my wife dawn and i worked at an orchid gh for several yrs, by worked i mean we got paid $5 an hour each and traded 1/2 our wages for orchids, media, etc. the other 1/2 of our wages bairly covered gas for the once a week gig that was 2hrs one way from our home. for all intent and purpose we were vollenteering. i am a carpenter among other things and for 2 yrs i held that place together with chewing gum and baling twine, it's all i was allowed. after a yr and a 1/2 it deterierated to the point that my wife and i were doing mostly domestic chores and a bunch of other b.s.
we are now finishing our own 36' x85' gh space with a 1000 sq ft of shade area outside. we offer 2 internships (paid) to the top 2 students from our local high school horticultural program. we also employ a few latinos for the back breaking work that no one else will do. in this area of the country nurserys rule and are not bound to "minimum wage and benefiets". labour is cheap and plentiful, we live 10 min north of mcminnville tn. "nursery calitol of the world". my point is ... you get what you pay for, we dont have to pay our interns but we do, we dont have to pay our hired help minimum but we do. anyone going for their master gardener knows that they can't do their "volenteer" work at a for profit biz. i have yet to figure out how we'll do our volenteer time. perhaps at the local hs doing guest lectures... it's all a trade-off.
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