan.
You know it's really on the upand up and it's kind of like
cottage food law.
(16:25):
But a little bit I think it'sthe same thing.
Actually I can't remember.
It's been so long since we didthis.
I think it's the same thing.
Actually I can't remember it'sbeen so long since we did this.
But what we found out was, bythe time you add up the hour a
day, that's five hours a week,plus another like hour or two
the night before, so that'sseven hours.
And then you got six.
No, you got eight hours in themarket because I started I had
(16:50):
to be there at seven to set up,and then it was eight to two,
shut down by three.
So you're there from seven tothree, man, you know.
So you gotta factor all thathours in and then by the time
you make your money, you'renegative.
You're just negative, dudeyou're.
I don't know how people do it.
So what we figured out was isyou gotta sell microgreens by
the flats to like chefs atrestaurants.
(17:11):
That's the only way, with nocutting, you just grow it, you
know, deliver it to like chefsat restaurants.
That's the only way, with nocutting, you just grow it, you
know, deliver it, get your moneyand go.
That's the only way, becauseyou're not spending hours in a
market and you're not cuttingthem and weighing them or
whatever you were doing.
So that's how you gotta makemoney in microgreens.
I don't know all these peopleon youtube talk about making 10
grand a month doing microgreens.
Man, that's a lot and just aton of work.
(17:33):
Of course you got to haveemployees at that point in time,
I guess.
But, man, I tell you.
So she was going to grow what.
Was it Something else?
Oh, baked bread, and then putup like a farmer's stand in her
front yard.
Right Now, we're not in an HOA,we're in a township, but you
can't just do that.
So we found out that even ifit's on wheels, it can't be out
(17:58):
in the front yard, you can'tsell stuff out of your yard or
something like that.
But the loophole was, they toldus, but you can do it off of
your porch.
So we have the covered porch.
So if we set up like a shelfshelving system or whatever
shelves out there, kind of likethe mobile or like a garden cart
(18:20):
, what do you call them?
A roadside veggie stand, butit's not roadside, it's in their
porch.
So you're not getting peoplethat are just going to be able
to drive by and see it and stop.
You got to know about it.
So then I just happened to be atthe Oakland Thrive and a guy
(18:41):
just I don't know how we gottalking about this, but he said
somebody up in Flint or GrandBlanc area does a cut and come
again concept with her garden,where she talks to I don't know
how many chefs a couple handful,whatever, doesn't matter and
she charges by the pound and thechefs come out, they cut the
(19:04):
lettuce, she teaches them how todo it the first time and that
way they don't kill the plant, Iguess, and then they cut what
they want.
She has a scale, they weigh itand then she has like a box what
do you call it?
An honor box, or you know where.
You just put cash in it andyeah, that's how she does it.
So she don't cut harvest stock,you know, it's all fresh.
(19:29):
So everyone wins.
She wins by saving just a tonof time.
She's not going to farmer'smarkets, she's not spending.
You know what is it?
16 hours a weekend, whichyou're done, you're not doing it
.
And then you can't not go.
What happens?
If you want to go camping, oryou know you want to go up north
, or the family wants to comeover and visit, you're gone from
(19:51):
the morning until the afternoon.
You've been out in the sun allday.
You're exhausted.
When you get home You've got tounpack and whatever.
And then what?
You're going to visit withfamily or whatever and friends,
you're done.
You're smoked, you're done.
You don't want to do nothing,right?
So no more markets for her.
The chef, or chefs, are happybecause they get the absolute
freshest produce that you moneycan buy, literally because
(20:14):
they're going out there andcutting it themselves and
they're not paying for producethat's garbage, because a lot of
these top-tier chefs I live inMetro Detroit.
We have some nice restaurantsaround here, right, and they use
only like the best, highestquality ingredients, of course,
and you know how.
When you buy strawberries, thebottom ones are mushy.
(20:35):
Or you know, you get lettuceand you got brown spots or
nibbles here and there.
They are only cutting what theywant.
So they're paying for all ofits good.
They're not getting a crate.
I used to work, I was a pantrychef, I used to be this guy.
