Given the financial situation at church, I've been thinking for the last several years about the need to make money. And of course, being church's budget-planning time of year, that causes money-thoughts to be more in the forefront of my musings and our conversations here. Thus, thoughts of employment and/or starting a business are once again making their annual autumn trek through my thoughts.
There's one business I would love to start, but it would involve a huge capital investment. Furthermore, it would involve a kiosk at the mall (an hour away), which means long long hours away from home, daily. It also would involve immersing myself into learning all sorts of things about business regulations, accounting, taxes, payrolls, etc etc. And I just don't have time for that. I'd rather be poor. :-)
The most reasonable thing for me to do would be to cook or to cater or to sell kombucha. I planned one summer to sell bread at the farm market, but it turned out that I had to have the government overseeing my kitchen. Kombucha costs a fortune in the store, and it would be easy enough for me to make and bottle and distribute through a couple of health food stores. But any time food is involved, there's government involvement in their attempts to protect the public. I suppose I could look into the laws, and obtain stockpiles of latex gloves for whenever we touched anything to do with food, and buy the sterilization equipment, and pay some laboratory to analyze the food for nutrition content so that we could comply with labeling laws. But those regulations are a huge hurdle. If a business were merely a matter of doing the work, doing it well and safely with intent to serve the neighbor and make a little money to help feed my family, that would be entirely reasonable. But it's not good enough today in our big-government, litigacious society. Today businesses must comply with innumerable laws and regulations and tax code. And that's enough to chase the idea out of my head. Maybe I'm just a wuss. Or maybe it's that the housewifey stuff is just higher priority. But I sure do have admiration for the people who are strong enough to dive in to starting businesses even in the face of the govt's desire to micro-manage.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
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Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteThere is a lady who sells her kombucha through the farm where I get milk. They sell it for $10 for a 1/2 gallon. I might still have her number here somewhere if you wanted to talk with someone who is selling their kombucha just a couple hours north of you.
On a similar note:
How long do those mushrooms last in a refrigerator? I've got one from the beginning of summer still in the back of the fridge. And some of my original batch in a quart jar (also in the back of the fridge) that is getting "gel-ish" all on its own. I've been debating for sometime if I should dump it and start fresh or if this might still be ok.
$10 for half-gallon. That sounds about right: $2.50 for a pint. The empty bottles themselves are about $1.70 each. I figured it would work to sell it for about $2/bottle if customers brought back the bottles. If you want to send me the phone number of your milk-lady, that might be nice. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've never let my starter sit that long, so I don't know if it would still be good. What if you tried a small batch?
Some of the websites I read said not to keep the mushrooms in the fridge, but to keep them at room temperature. I would think that if part of the original brew is getting "gel-ish" that that would mean you've already got mushroom in it, growing.
Problem with using old starter, though, is that the kombucha doesn't taste as good. When I've laid off brewing for a few weeks (like when we went to North Carolina) then I don't get the good flavor and nice fizziness until I've cycled through two or three batches. I discovered later that old starter affects the flavor more than old mushroom. But I've never had a mushroom older than 2-3 weeks, so it's hard to say.
On the other hand, I've also noticed that excellent-tasting starter does not necessarily mean your next batch will taste great. Likewise, a kinda yucky batch doesn't necessarily adversely affect the taste of the next batch. (For a while, we were keeping records nicely according to the Scientific Method -- LOL.) But old starter seems to have more of an impact.
Thanks for all the info.
ReplyDeleteI've only made one batch. It took FOREVER! I think our house was too cold and now it's even colder.
If I do it again I'll get a new mushroom and starter. I guess I'd feel more comfortable doing it that way since I really don't know *what* I'm doing.
I'll send the lady's phone number privately to you via email.