In the current issue of Sunset Magazine (a U.S. West Coast Home and Garden Magazine) there is an article about an “Urban Farmer for Hire.” Basically, this guy comes to your house and for $800 he plants a 120 sq. ft. vegetable garden and for $25/week he comes buy and maintains it for you. If he works in your garden for 39 weeks (every week out of the year except during the winter) you’ll pay him $975 in maintenance fees. So that’s a grand total of $1775 for the vegetable garden.
In return, each week, he gives you one basket of harvest and then sells one basket of the harvest from your vegetable garden to someone else.
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Would you be interested in that service? Do you think it’s worth it? I highly doubt I spend $1775 a year in vegetables and my husband and I are a vegetarians. We eat a lot of vegetables! I do tend to buy what is in season to save money. But on the other hand, lots of people are willing to spend that kind of money on landscaping and a gardener, and in this case, you would get a nice looking backyard that also happens to be producing something to eat (that is organic and SUPER local!).
Anyway, I’d love to know what you all think about farming for hire.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
For that kind of money, and the right to sell the extra basket of food, I would do the farming.
Hey want to start a business together? LOL.
Jen
Jen — Done! My dream job would be to design container gardens for people.
I personally would never, ever pay that kind of money for something that I could do myself (and enjoy doing, to boot). But for a rich person that doesn’t have time to spend in the garden, this might be a great solution. And, hey – it provides employment, too. That’s pretty neat.
PS – I think your blog is awesome! I read it all the time to get ideas for my own tiny little balcony garden.
Wow.
Does he do windows? Because if he would clean house for me I could handle my own garden…
Caitlin — I think I pretty much agree with your take.
I’m so glad you de-lurked! It looks like your blog is off to an interesting start.
Marye — Heh. I ignore my cleaning duties so that I can garden. Maybe I should hire myself a cleaning lady. I wonder which is cheaper, the cleaning lady for the farmer for hire?
Hey Fern!
It’s an interesting idea, but not financially worth it (like a lot of people have said here). It would probably be different if it was something like this guy: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120903237167241285.html
His neighbors donate their yards, he makes them into gardens, and then his neighbors get free produce. Anything extra he sells.
I love gardening too, so I’d probably be more willing to be on the gardening and selling side, rather than the buying side.
Kaci — That’s an interesting idea! My parents would totally donate the parkway on the side of their house to anyone who wanted to make it look presentable. I think they’d even let him or her keep all the produce.