Melonie Corder

Robert Ray wrote:Will be looking at a piece of property in Wahalla ND end of the month, what town are you in?

I'll message you :)

We have the same spiral holder. It's pretty but does not hold nearly enough. I also am always knocking eggs off trying to get them to roll down.

My husband has been eyeing designs on pinterest. I think he's going with something like this.

I want it to hold at least three days worth, or 36 eggs. We used to use cardboard cartons labeled Ain Aout, Bin Bout, Cin Cout on the ends and rotate use.

Nancy Reading wrote:Sound like an opportunity that it would be a pity to miss, to re create the local convenience store that you all want.

My first suggestion is to come up with a business plan. It doesn't have to be super detailed but you do need to make sure that you can cover wages, unless you rely entirely on volunteers, and that can work of course. I run a little rural store (not as big as the one you plan) and holidays are a distant dream.
You may already have thought of all this if so I apologise, but even a charitable investor will want to make sure that the money is going to a good place.
As well as the purchase price, you will have equipment and refurbishment costs, maybe advertising and internet site costs.
Initial stock can be quite significant. Ours is roughly 10% of our annual turnover. A little high because the 'get you out of trouble' category can be slow (but is really appreciated when people need it today!)
Don't forget working capital. This is where most small businesses fail. Ours is about 5% of turnover, but runs pretty short out of season!
Once you have a ball park figure to work with, you will have more idea as to how feasible the whole thing may be. In the UK there is funding available for local food, community shops. Have a look at the Plunkett Foundation. There may be similar organisations in the US, maybe there is something on grants.gov

As well as figures pictures will help - can you visualise how the store will look, lots of photos of happy families shopping, maybe some quotes as to how great the store will be. Stories help a lot if you go for a crowd funding route.
Good luck!

I have a fairly good business draft so far and have crunched some numbers. No details on min bid or what yet so it's all playing atm but want to be ready if I can. From the numbers based on what he was originally asking (the number he last minuted tried getting in cash from a neighbor, LMAO) many think it's doable. Especially if we can do most of the labor ourselves. Are you running a co-op model or general retail?

I would expect any kind of investor to want some sort of return, that isn't surprising. Oooh, pictures are right up my ally. That's a great idea!

Anne Miller wrote:I am not an investor.

Have you talked to the owner of the building?  To me that is my first question.  How much rent do they want or are they willing to go into this venture with you.

Who will your customers be?

Are there things you can do to get the public interested in buying from you.

If you do get this business set up start with a small inventory and build up from that with the profits.

If there is a nearby campground sell firewood, hot dog, buns, etc.... Do you get my drift?
Bread, milk, diaper and sort drink comes to mind.

Yes. Numerous neighbors, as well as ourselves, looked into purchasing the business over the past few years. The lack of books made traditional funding impossible without extreme amount of liquid assets. He lead many of us on with the promise of books being sorted...I spent dozens of hours that he wasted inspecting, discussing, planning and looking at funding. None of us really understood his motive to drive such a resource into the ground before giving up. NOW the building is just that, real estate, because his business has shuttered and is insolvable. It is up for auction via third party in mid April. There are no further details regarding auction on the company site yet but sign only went up two days ago.

Public interest is there. It's been discussed openly in many forums. I am one of few that have the time/energy? to get this going.

Baby steps would be necessary simply because of low start up costs. I don't have money but I do have TIME and some useful skills Gas and coffee and basics first, that would be a HUGE benefit to many of our commuters. Scaling up isn't always ideal in a small community anyways. We need useful.

I forgot to mention the property sits on a state hwy. It's not major but supports neighboring towns/commutes for many small communities and farms. To the West is a population of 10k where many work. To the East the closest "city" is 100 miles. As said, along this route we are lacking amenities. The closest grocer is 20 minutes one way and an hour the other and it's tiny. The fuel station up the road is far smaller and only offers convenience items inside. A traffic study done ten years ago showed over 4k vehicles pass by this place daily. Since then they have widened a local road to provide access to a factory in a town up north. This station sits where the semis CAN turn but often have to go 8 miles out of their way to fuel up first. I've had many farmers grumble as they pass up closed diesel pumps. There are hunters, fisherman and seasonal workers who rely on the cabins when available, as well as families visiting. We would create a more campground like atmosphere in the cabin area to double as picnic (and possibly farmers market) grounds.

There are hundreds if not thousands of times I would have purchased goods there over the years, if they were available. Instead we drive four to twenty miles to get what we need.  

An opportunity to create a local resource has arose and I'm hoping for guidance on angel investors or formation of co-ops, or other ideas that may help?

Background: Small rural town of just under 400. One gas station four miles north at a Hwy junction. No other stores for twenty miles in any direction. We HAD a store/cafe/gas/cabin rental but the owner slowly let it fail and didn't keep books so couldn't manage a sale when it became necessary. If was frustrating having a resource so close and yet neglected to the point of no use to the people here. Now the place is up for real estate auction.  There is a LOT of potential. We NEED somewhere to grab milk, to fill our tank before heading to town without backtracking, to get some ice cream when it's 105f out, to make a quick propane exchange...the building is around 2500 sq ft and there are three cabins and full hookups for RVs on the back side. Fuel tanks are aboe ground and in good shape.

