Ramblings of a frustrated woman

[KeeperAtTheHomestead]

I thought about selling seeds that I saved from my garden for a small profit next year but after research I've discovered that it's not worth it. In order to do so I would have to buy a license that would cost me $350 annually .No way would I make that back, let alone make a profit double that. So, that went out the window...ugh! My other idea was to sell cut flowers and seedlings (including canes/vines from strawberry and blackberry bushes) but that would require a license for $110 annually. That expense only covers selling from my home. If I decided to try my hand at a flea market, craft fair, or farmers market I would have to purchase an event permit for $50 per day of being there. So, a 3 day weekend would cost $150!!! I'm so mad right now! Seriously, our founding fathers founded this country on freedom and liberty, not regulations! Regulations kill the little guys. Regulations kill healthy competition. Regulations hurt the economy in that it creates breeding grounds for only one or a few big dudes that can afford to keep up with the government expenses. Ugh But, we're free, right? Bunch of tyrants! And, honestly, the argument that regulations exist to protect us just adds salt to a wound. It's an insult to our intelligence. As if we aren't capable of making a decision as to what is or isn't good for us.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Wow. I love my state. A nursery license is $25. I can sell eggs with no license (for a farm with fewer than 3,000 birds), raw milk, kefir and yogurt if it doesn't exceed 20 gallons day with no license, up to1,000 whole butchered meat birds, and any premade goods they deem safe. Seems that means jams, jellies, most baked goods... until you make $20,000/year, then you need a homestead license. I'll never make that much!

 

[canesisters]

Wow..
Around here you can show up and any local swap meet and sell anything from live animals to soaps & lotions to plants to home raised meat (butchered at a USDA facility) for no more than whatever fee (if any) that the swap organizers wants to charge. $10 for a 'booth' - which is the space of your vehicle/trailer/tables - is common at the bigger meets.. most don't charge anything and are just happy to have more vendors.

 

[bambi]

Hi, have been lurking for a long while now and only posting once in a while, just wanting to let posters to know I find this conversation very intriguing. I have wonder about this on many occasions, so I don't know the answer but the example I can come up with is Boa Constrictors that are destroying the native wildlife in Florida, bees that are killing the native bees and so forth, but then again I think of the dreaded thistle and yet I see all the wonderful butterfly's an insects that depend on them now. Just my 2 cents which really doesn't help, but there it is

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hi Bambi, thanks for chiming in! Some of us think differently on some subjects - but hearing others opinions is great.

Please - chime in more often!

 

[Mini Horses]

Here in my area of VA we do need a business license in some instances. Mostly a reasonable annual flat fee ($25-75) for sales up to "XX", then a % for sales over that. Amounts of some farm product can be sold from the farm with no license (cottage laws, right to farm, etc). But there are specific guidelines as to what, where, how, and all that goes with it -- produce, flowers, eggs, some baked goods, some canned goods, some meats...NO raw milk but, herd shares are legal.

In general, fairly decent situation for most things. Most of our small towns support/sponser regularly scheduled markets. Many even have a nice location for these with covered areas. Our State Ag dept actually RUNS a weekly auction for selling veggies from an excess basket of tomatoes from a resident to a truckload of melons from a commercial farmer. It's fun!! Not to mention that it's only 12 miles from me -- being a real incentive to go buy.

 

[KeeperAtTheHomestead]

But IMO it's naive to think that once a pest has entered a continent that we can regulate and legislate to prevent it's spread. We may slow the progress. But if the pest can survive in a given climate, it will do so.

Exactly! The answer is never to give more power to the government. That has never in the history of history solved anything.


Hi Bambi!!

 

[sumi]

Holy cow, that is insane!

 

[Britesea]

It keeps getting worse all the time. Our country was built by small business and cottage industry, but as those earlier businesses got bigger, they wanted to close the door on any up-and-coming new businesses that might hurt their profits. So they either buy them out (either friendly or hostile takeovers) or they lobby like heck to get regulations put in place that make it virtually impossible to start up a new business.

See's candies started in her kitchen. Do you think she had a "clean environment" and three sinks in her kitchen? That's what it takes now.

Everyone talks about how Apple Computers started in Steve Jobs' garage... but guess what? That was a brand new venture-- there was no such thing as a small computer suitable for home use. At the time, IBM was making strictly big expensive computers for businesses. They found out what Jobs was doing, and started working on a small home model also (we know one of the guys that worked on the PC, and he said he had to practically pledge his soul to the devil that he would not leak the information).

I used to design and make jewelry, and I remember wanting to give a donation of some of my jewelry for a raffle our all-volunteer symphony orchestra was running. I discovered that I was only allowed to write off the cost of the materials-- not my labor. Since the bulk of the cost of my jewelry was in my labor, that meant that I could give a donation, but could only write off pennies on the dollar. I find that ridiculous. IBM can donate their computers and write them off at full retail value including the labor to build them to a school, but I'm only allowed to write off the materials on my jewelry???

 

[Beekissed]

I thought about selling seeds that I saved from my garden for a small profit next year but after research I've discovered that it's not worth it. In order to do so I would have to buy a license that would cost me $350 annually .No way would I make that back, let alone make a profit double that. So, that went out the window...ugh! My other idea was to sell cut flowers and seedlings (including canes/vines from strawberry and blackberry bushes) but that would require a license for $110 annually. That expense only covers selling from my home. If I decided to try my hand at a flea market, craft fair, or farmers market I would have to purchase an event permit for $50 per day of being there. So, a 3 day weekend would cost $150!!! I'm so mad right now! Seriously, our founding fathers founded this country on freedom and liberty, not regulations! Regulations kill the little guys. Regulations kill healthy competition. Regulations hurt the economy in that it creates breeding grounds for only one or a few big dudes that can afford to keep up with the government expenses. Ugh But, we're free, right? Bunch of tyrants! And, honestly, the argument that regulations exist to protect us just adds salt to a wound. It's an insult to our intelligence. As if we aren't capable of making a decision as to what is or isn't good for us.

Where in the world do you live???? Never heard of needing a permit to sell cut flowers!!! Time to homestead somewhere else, as you'll never be able to get out from high costs like that if you plan to sell anything of any kind at your place. That's the pits.