Do you need something to do or money in this COVID Pandemic? Check this out!Project: Grow 2 gallon or larger Tomato pots and sell from your front door for $20/each! They retail for up to $26/gallon pot at a garden center.
N
eed: Soil ($15), seedlings ($0.50 from seed), GE tomato light ($15), space for a table, tarp (reuse), space heater (reuse), gumption (priceless)= $35.50In the space of 2 minutes, my boy and I re-potted 20 seedlings, worth $400
This week, my boy and I expanded our garden plot in our Northern State of Wisconsin. Naturally, neither of us were interested in weeding, so we invested in weed screens. I didn’t have extra screens for the newly expanded region, so I went to our local garden center, Steins Garden Center, to buy more.
Oddly, I was allergic to my mask and took a puff of my inhaler before putting my mask on. However, it wasn’t enough time for my lungs. Right in the middle of the pot aisle, I had a massive coughing fit… shoot! I was dizzy and gasping for air!!! Instantly, there was a mass spread of customers running from me! Nope, don’t have COVID, just allergies- they didn’t care, they ran…. I regrouped and in my haste, I forgot what I was there for! I decided to roll with it and instead found a lot of company in all the other lonely customers that didn’t hear me cough. We traded stores of soil testing and all things gardening. I checked out of the store and befriended the cashier too. By the time I returned to my car, with a lovely set of Peat Pots, I recalled why I was there! Screens! I loaded my car with Loot #1 and went back in for another purchase.
I found the screen and wished I could read the writing… why is it so small?? I couldn’t read any of the writing on it…Then, I walked to the soil aisle to choke on the task of buying dirt to repot our the seedlings that were started in March. They were approaching a root bound state that could ruin them. I slowly walked the dirt aisle and bumped into the most amazing deal! They were selling 40 lb Miracle grow soil for $1.50/ bag!! I was beside myself. As 4 other customers distanced from me, following the store instructions of 6 foot distancing, they watched me horde 11 bags and leave them 2! Praying they would forgive me, I avoided the 20 person line and carried 1 bag into the store and found my new friend, the cashier and begged her to trust me with my 11 bag purchase. My tired legs didn’t want to drag them into the store. She was nice enough to trust my count.I asked for support to put them in my car and a store manager bumped into us and I liked him instantly. He found his 3 worker boys to help me load my car with loot #2. They didn’t mind and stared at my massive exposed ripped runner legs in my short shorts. Somehow, I don’t think the average customer had a tight athlete body in our Northern State where it’s jacket season 9 months of the year…I asked the manager about how to get more Miracle grow for $1.50/bag. The brilliant manager stated they had lots of pallets of it…Initially, I wanted 40 bags and the lovely manager talked me out of it saying it weighed 1,600 pounds and my little car would sink to smihterines. I was open for suggestions and quickly did the math… I think cars are designed for 300 lb people…Hmmm, 5 person car=1,500 lbs… I mentioned this and the manager mentioned that we had all the weight at the back of the car…. not a good idea. I figured he was probably trained to tell customers not to ruin their cars so I folded, and went for 20 bags= 800 lbs of dirt. I returned to my favorite cashier to pay for the remaining loot #3 of 9 more bags.
The boys put them in my car and off I went home. On my way home, I decided to enjoy my car. I put the pedal to the floor on a few occasions… I love to accelerate quickly. I took the long way home and enjoyed the scenery. Then, I had an epiphany! What if I cut the bags in half and make them the pots!? The bags had advertising on them, they were already properly vented! PERFECTO!! Who needs a POT, when you can get advertising and a free pot… that meant the pot of miracle grow and pot was only $0.75/ plant!On arrival home, I found my young strong child to help entertain me while I repotted the seedlings. He told me jokes and we sang songs and we were finished in less than 2 minutes. I hung a tarp around them to encourage a seedling ecosystem and prayed that we wouldn’t burn down our garage with the space heater. I could have used our $15 GE grow light but instead removed one of our grow tent lights and relocated it in the garage to light up the plants until we could safely plant in our Northern State of Wisconsin. I also put a bunch of them in my house with the $15 GE grow light. I recalled many stories of lots ruined for unforeseen reasons- varmints, temperatures… I didn’t want to risk that so I re-setup the light in the house to split the lots. Then, we watered them and prayed they would grow.Thankfully, I only blinded myself 3 times by looking directly at the grow light. Man oh mighty, those spots take a while to go away in the eye balls… it is not recommended to look at those pretty lights…I chanted to myself..keep your color spectrum, don’t go color blind from looking at the lights…Next, we will turn our focus to selling them at the end of the month. The local farmers market sent paperwork and stated it was $40 for a booth… time to make a Lake House Chocolate #feedingAmerica sign and an add on Facebook Marketplace!
https://youtu.be/WJnX8eQV54khttps://youtu.be/KFM3RP0B7pg
Lake House LLC 