Small Business Suggestion: Start an Edible Garden
By Vanessa Richins
Support for urban gardening is coming from some interesting places.
Rhonda Abrams, who writes a business column for USA Today, has some advice for the small business owner: “Go out and plant an EDIBLE garden.”
It’s a fascinating piece about the business and life lessons you can learn by starting a garden.
She wrote the column in honor of St. Patrick’s day and going green. She usually writes about ways that businesses can be more environmentally friendly, like recycling, but decided this year to explain how gardening can help you “go green”
As she mentions, she is new to the world of gardening – she and a friend had a plot in a community garden for the first time last year. She experienced the joy that comes with gardening as she harvested her tomatoes, beans, peppers, squash, eggplants and herbs.
First, she details the ways that gardening can help your business, since it:
-Gives you more energy
-Saves money
-Relieves stress
-Helps save the planet
She then illustrates how growing a garden is like growing your business:
-It takes tending
-It takes time
-It takes a degree of ruthlessness
-Not everything is in your control
I would heartily agree with everything she says. I have started small businesses myself, and it isn’t easy. The experience of growing a garden, although highly rewarding, is also not always easy. You should read this piece for her insights on each point. It’s a very well thought out article.
Have a small business? Start a garden at your home or join a community garden today!
