Tumbleweed Business Grew From Joke

Tumbleweed Business Grew From Joke 29-1-8 Linda Katz calls herself an "accidental entrepreneur" because her home-based business selling Kansas tumbleweeds originally resulted from a joke. Ten years ago, she was learning how to put a website together so she designed a site based on a totally fictitious Prairie Tumbleweed Farm. "There never was an actual farm," she explains. "I was just having fun making up this website, which is essentially the same today, as it was when I first designed it. The whole thing is tongue-in-cheek." Katz got her family to pose for pictures with tumbleweeds and the heavy equipment she claimed they used to harvest the tumbleweeds, and she listed various ideas of what this plant could be used for, never once thinking that people would take her seriously. "After two weeks of being on the internet, I started getting orders," she says. "The first order was from a bride in New Jersey who was having a western theme for her wedding. The next order came from a kids' TV show. Very soon, I realized that there was real demand for tumbleweeds. People just love them." Her fictitious business turned out to be very profitable since she gets the tumbleweeds for free. She just gathers them from along roadways or anywhere the wind piles them up. "It's the perfect business since there's an unlimited supply," she says. "The postman used to accuse me of mailing air. This year, NASA bought some tumbleweeds from me for use in studying in their æTumbleweed Rover project.' It's aimed at more efficiently exploring Mars. On their website, they even have a link to my website! I also have a link to theirs." She gets orders daily from individuals and businesses, and says it isn't unusual for one customer to order several hundred tumbleweeds at once. Katz says there is also a lot of tumbleweed gift giving going on around the world. Katz says people do many things with their tumbleweeds, from painting them, decorating them (for example, using them as an alternative Christmas tree), or leaving them in their natural state for western dÚcor. She also sells a lot to schools and colleges for play props. "We caution people that they cannot be used with hot lights because they're very flammable," she says. Her only advertising is her website, and the various media stories that it has generated. Tumbleweed prices are as follows: Large (20-in. dia., which is the largest size the post office will allow her to ship) are $25 plus shipping charges. Katz says she also occasionally supplies "giant" tumbleweeds for the same price, but these must be shipped by truck in washing machine boxes, so shipping is extremely costly. She notes, however, that tumbleweeds can grow as big as a car under the right conditions. Medium tumbleweeds (14-20-in. dia.) sell for $20 and small ones (12-14-in.) for $15. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Prairie Tumbleweed Farm, 450 Wilderness Road, Garden City, Kansas 67846 (ph 620 276-3607; email: gossamer@odsgc.net; website: www.prairietumbleweedfarm .com).

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