Saturday, July 09, 2011

Dollars and Cents

The garden had gotten a little grassy lately. The sun has been hot, but then we've gotten rain every few days. Weeds love that.
This morning before the sun rose above the tree line, I fired up our ancient Troybilt tiller and knocked out the middles. I then went in for the close work and pulled a bale of weeds by hand from around the okra and a row of flowers. I could almost hear the plants sigh, and stretch their roots.
I picked about a half basket of tomatoes that we've been watching for the last few days. A few of them were as big as softballs. I held the stems close to my nose, closed my eyes, and took a deep whiff. I wish I had words to describe the aroma of freshly picked produce.
Tonight Jilda made pasta salad and we made use of tomatoes, scallions, jalapeno peppers,  and basil from the garden. I'm not sure food gets much better.
When I had a day job, my coworkers used to chide me about having a garden. Why would you invest the time and money when you can stop by Walmart and get it much cheaper, they'd say.
I'd always smile and say, that "getting produce at Walmart is not the same." I can't explain it, but it's not. When we grow food, we know that it doesn't contain anything harmful. We know how it was grown, picked, stored, and that it was on the vine/plant, moments before it was used in our meal.
We have the added bonus of getting outside and digging in the soil. We get exercise from digging, hoeing, tilling, and harvesting our food.
We not only take from our soil, but we give back with grass clippings, autumn leaves, and food scraps from our table.
So call me crazy, but I think growing part of our food is smart. Sometimes true value is not measured in dollars and cents.

12 comments:

  1. I like your last line - so true!

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  2. Rick,
    So true. I dont' recall who said it, but there is a quotation that goes something like,

    "The man who measures every thing in dollars, doesn't know the value of anything." :)

    Good for you and Jilda!

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  3. Why would anyone chide someone for growing their own produce? I'm actually incredibly jealous!

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  4. Buy your food when you can grow it? Whaaat??? Are they nuts or something?

    Ms Soup

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  5. Growing your own food is simply amazing, I am only limited to spices (i.e. basil) and still happy!

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  6. A garden, an orchard, some hens - should be the aspiration of everyone, as economy is not going to be better, on the contrary, and food is our main concern.

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  7. I'm all for growing one's own produce!! Yay for you!! Enjoy your dinner! take care
    x

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  8. I love having our garden. Nothing better than that. Fresh food grown without poisons. All I can think is those people who chided you had obviously never eaten a home grown tomato.

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  9. I can only manage three tomato plants out here in the desert but we love those fresh tomatoes every year!

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  10. I can't wait for our first tomato from our garden! Usually that's closer to the end of July or early Aug. here. I understand completely what you're saying. I also enjoy working along side hubby as he is tending the garden too. Great time to talk. Also the farmer's market is a great place to buy fresh, organic and locally grown produce that also beats Wally World hands down!

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  11. I so agree! I can't wait to get our raised beds going at this new house. We'll wait until fall when it is a bit cooler. Today is the second day of 107 degrees. We haven't had the benefit of rains, either. The lawn is panting. :)

    I smelled your tomatoes--you are right; there is nothing like it.
    tm

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  12. Can I just say that I absolutely love the idea of having a garden, but I have no clue and no green thumb. I've always thought it was akin to me having no ability to dance, though I wish I did. Is there hope for a non-green thumb girl like me? Can I learn what I need, or do some people have it while others just don't. I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

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