So our family owner restaurantin uh, frankamuth called uh
(20:55):
Harry's Bistro, and before thatthe Blue Dolphin, and I was the
salads and uh, the dessert guy,and so I went through the box of
these.
Uh, it was the first time Iever had, like you know, those
flowery flower salads.
It's like a spring mix, I thinkthey call it, and it looks like
(21:16):
you're eating roses.
You're eating like really fancy, like bib lettuce or whatever
and this other kind of noticeberg, you know what I mean.
And then you got like there'spurples and reds and orange and
all kinds of cool differentcolors and this looks like
you're eating a bouquet and uh,and orange and all kinds of cool
different colors and it lookslike you're eating a bouquet and
you think, oh, these guys,these restaurants are getting
(21:37):
top-tier lettuce.
They must all be good anddelicious.
No, it's not.
I had to go through that Everybox, every crate.
It came in like a like, youknow, an orange box, whatever
you know, like the orange fororanges, and a rectangle and
with wrap, a wrap around it,like plastic wrap, you know, and
uh, like a garbage bag, I guessyou could say.
(21:58):
And you'd open this thing up.
And sometimes the lettuce wasall bad, it was all slimy or
black or moldy or mildewy.
You threw the whole thing away,man, you're not gonna.
Some of it was unsaligable andnow some of it the top was was
fine until you got to the bottom.
But you know you had to gothrough and hand sort it and
then rinse it and all that stuff.
I mean, don't get me wrong,you're going to rinse the
(22:19):
lettuce anyways, but the fact ofthe matter is you're not.
There was no time saving.
You know I had to go througheverything anyway manually and
anyway manually and make sureonly the best got to the plate.
So you know it's a.
All I'm saying is I love theidea.
I guess is what I'm going forhere, because, um, the all here,
but here's the problem.
So what do you?
(22:40):
So for me I got, I'm prettyjacked up like I need, I need to
find a way to that's easy onthe rig, right.
So my shoulder, back, neck,feet, knees, right, like so I'm
in my mid forties and beenthrough the rigors of the
(23:03):
military and have you know thelabel to show for it.
And so the whole idea was, whenwe put this garden in two years
ago, we'd get a raised bed witha bunch of cinder blocks.
So every day on the way homefrom work, I'd stop by Lowe's
and I'd pick up I think it waslike four or six cinder blocks,
cause that's all my Jeep couldhold and that's all I could like
(23:24):
really.
That's all I really wanted todeal with.
So I would just slowly buildthe wall up and I think it's
three or four center blocks high.
So, and it did.
Well, it's a hugelkultur styleraised bed, right.
So it's not like, uh, was itthree foot?
I think it is tall, with justcenter blocks, and it's not just
(23:46):
full of dirt Like that'd be.
Oh, my God, it'd be so muchdirt.
So I threw a bunch of old logsin there that were, you know,
rotten.
People branches on the side ofthe road, you know whatever
right, I just filled this thing.
Oh, leaves, tons of leaves.
That was so fun and cool andeasy, remember, you know, I
don't know about you guys, butwhen I get leaves in my yard,
(24:07):
it's leaves in my yard, dude,it's.
I'm I mean I'm mulching it, Iam putting it in the bins and
there's multiple weeks withmultiple, you know, 10 or 12
bins per week going out to theroad.
It's total waste.
I'm like man, what a waste.
I wish we could use this.
I really wish I could compressthat and turn it into logs or
(24:28):
something like that.
You know, again, here we aremore work, I know more labor,
but uh, anyway, what I was goingfor here was I just put it in
this pit with all the logs on itand I just layered this thing
full of leaves and wood and uhlike.
So the soil is super awesome inthis raised hugelkultur bed.
I even did a youtube video onit and I since then took it all
(24:49):
down because I was just like,not, it got away from.
It got to be a lot more workthan I thought.
I thought that with a raisedbed there wouldn't be so many of
the issues that you get whenyou're in the ground.
Nope, woodchucks find it, thebirds find it, the weeds find it
, the grass finds it.
It's still a pain, it's still alot of work and I don't really
(25:12):
enjoy it.
I don't like, uh, I reallydon't like yard work.
