Mother's Children Make (And Sell) Herb Vinegars!

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SELLING

All in all, the costs are low. I buy generic 4%-acid vinegar for about $1.50 a gallon and put it in recycled bottles. (A gallon of higher-grade vinegar costs between $1.75 and $2.30.) Each 16ounce bottle of herb vinegar costs me no more than 55d to make. I sell it for $1.95.

If you can do the same and sell four dozen jars at a craft fair, you can easily pay for the fee to enter the show and make a profit. You would take in $93.60 . . . or $67.20 after you subtract the cost of making the vinegars. So even if you had paid $30.00 to get into the show, you'd still get to keep $37.20! If the show cost less than that to enter, you would make even more!

You need to bring a table to any show you go to. (You can use a card table.) And try to set up a nice display, because sometimes it's the display that attracts people. I like to cover my table with burlap and use old wooden boxes for stands. This gives my display a unique and somewhat old-fashioned look. When I go to an outdoor show, I place my vinegars in the sun. The herbs stand out when the sun shines through the jars. The pink vinegars look especially nice.

Be sure to label the jars with your name and address, or hand out cards with your name and address on them, because people will sometimes want to call you afterward to buy more vinegars. One time a lady ordered 36 bottles from me to give as favors at a wedding shower. Boy, was I busy!

You can find out about craft shows where you live by talking to local crafts people or by calling the chamber of commerce. (Find out if the shows will offer a children's rate for your display!) I hope you try making and selling herb vinegars yourself. If you do, I know your herb vinegars will sell like hot cakes! Good luck!

MAKING CUTTINGS

Kate and Fair man fayne, proprietors of the Sandy Mush Herb Nursery (Dept. TMEN, Route 2, Surrett Cove Road, Leicester, North Carolina 28748 . . . catalog $1.00) offered this advice about propagating herbs from stem cuttings-or "slips"-in THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS A-to-Z Home Gardener's Handbook:

The technique isn't difficult. First, fill a small (2-1/2" deep or so) container with a sterile mixture of 3 parts perlite or coarse sand and 1 part peat moss, and water the medium thoroughly. Then cut a 3" to 5" length from a stem or side shoot of a plant . . . remove all lf lower buds, and any leaves on the lower two inches . . . trim the base of the slip so that a leaf node is somewhere on the bottom inch . . . and dip the cut end into a weak solution of commercial rooting hormone (which is available at most garden stores). Now-using a pencil-make a hole about 1-1/2" deep in the starting medium, place the cutting in the cavity, and pack the "soil" snugly around the stem. If the specimen has large (more than 2" lengthwise) leaves, snip off a third of them . . . to minimize moisture loss by transpiration and to promote better air circulation.

Finally, make a "mini greenhouse" for the plant-to-be: Bend each of two lengths of coat-hanger wire into a "U" shape slightly taller than the cutting, and stick the "wickets"-ends down and at right angles to one another-into the soil and over the fledgling. Then slip a clear plastic cover-such as a freezer bag -over the frame, and secure it to the pot with string or a rubber band.

Put the container in a shady place (or cover it with a newspaper "tent"), and remove the plastic once a day for a short time to give the cutting a breath of fresh air, and to make sure the medium is moist (an absolute must). When the slip has grown roots of 1/4" or so, put it into a somewhat larger container . . . and when the roots reach the bottom of that pot, transplant the specimen to its final home.

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