The Side Hustle Thread (split from Bees with AZD)

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May 2nd, 2015 at 4:52:56 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
TEOTWAKI, MAWGS, ... you English speakers or what??

Creativeness in rural areas is good. Those Mushroom Brokers carry CASH on them and never ask for social security numbers.

Many people have five or six businesses. None takes them full time. I knew one man whose seventh business was director of a foundation that distributed out of date meds from the USA to Caribbean Islands who had nurses but no drugs. His foundation paid him to deliver the drugs. That is he got paid to sail around the Caribbean. He was also a sail maker.

Knew a waitress in Seattle who also installed tiles as a more rewarding gig. And a woman who drove around looking at real estate and asking to harvest apple trees (fifty fifty split) then took them to a guy with a volkswagon lift in his garage (another fifty fifty split for the pressing) but she wound up with lots of fresh apple juice and got to know what the guys she was dating were really like.
May 2nd, 2015 at 5:19:20 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Fleastiff
TEOTWAKI, MAWGS, ... you English speakers or what??


We are, and we know the important words! lol

Quote:
Creativeness in rural areas is good. Those Mushroom Brokers carry CASH on them and never ask for social security numbers.

Many people have five or six businesses. None takes them full time. I knew one man whose seventh business was director of a foundation that distributed out of date meds from the USA to Caribbean Islands who had nurses but no drugs. His foundation paid him to deliver the drugs. That is he got paid to sail around the Caribbean. He was also a sail maker.

Knew a waitress in Seattle who also installed tiles as a more rewarding gig. And a woman who drove around looking at real estate and asking to harvest apple trees (fifty fifty split) then took them to a guy with a volkswagon lift in his garage (another fifty fifty split for the pressing) but she wound up with lots of fresh apple juice and got to know what the guys she was dating were really like.


Mushrooms! That is a future project! I also have this weird desire to start doing some nursery plants to sell at flea markets. You can get them started for $1 or so and sell for $5-9. I would like to get some nice, Japanese maples which can bring big cash. If I build a "bee route" I plan to put one in the truck, when the yuppie-wives ask about it I tell them, "I really don't do much of this but do raise a few. This one is for a guy lady across town. Some people get turned off at the price." "How much are they?" "$100 in the planter and another $100 to install." "You have any more?!"

I keep checking on these things called microgreens that chefs love to use but hard to get local. I dealt cards last night and have a doc signing today. Neither is big bux but the effort is low. None of this stuff makes a ton, but put it all together and you get a living.

Then I think that maybe just maybe this is a more natural way to live. Were people programed to sit in a cubicle all day, creating little, and filling out your own version of TPS reports? 5-10 smaller hustles strung together and if one fails then you just fill in or find another. I think many people lived this way pre-1920s. Am I right?
The President is a fink.
May 2nd, 2015 at 9:25:59 AM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
Do you know how passive and profitable earthworms are? Worm casings?

It's not for everybody but I use to raise rabbits. They are an amazing protein source and their little poops are sometimes fed to worms, or the best organic fertilizer going.
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
May 2nd, 2015 at 10:37:01 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
One of the problems with mill towns in the American South was that employees were paid in Scrip and it was not transferrable so there was not much opportunity for individuals to buy or sell anything locally... no one had any cash.

Chefs want things is the following order; FRESH, Packaged professionally. and WHEN PROMISED. Don't say 4:30pm if you mean 4:35pm.

Mushrooms take space but some people use basements others use caves and some mushrooms get innoculated onto a tree stump. The mushrooms weaken the stump for two or three years then you take it out, meanwhile you sell your harvests.

How many of you have heard of increasing yields by s-l-o-w-l-y rotating strawberries, lettuce, high value plants.

I've only had rabbit once... but it was at the restaurant in Santa Barbara next to the Old StageStop saloon. I liked it but after four beers I'd probably have had anything on the menu.

Anyone remember the old Gypsy knife and scissor sharpeners? Do they still come around making money in small towns or does everyone have sharpening equipment and skills now?
May 2nd, 2015 at 10:39:11 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Fleastiff

Anyone remember the old Gypsy knife and scissor sharpeners? Do they still come around making money in small towns or does everyone have sharpening equipment and skills now?


