We were lucky to catch up with Marquis Ross recently and have shared our conversation below.
Marquis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Fugal House Nursery was born with a need to help people keep the crops growing and the cost low. I wanted to be a competitor in the game but I didn’t want to overcharge because its not fair honestly. I also wanted to show people ways of using common things you might have around the house to assist you in the garden. I know a lot of people want to go out and just buy something because its much easier, but building a repurposing household items usually last longer, and will give a better better sense of accomplishment and connection to your growing space in my opinion. Once I got going I quickly realized I was right where I was intended to be. I have felt nothing but fulfilment in this journey even when I have teaching moment(make a mistake), I still felt like that was exactly what I needed at the time to ensure a more bountiful harvest on the next round.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Mac and I’m a husband and father first. I spend the first part of my life in the military where I learned discipline, planning, executing and many other skills that I use on a daily basis. I am currently a disabled vet, due to being struck by lightning twice, and Nuseryman of Frugal House Nursery. Growing has been around me whole life, it started with my grandfather who still to this day keeps a garden. The bug was awaken in me until February 2019 though when I planted my first lemon tree. After getting a could herbs to take off I moved over to common vegetables and couldn’t stop myself. within a year it was to the scale it back or do something with point so Frugal House Nursery was born and there was no looking back. One of the best qualities I feel about my brand is transparency. I do not hide my mistakes, I show them and hope that it helps the next person avoid them. We are humans and mistakes are how we have learned since the beginning of time so there is no shame in them.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
A lot of people don’t know but I was ran over by a van in 2016 that left me with a bad leg injury. After getting the cast off i found the cast was put on wrong and damaged a nerve. For the rest of my life I have partial feelin some parts of my foot, hypersensitivity in some parts, full numbness in some parts and one spot that changes daily. my toes are also curled in which makes it extremely difficult to wear shoes, but it hurts even worse to walk without them. This accident changed my life because I just graduated from MMI and was planning on becoming a motorcycle mechanic but obviously count at this point because I could no longer ride a motorcycle safely. on the bright side it was setting me up to find my true way in this world and that is gardening and cooking. I don’t regret riding bikes but I’m glad that I am where I am now
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Tomatoes tested my resilience and patience since the beginning. i found every year not knowing what I was doing wrong or if i was doing anything at all. this year i finally sat down and looked at all the mistakes i made and came up with a plan. The plan worked and we been enjoying fresh picked tomatoes year round since.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://macscornerstore.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frugalhousenursery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frugalhousenursery
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dom3sticateddad
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtZ7J7ugSS7KNx54qKXn5_Q
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/chefinpeace/