The Adventures In Making Edibles At Home

Hi! My name is Marge and I'm the host of the little know but widely loved podcast called Bite Me The Show About Edibles. As you might have guessed, my show is about all things cannabis edibles.

I talk about my own adventures making edibles in my home kitchen, share funny stories, answer listener questions and teach the fine art of making edibles. If I can make them, you can make them.

I'm an avid home cook and started dabbling with edibles a few years ago. I found that I liked the high better and enjoyed the process of making different edibles. Fast forward to now and my passion for making edibles along with a love of the podcasting medium gave me the perfect platform for the show.

My listeners are from all over the world and they're folks just like me who enjoy spending time in the kitchen and want to make great edibles at home. Not surprisingly, they're a pretty chill bunch of people that I love interacting with.

I've been listening to podcasts for a long time now. It's by far my favourite medium to learn new things and hear from interesting people.

I had been looking for a good project that I could eventually earn an income from when I realized that podcasting would be the perfect. I already had a microphone and a good laptop and it didn't require too much setup to get started. By listening to so many podcasts myself I also knew what I liked and didn't like as far as content creation so the learning curve was shorter. Since cannabis was freshly legalized in Canada not long before I started the show, I could be free to talk about a subject I knew a lot about, edibles! Once I decided to make a podcast, I published the first episode quickly.

I started the show in June 2019 by releasing my first episode. From there I recorded and published a few more over that summer. Near the end of the summer I started getting emails from listeners who were really loving the show. When I realized that I was slowly building an audience, I got more serious. The show moved to a weekly format, with each episode is released 8am EST on Thursdays.

I release a new episode each week and since most episodes are less than 30 minutes, the work to produce each one is around an hour and a half which includes creating the editing,writing show notes, web links and making graphics for sharing on social media.

Normally I do work (I'm currently laid off due to COVID19 which gives me lots of time to work on the show!) and I carve out time each week to make sure I make my deadline of Thursday 8am. Having an audience that looks forward to your show each week is a huge motivating factor when it comes to making the time. I love doing the show. If I didn't, I'd never have made the time for it each week.

For now the podcast is completely self-funded. I spend money on website and podcast hosting and graphic design tools each month which works out to about $60 a month. I do have some affiliate accounts set up (Amazon for example) but the income from those accounts are negligible and likely will be until I have a much larger audience. It's a labour of love for now!

I don't make any revenue (yet!) but this is my goal. I would love to do this as my main gig and I'm working towards that but I know it will take some time. I don't have any sponsors yet though I'd be open to it with a likeminded sponsor. Again, I'm still small but when I hit 5000 total downloads last month I was pretty excited! Bite Me The Show About Edibles is a pretty niche podcast but enough people have emailed me at this point that I know I'm on the right track.

I listen to podcasts every day. I've gained so much from this medium, it only makes sense that I give back with the knowledge that I have to share.

I use my MacBook Air and Audacity to record and edit all of my episodes. Audacity is pretty simple to use for podcasting and there's lots of tutorials for learning to use it. A quick tutorial will save you tons of time later.

I use Buzzsprout to host all of my episodes. From Buzzsprout, each weekly episode is distributed to all the different platforms available to listeners (Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, etc). I love Buzzsprout, it's a fantastic, easy to use platform and they have a ton of resources and education for podcasters too. I would highly recommend them if you're wanting to start a podcast and you can try it for free! (here's my affiliate link: buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=334567)

I also use Canva to do most of my graphic design work because it's a lot easy and intuitive and allows me to whip up great shareable graphics with little time so I can spend more of time on the podcast itself.

I haven't had too many guests yet, but I'm starting a list of people that I would like to interview. Most of the people that I'd like to chat with I find on social media. It's a great way to connect with people! The folks I have interviewed were in person and over Zoom. Moving forward, remote interviews will likely be my focus since COVID19 is preventing in-person meetups but it also allows for interviewing guests you'd never have access too otherwise.

To prepare for episodes, I usually keep notes during the week of topics that would interest my audience. Each week also has me making edibles in my kitchen so that I can properly talk about and share tips for making a specific recipe. Much of what I talk about is related directly to what I've been cooking or baking. I may spend some time researching topics for some episodes. I always write out an outline for the show to help keep me on track while I'm recording. It also prevents me from forgetting anything!

This is where a platform like Buzzsprout is so valuable. It distributes my show to all of the platforms and then provides stats on listener acquisition. Right now, Apple is by far the most used app for listening to my show at 57%.

I created social pages for the show on major social media platforms. I share content on Instagram (the platform I most active on), Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Minds. I also built a website and I'm building an email list. I have a small one right now that I send out emails around once a month. That's still a work in progress. Email is likely the best marketing too and will be more valuable once the list is bigger. Other than that, I find Instagram to be the platform with the most engagement.

Consistency is key. I know that saying is cliche, I've heard it a million times myself. It wasn't until I set up a self-imposed deadline and set a goal of a weekly episode that I understood. When you're consistent, you make a mental shift and you start noticing and working towards that deadline. When you're audience sees your consistency, that's when you start to gain traction and you're more willing to be patient with the process.

You can find me on most podcasting apps or check out my website, bitempodcast.com! I'm also on Instagram @bitmepodcast or you can send me an email at bitemepodcast@fastmail.com I love getting messages from listeners!