How many people feel a great sense of satisfaction when the pantry is full of fresh, home-grown organic vegetables? When you see rows of canning jars neatly lined up and labeled, or a freezer full of labeled bags of fresh produce? A kitchen table groaning under the weight of garden produce?
Isn't it a great feeling to know where your food is coming from?
Not everyone agrees with me. I've met people who think it's stupid to grow your own food. They think, "Why would I want to do that when I can just run to the supermarket and buy whatever I want when I want it?"
They have a point. Right now we are picking pounds of tomatoes a day, peppers, eggplants...and some green beans. The onions and potatoes are harvested, dried and stored in the cool dark basement. I've got 16 pints of canned beets and another two dozen or more beets still in the garden. Today I'm stopping off to buy some freezer containers for carrots because I have a huge garden bed full of them, and I plan to plant more seeds today to try to get another crop in this fall.
I've been eating tomato sandwiches and tomato salads for lunch every day, followed by squash and eggplant at dinner. So I can see their point.
Yet I still feel quite a sense of accomplishment when I walk into the kitchen and see my giant metal chef's mixing bowl, pictured here, filled with vegetables. I actually have two big bowls now on the kitchen counter filled with organic vegetables from the garden. In the pantry, the current tally is 16 pints of pickled beets, 8 half pints of dill pickles, and 6 pints of pickled peppers. Today I will add more peppers to the mix, since they don't freeze well for me. In the basement, I have over 30 pounds of potatoes stored, enough onions for the winter, and garlic from the crop almost two years ago, plus sweet potatoes leftover and still keeping nicely from last fall's harvest.
Last year, I calculated that the sweet potatoes alone saved me a bundle of money. I spent $16 on the sweet potato "slips" or plants and the harvest was well over 70-80 pounds of sweet potatoes; at $1 a pound, the very cheapest you'll find them, that's still considerable savings. This year, the potatoes alone are making me sit up and notice the money-saving benefits. I spent $2.50 on the seed potatoes and got a bag of Yukon Gold seed potatoes from our friends, Mel and Joan. I have about 30 pounds of potatoes now stored in the basement. How much would that cost me? Well right now potatoes are going for $5.99 for a 10 pound sack. You can do the math...
Beets are $1 a can, and a can is less than a pint. My 16 pints of pickled beets are probably worth $16 - $32, yet I spent $1.79 on the seed package.
So there you have it. Oh and another benefit? The other day I was wearing a sleeveless top for the first time in years. It was really hot and I was wearing a tank top and shorts. I was sitting in the living room reading a book, and the television screen was off. It caught my reflection and I realized that I had actually developed some muscles in my arms! I have definition in my upper arms now thanks to lifting, digging, pushing a wheelbarrow and a lawn mower and carrying those heavy pails of gravel. I have also lost a little weight since May, thanks to the extra walks I have been taking as well as all the gardening. Oh, and those tomatoes for lunch every day!
Truly, can you beat gardening? The benefits are amazing. And every time I walk into my kitchen and see the fresh vegetables, I feel all happy inside.
2 comments:
I agree! Even if it were more expensive to grow my own, I would. I know there are no chemicals on my food. And the taste---so different from store bought. I never realized potatoes or carrots or green beans could be so good. You miss a lot when you just shop at the store.
Excellent post!
I know exactly what you mean, Sue. Last night all of our side dishes were from the garden - fresh baked Russet potatoes and Harvard beets. Everything grown not 30 ft from my kitchen, and I knew exactly what I was eating because I knew EXACTLY what was in the soil. Amazing. And SO tasty - the potatoes were melt in your mouth good. Thanks for leaving a comment.
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