Converting a barnlot into a nursery/ garden and integrating my aquaponics into it

I want to start a nursery. A small one that would be a side-hustle for most folks, but at my levels of energy and endurance (and spoons) it would be the actual job. I've claimed the barnlot and half the barn for the project. This thread is partly to log my progress and partly to get input.

I've been dabbling with this idea for a few years. I've got a few of the obvious things already. Comfrey, miscanthus grass, black locust: check, check, [kinda] check. I've been able to divide and multiply the comfrey, though I'll need to continue to do so. Where my first patch of miscanthus grass is, the digging is rough, but I've gotten a few starts from it. If they live then I'll be on my way. I got some black locust seeds in a trade, but germination wasn't great. Of probably five that came up, one has survived. Don't know how long 'til it makes seeds, but I hear they sucker readily. Two kinds of bamboo growing well, but I haven't mastered dividing/ transplanting it yet.

Another idea I'm kicking around: my state's conservation department has a nursery and sells lots of (very small) native trees for $1 each. I need to look into the red tape involved in potting them and growing them on for a year or two and reselling for a profit. I also need to learn how to price such a product.

I watch just about everything edible acres posts on youtube. Since I hose off filters and the concrete slab in the barn, I'm trying to emulate Sean's method of subtly guiding water around the place, and adjusting it as I go. With the rocks and concrete chunks I'm finding, mine looks a little different than his. The last bit that I dug, I got smart and used the pick. I've decided lately that I need to do partial water changes, since I can't see the bottom, and don't know if my koi and crawdads are even alive. My growbed isn't big enough to use up all the nutrients. So each day, I let down the hose attached to the bottom outlet of one of the totes and let it run until the water reaches the end of the trench, then refill with well water. The comfrey starts are planted in the trench, the black locust in a shallow little basin that's kinda in the trench. The miscanthus starts are out of the trench, but against the back of it, where the soil never dries out but water doesn't stand.

After years of feeding hay in this spot, it's almost always too soft to drive on. Only big enough to graze for an afternoon or less, depending on how many head of sheep I have at the time. Kinda wasted space. I'm thinking of taking the wood from a tree and another branch that came down to make a hugelculture there...



The rest of the relevant pictures, in no particular order:

I am surprised you think you cannot buy $1 plants, grow them out and sell them for ahigher price.
Its called value adding and I would not ask anythong about it.
Are the foods you selling different from other offerings?

T Melville wrote:Another idea I'm kicking around: my state's conservation department has a nursery and sells lots of (very small) native trees for $1 each. I need to look into the red tape involved in potting them and growing them on for a year or two and reselling for a profit. I also need to learn how to price such a product.
...
After years of feeding hay in this spot, it's almost always too soft to drive on. Only big enough to graze for an afternoon or less, depending on how many head of sheep I have at the time. Kinda wasted space. I'm thinking of taking the wood from a tree and another branch that came down to make a hugelculture there...

Look at your County's licensing website to see if you need a business license.

Look at your state's Comptroller's office website for setting up a business account for taxes.

That area of your property sounds like it is perfect for hugelkultur.

Best wishes for your future nursery business.

John C Daley wrote:I am surprised you think you cannot buy $1 plants, grow them out and sell them for a higher price.
Its called value adding and I would not ask anythong about it.

I wasn't expecting it to be ilegal, but assumed I would need a business license or similar. David the Good says Florida nurseries are subject to state inspections. I need to find out if it's that way here. (In Missouri)

As to my offerings being different: I plan to not use poisons. Not gonna use chemical fertilizer other than as a last resort. I have a manure pile stocked with red wigglers and sheep to give more manure as needed. I hope to add chickens, so I'm hopeful that I can supply fertility without buying fertilizers.

I plan to offer trees that produce fruit that stores don't sell. The supplier offers wild plum, paw paw and persimmon, among others.

I've never seen comfrey for sale potted, though maybe you can order it that way. I'll probably try that out as well.

We have this company that sells 'bush food' which in Australia is known as the food the indigenous people ate.
https://melbournebushfood.com.au/collections/all-plants

It shows an alternative you may consider, even if you use local foods.

Anne Miller wrote:Look at your County's licensing website to see if you need a business license.

Look at your state's Comptroller's office website for setting up a business account for taxes.

I couldn't find a Lawrence county licensing website or a Missouri comptroller's office. I did find a website for the Missouri Department of Agriculture. There were a couple of applications for licenses, but it wasn't clear to me which one I'd need. I emailed their contact link.

The fee for a business license is $15.00. Applications can be completed in the County Clerk's office or by mail.

When applying for a business tax license or a minimal activity license, you must provide the following:

https://www.lawrencecountytn.gov/county-services/licenses-permits/business-license

   Choose a business entity
   File a creation document with the Secretary of State, if needed
       Corporation — Articles of incorporation
       General Partnership — No creation document required, but fictitious name filing may be necessary
       Limited Partnership — Certificate of limited partnership
       Limited Liability Company — Articles of organization
   Consider Fictitious Name Registration — If the business will operate under a name other than your own or the exact name of the entity, you must register that different name.

https://www.sos.mo.gov/business/outreach/starting_steps