Wow, as we're nearing the end of December, we can't but take a deep breather and exhale slowly... We've made it through another year!
Looking back, we feel incredibly blessed. We've made it another year Covid-free, survived the recession so far, the 2022 January Freeze, the December 2022 Freeze, two Hurricanes, health issues, the Roach die-off back in January (the cold got us!), the great job layoff in the Tech Sector of 2022 (Mel's daytime job) and the horrid Mosquito population this year! It wasn't always an easy road, but together, we tackled everything!
Heading into the 5th year of our little business, we are trying to come up with a plan on what we want to focus on this year. We'll definitely be showing more video content from our barn, updating some videos, making new instructional ones, and overall trying to increase our media presence. Making videos and content is incredibly time-consuming, and sometimes, we run out of hours in the day. We're also looking into offering egg crates, but that's still up in the air since the prices of everything, including those, have risen drastically! We hope the economy stabilizes soon. We have strongly resisted raising prices. We have had to do so only minimally thus far despite everything rising astronomically, especially shipping costs (remember, shipping cost is not just the shipping label but stickers, containers, bags, paper, tape, business cards, boxes, etc.), even for our business. Add to that cost of rising electricity to keep our Insects temperature controlled, feed costs (especially fresh organic greens), and all of the other things that come along with owning a small business, and some days... you'll find yourself profoundly frustrated as a small business owner. Let's not even talk about Tax season LOL
That said, we utterly love what we do, and no matter what happens, we WILL continue to provide you with quality roaches raised with love! Come what may, we'll be here breeding Roaches! It really is our life's joy!
On a personal level, in 2022, we really focused on a more self-sustainable life and planted a veggie garden, got our Chicken stuff in shape, and we now have a small Homestead going, although we're going to convert our entire front yard into a Food Forrest because you can't eat grass ;) We're also planning on getting some Embden Geese this year. Why those Geese? We were going to make a Christmas Goose for dinner this year. That is until we saw the price, and at $250 bucks per traditional processed Goose, that was just more than we were willing to spend, and guess what? Yep, we'll be raising our own this year! Learning how to process your own meat is not something we're looking forward to learning, but it is a necessary part of the entire journey. On top of that, we have to redo my entire Herb garden because the neighborhood dogs lifted their leg too many times to pee on them, and we don't want to consume that LOL, so this year, they will all be fenced in. We also got heavily involved in food preservation and learned how to can our own goods, bake our own bread, and dehydrate things for food stability. On our wishlist for 2023 is definitely a freeze dryer!
And that's all, Folks! Stay healthy, stay happy, and THANK YOU! Thank you for making 2022 another successful year and sticking with us! We appreciate every single person because, without you, there wouldn't be a Luna Roaches (and Chris would really be bored, LOL)!
Much love and happy New Year!
xoxo, Mel & Chris
Luna Roaches