Selling Manure or Pumpkins Could be Black Gold for My Son

With winter around the corner, the gardening season here comes to an end. Or does it? For me, it doesn't end. I begin planning which flowers will go where and when to plant them next year. Can they be directly sowed into the ground, or should I start inside and transplant them?

This year, I have been thinking about fertilizing all areas where there will be new plants. That way, it can sit through the winter and soak into the ground nicely by the time planting comes. I've done some checking at the local feed, hardware and garden centers, looking at all the different fertilizers, it was a little overwhelming. I had my nine-year-old son with me and you could tell he was getting bored while I stood in front of all them and read the descriptions
and optimum time to use,etc. Finally, he piped up and said "Mom, I don't know why you think you need to pay money for this stuff when we have plenty of it at home!" He did have a good point, so I put the fertilizer down that I was reading and we left the store to head home. We have beautifully aged
manure at the house from the horses. It's quite the pile and the oldest of it is probably ten years or more. Every year we get a mini excavator and move it around so that it gets turned, and the composting process continues.

Funny thing about manure is over the years we have offered to give it away for gardener's or anyone who needed it for whatever reason. In the four or five years the only person who ever came and got some was a neighbor for his vegetables and flower beds. Nobody seems to want free manure. Honestly I don't
understand it myself. My son decided on the ride home that he was going to bag up some manure and market it. He is trying to earn money so he can buy one of those grow a frogs from an on line site he saw. I told him if he wanted to do that then we needed to go buy some heavy duty contractor bags and bag it up and see if there was interest in it. He found three contractor bags from when we tore our old house down last year and set out with spade and bags in hand for the manure pile. It took him probably an hours worth of his time to fill the three bags to the brim and tie them up. He needed help to move them though as they probably weighed between 40 - 50 pounds. I helped him take them up to the end of the driveway and he made a sign saying "Jake's Great Fertilizer"
for sale $3.00 a bag. I have to admit I was skeptical about his adventure in selling the manure, I figured that since we couldn't give it away, then he probably wouldn't be able to sell it but I wanted him to try since it was his idea and if it didn't work then it didn't work. It was worth a try. As he sat at the end of the driveway with his sign and planning just how many bags he would need to sell in order to have the purchase price of the frog, a small pick up truck pulled in.

I worked my way up the drive just to be on the safe side and over heard my son's sale pitch when he was asked what was in the bag and how well it worked. He explained that the manure in the bag is aged manure, the materials in it were horse manure and bagged white pine shavings. The pile gets turned every year to keep the composting even. He then went on about how he had been using it on his pumpkin patch this year and that he has seen a dramatic change in his pumpkins growth from previous years. He continued with "if you're not happy with the product come back and let me know and I'll refund your money"! WOW, as a mom I was pretty impressed with his pitch but more with his guarantee of standing behind his product, this coming from a nine-year-old.

I continued to walk up so he saw me and he had a big smile on his face when he turned around with the nine dollars the guy gave him
and asked if I could help him load up the fertilizer. I smiled back to him and helped him load it up. As he told the gentleman thank-you and I hope you
come back again. We headed back to the house and he said " not bad for a little over an hours worth of work mom". I told him how proud of him I was and that he had a great sales pitch, that I was very proud of him for standing behind his product. I asked him how come he hadn't told me he was putting the manure on his pumpkins and he just shrugged and said he didn't know.

So now I am planning on using it in all the new plots and on the existing ones I have. I have Sunday morning off so I think I'll get started on it. With any luck my flowers and vegetables will do as well as Jake's pumpkins have.

I guess now we need to head to the store and buy some more contractor bags so he can sell some more. He can't wait to do it again, and as long as it doesn't interfere with school work, I see no harm in it. He's already making plans for next year's pumpkin patch and planning on selling this year's. I'm always amazed by my kids and the things they come up with. Of course, he probably won't get rich off selling manure or pumpkins, but it's a start on getting there. Then again, he just may!