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So my advice to all you potential bootstrap businesspeople out there is this: Don't give up whatever it is that you're after. With a little bit of guts and some help from MOTHER, I'm willing to bet that YOU CAN DO IT!

Gerry R. Osborne Kelso, Wash.

My family is made up of devoted readers of THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS and, as such, we've been helped financially by many MOTHER features. We were particularly taken with the Greenhouse IssueNo. 42since we're in the garden and flower shop business and have several greenhouses of our own. The articles in that particular volume provided us with numerous tips on how to produce the most profit from a small space... including valuable advice on heating with wood and with the sun. But the pointers on plant-growing accessoriesterrariums, hanging plants, and the liketurned out to be one "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow"... because from that information grew our idea to revive the age-old art of topiary design: training and trimming plants into ornamental shapes.

The secret of the craft lies in constructing the forms (later packed with a growing medium) which help mold the greenery as it develops. We made our first 30 sphagnum-filled shapes with a total initial investment of $25. The forms were constructed of poultry netting, rabbit or gutter wire, or small-net fencing... and ivy was planted inside each one. The final touch consisted of hanging the structures on small chains or securing them to a flowerpot or a piece of driftwood. (Though we learned topiary art through trial and error, that needn't be the case for other folks. Becauseas a result of our struggle we've put together an instruction booklet... which is available from our home address for $2.50 plus 50 shipping and handling.)

Our greenhouse business alone has kept us pretty busy, so we've had little time to devote to our new endeavor... however, all indications to date have convinced us that the topiary enterprise has quite a large profit potential. It may be true that "there's nothing new under the sun"... but we've discovered that there are a lot of valuable old ideas that have yet to be revitalized!

Mary Jo Dowling P.O. Box 786 Seymour, Ind. 47274

I'm convinced that anyone who reads MOTHER can profit from her numerous moneymaking ideas: I reaped my benefits when I read "How to Go to Work for Yourself" in Issue No. 52, page 36... because that piece was just the push I needed to search out a home-based enterprise of my own.

It didn't take me long to stumble upon the perfect business opportunity: a trailer-load of scrap lumberpaneling, 2 X 4's, and the like which was left over from a housing project and free for the taking. I hauled off the windfall and set about turning the wood scraps into salable merchandise. My first handicrafts included toy chests, bird feeders, and corner shelves... and after one weekend garage sale, every last item was sold!

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