orchard/nursery business

hi friends,

i'm in a quandary and wanted to ask ur advice/ suggestions, what have you.... i live in an illegal state in a rural area where there are flyovers all the time. it was bad choice to purchase there but real estate agents don't usually tell you about leo or illegal things..... i hav been thinking of selling and moving to a legal state but frankly i am very tired. this last move was just a few months ago; it was really hard on me physically. my body is wearing out.

so now i am thinking of a cover business like an orchard or a plant nursery. my idea is only to grow for personal medicinal use. i'm a hermit and rarely have visitors. maybe two or three times a year. those that visit are very old friends and family - i don't make new friends. i dont go out. but i am super paranoid t the point i have needed to go on xanax just to be able to sleep. there was a helicopter flying over a friend;s house where i was visiting. my car filled with fruit plants i was gifting her. the chopper flew over for about 30 minutes soemtimes just over the house sometimes flying around with search beams. there were sirens nearby and the chopper then left. so maybe looking for someone on foot and coincidentally in the same neighborhood but still it got me wound up and scared. no one knows i grow and it would be very disappointing to everyone i do know. if i got caught i could lose everything and none of this is drug money. i have never sold drugs but that wouldn't matter to leo.

i am actually considering staying in my illegal and dangerous place just because i am so tired and it would be superhard to move again so would like a small business to cover the personal grow. same need for containers, lights, greenhouses, nutes and i need to have a little business anyway so i can make a little money.suely there are hundreds of thousands of personal growers in illegal states that never get caught.

what would you do in my shoes? would you stay in an illegal plce becuase your health was so f'd up last move or would you sick it up and go some where legal. i was thinking about maine but now am thinking west where i can't afford much land but where the temps support my passion for hrowing outdoors for personal sustainability. i need some reaosnable voices to hel me out.... very confused and a bit scared too. thanks.

I grow in an illegal state. Most of us do. If you follow the first and last rule of growing, first dont tell anybody and last dont tell anybody you should be Fine. Honestly Im 40 and the cops have never been in my closet for any reason at all. If nobody knows why would they come now?

Happy Growing, Polo

Moving to a legal state was the best thing I have ever done for myself in my life, though admittedly I am but 29. It sounds like you have a lot to risk losing, you need to dig deep inside yourself and get out to the West coast, Colorado, Maine/MI, etc. Much easier to make that move than running a freakin nursery(thats some hard work as it is) as a cover would be in the long run. PLEASE consider a medical state, it could change your life. Take your time and make a planned move.

It isnt worth the liability to grow where the State say no.
To much at risk.

Sounds like you are older, im late 40,s , Go to the health food store and get some licorice , dhea and some adrenal support, the move stressed you out and so did all this.
I started treating my adrenals a few weeks ago and feel 20 years younger.

Sell and move once you feel better, imo its not worth the risk or stress involved.

the helicopter thing sounds like they were looking for a robbery suspect or something like that. you can always get a police scanner if you want to know what they are up to, there's an iphone app as well. there's no reason to start a cover business to do a personal grow.
If your worried about security, a small 1 light indoor grow that's reasonably well set up is pretty safe- no light leaks, carbon filter, not in front room, no blacked out windows, don't tell anyone...
whether outdoor/greenhouse is safe is gonna depend on your location.

thanks ya'll. it is pretty much what i had already considered. i have a grow tent with leds but it is a tiny house, just one room. so no guests at all which is normal anyway. i need to have a little business and i can't work in a public place. i have too much anxiety so the business is something i need to do anyway. in a small town, everybody talks and almsot everybody is related to another through blood or marriage. there is more anonymity in a city. even the mailman knows what i receive - and discreet packaging tells it own tales, doesn't it?so a business in the same line as my personal grow - would be the least conspicuous and i am in an agricultural area anyway -i was sort of planning on this anyway. so these have been my thoughts but the anxiety around this is pretty huge and another move is just a drag to think about, especially that i can't afford much land in legal states where i could grow, not just mmj but fruits and vegetables. very grateful for the kind advice. i guess there is no way around moving again..... also thanks for the adrenal advice, will look into it. yeah, the move and the construction knocked the wind out of me.

i took care of a small orchard (100 trees) and boy, it's work! forget about taking care of a bunch of trees!!!

mangojuice said:

thanks ya'll. it is pretty much what i had already considered. i have a grow tent with leds but it is a tiny house, just one room. so no guests at all which is normal anyway. i need to have a little business and i can't work in a public place. i have too much anxiety so the business is something i need to do anyway. in a small town, everybody talks and almsot everybody is related to another through blood or marriage. there is more anonymity in a city. even the mailman knows what i receive - and discreet packaging tells it own tales, doesn't it?so a business in the same line as my personal grow - would be the least conspicuous and i am in an agricultural area anyway -i was sort of planning on this anyway. so these have been my thoughts but the anxiety around this is pretty huge and another move is just a drag to think about, especially that i can't afford much land in legal states where i could grow, not just mmj but fruits and vegetables. very grateful for the kind advice. i guess there is no way around moving again..... also thanks for the adrenal advice, will look into it. yeah, the move and the construction knocked the wind out of me.

