I've posted some queries on MSE:
Hi All,
I started making homemade Ginger Beer a couple of months ago and I've been very impressed with my first few batches. I was wondering if the good people on MSE could help me with a some queries?
1) How long will the yeast last?
2) If I went on holiday would the "plant" die?
3) Can I sell the plant on Eb*y or other such sites?
Btw - I heartily recommend making your own stuff. I'm not sure how thrifty it is when 2l bottles can be bought in Mr T but it tastes great.
Monday, 6 August 2012
Friday, 3 August 2012
Cash from Square Foot Gardening
The Square Foot Gardening principle is pretty simple. Basically, instead of planting veg in long rows, the author Mel Bartholomew, recommends planting in 4ft by 4ft grids and using a unique soil mix. The nature of this method means that weeding and hoeing are minimised. Nice.
The twist in the Cash from.... book is that Mel puts forward a plan where the above gardening methods can be used to create a cash profit. He promotes the idea of selling fresh crops to your local restaurants at retail value.
Now this idea doesn't immediately lend itself to me. To start I'm not good enough (yet) at vegetable growing and the growing season in Scotland (recently renamed Waterworld) is so short that the local restaurants would have to go Meat-only for 10months of the year. The reason the book works is that Mel takes his idea to the nth level. He's got facts and figures and objection rebuttals and plan A's and plan B's and everything else you could think of. I take my hat off to him. He could probably walk into the Dragon's Den and sweep them off their feet.
A second plus of this book is that it got me thinking - as all good books should. When writing this book Mel didn't think he would have to come to our gardens and wipe our own arse for us. He would've wanted us to think for ourselves and apply his principles to our own Sq Foot Garden. Whilst reading I was thinking to myself, wow - I wonder how much our local chip shops pay for potatoes? Do they pay extra when the tatties are out of season? What size is my garden? How much produce would I need to make in order to start qualifying for EU subsidies? What weight of tatties can one tattie bag produce? What unusual cash crops could I grow in the garden? What gives the best £ return per square foot? Could I grow Sunflowers for the oil they produce (more of this in future posts)? Could I make money be selling pre-mixed bags of Mel's Mix (note I have seen old cement mixers available for 99p on Ebay!)?
In summary, I heartily recommend this book if you are at all interested in making some dough from what you grow.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Trivia Question Thu 2.8.12
New Youtube video. Going to have to sort out a microphone for my laptop (and go on a diet obviously!)
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Amazon Listing
Back over 700 books now listed on Amazon. Got a couple more sales today. I've driven a massive hole in my stock. Think I must have less than 1500 units overall now. Need to get my stock up.
Jill You know your onions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUzZD9NA90I&feature=related
Now my Tomatoes have bit the dust (Vicki didn't water them when I was in England) I'm down to Onions and Potatoes this year. Basically I just leave the potatoes alone. They seem to be growing everyday by themselves. I've bought another couple of bags for next year already. All being well I'd like to go daft and have dozens of bags on the go, all slightly staggered in terms of planting so that I can get a crop over a good few weeks.
On the onion side of things I've got 6 growing in a sq foot raised bed. 4 in the Growbag (haunted by the ghost of the tomatoes) and about half a dozen more in individual pots. I'm interested to see which ones get on best.
I've also made, and drank, a second batch of Ginger Beer. I'm making the third batch now. I'm going to put a little less sugar in the final mix solution this time. 600g for 4l of juice sounds loads. I've wrote an email to a Ginger Beer expert to find out how long the Yeast will last.
Now my Tomatoes have bit the dust (Vicki didn't water them when I was in England) I'm down to Onions and Potatoes this year. Basically I just leave the potatoes alone. They seem to be growing everyday by themselves. I've bought another couple of bags for next year already. All being well I'd like to go daft and have dozens of bags on the go, all slightly staggered in terms of planting so that I can get a crop over a good few weeks.
On the onion side of things I've got 6 growing in a sq foot raised bed. 4 in the Growbag (haunted by the ghost of the tomatoes) and about half a dozen more in individual pots. I'm interested to see which ones get on best.
I've also made, and drank, a second batch of Ginger Beer. I'm making the third batch now. I'm going to put a little less sugar in the final mix solution this time. 600g for 4l of juice sounds loads. I've wrote an email to a Ginger Beer expert to find out how long the Yeast will last.
Amazon Sales
Back on the horse with ASDA sales. £20 odd in the last fortnight. Aim is 3 months of £100+
"Dear uncommonadvice@googlemail.com,
We initiated a transfer to your bank account (last three digits 771) of £29.31 on 31/07/2012."
"Dear uncommonadvice@googlemail.com,
We initiated a transfer to your bank account (last three digits 771) of £29.31 on 31/07/2012."
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