Sourcing agave, cactus and California native plants from ethical and sustainable sellers

And today, with succulents in general, especially agave and cactus, a lot of, uh, plants that are being sold to you are being directly taken out the wild based on your demand, you know? And you as the consumer, the farmer that are buying these plants or products, you have to make sure that, you know, you're getting them from someone that is, uh, you know, like I said, uh, sourcing them reliably and ethically and, and sustainably, right? And what do I mean by that, right? Well, I'll give a few examples, right? Um, I was browsing the other day on eBay some of the other people that sell, uh, you know, Opuntia literas.

It's not a very common plant that people sell.

It's a California native, an LA native, right, to the county.

And I was just checking them out because I wanted to see, to make...

You know, I'm always checking out everybody's pricing to make sure, you know, even though I may be the more expensive, that I'm, I'm providing, you know, a lot of value and, uh, within, you know, the general range that the market is accepting to pay for plants, right? And you as a business, by the way, should always be doing that, right? If you're selling agave spirits, cactus wine, if you're selling products made from California native plants like I am, or selling California native plants, you should always be doing your research and checking out the pricing that other people are, you know, putting out there.

And I'll talk about that a little bit today.

But, uh, for instance, I was, I was browsing this person's profile, and I was like, "Wow, he has a lot of really cool cactus.

Let me save this seller because I would love to purchase from him," right? But see, I already know the game.

So when I save a, a, a seller, that doesn't mean I'm automatically gonna buy something from you.

That just means I'm gonna give you a look, right? And it's fine to give lots of people looks, but do your research, read the descriptions, read, you know, about these plants.

And why I say that? Because I saw every single plant that I was interested in, including the Opuntia literalis, because sometimes, you know, I, I'll purchase some from other people to grow as well, because they're different cultivars or they're different, you know, genetics and stuff.

It's great to keep your plants diversified, right? Even if you're selling the same stuff.

So, you know, uh, as a nursery or as a farmer, you know, don't look to everybody as competition.

Sometimes, you know, they may have some genetics that can help you, right? Uh, and that's why it's good to, to look around and research.

But the, the point I'm getting at is that every plant I was interested in, it said in the description, "Collected from X area in California." So I'll give an example.

Um, for the, for the Opuntia literalis, it said, you know, "This cactus was collected off the coast of, you know, Ranchos Palos Verdes." For another Opuntia ficus times literalis hybrid, uh, you know, they said, oh, they got it in Redlands, collected from the wild, right? Now, it really pisses me off that people are profiting off of shit that is everybody's, right? Because when people go out and get plants from the wild or, for instance, get crayle soap from the wild, and they say, "Oh, this is nobody's land, you know? Fuck it." Most of the times that's public land, which means it's everybody's land, right? So it's all of your-- ours land.

Your land, my land, whoever the fuck pays taxes and, and is an American citizen, right? It's your land.

And these people go and take advantage that the government allows people to freely roam these areas, and there's not enough rangers to police everybody.

And they collect them, and then they're selling them online to cact-cactus enthusiasts like me.

And if I would've never read the fucking descriptions, I probably would've purchased a few plants, which is why I tell you to do your research, right? Because immediately when I saw that this fool was collecting all his plants from the wild and selling them, and like I said, you know, it, it seemed to me that most of this area was private or, or public land that he's collecting from.

'Cause, you know, no private person is gonna allow you to just come and get a, you know, auh, a pad from everywhere.