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Not to be a know it all but like i said, it sounds like you stressed your adrenals realy bad, Its really easy to fix as long as you stay on it, for like ,,,years. However long it took you to do this , it isnt going to get fixed overnight.
My stress level was so bad i had to isolate myself .
Try this
Licorice
Potassium,calcium supplement,,licorace can leach potassium from your system.
D.G.E.A. 25 MG
Ashwagandha root 1200 mg

All of these morning noon and night,except the potassium.

My anxiety and stress are about gone after a month.

Silky Shagsalot said:

i took care of a small orchard (100 trees) and boy, it's work! forget about taking care of a bunch of trees!!!

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maybe the word i am looking for is "micro" orchard. probably no more than 20 - 25 peach trees and a small herd of dairy goats or one dairy cow = fresh peaches, peach yogurt, peach jam, peach wine niche marketing on a micro scale is about the only way a person can potentially still have a sustainable lifestyle with a tiny income. wine would be for family presents at christmas and birthdays only.... it was what i was thinking when i moved to where i moved to....

Someacdude said:

Not to be a know it all but like i said, it sounds like you stressed your adrenals realy bad, Its really easy to fix as long as you stay on it, for like ,,,years. However long it took you to do this , it isnt going to get fixed overnight.
My stress level was so bad i had to isolate myself .
Try this
Licorice
Potassium,calcium supplement,,licorace can leach potassium from your system.
D.G.E.A. 25 MG
Ashwagandha root 1200 mg

All of these morning noon and night,except the potassium.

My anxiety and stress are about gone after a month.

Click to expand...

thank you - i will try this. grateful

mangojuice said:

thank you - i will try this. grateful

Click to expand...

I suffered for years with that, seems like most things made me anxious after awhile, i hope this helps you brother, i also started veggie and fruit juicing, did that for a month and still didnt feel right until i started taking adrenal supplements.
Adrenal exhaustion is an epidemic today. Doctors dont recognize it because they cant make money at it so the stab all around it and over prescribe things with short term results never fixing the original problem.
Our society was never meant to be this stressful and unjust as it is, seems like there is always something rubbing you the wrong way?
Over stimulated?
Like people , but on your terms, with time limits
Wake up at 3 am every night?
Poor sleep
Feel like crap until bed time and then suddenly feel normal?


Yup, yougotters

Peace brotha

Mango...
I used to have a small wholesale nursery, native perennials for landscape. I also grew veggies for a few local markets and restaurants. If you plan on selling product (not weed) say goodbye to your hermit existence. You'll have to involve your state or county ag dept and keep all sorts of records (herbicide, pesticide and fert usage), file multiple reports on each thing you grow; have multiple site inspections yearly....got to be a real pain in the ass. I also had put in a small 80 tree fruit orchard, had a nursery inspection and even though the orchard was immature and not producing yet I had to now include the orchard in the records and reports (separate ones for each species). Even though it was just me (no employees), I had to have lockable storage cabs for the chemicals, various OSHA approved stuff, eyewash, etc. Goes on and on and on. They even dinged me cuz I would landscape my own property with stock I couldn't or didn't sell....gotta keep records on that stuff.

I bagged it eventually

Singlemalt said:

Mango...
I used to have a small wholesale nursery, native perennials for landscape. I also grew veggies for a few local markets and restaurants. If you plan on selling product (not weed) say goodbye to your hermit existence. You'll have to involve your state or county ag dept and keep all sorts of records (herbicide, pesticide and fert usage), file multiple reports on each thing you grow; have multiple site inspections yearly....got to be a real pain in the ass. I also had put in a small 80 tree fruit orchard, had a nursery inspection and even though the orchard was immature and not producing yet I had to now include the orchard in the records and reports (separate ones for each species). Even though it was just me (no employees), I had to have lockable storage cabs for the chemicals, various OSHA approved stuff, eyewash, etc. Goes on and on and on. They even dinged me cuz I would landscape my own property with stock I couldn't or didn't sell....gotta keep records on that stuff.

I bagged it eventually

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thanks, i need to do something and growing and animals are my passion. i had a farm not too long ago before i surrendered everything and gave it all away for some stupid thing i would call faith then but was actually stupidity. i filled out the paperwork every year but never had on site visits. didn't use nutes for anything, no heavy antibiotics, barely any, really. i guess i'm at the proverbial crossroads, not sure if to take a right or a left but can't stand on the corner for too much longer.i know the hermit existence will not work wen one needs to work and i need to work but would highly prefer to work alone.... maybe got another ten years that i can do the phsyical stuff....light physical stuff.... fine if id died sooner, less to worry about

Someacdude said:

I suffered for years with that, seems like most things made me anxious after awhile, i hope this helps you brother, i also started veggie and fruit juicing, did that for a month and still didnt feel right until i started taking adrenal supplements.
Adrenal exhaustion is an epidemic today. Doctors dont recognize it because they cant make money at it so the stab all around it and over prescribe things with short term results never fixing the original problem.
Our society was never meant to be this stressful and unjust as it is, seems like there is always something rubbing you the wrong way?
Over stimulated?
Like people , but on your terms, with time limits
Wake up at 3 am every night?
Poor sleep
Feel like crap until bed time and then suddenly feel normal?


