Backyard gardens become income generators in lean times:
Since the economy took a dive three years ago, [chef de cuisine Ken] Takayama and others say they’ve seen more and more people showing up unannounced at restaurants, local markets and small retailers, looking to sell what they’ve foraged or grown in their backyards.
No one keeps track of the number of people selling their homegrown bounty, but scores of ads have cropped up on Craigslist across the country, hawking local produce, home-filtered honey and backyard eggs.
One Los Angeles resident with a lemon tree posted an offering on Craigslist to let customers “save over 50% over Vons, Ralphs, etc. $1.00/pound.” At the Orange County Swap Meet, officials said the number of people selling home-canned beans and other homemade edibles grew to 30 vendors this month, up from eight vendors in early 2007.
In the South, hunters are selling venison and wild boar meat. In the Midwest, people are combing the forests for morel mushrooms, which can fetch $10 to $40 a pound.
Tacey Perkins decided her best customers may be the neighbors around her Riverside County home. Last fall, the mother of two and former real estate agent posted a sign on her front lawn in Mira Loma advertising home-grown pumpkins. She sold $100 worth.
$100 worth of pumpkins will pay for… one full-service visit to a low-priced hair salon ($50 color + $25 cut + $15 blow dry + $10 tip) — and $1/lb lemon will pay for… I don’t know, a bucket of fertilizer for the lemon tree? To call it an “income generator” is a bit… enthusiastic, don’t you think?