Sunday, July 25, 2010

How to make $1,000 picking and selling cherries

The average cherry tree will produce five or six bushels of cherries during the average growing season if properly cared for by pruning and spraying. The recent price for cherries in the local supermarket was about $3.99 per pound. Two years ago the author stopped at a roadside stand in British Columbia that sold strictly cherries. The owner of this stand was an old man who originally came to Canada from Portugal as a young man.

Just as I entered the stand a terrific thunderstorm broke out leaving me stranded in the stand while hailstones the size of cherries rained down. Lacking anything better to do I started a conversation with the owner. He looked absolutely like he was broke, and was trying to eke out a living by selling cherries.

What he proceeded to tell me really raised my eyebrows, and made me realize this man was in reality a multi-millionaire all based on his cherry business. He sold every cherry he could grow in this small non-descript roadside stand. What he actually had out of sight in the Fraser River Valley was an orchard of 518 cherry trees. At the time he was asking $3.95 per pound for his cherries. Now it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to figure out his orchard was producing around 2,850 bushel per year. At around 50 pounds per bushel amounts to about 142,500 pounds at $3.95 per pound or $562,875 gross. This little man was clearing over $200,000 per year just from cherries he sold by the side of the road.

You might not have a cherry orchard in your back yard, but there are plenty of cherry growers that will allow you to pick cherries for them, and pay you in cash. They will also allow you to pick cherries for a fee low enough so you can make some money. Like many other businesses tell the owner of the orchard what you are doing and he will offer you a much lower price for the cherries.

To be most effective you should have another person in the act like a wife or other family member so you can devote all your time on picking cherries. The season is short usually lasting less then a month.

There are many places to sell cherries, one of the best is at a farmers market another is from the side of the road. The ideal situation is a roadside stand on a busy highway. With a stand you can sell a wide range of fresh organic produce.

Picking wild blueberries to make $1,000

How to make money from picking blueberries

Most commercial blueberries are grown on bushes of cultivated blueberries that are larger then wild blueberries, and unfortunately are not as tasty as the wild the wild ones are. The wild blueberries come from two different but related plants that either grow as high bushes or as creepers growing close to the ground.

Regardless of where they grow you can make a thousand dollars or more during the season that runs from mid-July to early September, but is best in late July. The berries you pick are packed in pint or quart baskets for sale. One of the best places to sell blueberries is at a farmers market, or just from along side the road as they do in many places where these berries grow. Another potential market for your berries is through local markets.

Blueberries are the foundation of more then one fortune. Right in the author’s family a cousin became a millionaire by raising and selling cultivated blueberries in the heights of the Berkshires in Blandford, Massachusetts. He sold all his blueberries to a large bakery that specialized in baking pies.

The town of Cherryfield, Maine styles itself as the “blueberry capitol of the world” because of the number of successful growers of wild low-bush blueberry plants. These are wild blueberries that for the most part are sold to local canneries. A lot of these berries are sold fresh to supermarket chains. The growers have perfected ways to pick these berries mechanically.

To get started in this business all you need is something to put the berries in as you pick them. This is usually a small pail that is tied to the waist with a strip of cloth. The bucket hangs from the cloth band at the front. You will also need a supply of pint and quart baskets, although most blueberries are sold by the pint.

Where picking blueberries can lead! Everyone has to start small to learn the ropes of a business, picking and selling blueberries is a good place to start that can lead to a lifetime career of harvesting wild plant products.

How to make money with worms

Worms come in two sizes as fishing bait. The most popular are large nightcrawlers and smaller garden worms. The promary use for these worms is fishing bait, so to be effective you must live near somewhere close to where you can fish, or go to where there are fishermen.

The basic equipment you will need is an empty tin can and a flashlight equipped with a red filter of some kind. Many users of this equipment use red cellophane as a filter. Many others don't use a filter at all. Nightcrawlers are not affected by red light, but they will head for cover if a white light shines on them.

The worms you are seeking are nightcrawlers that as the name inplies only come out at night, on a warm damp night is best. The best place to catch nightcrawlers is on a closely cut lawn. This might be at your own house, a city park or a golf course.

You have to be bent over to see the nightcrawlers in the grass, and be quick of hand to catch them. Once you have caught your work they are put into the tin can. Some professional worm catchers tie a tin can onto each of their ankles.

Nightcrawlers are usually kept in a refrigerator in a bed of peat humus, or shredded newspaper until they are sold. The average price for these worms is from $1.50 to $2.00 per dozen. Check around to see what the prevailing price is in your area.

The other worm that is commenly used as bait is the garden worm that is dug from the ground with a shovel. they are usually caught when you are spading a garden. A compost heap will attract these worms like a magnet by the millions making them very easy to catch. Like nightcrawlers these worms are kept the same way. Garden worms usually sell for $1.00 to $1.50 per dozen.

The worm business can lead to the creation of a full fledge sporting goods store specializing in sport fishing. In case you didn't know it sport fishing is the second largest sport in America.

Warren Buffet's favorite book

In the eearly 1950s a book was published with the grandoise title, 1,000 to make a $1,000. This book was read by a young Warren Buffet avidly. Buffet went on to found "Bernshire Hathaway" built on the principles he learned at a young age in that very book.

This book is now out of print, and even though it is dated the information the book imparted is still as valid today as it was then. This blog will attempt to recall the methods that were described in the original book, but we need your help with this project. If you ever owned the book itself and can remember any of the money making methods described in the book they would be more then appreciated. We would also appreciate any other methods of making money that have been developed since this book was published over a half century ago.

The criteria for any money making ideas is that they have to be valid and can be put into effect with little or no expenditure of cash!

We are going to place posts on this blog that are the result of our researches in ways to make money during this time of economic stress. These ideas are free for tha taking, just let us know how they worked out for you!