Frugal Entrepreneur Earns $5,600 a Month Farming Other People’s Yards

Here’s a cool story at the intersection of entrepreneurship, frugal living, and sustainable farming. Jim Kovaleski is a one-man farm, growing produce and selling it at local farmers markets, earning over $5,000 a month. What’s unique is that he doesn’t have a central plot of land – he grows his plants on other people’s residential yards in Florida and Maine. Some stories say he “leases” the land but in the interview below he says he doesn’t pay in cash, only in veggies.

He’s profiled above on the Justin Rhodes YouTube channel. Found via Kottke.org.

This nomadic gardener travels between Maine to Florida gardening leased front yards. With a frugal lifestyle and revenues as high as $1.5K a week, he’s living the dream.

It’s not an easy job, but he gets to work on his own terms while developing a unique set of skills. I’m impressed both by the yield he gets from relatively little space, and how he keeps people’s front yards looking relatively nice (as opposed to industrial or commercial). If you live in a neighborhood with the right vibe (like my old one in SE Portland), this idea could probably be replicated.