I won't quit.

[Carol 83]

and I burn all the receipts so my wife will never know.

I burn all of the boxes they come in....

 

[dbonsaiw]

I burn all of the boxes they come in....

Please share your secrets. The trees come in these giant boxes filled with packing popcorn. With packing popcorn all over the sunroom and stuck in my hair/clothes, I feel like the 2 year old with chocolate over his face denying that he ate the chocolates.

"Did you buy more trees"
"Um, no honey, why would you think that?"

 

[ABCarve]

As the saying goes, “If you want to make a million dollars in bonsai, start with two million”. I’m under no illusions that I’ll even come close to breaking even with the $$$ I’ve spent through the years, never mind the vast amount of time I’ve spent maintaining and working on my collection. I just don’t think about it… and I burn all the receipts so my wife will never know.

The story goes like this…….. A clergyman, banker and bonsai artist won a 3 million dollar lottery giving each a million. When interviewed about how they would spend the money the clergyman replied “I’m going to give it all to charity “, the banker replied, “I’m going to invest it and make another million “ and the bonsai artist replied,” I’m going back to my studio, work as hard as I can until it’s all gone “.
The money we spend is worth every penny. Just think about how much you can spend playing golf!!

 

[ABCarve]

The last golf ball I saw actually hatched. It was a turtleist!!

 

[milehigh_7]

Bonsai brings me joy.
I've been doing bonsai for almost 10 years now. At first, one little tree to learn the tricks of the hobby - dead in no time - and then 3 trips to Japan, a lot of books, this forum, many new friends and trees, many trees.
- I have learned about horticultural skills.
- I have learned about plant identification.
- I have learned about soil, insects, mites, fungi, mychorrizea, galls, sunshine, rain, water properties, fertilizers, pottery, microorganisms.
- I have made good friends, some like @leatherback against all odds, he living in Germany and I living in Brazil, and I also consider all members of this forum my friends.
- I don't make any money from bonsai. I don't sell trees, I don't make pots, I don't import bonsai tools, and I don't teach bonsai. Still I think money spent with bonsai is money well spent.
The best moments of my days are watering the trees, photographing them, trimming and pruning, designing the future of the plants.
It brings me joy.
I won't quit.

I guess I've been in and out for about 25 years now. I have "quit" many times. It's usually when depression and some really unbelievable life events happen but I can never fully leave. I have shared on other threads how when I was a boy trees were my friends I would walk for hours on our property and lose myself on trails that I'm pretty sure only I knew. I always keep a couple of things and my love of trees keeps calling to me. Such is the situation now. Some of the best friends I have in this world were made in Bonsai. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I think of @Cadillactaste I watched her when she first joined this site. Wow! She is clearly talented, to begin with, and has just added skill on top of skill. It's cool to see. Many of you I remember when you joined the site as well! It's great to see old faces still here and still kickin! I'm actually going to get to meet up with @AZbonsai this week for lunch. I haven't talked to him in about 3 years and I am very excited.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Awww thanks Clyde. Kind of you to say. .

Past two years were hard. As I mentioned on my Facebook wall. I don't wish to get that deep here. But yeah... I considered selling my trees and being done.

I'm.glad I didn't make rash moves when I was just mentally and physically spent.

Back to enjoying the journey.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

I’m almost 6 years in and this is the first year I thought about giving up. The winter hit my garden hard in December and I lost a lot of work. Also three years in intensely volunteering and working on the board for the club and seriously feeling burnt out over the whole thing. My answer has been to step back, I’ll be stepping down from the board end of this year and I’m slowly selling off trees that don’t speak to me. As my collection grows smaller I’m starting to find all the reasons again why I enjoy this hobby.

 

[Rivian]

I guess one could participate in the hobby through friends and clubs. Help with repotting and styling decisions, then go home not having to worry about maintenance

 

[namnhi]

I guess one could participate in the hobby through friends and clubs. Help with repotting and styling decisions, then go home not having to worry about maintenance

I could use this kind of helpers.

 

[Dragon60]

It's fun reading everybody's stories. After getting a basic bonsai book in the late eighties I attempted bonsai but my trees died. Then in 2006 I got a tree that I've kept alive to this day miraculously. But in 2018 I really got hit with the bug and haven't stopped since. My wife and I babysit our grandkids every day all day long, but when I go outside to my trees it's my quiet time and I'm rarely bothered so that's really nice.