Yup, yougotters

Peace brotha

Click to expand...

i don;t sleep much but prefer it that way. sleep is such a waste of time fatigue and body aches are a way of life. i live a quiet life, no overstimulation. received massive amounts of a toxic substance in a working environment a few years ago and my health has never been the same. but more recently i have received three trauamtic life events one after the other and then the move and the lies about the property and the constructuon. so in reality, there are actual events that have increased the stress in my life. i have a lot to be stressed about. without any medication at all, a simple move wold remove a majority of that stress because the mmj is a huge stressor. but i ache, i am tred, it is crazy. is used to have a lot more strength so something else is defintiely going on as well.

well shortly after returning there was a flyover - at night - i am looking at another state now that is also illegal but more equitable. i hope to harvest - early if needed and start packing up. maybe even rent this place while I look elsewhere.

you could build a stealth cab. if you look around you'll find some pretty cool stuff people have built. it really is possible to have weed growing in a cabinet without anyone knowing.

CCCmints said:

you could build a stealth cab. if you look around you'll find some pretty cool stuff people have built. it really is possible to have weed growing in a cabinet without anyone knowing.

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thanks i think it is very cool how people are growing in all sorts of spaces. i love this quiet revolution. i love how industry and education is growing around a beautiful plant. i love growing outdoors but with my first grow now 2 weeks into flowering, i am learning to love growing indoors too. easing into it, learning how the different strains respond so differently to the same stimuli. thing is, i don't have many visitors at all. so it isn't exactly about hiding. don't know anyone in this area but as it turns out my family wants to visit to see the tiny house later this month, plants will still be flowering and probably very aromatic... but that really isn't the issue. they will have to deal with it.

its that i have such a strong reaction to the helicopters which fly a lot overhead. when the house was under construction several people saw the grow tent and other equipment which i had purchased and was still in boxes; some not discreet- i germinated seeds before the house was finished and set up the grow tent- though no one saw the plants as far as i know, and they were small and surrounded by many other plants i grow. i have been worried that someone ratted me out for a little cash. i could lose it all and all i'm trying to do is grow medicine. the fact that it is an illegal state doesn't matter too much becuase i don't sell and it is a very private situation by most accounts. i've grown outdoors in this same state before. but i inadvertently purchased this place which is located in what seems to be a hot zone for illegal grows. i was looking at Maine but now also looking at another southern state which is more user-friendly than this one and where the season for growing and for livestock grazing is longer than Maine. i will never again trust what anyone tells me when there is money involved. burn me once, shame on you. burn me twice, shame on me.
this thread has helped me to see that the fly-overs are not necessarily looking at me and that i shouldn't live with such anxiety without questioning where it is coming from. there are probably many growers in this area. i appreciate everyone's input and advice for allowing this anxiety to process through on a forum. soon my first harvest will be ready and the perspective will shift and i'll be ready to put this place on the market, and move on ... if i'm not targeted by harvest time, there may not be any reason to sell. and i can proceed to put up a little micro orchard .... and for all my fellow growers in the south, stay stealthy and grow happy...

Singlemalt said:

Mango...
You'll have to involve your state or county ag dept and keep all sorts of records (herbicide, pesticide and fert usage), file multiple reports on each thing you grow; have multiple site inspections yearly....got to be a real pain in the ass. I also had put in a small 80 tree fruit orchard, had a nursery inspection and even though the orchard was immature and not producing yet I had to now include the orchard in the records and reports (separate ones for each species). Even though it was just me (no employees), I had to have lockable storage cabs for the chemicals, various OSHA approved stuff, eyewash, etc. Goes on and on and on. They even dinged me cuz I would landscape my own property with stock I couldn't or didn't sell....gotta keep records on that stuff.

I bagged it eventually

Click to expand...

before when selling milk from a cow, which is illegal and can get your farm raided as if you were selling heroine, i sold a share of the cow so that people actually pay for the upkeep of their cow and get part of the milk from their cow. so i would go this route with the micro orchard. let people purchase a tree or a share of a tree and a share of the dairy cow or dairy goat herd. i can't afford to go the usda route, which has become insurance for the monster corporations to keep the little farmer out of a livelihood.

mangojuice said:

before when selling milk from a cow, which is illegal and can get your farm raided as if you were selling heroine, i sold a share of the cow so that people actually pay for the upkeep of their cow and get part of the milk from their cow. so i would go this route with the micro orchard. let people purchase a tree or a share of a tree and a share of the dairy cow or dairy goat herd. i can't afford to go the usda route, which has become insurance for the monster corporations to keep the little farmer out of a livelihood.

Click to expand...

Exactly.


A few years ago I read a little bit about that style of farming, a bit like subscriptions. Put together a grow plan, what types of fruit and veggies folks want; have 'em sign up and scale it up or down to the subscription #'s

Ever think about starting a mushroom farm? Oyster mushroom can be very profitable I hear.