But here I am trying to garden,I guess and that's only because
you know it's kind of like Idon't want to say
self-sufficiency, I hate thatword People have no idea what it
takes when they can't orderstuff anymore to be
self-sufficient, right.
So we were raising rabbits andyou know I was going through
(25:33):
pounds of feed, like all thesebags.
And when I remember when thetrain, the railroad, went on
strike, well, I had to sourcedifferent food because the
rabbit food that we were gettingfrom wherever California, west
Coast or whatever was no longeravailable to come out here to
Michigan because they went onstrike to shut down.
So I had to get something else,which whatever.
(25:54):
But all I'm saying was minor,slight little hiccup, but big
deal, because rabbits, you knowthey eat right.
So you can't just like feedthem grass from the yard, I
guess, is what I'm trying to sayso.
Self-sufficiency, no, but canit help maybe alleviate some of
the budget?
I guess because and or the foodand transportation system,
(26:17):
right, I think we're going toget back to this again.
I call it my victory garden inthe backyard because I was
trying to mimic what they weredoing back in the day on a
smaller scale, to try and see ifwe could do it first.
And we did grow corn and beansand pumpkins, but the thing
woodchuck's got the pumpkins youknow what I mean.
So and the birds, I got topaint these rocks red, I guess,
(26:41):
and make them look likestrawberries.
So anyway, all I'm saying isthat you know, we're going to
try something like that with thegardening, again on the small
scale and easy on the rig.
So I'm going to bend over.
That's why I got the raised bedis what I was getting at with
that one to make it easier onall the you know joints and
things of that nature.
(27:01):
You can just stand up and justwalk around and do it.
And then the other thing Iwanted to do was the aquaculture
.
You know, it's like hydroponics, but with fish, and then that
opens up a whole different canof worms too.
But now you got all theseraised beds that you just got to
fill the water and nothibiculture or dirt, because
it's just water, so you got thataspect of it.
If you're growing lettuce, whichis the best way to turn a
(27:21):
profit from what I've read andfound out and what chefs most
desire, because lettuce is whatgoes bad the quickest, so that's
what you're going to get, notcorn or beans, right?
So the chefs want microgreens,lettuce and things like that.
So, trying to turn a profit Ifanybody's ever done this, by the
(27:42):
way, I'd like to know, becauseit seems like I know you're not
going to make I think I've readyou can make maybe $10,000 a
year, you know in Michigan, andhey, $10,000 is that might pay
for your whole aquaculture setup.
The first year maybe I don'treally see myself making $10,000
, but that's a pretty big setup,I think, and it wouldn't be
(28:02):
this year, that's for sure,because the kids well, my
littlest one can't really playoutside unmonitored yet.
So maybe next year maybe I'llstart setting up for it.
So what I was getting at withthis the whole thing was people
were asking me about trading andbartering, and this is if
things are getting tough.
(28:23):
They say that during the GreatDepression the farmers didn't
really feel it that bad.
It was all the city folks thatfelt the Great Depression right,
because they were the ones withthese jobs that were kind of
given to them.
But when you're a farmer, youknow they still ate.
They ate their, the pigs andthe cows, and you know they had
the veggies.
So not saying I'm city boy andnot saying the country, I'm
(28:46):
suburbs.
So I'm not an urban prepper, ifyou want to call it that, I'm
suburban, which is pretty decent.
I've got a third of an acre.
So if I could just get my moneyback on the investment and maybe
the power, that's the otherthing.
If the grid goes down, what doyou do with the aquaculture set
up?
It just seems like a lot ofwork.
It's very overwhelming.
And I just thought about thisbecause I was talking to a guy
(29:10):
at church the other day.
They have a garden there,community garden, and they need
volunteers for it and I'm likeman, I can't even get mine going
, you know, let alone you knowthat.
And then we just struck upconversation and I was like man,
it'd be so cool to earn anincome.
And I talked to the guy aboutthe cut and come again.
I'm like, oh, we could do that.
So you know, I'm going to stopit right there as I'm kind of
(29:32):
going down rabbit holes, butthat's it Again.
Check out the MichiganRenaissance Festival this summer
.
Slash fall and I will see youall on the next one, next Trade
Tuesday.
Take care, be good or be goodat it.
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