I planted a garden this year for a few reasons.
One, I enjoy the art of gardening. I find total peace and relaxation among my plants, the dirt, and an occasional bee (just keep your distance, thankyouverymuch). I love watering and tending to my garden. I love watching the progress and spending hours out there under the gorgeous blue skies of Idaho. And I love that my garden is far enough away from the house that I can't hear anything out there but birds and the buzzing of bees. Glorious.
Two, I was itching to get back into gardening since 2008 was a horrible growing year for me, 2009 was spent moving across the country and across town, and 2010 was spent moving it all back to Idaho.
Three, eating fresh foods. I have this thing about food that is getting more and more passionate with each passing day. I love being able to go out to the garden with a bowl and pick fresh herbs for a homemade pizza or collard greens for dinner that night. It makes me almost wish I could put a greenhouse out there and garden all year long.
Four, saving money. The good ole bottom line. A couple of months ago we toyed with Larry moving back, sans job, and going to school full-time which would have meant some serious cutbacks in the finance department. I felt that if I had a summer garden it would shed at least a few bucks off our monthly grocery expenses. I am amazed at just how much I am saving. Every month I usually buy at least $10-15 dollars worth of frozen vegetables. Now, despite the obvious lack of variety, I have not needed to do that. I was also spending at least $12-15 a month on lettuces. Plus, I am freezing as much as I possibly can and hopefully will continue to do that plus some canning (if I can figure it all out without killing anyone) over the next couple of months which will guarantee future savings all through winter. I plan meals around the produce I am growing and therefore cut back on the need to buy other ingredients for other recipes. So, I am probably saving at least $40-50 a month, total. Now, that may not sound like much, and maybe it isn't for some people, but for me it is a big chunk out of what I normally spend every month...AND we are eating healthier.
I realized a little something along the way. I was talking to my mom who mentioned that I should send the kids to the corner and sell some of our produce and my initial reaction was, "oh, yeah, I guess we could sell them..."
After I hung up the phone it hit me. My God. I don't want to SELL anything. Having an overabundant garden means two things to me:
1. I can give away fresh produce to people who don't have gardens. And, with the people who do have gardens bartering has been SO MUCH FUN! I love that I get to taste other peoples harvest on items that I haven't planted in my own garden like lavender, carrots, and cherries! Win-Win.
2. I can freeze/can/jar/pickle/dry the fresh produce and use all winter long (there is a little bit of a fascination with nineteenth century living, I admit). Not only will I save a few bucks but we will be guaranteed eating fresh, healthy foods from our own garden for many months and well after the heater replaces the air conditioning. I'm not so much into making money as I am about saving money.
The bottom line for me is that having a garden makes sense for my pocketbook as well as my mental well-being. I'm more interested in giving produce to people who will enjoy it and who are not currently growing a garden than to sell it and make a few bucks. I am totally interested and excited to be not only eating fresh produce now in the heat of the summer, but also all through winter.
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