Start a Home Business with Herbs!
(Page 3 of 4)
March/April 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors
The Sweet Smell of Success
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Herbs should be allowed to dry naturally (oven drying makes them lose their color and scent) but, to speed things up a little, the Shaudys family equipped their garage "drying room" with an air conditioner and a dehumidifier. Phyllis also spreads petals and herbs on paper towels and dries them in any spare space that is out of the sunlight.
To preserve the delicate aromas of these plants indefinitely, Phyllis uses commercial fixatives (orrisroot, calamus root or benzoin). She also purchases essential oils, which allow her to make any plant smell of any scent she chooses.
"These items are quite expensive," Phyllis told us, "but, since you only use a few drops, they last a long time."
Unless you've dried and saved herbs over several years as Mrs. Shaudys has done, you can't get into the herbal fragrance business overnight. But once you begin to think in terms of potpourri, you'll never carelessly discard a fading blossom again.
"If you make a potpourri from the flowers of a wedding or party," Phyllis suggests, "you can enjoy them over and over for years. The sachets that I made in the '60s still smell wonderful today!"
The Money Factor
Different outlets put different markups on the Herbal Acres products, but here are some samples of what Phyllis herself charges: sweet herbal pillows, $3.50 each; sachets, 60 to 80¢; fragrant stems for the fireplace, $2.00 per package; potpourris, $4.00.
"I lost money the first year in business," she recalls. "Part of the problem was that I underpriced a lot of my items in my desire to get them into the shops. I think the increase in self-confidence that came from those early sales more than made up for the cash I lost because of the pricing, though. Since then, I've doubled my income each year and cut my expenses. I expect this trend to continue as I expand my gardens and come up with new products." (Her latest addition is the "Cat-er-pillar," a little catnip-filled pillow for felines, that sells for $2.50.)
And Phyllis hasn't limited her "peddling" to crafts stores. She also sells her herbal products at fairs, art and craft shows, historical association gatherings, women's exchanges, churches, schools and charity bazaars. It didn't take long for this kind of exposure to lead to requests that Mrs. Shaudys give lectures on how to grow and use herbs.
