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Post by macmex on Jan 29, 2021 7:48:46 GMT -6
Ozarkan,
I too sell chicks in the spring. 2020 was the worst year for people wanting grown laying hens, in production. I'm sure it was because of all the uncertainty. Hens were almost right up there on peoples' list with toilet paper
New folk want instant eggs and milk. New, would be goat owners, usually think the path to having dairy goats is to buy a doe in milk, which is generally not the best way (even if possible) to start. I just try to encourage newbies to go the route of wisdom and start with young animals.
Ironically, I ended up with way too many chickens, as it has been my wife's habit to ask me to hatch 100 chicks a year, just for our own meat needs. There are only three of us in the household and this is too much. None of my birds were over 2 years old, but I ended up selling 55 birds (41 hens) at $6 each, all in one fell swoop, this fall. They went to someone's freezer, but I desperately needed to lower my feed bill and didn't have time to be selling them in lots.
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Post by Tony on Mar 1, 2021 17:08:05 GMT -6
Heavy hitter okra seeds Where can the seeds PE purchased Baker Creek is sold out
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Post by KulaGarden on Mar 6, 2021 17:27:54 GMT -6
Hello Ron...Your website says HH is "Out of stock," as is Baker Creek. Is there any chance you're able to spare some seeds? My space is around 1000 sq. ft. If so, would appreciate it very much so I can try growing it here in Hawaii. Thanks.
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Post by macmex on Mar 7, 2021 6:12:51 GMT -6
I don't believe Ron has been on the internet for some days now. Hopefully you'll hear back from him soon.
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Post by KulaGarden on Mar 7, 2021 13:32:23 GMT -6
Thanks...Hope he's OK. Perhaps he's just busy getting ready for the planting season since temperatures are improved markedly.
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Post by KulaGarden on Mar 7, 2021 13:42:32 GMT -6
Thanks...Hope he's OK. Perhaps he's just busy getting ready for the planting season since temperatures are improved markedly.
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Post by macmex on Mar 7, 2021 13:51:15 GMT -6
I spoke with him this morning. His computer is down and in the shop.
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Post by KulaGarden on Mar 7, 2021 19:09:55 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. I hope he'll consider since the request is only for a relatively small quantity of the seed, and it's a long wait until next year's supply. Best. 👍😊🙏
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Post by KulaGarden on Mar 7, 2021 19:13:51 GMT -6
P.S. Again, if OK, would be happy to pay for cost of shipping.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 9, 2021 21:57:44 GMT -6
I apologize for the unusually long delay in replying here. My laptop got knocked off the table and has been in the shop for almost two weeks, waiting for parts to arrive.
I am currently completely out of stock of Heavy Hitter Okra Seeds until the harvest of 2021, which if all goes well, will be toward the end of October.
Baker Creek bought 60 pounds of seeds from me in October of 2020. If they are sold out, just think of how much lower my supply here must be. Sixty pounds of okra seeds was about 330,000 seeds. I only have a quarter-acre garden and do all the planting, weeding, and harvesting by myself. This year, demand way outstripped my ability to supply. Not to mention, Baker Creek has placed a standing order for 400 pounds more in 2021 (as if that were possible for me to grow). Sixty pounds was very near my limit of production capacity, 400 pounds would many times exceed my ability to produce.
I already have a waiting list of over 50 people wanting seeds that I haven't even grown yet. 2021 will be a very busy year, but with that many seeds out there already, maybe more people will have seeds to pass around next year? It's really hard to say what future demand will be?
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Post by Bhatti on Mar 14, 2021 16:06:58 GMT -6
Hi’ how to get heavy hitter okra seeds ?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 14, 2021 19:31:48 GMT -6
Bhatti,
Sorry to say, but there are no more Heavy Hitter Okra seeds available until the Autumn harvest of 2021. I usually harvest directly after the killing frost. That date varies each season, with the wild weather swings that nature throws out at us during the hurricane season. After harvest, I hand cull seeds and let them cure in a cool, dark, dry place for 30-days. That usually places my first seed sale date around Mid-November, more toward Thanksgiving.
This year, I was sold out by Mid-January. Things went really quick this Winter. I've never seen such a rush of seed orders as we experienced in late 2020.
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Post by theozarkan on Mar 15, 2021 21:38:08 GMT -6
I was wondering if you would continue with direct sales in the future or bulk sale to the seed companies. I have pondered what I would do in your shoes.
The mail system made shipping super stressful this year but maybe it will be better next year. Still it would be tempting to let the bigger companies deal with all that. I've seen the videos of baker creeks sorting and packing and I read they are building a new larger building so their shipping will probably be even more modernized. Pretty much impossible for a little guy to be that efficient.
Of course there would be more money in retailing but you also have more time in it.
Either way it looks like you will be able to sell all you can grow. It's nice to see someone's hard work come to fruition.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 16, 2021 19:52:00 GMT -6
All good questions ... I'll be doing both. I sell in bulk and sell to individuals too. The bulk sales are worth it to me, for the sheer number of seeds that I need to move. (Kind of like selling 100 pounds of fresh pods to Reasor's once per week) as opposed to trying to sell 200 pounds at the Farmer's Market. That way, I can move 200 pounds of pods per week, but not spend my whole life at the Farmer's Market.
Dropping off a hundred pounds at Reasor's takes me about 10-minutes. I just unload the boxes, mark the amount on their calendar, and pick up my check at the end of the month. The Farmer's Market takes about 4-hours per session, two days per week. Plus a lot of work loading and unloading tables, boxes, the market scale, chairs, signage, plastic bags, table cloths, and a change box.
I don't have the manpower to move the number of seeds that Baker Creek does, nor the number of pods that Reasor's does. It takes me all day to shell out and cull just four pounds of seed, so Baker Creek's order took me 15 days of labor to fill. Plus all the time it took me to plant it, grow it out, and harvest it.
Baker Creek re-packaged that 60 pounds of seed into single seed packets, containing 15 seeds per packet and sold approximately 22,000 individual seed packets for $3.50 each. They made a ton of money off of that, but who has the manpower to sort out, re-package, and ship that many envelopes?
I think I shipped roughly 300 orders from home this season before I ran out of seeds. 73 of those orders were in a single weekend. The Post Office workers were not happy when I walked in on Monday morning with three paper grocery bags full of envelopes to be metered and marked with postage. (I do custom orders. So, each envelope is a different amount, because of the different number of seeds in each order. I've packaged as many as 2 kilos in a single order, all the way down to a dozen seeds, depending on how many seeds the customer needed.
My orders seem to average about 150 seeds per order, at a cost of $15.00 for 150 seeds.
Baker Creek charges you $35.00 for 150 seeds. For that reason, it's much more economical to buy directly from me. Baker Creek's 15 count seed packets average out to 23 cents per seed.
You are very right to have noticed that shipping became an almost impossible task in 2020. The Postal Service nearly ground to a halt in December, taking over 30-days for some of the packages to reach their destinations. I don't think some people realize that I have no control over their package once I drop it off at the Post Office. I had a lot of complaints. Things like that wear on a person. All those things are factors when making the decision to sell in bulk at a lesser profit.
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Post by boiledpeanut on Mar 17, 2021 22:39:21 GMT -6
My orders seem to average about 150 seeds per order, at a cost of $15.00 for 150 seeds.
Baker Creek charges you $35.00 for 150 seeds. For that reason, it's much more economical to buy directly from me. Baker Creek's 15 count seed packets average out to 23 cents per seed.
Wow, nice math going on there. With the fast growing demand and popularity do you think you'll raise the prices anytime soon?
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