Jerry Ligon of Grimstead is teaching his granddaughters, Avalyn, 8, and Coralie, 5, how to be entrepreneurs.

A retired aviation manager and pilot, Ligon spent nine years after retirement teaching seventh grade science at Thomas Hunter Middle School before retiring a second time. During Covid, he and his wife, Cheryl, welcomed their son Chad, his wife Jennifer, and the girls, who live in Richmond, to their waterfront home on Gwynn’s Island, and Ligon decided to launch a project with his granddaughters that he began with his seventh graders years ago.

Ligon purchases black oil bird seed in bulk and assists Avalyn and Coralie in bagging the seed in gallon-sized plastic bags for sale. The three of them load the bags into a large plastic tub and take the bulk of them to two local businesses—Haskins Bayside Service Center and Woodstock Auto Repairs—where customers can purchase them at a price of $6 for four pounds of seed. Both are at Port Haywood.

“We’re trying to teach them to be...