Pfft. Everyone throws them out and buys a new one now
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
May 2nd, 2015 at 10:55:36 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Quote: Face
Pfft. Everyone throws them out and buys a new one now
Yeah, I was afraid of that. Some call it progress.
May 2nd, 2015 at 7:50:46 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: petroglyph
Do you know how passive and profitable earthworms are? Worm casings?


Please share


Quote: Fleastiff

Chefs want things is the following order; FRESH, Packaged professionally. and WHEN PROMISED. Don't say 4:30pm if you mean 4:35pm.

Mushrooms take space but some people use basements others use caves and some mushrooms get innoculated onto a tree stump. The mushrooms weaken the stump for two or three years then you take it out, meanwhile you sell your harvests.


I can do that on the chefs as long as I can figure out the growing patterns. I have a basement for mushrooms and if it worked could convert some garage space.

Quote:
Anyone remember the old Gypsy knife and scissor sharpeners? Do they still come around making money in small towns or does everyone have sharpening equipment and skills now?


I have heard of this, mostly old guys setting up at a flea market, making a decent buck doing it. About 25 years ago when I was in the grocery store we had a service. Today one problem is Americans prefer cheap junk knives that don't sharpen, as mentioned. Other issue is butchers and barbers want *their* knives or scissors. So you have to do it on site which eats time. I will let the gypsies keep this one.......
The President is a fink.
May 2nd, 2015 at 8:30:53 PM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
I have never personally raised worms. I have been to a guys house years ago and he was raising them for bait.

I met a few people over the years doing it and have some funny anecdotes. First one guy said worms learn when it's feeding time and will meet you at the top of the medium they are being raised in. This one guy fed his rabbit poop.

You know the bait market. People want them for soil building, composting and the casings are sought after. With organic gaining so much popularity anything natural I believe will increase in demand.

I only vicariously have any experience with actual day to day of it.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/22/want-to-make-extra-money-while-being-green-try-worm-farming/

http://www.wormfarmbusiness.com/2011/10/earthworm-castings-market.html

The ones I've seen were either night crawlers, or red wigglers. One guy was telling about the breeding process. You know that thing on a crawler that looks like a splice? I guess all worms are hermaphrodite, they crawl through each other above and below the splice and they both have babies or eggs?

More: worm sex, http://www.backyardnature.net/earthwrm.htm
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
May 2nd, 2015 at 8:59:36 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
ALL earthworms are an invasive specie in North America ... thank you, Pilgrims.

Those that bore horizontally, as most do, are less valuable to farmers and gardners and those who bore vertically and leave behind lots of watery drain holes in the soil.

Fisherman just want something that wriggles on the end of their hook.
May 2nd, 2015 at 10:40:23 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: AZDuffman
Please share


Pretty simple if you have the right equipment. It's not rocket surgery, but can be time consuming.

Worms are easy to keep. Pretty much just need an enclosed structure with dirt in it. And by enclosed, I mean enclosed. Not sealed; they'll die without air. But I've seen them stretch damn near 20". If you just have a lip, they're crawling right out.

Food is easy enough. The butt ends of bread that no one eats. Shredded newspaper. Old fruit. Pick whatever is easy and doesn't stink, or require additional labor for clean up. If you know you need to harvest the next day, bread is best. Lay it at night and there will be a hundred all piled up under it in the morning.

The breeding part is the pain. The eggs are like flecks of pepper, and look very similar to their poop. You need a fine mesh and lots and lots of sifting. But petro is right, their poops are sought after for fertilizer, and their maintenance, other than the breeding part, is pretty simple. Plus, no restrictions anywhere as far as use for bait. You could sell to a store, out of your garage, by mail, whatever. It ain't like crays or minnows that need DEC testing and licensing to hock.

No dice in my parts, though. While in-town fetches damn near $0.50 a piece for them, the Amish ain't but a jaunt down the road. There, $0.70 will get you a full dozen+, all shit fed and twice the size of a grass snake.

I'm not sure it would be worth it without a large setup. A box, like your bees, ain't gonna cut it. You need like an entire wall of your basement loaded with the buggers to get enough worms and poop to make any real money. But it is easy, and you'll be down there anyways...
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
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