The goal is a kind of general store. Picture a small convenience store/gas station with a drive through coffee window (none for an hour one way, a half hour the other!). A corner with bulk dry goods and a cooler containing dairy ingredients for emergencies. Some animal feed. Fencing repair materials out back. A seasonal ice cream counter. A limited menu cafe in the near future. Picnic area for a rest stop (none along this six hour long state hwy).

The equipment inside needs help, the building needs a face lift. There are at least four of us willing to dedicate time and talent for free for awhile to get this going. Between us we have facility maintenance, management and business administration skills, along with lots of retail and customer service to run the place. Depending on the co-op situation can quite possibly find more. In the three years we've lived here our town has grown ten percent and every house sells fast. All incoming are young families, many are active.  

It's hard to know where to start and with little funding. ANY ideas welcome.

Hi! I currently raise tractor rabbits for building soil. It's all experimental and I lost many records in a house fire but so far I'm happy with results and I'm still moving forward.

First and foremost is having rabbits capable of eating food other than pellets and timothy hay. Many have sensitive guts and cannot handle diet change. That said I've worked to develop rabbits who can eat pretty much any vegetation and have not lost any due to disgestive issues yet.

For the fresh greens under tractors the rabbits LOVE apple tree sprouts, dandelions, plantain, lambsquarters. I've scattered peas, clovers and radish with success. Oats are another favorite. Anything green really. Beets, comfrey, strawberries, raspberries...they like it all. If they don't they won't eat it as long as other options are presentl My thought was the rabbits are recycling the nutrients in place, putting them right back where they found them.
I've observed loose and wild rabbits, they escape here and there. They prefer the fresh greens during growing seasons and then transition to dried hay, roots, bark and seeds in the cold months. Last year one dug up all my carrots overwintering and had a nice buffet to snack on. If I put fresh romaine in my rabbits cage, along with an apple leaves/sticks, wheat berries, dried alfalfa and pellets, almost guaranteed they'll eat in the following order: apple leaves, alfalfa hay, wheatberres and then pellets.  I'll find the lettuce frozen in the cage later. In the Spring they'll flip and go opposite, they leafy greens being the first choice.

I also give the tractor rabbits (they aren't all in tractors, some are in cages because I'm still expanding.) dried tree hay. Apple, honey locust, mulberry, elm. Amongst all our other leaves and shrubs. Especially when all the grass is fresh green, they need some variety to stay healthy.  I'm on my fourth generation of "everything" hardy rabbits. I don't worry if they get out and eat the chicken food. I feed them bindweed mixed with other plants. They eat whole apples just like if they found them in nature. We created the gut problems through breeding which hopefully means the problem is the solution.

And if they aren't feeling well, OREGENO. Grow lots, they seem to know when they need it. Got one of my rabbits through some sort of infection after she was exposed during a bad storm and went into shock. She stopped using her back legs. She wouldn't eat or drink until I put some fresh sprigs in there. It took some time but she pulled through.

Zeus forero wrote:I didn't have to bury the fence and the rabbits made an amazing burrow at the base of three in their enclosure, after two months I started letting the rabbits free range through the farm and they always return to their burrow.
I guess I got lucky with well behaved rabbits but it could also be that they realized the only water nearby is inside the fenced area.

As long as not too many are in the area they won't go far. No need if they have the resources available and you are only a minor threat in their mind. Mine stick around our acre, it's currently partially fenced but 1/4 unfinished but even before they stuck nearby. The neighbors across the road get out and venture over because we have a better variety of food options compared to their bare lawn. We also have a nice conex box they use as a wind/weather cover.

I've actually had one of my loose buns come up in the winter and ask to go into confinement, lol. She knew fresh water goes in the cages twice a day, even when it's -22f.

Loose rabbits are never my intention but utilizing old cages, a middle aged brain and young animal sitters...it happens.  I am hoping to set them up with a nice colony once we are back to normal in our home. If we did have a more rural place I'd consider roaming them like you and harvesting as needed as it's definitely a better quality of life.

I HAVE dealt with the nasty parasitic Bott flies that can wreak havoc on the poor little bodies and they are more common when animals are on the ground. Smell has a lot to do with attracting them, after realizing they existed and researching, this year we had no issues. Not sure if it was a lesson or just luck, that will be answered in years to come. Summer of 2023 was a nightmare of rabbit triages.

Anne Miller wrote:Harvester ants are usually responsible for missing seeds.  Do you have those in your part of the world?

Was it an especially rainy season?  Maybe the seeds washed away.

Harvester ants were my first thought upon reading as well. Something I knew nothing about my first season on the plains...now I seed extra for the ants. I also allow fairly benign plants like calendula, dill and carrots to drop so hopefully deter them from carrying off my intended lines.

Cute little box headed trouble makers. I'll take them over other variety of ants any day though!

Not pills but other subscription containers. Most of mine are glass with plastic lids. I use them for seed storage, soil collection...can't bring myself to just toss, such a waste, so they just keep stacking up in the cabinet. Though I hope one of these seasons I'll run out of room for seeds.

I just released all of our layer hens and meat birds into the yard and garden.

They cannot possibly do more damage than the hoppers at this point. I was having some luck with a net when they were young but now they are larger and wiser and hop out just as fast.