Investing

What if I was to tell you that I had an investment vehicle you could put $100 into today and for 4 years you get nothing on it....But! From the 4th year forward you would get $200 in return every single year for the rest of your life from your original $100 investment. Would you take it? There's not a mutual fund in the world that has returns like that so where could you possibly get that kind of ROI for such a long period of time? Fruit trees! Yes, fruit trees.

Take your average Peach tree that you can get at a nursery in a 5 gallon bucket ready to plant for about $65 or $70. Now, I couldn't find specific data for here but according to Aggie Horticulture a peach tree growing in the Galveston area will produce about 100 pounds of peaches per year. Looking at the Economic Research Service's Data on Fruit and Vegetable Prices in 2008 Americans paid an average $1.84 per pound for fresh peaches. So that's $184 per year from an initial $70 investment and a few hours of digging a hole and tending your tree now and then. Really not bad all things considered. Don't like peaches? You'll get similar results from most other fruiting varieties. If you really want to get into some money makers check out pretty much any kind of berry producing bush or vine. Blackberries for example averaged $5.18 per pound in 2008. Whether you eat the fruit yourself thereby avoiding having to buy them at the grocery store or take your surplus down to your local farmer's market and sell it off it's still like money growing on trees.

Don't have much space you say? Look into dwarf varieties you can grow in containers on your balcony, patio or in a greenhouse. Can't eat them all at once when harvest time comes? You can freeze some to use later or learn about canning and preserving. There's a lot to be said about the wisdom of our grandparents who knew these skills and lived a much more self sufficient life than we tend to today. Food on the shelf is like money in the bank. When the government tells us what the "core inflation rate" is they strip out the "volatile" food and gas prices to make the numbers look more palatable. Now, how much of your household budget goes into food and gas? When those prices are rising (as they often do at a double digit rate) do you feel that inflationary bite in your budget? Anything you can grow and store yourself today may mitigate that bite later and if you're like most people I know you're going to eat sooner or later anyway.

Most people who know me know that I am big time into supporting your local economy. Not because I have anything against people who live and work in other countries. They need to provide for themselves and their families too and I am all for everyone in the world having an opportunity to pursue their own life, liberty and happiness. But I don't personally know anyone who lives and works in China, Bangladesh or Indonesia. I do personally know people who live and work in the United States and especially in the Dallas / Fort Worth / Arlington area in Texas because that is where I live. So if my buying stuff here helps people here that is all the better in my opinion. Especially when most of the stuff that is hauled in from other places is just making some fat cat who already has more money than anyone would know what to do with all the more rich while exploiting workers by paying barely livable wages in unsafe working conditions that they can get away with in other countries. Anyway, I'm getting off on another tangent here. Sorry about that. My point is that while I enjoy supporting local economies there is no economy more local than the one in your own household.

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree"....Martin Luther

Resources:

Aggie Horticulture - Herman Auer Q&A on Peaches and Plums

Economic Research Service's Data on Fruit Prices

National Center For Home Food Preservation

Canning and Preserving Food Recipes